y the
most susceptible to musical influence, and these royal beasts showed an
interest in the sweet tones of the graphophone, akin to that of a human
melomaniac.[176:1]

There is abundant evidence of the fondness of spiders for soothing
musical tones. The insects usually approach by letting themselves down
from the ceiling of the apartment, and remain suspended above the
instrument.[176:2] Professor C. Reclain, during a concert at Leipsic,
witnessed the descent of a spider from a chandelier during a violin
solo. But as soon as the orchestra began to play, the insect retreated.
Mr. C. V. Boys, who has made some interesting experiments with a view to
determining the susceptibility of spiders to the sound of a tuning-fork,
reports, in "Body and Mind," that by means of this instrument, a spider
may be made to eat what it would otherwise avoid. Male birds charm their
mates by warbling, and parrots seem to take delight in hearing the piano
played, or in listening to vocal music.

Charles Darwin, in "The Descent of Man," remarks that we can no more
explain why musical tones, in a certain order and rhythm, afford
pleasure to man and the lower animals, than we can account for the
pleasantness of certain tastes and odors. We know that sounds, more or
less melodious, are produced, during the season of courtship, by many
insects, spiders, fishes, amphibians, and birds. The vocal organs of
frogs and toads are used incessantly during the breeding season, and at
this time also male alligators are wont to roar or bellow, and even the
male tortoise makes a noise.

Music is the sworn enemy of ennui or boredom, and the demons of
melancholy. It "hath charms," wrote William Congreve (1670-1729), "to
soothe the savage breast."[177:1] Orpheus with his lyre was able to
charm wild beasts, and even to control the forces of Nature; and
because of its wonderful therapeutic effects, which were well known to
the Greeks, they associated Music with Medicine as an attribute of
Apollo.[178:1] Chiron the centaur, by the aid of melody, healed the
sick, and appeased the anger of Achilles. By the same means the lyric
poet Thales, who flourished in the seventh century B. C., acting by
advice of an oracle, was able to subdue a pestilence in Sparta.[178:2]

Pythagoras also recognized the potency of music as a remedial force.
Tuneful strains were believed by the physicians of old to be uncongenial
to the spirits of sickness; but among medicine-men of many A