The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1893-11-17
THE EOLL4N HARP

The ;eolian harp is not very we'll
! known, but is very curious, and is
supposed to have been invented by
| Father kircher, the Jesuit Savant,
| who lived i'll the seventeeth century
and invented many ingenious ma
chimes. But the fact of the sponta-
neous resonance of certain musical in
struments when exposed to Il current
| of air had struck the observers of ma
| ture in times of remotest antiquity.
| One of the Talmuds says that the
harp of David sounded when the
north wind blew on it, and it has
been suggested that he had an Rolian
as we understand it.
Kircher's harp had fifteen strings
| of catgut and the force of the wind
was DETECTED on to it by various shut
tiers of screens. In later times this
was improved upon by MessrS. Frost
and Kastner, but was similar to the
preceding form in principle and con
struction. The teolian harps in the
old castle of Baden Baden, and those
in the four turrets of Strasburg Ca
thedral, are celebrated.
These are all made of strings stretch
ed over sounding board, and require
tuning to keep them in harmony.
They are also large and cumbrous, and
have a limited number of strings,
which make the music more or less
monotonous, and they are dependent
on the wind from one direction only.
The changes of temperature and
dampness of the atmosphere make
them constantly out of tune, and, in
deed, often cause the strings to break.
These difficulties and drawbacks have
hitherto prevented the 8olian harp
from being so we'll known and popular
as such an interesting and curious in
strument deserves to be; but the la
test development of this harp, named
aolia, invented by an Englishman, is
a step in the right direction.
The music is produced by sensitive
metallic reeds, instead of strings, SO
that it never requires tuning, and as
there are eight separate notes, there
is great variety of sound. 1t is in
tended to hang on the bough of a tree,
and may be left there without damage
from the weather; it turns round be-
fore the wind, and is, therefore, ex
posed to every point of the compass,
and the music passes into an organ
pipe, by which it is greatly enriched
and improved.
Besides the aolian harp possesses
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.
J. NJ. CoX-aSSerts that lunatics have
sometimes been Gained by the sweet
and varied music of an teoiian harp.
Other observers declare that ;eolian
sounds will produce sleep.
-
ENGINEERING FEAT
A mans fitness for Il position is de-
termined in various ways, often by
tests which could scarcely be embrace
ed in any series of set questions. A
unique but successful civil service eX-
aminati III occurred during the Civil
War, and is thus described by Mr.. G.
De Land i'll the Washington Post:
On a certain occasion the Confeder-
ates were much in need of u railway
locomotive in order to operate their
supply system. 1t was in 1864 they
| had not the means to buy one, and
their only hope was to capture one.
a band of one hundred men was Sc
! lected from Lees army and placed I'M
der the command of tall Georgian,
who had been foreman of stone
| quarry and was more or less skilled in
| the use of derricks and the like.
He took his men up into Maryland,
and they tore up a section of the Balti-
more & Ohio Railway tracks, tagged
the first train, and with nothing save
plenty of rope, those one hundred
men carried the locomotive fitty-two
milesover hills, across streams, through
Dogs and woods, until they struck Il
line built by the Confederacy. Then
they ran the engine down to Virginia.
When the president of the Balti-
more and Ohio Railway heard of the
exploit he would not believe it. He
went out and personally inspected the
scene went over the route, and seeing
what had been done, finally declared
| it the most wonderful feat in engineer
ing ever accomplished.
After the war Mr.. Garrett delegated
a man to hunt up the leader who had
superintendent the removal of the loco
motive, and on the strength of that
single exploit made him roadmaster
of his entire system of road-beds.