Note ee — BOOK IV.

Timothy a Musician could excite Alexander the Great to Arms with the Phrygian Sound, and allay his Fury with another Tone, and excite him to Merriment. So Ericus King of Denmark, by a certain Musician, could be driven to such a Fury, as to kill some of his best and most trusty Servants. More of this Power of Musick over the Affections, may be seen in Ath. Kirch. Phonurg. L. 2. §. 1. Also in Is. Vossius de Poematum cantu, & Rythmi viribus.

And not only upon the Affections, but also on the Parts of the Body. Musick is able to exert its Force, as appears from the Gascoigne Knight, Cui Phormingis sono audito Vesica statim ad Urinam reddendam vellicabatur. Such another we have in Aᵒ. 1. Ephem. Nat. Curios. Observ. 134. Also Morhoff de Scyph. vitr. per cert. human. vocis sonum fracto: where there is not only the Account of the Dutchman at Amsterdam, one Nich. Peter, that brake Romer-Glasses with the Sound of his Voice; but also divers other Instances of the Powers and Effects of Sound. But to the Story of the Gascoigne Knight, Mr. Boyl, from Scaliger, adds a pleasant Passage, That one he had disobliged, to be even with him, caused at a Feast, a Bag-pipe to be played, when he was hemmed in with the Company; which made the Knight bepiss himself, to the great Diversion of the Company, as well as Confusion of himself. Boyl’s Essay of the Effect of Lang. Motion. In the same Book are other Matters that may be noted here. One whose Arm was cut off, was exceedingly tormented with the discharge of the great Guns at Sea, although he was at a great Distance on Land. And a great Ship-Commander observed his wounded Men, with broken Limbs, suffered in like manner at the Enemies Discharges. An ingenious Domestick of his own would have his Gums bleed at the tearing of Brown-Paper. And an ingenious Gentleman of Mr. Boyl’s Acquaintance confessed to him, that he was inclined to the Knight of Gascoigne’s Distemper, upon hearing the Noise of a Tap running. The dancing to certain Tunes, of Persons bit with the Tarantula, he was assured of by an ingenious Acquaintance at Tarentum, who saw several, among the rest a Physician, affected with that Distemper. And many other Accounts of this kind, seemingly credible, are related in Morhoff, Kircher, and many others; although Dr. Cornelio questions the Matters of Fact relating to the cure of the Tarantula-bite, in Phil. Trans. Nᵒ. 83. Mr. Boyl also saith, a sober Musician told him, he could make a certain Woman weep, by playing one Tune, which others would be little affected at. And he saith, that he himself had a kind of shivering at the repeating two Verses in Lucan. And I add, that I very well know one to have a sort of chill about his Præcordia and Head, upon reading or hearing the 53ᵈ Chapter of Isaiah; as also David’s Lamentations for Saul and Jonathan, 1 Sam. i.

Neither are our own Minds and Bodies only affected with Sounds, but inanimate Bodies are so also. Of which many Stories may be met with in Kircher, particularly a large Stone that would tremble at the Sound of one particular Organ-Pipe; in Morhoff also, who among many other Relations hath this, Memini cùm ipsi [clarif. Willisio] de experimento Vitri per vocem fracti narrarem, ex eo audivisse, quod in adibus Musicis sibi vicinis aliquoties collapsum pavimentum fuerit; quod ipse sonis continuis adscribere non dubitavit. Morhoff. cap. 12. Mersenne also, among many Relations in his Harmon. and other Books, tells a far more probable Story, of a particular Part of a Pavement, that would shake, as if the Earth would open, when the Organs played, than what he relates about Antipathy, in his Quæst. Comment. in Genes. viz. That the Sound of a Drum made of a Wolf’s Skin, will break another made of Sheep’s Skin: That Hens will fly at the Sound of an Harp strung with Fox-Gut-Strings, and more to the same purpose. Mr. Boyl also, in his last cited Book tells us, Seats will tremble at the Sound of Organs; and that he hath felt his Hat do so too under his hand, at certain Notes both of Organs, and in Discourse, that he tried an Arch that would answer to C fa-ut, and had done so an 100 Years; and that an experienced Builder told him any well-built Vault will answer some determinate Note. And at Eastbury-House near Barking, I my self discovered the Porch, (having firm Brick-Walls,) not only to sound when struck on the Bottom, but also to give almost as loud a Sound, when I sounded the same Note with my Voice.