Albuquerque morning journal., 1913-11-16
HOW A DEAF MUTE
HEARD He R
FIRST MUSIC
Story of Helen KeIIeTS Learn
ing to Enjoy instruments
Played by Musicians Reads
Like Fairy Tale,

Helen Keller, celebrated the world
over for her struggle against the
handicap Of being deaf blind and all
most dumb since a fever robbed her
of these faculties at the age of eigh-
teen months has at last been enabled
20 hear" the tone Of "A violin and 60
appreciate the wonder OF a musical
harmony Professor Franz Kohler, OF
the Oberlin Conservatory OF Music,
and formerly concert-meister Of
Pittsburgh orchestra under Emil
pauer after series Of experiments.
was able 20 penetrate the deadwall of
her useless eardrums and arouse some
auditory power that responded to the
powerful low ID he played on the @
string.
Miss Kellers utter amazement at
the new sensation Of hearing this
thing which was called music was in
tense. Her whole body quivered with
excitement, and when some particular
note seemed 10 make her feel the
most. she shook with a spasm of emo
tion as II she was very part Of the
violin.
Mrs Macy. Helen's teacher, de-
clares that Il is a miracle" since her
pupil has never had any knowledge
Of musical tones and that the feat Of
"snging the scale" before the Inter
national Geological congress at Har-
ward Medical school I'm Boston last
summer. which attracted such world
wide attention To Miss Keller. was q
purely mechanical result obtained by
muscular control of the throat and
vocal cords.
Professor Kohler used stradi-
varius made in 1922, "the golden age
when Anton Stradivarius turned out
his most perfect work. Improvsing
through three octaves he finally struck
"a low d on the G string. which seem
ed 10 first arouse Miss Kellers new
faculty Of hearing"
In order 20 get the most direct COM
munieation between his instrument
and Miss Keller's sensitive brain, ne
had her clench her teeth tightly on
the scroll Of the violin. This enabled
the vibrations 10 travel instantly mp
the lower maXillary bones 10 the
lower lObes of the brain, where they
set up a responsive vibration and es-
tabllshed first physical feeling and
later some dormant auditory power.
Miss Keller later. of her own accord,
transferred the violin's scroll from
her mouth TO the cheek bone, Just
above and In front OF her right ear
There she pressed it so insstently that
her flesh was discolored after the
tests were finished The vibrations
of the violin, according to Professor
.Kohler. are so penetrating and Insist
ent that they will pierce through al
most any solid substance. and if it is
not too thick Will set IT vibrating IN
response. He quotes the instance OF
several music halls where the violin
tones have gained sufficient vibrating
intensity that the steel girdcrs at the
top had leen shaken from their rigid
setting.
Professor Kohler first experimented
on q deaf and dumb girl at 0berlin
college whom he was able to teach
to differentate between violin tones
of two intervals. He declares that
"while the ear drum Is the medium
by which sound impressions are con-
veyed TO the human brain, II is not
so in all creatures. Many small in
sects and beetles seem to be more re-
sponsive to sound of a reiterated char
acter than to any which would appeal
to the human brain. In other words,
the physical feeling Of vibration
seems to have quite as sure an effect
to any creature sensitive to II as does
the symbolic sound, such as words and
familiar harmonies and characteristic
noises to the intelligence.
There are myriads of sounds in the
universe which are never heard by
the human ear Its range IS very nm
tied And there are many sounds
either too low or too high for the
human ear to catch. Yet these other
sounds have an equally important
place in the world of tone. You have
seen the experiment whore lame
within a glass chimney can be almost
extinguished by the rapid vibrations
Of shrill violin tone. II is the same
way with beetles and small insects
which are influenced by sound and
the physical feeling Of vibrations.
"Now. in Miss Kcller's case there
is q more sensitive response of feel
ing TO external elements than the
average human being has Miss Kel-
lers fingers will recognize an old
friend. whom she has not met fol
ten years, by the hand clasp. She can
feel the sound OF a great audience
applauding her, because her feet
hear the vibrations of the floor on
which she stands. Her mental facul-
ties are more keenly alert 10 thes1
strange manifestations, which the
senses OF average folks are never con
scious Of. SO that when she first felt
the physical sensation of the violir
vibrations and attained herself more
and more carefully to dinerentiate
she was not long in arousing what
ever auditory power was left to her
and the fact that she can now catch
the harmony like the voices Of sing
ing angels proves that the fever which
robbed her of hearing did not talk,
from her all auditory power"