212 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XI. No. 267. 



doubt of the greatest importance and will 

 have to be taken into consideration in 

 further researches on the physiology and 

 psychology of music. * * * It is ques- 

 tionable whether savages notice any pecu- 

 liar difference." As historically our minor 

 came late into use, ' ' we may connect with 

 it the idea of the unusual, and may use it 

 on occasions when something extraordinary 

 is intended" (p. 149)! There is no need 

 of quoting more, for the author knocks the 

 foundation out from under his philosophical 

 structure when he says, " it is also the un- 

 certainty of intonation and the constant 

 fluctuation of the voice which give us the 

 impression of the minor key rather than of 

 the major." One might as well say that 

 the uncertainty of articulation of a savage 

 speaking in his own tongue gives the im- 

 pression of say cockney English, rather 

 than English as spoken in Boston. Later 

 we shall return to this matter of the inter- 

 pretation of the sounds one hears. 



The last part of Chapter IV., on the scale, 

 is chiefly notable for the author's repeated 

 assertion that the diatonic scale has been 

 the constant basis in the development of 

 music ; for his clear-cut statement that the 

 scale cannot be founded entirely on any 

 natural properties of the ear or laws of the 

 constitution of musical sound ; and for his 

 insistence on the instrumental origin of 

 scales. The first of these three points is 

 demonstrably inadequate and untrue ; the 

 others we believe to be true and important, 

 though often ignored or denied. 



In view of the great dearth of books cov- 

 ering this field it is but slight praise to call 

 this decidedly the best one in the market. 

 Some of its defects have already been 

 pointed out ; the author is from the nature 

 of the case compelled to build with such 

 materials as other men bring him ; some 

 are of excellent quality, some are rubbish ; 

 there is, therefore, unusual need for a care- 

 ful critical treatment of them. But all 



students of the subject will welcome his 

 collection of material, and the bibliography 

 and many suggestive passages, though they 

 will hardly be willing to cite his conclusions 

 as authoritative. 



IV. 



Miss Fletcher's monograph is by far 

 the fullest and most carefully-made collec- 

 tion of savage music of which we have any 

 knowledge. Her discriminating remarks 

 on the difiiculties of observing and record- 

 ing what was sung may be commended to 

 those who, like the author of the preceding 

 book, seem to think any statement of a 

 traveller is good evidence, or that it is an 

 easy matter to note down characteristic 

 music. This collection is the fruit of ten 

 years of study, including many years of life 

 among the Omahas : it is therefore written 

 from an intimate knowledge of the life of 

 the people ; throughout it impresses the 

 reader with the feeling that it is a remark- 

 ably sympathetic work ; that never did an 

 author enter more fully into the thoughts 

 and feelings of an alien race. For this is 

 far more than a collection of carefully noted 

 tunes, difficult and admirable as such a 

 work would be ; there are added the meaning 

 of the song to the people who use it, and 

 the circumstances in which it is used, so 

 that the reader may appreciate it somewhat 

 as the native does. 



The melodies thus collected were put into 

 the hands of the late Professor Fillmore for 

 study. He sums up the results of a labor- 

 ious and interesting investigation thus : 

 " The deficiencies and defects of Indian 

 music are, first, lack of sensuous beauty of 

 tone-quality; second, uncertainty of into- 

 nation. * * * The merits of the Indian 

 music consist, first, in an elaborate, well- 

 developed rhythm ; second, in fresh, orig- 

 inal, clear, characteristic expression of the 

 whole range of emotional experience of a 

 primitive people. * * * The problems 



