Passaic City record., 1893-09-02
THE E0LIAN HARP.
A Curious Musical Instrument,
Invented by a Priest.
It's Music Produced by the Ac-
tion OF the Wind.

The Eolian harp is musical in
strument which is set in action by the
wind. It is not very well known, but
is very curious, and is supposed to
be have been invented by Father
Kircher, the.Jesuit savant, who lived
in the seventeenth century, and in
vented many ingenious ma
chimes. But the fact of the spon-
taneous resonance of certain musical
instruments when exposed to current
of air had struck the observers of ma
ture in times of remotest antiquity.
One of the Talmuda says that the harp
of David sounded when the North
wind blew on it, ard it has been sug-
gested that he had an Eolian as we
understand it. Tie sounding of this
harp by gust of wind would, accord
ing to the London Queen, be nothing
extraordinary if it stood near his
north window, which was probably
open for air and chosen for GOODNESS
and shade in the climate of Judea. Kir-
cher's harp had fifteen strings of catgut
and the force of the wind was defect
ed to it by various shutters or screens.
In later times this was improved
upon by Frost and Kastner, but was
similar to the preceding form in prin-
ciple and construction. The Eolian
harps in the old castle of Baden Ba-
den, and those in the four turrets Of
Strasburg cathedral, are celebrated.
These are all made of strings stretched
over sounding box and require tun-
ing to keep them in harmony They
are also large and culmbrous, and have
a limited number of strings, which
makes the music more or less monoto-
nous, and they are dependent on the
wind from one direction only. The
changes of temperature and dampness
of the atmosphere make them con-
stantly out of tune, and, indeed, often
cause the strings to break. These diff
fculties and drawbacks have hitherto
prevented the Eolian harp from be-
coming so we'll known and popular as
such an interesting and curious instru-
ment deserves to be, but the latest de-
velopment of this harp, named the
Eolia, invented in 1891, by G. Cros-
land Taylor, T. r. G. S., Helsby,
near Warrington, is step in the right
direction. The music is produced by
sensitive metallic reeds instead of
strings, so that it never requires tun-
ing, and as there are eighty separate
notes there is great variety of sound
Tt is intended to hang on the bough
of tree land may be left there with
out damage from the weather) lit turus
round before the wind, and is there
fore exposed to every point of the
compass, and the music passes into an
organ pipe, by which it is greatly en-
riched and improved. The principle
of an Eolian harp may be familiarly
shown oh large scale by the action Of
telegraph wires stretched from one pole
to another On windy day these will
be found to emit musical tones, rising
and falling in proportion to the strength
of the wind and tension of the wires.
Besides inspiring writer's of both
prose and poetry, the Eolian harp pos
sesses remarkable properties which
act upon the nervous system and cause
very different impressions, according
to the temperament of those who listen
to its accords. An English physician,
DR. =. M. Cox, asserts that lunatics
have sometimes been instantly calmed
by the sweet and varied music of an
Eolian harp. Other observers declare
that Eolian sounds will produce sleep.
N