I 



488 



NATURE 



[March 22, 1900 



MEXICAN FOLK-LORE. 



Catalogue of a Collection oj Objects illustrating the 

 Folk-lore of Mexico. By Prof. Frederick Starr. With 

 32 Figures. Pp. xiii + 132. (London : Folk-lore Society 

 D. Nutt, 1899.) 



THE Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology in 

 Cambridge has recently been enriched by the 

 permanent loan from the Folk-lore Society of a valuable 

 collection illustrating the folk-lore of Mexico, which had 

 been generously given to that society by Prof. Starr, the 

 energetic and enthusiastic Professor of Anthropology in 

 the University of Chicago. 



Prof. Starr enhanced the value of the collection by writing 

 a full and descriptive catalogue, which has just been issued 

 by the Folk-Lore Society as one of their publications. 

 Owing to the labour Prof. Starr has expended upon it, 

 this catalogue will prove of permanent value to students 

 of folk-lore, although the author modestly disclaims it 

 to be a treatise on Mexican folk-lore. 



There are three main groups in the population of 

 Mexico : the enlightened and progressive Mexicans, of 

 whom Prof Starr speaks in high terms, the Indians of 

 the south, and the common Mestizos or mixed bloods of 

 Northern and Central Mexico. The six hundred and 

 more objects in the collection illustrate the customs and 

 beliefs of this last group, whose daily life is a mixture of 

 that of Spain in the fifteenth and of America at the end 

 of the nineteenth centuries, and whose religion is a mix- 

 ture of native paganism and imported Christianity, the 

 latter being itself a complex of Old-World beliefs and 

 practices. " Here," as Prof Starr writes, "are proverbs, 

 witty and wise ; here are folk-songs, sweet and touching ; 

 here are folk-tales untouched by scepticism ; here are 

 charms and formulae ; here are witches and fairies in 

 the full height of their power ; here are popular street 

 celebrations and dramas ; here are a hundred Oberam- 

 mergaus with passion-plays and miracle-plays unspoiled 

 by the crowds of visitors ; here are a thousand strange 

 survivals of pagan barbarism in the midst of Christian 

 civilisation." 



One-third of the book is devoted to children's toys 

 and games, illustrated by over a hundred specimens ; 

 but, in addition, there are descriptions of numerous out- 

 door and indoor children's games, which will be of great 

 interest to those who pay attention to this not unimport- 

 ant branch of ethnography. Many of the popular cere- 

 monies are very quaint, especially those connected with 

 Holy Week. From Thursday to Saturday the church 

 bells cease ringing, as on the Friday " the spirits of the 

 bells have gone to Rome." During this interval great 

 rattles are sprung in the church towers, and innumerable 

 small rattles are sold in the streets, and the noise they 

 make must be dreadful. On the " Saturday of Glory " 

 the gaiety reaches its culmination in the public destruc- 

 tion of Judas, the betrayer. Thousands of images of 

 Judas are sold annually, of all sorts and grades, and from 

 a few inches to ten feet or more in length. In some 

 places a drama is played in the streets on St. James's 

 Day, representing the victory of Christianity over pagan- 

 ism ; the heathen wear hideous masks. 



The Feast of the Dead is a famous festival, and the 

 collection contains a large number of skulls, skeletons, 

 NO. 1586, VOL. 6f] 



funeral processions, and toys that delight the people osi 

 that occasion. Enough has now been said to indicate! 

 the great interest of this unique collection, more com-! 

 plete than any hitherto made in Mexico. The Cam-^ 

 bridge Museum cannot now be safely neglected byl 

 students of comparative religion, as, in addition to '^ 

 other folk-lore collections, there are the collections pre-i.^ 

 sented by Mr. Skeat from the Malay Peninsula, and by s 

 Mr. C. Hose from Sarawak, as well as the specimens | 

 obtained by Dr. A. C. Haddon's expedition. j 



■ ORGANIC EVOLUTION. \ 



A First Book in Otganic Evolution. By D. Kerfoot \ 

 Shute, A.B., M.D. Pp. xvi -f- 285, 12 plates (10^ 

 coloured), and 27 figures. (London: Kegan Paul ; 

 Trench, Triibner and Co., Ltd., 1899.) '\ 



' I ""HE aim of this little book is an interesting one — to ■ 

 -•- supply a handy introduction to evolution-doctrine, •; 

 which will be of use to over-burdened students of medi- \ 

 cine and to others who may not have time to read the \ 

 classic works. " The author makes no claim for originality, s 

 unless it be in the manner of presenting the subject, i^ 

 He has utilised the facts collated by other observers, \ 

 and sometimes quoted the exact language and ex- \ 

 pressions of well-known writers on evolution, and has fj 

 endeavoured to put them together in a way that may be ] 

 helpful to those who are beginning the study of the evo- 1 

 lution-theory." It seems to us that the author has j 

 attained no small success in his difficult task, for the ^ 

 book is clear and interesting ; it is neither too simple 

 nor too difficult ; it is conspicuously free from cranki- 

 ness and dogmatism ; and it is evidently the work of one 

 who has had experience in the task of teaching. 



The plan of the book may be indicated by an enu- 

 meration of the secti ons : — Organic cells, heredity with 

 variation, unstable environment, transmutations of living 

 forms, natural selection, evolution of man, classification 

 of animals and plants, works of reference, and glossary. 

 There are ten coloured plates, which to some eyes will 

 add attractiveness to the volume, though several of them 

 show an unnatural and unpleasant predominance of red 

 tint, e.g. in the pouter pigeon on the frontispiece, the 

 birds of paradise, and the Kallima butterflies. 



A thoroughly good introduction to the study of organic 

 evolution might be written, even at the present youthful 

 stage of aetiology, by an author of real genius, like 

 Goethe, but the probability is that he would not write 

 it ; it might also be written by a genius according to 

 Buffbn's mistaken definition, — a man of persistent 

 patience, but he would probably die niggling at his 

 task ; it might more feasibly be written as a co-operative 

 work by six experts who were not very good friends. 

 Then we should have a work that would endure. For 

 what we have, however, let us be grateful ; and Prof. 

 Shute's book is a very useful introduction. 



At the same time we must make two criticisms. 

 ia) Is it wise in "a first book in organic evolution " to 

 have any talk either about religion or the castration of 

 habitual criminals ? We admire the author's courage of 

 conviction, but in regard to the subjects referred to we 

 doubt the relevancy of the virtue here. And might not 

 the dry classification chapter have been left out to 



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