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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



Local Government and Free Schools in 

 South Carolina. By B. James Ram- 

 age. Baltimore : Johus Hopkins Uni- 

 versity. Pp. 40. Price, 40 cents. 



This is the twelfth of the valuable series 

 of "Johns Hopkins University Studies in 

 Historical and Political Science." It traces 

 the development of the peculiar political 

 system by which South Carolina was dis- 

 tinguished before the war from the aristo- 

 cratic plan of the original settlement in the 

 province, mider the influence of Locke's 

 "Fundamental Constitutions," as a county 

 palatine, with its lords proprietors, pala- 

 tines, and its nobility of landgraves and 

 cassiques. This scheme was short-lived, 

 and gave way to the parish organizations 

 in the coast country. Afterward the upper 

 country was settled, and evolved a county 

 system of local government. Then the 

 county system and the parish system 

 clashed, and the district system, which last- 

 ed till after the war, was formed for the 

 whole State. Tliis, in turn, was remodeled, 

 and the name "district" was changed to 

 " county " after the war. The second part 

 of the pamphlet is devoted to the history 

 of " Free Schools in South Carolina," with 

 the design of showing that the State had 

 earlier and more liberal provisions for free 

 education than it has been supposed tp have 

 had. 



Voice, Song, and Speech: A Practical 

 Guide for Singers and Speakers. By 

 Lennox Browne, F. R. C. S. Ed., author 

 of "The Throat and its Diseases," 

 "Medical Hints on the Singing Voice," 

 etc., and Emil Behnke, author of " The 

 Mechanism of the Human Voice," etc. 

 New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons. Pp. 

 322. Price, $4.50. 



This work deals mainly with the physi- 

 olqgy and hygiene and the acoustics of the 

 voice. The need of a scientific basis for 

 the production, cultivation, and preserva- 

 tion of the voice is insisted on in the first 

 chapter, and strikingly illustrated by direc- 

 tions given to pupils by some authorities. 

 For instance, " To focus the sound ; to di- 

 rect the voice toward the roof of the mouth 

 — against the hard palate — against the up- 

 per front teeth — into the head — to the bot- 

 tom of the chest ; to lean the tone against 

 the eyes ! to sing all over the face ! " The 

 laws of sound bearimi on the voice are next 



stated, after which the anatomy of the vocal 

 organ is described at length, and the respir- 

 atory action is explained. Under voeal hy- 

 giene, the proper mode of breathing is de- 

 scribed, and cases are given which show the 

 loss of vocal power resulting from a waist 

 deformed by constriction. A chapter on the 

 laryngoscope, its use, and teachings, fol- 

 lows. Voice-culture is taken up under the 

 headings "Breathing, Attack, Resonance, 

 Flexibility, and Registers." Directions are 

 given for the " Daily Life of a Voice-User," 

 and there are chapters on " Ailments of the 

 Voice-User " and " Defects of Speech." As 

 this work is the joint production of a vocal 

 surgeon and a voice-trainer, who have been 

 in the habit of collaborating in the treat- 

 ment of patients and pupils, the authors 

 believe that it possesses a completeness 

 which is seldom attained by a specialist in 

 a single department. The volume is illus- 

 trated with photographs of the larynx and 

 the soft palate in various positions, and 

 with numerous woodcuts. 



The GirEGiTENCE: a Comedy Ballet in the 

 Nahuatl-Spanish Dialect of Nicaragua. 

 Edited bv Daniel G. Brixton, A. M., 

 M. D. Philadelphia : D. G. Brinton. Pp. 

 lii-94. Price, $2.50. 



This is the fourth volume of Dr. Brin- 

 ton's " Library of Aboriginal American Lit- 

 erature." The play which is presented in 

 it is the only specimen of the native Amer- 

 ican comedy known to the editor. It is of 

 comparatively recent origin, and is com- 

 posed in a mixed dialect, a jargon of low 

 Spanish and corrupt Aztec, or Nahuatl. It 

 bears marks of its native composition in 

 both its history and spirit, and illustrates 

 the sort of humor popular with the tribes 

 from whom it has been obtained, so that 

 it is of considerable anthropological value. 

 The piece is one of several kinds of haihs 

 or dramatic dances common among the Na- 

 huas or Aztecs of Nicaragua, and pictures 

 the devices which an elder of the tribe em- 

 ployed to escape the censure of the algxiacil 

 before whom he was brought up for disci- 

 pline. Its chief literary character is a coarse, 

 rollicking humor, and it contains some mu- 

 sic of no little merit. The most valuable 

 part of the book is the introduction, in 

 which Dr. Brinton precedes the history and 

 a minute analysis and criticism of the play 



