AEOLIAN HARP, a stringed musical instrument, played automatically by the wind. It consists of a long narrow sound box made of deal or pine over which ten or a dozen catgut strings of varying thickness are stretched. The sounds are pro duced by the play of the wind across the strings causing them to vibrate in aliquot parts, i.e. (the fundamental note not being heard) the half or octave, the third or interval of the twelfth, the second octave, and the third above it, in fact the upper par tials of the strings in regular succession.
The principle of the natural vibration of strings by the pres sure of the wind was recognized in ancient times. King David, we learn from the Rabbinic rec ords, used to hang his kinnor (kithara) over his bed at night, when it sounded in the midnight breeze. The same is related of St. Dunstan of Canterbury who was in consequence charged with sorcery. The Chinese at the present day fly kites of various sizes, having strings stretched across apertures in the paper, which produce the effect of an aerial chorus.