Curing the sick with music

Title

Date

1939

extracted text

IP'Music doth lend redress.”—Shakespeare CURING THE SICK WITH MUSIC THE connection between music and medical science is as old as history itself. In the earliest stages of mankind, magicians and medicine men effected cures of every form of ailment by means of music, and certain races still use their methods. The Hellenes of ancient Greece employed music as a means of curing illness. Homer wrote that Odysseus could stop the flow of blood by playing music. Again, diseases rife in old Troy were swept away by music. Galenus proclaimed that mu sic was the best cure for snake bites and scorpion stings, and, we are told, was successful in bringing about such cures. Our modern swing music is said to excite young folk and sometimes send them into a state of frenzy. But that is nothing new. Galenus tells us that Damon, the singer of Miletus, was able by singing certain songs to drive intoxicated young people into a frenzy. He could also quiet them with a different type of song. In the Bible we read that be fore demolishing the house of the Philistines, Samson acquired strength by playing*on and sing ing to the harp. David with his harp charmed away Saul’s melancholy. In the Middle Ages pipers or flute-players used to perform in the street when a madman had one of his periodic fits. They accompanied him home, and in most cases were able to restore him to sanity. The Marquise Gueret, one of the greatest beauties of her age, lost her reason when she dis covered that her husband was unfaithful to her. A famous lyrist cured her in three months by playing melodies of love to her. The Italians cured the sting of the poisonous spider by mu sic. The victim of this insect would gasp for air, bleed, be come cross-eyed, and often went raving mad, but when he heard suitable music he would recover. Often he would begin a dance, which would develop into a frenzy, after which he complete ly regained his health. Now our modern doctors and scientists are finding that music can aid their work. Dr. Burdick, of the U. S., has evolved a musical treatment February, 1939 53 for insomnia and, in his opin ion, tests have definitely estab lished that suitable music can turn abnormal breathing into normal and act as a sleeping draught. He also uses music in stead of anesthetics for surgical operations and has found that not only were the operations a complete success but that un pleasant after-effects were elimi nated. In England the St. Cecilia Choral Society has employed its skill for curing and cheering victims suffering from acute melancholia and neurasthenia. —Fact Digest. 54 Panorama

Rights

In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted

Media