The Stimulating Influence of Witnesses and of Music
It is noteworthy that in all the instances thus far cited—in the great games, in dancing, and in fighting—two factors are present that are well known to have an augmenting effect both in the full development of emotions and in the performance of unusual muscular labors. One of these is the crowd of witnesses or participants, who contribute the “mob spirit” that tends to carry the actions of the individual far beyond the limits set by any personal considerations or prudencies. The other is the influence of music. As Darwin long ago indicated, music has a wonderful power of recalling in a vague and indefinite manner strong emotions which have been felt by our ancestors in long-past ages. Especially is this true of martial music. For the grim purposes of war the reed and the lute are grotesquely ill-suited; to rouse men to action strident brass and the jarring instruments of percussion are used in full force. The influence of martial music on some persons is so profound as to cause the muscles to tremble and tears to come to the eyes—both indications of the deep stirring of emotional responses in the body. And when deeds of fortitude and fierce exertion are to be performed the effectiveness of such music in rousing the aggressive emotions has long been recognized. The Romans charged their foes amid the blasts of trumpets and horns. The ancient Germans rushed to battle, their forces spurred by the sounds of drums, flutes, cymbals and clarions. There is a tradition that the Hungarian troops are the worst in Europe, until their bands begin to play—then they are the best! The late General Linevitch is quoted as saying: “Music is one of the most vital ammunitions of the Russian army. Without music a Russian soldier would be dull, cowardly, brutal and inefficient. From music he absorbs a magic power of endurance, and forgets the sufferings and mortality. It is a divine dynamite.” And Napoleon is said to have testified that the weird and barbaric tunes of the Cossack regiments infuriated them to such rage that they wiped out the cream of his army.[12] A careful consideration of the use of martial music in warfare would perhaps bring further interesting evidence that its function is to reënforce the bodily changes that attend the belligerent emotions.
Only a few instances of the combination of extreme pain, rage, terror or excitement, and tremendous muscular power have been given in the preceding pages. Doubtless in numerous other conditions these two groups of phenomena occur together. In the lives of firemen and the police, in the experiences of escaping prisoners, of shipwrecked sailors, in the struggles between pioneers and their savage enemies, in accounts of forced marches or retreats, search would reveal many examples of such bodily disturbances as have been described in earlier chapters as augmenting the effectiveness of muscular efforts, and such exhibitions of power or endurance as are evidently far beyond the ordinary. There is every reason for believing that, were the conditions favorable to experimental testing, it would be possible to demonstrate and perhaps to measure the addition to the dynamics of bodily action that appears as the accompaniment of violent emotional disturbance.