NATURAL PHILOSOPHY. 197 



eut vanishes, and the illusions of the past come back again. I once 

 knew an old Spanish general who detested music. One day I began 

 to play to him my 'Siege of Saragossa'in which is introduced the 

 * Marcha Heal 1 (Spanish national air)ft n( l he wept like a child. 

 This air recalled to him the immortal defence of the heroic city, be- 

 hind the falling Avails of which he had fought against the French, and 

 sounded to him, he said, like the voice of all the holy affections ex- 

 pressed by the word /mine. The mercenary Swiss troops, when in 

 France and Naples, could not hear the ' Ranz Des Vaches' without 

 bein^ overcome bv it. When from mountain to mountain the signal 

 of revolt summoned to the cause the three insurgent Cantons, the de- 

 sertions caused by this air became so frequent that the Government 

 prohibited it. The reader will remember the comic effect produced 

 upon the French troops in the Crimea, by the Highlanders marching 

 to battle to the sound of the bagpipe, whose harsh piercing notes in- 

 spired these brave mountaineers with valor, by recalling to them 

 their country and its heroic legends. Napoleon III. finds himself com- 

 pelled to allow the Arab troops incorporated into his army their 

 barbarous tam-tam music, lest they revolt. The measured beat of the 

 drum sustains the soldier in long marches which otherwise would be 

 insupportable. The Marseillaise contributed as much toward the 

 republican victories of 1793, when France was invaded, as the genius 

 of General Dumouriez. 



" 3. Music as a Complex Agent. It acts at once on life, on the in- 

 stinct, the forces, the organism. It has a psychological action. The ne- 

 groes charm serpents by whistling to them; it is said that fawns are 

 captivated by a melodious voice ; the bear is aroused with the fife ; 

 canaries and sparrows enjoy the flageolet ; in the Antilles, lizards are 

 enticed from their retreats by the whistle ; spiders have an affection 

 for fiddlers ; in Switzerland, the herdsmen attach to the necks of their 

 handsomest cows a large bell, of which they are so proud, that, while 

 they are allowed to wear it, they inarch at the head of the herd ; in 

 Andalusia, the mules lose their spirit and power of endurance, if de- 

 prived of the numerous bells with which it is customary to deck these 

 intelligent animals ; in the mountains of Scotland and Switzerland, 

 the herds pasture best to the sound of the bagpipe ; and in the Ober- 

 land, cattle strayed from the herd are recalled by the notes of a 

 trumpet. 



" In conclusion : Music being & physical, agent, that is to say, act- 

 ing on the individual without the aid of his intelligence ; a moral 

 agent, that is to say reviving his memory, exciting his imagination, 

 developing his sentiment ; and a complex agent, that is to say, having 

 a physiological action on the instinct, the organism, the forces of man, 

 I deduce from this that it is one of the most powerful means for en- 

 nobling the mind, elevating the morals, and, above all, refining the 

 manners. This truth is now so well recognized in Europe, that we 

 see choral societies Orpheon and others multiplying as by enchant- 

 ment under the powerful impulse given them by the state. 1 speak not 

 simply of Germany? which is a singing nation, whose laborious, peaceful, 

 intelligent people have in all time associated choral music as well with 

 their labors as with their pleasures ; but 1 may cite particularly France, 

 which to-day counts more than eight hundred Orpheon societies, com- 

 17* 



