op New Yoke. 



THE 



POPULAR SCIENCE 



MONTHLY. 'x 



NOVEMBER, 1890. 





THE ORIGIN OF MUSIC. 



By HEEBERT SPENCER. 



& m 



Va 



[In preparing a final edition of my Essays Scientific, Politi- 

 cal, and Speculative I have seized the occasion for adding a post- 

 script to the essay on The Origin arid Function of Music. As, 

 when embodied along with other matter in its permanent form, this 

 postscript will be seen by comparatively few, it has seemed desira- 

 ble to give it a wider diffusion by publishing it separately.] 



AN opponent, or partial opponent, of high authority, whose 

 views were published some fourteen years after the above 

 essay, must here be answered : I mean Mr. Darwin. Diligent and 

 careful as an observer beyond naturalists in general, and still 

 more beyond those who are untrained in research, his judgment 

 on a question which must be decided by induction is one to be 

 received with great respect. I think, however, examination will 

 show that in this instance Mr. Darwin's observations are' inade- 

 quate, and his reasonings upon them inconclusive. Swayed by 

 his doctrine of sexual selection, he has leaned toward the view 

 that music had its origin in the expression of amatory feeling, 

 and has been led to overestimate such evidence as he thinks 

 favors that view, while ignoring the difficulties in its way, and 

 the large amount of evidence supporting another view. Before 

 considering the special reasons for dissenting from his hypothesis, 

 let us look at the most general reasons. 



The interpretation of music which Mr. Darwin gives, agrees 

 with my own in supposing music to be developed from vocal 

 noises ; but differs in supposing a particular class of vocal noises 

 to have originated it the amatory class. I have aimed to show 

 that music has its germs in the sounds which the voice emits 

 under excitement, and eventually gains this or that character 



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