away, cannot restrain his
horse.[180:2]

The earliest biblical mention of music as a healing power occurs in
Samuel, XVI, 23, where David (the son of Jesse, the Bethlehemite) cured
the melancholy of King Saul by playing upon the harp. "So Saul was
refreshed, and was well, and the evil spirit departed from him."

In medieval times, music was successfully employed in the treatment of
epidemic nervous disorders, a custom which probably originated from the
ancient song-remedies or incantations.[180:3] The same agent was also
used as an antidote to the poison of a viper's fang, especially the
tarantula's bite, which was believed to induce tarantism, or the dancing
mania. Antonius Benivenius, a learned Italian physician of the
fifteenth century, related that an arrow was drawn from a soldier's body
by means of a song.

A notable instance of the power of vocal music in charming away
obstinate melancholy is in the case of Philip V of Spain, where the
melodious voice of the great Italian singer Farinelli proved effective
after all other remedies had failed.

Such are a few instances of the influence of song and melody as
seemingly magical agencies, and therefore not inappropriately may they
be classed under that branch of folk-lore which deals with
healing-spells and verbal medical charms.

It has been well said that music is entitled to a place in our Materia
Medica. For while there may not be much music in medicine, there is a
great deal of medicine in music. For the latter exerts a powerful
influence upon the higher cerebral centres, and thence, through the
sympathetic nervous system, upon other portions of the body. Indeed the
entire working of the human mechanism, physical and psychical, may be
aided by the beautiful art of music. With some people the digestion is
facilitated by hearing music. Voltaire said that this fact accounted for
the popularity of the opera.

In such cases the music probably acts by banishing fatigue, which
interferes with the proper assimilation of food. Hence one may derive
benefit from listening to the orchestra during meal-times at
fashionable hotels. Milton believed in the benefit to be derived from
listening to music before dinner, as a relief to the mind. And he also
recommended it as a post-prandial exercise, "to assist and cherish
Nature in her first concoctions, and to send the mind back to study, in
good tune and satisfaction." Milton practised what he preached, for it
was his custo