Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1915-08-22
Bells Considered Sacred
by People of Many Faiths

! their devotion, drive away storms and
| terrify evil spirits Bells. being conse-
| Grated. cannot be rung wlthouS the con
! sent of the ecclesiastical authorities:
| Each bell receives a special name and
-, has its own sponsor.
| In reading through the literature OF
bells, which is extensive. and there are
number of books on this subject in
| the Library of Congress. one VIII ma
numerous legends that consecrated
! bells, if stolen, would return to their
own home, ringing all the way, ana
/ also many stories concerning the ell
cacy of church bells in warding off evil
spirits or the spirits OF darkness. There
/ is Irish story that when wicklow
Oh = rtain stole a bel! from st. Fillan's
Church in Meath ne mad to tie 1t up to
prevent it from escaping and going
! back TO its old tower
Ore learned writer on bells has said
that it is uncertain whether the jan
Cling inStrunl. hts used by the Egyp-
tians and the Israelites can be correct
! ly described bells. but it is certain
that bells Of & considerable size We're
/ in early use in China and Japan, and
that the Greeks and Romans used them
for various purposes. This writer al
leses that they were introduced into
by faulinus, Bishop OF Nola, in Cam
pani;. whence the Old name for a bell
compounded OF the words "campana"
and ''nola.' Il does not appear that
they Were adopted on a wide scale I'M
til after ;he year $50, when they APP
peared in france.
The account is that Benedict Biscop,
3hr"t OF " yarmouth. imported bells
from Italy TO iInslapd in the year $50,
but 1T is thought that they were ring
no. in Il in, VraJ
and Scotland at AN earlier date than
that. 1t is related that the oldest bells
IN England and Ireland today are the
bell OF st. Patricil's will" aud st. MIN
ians bell, which are quadrangular III
form. and made of thin iron plates;
hammered and rivcted together
IT was in the thirteenth century that
the famous bell, the JacqueIine of Paris,
was cast. and this bell, weighing six
and half tons, was the wonder of its
time. After that there was a rapid in
crease in the size and weight of cast
"eiis, and in Moscow there is a bell
callea the Monarch of All Bells"
Which weighs 192 tons and was cast in
I Lob The famous London bell, Big
Ben, though large one, is small in
comparison with the great bell OF Mos
COW. Tor 1T weighs only fifteen and {,
haii tons ana was cast i'll 1856
me beii OF Lincoln, England. is called
Great Tom, and weighs but five and a
haif tons. and the bell of York Min
ster. which is called in 4 familiar vay
Great Peter, weighs ten and three
quarter tons, and was cast in 1915.
eleven wears laterCfha the casting Of
Great Tom of Lincoln. The great bell
OF st PauIs. London, which was cast
IN 1882. weighs seventeen and half
tons it is recorded that there is a
bell at NoVgorod, Russia. which weighs
thirty-one tons. and one at Picking
which weighs fifty-three and q half
tons.
The metal of which bells are usually
cast is called bell metal, and is gem
orally eighty parts copper and twenty
parts tin, though the proportion is
varied, tin sometimes being from one
third to one-ffth the weight of the
copper, according to the sound desired
or required, the size of the bell and the
force with which it is to be struck An
expert on bell casting has written
that the clearness and richness of tone
depend on the metal used. on the per-
lection of the casting and on the form
of the bell, it having been shown by a
number of experiments that the well
known shape with the thick lip. or
sound bow is the best adapted to
give full, rich and mellow tone.