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About Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922 | View Entire Issue (June 8, 1913)
0 maha Sunday Bee Magazine Page Copyright, 1011, by the Star Company. Ort Britain Rights Iteservea. Scientists Point Out to the World's Greatest can bo bo In- vVvVsJVsv' creased that at v CV 0 CAHUSO, tho world's greatest tenor, la scientifically eligible at any moment to the same fate that befell tho walls of Jericho if science is to be believed at all and tbe well-known law of vibrations Is not founded upon fallacies. This extraordinary announcement follows logically tho discovery by Dr. George Lloyd, the distinguished Lon don physlcinn, that the $3,000-a-night Bingcr has musical bones. Tho uniquely vibrant quality of Caruso's skeleton makes of him a human music-box, and sets him aside from his fellow men and lays him open to as unique a danger. Just as n glass mny bo broken by a violin playing sustainedly the same note which that glass gives upon being tapped with vtho finger, so, too, the scientists havo told Caruso, he may be shattered by a sound of Just the pitch, quality and number of vibra tions a second that will meet tbe dominant note of his resonant bones. In other words, somewhere in tho infinite world of sounds lurks one sound which conceivably can so set every tiny molecule of Caruso's skel eton vibrating so rapidly that tho bones themselves will disintegrate nnd tho tenor either drop into a squld-llko mass, or else be torn apart by what would literally be the atomic explosion of his framework. This sound may hide anywhere in a steamer's foghorn, in a locomotive whistle, in tho roartf an avalancho, or even in tho battered penny trum pet of a street urchin! To tho incredulous it may be said at once that this statement is not a Joke in any way. It is a sober, sci entific truth. It Is a little difficult to make clear tho scientific basis upon which this peril of Caruso stands. And yet It Is simple. Everything in nature vi brates, Matter itself is, it Is thought, only a peculiar vibration of tho ether. And what is called vibration Is only the movement of all tho tiny paj tides of matter of which we and everything that exists Is formed. Naturally, all tho particles or atoms in every division of matter, from stone to flesh, arc governed by law. If there wero no such law, every thing would fly to bits Just as the flywheel of a dynamo bursts into pieces when tho speed at which It revolves becomes so great that it overcomes tho cohesive force that holds all Its particles of steel to gether. Tills law of vibration fixes ttie rate of movement of the atoms of each substance so that they do not exceed the speed limit and cause disintegra tion of the thing they form. It pro duces what is called equilibrium of forces. And here enters a curious thing every vibration produces what wo call a musical sound. Every mu sical sound is simply composed of vi brations. The highest notes wo can apprehend contain the greatest num ber of vibrations to the second; the lowest notes contain tho fewest. Above tho highest notes and below the lowent are vibrations our ears are not built to hear, but which we know exist, by their effects. The note which each substance Elves forth through its atomic vibra tion Is called its dominant note. And just as the spinning fly wheel can be made to burst by increasing its speed beyond the strength of its ar tides to hold thomselves together, so the atomic vibration of everything 1 enor Jtlis Danger or oemg Shattered by the Dominant Note of His Uniquely Vibrant Skeleton least every par tide exceeds the apood limit, breaks tho law, rushes Into space, and so that thing disintegrates and vanishes. One of the ways of doing this is to find the dominant note of tho thing to be destroyed, and then, by producing a long-sustained, sympa thetic note, so stimulate the vibration that at last it flics apart. Here are some practical illustra tions of the law. The Bible tells us how the walls of Jericho wero mado to fall by the blowing of trumpets. Science says that this Is perfectly possible. The walls of Jericho had .their dominant note that Is, their rate of vibration. .Joshua, Who was apparently quite a scientist, discov ered what this was. Having discov ered It, he selected hundreds of trumpets producing this note. Tho Israelites blew them lustily. The vi brations of the trumpets set up a sympathetic vibration of tho walls. The horns kept blowing. The walls all day without! weakening a strand. This is cause the rhy thmic beat of the marching feet in step so increase the vibrations of tho bridge itself that It passes outside the law. In the broken ranks there Is no rhythm. In this same way, tho continued reproduction of the dominant note of anything so increase Its vibration that it files apart. Thomas Edison has said tbat this samo Brooklyn Bridge could be de stroyed in tho same way by a man playing long enough tho dominant noto in which it vibrates. In this case, Miss Mary Garden with Whom Caruso Will Not Sing Because Two of Her Notes Make His Bones Ache. vibrated more and more. And fin ally they vibrated so fast that all their .particles flow apart and the walls quite naturally fell. Again, it is a military rule that whenever soldiers cross a bridge they break ranks. That Is, they do not keep step. If they did keep step go-' Ing across, the unison would break down Che bridge. It has been esti mated that Ave thousand soldiers keeping step on Brooklyn Bridge would break It down in thirty min utes. Yet a hundred thousand, not keeping step, could march across it vibrations from the musical in strument correspond to tho tread of the feet of the soldiers marching in step. Every great structure in New York and anywhere else In the world is subject to the same influence. Again, when certain big ocean steamers come into New York har bor and blow their deep whistles, certain skyscrapers so vibrate In har mony that Ink wells are shaken from tables and chairs rartlo across the floors. The I.usltanla, for Instance, will make the Singer Building shake to Its foundations, while the Olympic "'Somewhere lurks one sound which conceivably can so set every molecule of Caruso's skeleton vibrating so rapidly as to tear the great tenor apart. ' It may even lurk in the penny trumpet of a street urchin!" How Caruso's Bones Might Be Shattered Like a Glass. First A Violin Beginning the Note Which Is the Dominant Note of the Glass Above a Skeleton as Re sonant as Caruso's, Second The Dominant Note Is Found and Under Its Vibrations the Glass Begins to Quiver Just as Caruso's Skeleton Would Begin to Quiver Under Its Dominant Note. Third The Prolonged Tone Has Set Up Such Enormous Agitation Among the Molecules of the Glass That It Bursts to Pieces Just as io'a Bones Might Burst to Pieces 'Under the -Prolonged Vibrations of Th;lr Dominant Note. will not affect the Singer at all, but cause the Woolworth tower to shiver Ml through. This is because the dominant noto of tho Lusltaula 18 tho dominant note of the Singer and tho dominant noto of the Olympic the domluant noto of the Woolworth. Many of the occupants of each build ing complain that at such times they experience a deep Inward tremor as though, ns one says, "My bones wero dancing about." Here wo foreshado.; the plight of Caruso. And still again, Colonel Young husband, the bravo English officer who led tho British expedition Into Lhassa, the mysterious capital of Thibet, reflates o curious punishment meted out to offenders by tho Lamas. "They place these culprits In a dark room," he says, "nnd there they leave them. There Is a contrivance in the room that emits a continuous noto of a peculiar timbre F sharp I placed it as. This note sounds for Ave hours. At tho end of this time the prisoner Is brought out. He Is invariably blind. The Lamas say the sound docs It. Dr. Ffarson, who was with the expedition, examined the eyes of a number of these men and found the optic nerve entirely de stroyed." So much for the scientific princi ple. Now, ns to Caruso; 'Dr. Lloyd says? "Caruso's bones are more resonant than are tho bones of othor persons. For in stance, it you tap one of his knckles with your forefinger, It gives out a higher pitch, and more resonant tone than those of tho average per son's knuckles." But this extraordinary susceptibil ity to vlbrntlon exists absolutely throughout Caruso, even to his car tllcges and muscles. Dr. Lloyd ro murks further: "Another point Is that tho vocal cords are fully an eighth of an inch longer than any other singer's I havo examined. They nre also extraordi narily vlbratlle. When ho sounds his high C-sharp tboy vibrate 650 times a second, which is phenomenal for a man, whose voice is pitched an octave lower than a woman's." In this respect, therefore, Caruso Is more than normal hn is a phe nomenon, a veritable human sounding board, hia wholo physical structure more resonant and sympathetic to bound vibrations than any other hu man creature. To assert in so many words that It ts possible for a sustained musical note of a certain precise pitch and quality to shatter Caruso's physical organism is, of course, something that no wloutltio man of established repu tation would do. One of tbe experi menters above referred to, however, consented to present the case In the following significant words: "There is no room for doubt that Caruso would suffer serious physical lnconvwnlerico If he should be sub jected to tho Influence of a powerful and prolonged musical tone of the exact pitch to which his highly reso nant body is attuned. Much experi menting would bo required to deter mine that pitch though It has beou noticed by his opera comrades that tho great tenor oxhlblts signs of dis tress in the few instances in his re pertory where tho solitary, pro longed noto of middle F sharp Is produced by the slide trombone. "Caruso's only real danger, If any, Is tho slight one of accidentally en countering the vibrations set up by tint precise note, produced by Borne means outsldo of his usual activities as an opera singer. Tho thickly in habited centres of the world aro filled with all sorts of sound vibra tions, of nil pitches and qualities, produced by n thousand different raenns. There is, of course, a possl blilty that circumstances or fate, if you prefer that way of looking at It might bring Caruso and those shat tering vibrations into conjunction. "In the caso of ordinary human be ings, it would bo expected that each individual bono in Uie skeleton would possess its own 'dominant note.' In such a case if tho bones were suffi ciently resonant and sensitive to be affected by sound vibrations at all one might bo shattered by such nuMins, while tho others would bo dis turbed only slightly, through sympa thetic contact. "The instance of Caruso becomes interesting, and important, In a sci entific way, through this discovery that his entire physical organism Ifl a musically resonant unit the vibra tions set up by tho fatal noto would attack the whole man. It 1b not In conceivable that tho results might ba disastrous." It can truthfully bo said that Jhe great tenor is in' a state of constant! apprehension lest some accidental and not to be escaped encounter with the sustained 'dominant noto" inherent in his own bodily structure shall set up physical disturbances of suffldenl gravity to end his, professional ca reer, If not to make of him an la valid for the rest of bis life. That, It Is uow loarned, Is the main reason for those nervous claspings and unclasping of his hands, so characteristic of Caruso when off tha stage, and which are plainly lndl. cated In many of his photographs. He realizes that his danger is not la connection with his professional work, because nt rehearsals or dur ing the iwfornianco of opera he can not bo subjected to the Influence of any single, Jong-sustained tone: the notes of the orchestra and of the voices are mingled In constantly changing pitches and harmonies, each, therefore, neutralizing the sym pathetic vibratory effect of tho others But when walking along the street, when travellug by train or steam ship, ovon when entrenched within his own four walls, he may bo said to bo constantly in tho mental atti tude of n man dodging some nntlcl pated mysterious physical attack In his case tho physical attack ol sound Ylbratlnns which ah (body could not resist.