CURING DISEASE BY COLOR AND MUSIC THER HERE have been published recently, in La Revue (Paris), a number of articles dealing with the effect upon the nervous system of the various colors and the different musical tones. The author mentions some of the accepted facts relating to the soothing effect upon nervous individuals of some colors and of some music, and gives it as his opinion that the scientist and the educator of the future, by means of apparatus comparatively easy of invention, will prescribe methods of treatment and courses of study for such persons far in advance of those of the present day. Red, for example, says this writer, is an excitant. Orange and yellow, however, excite in a much less degree. Violet, indigo, and blue are of calming effect. Green is said to convey tranquil joy, a sense of peace. Chromotherapy is a science based on the effect of colored light on the human body. To summarize the article in question: In neurasthenia, or nervous prostration, the effects of the colored light treatment are especially encouraging when the light is applied progressively and without abrupt change, and when the patient under treatment is placed under the rays of colored light during a given time. In all cases the light must be of the color favorable to counteraction of the disease to be treated, and as an excess of light augments neurasthenia rays. The most notable experiments have been made in the tropics. Deschamps, the close French student and scientist, states that the first effect of an increase of light is to augment the activity of the subject, but that the nervous system is affected almost at once. Victims of obesity are the first to prove the bad effects of an excess of light. Blondes are more affected by light and color than brunettes. Neuras thenics ought to avoid bright colored light in their living rooms. Curtains and wall hangings should be of calming or otherwise favorable colors. Sufferers from nervous trouble of any kind should be careful not to pass much time in a room papered or draped with red. They should paper and curtain their rooms with green, blue, and violet,-colors known to be of calming effect. Deschamps declares that experiments have proved that fits of impatience or of melancholia may be singularly moderated, if not wholly corrected, by accommodating the wall paper and hangings of the living rooms of sufferers from nervous disorders to the temperaments of the subjects. care must be taken to control the force of the The effects of music upon the human being are known to be as decided as the effects of color. Schopenhauer, as well as Herbert Spencer, searched in vain for an explanation of the effects of music on the physical emotions. We quote from the Revue here: It is undeniable that there are many more who are moved by the influence of music than who are sensible to the beauty of color, or than are capable of telling the difference in shades of color. And yet the effect of color is more generally shown on the nerves of nervous people than the effect of music. Why is this so? Among the visitors to museums few are stirred to real feeling by a picture. Yet the same colors seen in the picture may have a direct physical influence on the one who is apparently least moved by the picture containing them. But old and young alike are thrilled by the passing trumpet or the drum. Music, like color, will perhaps be a medical means of curing sickness. The brain receives the sound of music and the nervous system gets immediate relief from the perpetual noise, or combination of noises, which incessantly besieges it in Nature, and the sensation or impression of relief becomes sentiment or feeling. The master work of music is to relieve the mind bowed down by the weight of an atmosphere saturated with noise; and in this, the day of an excess of noise, science plans music among the recognized curative agents and calls it musicotherapy, as it calls color, the other powerful natural agent, chromotherapy. A practical application of the theories covering sight and hearing, or the effects of color and music,-have been made in the recent experiments of the Dutch savant Van Biervliet, who believes that the most complex mental operations may be traced to methods of reasoning whose results depend upon the good action and the delicacy of the nervous system. He holds that sight (the sense signally affected by colors) and hearing (the sense signally affected by music) are the senses furnishing most nourishment to the intellectual faculties. Experiments made simultaneously upon a dozen people chosen haphazard from a public audience showed that the most intelligent, generally speaking. were the people who made best use of their eyes and ears. Professor Van Biervliet concludes that the science of psychometry,-or intellectual measurement or estimate,-may be based on the measure or appreciation of sight combined with the measure or appreciation of hearing; and that an apparatus covering at the same time data registered by the sight and data registered by the hearing may give means sufficient to obtain an exact estimate of the degree of intelligence Dr. Louis of the subject under observation. Martin, of the Pasteur Institute of Paris, admits that in the case of the backward mental development of individuals who have acquired consciousness of their intellectual faculties at visual and the auditory experiments may be of an age relatively advanced, the results of the great use. S C the ne th tw dis fr gu U D WI lit en th m B W IN THE FOOD PROBLEM IN PAST CENTURIES N the second of a series of articles that granate or an orange, for which as much as Viscount Georges d'Avanel is now con- a dollar apiece was paid regularly. tributing to the Revue des Deux Mondes on the evolution of private expenditures for seven centuries, the question of nourishment is thoroughly discussed from as many points of view as the author's acquaintance with reliable sources of information can advance. This particular article appears in the issue of the Revue des Deux Mondes of November 15, 1909. In the first part of this study the author But especially interesting is that part of the average Frenchman of to-day can at a As regards wine, the author states that smaller price have much better wine than the wealthy Frenchman of the fifteenth or sixteenth century, and this is made possible by the fact that wine is nowadays kept largely in bottles, while in the past only casks were used. Even at the table of Louis XV. wine was on to say that several beverages have gradurarely served in bottles. The writer goes ally disappeared and that even water has changed, since every city is now practically nection he remarks that Parisians themselves supplied with spring water. And in this conabout a hundred years ago were compelled to drink the often muddy water of the Seine, carried from house to house by over two thousand carriers. Yet, the author wisely adds, however bad such water was at two pennies a bucket, it was nevertheless quite less injurious to the health than is brandy here a statement is made to the effect that to-day at two pennies the little glass. And Paris is not, as it is commonly believed, in the front rank as regards the use of alcoholic drinks; in this respect the average conAs a general rule excessive use of alcohol is sumption of the provinces is much larger. almost wholly confined to the lower classes. the Spaniards from Mexico in 1520, was The use of cocoa, which was imported by even more vigorously opposed than the use of tea itself in France. Cardinal Richelieu, for instance, in a letter to his brother Alphonse, says: "I cannot conceal from you my apprehension that the drug called chocolate, which you are using freely, may be harmful to your health, and I think that it would be better for you to have recourse to ordinary remedies." Physicians went so far tinuous and mortal fever. It may be of inas to say that chocolate could cause a conterest to know that in the seventeenth century chocolate cost nearly $2.50 a pound. We know, for instance, that as much as thirty dollars was paid for a turkey until this bird was imported from America. As for butter, a writer of the sixteenth century states that "Frenchmen used butter at their meals only in May "; in Winter butter could not be had everywhere, and one dollar and a half a pound was not an unusual price paid for it in the cold season. Potatoes were raised in Ireland, England, and Russia long before they penetrated into France. It was thought that they were poisonous, and the law in condemning this vegetable held that it could cause leprosy. finally used during the reign of Louis XVI., Potatoes were but only to feed animals, and it was only in 1786 that Frenchmen began to think seriously about using potatoes in order to avoid the calamities of a possible famine. Rice was a rare thing throughout the Middle Ages and the average price paid for it was twenty-five cents a pound. Only fifty years ago the price of strawberries was so high that only the rich could have them, and in the fourteenth century no one else but princes could indulge in such things as a pome to provide the Frenchman of to-day with the ward better conditions, our present society of ideas. Even the masses take more pleasis seemingly unconcerned with accomplished ure in dreaming over some social change. results, as was the case with our ancestors, for whom the food question was always of the most vital importance. Which proves after all that men are indifferent to material progress as an end in itself, but highly interested in the progress that, from the practical point of view, would not result in any material advantage, while the actual gains of society leave them indifferent. Effort is therefore far more worthy than results because effort is thought and results are matter. WHY NOT EDUCATION ON THE SEX QUESTION? IT T has always been the popular belief and practice that children should be brought up without being taught specifically how they came into existence. It has been generally held that the functions of generation, the processes of maternity, and all facts pertaining to the sexual side of human life ought to be kept out of the juvenile mental purview. Parents and pedagogues alike have been accustomed to attempt excluding this whole subject from youthful knowledge, leaving their offspring, or pupils, to acquire information concerning it as best they might. From the desirability of that system only a few people dissent. One of them, Pio Foà, a member of Italy's Upper Chamber, publishes his opinions in the Nuova Antologia (Rome). I do not believe, with Förster, that sexual education ought to be deferred until a child is ten or eleven years old, but that attention should be paid to this from the very first, and that from the day it begins asking where children come from it should be given answers which do not distort the truth. To-day the pure source of life is polluted by the false method of secrecy in education. A boy picks up some of the ugliest facts in the street, which prompts him to disbelieve his mother; he thus loses his confidence in her, while growing up without the respect he might have had for the laws of nature and without ability for artless consideration of the multiplying of the species. With children one ought always to be simple, frank, and sincere. Signor Foà, however, admits that not under all circumstances can the proper sort of sexual education be given at home. Among the lower classes, not only do thousands of mothers spend much of their time and strength on earning bread away from home, but the manner in which thousands of families live in congested urban districts would nullify any admonitions, because of the promiscuous herding together of all ages. There, the first necessity is sanitary housing and instruction by the health authorities how to keep the houses in hygienic condition; gardens and playgrounds, too, should in those cases be thought of. In fact, it is incumbent upon the schools to take up the matter. But the school of to-day is also full of prejudice; there also prevails the idea that the sexual instinct should be regarded as something put upon all reference to the propagation of the unworthy, if not culpable; there, too, a ban is race. Natural history is taught there without any recognition whatever of the sexual functions. Respiration, circulation, digestion, all are digested matter is removed from the body are carefully explained, but the organs by which unnot mentioned, because proper bringing up forbids it, and because the region must not be too closely approached where the organs of generation are situated, which,-so the school says,do not exist. Anatomical plates for the schoolroom invariably represent beings with no sex. of Mesopotamia, and they probably know by Our young people learn of the existence but they do not know what to call certain parts name the rivers running through central Asia, of their own bodies, or what the functions of those parts may be. schools was quite right in asserting that if A Danish inspector of school children were taught at school how to pronounce, as they might be other words, conthese terms would soon lose their terror. The finement, pregnancy, semen, ovary, uterus, then schools could impart knowledge of the wonderful phenomenon of the propagation of the species in a systematic and entirely chaste manner, mal life. It should not be treated separately, or in the course of lessons on vegetable and anigiven a place of exaggerated importance, but should be taken up, like any other phenomenon of nature, on due occasion. The master ought to teach his pupils to talk naturally about natural things, and in a candid fashion, as well as in that spirit of reverence which the great marvels of nature inspire. The writer of this article, besides, dwells upon the great importance of parents teaching children to keep all parts of their bodies clean and healthy, for the sake of the succeeding generation. FINANCE AND BUSINESS NOTES ON APPLIED ECONOMICS OF THE MONTH A "NATURAL MONOPOLY" AND ITS THE HE small boy in blue who takes your telegrams to and from the office may be personally amusing or appealing. But he is uneconomic. You could save time by telephoning your messages direct to the man at the "key," explained President Vail, of the American Telephone & Telegraph Company, last month. Since the "Tel. & Tel.," better known as the "Bell" telephone combination, has just bought control of the Western Union Telegraph, President Vail has a chance to demonstrate the economies of 'phone and 'graph under one management. Half of the telegraph "trunk" lines can be used for telephone messages and three-fourths of the telephone "trunk" lines can be used for tele grams. When one considers that nearly all telephoning takes place in the day, but that a large volume of commercial wire business is sent at the cheaper "night rates," an enormous saving seems possible. Nobody wants to bother with two 'phones in his house or office, of course. Up to this point all may agree with President Vail that the handling of messages over wires constitutes " a natural monopoly." But the "Tel. & Tel." is paying 8 per cent. on more than $250,000,000 already. Independent telegraph companies are conspicuous by their absence. With isolated exceptions, the independent 'phone companies have been reporting little to their stockholders but complaints. Therefore, a committee of the New York Legislature was last month taking testimony from President Vail and others. The evidence pointed to better service to the subscribers at the same cost as a result of more combination. But if the operation of the wires is to become a centralized or really public institution, then it would seem that the public ought to have some say as to rates and financing, through the public service commissions which keep just such oversight over the railroad companies. An opposite policy was declared in Michigan on the 10th of last month. The Supreme Court emphasized the refusal to let the telegraphs and telephones in Michigan do business under a single head. "For more than a fit to keep separate these two lines of activquarter of of a century the Legislature has seen ity. Wherever the telegraph line is, there, too, is the telephone. In the hands of the independent agencies it may well be that a information by electricity will ensue." healthy competition for the transmission of Thus the passing or the prosperity of the little messenger boy in blue will indicate the tendency of government either to recognize and to control the tendency of capital to combine in larger units, or to oppose it. In Maryland a bill has just been completed by the Attorney General which, if passed, will put all the "wires," as well as the rails, mains, the refrigerating, heating, and power both steam and electric, the water and gas plants, under the supervision of the public's representatives. The bill follows most closely the New York public utilities laws. It also has features from the similar laws of Wisconsin and Massachusetts, from the report of the commission which inquired into the matter for the Connecticut Legislature last year, and from bills introduced into the legislatures of Ohio and New Jersey. THE OLD-FASHIONED TELEPHONE NOW that the siren song of the agent sell ing stock in "wireless" this and that can be heard in most rural sections of the country, it would be interesting to compare the earnings and dividends of the wireless companies with those sending messages in the oldfashioned way. However, the comparison seem unavailable, owing to the reluctance of most "wireless' concerns to furnish vulgar but necessary details, earnings, expenses, money received from stock sales as compared with the amount of stock outstanding, etc.,— in "sworn" form. Look down the list of the fifty-odd stocks of telegraph, telephone, and cable companies handled on the London Exchange. Here are companies in Denmark and in Egypt, in South America and in Spain; and the only one not paying a dividend is the one wireless company represented! Striking is the spread of the telephone from nothing thirty-three years ago, and from only a minor position as recently as eleven years ago, until to-day the wires for telephones are about nine times those for telegraphs in America. Within two years a single company, the American Telephone & Telegraph, has raised more than $90,000,000 on good terms, and through J. P. Morgan & Co., a firm not given to financing the obsolete. There is a Bell telephone to-day for every The twenty people in the United States. earnings of the company last year were $140,000,000, exceeded by few industrials, or railroads even. Such an aggrandizement points to public regulation, and therefore frightens some stockholders. They can observe, however, that the present management of the Tel. & Tel. has expressed itself as favoring supervision, if intelligent. It is freer with publicity than most corporations. It has made and announced a valuation of the company's physical property; the items added up to $547,000,000. With cash, securities, and supplies owned, etc., the total exceeds the company's $592,000,000 capitalization by some $85,000,000. Such physical" items as State authorities have checked up have proved to be conservatively appraised. And no capital whatever is made of good-will, patents, or the rights of way for which the company actually paid some $8,000,000. 66 THE CONTROL OF BILLIONS "IT will center the control of our money in the East." This comment upon the "central bank" plan, as brought before the public by Senator Aldrich's speech-making trip, was to be found last month in many Middle Western and other news papers. ooo include the control of two more trust companies, the Mercantile and the Equitable, resources $68,000,000 and $63,000,000, respectively. The newspapermen fell busily to work figuring up how many financial institutions were now being managed in some degree of harmony with the very powerful Morgan banking firm. Following are the names widely mentioned in this connection. Some of them, at the head of the list, are under direct "Morgan" control. Others, nearer the end, are discussed by the financial community and its press as more or less ciated with " or influenced by" members of that firm: Only a few days later came a striking illustration of the way money is being concentrated under the banking system we have at present. A $90,000,000 trust company, the Guaranty of New York, was purchased by a syndicate associated with members of the banking firm of J. P. Morgan & Co. A few days after that the news appeared that Mr. Morgan personally had bought the majority stock of the Equitable, a life insurance company, whose assets of $472,000, 66 Equitable Life Assurance Society. Mercantile Trust Company.. chase National Bank. Mechanics' National Bank. Liberty National Bank. New York Life Insurance Company National City Bank. Total Am asso Just to realize what the figures amouer to, suppose it were decided to "cash these resources, now largely in stocks borge mortgages, and notes. All the cash in a National, State, and private banks of Agre ica and all the trust companies, as we on the close of business April 22 would equal only two-thirds e terit amount. In fact those assets and rev.R FORG by about $670,000,000 the caje y which in November, 199 furnished by the cones of England, France, Ge Belgium. It happens that M But if on Certain k ar Ame here in as e stock rnment |