APPRENTICE SCHOOL, H.M. DOCKYARD, PEMBROKE DOCK, 18th April, 1856. SIR,-May I be permitted to congratulate you on your truly important exposure of a fallacy by which the greatest philosophers have been deceived?

I also at first believed you mistaken, but the following considerations irresistibly prove that you are in the right.

The Earth's period of axial rotation is universally allowed to be the time which elapses between two presentations of any meridian towards the Sun's centre, instead of towards a fixed point in space, as a star,-the difference being nearly four minutes. On this principle, it is clear that the Moon can have no rotary motion on its axis, the same meridian being constantly directed to the centre of the Earth.

No experiment can controvert this view of the case.—I have the honour to be, Sir, your most obedient Servant,

JELINGER SYMONS, Esq.

SAMUEL A. GOOD.

CLEVEDON, SOMERSETSHIRE,
Saturday, April 19th.

SIR,—I take the liberty of sending you a line to say, that immediately after seeing the attack of the first seven letters against you, I wrote a letter to the Times, in support of your view, adding such fresh arguments as occurred to me, and observing that this was by no means the only case in which a vague and inaccurate mode of expression had led the astronomers into error.

I see by to-day's paper an eleventh hostile letter (that from Mr. Hopkins), and cannot but wonder how it is that the Times should choose to be so unfair towards you as not to give any letter on your side except your own—for, of course, they must have had many.

I have written, lately, a work on the "Scientific Certainties connected with Planetary Life," and earlier, a work on the "Nature and Elements of the External World;" so that I have an interest in not appearing to disadvantage before the public, yet I have no objection to its being known that my opinion is the same as yours.

I gave my name to the Times, and should have no objection to repeat my letter if you saw any use in it; nor should I object to your using my name if you wish.

If the Earth kept one of its poles constantly directed towards the Sun, during its whole revolution in its orbit, it would thereby have, in one sense, an annual rotation on its axis as well as a diurnal one-the one rotation on one axis, the other on another axis; yet it is very evident that no astronomer would speak of its having more than one rotation on its axis; and so also if the Moon had one of its poles in the centre of its disc, so that we could see a rotation on its axis, lasting the same time as her revolution round the Earth, it is clear that the Wranglers and Professors who now attack you would then see a great impropriety in their present application of the term rotation.

Trusting that you will resolutely persevere, I am, Sir, your obedient Servant,

T. C. SIMON.

Since these letters were written, Mr. W. Hopkins, a gentleman who was Seventh Wrangler in 1827, and who "coaches" aspirants for the Tripos with great success, wrote an angry letter, expressing his "scientific horror" of Mr. Symons's views, in the Times of the 19th ult., and affirming, that since the Moon, as that gentleman states, turns round the Earth, presenting the same hemisphere always to it, that is rotation round her own axis! Mr. Symons replied in the next Times in a caustic letter, which his adherents conceive demolishes this statement, and proves conclusively that it is a complete misuse of geometrical terms to apply the term axial rotation to any revolution of a sphere which has not the centre of rotation within it. Mr. S. also describes the difference between lunar orbital revolution and axial rotation in the Spectator thus :--" In the former, no point in the hemisphere of the Moon nearest the Earth ever revolves round her centre; and all points in her body describe concentric rings round the earth in axial rotation, every point rotates round the centre of the revolving body, and none form concentric rings round the Earth."

We reserve further remarks, and a shoal of letters, till our next.

METHOD OF TEACHING SINGING IN SCHOOLS. GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF A RATIONAL METHOD.-Continued.

III. ALL the most usual major scales should be equally practised.
There are two reasons for this principle.

The first reason is that, taking only the most usual scales, there is about as much vocal music written in one scale as in another. One would think, from the proportional amount of attention frequently bestowed by teachers on the several scales, that by far the largest quantity of vocal music was written in the natural scale, the next largest (although little by comparison) in that of G, the next in F, and so on. Now every musician knows that this is not the case; indeed, that it is very far from being the case. It is immaterial, in this connection, to inquire in what proportions vocal music does occur in the various scales, although that might be determined with tolerable certainty even on à priori grounds. It suffices here to say, that there is no such preponderance in the case of any one scale as to warrant us in devoting more time to it than to the others.

The second reason for this principle is, that the scales are all equally simple in themselves, being repetitions of the same type. Their apparent difference in point of difficulty is entirely attributable to the different degrees of complexity in their signatures; that is, the difficulty lies in comprehending the notation by which they are ordinarily represented. This may at once be perceived by supposing that some other scale than C, say, for example, E, were the natural scale: the scale of E, which, with its present signature of four sharps, is looked upon by the learner as very difficult, would then be entirely free from these puzzling signs, and as easy to him as the scale of C now is. It happens that the very positions which are occupied on our treble staff by the notes of the scale of E are occupied by the notes of the natural scale on the corresponding staff of the Germans, who for the most part still retain the old soprano clef. This will be seen from the following illustration (Fig. 1) :—

FIG. 1.-SCALE OF E ON ENGLISH TREBLE STAFF.

And it is obvious that, by varying the position of the clef, we could make the degrees at present occupied by any one of the sharp or flat scales to be those of the natural scale; and, when this was done, there would be no difficulty in reading the scale, for there would be no signature to disguise it. But this is done in effect by the employment of the same names for the notes of all the scales; and, therefore, with this expedient, the signatures are totally unnecessary: all that the learner requires to know, in this as in the former case, is the place of the key-note, which can be stated by means of ordinary language, or otherwise intelligibly

indicated. The names are a sufficient guide to the intervals. These are measured simply by finding the relative positions which their extremes occupy when referred to the key-note; for which purpose it is only necessary to count the degrees of the staff. When the relative positions of the extremes have been determined, and the general names applied to them accordingly, those names at once indicate the intervals on the common standard adopted for all the scales. Thus, so long as sounds are sung by their relative pitch, the sharps and flats of the signatures are of no use whatever; it is only when they are sung by their absolute pitch that it is necessary to know these signs. This plan of dispensing with the signatures in the early stages of the instruction has been carried out by M. Weber, in the singing method which has been adapted to English use by Mr. Unwin; and we consider it one of the most original and valuable features in that excellent work. M. Weber indicates the place of the key-note, when it stands on a line, by thickening that line throughout the piece of music, and, when it stands in a space, by marking that space at the commencement: a very good plan whenever it is practicable, as it calls into requisition the powerful assistance of the eye.

The same object is attained by the ingenious device of a literal notation, in the method of Miss Glover and the Reverend John Curwen, which, in the recognition of sound principles of musical science, especially the great fundamental principle of key-relationship, appears to us to be in advance of all other English methods. The literal notation consists of the movable names dissociated from musical notes. The following illustration (Fig. 2), which is copied from the Tonic Sol-fa Reporter for January, 1855, may be interesting to the reader who is unacquainted with this notation :

We subjoin the same passage in the musical notation (Fig. 3) :

er:

Thus the literal notation dispenses, not only with the signatures, but with the entire musical notation, excepting only the bars. The one general scale is completely abstracted from the representation of diversity of absolute pitch; and the relative heights of the sounds of this scale are

taught by means of a large diagram, which the pupils are supposed to have always present to their minds in deciphering the notation. There can be no doubt that the object is effectually attained by this expedient; but the pupils must come sooner or later to the musical staff; and therefore, if the same object can be equally well attained by employing the staff at once, such a course is obviously preferable; and we think it may be by the expedient which we have recommended.

IV. The exercises practised at first, and for a considerable time, should be entirely free from chromatic notes, and from modulation.

It is of first importance that the pupil should have a very clear impression of the major scale-the principal elemental form of the whole structure of music, and the foundation of the whole system of the instruction. He must be made thoroughly familiar, both theoretically and practically, with its sounds and intervals, in their relation and order of succession. The introduction of extraneous sounds and intervals, which would obviously tend to confuse or to weaken the impression, must therefore be carefully avoided at the outset.

The next important thing is, that the pupil should realize the fact that all the various scales are but repetitions of this form at different pitches of the voice. Now, in order that he may do this, it is obviously necessary that the music selected for the practice of any particular scale, in the commencement, should be wholly and solely in that scale. When he has learned to sing in the scales separately, and has fully gained the impression of their similarity, then, but not till then, will it be reasonable to set him to sing music in which two or more scales are combined secundum artem, that is, melted into one another with gradations as little perceptible as the skill of the composer can make them.

Important as this principle is, we know of no method, excepting those of Mr. Curwen and Messrs. Turle and Taylor, in which it appears to be fully recognized. Open most manuals, and you find, either that the chromatic notes are explained near the commencement, or else that some of the first exercises in the sharp and flat scales contain modulations, or perhaps both. In one method, the chromatic notes are explained as early as in the fourth lesson. In another, a tune which is given for practice in seven different scales, in order to exemplify their similarity, has been purposely and, we grant, ingeniously constructed to exhibit the two primary modulations (into the dominant and the sub-dominant). It is intended, we are told, to serve as a preparation for every scale,” but in every case the exercise (in the same scale) which immediately succeeds it is simpler than itself, not containing any, or containing only one modulation. That is "preparation" with a vengeance.

66

It is particularly important that this principle should be acted upon by the teachers of our primary schools, because many of the children may not remain long enough to go through the whole of even an elementary course of instruction in this subject. If the teacher of such a school will endeavour to accomplish the object of enabling his pupils to read simple music (that is music free from chromatic notes and modulation) in all the most frequent scales, before he attempts anything beyond this with them, then those pupils who remain only part of the course will at least have a chance of mastering a certain integral portion of the subject. Indeed, in the present condition of our primary schools, if the teachers were to accomplish this object, and nothing more, with the scholars generally,

they would impart to these an amount of skill in deciphering written music which in itself would be a most valuable acquirement, and which, being complete and vital, though rudimentary, could not fail to lead in many instances to its own development.

L

There is no deficiency of sufficiently simple secular music suited to school children. In most collections of school songs, about one-half of the number of pieces (sometimes more and sometimes less) are totally free from both chromatic notes and modulation. We have taken the pains to count the number of such pieces in the collections of which we happen to possess copies, and we have found the following results :

There

The quantity of sacred music of the requisite degree of simplicity is smaller; but still there is quite enough to form a class by itself. is a considerable number of psalm and hymn tunes, a large proportion of the single chants for the psalms, and many of the double chants.

This class of music includes most of those tunes, both sacred and secular, which are universal favorites. Among the sacred tunes are the Old Hundredth, the Advent Hymn, the Evening Hymn (as originally written), and the Vesper Hymn, Irish tune, and some other fine old psalm tunes. Among the secular tunes are, "God save the Queen," Britons, arise," "The British Grenadier," "Scots wha hae," "Bonnie Dundee," and other national songs, besides several of the most popular ballads of each of the Three Kingdoms. Tunes which attain to such general popularity are necessarily characterized by simplicity and unity of effect.

V. The common nomenclature of the scales is inapplicable to tunes in which modulation occurs.

The object of the common nomenclature is, as we have already shown, to enable the pupil to recognize the separate scales as similar structures. This it effects by always calling up the same natural and well-defined series of ratios upon a given sound, as a basis or root, the moment that sound is selected and the initial name applied to it. So long, therefore, as the ear depends upon the names for suggesting the sounds, it is absolutely necessary that it should have a very distinct impression of the key-note, the foundation of the whole system. This lost, the whole of the ratios are lost with it. The ear is adrift at sea; nor will it get into course again, until the position of the key-note has again been fixed.

But in a modulation the key-note changes, and the ear is sure to be thrown out in this manner. To ask the pupil to guide his ear by finding