290 



JVA TURE 



[July 27, 1893 



Of greater interest to most visitors than the laboratory 

 is the old manor of Rothamsted. This charming red 

 brick building dates from 1470, though, like most old 

 buildings, it has since undergone alteration and enlarge- 

 ment. This manor house has been the home of Sir J. B. 

 Lavves' ancestors since 1623. The history of the family 

 is remarkable. It was in 1564 that Jacques Wittewronge 

 came to England from Flanders in consequence of the 

 religious persecution then prevailing. The family first 

 resided in Buckinghamshire ; they afterwards purchased 

 the manor of Rothamsted. Sir J. B. Lawes is a 

 descendant of this family through the female line. 



In the manor house of Rothamsted Sir J. B. Lawes 

 was born in 1814. His whole life has been one of great 

 activity ; probably few men have accomplished more 

 work. Though for many years a hard-working man of 

 business, he has always loved a retired country life, and 

 has been rarely seen at public meetings. A keen 

 observer and an untiring experimenter, he has given his 

 whole mind to the problems of agriMiUure, while his 

 great practical sagacity has enabled him to grasp at once 

 the real bearing and importance of each new fact. 

 Probably no one has taken a more practical and wide- 

 reaching view of agricultural questions than Sir J. B. 

 Lawes. When the present century is concluded, the work 

 of Lawes and Gilbert at Rothamsted will be reckoned 

 among the prominent achievements deserving a grateful 

 record. 



THE ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT OF 

 MUSIC. 

 Primitive Music : an Enquiry into the Origin and 

 Developfnent of Music, Songs, Instruments, Dances, 

 and Pantomimes of Savage Races. By Richard 

 Wallaschek. (London : Longmans, Green, and Co., 

 1893O 



MR. WALLASCHEK has not only compiled with 

 laborious care what appears to be an exhaustive 

 account of the music of so-called savage races, but has 

 based upon the foundations thus laid an able and in- 

 teresting discussion on the origin and development of 

 music. It is with the latter rather than the former part 

 of his work that I propose to deal in this notice. 



The author is led by his researches to regard rhythm 

 as the primitive and primary constituent of music, while 

 melody was in the primitive state, and has remained, 

 secondary and accessory. Harmony is not to be looked 

 upon as a comparatively recent invention among 

 European races. " As soon as music passes the mere 

 rhythmical stage the lowest races in the scale of man 

 begin to sing in different parts in intervals as well as 

 with a bass accompaniment." The order of development 

 therefore is, first rhythm, and then, possibly coeval one 

 with the other, melody and harmony. With what then 

 is the rhythm of primitive music associated? With the 

 rhythm of the dance. If I understand the author rightly 

 this association is, in his opinion, an invariable one in 

 the origin of music. Now, " in dance-music the idea is 

 to excite the performer and to fatigue him even to ex- 

 haustion. The musical dance-chorus is of a social 

 NO. 1239, VOL. 48] 



character ; music keeps the company together and enables 

 them to act simultaneously." I quote here from the 

 author's summary, which is no doubt somewhat condensed 

 and elliptical. One can hardly suppose that " fatigue 

 even to exhaustion " was part of the primary " idea " 

 (understanding by this word aim and object) of the 

 dance. Would it not have been better to say that a part 

 of the "idea" was to test and tax the powers of endur- 

 ance of the performers .' Be this as it may, war, the 

 chase, and sexual passion afford the underlying motives 

 of that emotional excitement which finds its expression 

 in the rhythm of the dance ; and thus this rhythm be- 

 comes most intimately bound up with practical life- 

 preserving and life-continuing activities, or, in other 

 words, with activities which are distinctly of natural- 

 selection value. The large share taken by women in the 

 dance and primitive music enables them to contribute 

 not ineffectually towards the success of the tribe in its 

 struggle with other tribes. 



" If it be asked whence the sense of rhythm arises, I 

 answer," says the author, " from the general appetite for 

 exercise. That this occurs in rhythmical form is due to 

 sociological as well as psychological conditions. On the 

 one hand there is the social character of primitive music^ 

 compelling a number of performers to act in concert. On 

 the other, our perception of time relations involves a 

 process of intellection," and hence an appreciation of 

 time, order, and rhythm. I would suggest that the 

 psychological basis of the "sense of rhythm" might be 

 found in experiences more primitive than any process of 

 intellection — in the organic rhythms of our daily life. 

 We cannot walk nor breathe except to rhythm ; and if 

 we watch a little child we shall obtain abundant evidence 

 of rhythmic movements. This I should have placed; 

 first ; and then the concerted rhythms of social activities. 

 " Whence," asks Mr. Wallaschek, " does the general 

 desire for exercise arise? Mr. Herbert Spencer's theory 

 affords," he replies, "the most valid explanation. It is 

 the surplus vigour in more highly evolved organisms^ 

 exceeding what is required for immediate needs, in which 

 play of all kinds takes its rise ; manifesting itself by way 

 of imitation or repetition of all those efforts and exer- 

 tions which were essential to the maintenance of life 

 (e.g. the war-dance)." In explanation of the term 

 "surplus vigour" the author does well to point out that 

 this is not meant to imply a surplus beyond the needs 

 of the organism at any time of its life, but a temporary 

 surplus beyond its needs in times of unmolested peace 

 and plenty. 



While accepting Mr. Spencer's general theory of 

 surplus vigour, Mr. Wallaschek is not prepared to- 

 accept the speech-theory of the origin of music. 

 "Whereas Mr. Spencer," he says, " seems to think that 

 musical modulation originates in the modulations of 

 speech, I maintain that it arises directly from the 

 rhythmical impulse." Without presuming to decide 

 between Mr. Herbert Spencer and Mr. Wallaschek, 1 

 venture to point out how much depends upon the exact 

 definition of " music " and of " speech." Mr. Walla- 

 schek, as we have seen, regards primitive music as 

 essentially rhythm without necessary association with 

 either melody or harmony. It is a mere tone-rhythm ia 



