Page:The story of the flute (IA storyofflute1914fitz).djvu/92

 facility of rapid execution was obtained, chiefly by means of an open D hole for the second and third octaves, and less work thrown upon the thumb and little finger of the left hand, which are always weak. In 1867 Carte brought out another flute known as "The 1867 Patent Carte and Böhm Combined Flute" (Page 68, Fig. 3), which unites the advantages of the original Böhm with those of Carte's 1851 flute. The principal changes are in the key mechanism of the F♮ F♯ and B♮ B♭. It also affords a great variety of fingerings for each note.

Clinton in 1848 patented some quite useless modifications, reverting more or less to the old system of closed keys, and contradicting much of what he had said two years previously. In 1855 he published a pamphlet about a new flute which he termed "The Equisonant Flute," retaining much of the old system of fingering, and having different diameters of the bore for the different notes to imitate the human larynx, a curious and valueless notion. A partisan of the Böhm thereupon asked if "equisonant" meant "equally bad all over," on which Mr. Rockstro remarks that unfortunately it was unequally bad! He next (1862) brought out a flute with cylinder body and equally graduated holes, getting smaller as they approached the mouth-hole. This flute, which gained a gold medal in the exhibition of 1862, was strongly advocated by Skeffington. It had not, however, even the merit of originality, as Böhm had tried graduating the holes before 1851, but had abandoned the idea. In 1863