Quibusdam viperarum morsibus cantus tibiarum aut fidicinum atque alia organa artis musicæ modulare adhibita aptissimè mederi. _Alexander ab Alexand. ... Genialium_, lib. ii. cap. xvii. p. 81. The Title is, _Quod Theophrastus sensit quibusdam Viperarum morsibus tibicines mederi, probatum experimentum_. _Baglivi_ Dissert. i. _de Tarent._ cap. xiii. Footnote 327: _De Legibus._ The _Pythagoreans_, to appease the Troubles of the Mind, lulled themselves asleep by Tunes upon the Harp: Thus _Homer_ brings in _Achilles_ relieving his Melancholy by playing on his _Lute_, and mitigating his Anger against _Agamemnon_ by Musick, which he had learned of _Chiron_. _Asclepiades_, a _Roman_ Physician of great Reputation, is said to heal frantic Melancholy, and mad People, by vocal and instrumental Musick[328]. The learned _Neapolitan_ adds, _Tanta hominis naturæ cum harmonia consensio est_. Footnote 328: Qui Phreneticos mente imminuta, & valetudine animi affectos, nulla re magis quam symphonia, & vocum concentu, & modulis resipiscere, & sanitati restitui censuit. _Alex. ab Alex._ lib. ii. cap. xvii. p. 81. Whatever be the Cause of it, there is nothing more powerful than Musick for moving the human Passions, making some pensive and melancholy, others brisk and lively. The truth is, says the Learned _Wallis_, we can match most of the antient Stories of this kind in the modern Histories. _e. g._ If _Timotheus_ could excite _Alexander_’s Fury with the _Phrygian Mood_, and sooth him into Indolence with the _Lydian_, a more modern Musician is said to have driven _Eric_ King of _Denmark_, into such a Rage, as to kill his best Servants. The Occasion was thus—The King willing to make Trial in his own Person, _whether a Musician spoke true, who boasted, that by virtue of his Musick, he could make People mad_: The Artist play’d, and the King became outragious, and experienced the Truth of it so thoroughly, that in the Excess of his Rage, he kill’d some of his best Friends[329]. Footnote 329: _Father Regnault_’s _Convers._ from _Repub. des Let._ p. 264. This may be owing to the Impression made by the Vibrations of the Air, being carried as far as the Origin of the Nerves, passes into the Soul, and puts the animal Spirits into a rapid Motion, determines them to run into different Nerves, diffused thro’ different Parts of the Body, and is communicated to those Nerves, according as it finds them more or less in _Unison_.... Hence the Passions and Madness itself. _Ibid._ In Musick are different Tastes, which seems to proceed from the different Constitutions of the Fibres or the animal Spirits: The Fibres of the auditory Nerves are differently disposed in different Persons, and in the same Person at diverse Times; but generally speaking, Musick inspires more pleasing Sentiments, _e. g._