In 1761 , Benjamin Franklin attended a London concert and pick up a player flirt a solidification of water - tune vino glasses . A mellow tone of voice wash over the hall , leave Franklin jinx — and a piddling dismayed . The instrumentsoundedbeautiful but looked unwieldy . One faulty move and all the chalk would topple . prompt to better the design , Franklin invented an option : a rod of spread out glass bowls called the " Methedrine armonica . " The instrument would sweep Europe by violent storm ; Mozart evencomposed musicfor it .
Then it started killing people .
That ’s what doctor tell , anyway . decade originally , anatomist had discovered how auditive boldness mould , and they began warning thattoo much music — like too much java or tea — could affect the nerves , causing headaches , fainting tour , and othermedical problems .
These fears were n’t totally new . Centuries sooner , Plato suggested banning certain musical modes , arguingthat " new fashions in music … [ were ] jeopardise the whole fabric of society . " The Roman speechmaker Quintilian oncearguedthat the timbre of some instruments could " emasculate the somebody of all its vim , " driving men mad . By the arrival of the nineteenth hundred , wonky science helped this melodious reverence - mongering go mainstream — music was blame for hysteria , previous menses , homosexualism , and even last . ( In 1837 , the controversialPenny Satiristmagazine would report that a 28 - year - old womanhood had died from listening to too much music . )
During this burgeoning menses of anti - music mania , no instrument would be feared as much as Franklin ’s armonica . Critics say it overstimulated the brainiac ; performing artist charge it for dizziness , hallucination , and palsy . In 1799 , doctor Anthony Willich argued that the instrument merit to be condemned , say itcaused"a neat degree of flighty weakness . " In 1808 , people attributed the death of armonica virtuoso Marianne Kirchgessner to the official document ’s eerie tones . Some psychiatrists went so far to say it drove hearer to suicide .
To say the least , the assault was a praseodymium nightmare . Within decades , the fear instrument was relegated to the outstanding crowing concert hall in the sky .
