New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1896-09-20
BELLS.
SCIENTIFIC CHANGE-RINGING

SCIENTIFIC CHANGE-RINGING.
Mr. Arthur Nichols writing in the Harvard
Graduates Magazine" has some very entertain
ing things to say about scientific change-ringing
an art which is little understood in this country
Those Tribune readers who have not the ad-
vantage Of an acquaintance with this university
magazine will be glad to see the following quo
tation from its pages:
II is an ungracious task to have 10 speak dispar-
agrgly of any class Of our artisans but regard for
veracity compes the admission that the Chi'eu
States. while leading the world in many branches
of mechanical art. has been lamentaby backward
In everything apperaining 10 beil-foundihb ioi Wy
the present time not a single ring OF DeHs mas
here been cast suited to the exercise OF change
ringing
Scientific change-rnging had indeed been intro
duced in colonial days In Boston. New-iorK ana
Philadelphia but was suspended with the opening
Of the Revolution and became thereafter not mere
ly lost. but forgotten art. Toward the close
OF the last century. Paul Revere VINO hao &C
qured some experience in casting small articles OF
bronze extended his enterprise TO church oels' ana
managed occasionally 10 turn out fair-toheu IN
strument such az that OF Kings Chapel Boston,
which produces minor chord with dominant corre-
spending nearly to fiat During the last nan
century American founders have essayed TO cast
what they are pleased to dcnominate chimes,
made up Of series of bells moro or less perfectly
attuned the diatonc scale and fastened rigidy
to horizontal beams. was the custom centuries
ago In China. But in these combinations the heavy
bells being OF disproportionate weight, tend 10
overpower the upper tintnnabula: and as the alloy
"a often unhomogeneous. the vibration Is Of short
duration. and the sound consequently harsh. POS
siby some persons may experience pieasuraoie
sensations from listening to the plain-sailing melo-
dies executed by single performer. generally inc
sexton on chimes. achievements upon which are
about on a par with those on a triangle. 10 the
apprahension OF the genuine bell lover. however.
they are defective and unsatisfactory. because in
bells thus struck. when at rest with mouth down.
ward the over tones nadequately brought out.
Hence It happens that the jargon OF dlssohaht
sounds proceeding from our church towers thus
furnished has gradually distorted the popular con-
cepton Of bell music. and rendered hostile 10 II
those having musical taste.
The success OF the grotesque scheme for the con-
struction of the so-called American Liberty Bell
furnishes a striking instance Of unthinkng, I'M
reasoning ignorance in the matter of campanology
In this case in response to bomoasuc appeal
numerous persons were induced TO part with valu-
able heirooms OF gold and silver. under the de-
fusion that these substances. being added to the
amalgam would sweeten the tone Of the bell. as
water is sweetened by the addition Of a lump OF
sugar And this nonsense found indorsers in the
unSODhiStcatcd VI eNltHtioNn "a 9'''
cago Exposition who actually awarded diploma
and gold medal to this colossal humbug. not only
for its patriotic conception but also 'for its
historic and intrinsic value. AS to the culpability
OF the bell founders. VINO tacty encouraged this
proposed vandalism | will quote from the cata-
ogue issued by them in 1889 their own criticism on
this sweetening business. that they may be con-
demned out Of their own mouths: The long ex-
perience OF ancents as well as the careful test
OF late years has clearly proved that copper and
tin are the only metals capable OF producing a
ringing alloy Iron and steel. and even silver and
gold frequently entered into the composition In
whole or in part, but solely TO the injury OF the
tone
Another prominent founder betrays his imperfect
qualifications in the essentials of his craft by pro-
claiming that his bells produce but one tone
adding. What would be thought OF church organ
tho pipes OF which each produce two or more
tones? The defect is just as great in a bell as in
organ"
The ignorance betrayed in this extraordinary dec
aration is almost incredible. for the existence OF
harmonic or overtones Of bells. dependent upon the
diameter of the concentrlc rings composing the in
strument was understood even by the founders OF
the thirteenth century
But If in the United States campanology has
never excited interest no less remarkable is its
decadence in Belgium where in certain details the
art was brought to perfection In the seventeenth
century Though the famous carillons of Antwerp.
Bruges. Mechn. Louvain and Tourney still hang
in their belfries mechanically played like hand
organ the general Introduction Of other instru-
rnents together with the development OF band.
orchestra piano and organ have tended 10 Danish
the popular love for these bells. The art Of play
ing them has thus gradually declined. until the
master compositions Of Matthias Van Den Gheyn
are now regarded as musical curiosities beyond the
skill OF any living performer. And even in Eng
land where bell-rnging has been at all times cult
waited many circumstances serve TO explain II not
to Justify the allegation Of Sir Edmund Beckett.
that this art In far concerns the proper con-
struction shape composition and the best modes
Of hanging had sunk 10 lower cbb thirty or
forty years ago than it had reached In the thousand