Word: shawm
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Dates: during 1951-1951
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...paid much attention to a charming fresco in the administration building. Painted about 1550 by the Zucchi brothers, minor artists of the Raphael school, it shows a group of wet nurses feeding foundling children, while in one corner of the scene a plump, placid musician plays a ciaramella or shawm, a cousin of the oboe. This week the hospital's archivist, Professor Pietro de Angelis, was getting ready to publish a startling explanation of the musician's presence: he was there to stimulate the flow of milk...
...found many references to the "beneficial influence of soft and melodious music on the flow of mothers' milk." A 13th Century miniature showed players wearing costumes and carrying bagpipes* marked with the hospital's emblem. These, De Angelis concluded, were used to make lactogenic music until the shawm replaced the bagpipe...