When I was invited by the Association to read a paper on Mechanical Piano-players, my memory carried me back to a lunch party of some twenty people that I attended in New York shortly before I left there some three years ago, at the end of the second lecture season that I had spent in that interesting country. The hotel at which the lunch was given bears a deservedly high reputation for its' cookery, but what was my surprise on glancing at the menu to see that it contained not a list of things to eat, but a series of topics suggested for conversation! After each course our hostess would rap on the table and address some leading question to some particular guest, who was expected to reply briefly, and then that particular topic lasted till the next course. All the people at the lunch were supposed to be qualified to talk interestingly on some particular subject, and the question to which I had to reply was directed to ascertain my opinion as to the value of the Pianola in musical education. I remember that I replied that I considered the “Pianola” as great an aid to the proper appreciation of fine music as was the invention of printing to the wide spreading of knowledge of the great literature of all ages.