> I cannot remember his name now, but there was a very controversial
> violinist back in the day. I forget the story now, but he supposedly had
> women fainting in the aisles. This would have been sometime before 1900
> (maybe before 1800!).
I went back looking, as I half remember him, too. . .
Found this sxiebntific idea on what causes the fainting at concerts:
from Washington Post:
Based on their observations, Bauer and Lempert discerned a "multifactorial
pathophysiology of rock-concert syncope," a phenomenon certainly as old as
Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley and the Beatles, but possibly long predating the
advent of rock-and-roll, since the symptoms apparently have less to do with the
musical genre than the state of the fans.
Fainting is a temporary loss of consciousness caused by insufficient oxygen in
the brain, and can be brought on a by a variety of circumstances. In the case
of the German fans, the researchers found at least five likely causes:
"sleeplessness during the previous night," perhaps from the thrill of
anticipation; "fasting from early in the morning, when they had first lined
up," causing low blood sugar; "a long period of standing in the arena," which
reduces cerebral blood flow by causing blood to pool in the legs;
"hyperventilation, which leads to cerebral vasoconstriction" -- that is, heavy
breathing that produces narrowing of blood vessels that supply the brain; and
abnormal pressure within the chest "induced either by screaming or reflexively
by external compression of the thorax by the pushing masses."
This latter condition resembles the effect of what is known as the Valsalva
maneuver -- forcibly trying to exhale through a closed mouth and nose (such as
in straining during a bowel movement). It traps blood in the larger veins,
keeping it from entering the chest and heart and thus being pumped to the
brain. This makes the victim more likely to faint.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1995/06/22/its-not-the-tune-
that-makes-them-swoon/c5dc2d24-b062-4060-a399-b045a478898f/
Thought you might be intereste in how the phenomenon works; not sure all that
would've been there in the pre modern rock eras. . . but I think we can agree,
teen girls do tend to work themselves up into a tizzy easily. . .
Your friend,
<+]:{)}
Cyberpope, Bishop of ROM
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