Sons and Fathers
Page 28
CHAPTER XXVIII.
THE THREE PICTURES.
Virdow had arisen and been to town when Edward made his appearance latein the morning. After tossing on his pillow all night, at daylight hehad fallen into a long, dreamless sleep.
Gerald was looking on, and the professor was arranging an experimentalapparatus of some kind. He had suspended a metal drum from the arch ofthe glass-room by steel wires, and over the upper end of the drum haddrawn tightly a sheet of rubber obtained from a toy balloonmanufacturer. In the base of this drum he inserted a hollow stem of tin,one end of which was flared like a trumpet. The whole machine whencompleted presented the appearance of a gigantic pipe; the mouthpieceenlarged. When Edward came in the German was spreading upon the rubbersurface of the drum an almost impalpable powder, taken from one of theiron nodules which lay about on the surrounding hills and slightlymoistened.
"I have been explaining to Gerald," said Virdow, cheerily, "some of mybases for hopes that vibration is the medium through which to effectthat ether wherein floats what men call the mind, and am getting readyto show the co-ordinations of force and increasing steadily and evenly.Try what you Americans call 'A' in the middle register and remember thatyou have before you a detective that will catch your slightest error."He was closing doors and openings as he spoke.
Edward obeyed. Placing his mouth near the trumpet opening he began. Thesimple note, prolonged, rang out in the silent room, increasing instrength to a certain point and ending abruptly. Then was seen amarvelous thing; animated, the composition upon the disk rushed to theexact center and then tremulously began to take definite shape. A littlemedallion appeared, surrounded by minute dots, and from these littletongues ran outward. The note died away, and only the breathing of theeager watchers was heard. Before them in bas-relief was a red daisy, asperfect, aye, more nearly perfect, than art could supply. Gerald after amoment turned his head and seemed lost in thought.
"From that we might infer," said Virdow, "that the daisy is the 'A' noteof the world; that of it is born all the daisy class of flowers, fromthe sunflower down--all vibrations of a standard."
Again and again the experiment was repeated, with the same result.
"Now try 'C,'" said the German, and Edward obeyed. Again the mass rushedtogether, but this time it spread into the form of a pansy. And thenwith other notes came fern shapes, trees and figures that resembled thescale armor of fish. And finally, from a softly sounded and prolongednote, a perfect serpent in coils appeared, with every ring distinctlymarked. This form was varied by repetition to shells and cornucopias.
So through the musical scale went the experiments, each yielding a newand distinct form where the notes differed. Virdow enjoyed the wonder ofEdward and the calm concentration of Gerald. He continued:
"Thus runs the scale in colors; each of the seven--red, orange, yellow,green, blue, indigo and violet--is a note, and as there are notes inmusic that harmonize, so in colors there are the same notes, the hues ofwhich blend harmoniously. What have they to do with the mind memory?This: As a certain number of vibrations called to life in music theshell, in light the color, and in music the note, so once found willcertain notes, or more likely their co-ordinations, awaken the memoriesof the mind, since infallibly by vibrations were they first born.
"This is the border land of speculation, you think, and you are partlycorrect. What vibration could have fixed the form of the daisy and theshape we have found in nature is uncertain, but remember that the earthswings in a hollow drum of air as resonant and infinitely more sensitivethan rubber; and the brain--there is a philosophic necessity for theshape of a man's head."
"If," said Gerald, "you had said these vibrations awakened the memoriesof the brain instead of the mind, I could have agreed with you. Yoursare on the order of the London experiments. I am familiar with them, butonly through reading." Again Virdow wondered, but he continued:
"The powers of vibration are not understood--in fact, only dreamed of.Only one man in the world, your Keely, has appreciated itspossibilities, and he is involved in the herculean effort to harness itto modern machinery. It was vibration simply that affected Gerald sodeeply last night; a rhythm co-ordinating with his heart. I have seenvast audiences--and you have, too, Edward--painfully depressed by thatdangerous experiment of Mendelssohn; for the heart, like a clock, willseek to adjust itself to rhythms. Your tempo was less than seventy-twoto the minute; Gerald's delicate heart caught time and the brain lackedblood. A quick march would have sent the blood faster and broughtexhilaration. Under the influence of march time men cheer and do deedsof valor that they would not otherwise attempt, though the measure issounded only upon a drum; but when to this time is added a second, athird and a fourth rhythm, and the harmonies of tone against tone, coloragainst color, in perfect co-ordination, they are no longer creatures ofreason, but heroes. The whole matter is subject to scientificdemonstration.
"But back to this 'heart-beat march.' The whole nerve system of mansince the infancy of the race has been subject to the rhythm of theheart, every atom of the human body is attuned to it; for while lengthof life, breadth of shoulders, chest measure and stature have changedsince the days of Adam we have no evidence that the solemn measure ofthe heart, sending its seventy-two waves against all the minutedivisions of the human machine, has ever varied in the normal man.Lessen it, as on last night, and the result is distressing. And as youincrease it, or substitute for it vibrations more rapid against thosemyriad nerves, you exhilarate or intoxicate.
"But has any one ever sent the vibration into that 'viewless vinculum'and awakened the hidden mind? As our young friend testifies, yes! Therehave been times when these lower co-ordinations of song and melodieshave made by a momentary link mind and matter one, and of these timesare born the world's greatest treasures--jewels wrested from the hillsof eternity! What has been done by chance, science should do by rule."
Gerald had listened, with an attention not hoped for, but the conclusionwas anticipated in his quick mind. Busy with his portfolio, he did notattend, but upon the professor's conclusion he turned with a picture inhis hand. It was the drawing of the previous night.
"What is it?" he asked.
"A mind picture, possibly," said Virdow.
"You mean by that a picture never impressed upon the brain, but livingwithin the past experience of the mind?"
"Exactly."
"And I say it is simply a brain picture transmitted to me by heredity."
"I deny nothing; all things are possible. But by whom? One of thosewomen?" Gerald started violently and looked suspiciously upon hisquestioner. Virdow's face betrayed nothing.
"I do not know," said Gerald; "you have gaps in your theory, and this isthe gap in mine. Neither of these women could have seen this picture;there must have been a third person." Virdow smiled and nodded his head.
"And if there was a third person he is my missing witness. From himcomes your vision--a true mind picture."
"And this?" Gerald drew from the folio a woman's face--the face thatEdward had shown, but idealized and etherealized. "From whom comesthis?" cried the young man with growing excitement. "For I swear to youthat I have never, except in dreams, beheld it, no tongue has describedit! It is mine by memory alone, not plucked from subtle ether by awandering mind, but from the walls of memory alone. Tell me." Virdowshook his head; he was silent for fear of the excitement. Gerald cameand stood by him with the two pictures; his voice was strained andimpassioned, and his tones just audible:
"The face in this and the sleeper's face in this are the same; if youwere on the stand to answer for a friend's life would you say of me,this man descends from the kneeling woman?" Virdow looked upon himunflinchingly.
"I would answer, as by my belief in God's creation, that by thistestimony you descend from neither, for the brain that held thosepictures could belong to neither woman. One could not hold anetherealized picture of her own face, nor one a true likeness of her ownback." Gerald replaced the sheets.
"You have
told me what I knew," he said; "and yet--from one of them I amdescended, and the pictures are true!" He took his hat and boat paddleand left them abruptly. The portfolio stood open. Virdow went to closeit, but there was a third drawing dimly visible. Idly he drew it forth.
It was the picture of a white seagull and above it was an arch; beyondwere the bending trees of the first picture. Both men studied itcuriously, but with varying emotions.