is a martial musical instrument in form of a cylinder, hollow within, and covered at the two ends with vellum, which is stretched or slackened at pleasure by the means of small cords or sliding knots. It is beat upon with sticks. Drums are sometimes made of brass, but most commonly they are of wood.—The drum is by Le Clerc said to have been an oriental invention, and to have been brought by the Arabians, or perhaps rather the Moors, into Spain.

Kettle Drums, are two sorts of large basins of copper or brass, rounded in the bottom, and covered with vellum or goat skin, which is kept fast by a circle of iron round the body of the drum, with a number of screws to screw up and down. They are much used among the horse; as also in operas, oratorios, concerts, &c.

Drummer, he that beats the drum; of whom each company of foot has one, and sometimes two. Every regiment has a drum-major, who has the command over the other drums. They are distinguished from the soldiers by cloaths of a different fashion: their post, when a battalion is drawn up, is on the flanks, and on a march it is betwixt the divisions.

Drum of the Ear, the same with the tympanum. See Anatomy, p. 141.