846 



POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



and valuable observations in Prof. 

 Miall's address. He dwelt witli 

 proper force on the impossibility of 

 obtaining a living insight into bio- 

 logical problems or even a living 

 acquaintance with biological facts by 

 means of text-books and lectures 

 alone. He indicated the necessity of 

 extreme care in talking of the " laws 

 of Nature," lest some false idea of a 

 positive mandate should creep into 

 the mind. He expressed himself as 

 accepting in great measure, but still 

 in part only, the " recapitulationist" 

 theory, as it has been called, of em- 

 bryonic development. He believes 

 that the mammalia certainly had a 

 piscine origin in remote ages, but 

 professed himself unable to trace 

 their family record any further back. 

 He does not like the word miust in 

 the mouth of a biologist. " Whenever 



any biologist brings the word mxist 

 into his statement of the operations 

 of living Nature, I look out to see 

 whether he will not shortly fall into 

 trouble." 



Upon the whole, there was much 

 useful work accomplished at the To- 

 ronto meetiiig. One could not at- 

 tend the different sections without 

 feeling that the work of science in 

 its different branches is a great and 

 mighty and beneflcent work, and one 

 which elevates and liberalizes the 

 minds that give themselves to it with 

 devotion. However lightly these 

 annual gatherings may sometimes be 

 spoken of as being mainly occasions 

 for holiday-making, we believe that 

 they are the means of communicat- 

 ing many useful intellectual im- 

 pulses both to the working members 

 themselves and to the general public. 



SPECIAL BOOKS. 



In this fifth volume of the Memoirs of the American Folklore Society 

 are sriven what might be called the book of Genesis of the Navaho Indians 

 and the shorter legends of Natinesthani and The Great Shell of Kintyel.* 

 The origin legend starts with twelve insect peoples and tells how First 

 Man and First Woman were produced by the gods and cared for by the in- 

 sect peoples as the gods directed. The history of this pair and of their 

 descendants follows and is filled with incidents designed to explain present 

 customs of the Navahoes and various phenomena of Nature. The last 

 chapter of the legend, dealing with the growth of the Navaho nation, is in 

 part traditional or historical, and many of its dates are approximately cor- 

 rect. The introduction of sixty pages which Dr. Matthews has prefixed to 

 the legends, and his sixty-five pages of notes, contain much material of 

 value to the anthropologist. The Navaho reservation lies in the northern 

 parts of Arizona and New Mexico, and although arid is not a desert. Dr. 

 Matthews tells us how the Indians manage to raise meager crops from its 

 soil, and how they care for their herds of sheep and goats. He also de- 

 scribes the pei'sonal appearance of this rather intelligent people and the 

 structure of their various kinds of dwellings, giving portraits of several 

 individuals and views of typical houses. Their industries weaving, in 

 which they excel, basket making, pottery, silverwork, etc. are described, 



Navaho Legends. Collected and translated by Washington Matthews, M. D., LL. D. Boston; 

 Houghton, ilifflin & Co. Pp. 299, 8vo. Price, $6. 



