REED INSTRUMENTS. The Chinese appear to have had an instrument comprised in a series of tubes with tongues, played upon by the mouth, as early in their history as we know anything about them. For the accordion we are indebted to Germany, Avlicre it was invented in 1820. Reed organs were invented in the United States, the first patent having been taken out in 1812, and including all reed instruments. It was not until five or six years later that a reed organ was actually made, and then it was very imperfect. Between 1825 and 1835 a large number of reed instruments were devised, mostly intended to be played by hand, as in the case of the concertina. The reed organ was, in fact, an enlargement of the accordion, conceived when that instrument had grown to a size that was unwieldy. This became an instrument with free reeds and without pipes, supplied with wind by the working of the foot. Under the names of seraphine, melodeon, and harmonium, it was gradually improved until it became no instrument of great power and sweetness. The melodeon was greatly improved by Mr.
J. Carhart as early as 1836, and ten years later his instruments were being largely manu factured, and became very popular. In his instrument the reeds were acted upon by inflowing streams of air, by means of a special arrangement of the bellows. This was Still further improved later on by Mr. E. P. Needham. A new discovery in this direc tion was that of the effect produced by curving or twisting the reeds, and was made by Mr. Emmons Hamlin of Rome, N.. Y., in 1848, and applied to the now well-known Mason & Hamlin organ. At the Paris exposition of 1855, the American reed organs produced a marked impression, and this has been increased with the promulgation of each new improvement in these instruments. See HARMONIUM, ante.