he action of moisture in the atmosphere, or in fact take longer time
before releasing the two surfaces it may have been holding in contact.
There is not much difficulty in getting glue very satisfactory in most
respects--as good animals die now-a-days as ever got into the gluepots
of the old masters--but it must be selected. That kind used extensively
in the German manufactories is said to be a fish glue, remarkably hard,
very light in colour and almost opaque. This is not to be recommended
for violin repairs; it holds the parts together with such tenacity that
fresh fractures are likely to be caused in undoing a portion, a process
often very necessary; professional repairers will tell you "it tears
the wood too much." The glues mostly in favour among upper class
repairers are those known as Russian, Cologne and Isinglass, all good;
they are light in colour, very firm, not too brittle, and transparent.
There are other varieties to be had of excellent quality and which
conform to the conditions required. Thick cakes of a dark brown colour
with an unpleasant odour should be avoided; they are too easily
affected by the atmosphere, turn bad in the gluepot under very little
provocation from damp warm winds, and spoil the look of good and refined
workmanship. There are many different kinds of glue sold under various
titles, some termed "liquid glue," others cement, apparently for
saving the very insignificant time and trouble in warming up the
orthodox solution; but none appear satisfactory in general and many
of them are even detestable. There are some adhesive materials used
in India where warmth and damp have their full play and make short work
of an old master's joints, but these cements of the Eastern Hemisphere
are likewise unsuitable for the kind of work under consideration, as
when once dried, being unaffected by damp to any extreme, they are of
course difficult to remove when further repairs have become necessary.

One of the special advantages of glue to the repairer is its yielding
to the direct application of moisture, so that in future repairings
the old stuff can be washed completely out and fresh glue used over
clean work. Let all amateur repairers therefore, abstain from seeking
after a vain thing of the nature of glue impervious to moisture. One
word more, as preachers say, and that is as to the preparation or
melting of the glue--simplest of processes--some pieces of selected
glue put into a small glazed gall