The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-06-12
MUSIC CURE IS REVIVED.
DELIGHTFUL REMEDY FOR mag.
MARY Ills.

l Lucky Hit Of "A New York Doctor-Is
Called "a Genius by His Woman
/ Patients IN the smart Set-An EN-
/ Pensive Treatment-Society VIA
irons order Special Gowns Made.
History of the Origin OF the Won
! derfuI Cure.
From the Philadelphia Press.
! The fashionable physician VINO has TO
/ cope with the eccentriclties of imagi-
/ nary invalids has hit upon a new cure
for the supposed ills Of the body and
/ mind. IL is the music cure. 4 year or
| two ago the color cure was In fun swing.
/ ana il is being used TO some extent now
! with patients afflicted with nervous dis
| orders. In the color cure tine patient lives
/ in "a room where everything IS OF the
same shade-pale blue, pink. old rose.
| golden yellow or some other soft color.
] The windows are fitted with glass OF the
/ prevailing color, and the room is always
/ situated where the sun viii stream through
! the colored glass at all hours IN the day.
! 1t is supposed to have a soothing effect
/ upon the minds and in not few cases
/ has proven successful. some physicians
We're so caught with the idea that they
! introduced these colored rooms IN asylums
! for the insane. but in this use they have
not been the cause Of much improve
ment.
] The music cure. while a new thing TO
! the present generation. is older than civil
! lzatlOn. 1t requires only search through
/ the books of the ancient to find frequent
/ references TO its curative powers. ana 10
/ seems that the physicians and scientists
] of chose days We're i'm the habit OF pre-
/ ScrIDIng IL for their patients. or course
/ 1t is only applicable TO mild forms OF
! certain troubles, mainly those OF a ner-
] NOuS character.
! Cleopatra called music "the moody food
| of love" The Bible tells of the sottening
| of Sauls anger by the music Of David's
! harp In times of pestilence and plague in
! the cities of Southern Europe, In the days
! of the ancients. it was the custom OF the
| authorities to MOOD the town win music
| 20 divert the minds of the people from the
| disaster which threatened them.
! Il has long been known that music in
! cites the action of the heart, and that this
| action influences the circulation of the
| blood, causing it to coincide with the
| changes IN the breathing. IL has also been
| demonstrated that the functional actiV-
! ity of the skin is powerfully stimulated by
! music. OF course. these results are not
! experienced by every one, but II Is very
] rare that music has detrimental effect,
| and for this reason physician can pre-
! scribe it without anw twinges of CON
! science, particularly when the ills Of the
! patient are largely imaginary.
a New York woman, the wife of a great
! railroad magnate, was given the music
| cure during the Lenten season, and now
| she claims that it has entirely freed her
/ of a nervous trouble This particular wo-
! man is very large and very healthy look
! ing, and it would seem that a sudden eX-
/ plOsion Of giant powder would not shake
| her nerves. She made the usual rounds of
! the fashionable world during the gay sea-
! son, and seemed a. robust and as strong
| as any one. But when Lent arrived she
! summoned her physician and contided to
| him that she feared she was upon the
| verge of mental DrOstrat!on. This seem
| ed unaccoun table TO the dOctOr,a the lady
| was not in the habit of fatiguing her
/ u g.
! she attended some fashionable reading,
and even then she talked most Of the time.
/ But the physician did not voice this
! knowledge. He argued that the lady's
/ malady was an unusual one, and would
! require exceptional treatment. He knew
| that she was very fond Of music, and had
] a particular fancy for a harp. This gave
| him an inspiration, and the music cure
4 was launched upon the world Very deft-
! persons afflicted like herself, and conclu-
! ded by suggesting that she engage the
| services Of a harpist to play for her three
| afternoons in the week.
This idea was delightful medicine for
the afflicted one. She regarded herself as
! fortunate in owning malady which re-
| quired some delicate treatment She knew
| IL would bring her vast fame among the
! members of her set. That they would be
! The harpist was sent for and an arrange
| ment made by which she was to play
! three afternoons each week for four
weeks. The harpist charged 5000 a week
| for her services, but the patient did not
| worry about this. SO much pleasure and
! novelty for a paltry $500 was unquestion-
| ably cheap. So the harpist came on Mon
| day Wednesday anS Friday and played
| while the afflicted one reclined on a couch
| in the music room.
A modiste was called in to fashion some
| house gowns which would give the patient
| a less robust look, and when these were
! speedily fixed up she determined to invite
| a few of her most intimate friends to lis
| ten to the music of the harpist These
friends We're greatly impressed by the
| spectacle.
cts 50 dreadfuny touching, my DEAR"
''You bear up wonderfully we'll And
such strange illness, too" another would
remark.
| had never realized how the nerves were
/ soothed by the music of a harp. 1 think,
my dear, your physician must really be a
/ genius. 1t is perfectly wonderfull'
| When the Lenten season closed the af-
! f1cted one was completely cured, and
! the fame of her physician had increased
| ten-fold. Unfortunately, the revival of so
| cial pleasures and the necessity of pre-
| pairing for the spring trip to Europe
! for the purchase Of summer finery inter-
| fered seriously with the plans OF other
| nerve-stricken women to take the music
| cure, but at the first lull in the social
| world they can be counted upon to take
! advantage of the opportunity.
| The physicians of century ago gave
| much thought and study to the efficacy
| of music when applied to victims of GER
! tain diseases. one writer on the subject
| says:
! Mr. Buretti, an eminent physician, who
| made the music of the ancients his par
| ticular study, was of the opinion that
music has the power of affecting the
| whole nervous system, so as to give
temporary relief in certain diseases; and
| Jacques Bonnet, in his Historic de la Mu-
| sique Q725), tells how on one occasion he
was entertained by. a friend then in the
! service Of the Prince of Orange with
| the performance of three first-rate must
clans who We're constantly employed by
| the prince to keep him free from melan-
| choly.
''The same remedy. It may be remem-
| bered, was used by Philip V of Spain,
when as the result of bereavement, he fell
! into a state Of melancholia~ The queen
| got Farinella to sing regularly to him,
| and as a result his health was very soon
! restored. Moreover, Ferdinand VI inner
! tied the same melanchola from his father
| Philip and was also cured in a like man
! ner Apropos of all this, old Burton,
! when he penned his Anatomy Of Melan-
! eholy,' was not likely to forget music
! as a potent remedy for that too imprac-
! ticable malady; but he also cites the re-
! Eef afforded by it in the hands Of the
| physicians to many frantic persons and
] +p1Ie how (tiiufag and EmDe1OclpS CuTed