532 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. VoL.XXX. No. 772 



modern California Indians, although no com- 

 parative study has yet been made by a speci- 

 ally trained cjraniologist. 



It is not possible in the case of the Hawver 

 Cave relics to prove Quaternary age for the 

 human bones. As in the other instances men- 

 tioned, the inference is, however, that the date 

 of their entombment preceded the present day 

 by centuries, if not by millenniums. 



John C. Merriam 



University of Califoenia 



SPECIAL ARTICLES 



THE SCIENCE OF EXOTIC MUSIC' 



If architecture is the king of the fine arts, 

 commanding the outward services of others, 

 music is their queen, imposing the inward 

 laws by which all rule themselves. The no- 

 tions of harmony, pitch, scale, tonality and 

 key, applied in fine art generally, have in 

 music first become clear enough to receive 

 names. The theory of all the arts awaits to 

 this day the exact grasp of these ideas which 

 the investigation of musical structure will 

 some time give. 



^ A. J. Ellis, " On the Musical Scales of Various 

 Nations," Journal of the Society of Arts, XXXIII., 

 1885. J. P. N. Land, " Ueber die Tonkunst der 

 Javanen," Vierteljahrssohrift fiir Musikivissen- 

 schaft, 1889, 1. C. Stumpf, " Lieder der Bella- 

 kula Indianern," Vierteljahrssohrift fur Musih- 

 imssenschaft, 1886, 4; " Phonographirter Indianer- 

 melodien" (review of " ZuSi Melodies"), Viertel- 

 jahrsschrift fiir Musikioissenschaft, 1892, 1; 

 " Tonsystem und Musik der Siamesen," Beitrage 

 zur Akustik und Musikunssensohaft, 3, 1901; 

 " Das Berliner Phonogrammarchiv," Int. Wochen- 

 schrift fur Wissenschaft , Kunst mid Technik, 22 

 Februar, 1908. Franz Boas, "The Central Es- 

 quimo," Bureau of Ethnology, Sixth Anual Re- 

 port, Washington, 1888 ; " The Kwakiutl Indians," 

 U. S. National Museum, Report for 1895. B. I. 

 Oilman, " ZuSi Melodies," Journal of American 

 Archeology and Ethnology, I., Boston, 1891; 

 " Some Psychological Aspects of the Chinese 

 Musical System," Philosophical Review, I., Nos. 1 

 and 2, New York, 1892; " Hopi Songs," Journal of 

 American Archeology and Ethnology, V., Boston, 

 1908. Miss Alice C. Fletcher, " A Study of Omaha 

 Indian Music: With a Report on the Structure of 

 the Music by John C. Fillmore," Peabody Museum, 

 Cambridge, U. S. A., 1893; "The Hako: A Pawnee 



Hitherto the study of music has labored 

 under an essential disadvantage compared 

 with that of painting and sculpture. Passing 

 events can not be scrutinized as permanent 

 objects can. Time is lacking for their dose 

 determination; and once experienced they be- 

 come memories only. Precision and revision 

 —twin essentials of science — are possible in 

 observing a combination of color and form, 

 but not of tone. Hence the study of music as 

 we know it is a study of scores. Connoisseur- 

 ship, pictorial and plastic, has found its ma- 

 terial wherever paintings and sculptures exist : 

 musical criticism only where scores exist; that 

 is to say only in modern Europe. In order to 

 bring accurate method to bear on non-Euro- 

 pean music some means for reproducing it at 

 will is demanded. H we can choose the mo- 

 ment when data of sense are to present them- 

 selves we can prepare for their precise registry ; 

 and the power to repeat our impressions gives 

 the power to correct them. Such a means has 

 been furnished within our own time and our 

 own country. Chiefly by the aid of the phono- 

 graph inquiries into exotic music have within 

 Ceremony," Bureau of Ethnology, Twenty-second 

 Report, Part 2, Washington, 1903. O. Abraham 

 and E. M. von Hornbostel, " Studien (iter das 

 Tonsystem und die Musik der Japaner," Sammel- 

 idnder der Int. Musikgesellschaft, IV., 2, 1903; 

 " Ueber die Bedeutung des Phonographen fiir 

 vergleichende Musikwissenschaft " and " Phono- 

 graphierte turkisohe Melodien," Zeitschrift fiir 

 Ethnologic, XXXVI., 2, 1904; " Phonographierte 

 indische Melodien," Sammelbander der Int. Musik- 

 gesellschaft, v., 3, 1904; "Phonographierte In- 

 aianermelodien aus British Columbia," Boas Me- 

 morial Volume, New York, 1906. E. M. von Horn- 

 bostel, " Phonographierte tunesische Melodien " 

 (1905?); "Notiz iiber die Musik der Bewohner 

 von Sud Neu Mecklenburg" (1905?) ; "Ueber den 

 gegenwartigen Stand der vergleichenden Musik- 

 wissenschaft," Int. Musikgesellschaft, Easier Kon- 

 gress, 1906. " Ueber die Musik der Kubu," Stadt- 

 ischer Volkermuseum, Frankfurt, 1908. " Phono- 

 graphierte melodien aus Madagaskar und Indones- 

 ien," Forsehungsreise S. M. S. Planet, V., 6, 

 Berlin, 1909. Compare also: Charles K. Wead, 

 " Contributions to the History of Musical Scales," 

 U. S. National Museum, Report for 1900. W. C. 

 Sabine, " Melody and the Origin of the Musical 

 Scale," Science, May 29, 1908. 



