Jtdy 2, 1874] 



naturu 



16- 



the process. Therefore do not dismiss this as the sketch of a 

 fancy battle. Watch for yourselves ; place within the pipe at 

 the back of the mouth some fine filaments of cotton, or Huff or 

 down ; advance them from the interior to the inner edge of the 

 windway, and you will see them shot with energy not upward 

 into the pipe, but outward full in your face with an unmistake- 

 able tmjectorj'. Do we not bring into activity the same force, 

 "suction by velocity," when we blow through one little tube 

 over another tube leading down to a well of perfume and draw 

 cp thereby scent-laden globules caught in the belt of wind pass- 

 ing over the tube's orifice, dispersing fine odour-sprays into the 

 atmosphere? When a train of carriages loosely coupled is 

 starting out of a railway station, should the engine suddenly 

 back a little we see the hindermost portion of the train 

 with its acquired momerituni meeting the foremost portion 

 advancing to it with reversed direction of impetrs, and 

 the central carriages receive a double compression, a rude kind 

 of node is thus formed starting a reaction of buffer.ige in oppo- 

 site directions ; so when trains come into collision or are suddenly 

 slopped in career, the dis'ribution of weight, the gradients and 

 relative velocities determine which portion feels most the influ- 

 ence of the shock. Again an analogy. There is a country cus- 

 tom, \\hen the bees swarm to dredge them with flour as a means 

 of identification, if the flour travels you will know the bees have 

 journe) ed likewise. Take a piece of white tissue paper (a bank- 

 note answers it admirably), fold it so that a portion will occupy 

 very nearly the space of the embouchure of the diapason pipe, 

 by using a card it may be held level on the outer edge of the 

 windway, it is in fact a paper reed but flaccid and inanimate ; as 

 you advance it to the windway no sooner is it caught in the cur- 

 rent than it darts \ipright and becomes incorporated with the 

 air-reed, 



" Grows with its growth and strengthens with Its strength." 

 This same crisp little bit of paper will reveal to your eyes the 

 treasured secret ' of the organ-pipe, tell you how its wealth of 

 varied tone is wrought, show you its fine arcs of fle.\ure, how it 

 bends less for its inward than for its outward stroke, and how its 

 free curves arc moulded to your will ; listen, and you shall hear 

 the domestic wrangle of the reed and pipe ; look, and you shall 

 witness how in its high caprice it transmutes in a flash to har- 

 monic speed and leaps e.xultant to its octave. Truly an Ariel 

 imprisoned, endowed with form, and clothed with a white vesture 

 making it in all its motion visible as bees. 



On the supposition that the theory herein advanced is justi- 

 fiable, the work of the aeroplastic reed is to be considered, 

 specifically, to abstiacl. By reason of abstraction raiefaction 

 ensues, condensation correlates therewith, the latter springing 

 out of the former, and the product is vibratirn. The reed is the 

 generator of the power ar.d the node is the fulcrum of vibiation, 

 the place of reaction, with this peculiarity that it afibrds an 

 elastic fulcrum sensitive to the encroaches of the column of air 

 above it ; in the stopped pipe on the contrary there is a stable 

 unyielding fulcrum, and the results of this difference are very re- 

 markable, as will be seen in ai other paper necessary to complete 

 this exposition, but £t present I can onlyallude in passing to one 

 of these results which it seems desirable not to omit here. Ad- 

 mi:ting my affirmntions so far as they can be proved by other 

 eyes, objections will be taken to the imaginary desciiption of the 

 action of air-partic'es and waves in the interior of the pipe, as 

 opposed to received doctrine. Noveby is often held to be out- 

 rage. It is an essential feati re of my hypothesis that the initial 

 movement, or prelu'.ie to vibration in the pipe, is ditinct from 

 successive movements both in its course and character ; it extends 

 throughout the pifc, is continuous but diminishing in degree, 

 andis-Aithoutancde, which is only fully established at the second 

 course. Without enteiing now into fuither details it is important 

 to notice that this interval between the first effjit or gasp of the 

 pipe and the full po session of its power, is distinctly perceived 

 [•y the ear. All musicians acquain'ed with organs are consciois 

 of this, and it is matter of usval comment with them how that 

 slo] ped pipis are on the contrary remarkably quick of speech, 

 instantaneovs in articulation. They feel this w ithout reasoning 

 of why or wherefore. As in stopped pipes theie is no supernodal 

 column, no requirement for an elTort similar to that awakening 

 motion to perfect vibration in open org.an-pipes, the verdict of 

 the ear is in both cases consistent with and corrobcrative of the 

 hypothesis. Experiments with a very peculiar pipe called the 

 " German Gamba" will throw invaluable light on the process of 

 tone-making in organ-pipes. 



Hermann Smith 



The Degeneracy of Man 



With regard to the culture of .'avages in Brazil the evidence 

 of facts will be more esteemed by Mr. Tylor than the opinion of 

 Dr. Martins, for Mr. Tylor has brought together a wealth of 

 facts on the history and corditions of culture. 



There is one class of facts which to my mind bears particularly 

 on this question of the tribes of Brazil and the Amazons, and that 

 is language. 



The Kiriri and Sabuyah of Bahia as also the Ge have affinities 

 with the .Shoshoni and other dialects of the Rocky Mountains, 

 and it is difficult to believe a language of this kind can belong to 

 an epoch of high culture. 



The dialects of the Tocaufius have affinities of a like character 

 with the Ankaras and Wun of Africa, and with that of the Akka 

 pigmies just discovered in the Nile region. 



The Purus, Coroado, and Corope of Rio Janeiro appear to 

 belong to the Carib directly, and thereby also to Africa. 



In ihe present state of our materials and information it is im- 

 possible to define exactly the members of each class. Thus the 

 t AO groups last mentioned appear to be connected by the Baniwa 

 .and the Car.b. 



The main body of the population of Guarani, Tupi, Omagua, 

 liave by me been long since pointed out as having a language 

 similar in roots and grammar to the Agaw of the Nile region. 

 This is the highest development of language known tome in Brazil. 



If the tribes of Brazil have fallen from a higher estate it is 

 strange they should have become endowed with languages of the 

 l^rehistoric epoch. Hyde Clarke 



June 29 



The gradual degeneracy of savage man from a higher type is 

 a fact which an eminent author stales in his letter in Nature 

 (vol. X. p. 146) to be diflicult of belief. He wonders that Dr. 

 Martius should say "the Americans are not a wild race, they are 

 a race run wild and degraded." 



The following facts seem to me to support the view held by 

 Dr. Martius, Alex, von Humboldt, Abp. Whately, the Duke of 

 Argyll, and others. 



In the Ilium now laid bare by Tr. Schliemann, the lower 

 strata contain more copper and fewer stone implements than the 

 upper. " In other words, we have the very 'unscientific' fact 

 of an 'age of stone' above an 'age of copper'" (Quart. Rev., 

 April 1874). " The newly opened mound of Ilissarlik stands 

 as a lasting witness to a progressive decay of civilisation, in- 

 dustry, and w-ealth, among the successive races of its inha- 

 bitants " (Quart. Rev.). 



Among the forest tribes of Braz 1 Dr. Martius found traces of 

 the village community with its tribe-land common to all, while 

 huts and patches of tilled ground were treated as acquired pro- 

 perty, the recognised owners not being individuals but families. 

 This may be w^ell explained as a custom brought by Asia'ic 

 immigrants into the American continent. The Chinese anciently 

 divided the land of a village irto nine parts. The division was 

 made by two perpendicular and two horizon'al parallel lines. 

 The middle square was common land. The eight ren-ainin-j- 

 squares were assigned to eif^ht heads of families, who cultivated 

 the common square, giving the produce to the Government : 

 they constituted a village. This princii le of revenue colleclitn 

 based on land distribution existed for many centuries in an- 

 cient China, and was afterwards changed for a grain tax 

 in kind about the time of the building of the Great Wall. 

 Agricultural emigrants to America at any date before 200 

 B.C. would be familiar with this mode cf doing things, and 

 would naturally carry with them the know ledge' of this and 

 other cus'oms existing at the time in eastern Asia. The 

 appearance cf a princij le < f land distribution resembling that 

 of the old Ten on=, among Am-.ric.an Ir.bes, cannot then be 

 taken as f roof that they were progressing and not degenerating, 

 for it may, wfen our knowledge <f ancient America becomes 

 more .accurate, be seen 10 be one of the lingering remains i f an 

 older civilisation which in a tropical climate favoural le to indo- 

 lence would eosily decline. The religious beliefs and social cus- 

 toms of Asiatic and American races are in nany respects so 

 similar that there is at undnnt ground for qucstionin" the cri<'i- 

 ralily of any 'civilised custom found among American tribes. 

 Why should not comparative ethnology cne day find the key lo 

 solve all such questions ? 



This fact, looked at from the eastern As'atic point of view, is 

 so far then from suppoiting the theory of progressive develop- 

 ment, that it may rather be used as an additional buttress for the 

 theory of degeneracy. 



