Rensselaer Union, Volume 8, Number 17, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 13 January 1876 — An Interesting Musical Cabinet. [ARTICLE]

An Interesting Musical Cabinet.

Prom an article in the Boston Traveller,' descriptive of a collection of musical curiosities made by Dr. Eben Tourjee, of that city, during the last twenty-five years, we make a few extracts: “ A peculiarly-constructed work is the. tarunge , or ancient 'iol of India, used by persons of low morals among the Hindoos and Mohammedans for an accompaniment in the dance. It is block-shaped, theneck being almost as large as the body, which is made entirely of skin and girdled with a leather strap, on which rests the ivory bridge; thirteen tine steel strings pass through thj's bridge and enter the ivorylined' liolSs ranged the length ot the neck. Over these are four large catgut strings upon which tlffi bow plays, while the office of the wire strings appears to be the production of a sweeter sound by the addition of finer vibrations of the sounds received from the larger strings. “ Chinese violins are the exact size and shape of a croquet mallet. The hollow head, or what would be called the body of a violin, has an end-covering of reptile skin, over which three strings, corresponding to the lower strings of the English violin, are stretched to the reed handle or neck. The Chinese guitar resembles the American banjo, and is made entirely of light-colored wood, no metal being employed. The strings are of catgut. All Japanese and Chinese stringed instruments have a small bell hung inside the body to jingle with the picking ot the strings. “An Egyptian wood (pronounced with-' out the w sound), or modern Egyptian guitar, made in 1456, is pronounced by the owner valuable above everything else in the collection. It is in shape much like our own guitar, but it is rounded underneath like the Chinese instrument. The network covering tlie sound-holes is a most beautiful piece of intricate and artistic tracery. “Another instrument, without either name or history, is in form and size something like a violin, though, unlike that, it has no sounding-board, but is hollow and open. The extreme end of the neck is carved in the form of an ibis, and, as that was the sacred bird of the Egyptians, it is not unlikely that this odd little affair was rudely carved from a solid block and partially covered with the skin of a reptile by- some unskilled Egyptian of long ago. It lias but three strings, and was doubtless played with a bow. “An ingenious piece of mechanism picked up by Dr. Tourjee while in Germany is an English violin, with a finger-key-board of six keys and a piano-forte action. The key-board is on one side of tlie body ot the instrument and, by devices inside, hammers respond to the touch of the keys, and passing up through holes in the center strike the twelve steel strings, which are grouped six into tlirecs and four into pairs, while two others remain single. These strings are tuned with a watch-key. They are attached to brass hooks very ingeniously fitted into grooves and connected with screws whose ends are turned into posts. The fingers of the left hand play over the frets, w-liile those of the right manipulate the keys. The Instrument is finished in the highest style of workmanship and is probably the . only one of its kind in existence. “The question will naturally arise as to the final disposition of this musical cabinet, and it may be stated that Dr. Tourjee is not the man to gaiher such s. collection to gratify an individual selfishness, but has continually held iu view the public good and hopes at some time .to,-be able to give it to an American university in which a chair of music shall be.permanently founded, and this will be one of his legacies to the musical world.”