Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 40.djvu/492

 were played with the fingers; sometimes a piece of bone or ivory was used with the lyre as a plectrum.

The dulcimer, which of all musical mediums is nearest to the piano, has been likewise traced into the dim recesses of history,

{{c|{{fs85|TRANGULAR HARPS. 1. Ancient Egyptian Harp, from instrument in Egyptian Museum, Florence. 2. Ancient Egyptian Harp {Wilkinson). 3. Ancient Egyptian Harp (Wilkinson). 4. Persian Chang (from Persian MS. 410 years old) Lane's "Arabian Nights."}}}}



and was known doubtless as early as the harp. In a piece of antique sculpture—an Assyrian bas-relief—in the British Museum, a dulcimer may be seen illustrating the principle of sound production in strings by percussion.

Another bas-relief represents a procession of triumph after the victory of Sardanapalus over the Susians, where the dulcimer is used.

Having shown the antiquity of these instruments of the string family out of which the piano has been evolved, we pass over a space of centuries and come to the next major development of the idea. This was the introduction of finger-keys in the organ, which were in the beginning struck with the clinched fist. Guido is said to have first applied them, in addition to his other historic achievements.