REMARKS ON MUSICAL PRECOCITY. 59 



very clever for his age, but he has been entirely neglected in his 

 education ; and I am informed that he has been exhibited, night 

 after night, at public houses and taverns. Very often, moreover, 

 when tired and worn out, he has been roused from his sleep and put 

 upon a table to play to the company resorting to the above places of 

 entertainment ; and his health has materially suffered from such 

 unnatural stimulation of the brain. To give some idea of the exer- 

 cise he has had, I may say that he will tell any note of any string 

 struck ; and such is the nicety of his perception, the accuracy of his 

 judgment, and his knowledge of the relative duration of musical 

 notation in the most complex composition, that he instantly detects 

 any violation of melody and the slightest discrepance in the harmo- 

 ny of it. 



But although it is pleasing and astonishing that a young child 

 not six years old should play on the harp and violin with admirable 

 taste and correctness, we must regret that such perfection can only 

 be attained at the expense of health and the neglect of all or most 

 other intellectual pursuits — pursuits which are more important in 

 point of utility, and which render men useful in their generation. 



In conclusion, I would observe that if any boy, with a good tem- 

 perament and large anterior lobes, had the musical group early and 

 constantly cultivated, and if care was taken to select the kind of 

 composition suitable to the organization of the individual, there is 

 no doubt but that he would manifest that degree cf talent for mu- 

 sic which constitutes genius. Hence we arrive at data for making 

 musical prodigies. We have only to give exclusive attention to the 

 child, and concentrate the nervous energy of the brain (the senso- 

 rial power) to the perception of sounds, their relative duration, and 

 their comparative intensity; and if our pupil is the child of musical 

 parents it would be so much the bettei-, and would expedite the 

 results we have anticipated. It is true we admire such talented 

 children ; but I repeat that the distinction is purchased at a very 

 dear price— the loss of health and of general and useful know- 

 ledge. 



