Benjamin Franklin Invented an Instrument So Disturbing It Was Banned
In 1761, Benjamin Franklin invented what he called the greatest of his creations — an instrument made of spinning glass bowls that played music with the touch of a fingertip. Mozart wrote for it. Marie Antoinette learned it. Thousands were built across Europe. Then, within a single generation, it vanished. Players reported tremors, melancholy, nervous collapse. Audience members fainted. A child was rumored to have died at a concert. Towns banned the instrument by police order, and the music of the armonica was silenced for nearly two centuries. Was it lead poisoning from the glass? A trick of psychoacoustics that confused the brain? Or guilt by association with a discredited Viennese doctor named Franz Mesmer? This is the documented history of the glass armonica — and the question its survivors still ask. Sources and further reading in the comments. #history #benjaminfranklin #music #mystery #lostinventions #glassarmonica #documentary 00:00 The forgotten instrument 00:45 Franklin's design 02:30 Fame and fortune 04:00 The first reports 05:30 Theory one: the lead 06:30 Theory two: the sound itself 08:00 Theory three: Mesmer 09:00 What do you believe?
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