254 PRESENT-DAY RATIONALISM 



alluded to reminds us that " Helmholtz has shown that 

 there is a mathematical correspondence between the 

 atmospheric vibrations which produce exquisite har- 

 monies and the physical effects of these vibrations on the 

 nervous system. Thus in all his musical developments 

 man has done little more than lay bare [and develop ?] 

 the natural correspondences which exist between himself 

 and the universe." ^ 



We all know that a man's " ear for music " can be 

 cultivated ; that is to say, it responds to the more and 

 more highly complex musical compositions that it hears. 

 The "definite action " of the orchestra plays upon the 

 protoplasm of the ear, which thus responds more and 

 more to it, thereby building up structures which enable 

 the man to appreciate " classical " compositions more than 

 he did at first. 



The author is right, as I have already shown, in saying 

 man can only " lay bare " or reveal the eternal har- 

 monies of sound waves, which must have existed potenti- 

 ally ever since air came into existence. 



The question arises, Did harmony between certain 

 notes arise sud sponte in accordance with eternal laws of 

 vibrations ; but the air which conveys them was not 

 eternal ; or did some conscious Power have something to 

 do with it ? Had He any intention in framing the laws 

 of sound for man's delectation ; as he is the only being 

 who can discover and reveal them ? 



Of course. Nature gives no answer. " Notes " certainly 

 give pleasure to birds, and possibly to other animals 

 which cannot sing,^ but they are onl>' sequences of dif- 

 ferent wave lengths, without the order in which man alone 



^Mr. Balfour's Apologetics, p. 76. 



^A friend had a mare which became very unmanageable in her stall 

 when the band played in the street, till she was taken out to hear it. 



