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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.
