> The largest reason that the instrument failed in concerts is because
> no one could hear it past the orchestra pit!  It is a _salon_ instrument
> with a very soft, thin, ethereal voice.  With modern electrical amplifi-
> cation it might work, but electrifying a water-filled instrument?

Didn't it fail also because performers were being adversely affected by
continuously rubbing their fingers on glass with a lead content?

The instrument can be seen and heard at the Ben Franklin Museum in
Philadelphia.  When I was there, the state park ranger demonstrating it
was a woman who knew nothing about music.  At one point she played an
octave-and-a-fifth & insisted both tones were "A".  I tried to prove to
her that she was wrong by counting out the notes: "A, A-sharp, ..."

"No," she interrupted, "There is no A-sharp.  That's a B-flat."

So this museum, a tribute to one of America's original geniuses,
is put in the hands of ignoramuses.

Ed Berlin