ORIENTAL MUSIC. 237 



see what else it could be.* But when it remains long in the gall-blad- 

 der it undergoes changes, and in some cases of vomiting that I have 

 seen the vomited matters have been of a bright grass-green color. 

 When examined, also, after death, the bile in the gall-bladder is not 

 unfrequently found of a dark color, and the same is probably the case 

 when it is retained in the gall-bladder for any length of time during 

 life. How the Greeks arrived at the notion of giving the name "mel- 

 ancholy," i. e., black bile, to depression of spirits, we do not quite 

 know, but certain it is that depression of spirits is very often associated 

 with indigestion, and, moreover, that the form of indigestion with 

 which we find depression of spirits associated is not so much gastric 

 as intestinal, or, more probably, hepatic. According to Herbert Spen- 

 cer, we require rapid evolution of nervous energy in order to have ex- 

 hilaration of the spirits, and depression of nervous energy is associ- 

 ated with melancholy. Now, the effect of bile- acids circulating in the 

 blood, as shown by physiological experiments, is to depress the reflex 

 function of the spinal cord, the functions of the brain also, producing 

 drowsiness ending in coma, and also weakening the circulation by par- 

 alyzing the cardiac ganglia, f Such a combination of actions is just 

 the one required by Mr. Spencer's hypothesis to produce melancholia, 

 and here we find ancient notions joining hands with modern science. 

 Practitioner. 



* 



OKIENTAL MUSIC. 



By S. AUSTEN PEARCE, Mirs. D., Oxon. 



IMNUMERABLE questions arise in the mind whenever that myste- 

 rious art, called music, occupies our thoughts questions respecting 

 its source, its course or development in various epochs, its laws, object, 

 action, limitations, and influence. These are not easily answered sat- 

 isfactorily, and appear to have been as great problems to the ancients 

 as they are to ourselves. For, attempting to penetrate the thick mists 

 that veiled their past, they failed to discover the origin of any one mu- 

 sical instrument ; and being completely baffled in their researches con- 

 cerning the inception of musical systems, and also unable to account 

 for the remarkable sway that their art-works exercised over hearers, 

 they contented themselves with conserving these systems and art- 

 works in their entirety, for the benefit of posterity. 



We, who are always ready to invent theories for the explanation of 

 phenomena, find ourselves extremely perplexed in accounting for vari- 

 ous musical facts that at first sight seem simple and easily understood. 



* Brunton " On Digitalis," p. 67. 



f Vide Wickham Legge, "Bile, Jaundice, and Bilious Diseases," pp. 207, 216, 217. 



