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Show M IW If ll W i Ml 1 Wk0 mnfif iOi llLii IImCOVA rng-, Exciting Martial Airs Are fzs Best Tonics for Nerve-Sick Patients, Says Dr. Mays, and Help in Treating Sleeplessness and Even Tuberculosis, Whereas Softer Songs Written in Minor Keys Make the Powers for Resisting Re-sisting Disease Lower P ry fWf HEX an adult person re-Nffcr re-Nffcr 7 members how his mother if TTTJ'T v sang him to sleep as a Vk WW Jr bllly te does not reallzo Aa ' ' jf( t!lat tue (enler-volced FPm woman vva3 usiug the ijc5jA same scientific principle which the flfe and drum employ to lead men to war. Dr. Thomas J7 Mays, in exhaustive studies of drugs and their action upon the human body, has discovered that the quiet, so-called lulling tunes, written in minor keys, are in reality not inducers of sleep In the way (hat are thrilling, blood-stirring war tunes and spirited marching songs. He has found out that the mother who wants to put her infant to sleep had better bet-ter -King ''Marching Through Georgia!' . or . that greatest of fighting tunes, "The Marseillaise," Mar-seillaise," to which the tricolor of freedom: and the blood-red banner of anarchy have alike Hown. Discussing in a recent issue of the New York Medical Journal how these war melodies melo-dies may be used to cure insomnia, he says: , "It lias been found that music Is an agency that possesses a profound influence on human emotion and that it exerts a stimulant as well as a depressant action, and it now remains to be pointed out how ' i i 1- " - ; i - t i t ' , ' v ' t A F?' f V , , 'e PS V ' SV i?;?-fir v' ! ,.w';tM m ' jt; , f I v . m Pile' great pointing, "Rougret de Lisle Singin g the 'Marseillaise' for the First Time." This song, according to Dr. Mays, is the most thrilling tune in the world. Its contrasted keys excite the emotions and benefit sick people. e these properties may be made available 111 the tield of therapeutics, v "lis stimulant action lies within the ' bounds of the various major keys which limy be said to move in harmony with the normal bodily forces, and Its depressaut action, while not having an intense autag- ' onism to the normal development of the bodily forces, nevertheless sets up a suf-licieut suf-licieut degree of interference with the lat- ter to occasion a slate of meutal de-spondeuey. de-spondeuey. In other words, major music is a tonic to the emotions, at least in modern quantities, and evokes Joy, animation, hope, happiness and courage, and its action may be compared to that of a tonic or stimulant dose of strychnine or of nuinlne. while minor music depresses emotional activity, the action of which is analogous to that of a bromide or of a sleeping potion. Making Children Sleep. "It is in place here to anticipate an ob jection which may be made in reference to !jjrh'i fvri'soiiife' ciassilication cf the effects of major and" minor music. Why Is it, it may be asked, if minor music is likely to subdue and to quiet emotional activity, that most lullabies, which are supposed to'soothe restlessness and to promote sleep, are written writ-ten in major keys? Does it not seem that ., minor music would be more serviceable In bringing about quietness and repose? "This is an apparent but not a real contradiction. con-tradiction. For, if it is true that' major music possesses a stimulating or a tonic influence, it is not a difficult matter to show how this form of music may serve as a sleep producer in children. Sleeplessness may be due to at least two causes. One, that of a depressed or weakened physical or mental activity of the body, or both, and the other because of meutal or nervous excitement; ex-citement; each condition, however, indicating indicat-ing a subnormal mental or nervous state. Need to Tone Up Nerves. "In the former trouble it seems to be , preferable to resort to means which tend to tone up and to elevate the underlying . depressed and weakened nervous system, and which, as- has already been indicated, incline to move in harmony with the natural nat-ural forces of the body the class to which , major music belongs rather thau to em-play em-play depressant agents which interfere or I clash with the tendency of the healthy body fc-ces. Moreover, stimulants and tonics are more permanent, in their effects, and their administration is also in accord Willi the common practice of giving a little hot milk, beef lea. a few drops of aromatic spirits of ammonia, or a sip of anise or peppermint pep-permint tea for the same purpose, and far preferable to the pernicious custom of fly-in? fly-in? to the paregoric bottle or to some popular pop-ular soothing sirup. Major and Minor Combined. "Furthermore, major music, which is assumed as-sumed to be of an exclusively stimulating nature, is often combined with minor passages pas-sages In the same composition, and, Indeed, In national airs or war songs, the sole object ob-ject of which is supposed to arouse and to excite human passion. This Is another inconsistency, but really the combination is in perfect accord with the main object of this nrticle; for su-h a feature Is fre-n'.;ently fre-n'.;ently introduced, a'vl fnr t!io se pur-pcoc pur-pcoc of cxa'.lics the sUm.tiaiu;;-- and cv.-it- 1'4 4 ' ' , . i II I, . , : I. ' - ' " , - j 1 i ; . "" 4 -;,-. : : ' v " . fl M , r ' V - - . r . v ! ' : " t--' "4', : - - . f " .1 ; V- i - ; h ' i 1 s , - - - v , s ,,. i A - t . tf ' . - 4T, " " 't - , - , 4- 4 t( 4l4 'j ' ,' sj' 4' i S- ' r , - s i x 1 : -. i t " i v" ' H , i " - - ' 1 1 4 tr'-s 1 b ', ' " ' V " " 3 s " ' s v ' 1 "j ' ' ' ' 4 : - - N - 1 . , ; - - 4; ; - - i - j " - ': - t ' ' i w T - ' - " a ' " - - - f - i v.4- 4- i ' . I ll - u . v , , 'r - ' " v v J f t i ' ' 1 '" - ' 4 X ' 0 " frsd .'X' ..... , v. . rfiJ " fehES5tlS ftn lng PlTect of the music ns n wholo. This U sicci;illy olivious in ihe construction of 'The Marseillaise,' probably the most vigorous and iiitensifving belligerent air ever produce... pro-duce... In this hymn the eighth and ninth lines are depressed into a minor key, and the immediately succeeding tmtjor lines are thrown into such a bold and brilliant relief that the intensity and power of the emotional emo-tional effects are driven beyond the bounds of description. It is related that when Kouget do Lisle, the composer, gave the first rendition of this son his audience was thrown into a fit of wildncss, which changed into furore when he made the final passage from the minor key to the major retrain: 'To arms! to arms! ye brave! ye brave !' etc. Music as Healinrj Agent. "When we come, then, to make a practical prac-tical application of music as a therapeutic nrer.t it may le well to remr-mner that it b:;s :i':-o-,r;y Ivn tre.l rs s::ch in certain iwu.s of iiidiiiiiiy ai.d cf cervou-. dieses. twi irr i riimii - M, tmUm, ; i ' T rll TliTln il fcnj U The famous German painting, "Evening Music," illustrates Dr. Mays' statement that minor melodies bring on drowsiness in nervous patients. - and not without success, and it is the writer's belief that, as an agent In the treatment of consumption, it probably has a stronger claim on the scientific attention of the medical profession than many of the remedies which are in use at the present day. Indeed, no system of treatment, in our enlightened knowledge of the physiological physio-logical pathology of this disease, can afford to ignore the perturbed nervous aud mental condition which is an ever present factor, and which is actually demonstrated to belong be-long to that domain of phenomena which are deeply influenced by the agency under consideration. "In considering the form of music most available in the treatment of consumption it seems probable that by far. the .larger number of such cases will receive benefit from . the various forms of major music. For it is a patent fact that, no matter how cheerful and elated patients of this kind may seem to be, in their lonely moments there is nearly always present an undercurrent under-current feeling of tribulation and of oppression. op-pression. It is this feature which must be kept uppermost in mind when treating this disease, and, in view of this, it is hardly necessary to add that the interests of such sufferers are beat subserved when they are -protected, as far as possible, from all mental annoyances, - and when placed under the influence of agencies that create an al.niosyO: 're of cheerfulness and bv.oy- ancy, in which major music does not fail to play au important role." Dr. Mays has' cited the exact scientific proof for these statements by showing that sound, which is 'the basis of music, is a force just as heat, light and electricity are forces, and that It shows this force by acting act-ing upon the human emotions, tain number, in the nature of things signify, grief, while in the reverse order they signify sig-nify joy? Language of Emotion. " 'If music, taking for its raw material the various modifications of voice which are the physiological results of excited feeling, feel-ing, intensifies, combines and complicates them ; if It exaggerates the loudness, the resonance, the pitch, the intervals and the variability which are . the characteristic char-acteristic speech, it produces a language of emotion, then Its power over us becomes comprehensible.' " Dr. Mays points out thnt Ibis theory does not explain why war, patriotic, drinking drink-ing and national songs arouse and electrify human emotion to the highest pitch of ecstasy, while mournful tunes and funeral marches spread a universal feeling of depression. de-pression. "Whence this power?" he asks. "Does it reside in the very fibers and constitution of music?" His conclusions are that some kinds of Bars from the French national L hymn, "The Marseillaise," ZZZzI S the first two of which are ' ' 'X . 1 Af . fcight and dcsolato the J written in a minor key and lit .Tie, mat jm.ue ions no A the last two in a major key, Z f .-j. i, J t j - a skillful arrangement to in- fWx " toxicate the herrers ,j p j'-m"-J -P - land, ' While peace and liber- ty lie bleeding? fo M . bras, E . per . gcr ncj lis:- not com . - pa . gwl jr 1; " - rjT 2 T'-Tj-" n"" I pi ' B " -'I tyzzrzjr : - j I :. I j, "S' TTeng .nik ijath' music thrill the listener because they ar w-ritten in a major key and that another kind makes hira sad because it is written writ-ten in a minor key, but that the real causa for this range of emotion produced by vnrying kinds of music must be found In more exhaustive research. Analyzing the matter, Dr. Mays discovers discov-ers that the major chords, for example, C, E and G, when compared with C, 13 flat and G of the minor chord show extremely small differences between the air vibrations of the E and E flat notes, but that this minute difference makes a profound gap between the effect of the former and the This may be better illustrated by tha fact that Hawaiian music, so popular now, produces a feeling of wislfulncss and longing long-ing In hearers because it contains so mucli minor music. Calls It "Dysharmony." ' Professor Helmholtz has , called th minor key "dysharmony" aud has Eaid: "Harmony and dysharmony are distinguished distin-guished by the undisturbed current of tbn tones in the former, which are flowing as wheu produced separately, and by the disturbances dis-turbances created in the latter, la which the tones split up into separate beats. In dysharmony the auditory nerve feels hurt by (he beats of incompatible tones. It longs for the pure etliux of the tones Into harmony. It hastens toward that harmouy for satisfaction and rest." Dr. Mays in his article gives the following fol-lowing scientific estimate of the power of music in dally life : "Moreover, music is a physiological foren of grcnl power; it molds human feeling and conduct, and it is frequently employed, either consciously or unconsciously, wi'h that end in view. The music of a brass band, inarching through the streets of a town, sends a thrill through the wholf) population. Music of this class is indispensable indis-pensable in time of war, to excite the people, peo-ple, and to nuiintnin the discipline and ardor of the soldiers while going into battle bat-tle and when making long and tiresome marches." Each War Has Own Melodies. Each war has ;een thrilling melodies spring up to m-ct the demand of the marching march-ing soldh rs. As Dr. .Mays says. "The Mar-Felllalse" Mar-Felllalse" bus been the greatest of (Iieso, although al-though "Dixie" and "The I'.attle Hymn of tb" Rr-publlc" are bolter known In America. "The Watch on the Iihine" was created to fire the German blood. During the first dnys of the present Kumpefin war "Tlp-perary" "Tlp-perary" wiis snn by the Drllish constantly. "Yn;.k'e Doodle" was the mainspring in muf,h of the co:itinnr- resistance of tho Amori'-.m coionics in the war of indopend- CDCC. Copyright, i?i6, by J. Ktdcy.J |