Cardona stood in profound amazement as he saw the commissioner's friend swing what seemed to be a most fragile instrument: a sledge hammer with both head and handle that resembled glass.

The wrapped, fragile instrument in Dakar's arms became all that stayed him from violence.

The huge eyeballs crunched inward, destroying the fragile instruments within.

During the war, Brookley became Mobile's largest employer, with about 17,000 skilled civilians capable of performing delicate work with fragile instruments and machinery.

The group is directed by Dean Drummond, a former Partch assistant who was able to borrow the rare and fragile instruments for these performances.

The saw u is a very fragile instrument and is played traditionally on the lap sitting down.

But what fascinates this self-described "humanistic naturalist" even more are the ways in which a certain "odd and excessively fragile instrument - the human mind - comes to know this world outside."

I saw for a moment the true tenuousness of his hold on his power, the miracles that he had wrought with such a fragile instrument.

An ongoing campaign to help musicians travel by air with confidence, taking fragile, hand-held instruments in the cabin as part of hand baggage allowance.

On this trip, the Pasachoffs were accompanied by a dozen astronomy students from Williams, Wellesley, Swarthmore and other colleges, as well as several tons of fragile instruments.