yet, that we are aware of, brought much into
use, but certainly displaying considerable
ingenuity, and founded on a principle which
admits of very extensive application. The
cardboard is perforated by some kind of
punch or punching machine; the holes (a
quarter of an inch or so in diameter) appear
irregular, but they are systematic in respect
to the purpose for which they are intended.
Each sheet is the symbolic representative of
one tune, usually a psalm tune; and all the
holes are cut with especial reference to that
tune; they are in rank and file—ranks for
the notes heard together in harmony, and
files for the notes heard consecutively in the
progress of the tune. When one end of
such a sheet of cardboard is placed between
two rollers, and a handle turned, the
cardboard is drawn into the instrument; the
perforations, as they arrive at particular spots,
allow wind to pass into pipes in the instrument;
whereas the unperforated part acts as
a barrier across which the wind cannot
penetrate—or at least the intermediate mechanism
is such, that this difference results from the
manner in which the perforations are
arranged.

This is a principle entirely different from
that of the barrel-organ. In the latter, you
can only play such tunes as are set or pinned
upon the barrel; and either to substitute a
new barrel, or to re-arrange the pins upon
the old one, is a costly affair. But in the
Autophon the power of change is illimitable.
A few pence will pay for a sheet of the
perforated cardboard; and indifferent good
music is to be got at sixpence or eightpence
a yard. We do not say that if you were to
apply for a couple of feet of Adeste Fideles, or
a yard and a quarter of the Sicilian Mariners'
Hymn, that they would be sold to you
precisely in those lengths; but it is quite true that
an oblong strip of cardboard, say about a yard
in length, contains the perforations necessary
for one tune; and there is not the slightest
reason, mechanically, why ten thousand
tunes should not be played on this identical
grinding-organ; the only question being,
whether the demand would be sufficient to
pay the manufacturer for setting up the type,
as it were, for each tune: this being once
done, the charge for each single copy need not
exceed a few pence. The musician will of
course regard this as a very poor affair, and
so it is when tested by the standard which he
could employ; but it enables many to enjoy
a humble kind of music at times and under
circumstances when the services of a skilful
player are unattainable. No skill is here
required. The player has only to place the
right sheet of cardboard in its right place,
and then grind away. In small chapels, a
constant supply of tunes might be thus
obtained, without necessitating the employment
of a skilled organist. We are offering no
opinion on the quality of the tones thus
produced; we only speak of the mechanism which
does really seem to be capable of supplying
unlimited music at a very low figure. It
bears some such relation to real music that
photography bears to portrait-painting: not
high art, but a cheap and convenient
substitute.

The pianoforte can also produce music by
the yard. The piano-mécanique by M. Debain
of Paris, is a sort of cottage-piano richly-toned.
It can be played on with keys, and no one
need know that there is any peculiar
mécanique about it at all. But the player may
bring forward certain odd-looking yards of
music, and transform himself at once from
an intellectual player to a mere music-grinder.
These yards of music are—not pieces of
cardboard, as in the case of the Autophon—but
thin planks or boards, studded on the under
surface with pins. Such board may be as
little as six inches or as much as two feet
long, according to the length of the piece
of music to be played; or there must be
several of them, if the music be an overture
or any other elaborate composition. The player
(we trust he will not deem us disrespectful if
we designate him the grinder) places one
of the studded boards on the top of the
instrument, and proceeds to turn a handle.
The board is drawn slowly onward; and the
pins, projecting downwards from its under
surface, press as they pass upon the tops of
certain metallic points; these points are the
extremities of small levers, and these levers
act upon hammers which strike the strings.
The pins in the studded board are arranged
in definite order according to the tune to be
played, pressing one, two, or more of the metallic
points at once, and eliciting an equal number
of tones at once. The player becomes a
commander of Rossini or any other musical
luminary at once. He puts Una voce poco fa into a
box, and grinds it out again, bran new and
uncurtailed. So nearly does this approach to
our designation of music by the yard, that
we find eight inches of the studded board is
about equal to the contents of one ordinary
page of music. Where the piece of music is
of very great length, the grinder puts one
board after another on the top of the instrument,
and pieces them together as girls and
boys do the slivers of wool in a worsted
mill. If he does not place them exactly end to
end there will be a hole in the ballad.

The inventor of this ingenious mechanism,
reminds us, in his advertisement, that
"Although music at the present day forms a
portion of regular education, it is certain that
the absorption of time in more serious
pursuits, and the want of disposition for study
is such, that in a hundred families we can
scarcely find ten individuals who can play
music. Among this number, some play only
the pianoforte or the organ, but without
being able to master the finer compositions."
For such families, then, M. Debain tells us his
piano-mécanique is intended; and he tells us
also at how much per yard, he will supply us.