Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1892-09-03
SWEET MUSIC As MEDICINE,

SWEET MUSIC As MEDICINE.
Instead of Toning Up Sick Man He May
| BE Tuned Up"
From the New York World
| Prof. Tarchanow of St. Petersburg lectured
| recently The Influence of Music on the
Human Organism" and aft rmed that music is
of the greatest service in the treatment of dis
ease. and that, By the proper use of music the
system can be tuned" like musical instru-
ment- Sufferers from nerve disorders can, he
states, be sOothed by music, but the remedy
must be employed with discrimination as in
some cases it produces an effect contrary to
that which is intended.
Well. opium will do that and so will many
other drugs when they not used with dis
elimination" SO that is disparagemeIt to
the therapeutic virtue of music. SO If Prof
1archanow is right-and he is a scientific man
the degree of musical Doctor such as was con-
ferred on Sir Arthur Sullivan Is very likely to
have new significance. The subject opens UP
rather n broad view
Where viii college for such musical doc
tors be located? Where cab a man studying
musical medicine learn the effect of some he
roic remedy. like the trombone, without orig
mating scoUrge of nervous diseases? The
bass drum NAV be an admirable substitute for
L
how is that fact 20 be determined? II il posi-
BILE. however. TO build the college in the middle
OF some vast. uninhabited tract, where profess
sors. students and patients can literally wrestle
with the problem.
There are of course only certain number of
musical instruments. Will a musical doctor
Use all OF them in his practice will they make
up his PharmacopGia. or will he become q
specialist on one instrument. first violinist so
to speak. IN the grand orchestra of the pro-
7 fesslon: IL he becomes II specialist he must
treat different diseases BY administering diff
ferent tunes. The swan song from ..Lohep-
grin would naturally have one effect upon a
man in a ht; ..Ia-ra-ra-boom-de-aY' another
frof. larchanow attributes the frequent failure
of music to cure disease to its being used a; the
wrong time and in unsuitable cases. So of
course the young musical practitioner will ex-
ercise the incest judgment. He can Law down
some standard rules like Wagner in case of
stupor" or ..Offenbach In melancholia,' - but he
VIII never dream of giving Il Owe Ten Dollars
I TO u Grady when an unfortunate has taken
arsenic with suicidal intent or of prescribing
the newest ballet music for girl suffe: ing with
st. Vitus dance.
The Russian savant expressed the conviction
that IA time will come when music in the hands
OF scientifically trained physicians will be &C.
I knowledged TO be an agent of great power for
! the relief of suffering. 1t would be row IL 1t
were in the hands of scientifically trained
physicians" Their training has taught them
to detect human suffering. They can see q
man vince when his ear is shocked: they can
See him squirm and twist. smiling all the time
while some one sings The Last Rose Of Sum-
mer out of tune. They can, in fact. hear his
teeth CRATE when his favorite air is PLAYED false
| Can the ordinary young person at the piano do
that? Can the leader of the German band?
Can the fellow with the hand organ?
| How can music fail to relieve" exclaims
1archanow, when q series of cases has proved
/ that Il Is the most powerful regulator of mems
moods and feelings which dominate many sides
of the psychical and physical life Of the organ
ISM A profane critic might suggest that
musicians as a class, do not exemplify that per-
feet regulation of their emotions which might
be expected The professor has doubtless
never seen two bandmasters pulling each others
hair IN night about the proper tempo Of the
| Dead March In Saul. IL is even possible that
he has never heard of rival prima donpas
scratching and clawing. But this failure to
regulate the emotions of musicians NAV be the
result of the tolerance begotten of overuse
The same thing happens in the medicine of the
present day. An old morphia 6end can take
| enough of the drug to kill a dozen ordinary
men. Then there are, of course, those Styrians
who. beginning to take arsenic when they are
young. are. in years. able to eat ii as some peo-
pie do garlic.
However all this NAV be, the sedatiye effect
OF music on patients in whom the instrument of
mind Is like sweet bells tangled out of tune
and harsh" Is universally admitted. Canon
/ Hartford. an Englishman. has reported clinical
experiments made by the st. Cecilia Guild that
show that it has distinctly beneficial effect in
certain cases of insomnia. Here. too one would
think the tune employed would have to be
chosen with very nice judgment. II q gentle
man is in a condition that he sees pink monkeys
with azure tails running up and down his bed
posts it would presumably be better TO play to
him Throw Him Down, McClusky" on the
French horn than go to Sleep, My Baby" on
| the cello.
Music. doubtless, will relieve pain. not by
acting on the nerve centers, but by distracting
! the sufferers attention. This is the true 6eId
for music as a therapeutic agency, and it il I'm
probable that 1t ever can do more Orpheus
made trees and mountains dance to his lutte
and the Pied Pipers music purged Hamelin of
rats, but 1t is very doubtful whether Canon
Hartford will ever charm away tumor or rid a
tubercuious lung of bacilli. Within limits
however. music may be a most useful hand
maiden TO medicine, and in this age of '.neryes'
ii might possibly be made 70 plav an i'm
portant part in the prevention Of the many
diseases which are fostered if not actually en-
gendered by depression and fatigue. Canon
Hartford and his colleagues may be encouraged
| 10 psrsevere in their efforts TO press the most
spiritual of the fine arts into the service of
suffering humanity.