PEEHISTOEIC MliSIC. 



By Armaxd de Potter. 



[Read before the Albany Institute, May 10, 1881.] 



In bringing before you a subject which for the present, at least, is 

 more scientific than a?sthetic, more geological than musical, it would 

 perhaps have been better to call it a geological wonder. You may 

 have heard of the subject under the name of " Singing Stones," or 



The Geological Piano,'' but I w^ould rather call it Prehistoric Music, 

 a name which seems to me more fitting. A few weeks ago, when on a 

 visit to the metropolis, I had the honor of being introduced to Mons. 

 Baudre, the discoverer and owner of the wonderful flint stones, of 

 which I shall endeavor to give a short account. In going to M. 

 Baudre's house, I must confess I had but little faith in music drawn 

 from stones, and expected only to hear a doleful sound, such as I have 

 heard when staying with an Arab tribe, who had certain stones from 

 which they obtained sound and music enough to dance by. I was 

 therefore greatly surprised when I heard the musical sound as M. 

 Baudre struck the first stone, it seemed so sweet and wonderful. 

 Seldom have I experienced more pleasure, than when I heard this 

 gentleman sing an air to the pure musical tones of his flints. It 

 seemed as if we were suddenly carried back six thousand years. I 

 decided at once that this marvelous music had once been that of the 

 young world, and on mentioning the idea to M. Baudre, he said with 

 enthusiasm that it was the opinion of most archaeologists, and indeed 

 his own. There is no doubt that the flint was the first weapon, the 

 first tool, and produced the first fire, and until the comparatively 

 recent invention of matches, I think it was universally used for that 

 purpose. Prof. Xewberry, of Columbia College, says : " In all j^roba- 

 bility, the resonance of sonorous stones constituted all the music of 

 the man of the Stone Age." 



I have spoken of having heard the Arabs draw musical sounds from 

 stones, but a stronger proof in favor of the belief that the flint was 

 the first sonorous body heard by man is that the demi-savages in 

 Abyssinia used just such an instrument of nature to call the people to 

 war, and for other purposes. An English missionary brought three 

 such stones, which form the Abyssinian instrument, to London, where 

 they can be seen in the Kensington Museum. 

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