The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1885-05-09
THE MADNESS OF MUSIC.
It's Effect on the Central NIolecule
and DR.. Solsam's Cure.

Aus 1IL4CSO C14 viz ~ Oil u GU 4fLO4CCl4lSJ
and DR.. SolSam's Cure.
On the evening of the 10Th of September,
1855, made call upon my old university
friend, the illustrious Dr. Adrien Selsam,
professor of general pathology, chief of
clinics, family physician to the Grand
Duchess, etc, etc. found him alone in his
magnificent apartments on the Bergstrasse.
His elbow was resting on a small black
marble table, while his eyes were plunged,
so to speak, into a crystal bowl, which ap-
peared to me to contain perfectly limpid
water. Notwithstanding the purple rays
of twilight which effected an entrance
through the three high windows which
overlooked the palace gardens, the thin
face, sharp nose and peaked chin of my
friend Selsam-as l now saw them reflected
in the glass bowl-assumed a CHASTITY hue.
One might readily have imagined it a
guillotined head, an illusion which was
heightened by the scarlet lining of the
dressing gown.
Raising my voice, asked
"What are you doing there, my friend?
Meditating, l should judge, upon the doc
trine of Sangrado!"
But he met my raillery with such an
ambiguous expression of countenance that
was completely surprised.
Theodore" said he, after a pause, ''this
is not a subject for jesting. am studying
the malady of your respected aunt, Lady
Annah Wunderlich. Her symptoms, as
you described them yesterday, are very
serious; those Civilizations, those ecstasies,
that nervousness, and above ALL the ex-
aggerated expressions of the venerable
lady in abiding to Haydn's creation,
Handel's orat0rios, and the symphonies of
BeethoVen-au Indicate a very alarming
disorder"
"And you pretend to have discovered
this in that bowl of fresh aterI"
Just so; it was most fortunate chance
that brought you here. was wishing for
you"
Then, pointing to violin which hung
upon the wall:
"Will you play for me the Requiem by
Mozart?"
This request seemed so singular that I
could not but wonder whether my friend
Selsam, like my poor aunt, was not becom-
ing little childish; but he, divining my
thoughts, smiled ironically, saying:
"Reassure yourself, dear Theodore, my
intellectual faculties are unimpaired. /
am on the eve of a grand, a sublime dis
covery."
''Good! That's all sufficient"
And taking down the violin | examined
1t with covetous eye. 1t was one of
which had been made by order of Frederick
II. wherewith to accompany his flute-per-
feet, irreproachable instruments, which are
deemed by certain connoisseurs the equal
of the Stradivarius. Be that as it NAV,
scarcely had | run the bow across the
strings, than all that | had heard in its
praise fell short of the reality. The ele-
gance of the work, added to the exquisite
purity of its tones transported me to the
seventh heaven.
so, great, great master!" / exclaimed.
o, sublimemusician! Who could be insen-
sible such grace, strength and inspiration ~
My hat fell upon the floor, my eyes
sparkled, my knees trembled, was beside
myself. Selsam, the crystal bowl, and my
aunt's illness no longer existed for me.
Finally, after the lapse of an hour, |
arose, as from dream, from DR.. Adrien's
lounge, upon which | had been reclining,
and asked myself wonderingly, what had
TRANSFERRED. l saw Selsam holding strong
magnifying glass before the bowl; the
waters in it were troubled; thousands of
infusioria crossed one another in every di-
rection.
"Well, Selsam," said 1, in a feeble voice,
"are you satisfied"
Then with q beaming face he approached
me, and taking both my hands in his i'm
preSSively, he exclaimed
"Thanks-thanks, my dear and worthy
friend, you have rendered science a val
liable service"
was wonder struck. " What! by
playing piece of music have contribu-
ted aught to science-I"
eyes, dear Theodore, | will not leave you
in ignorance of the glorious part which
you have taken in the solution of a grand
problem. Come, follow me; you shall see
all-understand all"
Helighted a candelabrum-nigh having
fallen-then opened a side door, and signed
to me to follow him. | experienced the
most profound emotion while passing
through several successive apartments, as
though my entire being were about to
undergo some subtitle change, that would
now receive the key to hitherto invisible
worlds The candelabrum cast a lurid
light over the sumptuous furniture of the
elegant establishment; the ornaments, the
pictures, the carpets faded away in the
shadows; smiling faces peeped at us from
out their frames as we passed by. The
light crept in and out of the gliding, and
finally conducted us to the top of n high
stair case, the baluster of which was of
bronze. We descended into an interior
court, tae sound of our furtivo footsteps
echoing in the distance like q mysterious
whisper. Several doors opened upon this
court; before one of these Selsam stopped
and turning toward me said:
"This is my amphitheatre. 1t is here that
l work, that | dissect. Donot be alarmed
Nature parts with her secrets only
through the hands of the dead"
tits useless to deny that was frightened
l would have receded, but Adrien having
passed in without awaiting my reply,
could not but follow him. 1 Therefore
entered, pale with emotion, and on large
oak table saw corpse-the corpse of
young man-eXtended the hands crossed
uOon his bosom, his head thrown back