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SCIENCE 



[Vol. XIX. No. 481 



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CURRENT NOTES ON ANTHROPOLOGY. — IV. 



lEdited by D. G. Brinton, M.D., LL.D.] 

 The Study of Jargons. 



Only lately have linguists awakened to the extreme 

 value of the study of jargons, and of hybrid and mixed 

 languages. The fact is that in such we have the nascent 

 condition of speech, the parturition of language, caught in 

 the act. The phonetic and grammatic laws we see at work 

 in the formation of a jargon are the same which have given 

 to all existing tongues their form and idealogy. 



The linguist to whom we owe the most in this new field 

 is Hugo Schuchardt of Gratz. His works, published by 

 the Imperial Society of Vienna, have presented especially 

 the mixed dialects arising from the intermingling of Span- 

 ish and Portuguese with the native tongues of Insulindia. 

 His analyses of them are masterful, and may justly serve as 

 models for all similar researches. 



More interesting to American readers is the recent publi- 

 cation of Dr. Karl Lentzner of Berlin, 'Worterbuch der 

 englischeu Volkssprache Australiens.'" It is in English in 

 spite of this German title, and presents glossaries of Austra- 

 lian, Anglo-Indian, Pidgin English, West Indian and South 

 African words. He adds an appendix, with numerous ex- 

 amples, and a discussion of these curious forms. 



The book offers racy material for a magazine article, is 

 full of quaint and humorous expressions, and tempts to 

 numerous extracts. But it is enough to name it here, that 

 it may not be overlooked by those who are interested in 

 ■' Americanisms," folk-lore, slang, and such developments 

 of language. 



The Lotos-Eaters and the Troglodytes. 



There is something peculiarly attractive in following the 

 a-ncieat Homeric voyages by the light of modern science. 

 Who were the "mild-eyed, melancholy Lotus- Eaters," who 



dreamily strolled their island shores ? Who the Troglodytes, 

 cave-dwellers, speaking a strange language, which Herodo- 

 tus compares to the squeaking of rats ? 



Two recent articles enables us to answer these questions 

 satisfactorily. The one is by Dr. E. T. Hamy, in L^An- 

 thropologie ; the other by Rudolf Fitzner in the Globus 

 (Band Ixi.). The Lotos Isle was undoubtedly the island 

 of Djerba, at the southern entrance to the Gulf of Gabes 

 (north latitude 33° 40'). Its population is of unusually 

 pure blood, and presents a fine example of the native blonde 

 type of Northern Africa. The complexion is a full white, 

 or slightly reddish, the head short, the face round, the nose 

 straight, the lips thin. la other words, they are entirely 

 similar to the Kabyles of the Djudjura, and the Riiians of 

 Morocco. All three belong to the true Berbers, and speak 

 near dialects of the same tongue. 



The Troglodytes are of the same blood. They also are 

 Berbers, of the stem of the Matmata, living in the moun- 

 tainous region between the Gulf of Gabes and the great salt 

 lagoon, the Schott El Djerid. There they construct their 

 strange, boat-shaped, cave-dwellings, just as they did in the 

 days of Sallust and Herodotus and long before. 



It is interesting to note that Fitzner (who adds a good 

 ethnographic map of the regency of Tunis) recognizes the 

 probable ethnic identity of the Berbers, Iberians and Etrus- 

 cans, — a relationship which I believe I was the first to main- 

 tain. 



A Native Maya Historian. 



One of the most interesting documents relating to the his- 

 tory of America in the sixteenth century is a narrative of 

 the Spanish conquest of Yucatan, written in his native lan- 

 guage by a chieftain of one of the subjugated Maya tribes. 

 The original text was published complete for the first time 

 in Vol. I. of the "' Library of Aboriginal American Litera- 

 ture" (Philadelphia, 1881), with an English translation. 

 It merited, however, a much more complete analysis than 

 was there given it, and this it has lately received from the 

 competent hand of the eminent linguist, the Count H. de 

 Charencey. Under the title, " Chreslomathie Maya d'apres 

 la Chronique de Chac-Xulub-Chen," he gives us an oc- 

 tavo volume of 301 pages containing the original Maya 

 text with an interlinear translation in Latin, an exhaustive 

 grammatical analysis, and a complete Maya French vocab- 

 ulary. 



M. de Charencey very justly remarks that there is scarcely 

 any other American language which presents so much in- 

 terest as the Maya, in view of the high civilization of the 

 people who spoke it, as well as its own linguistic traits. 

 His excellent '' Chrestomathie," therefore, should be obtained 

 by all our leading libraries. It is published in Paris, Lib- 

 rairie C. Klincksieck, 11 Rue de Lille. 



Dr. Topinard's Latest Work. 



All who know anything about the literature of anthro- 

 pology are acquainted with the works of Dr. Paul Topinard, 

 and will acknowledge that there are none better on physical 

 anthropology. The latest from his pen is " L'Homme dans 

 la Nature" (Paris, 1891). a title which cannot be considered 

 a very fortunate one, as it is difficult to imagine where else 

 man could be than in nature. But let that pass. The in- 

 terest of the volume lies in the more pronounced position 

 which the author takes on the theory of human evolution, 

 or, as the French prefer to call it, transformation. This 

 theory is undoubtedly less popular in France than it was 



