Home1815 Edition

MACHUL

Volume 12 · 120 words · 1815 Edition

an instrument of music among the Hebrews. Kircher apprehends that the name was given to two kinds of instruments, one of the stringed and the other of the pulsatile kind. That of the former sort had six chords; though there is great reason to doubt whether an instrument requiring the aid of the hair-bow, and so much resembling the violin, be so ancient. The second kind was of a circular form, made of metal, and either hung round with little bells, or furnished with iron rings suspended on a rod or bar that passed across the circle. Kircher supposes that it was moved to and fro by a handle fixed to it, and thus emitted a melancholy kind of murmur.