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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



fairy tales must be extended a little to in- 

 clude tales in which something " fairy," or 

 extraordinary, like fairies, giants, dwarfs, 

 or speaking animals, occurs ; and also to 

 cover tales in which the extraordinary thing 

 is the stupidity of some of the actors. The 

 question of nationality, too, is one to which 

 it is hard to assign limits. Some of the 

 stories were found among the descendants 

 of English immigrants in America, some in 

 Australia, some among the Lowland Scotch ; 

 and one of the best was taken down from 

 the mouth of an English gypsy. Some of 

 them exist in the form of ballads. Writ- 

 ing for children, the author has consid- 

 ered it expedient to take a few liberties 

 with the text, translating sometimes from 

 dialect or introducing or changing an inci- 

 dent ; but mention of the fact is always 

 made in the notes. He has felt authorized 

 to do this amount of adaptation because he 

 expects on some future occasion to treat the 

 subject of the English folk-lore tale in a 

 critical manner, when the originals will be 

 reproduced with literal accuracy. 



The Myology op the Raven. By R. W. 

 Shufeldt. London and New York : 

 Macmillan & Co. Pp. 343. Price, $4. 



The author has prepared this treatise in 

 the belief that a work fully and practically 

 illustrated and devoted to a complete ac- 

 count of the muscles of any species of bird 

 is wanting ; and that such a work would be 

 of service to persons engaged in the gen- 

 eral morphology of vertebrates as well as to 

 special students. Birds are among the most 

 easily procurable subjects for the use of the 

 demonstrator and the student, and of these 

 none are more convenient than those of the 

 raven kind, which represent a numerous and 

 cosmopolitan family, including the crows, 

 jays, orioles, and very many others. As, ac- 

 cording to the author, the student's investiga- 

 tions in the myology of birds advance, three 

 lines of improvement in knowledge of their 

 muscular system will force themselves upon 

 him. " In the first place, we still remain 

 very ignorant of the details of this system 

 in a great many important types of birds ; 

 secondly, an ever-pressing demand is evi- 

 dent to fix the homologies of muscles in the 

 vcrtebrata, and, consequently, to bring so 

 far-reaching a knowledge of this department 



of research to our assistance as to be able 

 to give the same name to the same muscles 

 accurately throughout the vertebrate series ; 

 and, finally, a simple, scientific, and eupho- 

 nious nomenclature is very much to be de- 

 sired. As an index of our present status 

 with respect to our knowledge of the mus- 

 cles of birds, it is hoped that the volume 

 here offered will faithfully represent it ; but 

 its writer trusts that in future works he 

 may lend his assistance to the improvement 

 of all the lines above indicated." 



A Practical Delsarte Primer. By Mrs. 

 Anna Randall-Diehl. Syracuse, N. Y. : 

 C. W. Bardeen. Pp. 66. 



If the only aim of this little book had 

 been to serve as a guide in making the body 

 flexible and responsive, one third of the con- 

 tents might have been omitted with nothing 

 to regret. 



The first chapter suggests an excellent 

 drill to gain bodily control. Exercises are 

 given for the fingers, hands, shoulders, 

 head, and trunk ; also directions for various 

 movements, including stage-falls. In the 

 closing chapter it is shown how the ac- 

 quired suppleness may be utilized in repre- 

 senting mental and emotional states. The 

 laws of expression in relation to each organ 

 are defined, and a quotation is made from 

 Duchenne's Human Physiognomy, confirm- 

 ing the method delineated. 



The intermediate part of the book is 

 taken up with an outline of the philosophy 

 of Delsarte, which is said to depend upon 

 "the triune nature of man." A trinity is 

 defined as "the union of three things neces- 

 sarily coexistent in time, copenetrative in 

 space, co-operative in motion." Accord- 

 ingly, the human organization is split up 

 into ternary combinations, and nothing is 

 allowed to overflow the trinitarian mold. 

 There is the "essential trinity" and the 

 " dynamic trinity " ; the " nervous," the " cir- 

 culatory," and the " visceral trinity." 



The triple classification into moral, men- 

 tal, and vital, differentiates our unoffending 

 members in a remarkable manner. The 

 bones are vital, the skin mental, and the 

 flesh moral. The pupil of the eye expresses 

 intellect, but the iris has a leaning toward 

 righteousness. The tip of the nose is also 

 virtuously distinguished from the nostrils. 



