There is one particular part of the finishing of the violin which calls for remark, and in the absence of evidence to the contrary must be put to the responsibility of Stradivari. This is known as the "black edging." It cannot come properly under the term decoration, as it has no variety in its management and consists only of the blackening of the squaring off of the junction of the ribs; likewise at the edges of the turns of the scroll and continued down the front and back of the peg-box to the shell. Its first appearance is not possible to determine and will probably remain unknown. Nicolas Amati did not introduce it, his work being of the kind that had no accommodation, or sufficient surface for it. Once begun, however, Stradivari seems to have persistently held to it. There is no proof positive that it was henceforth his invariable rule to put this kind of finish. The parts concerned are the first to receive and show signs of wear; therefore an instrument must be very fresh indeed to have much "black edging" left. Viewed from an artistic standpoint it cannot be considered an improvement, or any adornment, for, however neatly it is executed, the work of hand beneath is more or less obscured. Further, the eye of the connoisseur is distracted by it, and the neatness of the work is not seen to advantage until the black has become nearly effaced. Other makers of renown, besides Stradivari, adopted this method of putting the final touches to their work, Giuseppe Guarneri, I.H.S., Carlo Bergonzi, and other later makers, among them Storioni. Concerning the rise of the arching, or modelling of the periods above referred to, there has been much erroneous supposition in connection therewith. That all the early "Strads" were of high build, that the progress was gradual towards the "flat model," that Stradivari was feeling his way and becoming enlightened as to the necessity of reducing the arching in order to obtain a fuller and more telling tone with better ring; further, that the channelling or "scooping" near the border was gradually reduced for the same reasons, and that these things did not reveal themselves at once, but gently dawned upon his perceptions; moreover, that he earnestly communed with nature, made numberless experiments concerning her acoustical and other mysteries, and that the outcome was faintly looming in the horizon and soon was to blossom forth as the golden period, with grand pattern, all of which is really nothing more than grand "tomfoolery" spread abroad a generation since by critics "having an eye" only to such things that seemed to them agreeable with the conditions and surroundings of money getting commodities.