Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 06.djvu/637

* DVORAK. 555 DWABF SNAKE. in their sudden and continued popularity. But his greatest success awaited him in J-ug- land. In 1883 his Stubat Mater, once re- jected by the Austrian CJovernuient jury, stirred up a genuine furor, and lliorcafter Enghind l)e- caiue the home of liis musical activity. The Spectre's Bride (cantata. Birmingham, 1SS5) re- peated the success of Stuhut Mater. Saint Liid- milla (oratorio, Leeds, 1SS6) and the Requiem Muss ( ISlll ) were other works written for Eng- lish festivals, in 1802 he was engaged as di- rector of the New York Xational Conservatory at a salary of $15,000 a year, a post which he held for three years. While in the United States he grew interested in the nnisic of negroes and Indians to the point of introducing their melo- dies into his symphony From the eir World, and the overture In Xature. After 18!15 he lived in Prague, writing in 1809 the opera Der Tetifel and die icilde Kiithe. He was made an honorary member of many musical organiza- tions, and the degicc of Doctor of Music was conferred upon him by the universities of Prague and Cambridge. Later he was called to the Aus- trian House of Peers. Besides much chamber music, he wrote five symphonies, many sacred compositions, and a number of operas which enjoy great popularity in his native land. His pianoforte compositions are the least significant portions of his contributions to contemporary music. With Smetana (q.v.) and the Young Russian School, DvorSk has called the world's attention to the inexhaustible wealth of folk- songs possessed by the Slavs. While strongly national in the character of their music, the Slavic composers, and DvorSk among them, as a rule do not transplant the folk-themes bodily, as did Liszt with the JIagyar melodies. They imbue their music with the national spirit, which is most striking in rhythms and har- monj'; and in this line, DvofSk's themes, though at times cheap in te.ture. carry the musician away by the sheer force of their originality and freshness. A master of orchestral color after long years of practical apprenticeship in the orchestra, Ih'ofak reveals his weakness when attempting to write within the boundaries of strictly classical forms, in which he had little training beyond his own studies of scores. Y'et to this very independence the world is indebted for the introduction of new forms — the Dumka (literally a little musing, a sort of intermedi- ary between elegy and ballad) for the slow move- ment, and the Furiant (a sharply accented Bohemian dance of vertiginous rapidity and ever- changing rhvthm) for the scherzo. Consult Zu- hatk-y, Dvordk (Prague, 188G). DWALE. See Bellauonxa. DWARF (AS. dweorg. direorh, Icel. drertjr, OH(J. tnerq, Ger. Z.werg. dwarf). In general, an undersized (and often deformed) human being. The term is applied specifically to the Akka (q.v.) tribe, and some other peoples in Central and Southern Africa, the Andaman Islands (see ^ftxcoplES), the peninsula of ilalacca (see Semaxgs), and the Philippines (see -Eta). The dwarf tribes that are grouped around the low- est limits of human stature have always been a subject of great interest, both to laj-men and to scientific men. A large part of this interest. however, is due to the widespread curiosity with regard to the abnormal, such as has from time Vol. VI.— 36. immemorial centred in those rare departures from average height occurring among civilized races. Dwarfs are really the result of an anom- aly of development, and usually manifest what are known as pathological characters. Thus, most cases of dwarfism show traces of rickets (q.v.), which is a disorder of nutrition, where the process of ossification is arrested at a period when the bony tissue is about to become thor- oughly ossified. In many instances dwarfs are well formed, and, to all appearances, perfectly normal in physical and mental ch.iracteristics. It has been observed that, in contrast with the giants, the mind of dwarfs is acute and active; in character they are often sensitive and re- vengeful. Formerly dwarfs were attractions in the en- tourages of kmgs : since then they have gener- ally been exhibited for gain. Perhaps the most remarkable of these little folk is the feminine dwarf llilany Agyba, of Sinai, 1.5 inches in height. The height of the celebrated Bebe of King Stanislas, of Poland, was 89 centimeters; another, twenty- five years of age, and 56 centi- meters in iieight, was presented to Henrietta of France in a pie. The hunchback dwarfs of Philip IV. were immortalized by the great Span- ish painter Velasquez. Topinard has observed dwarfs that weighed as low as from four to eight kilograms. The infrequeney of dwarfs among the lower races of mankind is probably due to natural selection, as well as to the custom of destroying abnormalities. Stories of dwarfs, brownies, elves, etc., are familiar in the folk-lore of nearly every tribe on earth, though the greatest development of these myths seems to be among the peoples of Aryan descent. Lately a theory has been ad- vanced that the belief in brownies in England is a survival from ancient times, when a small, dark race of aborigines inhabited the country, and that the folk-tales have an actual basis of fact. BiBLiOGRAPHT. Man, Aborigines of the Anda- man Islands (London, 1873) ; Schweinfurth, Heart of Africa (London, 1885) ; Junker, Travels in Africa, translated by Keane (3 vols., London. 1800-92) ; Tyson, Philological Essay Concerninij Pi/;imics of the Ancients, edited by Windle (London, 1894) ; Quatrefages de Br6au, The Pigmies, translated by Starr (New York, 1895) ; Burrows, The Land of the Pigmies, with introduction by Stanley (New York, 1808) ; Brinton, "Dwarf Tribe of the Upper .mazon." in .imerican Anthropologist (Washington, 1898) ; Picard. "Les pygmies." in Science so- ciale, vols. xx^Mi., xx-^-iii. (Paris, 1890). DWARF LEMTJR. A chirogale or mouse- lemur cf the gctuis Microcebus. See Moi"SE-Le- MUR. DWARF SNAKE. Anv of a largo variety of SWABr BKIKB (Carpblopblops vanais). (Top. face, and side view.) small, slender, seclusive serpents, forming the colubrinc group Calamarina'. and represented in the warmer parts of the whole world. The typi-