Music 

 Mystery 



SCIENTIFIC SIDE-LIGHTS 



470 



the insect rapidly moves its wings the file 

 of the one lobe is scraped sharply across 

 the horny margin of the other, thus pro- 

 ducing the sounds, the parehmenty wing- 

 cases and the hollow drum like space which 

 they enclose assisting to give resonance to 

 the tones. BATES The Naturalist on the 

 River Amazon, ch. G, p. 672. (Hum., 1880.) 



2302 . MUSIC OF PRIMITIVE WOMAN 



Domestic and Maternal Type Controls. It 

 was with genuine pleasure that the author 

 heard Mr. Gushing say that the women of 

 Zuni, tho they never play upon any of the 

 musical instruments of the tribe, sing songs 

 of their own, which are invariably associ- 

 ated with domestic and industrial pursuits. 

 As they nurse their children they croon a 

 lullaby, and more novel than that are the 

 little melodies which they chant as they 

 plant the corn or beans or melons to en- 

 courage their growth. The theory of the 

 Zuni woman seems to be that there is some 

 mysterious connection between the voices or 

 sounds of things and their increase. When 

 she kneels by her stone bread-making trough 

 she sings a song which has many little imi- 

 tations of the mealing-stone. The theory 

 in her mind is that the implement will do 

 far better work under those circumstances. 

 It is the same when she sings to her baby. 

 Her boy she calls her little man, and speaks 

 of all she hopes he may become, believing 

 that these are necessary to his growth. 

 This serious intent goes through all her 

 music. MASON Woman's Share in Primi- 

 tive Culture, ch. 8, p. 176. (A., 1894.) 



2303. MUSIC, PLAINTIVE Melancholy 

 Appeals to the Common People. Even on 

 joyous occasions the lower classes love melo- 

 dies that are mournful, and their music in 

 general tends to plaintive feelings and 

 melancholy. FLACH Der Tans lei den Orie- 

 chen (a Lecture). (Translated for Scientific 

 Side- Lights.) 



2304. MYRIADS OF SUNS One Hun- 

 dred Million Stars. We find for the total 

 of stars down to the 14th magnitude inclu- 

 sive the number, already difficult to imagine, 

 of forty-four millions. 



But these are not all the stars. Already 

 even the powerful telescopes constructed in 

 recent years have penetrated the depths of 

 immensity so far as to discover stars of the 

 15th magnitude, and the stellar statistics 

 have now risen to one hundred millions! 

 Celestial photography penetrates further 

 still, and the numbers become so enormous 

 that we are overwhelmed by their weight 

 without understanding them. 



One hundred millions of stars! This gives 

 17,000 stars for each of those which we see 

 with the naked eye seventeen times more 

 than we can count in both hemispheres. We 

 shall shortly estimate the distances which 

 separate them, and the incomparable space 

 over which their empire extends. 



One hundred millions of suns similar to 

 ours, and surrounded by worlds counted 



by thousands of millions! These are, un- 

 questionably, very amazing numbers, and it 

 would not be surprising if they should not 

 be at once realized in their prodigious mag- 

 nitude by our brains, unaccustomed to such 

 enormous figures. We may remark, how- 

 ever, in passing, that a number well under- 

 stood tells more than the finest phrases. 

 FLAMMAKION Popular Astronomy, bk. vi, ch. 

 4, p. 587. (A.) 



2305. MYSTERIES OF ARCHEOLOGY 



A Race Vanished without a Record. 

 When, why, or by whom [the mounds of 

 North America] were erected as yet we know 

 not. The Indian tribes, tho they look upon 

 them with reverence, have thrown no light 

 upon their origin. Nor do the contents of 

 the mounds themselves assist us in this 

 inquiry. Several of them have been opened, 

 and in making the streets of Milwaukee 

 many of the mounds have been entirely re- 

 moved ; but the only result has been to show 

 that they are not sepulchral, and that, ex- 

 cepting by accident, they contain no imple- 

 ments or ornaments. 



Under these circumstances speculation 

 would be useless ; we can but wait, and hope 

 that time and perseverance may solve the 

 problem, and explain the nature of these 

 remarkable and mysterious monuments. 

 AVEBUBY Prehistoric Times, ch. 8, p. 257. 

 (A., 1900.) 



2306. MYSTERY AMID THE MOUN- 

 TAINS Lake without Tributary or Outlet 

 Crater Lake A Mountain Peak Obliterated. 

 Crater Lake has been described by C. E. 

 Button, and is considered by him as worthy 

 of a high rank among the wonders of the 

 world. It is situated in the Cascade Moun- 

 tains, in northwestern Oregon, thirty miles 

 north of Klamath Lake, at an elevation of 

 6,239 feet above the sea. It is nearly cir- 

 cular, without bays or promontories, . . . 

 and is from five to six miles in diameter. 

 The cliffs of dark basaltic rock encircling it 

 rise precipitously to heights varying from 

 900 to 2,200 feet, and nowhere offer an easy 

 means of access to the basin within. They 

 plunge at once into deep water, without 

 leaving even a platform at the water's edge 

 wide enough for one to walk on. There are 

 no streams tributary to the lake, and no 

 visible outlet. The waters probably escape 

 by percolation, as the precipitation of the 

 region is in excess of evaporation, and if an 

 escape were not furnished the basin would 

 be filled to overflowing. . . . 



The sounding-line has shown that Crater 

 Lake has a maximum depth of 2,000 feet 

 and is the deepest lake now known in North 

 America, its nearest rival being Lake Tahoe. 

 The full depth of the basin, measured from 

 the crest of the enclosing cliffs, is from 

 2,900 to 4,200 feet. . . . 



More remarkable, however, than the 

 unique scenic features of Crater Lake is the 

 story of its origin. The site of the great 

 depression was once occupied by a volcanic 



