THE EFFECTS OF MUSICAL SOUNDS ON ANtMALS. 85 



As on previous occasions, I have to express my indebtedness 

 to Mr. David Bruce and Mr. E. Kaines, of Dundee, Capt. Gray 

 and his son Mr. Robert Gray, of Peterhead, and to Mr. Walter 

 Thorburn, of Greenock, for their kind assistance. 



THE EFFECTS OF MUSICAL SOUNDS ON ANIMALS. 

 By Robert E. C. Stearns.* 



Some years ago I observed in a casual way the effect of 

 musical sounds upon certain animals, and was inclined to pursue 

 the inquiry and endeavour to learn by careful experiment through 

 the medium of music how far, or in what degree, there might 

 exist between man and certain animals that fellow-feeling which 

 makes the whole world kin. 



The fraternal relation between dog and man, whether the 

 latter be civilized or savage, is too well known to require remark. 

 So, too, with other animals which man has domesticated, notably 

 the horse and cat. 



Some four or five years ago, at a meeting of the Biological 

 Section of the British Association, Sir John Lubbock read some 

 interesting notes on the intelligence of the dog. The man and 

 the dog, he said, have lived together in more or less intimate 

 association for many thousands of years, and yet it must be 

 confessed that they know comparatively little of one another. 

 That the dog is a loyal, true, and affectionate friend must be 

 gratefully admitted, but when we come to consider the physical 

 nature of the animal, the limits of our knowledge are almost 

 immediately reached. I have elsewhere suggested that this 

 arises very much from the fact that hitherto we have tried to 

 teach animals rather than to learn from them — to convey our 

 ideas to them rather than to devise any language or code of 

 signals by which they might communicate theirs to us. 



So it occurred to me that we might learn something of the 

 animals around and about us, — add somewhat to the stock of 

 knowledge, and get many interesting hints, some useful and some 

 curious, as to their inner nature, — by the aid of music or musical 

 sounds, by observing the effect of such sounds upon them. 



* From the ' American Naturalist,' Jan. 1890, pp. 22—29. 



