POPULAR MISCELLANY. 



859 



those of a supreme good deity or of a rival 

 evil deity. Detailed criticism of the names 

 and descriptions of such beings in accounts 

 of the religions of native tribes of America 

 and Australasia was adduced, which gave in 

 many cases direct proof of the beliefs in 

 question being borrowed or developed under 

 foreign influence. The problems involved 

 in the discussion are of great diiSculty, and 

 the only hope for their full solution in many 

 cases lies in the researches of anthropolo- 

 gists and philologists minutely acquainted 

 with the culture and languages of the dis- 

 tricts. Such researches should be carried 

 out without delay, before important evidence, 

 still available, has disappeared. 



Character and the Voice. — Mr. Louis C. 

 Eison remarks in the Boston Musical Herald 

 on the effect of character or race upon the 

 human voice as a subject that has never 

 been well studied. It is a fairly well-known 

 fact, he says, that certain kinds of voice 

 prevail in certain countries : thus America 

 produces many fine sopranos, Russia is the 

 land of phenomenal bassos, and the sweet, 

 high tenor must be sought chiefly in Spain ; 

 but it has not yet been quite determined as 

 to whether climate, or diet and general mode 

 of life, or actual distinction of race, is the 

 cause of this definite distribution of vocal 

 compass and timbre. The female voice in 

 America is sharper and shriller than that 

 of the Englishwoman or Frenchwoman, and 

 this is especially noticeable in the conver- 

 sational tone. The Englishwoman is more 

 usually a full-toned alto than anything else ; 

 the Frenchwoman almost always is a mezzo- 

 soprano. The peculiar style of singing a 

 full falsetto, called jodlinff, which is chiefly 

 heard in mountain districts, is another in- 

 stance of race characteristics in vocal music. 

 So perfectly is this singing done by the 

 Tyrolese that the theory was held for a time 

 that the throat of the Tyrolean might have 

 some peculiar formation of its own, super- 

 induced by peculiar diet and the drinking of 

 snow-water. This has been shown by in- 

 vestigation to be erroneous ; but since a simi- 

 lar style of singing is practiced in the Nor- 

 wegian mountains, the Engadine, and other 

 similar districts, it may be inferred that it re- 

 sults from a mode of calling the cattle, which 

 is peculiarly high, characteristic, and penetra- 



ting, to which these people are accustomed 

 from childhood. Peculiar types of voice 

 may be found, upon investigation, to be 

 rather the result of ages of peculiar usage, 

 which finally produce traits that become 

 hereditary, than of climate. The proba- 

 bility that diet may have some effect in the 

 matter is mentioned. The voice of the 

 American negro is distinguishable from that 

 of the white singer, and here, perhaps, an- 

 atomy may afford a partial clew, for thick 

 lips and a flat nose must influence the tone 

 production in a certain degree. When these 

 traits are absent, the tone of the colored 

 singer is more akin to the ordinary standard 

 of the singing of other races ; and the au- 

 thor speaks of having heard some finely 

 formed male Caffres sing, whose voices were 

 not distinguishable from those of white sing- 

 ers. The loss of sight seems to have an ap- 

 preciable effect on the voice, and, as a rule, 

 one will find the intensely passionate charac- 

 ter absent from the singing of the blind. 



Sanitary Mistakes. — There is much in 

 popular errors, says Dr. P. C. Redmondino, 

 of San Diego, Cal., that helps to bring about 

 our condition of physical degeneracy. For 

 example, people look upon cold as their great 

 and dreaded enemy, whereas cold — except 

 in an extreme degree — does not and can not 

 hurt any one primarily. To shut out the 

 cold, which is harmless, they shut themselves 

 in with ochlesitie poisons, as morbific and 

 fatal in the end as the effects of alcohol and 

 fusel oil. They have a vague idea that 

 " catching cold " is to be avoided, but they 

 have not the least idea of the lasting poison 

 of ochlesis or in fomites. A man will give a 

 friend a wide berth during the critical period 

 of typhoid fever, but as soon as that period 

 is passed he and his whole family will troop 

 into the room, in blissful ignorance of the 

 researches of Uffelmann and others into the 

 wonderful tenacity of life possessed by the 

 typhoid bacillus ; or, so that they avoid the 

 immediate breath of a consumptive, they 

 live in fancied security. That this infection, 

 as well as that of typhoid and other disease- 

 germs, is longer lasting in a dark or north 

 room, is not of any importance. The lady of 

 the house, on the departure of her consump- 

 tive visitor, will at once draw the curtains 

 and close the windows of her parlor that the 



