November 4, 1887.] 



SCIENCE. 



223 



which are here for the first time made accessible to the student, and 

 it is to be hoped that all that is extant of ancient Nahuatl literature 

 will be pi'inted ere long. 



The texts are preceded by a brief introduction, in which the 

 character of Mexican poetry is discussed. The importance of 

 poetry, music, and dance among the Mexicans is set forth, and 

 their method of delivering the songs is described. Of particular 

 interest are the remarks of the author on prosody ; and these are 

 the more weighty, as he has studied this subject among many North 

 American tribes. It is very difficult to decide whether accent or 

 quantity is the ruling element of poetry, and the author does not 

 attempt to decide which is more important. It seems to us that 

 this question can only be solved by studying music and poetry 

 jointly. 



Dr. Brinton finds another wide-spread peculiarity of Indian poetry 

 occurring in Mexican poetry. It is the inordinate lengthening of 

 vowels and reduplicating of syllables for the purpose of emphasis 

 or of metre, and the insertion of meaningless interjections for the 

 same purpose. It is an interesting question whether the accent in 

 Mexican poetry is always on the vowel, or whether certain combi- 

 nations of consonants can form a syllable, as is the case in some 

 American languages. The instrumental accompaniment of the 

 songs is described, and the connection of the rhythm of the drums 

 with the prosody is emphasized. In the present collection, as well 

 as in those of other nations, we find a peculiar poetical language 

 which makes their translation very difficult. Dr. Brinton describes 

 this poetic dialect as abounding in metaphors. Birds, flowers, pre- 

 cious stones, and brilliant objects are constantly introduced in a fig- 

 urative sense, often to the point of obscuring the meaning of the 

 sentence. The grammatical structure is more complicated and 

 elaborate than in ordinary prose writing, and rare words occur fre- 

 quently. The rhetorical figure known as aposiopesis, when a sen- 

 tence is left unfinished and in an interjectional condition, in conse- 

 quence of some emotion of mind, is not rare, and adds to the 

 obscurity of the wording. The last peculiarity is characteristic of 

 the popular songs of all nations, while the occurrence. of rare words 

 may be due to the fact that many of them are sacred songs. The 

 richness of metaphor, and the complicated grammatical structure, 

 are also wide-spread qualities of poetry. 



Dr. Brinton considers some of the songs as belonging to a time 

 anterior to the Conquest, and gives in the brief notes which accom- 

 pany each of the twenty-seven songs his reasons for this opinion. 

 Undoubtedly most of them belong to the time of about 1500. 

 Others are evidently ancient songs, composed before the Spaniards 

 influenced the native customs and ideas, and this makes the present 

 collection the more interesting. It is welcome material for the 

 student of the Mexican aborigines. 



Guatemala, the Land of the Quetzal. By William T. Brigham. 

 New York, Scribner. 8°. 



The author terms his book very properly ' a sketch.' It is the 

 tale of his journeys in Guatemala, adorned with some remarks on 

 the geography and history of the country. The author does not 

 claim to give any new information, but it is pleasant to follow him 

 on his ride through a semi-civilized country. The book is profusely 

 illustrated, and the illustrations have the merit of being new, char- 

 acteristic, and trustworthy, most of them being reproductions of 

 photographs. The scientific contents are selected somewhat at 

 random, but will serve the purpose which the author has principally 

 in view, — " to awaken among Americans greater interest in the 

 much-neglected regions between the Republic of Mexico and the 

 Isthmus of Darien." There are several maps in the volume, but 

 they are of no great value. The map of Guatemala, which is 

 claimed to have been compiled from various sources, is only a very 

 rough sketch of that country. By far the greatest portion of the 

 book is taken up by the author's journeys ; and this is the most 

 interesting part, as it gives a fair idea of Central American life, and 

 valuable hints to future travellers. It is followed by a chapter on 

 the ancient inhabitants of Guatemala, a brief history of the Repub- 

 lic, and a sketch of its volcanoes and produce. In an appendix, 

 which the author compares to the attic-room of a thrifty housewife, 

 information about a variety of subjects and a partial bibliography 

 of Central America are given. 



The Principles of Elocution. By Alexander Melville Bell. 

 5th ed., revised and enlarged. Washington, John C. Parker. 

 12°. 



Very many intelligent readers of the great orators, ancient and 

 modern, must have experienced a feeling of keen regret that they 

 themselyes were unable even to approximate the directness, force, 

 and fluency of those masters of the art of expression. It would 

 almost seem that the power to rouse multitudes to action, to stir 

 the deepest and most masterful emotions, to control and direct 

 action, by the use of language, is so dangerous a one that it has 

 been granted to but few. As a matter of fact, however, oratory 

 or eloquence is nothing more than highly developed and cultivated 

 power of expression. It implies the possession of something to 

 express. The full head and the sympathetic heart are essentials. 



But without aiming at the ambitious height of eloquence, there is 

 a power of forceful and adequate expression by the use of language 

 that belongs to us as human beings, but which is almost wholly 

 overlooked in the training of the young. Not only is this undesir- 

 able in itself, but the conditions of our modern life render it more 

 so. In politics, in religion, in practical hfe, and in social activity, 

 men are endeavoring to communicate their own thoughts and con- 

 victions to others ; and very many are the embarrassments that 

 result from the lack of ability to properly express these thoughts 

 and convictions. There is, therefore, a practical as well as a senti- 

 mental reason why our natural gift of expression should be culti- 

 vated. 



All of this is very familiar to Mr. Bell, and, in addition, he has 

 given so much time and study to the working-out of the practical 

 applications of the thing, that he is to-day easily our first authority 

 on the subject. In this last edition, the fifth, of his ' Principles of 

 Elocution,' he has given us the ripest fruits of his thoughts and 

 study. 



Mr. Bell deprecates in his introduction the neglect of elocution, 

 and ascribes it to two causes, — first, it is neglected because it is 

 misunderstood and therefore undervalued ; and, second, it is mis- 

 understood because it has been confounded with recitation, and 

 otherwise misrepresented by many writers on the subject. Mr. 

 Bell defines (p. 6) elocution as " the effective expression of thought 

 and sentiment by speech, intonation, and gesture." Inasmuch as 

 it involves the exercise of language, elocution must embrace the 

 physiology of speech. It must study carefully the instrument of 

 speech, so that the elocutionist may have all its parts under his 

 complete control. The author therefore takes the pupil back to 

 respiration as the first step toward making him an expressive and 

 agreeable speaker. Suggestions in respiration lead naturally to 

 the principles of vocalization, and these to those of vowel forma- 

 tion. From this point on, the book is made up largely of practical 

 exercises on the successive steps in the elocutionary process. These 

 exercises and illustrations are a peculiarly valuable feature of the 

 book ; for they are not roughly thrown together, but carefully 

 arranged on scientific principles. 



We know of no higher praise of Mr. Bell's book than to say that 

 it is pre-eminently fitted to be recognized in our high schools and 

 colleges as the authoritative exponent of that branch of training 

 which has too long been left out of their curriculum. 



Bau und Verrichiungen des Cekirns. Von Dr. JOSEF VICTOR 



BOHON. Heidelberg. 

 Ucbersichtliche Zusanimenstellung der Atigenbewegtingeti, etc. 



By Dr. E. Landolt. Tr. by Dr. H. Magnus. Breslau. 

 These contributions to the anatomy and physiology of the nervous 

 system are evidences of the time and attention now devoted by the 

 Germans to the preparation of aids to instruction -whereby the 

 student can readily obtain correct notions of his subject. Especially 

 in the nervous system, where recent research from a variety of 

 sources has so essentially altered the accepted views, is such an 

 elementary reconstruction of the subject necessary. Dr. Rohon's 

 pamphlet contains a lecture delivered before the Anthropological 

 Society of Munich, setting forth in clear language the main outlines 

 of current notions of the structure and functions of the brain. The 

 main interest in the pamphlet will centre in the colored chart, 

 which illustrates with great clearness the points referred to in the 

 text. 



