fixe_." As the name implies
the nut was a fixture externally but contained a smaller metal nut
that travelled inside it. These nuts were very unsightly as they were
much more bulky than the ordinary nut. It is curious that it never
occurred to him that the movement of the internal nut would similarly
affect the balance. A sort of windlass in the nut would have been
more exact, but, as a matter of fact the difference is more
theoretical than practical, and is imperceptible to the player, so
the fixed nut, like many other examples of wasted ingenuity, died a
natural death.

Another of Vuillaume's patents was the steel bow. This was often a
handsome looking instrument. Some were "got up" to look like Brazil
wood and others were of a bright blue. As this was the natural colour
of the metal it was more commendable but had a very odd appearance.
These bows were not much heavier, if at all, than the average bow as
they were hollow throughout. They were deficient in balance and had
one great drawback. Though stronger and tougher in one sense than the
wooden bow they would not stand so much knocking about. A bow, even
in the hands of those accustomed to handling them, is liable to have
an occasional fall, and if not broken, is as good as ever; in fact a
bow rarely breaks unless it falls peak downwards. On the other hand
the steel bow would generally "kink" or get dinted and bent if it
came in contact with anything in a fall and would then be entirely
useless. A third mistake of Vuillaume's was the curved ferrule.
Thinking it would be advantageous to give the player a good spread of
hair at the heel he made a ferrule that gave the ribbon of hair as it
left the nut something the appearance of the hair in the primitive
Egyptian bow illustrated in Fig. 11. This is still to be met with in
some cheap foreign bows. A further notion of his was calculated to be
of great benefit to such players as might find themselves in
out-of-the-way places with a bow in need of new hair and no _luthier_
or bow-repairer within reach. This was the "patent self-hairing bow."
Its principles were sometimes used in conjunction with the "fixed
nut" and steel bows. The hair for this bow was sold ready made into
ribbons of the exact length by having a small brass rod placed
transversely at either end; these rods slipped into appropriately
shaped notches in the head and nut and the bow was haired. It does
not appear to have been satisfactory and has gone the