The Pioche weekly record. [volume] (Pioche, Nev.) 1877-1900, 1892-10-20
MUSIC AS MEDICINE.
INSTEAD or ToNiNG UP A SICK
MAN NE MAY BE "TUNED UP"

surpested by an Eminent Physician of
1t. Petersburg-someT Tunes That Would
ma r,.noropriste for Certain Ills.
Professor Tarchanow. of st. Peters
burg. lectdfed recently on "The Infiu-
amaze Of Music on the Human Organism
and affirmed that music is of the great
est service In the treatment of disease,
and that, by the proper use of music,
the system can be ''tuned" like a musical
instrument. Sufferers from nerve dis
orders can, he states, be soothed by
music, but the remedy must be employed
with discrimination, Us in some cases 1t
produces an effect contrary to that
which Ia intended.
Well, opium will do that, and so will
many other drugs when they are not
FUSED with discrimination, so that is
no disparagement to the therapeutic vir-
tue Of music. So Professor Tsrchanow
Is right--and he is scientific man-the
degree of musical doctor, such as was
conferred on Sir Arthur Sullivan, is
very likely to have new significance.
The subject opens up rather a broad
view.
Where will college for such musical
doctors be located? Where can man
studying musical medicine learn the
effect of some heroic remedy, like the
trombone, without originating scourge
Of nervous diseasesp It is possible, how
ever. to build the college in the middle
Of some vast, uninhabited tract, where
professors, students and patients can
literally wrestle with the problem.
There are Of course only a certain
number of musical instruments. Will
O musical doctor use all Of them in his
practice, will they make up his pharma-
coposia. or will he become a specialist
on one instrument, first violinist, so to
speak, in the grand orchestra of the pro-
fession? II he becomes specialist he
must treat different diseases by admin
istering different tunes. The swan song
from "Lohengrin" would naturally have
one effect upon man in fit; clara
ra-boom-de-ay" another. Professor Tar
chanow attributes the frequent failure
Of music to cure diseases to its being
used at the wrong time and in unsuita-
ble'cases. So Of course the young musi-
cal practitioner win exercise the incest
judgment. He can lay down some
standard rules like wagner in case of
stupor," or "Offenbach in melancholia," I"
but he will never dream of giving 81
Owe Ten Dollars to O'Grady," when an
unfortunate has taken arsenic with sui
cidal intent, or Of prescribing the newest
Rcx, feo--
Vitus' dance.
The Russian savant expressed the con-
viction that time will come when mu-
sic "in the hands of scientifically trained
physicians" will be acknowledged to be
an agent Of great power for the relief of
suffering. It would be now If it were
sin the hands Of scientifically trained
physicians" Their training has taught
them to detect human suffering. They
can see 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 Summer
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 fell
low with the hand organ2
"How can music fail to relieve" ex-
claims Tarchanow, "when series Of
cases has proved that it is the the most
powerful regulator of mems moods and
feelings which dominate many sides OF
the psychical and physical life of the
organism" A profane critic might sug.
gest that musicians as class do not OK.
emplify that perfect regulation" Of
their emotions which might be expected
The professor has doubtless never seer
two bandmasters pulling each others
hair in fight about the proper tempo
Of the Dead March in Saul. It is ever
possible that he has never heard of rival
prima donnas scratching and clawing
But this failure to regulate the emotions
OF musicians may be the result of the
tolerance begotten of overuse. The same
thing happens in the medicine Of thu
present day. An old morphia fiend car
take enough Of the drug to kill q dozer
ordinary men. Then there are of cours,
those styrians who, beginning to take ar
senio when they are young, are in year
able to eat It as some people do garlic.
However all this may be, the sedativ,
effect Of music on patients in whom tn.
instrument Of mind is "like sweet bell
tangled out Of tune and harsh" is uni
versally admitted. Canon Hartford, al
Englishman, has reported clinical ex
periments made by the st. Cecilia guile
that show that it has q distinctly bene
6cial effect In certain cases Of insomnia
Hare, too, one would think the tun,
employed would have to be chosen will
very nice Judgment.
Music doubtless will relieve pain
not by acting on the nerve centers, but
by distracting the sufferers attention
This is the true field for music as {
therapeutic agency, and it is improbabl,
that it ever can do more. Orpheus mad,
trees and mountains dance to his lutte
and the Pied Piper's music purgst
Hamelin Of rats. but it Is very doubtful
whether Canon Hartford will eve
charm away tumor or rid q tubercu
lous lung Of baoili. Within limits
however, music may be most usefu
handmaiden to medicine, and In this ag
Of "nerves" 1t might possibly be made I.
play an important part in the prevention
Of the many diseases which are fostere,
II not act,, a1lv ar, ooudared nv denroaa;r,