FRAGMENTS OF SCIENCE. 



573 



the dead, before drinking brandy, of a few 

 drops of the liquor. A relation is also sup- 

 posed to exist between disease and pain and 

 the bones of the deceased person. A whole 

 class of diseases are supposed to have their 

 seat in the bones or the marrow of them. 

 If the disease does not yield to the shaman's 

 efforts, and causes death, the Indians think 

 that the pain will continue after death and 

 vex the ghost, making him malignant and 

 troublesome. Therefore the pain must be 

 conquered, and driven away from the bones 

 and the marrow. Hence the markings may 

 have been made in order to sever all connec- 

 tion between the spirit and his former life, 

 and from the disease that caused his death. 

 The other explanation is that the bones were 

 taken from slain enemies for other purposes 

 than as mere trophies. Personal or bodily 

 relics are supposed to possess some of the 

 qualities of the deceased, and to give power. 

 This view is supported by some observations 

 of Mr. Cushing relative to Zuni customs ; 

 and the author is inclined to favor it rather 

 than the other. 



Estrays from Civilization. — A curious 

 study of a community of estrays from civili- 

 zation who are leading the life of savages is 

 published by M. Zaborowski in the Revue de 

 V Ecole oV Anthropologic and La Naiure. The 

 settlement is about a mile from Ezy, on the 

 eastern edge of the plateau of Normandy, in 

 a group of caves that were excavated and 

 used as wine cellars when, several hundred 

 years ago, wine culture flourished in the now 

 uncongenial region. Later the srot was a 

 resort for picnics till the old buildings fell 

 into decay, and about fifty years ago it was 

 given up to wanderers. About eighty men, 

 women, and children live there, the adults, 

 though not perhaps really criminals, having 

 been lost to society on account of some of- 

 fense committed against it. They have no 

 regular means of subsistence, are beneath 

 the tramps in grade, and possess, with one or 

 two exceptions, no articles of property other 

 than what they pick up. Their beds are 

 wooden bunks set upon stones, filled with 

 leaves, and the coverings are wrapping can- 

 vas. A " family " of seven persons lived in 

 one of the cellars with only a single bed of 

 this kind. Their kitchen utensils are old tin 

 cans picked out of rubbish heaps, and their 



stoves are obtained in the same way, or often 

 consist of plates and pieces of iron adjusted 

 so as to make a sort of fireplace. They have 

 a well from which they draw water with 

 some old kettle suspended on a hooked stick, 

 each "family" having its own hook. Their 

 clothes are rags, partly covering portions of 

 the body, and it is not considered necessary 

 that the younger ones should have even these. 

 Their housekeeping and their ideas of neat- 

 ness are such as might correspond with these 

 conditions. One woman, mother of four 

 children, and the only one that was ade- 

 quately dressed, was a native of a neighbor- 

 ing village, and had been brought to the 

 cave by her mother when she was eight years 

 old. An old man had been a charge upon 

 the town and was sent to the cave by the 

 maire to get rid of him. He had found a 

 woman there and had several children. A 

 woman, still active, who had lived in the 

 caves three years, had children living in Ezy. 

 The complaint, so common in other parts of 

 France, that the natural increase of popula- 

 tion has failed, does not apply to the caves. 

 Five or six of the " families " have four or 

 five children. On these children, of whom 

 only the most vigorous survive, " the influ- 

 ence of their debasing misery and of the 

 vices of their parents impresses a common 

 aspect. Their mental condition has fallen 

 shockingly low, and, their physical needs 

 satisfied, they seem to want nothing further. 

 No attraction will induce them to attend 

 school, which is like imprisonment to them. 

 Their mode of life and the marks of degra- 

 dation in their faces separate them from 

 others. Earnest attempts to develop their 

 intelligence and moral consciousness have 

 been without result." 



German School Journeys. — It is very 

 common in Germany, says Miss Dodd, of 

 Owens College, in one of the English educa- 

 tional reports, to find definite teaching tak- 

 ing place outside the school walls — in the 

 gardens attached to the schools, and in the 

 neighboring forests, where the children are 

 instructed in observation of the local forms 

 of plant and animal life. Further, they are 

 often taken on longer expeditions to spend 

 the whole day in the forest or on the moun- 

 tain with their teachers, who direct them 

 " what to see, and how to see it." More defi- 



