marvellous that such sounds should be derivable
from so small and simple-looking an instrument. Its expressiveness,
power, and the extraordinary combinations which its stringing admits
of, truly constitute it the king of musical instruments. These
somewhat desultory remarks may suffice to trace the origin of the
value set upon the Violin both as a work of art and as a musical
instrument.

We will now proceed to consider the acoustical properties of the
Violin. These are, in every particular, surprisingly great, and are
the results of many tests, the chief of which has been the adoption of
several varieties of wood in its construction. In Brescia, which was
in all probability the cradle of Violin manufacture, the selection of
the material of the sides and back from the pear, lemon, and ash trees
was very general, and there is every reason to believe that Brescia
was the first place where such woods were used. It is possible that
the makers who chose them for the sides and backs of their instruments
considered it desirable to have material more akin to that adopted for
the bellies, which was the finest description of pine, and that the
result was found to be a tone of great mellowness. If they used these
woods with this intention, their calculations were undoubtedly
correct. They appear to have worked these woods with but few
exceptions for their Tenors, Violoncellos, and Double Basses, while
they adopted the harder woods for their Violins, all which facts tend
to show that these rare old makers did not consider soft wood eligible
for the back and sides of the leading instrument; and later experiment
has shown them to have arrived at a correct conclusion on this point.
The experiments necessary to obtain these results have been effected
by cutting woods of several kinds and qualities into various sizes, so
as to give the sounds of the diatonic scale. By comparing the
intensity and quality of tone produced by each sample of wood,
plane-tree[2] and sycamore have been found to surpass the rest. The
Cremonese makers seem to have adhered chiefly to the use of maple,
varying the manner of cutting it. First, they made the back in one
piece, technically known as a "whole back"; secondly, the back in two
parts; thirdly, the cutting known as the "slab back." There being
considerable doubt as to the mode of dividing the timber, the woodcuts
given will assist the reader to understand it. Fig. 1 represents the
cutting for the back i