Page:The story of the flute (IA storyofflute1914fitz).djvu/282

 ." Fetis, the musical historian, always carried one about with him. Flutes-à-bec of this description, with two keys, were made as late as 1800; but they were more usually transverse flutes. Mr. Rockstro describes one which consisted of two small flutes placed in a line and so arranged that two persons walking arm-in-arm could play duets on them; each flute had four wooden keys fashioned in imitation of the stumps of twigs. Other sticks had a flute at one end and a piccolo at the other, and some contained also a sword. Several specimens are to be seen in the Museum of the Paris Conservatoire, and they are still to be met with occasionally in slop-shops. Clinton had a flute-case made to resemble a closed umbrella. In the days of Nicholson ornamental head-joints and rings were much used, and Monzani made head-joints fluted like Greek pillars. Another curious feature in some early nineteenth century flutes is that although the tube is outwardly cylindrical it is inwardly conoidal. In some very modern flutes the wood or ebonite of the head-joint is thinned till it becomes a mere shell, and in others this is done to the entire tube. This is supposed to produce a sympathetic and beautiful tone more easily, but there is always a risk of breakage and of leakage of air.

Several strange inventions have appeared from time to time, none of which has ever become general. Böhm invented a curious moveable "crutch" for the purpose of obtaining a steady hold of the instrument and