Evening journal., 1892-09-14
MUSIC AS MEDICINE.
INSTEAD OF ToNlNG UP A SICK
MAN He MAY BE TUNED UP.D

enee 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, as in some cases it
produces an effect contrary to that
which is intended.
Well, opium viii 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. Soft Professor Tarchanow
is right-and he is a scientific man-the
degree Of musical doctor, such as was
conferred ON Sir Arthur Sullivan, is
very likely to have a new significance.
The subject opens up rather a broad
view.
Where will a college for such musical
doctors be located? Where can a man
studying musical medicine learn tho
effect of some heroic remedy, like the
trombone, without originating q scourge
of nervous diseases? Il 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 q certain
number Of musical instruments. viii
a musical doctor use all Of them in his
practice, will they make up his pharma-
cop9ia, or Will he become a specialist
on one instrument, first violinist, so TO
speak, in the grand orchestra Of the pro-
fession? If he becomes q specialist he
must treat different diseases by admin
istering different tunes. The swan song
from "Lohengrin" would naturally have
one effect upon man in a fit; "pa-ra-
ra-boom-de-ay" another. ProfessorTar-
chanow attributes the frequent failure
of music to cure diseases to its being
used at the wrong time and in Unsuita-
bic cases. So of course the young must
cal practitioner win exercise the incest
Judgment. He can lay down some
standard rules like Wagner in case of
stupor," or ''Ofenbach In melancholia, 4"
but he will never dream Of giving i
Owe Ten Dollars to O'Grady," when an
unfortunate has taken arsenic with sui
cidal intent, or of prescribing the newest
ballet music for girl suffering with st.
Vitus' dance.
The Russian savant expressed the con-
/ victiOn that a time will come when mu-
sic sin the handsof scientifically trained
! physicians" viii be Acknowledged to be
an agent Of great power for the relief Of
suffering. 1t would be now if It We're
Gin the hands Of scientifically trained
/ physicians" Their training has taught
them TO detect human suffering. They
can see u man vince when his ear is
shocked; they can see him squirm and
| twist-smiling all the time-while some
one sings 1.-THE Last Rose Of Summer
out of tune. They can in fact hear hi:
teeth CRATE when his favorite air Is
played false. Can tho ordinary young
person at the piano do that; can the
leader Of tho German band; can the fell
low with the hand organ?
"How can music fail to relieve" ex-
claims Tarcnanow, "when a series OF
cases HIS proved that it is the the most
powerful regulator of mems moods and
feelings which dominate many sides OF
she psychical and physical life of the
orgahismT A profane critic might sug
gest that musicians as a class do not ex
emphfy that perfect regulation" OF
their emotions which might be expected
Tho professor has doubtless never seer
two bandmasters pulling each other,
hair in a fight about the proper tempo
Of the Dead March in Saul. It is ever
possible that he has never heard of riva
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 SAINT
thing happens in the medicine of thl
present day. An old morphia fiend car
take enough Of the drug to kill a dozeI
ordinary men. Then there are Of coursl
those Styrians who, beginning to take ar
senic when they are young, are in year
able TO eat 1t as some people do garlic.
However all this may be, the sedativl
effect Of music on patients IN whom thu
instrument Of mind is like sweet bell
tangled out Of tune and harsh" Is uni
versally admitted Canon Hartford, al
Englishmnn, has reported clinical ex
periments made by the st. Cecilia gull
that show that it has a distinctly bene
fetal effect in certain cases Of insomnia
Here, too, one would think the tun
employed would have to be chosen witt
very nice judgment.
Music doubtless will relieve pain
not by acting on the nerve centers, bu
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 aud mountains dance 10 his lutte
and tho Pied Pipers music purge
Hanelin of rats, but it is very doubtful
whether Canon Hartford will eve
charm away n tumor or rid a tubercu
lous lung of bacilli. Within limit.
however, music may be u most usefu
handmaiden to medicine, and in this az
of NERVES" it might possibly be made t
play an important part-in the preventio
Of the many diseases which are fostere
if not actually engendered by depressio
ard fatigue Canon Hartford and hi
colleagues may be encouraged to persG
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