July 14, 1922] 



SCIENCE 



47 



much as in Paradise Lost, Ole Nick takes the 

 part of hero though he stands in the foreground 

 only when mischief is to be accomplished as 

 when he paints some of the Good Lawd's sheep 

 and men black while the Creator was busy in 

 the dining room after a hard day's work. So 

 "dey eome out culled all 'cep'n de pams o' dey 

 ban's an' the bottoms o' dey feet, an' de bran' 

 new sun done make dey hair kinky 'cause it 

 was so hot. But after all, honey, dey's all 

 white on de insides, des lak othah folks, an' 

 dey chilln dey's all des de same way." 



The reason "why the snake has no feet" 

 will interest students of evolution. It appears 

 that Ole Nick was snooping around the wall 

 outside the Garden of Eden, finally boring a 

 hole through, thereby wearing "about an inch 

 off de end of his ole tail." Through this hole 

 he coaxed the snake, then a lizard, to thrust 

 his nose, which Ole Nick seized "an' he pull so 

 ha'd dat he scraped all fo' o' de snake's laigs 

 clean off, an' he pull an' stretch his body out 

 so long dat when he was all thu' de hole he 

 look jes' like a piece of rope." 



The moral attached to each tale is unique. 

 In this case "dey don't no good come o' listen- 

 ing to de debble. He's alius ready to promise 

 you mo'n he can do, and to tell you things he 

 don't know nothing about." 



As to the origin of this species of folk-lore, 

 Dr. Branner says that it can not be traced to 

 Africa. "It is too clearly under the influence 

 of Biblical history to have had such an origin." 



In a few trenchant words. Dr. Branner dis- 

 poses of the idea that negroes were happier in 

 slavery. It is true that on emancipation "they 

 were inveigled away from their former homes 

 and friends and finally left to the winds and 

 waves of fate like so much flotsam and jetsam 

 of the war." Returning at one time to his old 

 home at Dandridge, he called on a beloved and 

 trusted former slave, "Aunt Ellen." He found 

 her "in a state of poverty and wretchedness 

 that went to his heart." After discussing her 

 condition, he asked her: "Don't you think you 

 were better off as a slave?" 



And this is what Aunt Ellen replied: 



"De Lawd bless yo' soul, chile, dat's a fac'; 

 hit's jes lak you ben a sayin'. I knows I had 

 mo' to eat an' mo' to wear, an' a better house 



to live in, an' all o' dem things, an' you all was 

 mighty good to me; an' I didn' have none o' 

 dese here doctah's bills to pay. But Law', 

 honey, after all, dah's de feelin's!" 



"From that day to this I have had no more 

 to say in favor of human slavery." 



The book is admirably illustrated, the serious 

 pictures by William S. Atkinson, the zoolog- 

 ical artist of Stanford, and the cartoons — not 

 less excellent — by Richard K. Culver, both 

 former students of Dr. Branner. 



In Interesting Neighbors Professor Jenkins 

 has given a model of what "Nature Studies" 

 for children should be. Taking familiar ani- 

 mals, mostly insects, and various wild flowers, 

 he leads the reader along to the observation 

 and interpretation of phenomena that ought to 

 be familiar. Anywhei-e and everywhere he 

 finds unexpected adaptations and relations of 

 cause and effect, for every fact in Nature has 

 somewhere a cause behind it. 



The "Magic House" is the oak-gall, which 

 sacrifices a leaf to make a safe home for the 

 babies of the gall-fly, thus secure from depre- 

 dations of the flycatcher, the tree frog and 

 predatory insects. Many other insects are 

 treated in similar fashion, their life histories 

 accurately described and in such fashion that 

 children of any age will be interested, and 

 those not case-hardened will be eager to verify. 

 And to induce them to do this is the purpose 

 of this charming book, which will not suffer in 

 comparison with the works of Fabre. Atkin- 

 son's illustrations are admirable. 



The Earth and Its Life is a compact record 

 of the storj' of Evolution from the lowest Pro- 

 tozoan up to civilized man. It is written in 

 simple and interesting fashion and so far as 

 the limits of space permit, the conclusions 

 are fairly represented. Little effort is made, 

 however, to define the factors in organic evo- 

 lution, the processes in operation day by day, 

 the knowledge of which gave reality to what 

 before Lyell and Darwin was merely a philo- 

 sophical conception. The last seven of the 

 eighteen chapters are devoted to the evolution 

 of man, a matter of increasing scientific inter- 

 est as the eaves and gravels of the earth are 

 becoming more and more fully explored. 



David Stare Jordan 



