( ^97 ) 
Xllh A Letter of Dr. John Wallis, to Mr. An- 
drew Fletcher ^-i*" concerning the Jirange EffeBs 
reported of Mufick in Former Times, beyond 
what is to be found in Later Ages. 
SIR, Oxford, Aug. i8. 1698, 
T H E Queflion you lately propofed to me (by a 
Friend of yours) concerning Mufick; was nor, 
Whence it comes to pafs that Mufick hath fo great an In- 
fluence or Efficacy on our Affedions, Paffions, Motions, 
^c. But whence it is that thefe great effeds u hich are 
reported of Mufiek in Former Times, (of Orpheus, Am- 
fhion, &c.) are not as well found to follow upon the 
Mufick of Later Ages, 
If that firft had been the Queflion; Whence it is that 
Mufick Operates on our Fancies, AfFeftions, Paffions, 
Motions, and not ours only, but of other Ariimals, 
(for it is manifeft that Birds and Beafts are affected with 
Mufical Notes as well as Men :) And even as things inani* 
mate) for 'tis well known, that of two Unifone-Strings, 
though at fome diftance, if one be ftruck,*the other will 
move.) 
I fay, if this were the Queftion, I muft, in anfwer to 
it, have difcourfed of the Nature of Sounds, produced by 
fome Subtile Motions in the Air, propagated and conti-^ 
nued to the Ear and Organs of Hearing, and thence com- 
municated to the Animal Spirits ; which excite fuitable 
Imaginations, Affedions, Paffions, and thefe at- 
tended with conformable Motions and Aftions, and ac- 
cording to the various Proportions, Meafures, and Mix» 
tures of fuch Sounds, there do arife various Effedis in the 
Mind or Imagination, fuitable thereunto. Thus the rough 
* Y y ' Mufick 
