Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 40.djvu/881

Rh those of a supreme good deity or of a rival evil deity. Detailed criticism of the names and descriptions of such beings in accounts of the religions of native tribes of America and Australasia was adduced, which gave in many cases direct proof of the beliefs in question being borrowed or developed under foreign influence. The problems involved in the discussion are of great difficulty, and the only hope for their full solution in many cases lies in the researches of anthropologists and philologists minutely acquainted with the culture and languages of the districts. Such researches should be carried out without delay, before important evidence, still available, has disappeared.

Character and the Voice.—Mr. Louis C. Elson remarks in the Boston Musical Herald on the effect of character or race upon the human voice as a subject that has never been well studied. It is a fairly well-known fact, he says, that certain kinds of voice prevail in certain countries: thus America produces many fine sopranos, Russia is the land of phenomenal bassos, and the sweet, high tenor must be sought chiefly in Spain; but it has not yet been quite determined as to whether climate, or diet and general mode of life, or actual distinction of race, is the cause of this definite distribution of vocal compass and timbre. The female voice in America is sharper and shriller than that of the Englishwoman or Frenchwoman, and this is especially noticeable in the conversational tone. The Englishwoman is more usually a full-toned alto than anything else; the Frenchwoman almost always is a mezzo-soprano. The peculiar style of singing a full falsetto, called jodling, which is chiefly heard in mountain districts, is another instance of race characteristics in vocal music. So perfectly is this singing done by the Tyrolese that the theory was held for a time that the throat of the Tyrolean might have some peculiar formation of its own, superinduced by peculiar diet and the drinking of snow-water. This has been shown by investigation to be erroneous; but since a similar style of singing is practiced in the Norwegian mountains, the Engadine, and other similar districts, it may be inferred that it results from a mode of calling the cattle, which is peculiarly high, characteristic, and penetrating, to which these people are accustomed from childhood. Peculiar types of voice may be found, upon investigation, to be rather the result of ages of peculiar usage, which finally produce traits that become hereditary, than of climate. The probability that diet may have some effect in the matter is mentioned. The voice of the American negro is distinguishable from that of the white singer, and here, perhaps, anatomy may afford a partial clew, for thick lips and a flat nose must influence the tone production in a certain degree. When these traits are absent, the tone of the colored singer is more akin to the ordinary standard of the singing of other races; and the author speaks of having heard some finely formed male Caffres sing, whose voices were not distinguishable from those of white singers. The loss of sight seems to have an appreciable effect on the voice, and, as a rule, one will find the intensely passionate character absent from the singing of the blind.

Sanitary Mistakes.—There is much in popular errors, says Dr. P. C. Redmondino, of San Diego, Cal., that helps to bring about our condition of physical degeneracy. For example, people look upon cold as their great and dreaded enemy, whereas cold—except in an extreme degree—does not and can not hurt any one primarily. To shut out the cold, which is harmless, they shut themselves in with ochlesitic poisons, as morbific and fatal in the end as the effects of alcohol and fusel oil. They have a vague idea that "catching cold" is to be avoided, but they have not the least idea of the lasting poison of ochlesis or in fomites. A man will give a friend a wide berth during the critical period of typhoid fever, but as soon as that period is passed he and his whole family will troop into the room, in blissful ignorance of the researches of Uffelmann and others into the wonderful tenacity of life possessed by the typhoid bacillus; or, so that they avoid the immediate breath of a consumptive, they live in fancied security. That this infection, as well as that of typhoid and other disease-germs, is longer lasting in a dark or north room, is not of any importance. The lady of the house, on the departure of her consumptive visitor, will at once draw the curtains and close the windows of her parlor that the