OcTOBER 1, 1897.] 
purposes; because we can be certain that it is 
both spontaneous and original, unaffected by 
contact with civilized music and by any and all 
theories. In such music we may study the 
operation of natural psychical laws correlated 
with physical laws, working freely and coming 
to spontaneous expression through the vocal 
apparatus. 
“These Navaho songs are especially valuable 
because they carry us well back toward the be- 
ginnings of music making. One only needs to 
hear them sung, or listen to them in the admi- 
rable phonographic records of Dr. Matthews, to 
be convinced of this from the very quality of 
tone in which they are sung. In all of them 
the sounds resemble howling more than singing, 
yet they are unmistakably musical in two very 
important particulars: (1) In their strongly 
marked rhythm. (2) In the unquestionably 
harmonic relations of the successive tones.’’ 
The limits of this article forbid following 
Professor Fillmore in his treatment of these two 
particular points, Rhythm and Harmonic 
melody, or to recount the evidence leading to 
his conclusion ‘that the harmonic sense is the 
shaping, formative principle in folk melody.’ 
Of the many interesting points brought for- 
ward in this volume, only one or two can be 
indicated, and these are selected not so much 
to give the scope of the volume as to illustrate 
its wealth of suggestion. 
In accounting for the limited number of arts 
practiced by the Navahoes, the author says: ‘‘In 
developing their blanket making to the highest 
point of Indian art, the women of this tribe 
have neglected other labors. The much ruder 
but allied Apaches, who know nothing of weav- 
ing woolen fabrics, make more baskets than the 
Navahoes, and make them in much greater 
variety of form, color and quality. The Navya- 
hoes buy most of their baskets and wicker water 
jars from other tribes. They would possibly 
lose the art of basketry altogether if they did 
not require certain kinds to be used in the rites, 
and only women of the tribe understand the 
special requirements of the rites.’? It would 
seem that special proficiency in the manufacture 
of some one article, while it may limit the devel- 
opment along other lines, leads to trade and the 
peaceful intercourse between different peoples. 
SCIENCE. 
527 
In introducing the subject of poetry and 
music the author calls attention to the fact that 
for many years the most trusted account of the 
Navaho Indians was to be found in a letter 
published in the Smithsonian Report for 1855. 
The writer had lived three years in the heart of 
the Navaho country, and was aided in prepar- 
ing this letter by an officer in the United States 
Army who had long commanded a post in the 
vicinity, both being men of unusual ability. 
From this letter the following statement is 
taken: ‘‘Of their religion little or nothing is 
known, as, indeed, all inquiries tend to show 
that they have none. ‘The lack of tradition is 
a source of surprise. They have no knowledge 
of their origin or of the history of the tribe.’ 
‘They have frequent gatherings for dancings.’ 
‘Their singing is but a succession of grunts, 
and is anything but agreeable.’ In spite of the 
evidence of these gentlemen, fifteen years ago 
when the author first found himself among the 
Navahoes he was not influenced in the least by 
the authority of this letter. He had not been 
many weeks with these Indians when he dis- 
covered that the dances referred to were re- 
ligious ceremonials, vying ‘in allegory, symbol- 
ism, and intricacy of ritual with the ceremonies 
of any people, ancient or modern.’ The ‘suc- 
cession of grunts’ reveal ‘that besides impro- 
vised songs, in which the Navahoes are adepts, 
they have knowledge of thousands of significant 
songs—poems, as they might be called—which 
have been composed with care and handed 
down, for centuries perhaps, from teacher to 
pupil, from father to son, as a precious heritage, 
through the wide Navaho nation.’ ”’ 
The author’s rich gleaning in a field pro- 
nounced barren can be repeated elsewhere in 
the land, but, to achieve results like his, similar 
equipment is necessary. It is not enough, as the 
incident just quoted shows, ‘to live in the 
vicinity ’ of a people; to report accurately upon 
them, one must have come so near to them and 
in such manner as to draw from willing lips 
their tribal lore. 
It would be unjust to Dr. Matthews’s work, 
and to the lesson it contains for us, not to call 
attention to the characteristic which is an im- 
portant factor in making him a trustworthy 
authority in any field where he has studied, 
