The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1900-05-03
THE HEALING POWER OF MU-
SIC.

with the work of the Pathological
Institute of the State of New
York, in connection with the
State Lunacy Commission, ex-
planned recently the nature of the
experiments that are being re-
vived to bring into the curing of
certain forms of insanity the in
fuence of music.
Connected with these revivals
is the series of tests recently
made with the ergograph, a con
trivance which is applied to the
muscles of the hand and arm, and
which induces fatigue. The ergo
graph has been used principally
in the psychological child-study
in the schools. 1t consists of two
clamps, designed to hold the
wrist and forearm firm, and a
tubular contrivance to hold all
but one finger straight. The free
finger is then hooked into a small
strap, having a weight at the 9th
er end. In the experiment, the
subject is requested to crook the
finger as long as he can. The vi
tality is supposed to be shown by
the length of time the subject
can continue the exercise. The
mental capacity, or the capacity
for being taught, is supposed to
be indicated in the case of the pu-
pil.
In experimenting, it has been
found that music played during
the tests has produced variations
in the results, accounted for in
no other way. When a lively air
was played on harp the subject
regained his vigor, and kept up
the exercise for considerable
time. When u characteristic
tune was played on the cello, the
patients arm became almost pow
erless, his vitality decreasing
rapidly. These observations
have been taken to mean that the
physical well-being of a patient
can be influenced by the effect of
musical rhythm.
Among psychologists, the the
ory of emotion set forth by Prof.
James of Harvard and Prof. Lang
of Scotland has come to be well
accepted. This theory is that
emotions are the result of psy-
siological changes in the body
that we feel bad because we cry,
and not that we cry because we
are troubled by certain feeling
So, if person suffers from mel
ancholia, and exactly the opposite
physiological processes are awak-
ened from those who make him
melancholic, he is likely to become
cheerful. Or, if one is insane
through too much gayety, the
rousing of physiological brain
process tending to produce the
emotions of sadness, will aid the
patient.
"In nervous diseases, said the
physician referred to, "treatment
by music has been recognized
for long time as really effective.
French psychologists, including
Louret, who has employed it in
treating the insane, and Ribot, a
professor IN the College of
France, have settled the point by
specific experiments. The
Greeks were not ignorant of the
effect of music in stimulating the
muscles. AT bottom it is the
same motive that is supposed to
justify bands of music in armies.
CATER all, music is only a
rhythm, air vibrations, that act
upon the muscles as no other
force does. In the experiments
undertaken on the elephants and
other animals in the Jardin des
Plantes, the vitality was material
ly affected by the character Of
the rhythm. Anyone will, upon
hearing an unusual or disagreed
BILE sound, experience a physical
sensation. A discord makes
trained and sensitive musician
grind his teeth, and an unexpect-
ed cannon shot lifts the ordinary
person off his feet.
The same physical effect of