. Annual report of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution. Smithsonian Institution; Smithsonian Institution. Archives; Discoveries in science. PREHISTORIC ART. 553 that this was an iustruuieut no doubt used in prehistoric times Wetzstein is of the opinion that the use of the ram's horn may have been borrowed by the Israel- ites, and goes bai'lc to a people who were engaged solely in the care of sheep. By these it was used as a signal of alarm. * * * (p. 438). There seems to be little doubt that it has been continu- ously used in the Mosaic service from the time it was established
. Annual report of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution. Smithsonian Institution; Smithsonian Institution. Archives; Discoveries in science. PREHISTORIC ART. 553 that this was an iustruuieut no doubt used in prehistoric times Wetzstein is of the opinion that the use of the ram's horn may have been borrowed by the Israel- ites, and goes bai'lc to a people who were engaged solely in the care of sheep. By these it was used as a signal of alarm. * * * (p. 438). There seems to be little doubt that it has been continu- ously used in the Mosaic service from the time it was established until now. * * * 'Phe shofar was not the only natural horu used by the Israel- ites as a musical instrument, but no copies or rep- resentations of the other instruments have come down to us. The sliofar is described at length by Dr. Adler, together witli the regulations as to its use and the reference made to it in the Bible. He says (p. 446): From the Talmud we learn that the use of the shofar as a note of alarm of war was transferred to other seasons of danger and distress. Famine plague of locusts, and drought (Mishna Taauith, I, 6) occasioned the blowing of the shofar. The shofar was employed at the public cere- mony of excommunication. (Wetzstein, p. 67.) A very curious use of the shofar in later times ^ was in funeral ceremonies. (Wetzstein, p. G7.) I ?h agree with Wetzstein that this use of the instru- I 5 ment is quite apart from the usual Semitic custom, " g and it was probably borrowed. i« ^ As a signal instrument of war it has its various g uses, possibly according to the note that was blowu. It was the signal for going out to battle, for the announcement of a victory, and for a recall of the troops. He figares many shofars on plates XCYIl-C, which are fully described, and to which reference is made for further in- formation. But in the jjlate first mentioned he shows many aboriginal horns similar to the shofar, principally from Africa. Figs. 1 and 2, plate 08,
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