to answer! The best inductions of history are yet to be made, and the most weighty social and political problems are yet to be solved. The history of our earth is, as yet, but a disconnected story. The introduction and progress of life on the globe, and the origin and age of man, as scientific questions, give rise now to the most conflicting opinions drawn from meager and uncertain data. To meet these questions successfully there is need of patient research, broad training and sense of deep responsibility for observations reported and theories promulgated. The great retarder of science is hasty generalization, especially if it be made by a man justly entitled to authority and respect for any work he has accomplished. The false theory will vitiate books and misdirect the labors of many till its author is dead. And it is a blessed thing for the progress of the race that individuals die while society and organizations live. The earth will be true to herself and will in time reveal her full history and the history of the races of beings that live upon her. We need to observe with care and to gather abundant materials for thorough investigation. This work can be done most successfully by organized effort by just such labors as your Institute is fitted to perform. But while you look to science as a whole, and seek its enlargement and perfection, I beg you to remember that man, as man, is the crown of all; and you can advance science only as you advance men in intellectual and moral power and social well-being. The education of the young, the constant progress of men of all pursuits in those things that promote life, health, comfort and moral and intellectual growth, should be the leading idea in all your work; and then the growth of science will be as natural and sure as the springing of the blade in the warmth of May and the maturing of harvest in the golden autumn months.

PREHISTORIC MUSIC.

BY ARMAND DE POTTER.

[Read before the Albany Institute, May 10, 1881.]

In bringing before you a subject which for the present, at least, is more scientific than æsthetic, more geological than musical, it would perhaps have been better to call it a geological wonder. You may have heard of the subject under the name of "Singing Stones," or "The Geological Piano," but I would rather call it Prehistoric Music, a name which seems to me more fitting. A few weeks ago, when on a visit to the metropolis, I had the honor of being introduced to Mons. Baudre, the discoverer and owner of the wonderful flint stones, of which I shall endeavor to give a short account. In going to M. Baudre's house, I must confess I had but little faith in music drawn from stones, and expected only to hear a doleful sound, such as I have heard when staying with an Arab tribe, who had certain stones from which they obtained sound and music enough to dance by. I was therefore greatly surprised when I heard the musical sound as M. Baudre struck the first stone, it seemed so sweet and wonderful. Seldom have I experienced more pleasure, than when I heard this gentleman sing an air to the pure musical tones of his flints. seemed as if we were suddenly carried back six thousand years. I decided at once that this marvelous music had once been that of the young world, and on mentioning the idea to M. Baudre, he said with enthusiasm that it was the opinion of most archæologists, and indeed his own. There is no doubt that the flint was the first weapon, the first tool, and produced the first fire, and until the comparatively recent invention of matches, I think it was universally used for that purpose. Prof. Newberry, of Columbia College, says: "In all probability, the resonance of sonorous stones constituted all the music of the man of the Stone Age."

I have spoken of having heard the Arabs draw musical sounds from stones, but a stronger proof in favor of the belief that the flint was the first sonorous body heard by man is that the demi-savages in Abyssinia used just such an instrument of nature to call the people to war, and for other purposes. An English missionary brought three such stones, which form the Abyssinian instrument, to London, where they can be seen in the Kensington Museum.

The wonderful part of the music is, that it is drawn from the rough natural stones without any polish or cutting whatever, while all other musical instruments have been shaped and polished, and are nothing but industrial products, in which strength and volume must be observed in order to obtain the desired effect. M. Baudre says: “I must call your attention to the fact, that iron or ingots of gold or silver, as also rock crystal, in their natural states, are quite free from vibrations; flint on the contrary vibrates in its natural state, and does not, like the former, require polishing and change of shape in order to become sonorous." So we may consider it a fact, that the first musical note that God gave to nature was deposited in the cold heart of that stone which is also full of fire.

You all know of the colossal statue near Thebes, called by the Egyptians the Vocal Memnon, from the sounds emitted from it. I remember wondering while I examined it, why stone apparently so cold and silent should be called the singing statue. But now it seems quite possible, and I only look forward to the discovery of some papyrus that will tell the story of a colossal musical instrument. That sounds were heard is confirmed by undisputed records. They were listened to by Hadrian and his ill-fated queen Sabina, and a host of other historical personages. Some historians also say that the rude Roman soldier, unused to any other sound than that of the trumpet, listened in silence to its voice. It has been said that the sound heard from the statue was due to a blow, and this was no doubt the true cause. The Egyptian priests were crafty men, always working miracles, and they alone were allowed to ascend the rocks, which were on one side of the statue. There in the crevices, the Arabs of our own time often conceal themselves, and for amusement strike a piece of granite, which sends forth a sonorous and metallic sound which rings all over the plain.

To return to the stones in possession of M. Baudre, they are twenty-seven in number, and are suspended from a string, which, not being a good conductor of sound, allows the vibrations of the flints to be produced in their purity. The stones are rough, just as they were taken from the quarries, and are of different sizes. M. Baudre says, that there is an absence of the proportion which is indispensable in instruments of music, for three stones of the same weight and volume may produce very different sounds, while two stones, entirely unlike in weight and volume, may correspond to the same note, which is a fact that at present cannot be explained. He says also, that cutting the stones, as a general rule, has the effect of destroying the purity of the sound. So it was necessary to seek the note formed by nature, without regard to the shape of the lumps. Repeated experience has

shown him that the gravity of the flint is in direct proportion to the number of irregularities on it; thus a long flint may give a good result if it is, to some extent, regular in shape, but the full extent of the vibrations is only obtained when the flint is full of projections and cavities. Yet flints long and absolutely flat on each side may produce fine effects, always on condition that the flint is perfectly homogeneous. As a rule, it is necessary to strike the stone on the smoothest surface to obtain the most perfect note; the sides opposite to the smooth, produce disagreeable multiple vibrations. The stones used to strike the flints are free from all sound. The collection forms two chromatic scales, commencing on D, and ending on upper E sharp, and the strings to which they are suspended are about two yards in length. M. Baudre devoted twenty-four years to making this collection, wandering with untiring perseverance through the departments of Haute Marne, the Somme, Perigord, Artois, and lastly the basin of Paris. More than two hundred thousand stones were tested before deciding upon the fitness of a single one. He was led to make the search, which resulted in acquiring this geological wonder, in the fol- . lowing manner. In 1851, he was superintending the works of a railway in France; the workmen came upon great quantities of flint which, producing a faint sound, attracted his attention. It seemed to him a whole revelation, and he immediately thought it might not be impossible to find in those quarries something useful to the musical world. It required nine months of searching before he found the first one that gave a satisfactory sound. He then began to regard his discovery as belonging to the realm of science, rather than something to be exhibited in concert halls as a mere curiosity, and only thought of founding a geological collection of musical stones. Encouraged by

the result of his first truly sonorous stone, he continued his search at his own expense, often laboring day and night, and thus in twentyfour long years he obtained the desired result, and had his geological piano complete. He considers these sonorous flints very rare, especially those with so pure and charming tones.

However this may be, such a collection must remain almost unique, for although there may be more stones, it would be difficult to find another man to seek for them, with so much patience, perseverance, and ardent enthusiasm as M. Baudre has shown. One of the stones was once in the possession of Mr. Boucher de Perth, who valued it from its resembling the head of a Sphinx. When M. Baudre saw this stone in the museum of Abbeville, he remarked to the mayor of the city, who was with him: "That stone would speak if I touched it." The mayor, rather astonished, desired him to try it, and handed him the stone. He touched it slightly with a small stone, and to the

astonishment of all present, he drew from it a marvelously pure and sweet musical sound.

When Rossini went, the same year of his death, to see M. Baudre, he admired especially one of the stones which has a form of a thighhe told him he thought it must be the bone of an old musician. Some French poet has written the following lines:

"Ah, qu'on ne dise plus: Aussi froid que la pierre-
Les pierres ont une âme et cette âme une voix

Vivante, harmonieuse et pleine de mystère.

Honneur à l'Enchanteur qui leur a fait des lois."

Victor Hugo also wrote him: "Patience is not enough; it needs the original and fruitful idea; it needs faith, without which nothing grand can be undertaken. All this you have had, and you have achieved the impossible, the incredible, you make the stones sing. Virgil, that other enchanter, had only known how to make them weep. You are the poet predicted by the Roman orator who said, 'Rocks and deserts answer to your voice.' This truly prehistoric harpsichord, these more than ancient keys, astonished without doubt at repeating our most modern airs, have recalled to me the aerial, I might almost say celestial chime from the lofty bell tower of the Cathedral at Antwerp. There is then in the words of Chateaubriand, "A voice in the stone, and the hard flint, from which flame darts, is also the source of harmony."

"Stirred by Amphion's Lyre, stones from the glebes
Skipped to their places on the walls of Thebes.

You to our ears a greater wonder bring,

Beneath your touch the flints divinely sing
The lovely music charms both ear and heart.
And we exclaim as wondering we depart;

Sure to these rustic notes, in Eden's glade,

Eve must have danced while father Adam played."