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[Vol. XVI. No. 400 



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Vol. XVI. NEW YORE, October 3, 1890. No. 400. 



Changes in Color op Hair and 

 Feathers. D.W.Prentiss..., 



Poisoning by Mdssels 



Recent Theories of Geometri- 

 cal Isomerism 



Notes and News 



The Study of Folk-Lore 



Health jMatters. 

 Improved Sanitation in London.. 

 Removal of Micro-Organisms 



from Water 



Why He renounced Vegetarian- 



ism . 



CONTENTS: 



Is Cancer Contagious too ? 191 



Treatment of Tuberculosis by 



the Vaccine Method 191 



A Return to Blood-Letting 192 



Letters to the Editor. 

 Professor Hazen and Espy's Ex- 



p eriments. Wm. Ferrel. 192 



Book- Reviews. 

 Belief in God ; its Origin, Nature, 



and Basis 193 



Among the Publishers 193 



THE STUDY OF FOLK-LORE. > 



The terra "folk lore" seems to many persons to cover a field of 

 study not clearly defined; but this quality of indefiniteness is 

 common to all terms used to denote studies connected vvitti the 

 intelligence of man. "Anthropology," "ethnology," "psychology." 

 are each terms embracing a vague and infinitely extended field, 

 which, in practice, is limited by more or less arbitrary bounda- 

 ries. 



By "folk lore" is to be understood oral tradition, — information 

 and belief handed down from generation to generation without 

 the use of writing. There are rea=ons why the mass of knowl- 

 edge (including history, theology, and romance) which has been 

 orally preserved in any people should be set aside as capable of 

 independent treatment. Such matter must express the common 

 opinion, or it would not be remembered ; it must be on a level 

 with the notions of the average rather than of the exceptional 

 person ; it must belong, that is, to the folk rather tlian to indi 

 viduals. 



The term "folk-lore" has its most definite significance in con- 

 nection with civilized peoples of modern Europe, having been 

 invented by an anonymous correspondent of the London Athenceum 

 (Aug. 22, 1846), who signed his name Ambrose Merton, under- 

 stood to be a pseudonyme for W. J. Thorns. He included under 

 this title "manners, customs, observances, superstitions, ballads, 



^ Abstract of an address to the New York Academy of Sciences, March 24, 

 1890, by William Wells Newell, secretary of the American Folk-Lore Society. 



proverbs," and claimed the honor of introducing into the language 

 the word "fo'k lo:e," as Disraeli had claimed ths honor of 

 "fatherland." The latter word has not met with success; but 

 "folk-lore" has been accepted not only in English speech, but also 

 In most European languages. 



It was soon evident that the oral traditions of Europe could 

 not be treited by themselves without consideration of oral tradi- 

 tions in other parts of the globe. Customs and superstitions 

 found in the United States, for example, not only among recent 

 immigrants, but also in families of the purest English stock, have 

 evident connection with practices and beliefs widely extended 

 among savage tribes. It was therefore necessary to extend the 

 term "folk-lore" so as to cover these. There was some protest 

 against these, inasmuch as the name "folk" belongs properly to 

 races in which isolated tribes have been amalgamated into some- 

 thing resembling a nation ; but this difficulty could not be allowed 

 to prevent a convenient inclusion. So the expi-ession came to be 

 used, first in a definite sense, as including tales, beliefs, and prac- 

 tices now retained among the unlettered peasantry of Europe; 

 second, with a wider connotation, as embracing traditionary tales, 

 customs, and usages of uncivilized races. In its broader meaning, 

 therefore, folklore is a part of anthropology and ethnography, 

 embracing the mental side of primitive life, with especial refer- 

 ence to the narratives in which beliefs and habits are related or 

 accounted for. 



The subject has two sides, — the Eesthetic or literary aspect, and 

 the scientific aspect. Remarks were made on folk-lore from each 

 of these points of view. 



In treating of the literary side of folk-lore, the lecturer took his 

 illustration from English ballads. The character of the ballad 

 as a dance-song (late Latin ballare, "to dance") was pointed out, 

 and it was shown that dancing in couples, as a mere mode of 

 motion, was comparatively modern. According to more ancient 

 usage, a dance was a dramatic performance, setting forth astor^v 

 wlii'^h was related in a song serving to guide the movement. An 

 illustration of this custom was still to be seen in the ' ring games" 

 of children. The date of collection of English ballads, and the 

 periods of their composition, formed the theiie of ob.servations. 

 It was shown that the circumstance of the late recording of many 

 ancient ballads in Scotland had led to the erroneous supposition 

 that Scotland had possessed a distinctively national song, unlike 

 that of England; the fact being that so called Scottish ballads were 

 only dialectic survivals of songs formerly common to all parts of 

 Great Britain. For the origin of these compositions it is necessary 

 to look beyond the limits of English speech; mediseval ballads 

 not being the px'operty of any one European country, but in a 

 measure a common stock. 



The qualities which rendered these songs of interest were re- 

 marked on. and popularity, simplicity, and antiquity were named 

 as constituting the charm of the ballad. What has been repeated 

 for centuries, has passed from lip to lip, and formed the joy of all' 

 classes, must stand on a different level from sentences penned for 

 a chosen few. Ballads show that there was a period in which the 

 mediaeval noble and the mediseva! serf stood nearly on the same 

 intellectual level. These compositions serve as a perpetual lesson 

 of simplicity, and will always be of value to bring literature back 

 to that character of naturalness and simplicity in which true art 

 must consist. 



Proceeding to treat of the scientific side of the study, an exam- 

 ple of a survivmg American superstition was cited in the practice 

 still in use in certain parts of the country to charm rats away 

 from houses by writing letters to them. A specimen of such st 

 etier was read, for the accuracy of which the lecturer could 

 vouch, the district being the seacoast of Maine. It was shown 

 that this method of ridding a house of rats was also occasionally 

 used in Maryland. Comparisons from Scottish folk lore showed 

 that the superstition was spread throughout the English-speaking 

 world. The custom was also shown to prevail widely in France, 

 and its origin traced to the mediseval practice of addressing legal 

 citations and ecclesiastical admonitions to animals. 



Following out the subject into the belief of savage tribes, the 

 underlying principle was shown to be a doctrine respecting the 

 identity of animal and human existence. In uncivilized races. 



