Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 36.djvu/519

Rh with us, and the discovery of which goes back to ancient times. I mean the music of silk. My countrymen, even before they had invented the art of working silk and making cloths of it, had discovered the secret of making it musical, and of drawing from it the sweetest and most tender sounds. From the time of the Emperor Fo-Hi (3000 ) they made an instrument consisting of



 The steps in front lead to the clear water In which, carried by a maiden, the skein Is rinsed; on the right a turning wheel Winds it, for ready hands to change it oft, With care that it do not get knotted and tangled.

a board of soft, light, and dry wood, on which they stretched cords of silk twisted between the fingers. The board gradually assumed a definite shape and curvature, with measured dimensions. The cords were more artfully spun and composed of a determined number of fibers, and the number of them was fixed according to the character of the instrument desired. These cords, properly adjusted as to size and tension, were made to give