THE SENSES AND THEIR ORGANS. 307 



he added that he would suffer no iniury to be done them. Subsequently 

 he declared it was a diversion with wliieli he often amused himself and 

 gratified his curiosity.' 



A somewhat similar incident is associated with the distinguished musical 

 composer Ludwig van Beethoven. According to Schindler, tlie story, if not 

 originated, was generally spread by a biographical paper on Bee- 

 Beethoven thoven by Dr. Christian Miiller, of Bremen. The tradition runs 

 a . , that as often as the little Ludwig played his violin in his 



little room a spider, enamored of the strains, let itself down 

 and sat upon the instrument. When his mother discovered her son's 

 strange companion she killed the spider, whereupon the little fellow broke 

 his violin. Upon this fairy tale Schindler comments: "The great Ludwig 

 could not recall such a fact, as much as this fable amused him. On the 

 contrary, he said that everything, even flies and spiders, would have fled 

 before his terrible scratching.'"-^ Of co\irse, in view of such statements, 

 not the slightest credence can be given to " this pretty fairy tale of a 

 poet's invention," and it shows how little credit is often due to these pop- 

 ular fancies that associate themselves with distinguished characters. 



The well known anecdote of Pelisson, as described by Abbe Olivet, is 



another example in point. This gentleman was confined in the Bastile 



ilurinjj; the reign of Louis XIV., and amused himself by feed- 



e issons j spider, wliich, from the description, must have been one 



Spider. to I ' ' 1 ' 



of a Tuljemaking species. The hour of feeding was timed to 



the rude music played by a Basque, who was the com2)anion of his cell. 



The spider in time learned to distinguish the sound of the music, and to 



associate it with the season for its special banquet. This story, with 



various embellishments, has had a wide circulation and belief, though I 



believe it is wholly discredited by modern historians. 



Cowan quotes an account of a certain young ladies' school at Kensing- 

 ton, England, in which an immense species of spider was said to be un- 

 comfortably common. When the young ladies were gathered for 

 ingmg tiieij. morning and evening worship, and engaged in singing their 

 accustomed hynui, these spiders made their appearance on the 

 floor, as the story goes, or suspended overhead from their webs in the 

 ceiling. The ol>vious attraction, it was inferred, was the sweet singing by 

 the worshiping young ladies. 



Walckenaer quoted Gretry as relating in his memoirs that at his coun- 

 try seat a spider would scat itself upon the table of his i)iano whenever it 

 was played, and would disappear tlierefrom when one ceased to touch the 



' Sir John Hawkins' History of Mnsic, Vol. HI., page 117, note. 



' Biograpliie von Lnilwig van Beotlioven verfasst. von Anton Seliimllcr. ni-ittc, ncu liear- 

 beitete iind vermehrte AuHage. Krster Thcil, page :'., Miinster, lS(iO. See also Thayer's His- 

 tory: Ludwig van Beethoven, von Alexander Wheelock Thayer. Erster Band, i)age 112, , 

 Berlin, 1806. 



