TO MAKE THE INSANE SANE.
—-—« . INTERESTING EXPERIMENTS IN OHIO. Medical men are wateliing with great interest a series of experiments whicil are being made at the btate Asylum for the Insane at Massillon, Ohio, with a view to determining the possibilities of music as a cure for insanity, The first, experiment (says ' the New York correspondent of the "Daily Chronicle") ' was made Teoently by means of a piano, and its beneficial effects exceeded all expectations. One of the patients, a girl ot seventeen, ■ who was considered hopelessly. insane, has made extraordinary progress towards sanity since the experiments on her began. She is now believed to bo well on the road to recovery. Delighted with his success, Dr. Eynian, i the superintendent of the asylum, decided to extend the system, and try other mu-. sical instruments on the patients. Finding that one of his assistants had a gramophone, Dr. Eyinan said: "Let us try it in the demented room." 1 When the doctors entered the room in which sixty women were confined, all regarded as hopeless cases, the patients set up chattering, screaming, and hysterical 1 laughter. Without taking any notice of i them, Dr. Eyman and his colleagues, placing the gramophone on a table, i started up a stirring military march. The eilect was.magical. Silence fell ■ upon the room almost instantly, and for the first time since their admission to the asylum looks of intelligent interest ' and natural 6iniles spread over the faces ' of the insane. . The doctor is persevering with the - gramophone,' and has already succeeded ■ in quite chainging the atmosphere of the room where the wildest patients were kept. Ho is appealing for funds to con- > tinue the experiment in other ways, and l a prominent local philanthropist has conj tnouted .£SOO for the purchase of pianos and musical instruments. , '. The pianos will be used for the milder cases, while it is proposed to use violins 1 and brass instruments for the other patients. •
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/DOM19100326.2.143
Bibliographic details
Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 775, 26 March 1910, Page 15
Word Count
326TO MAKE THE INSANE SANE. Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 775, 26 March 1910, Page 15
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