In a study of our system of writing music, it may be as well to begin with the derivation of our sharps and flats. Observing the third hexachord on our list we see that in order to make it identical in structure with the first and second, the B had to be lowered a semitone. Now the third hexachord was called soft. The B[flat] in it was accordingly called a soft B or B _molle_, which is still the name in France for a flat, and _moll_ in German still means minor, or "soft" or "lowered." For the fourth hexachord, which was called hard, this B was again raised a semitone. But the flatted B was already indicated by the letter _b_ or round _b_, as it was called; hence this B natural was given a _square_ shape and called B _carre_, [illustration]. The present French word for natural (when it is specially marked) is _becarre_; the German word for major also comes indirectly from this, for _dur_ means "hard." An explanation of the modern German names for notes will be easily understood in this connection. In the German nomenclature the letters of the alphabet stand for the notes of the scale as in the English, with the exception of B. This B, or "round" B, in the German system stands for B[flat], which is more logical than our English usage, since our flat is merely a slightly modified form of _b_. The German B natural is our letter _h_, which is merely a corruption of the square _b_, [illustration], which by the addition of a line in time became our [natural]. The Germans have carried the flatting and sharping of tones to a logical conclusion in their present nomenclature, for by "sharping" the sound of a single letter it is raised a semitone from its normal diapason, thus F becomes _Fis_, G _Gis_. On the other hand, in order to lower a tone, the letter representing it is "flatted," and F is called _Fes_, G _Ges_, the only exception to these rules being the B which we have already considered.