George Gemunder, an American violin maker, born at Ingelfingen, Wurtemberg, April 13, 1816. He was a pupil of Baptiste Vuil-laume in Paris, and removed to the United States in 1847. establishing himself in Boston, Mass. In 1851 his violins obtained the prize medal of the world's fair in London. In 1852 he removed to New York, where he has since lived. Vuillaume .and other makers of violins in Europe adopted the practice of giving a pseudo-antiquity to their wood by a chemical process, in order to gain for their instruments a desirable quality of tone; but wood thus treated soon loses its resonance, and after a time the instruments become worthless. Gemunder, rejecting this method, has succeeded with natural wood in producing violins which fulfil every requirement, and in respect of volume, power, equality, and quickness of tone, are fully equal to the work of the best old masters. In the model and finish of his instruments, and especially in the varnish, he is exceedingly successful. He reproduces faithfully the distinctive characteristics of the old Italian violins, so that his instruments are often taken for genuine productions of Cremona. One called the Kaiser violin, finished in 1873 and exhibited in the great exposition at Vienna, was pronounced an Italian violin of the classic period, because it was believed impossible to produce so fine a tune in a new instrument.