256 THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 



As regards musical impressionability, the individuals chosen for 

 experiment may be roughly grouped in three classes, (a), distinctly 

 musical, (b) moderately musical, and (c) non-musical. The results 

 obtained, as might be expected, differ in these three classes, and, as 

 also might be expected, according to the nature of the music. 



In a musical person the effect of a quiet uneventful composition 

 is a steady lowering of the blood-pressure. This result requires 

 considerable care in interpretation, since in the majority of people, 

 after a period of moderate activity the blood-pressure will continue 

 to fall for some time during rest, as for example when they are comfort- 

 ably seated in a chair. In all cases therefore account should be taken 

 of the fall in the curve due to the resting condition, and unless this is 

 exaggerated (as shown by a recovery, by taking a normal reading after 

 cessation of the music) there can be no evidence that the music itself 

 produced any effect on the blood-pressure. Rises are not liable to this 

 source of error, and can only mean some change in the vascular system, 

 due to an emotional stimulus. Here again, one must guard against 

 emotional changes independent of the music, excitement due to the 

 examination, and, in the concert room, due to expectancy, and dis- 

 turbances from noises etc. Such rises, free from these sources of 

 error, are the almost inevitable result of the performance of a "lively", 

 interesting piece of music, upon a musical person. The criteria of 

 "liveliness" are rapid movement, and intensity of tone, but other 

 elements, entering into the constitution of what is called "dramatic 

 music" (discords, sudden changes in tone, changes of key, etc.) also 

 produce their effect. 



In the case of pieces or passages of sustained "liveliness" the rise of 

 blood-pressure is almost immediate, and is followed by a more or less 

 gradual fall, but if the interest of the composition gradually rises to 

 a climax, the height of blood-pressure will probably coincide with the 

 occurrence of this climax, and in general the curve of blood-pressure 

 will follow the curve of interest in the music. 



The term "interesting music" has been employed so far to imply 

 a pleasurable interest. If the music be of a novel character, so as to 

 severely arrest the attention of a musical person, the effect upon the 

 pressure may be a fall, and this seems to be due (see below) to the 

 effects of altered respiration. The commonest effect of sustained 

 attention is that the breathing is reduced to its shallowest limits for 

 long periods, and relief is obtained by deep sighs every few minutes. 



Curiously enough, so far as our experiments go, singing produces 

 less effect than piano-playing. The effects from a full orchestra are 

 not markedly different from those of a piece of music played upon a 

 piano, though of course the nature of the composition will be very 



