Delsarte, Fran

ÇOIS ALEXANDRE NICHOLAS CHERI, born at Solesmes, France, Dec. 17, 1811. He was the son of a physician, but in early life was left an orphan and was forced to gain his living as a rag-picker. When but twelve years of age he devised an original system of musical notation, which attracted the attention of Bambini, a musician, who adopted the boy and gave him a musical education. His voice failing under the training of the Conservatoire, he abandoned singing and became a teacher and investigator. For years he sought to discover a natural and scientific basis for musical and dramatic expre ion, and won such fame that leading exponents of oratory and music sought his institution. The medal of arts and sciences and the cro of a chevalier of the Guelph order were conferred on him by the King of Hanover. The results of his studies were not published, only charts and fragmentary writings remaining in evidence of his philosophical system. Died in Paris, July 19, 1871. Delsarte System. The system developed by François Delsarte, now looked upon as the basis of the highest art-criticism and culture, has no records to indicate its full character, being largely traditional. Delsarte based it on the dogma: "There is in the world a universal formula, namely, the trinity, that may be applied to all the sciences and to all things po ible.' This trinity, as applied to man, includes sensation, mind and soul; or a vital, mental and emotional nature; each distinct in itself, yet indi olubly united to the other two. Of this triune nature, the vital portion is expre ed by tones, the mental by words, the emotional by gestures. Again, in the body the limbs are the agents of the vital nature, the head of the mental, the trunk of the emotional; and each of these, again, has three subdivisions in accordance with the trinity hypothesis; in the trunk the abdominal region being vital, the lung mental, and the heart emotional in expre ion. This theory is applied to the bodily motions, of which, in Delsarte's idea, all those from the body are vital, those toward the body mental, and those centered around the body emotional. Delsarte carried his principles into a philosophical system of expre ion, illustrating his conceptions by a series of facial and pantomimic movements. The Delsarte system has become popular in the U. S., and has been made practicable by its application to the development of health. Three series of movements are employed; one consisting of relaxing motions for removing nerve strain and conserving the vital energies; a second of movements for directing and increasing the nerve energy; and a third-of an æstheticcharacter-for harmonizing the threefold powers of man. Health, harmonious development, and natural expre ion are held to be resultants of these exercises. Del'ta Metal. ( Metall .) A bra , or alloy of copper and zinc, to which manganese has been added. Ferromanganese is employed for this purpose, and a little silicon-usually present in the ferro-manganese-is added. The use of this substance adds iron to the compound, but this needs to be small in quantity. The properties of D. M. are similar to those of phosphor bronze, the silicon and manganese modifying the properties of copper in the same way as phosphorus does in phosphor-bronze. D. M. is used for parts of machinery and for ornamental work.