How We Stand To-day--Automatic Players--Specifications of Notable Organs: St. George's Hall, Liverpool; Notre Dame, Paris; St. Paul's Cathedral, London; Westminster Abbey; Balruddery, Scotland; Worcester Cathedral; Yale University, U. S. A.; St. Paul's Cathedral, Buffalo; Paris Theatre, Denver; Cathedral of St. John the Divine, New York; University of Toronto, Canada; City Hall, Portland, Me.; Liverpool Cathedral, England INDEX TO ILLUSTRATIONS The Organ in St. George's Hall, Liverpool, Eng. . . . _Frontispiece_ Prehistoric Double Flutes The Wind-chest; Front View. The Wind-chest; Side View. The Pneumatic Lever Nomenclature of Organ Keyboard Portrait of Moitessier Tubular Pneumatic Action The First Electric Organ Ever Built The Electro-Pneumatic Lever Valve and Valve Seat, Hope-Jones Electric Action Portrait of Dr. Peschard Console, St. Paul's Cathedral, Buffalo Console on Bennett System Console, Trinity Church, Boston Console, College of City of New York Principle of the Sound Trap Sound Trap Joint The Vacuum Shutter Series of Harmonics Estey's Open Bass Pipes Diapason Pipe with Leathered Lip Haskell's Clarinet without Reed Diagram of Reed Pipe Vowel Cavities Diaphone in Worcester Cathedral Diaphone in Aberdeen University Diaphone in St. Patrick's, N. Y. Diaphone in Auditorium, Ocean Grove, N. J. Diaphone in St. Paul's Cathedral, Buffalo Diaphone Producing Foundation Tone. New Method of Tuning Reeds Portrait of Aristide Cavaille-Coll Portrait of Charles Spachman Barker Portrait of Henry Willis Portrait of Robert Hope-Jones. Keyboards of Organ, St. George's Hall Keyboards of Organ, Notre Dame, Paris Keyboards of Organ, Westminster Abbey Organ in Balruddery Mansion, Dundee, Scotland The Author Playing a Hope-Jones Unit Orchestra THE RECENT REVOLUTION IN ORGAN BUILDING CHAPTER I. AS IT WAS IN THE BEGINNING. "The Organ breathes its deep-voiced solemn notes, The people join and sing, in pious hymns And psalms devout; harmoniously attun'd, The Choral voices blend; the long-drawn aisles At every close the ling'ring strains prolong: And now, of varied tubes and reedy pipes, The skilful hand a soften'd stop controuls: In sweetest harmony the dulcet strains steal forth, Now swelling high, and now subdued; afar they float In lengthened whispers melting into cadenced murmurs, Forming soft melodious strains, and placid airs, Spreading gently all around, then soaring up to Heav'n!" --_Dryden_.