In a message dated 97-09-06 01:53:34 EDT, Mike Knudson writes:

> Fully visible was one of Ben Franklin's foot-rotated glass harmonicas,
> with all the nested glass bowls; I've never seen one in its native USA.

The instrument is the glass armonica (not Harmonica) and one can be seen
in the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, PA.  I am sure there are others
around in museums.  These were in favor around 1800 but not everyone
liked them.  There were even people that said that the eerie sound could
make the evil spirits enter your body and cause you to become possessed.
They fell out of popularity as a concert instrument after a fairly short
time.

They are generally constructed like a set of nested saucer bells and
rotated at a leisurely pace on a common shaft.  The artist then wets his
fingers and touches one of the glass saucers creating a sound, the same
as running your finger around the rim of a crystal goblet.  The sound is
flute-like with a bit of strings mixed in.

The famous theater organist, Denies James, has done a lot of research on
these and has had several constructed and is currently giving concerts on
them.  Hope this helps.

Bob Conant
Endicott, NY