REED, the name of gramineous plants of the genera phragmites and arundo. The common reed (phragmites communis, Trinius) is a fine showy grass growing in overflowed grounds, and not uncommon on the edge of deep muddybottomed ponds in eastern New England. It has an annual stem (culm), attaining a height of 8 to 12 feet, and very erect and smooth; its leaves are 1 to 2 feet long, broad, flat, and pointed, so that a group of plants at a little distance resembles a field of maize. The genus phragmites was distinguished from the Linnæan arando on account of its flowers, the lower foret of the spikelet being barren and the fower stalk (rachis) being fringed with silky hairs. The roots of the common reed are perennial, and extend laterally, forming entangled and thick masses. On the banks of the Thames in England, the plant is encouraged to cover embankments, as the running roots strengthen the river walls, and prevent their wasting away by the action of the stream. The culms make the very best thatch for covering roofs of buildings or in the construction of screens and mats used in protecting hot-beds in kitchen gardens, and even in forming a substratum in plaster floors. The flower spikes will dye wool green, and the roots are reputed to be diuretic and diaphoretic. The reed is common to both hemispheres, and is widely distributed. The cultivated reed (arundo donar, Willd.) is common in the south of France and Italy, where it is artificially raised for use as fence wood, for supporting the vine, for fishing rods, and for many other purposes; a variety with variegated leaves was once considered an ornamental plant in gardens. The arundo tecta and gintea of Walter are southern plants, now kown as belonging to the genus arundinaria of Michaux; the latter is called the cane, with arborescent culms 10 to 20 feet high, rigid and mple the first year, then branching, and, after fiting at indefinite periods, decaying; it is fnd on the banks of the larger rivers from North Carolina to Florida. The former is the outhern reed, with culms 2 to 10 feet high; linear lanceolate leaves, acuminate, roughish; ikelets solitary or in a simple raceme at the immit of the branches, or frequently on leafVOL. XIV.-1

less radical culms. It flowers in February and March, and grows in swamps from North Carolina to Florida. The sea reed (ammophila arundinacea, Roth.) is common to Europe and the United States, and is found useful in resisting the shifting of sand upon sea beaches.-Other grasses have the trivial name of reed, such as the reed bent grass (calamagrostis), of which several species are common to this country.

REED, HENRY, an American author, born in Philadelphia, July 11, 1808, died Sept. 27, 1854. He was graduated at the university of Pennsylvania in 1825, and began the study of law in the office of John Sargent in Philadelphia. In 1829 he was admitted to the bar; in 1831 was elected assistant professor of English literature in his university, and shortly after assistant professor of moral philosophy; and in 1835 was elected professor of rhetoric and English literature in the same institution. In the spring of 1854 he visited Europe, and upon his return voyage was lost in the steamer Arctic. He wrote the life of his grandfather, Joseph Reed, in Sparks's "American Biography;" "Lectures on English Literature from Chaucer to Tennyson" (1855); "Lectures on English History, Shakespeare," &c. (1856); and "Lectures on the British Poets" (1857). He long maintained a correspondence with Wordsworth, and after his death he edited the American reprint of his memoirs. He also edited Reid's "Dictionary of the English Language," Graham's "English Synonymes," Arnold's "Lectures on Modern History," Lord Mahon's "History of England," and the "Poetical Works of Thomas Gray," with a new memoir.

REED, JOSEPH, an American officer, born in Trenton, N. J., Aug. 27, 1741, died in Philadelphia, March 5, 1785. He was graduated at Princeton college, and commenced the study of law at that place in his 16th year. In 1763 he went to England, where he continued his studies until the troubles produced_by the stamp act began, when he returned to Trenton, entered upon the practice of his profession, and in 1767 was appointed deputy secretary of New Jersey. Revisiting England in 1770, he married a daughter of Mr. Dennis De Berdt, agent for the province of Massachusetts Bay, and on

his return settled at Philadelphia, took an active part on the side of independence in the political struggles of the time, and through his English connections opened a lengthened correspondence on the subject with Lord Dartmouth, secretary for the colonies. In 1774 he was appointed a member of the general committee of Philadelphia, and in Jan. 1775, president of the first provincial convention held in Pennsylvania; and he was a delegate to the continental congress which met in May. On the formation of the army he was appointed aidede-camp and secretary to Gen. Washington. In 1776 he was made adjutant-general, and his local knowledge was of great value in the attack at Trenton, and also at Princeton. Early in 1777 he resigned the office of adjutantgeneral, and was appointed chief justice of Pennsylvania, and named by congress a brigadier-general. He declined both offices, and continued to serve in the army as a volunteer, without rank or pay. He was present at nearly every engagement in the northern and eastern portions of the Union, in some of which he had horses killed under him, but never received a wound. In 1778 he was elected to congress, and signed the articles of confederation. About this time he was approached by one of 3 British commissioners, Gov. Johnstone, with an offer of £10,000 and the most valuable office in the colonies if he would exert himself to promote a reconciliation between Great Britain and the colonies. His answer was: "I am not worth purchasing; but, such as I am, the king of Great Britain is not rich enough to buy me.' In the same year he was made president of the supreme executive council of Pennsylvania. While in this position he exerted himself very successfully to suppress an armed insurrection that occurred in Philadelphia; the revolt of the Pennsylvania line was also suppressed mainly by him. His "Life and Correspondence" was published by his grandson, W. B. Reed (2d ed., Philadelphia, 1847).

REED BIRD. See BOBOLINK.

REED INSTRUMENTS, among musical contrivances, a numerous and diverse class, including all those the tones of which are due to vibrations imparted to a body of air in a tube, throat, or chamber, by means of the pulsations of a thin lamina or tongue of wood or metal having one end fixed and the other lying over or within an aperture, and actuated by forcibly directing through this a current of air. Technically, such a lamina is termed a reed. It has two general forms. In the first, seen in the clarinet, the reed is larger than the opening through which the air is to pass, and in pulsating alternately closes and opens it, beating against its margins. This form, among European nations doubtless the earliest known, is distinguished as the beating reed. In the second, seen in the accordion, the dimensions of the reeds are slightly less than those of the aperture, so that, in pulsating in consequence of an impulse and of its own elasticity, it moves

within the current of air only, alternately allowing and interrupting its passage; this is hence termed the free reed. It is proposed to consider in this place only those instruments involving the free reed.-A small, short, metallic tube, containing a single tongue or reed of this form, fitted to yield upon blowing into one end the note A or C, has long been known, and probably first in Germany and Holland, and is termed a pitch pipe. Père Amiot, a French missionary to China, early described the cheng, or Chinese organ, a small instrument consisting of a series of tubes, each hav ing its free lamina or tongue, and acted on by the breath of the performer; and this appears to have been in common use in that country from a period so early that its origin is lost. Whether M. Grenié, who in 1810 introduced free reeds into the construction of the organ (see ORGAN), actually reinvented this form of reed, as believed by Biot and others, or whether he adapted it from the pitch pipe, or directly from a knowledge of the Chinese instrument, it may not now be practicable to determine; but in any event, it appears certain that in point of antiquity, and probably of direct origin, the credit of this invention must be awarded to oriental ingenuity. Knight states that the accordion was brought from Germany into England about 1828; but it is quite certain that as early as 1825 instruments upon this principle were known in the United States, stated by some to have been devised by Mr. J. II. Bazin, of Canton, Mass., upon having brought to him (in 1821) a pitch pipe for repairs. This claim must at present be considered doubtful. French accounts refer the accordion to a period previous to 1829. Wherever the free reed may have been first applied to the making of a small or hand instrument, the modifications thence arising, especially between about 1825 and 1835, were in rapid succession and numerous. Among the earliest of these were Wheatstone's molina and concertina, the latter in form of a bellows with two hexagonal faces, on the upper of which were 4 rows of finger stops or studs; by pressing down the latter, air was admitted to act on the corresponding tongues within. The attempts to improve the accordion, by enlarg ing it and extending its scale, naturally ren dered it unwieldy, and thus led to a form of organ with free reeds only, and without pipes, the bellows being worked by the foot. Such was Mr. Green's seraphine, and the French mélodium (in England and the United States, melodeon), one form of which latter, also termed the harmonium, appears to have been the invention of M. Debain of Paris, and improved by MM. Alexandre, father and son, being still (1861) manufactured by the house established by the elder Alexandre for the making of accordions in 1829. The most improved form of this instrument is in France now known as the orgue-mélodium, or piano Liszt; in this country, as the Alexandre organ. Other French instruments, of the earlier date

above spoken of, were the poikilorgue and symphonium; of the German, some of which were mall, and probably all ephemeral, were the ophon, phys-harmonica, colo-musicon, &c. In 1841 Mr. Evans, of Cheltenham, Eng., prodaced a harmonium of two banks of keys and 24 octaves of pedals; but the instrument was not brought prominently forward until 19. The objects of this inventor were to overcome the nasal and harsh quality of tone, and the slow speaking, then characterizing the French and English instruments; and he is said to have produced ultimately a pure tone of fine quality, with rapid utterance, and without loss of power. This is the form of harmoniam to be found described in English works. la it the several rows or series of reeds degned to give the different registers or parts in the harmony performed are, as in the Alexandre organ, placed horizontally across the instrument, at the same level, and separated from each other by partitions; the arrangement being such that the particular compartments or series to which the air shall be admitted in performing are determined by the knobs or stops that have been drawn out at the time. (See ORGAN.) In the English, as in the French instruments, also, the tardy reFonse of the reeds to the action of the air is corrected, in most instances, by a device known as the percussion, by which, the proper stop being drawn, the touching of any key instantly canses the blow of a small hammer on the reed, its vibration, thus promptly begun, being then continued by the current of air. In all tarse forms, moreover, the agitation of the reeds is produced by means of more dense or compressed air forced out of a bellows across the reeds, and acting of course against the ordiLary atmospheric pressure on the opposite side; and generally the reeds themselves are placed low in the instrument, often beneath the key board, so that the sound is liable to be somewhat smothered or interfered with in consequence. Some radical improvements were invented by Mr. J. Carhart (see MELODEON), the changes introduced by him having been worked out as early as 1839, and his instruments being manufactured in large numbers, in Buffalo, N. Y., in the year 1846. On the principle of the suterior fulness and sweetness of those tones in e accordion made when the air is drawn into The bellows, as compared with those formed by forcing the air out, he so constructed the bellows of the melodeon that it should expel the air from the chamber into which the reed passages opened; this chamber and the space within the bellows freely commuating, and being maintained while playin the condition of a partial vacuum by means of stout springs, which gradually disted the bellows as often as force has been Lad to compress and empty it of the entering

on by the in-flowing streams of air. As a result of this arrangement, all the registers open directly into the one exhausted chamber; and they are conveniently placed in rows one over the other in the manner of shelves or successive segments, each horizontal row divided in the middle to form two registers. The construction of this part of the instrument finally adopted and now in use is the invention of Mr. E. P. Needham. Again, to open the registers, complicated connections and slides are not required, but simply for each a narrow horizontal door hinged on its lower edge, and directly pulled down by a wire making a single angle with the draw-knob. The chamber being during performance partially exhausted, if the edges of the several upright shelves or segments and of the horizontal doors to the registers are properly adapted and faced with soft leather, the external atmospheric pressure completes the connection of these parts, and secures air-tightness and strength of the whole; while in other instruments the condensed air within operates continually to strain and weaken the connections. Thus, in this instrument, the parts are readily taken apart for repairs, being stayed by pins only, and as quickly put together again; and the reeds are thus directly accessible. The closing of any register is made to open a small valve within it, called a pneumatic stop, by which communication with the exhausted chamber is at once made both above and below the reeds, and the latter are then within the exhausted chamber; but upon opening the register, this valve closes, and thus other communication is cut off above, and the reeds have the exhausted space now only within, the atmosphere acting from without. The touching of any key is made to open (if the instrument have but one bank of keys) the corresponding valve in every register. If then all the registers be open, all the reeds so uncovered are caused by the entering air to sound; if some of the registers only are open, only the reeds in these can sound. With two banks of keys, couplers are required in order to put all the registers at pleasure under command of one. When by couplers the keys have thus been connected with valves in all the registers, the drawing of the knob grand jeu, or grand organ, opens all the registers, and affords remarkable power of tone and effect. These arrangements are more common in the larger instruments or harmoniums. By variously curving the reed in an inward direction, its impact upon the air is also modified; and Mr. Carhart was in this way enabled to secure the effect known as voicing, as well as some of the differences of quality required for the different registers. In any reed, the rapidity of vibration, and hence the pitch, depend on several particulars, chiefly the length and weight of the reed, and its relative thickness at the two ends. If the reed is thick at the free end and thin at the fixed, its tone is deep; if the reverse, acute. Hence, the reeds are roughly at