New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1890-08-25
NEW PUBLICATIONS.
TURKISH FOLKLORE.

70 illustrate Mr. Genines theory OF the OIL
gin of civilization and mythology. TINS hypo.ne-
sis is in direct opposition to that OF Messrs iy-
lor, Herbert Spencer, etc, who hold that all "Ni-
kind have gone through precisely the SAINT pio-
cesses Of development, and that STUDY Vi ,Ie
early conditions of race or trlpe heceSo"ih'
throws light upon the primitive history Oh every
other race or tribe. Mr. Stuart-UIehlie anu one
school he represents-that of Professor Lacoupeih
among others-hold that civilization ala not pe
gin in this manner but that certain races were Ill
,ya,s bOber in the intellectual scale than Others
and that civilization came through the influence
of higher upon lower races. What MI oIuaiv
Glennie calls the Archaian White Race serves MIN
nc the nucleus of Western civilization, ana he Is
disposed. with some German scholars to put the
centre of Aryan dispersion in the region OF inc
Caucasus MI Stuart-Gennie claims " that eighty
wears of research have not disproved Nlebuhrs as
sertion that single savage race can De named
which has risen independently to civilization, Dut
that all the facts accumulated during the last
decade, particularly of these eighty years. with
respect TO the Primitive Civilizations of the orl-
Gins Of which we know anything-those Of Egypt
and Chaldea-go TO prove that the essential con-
dition of such origins the action of a higher
white race on lower cololed and black races ana
that research is almost every week bringing 1or-
ward new proof that al the later CIVILIZATIONS
lis certainly the Semitic civilizations of Assyria
and Judea. the Chinese civilization, and probably
also the Aryan civilizations OF both Asia and hu-
rope-were either directly indirectly derived from
one or the other of these primitive CIVILIZATIONS
Nothing more however, is attributed TO these
bioher white races the founders of these primi
tive civilizations, than anatomist would IN
fer who compared ancient Archalan ana an
ancient Negroid or Mongolod skull of the Nile,
or of the Euphrates Valley, and who considered
at the same time the conditions the brains In these
respective brain-pans had functioned. For not
only is the Archaan typc-and especially the ear
ler the skull portrait iSas fine cerebraly as we
believe our own Aryan type 10 be; but the
Archaian Colonists knew how to exact from their
colored and black subjects all the produce OF
their labor save so much as was required 10
insure the continuance of such labor, ana through
the wealth thus obtained they enjoyed the fullest
means of intellectual development in abundant
leisure for observation and speculation This
is in brief the chronological theory which Mr..
Stuart-Glenne opposes TO the theories OF spencer
Tylor and Lubbock and which he hopes to verify
hereafter by means of Illustrations such as the
present work is chiefly devoted to- new
theory of the origin Of civilization, how
ever demands new theory OF inc
origin of mythology, and this IN turn
requires new theory Of the method OF folklore
troductory CHAPTERS If civilization originated
in the action Of higher on lower races, ana IL
the direct result of such action were the rise OF
a wealthy and leisured literary class, not only
with higher intellectual faculties but with an
incomparably more favorable environment Tor
their exercise-tben, evidently. there must nave
been. from the very beginning OF clvllza'ion'
constant interactiOn between Culture-iore anu
Folklore If so, however then new method
must be followed in the study both of Culture
lore and of Folklore
They must. on this hypothesis be regarded ana
studded as correlated, each having influenced anu
been influenced by, the other. Obviously such
n hypothesis renders the study OF FOLKLORE an"
Horticulture more difficult than ever, since l"l
the comparative simplicity and homogchery oi
Spencer's theory of the origin of civilization IL
substitutes multitude of intcracting forces all
of which must be taken into account and ther
respective influences gagged and estimated before
even an approximation to the truth can be reached
fair example of the difficulties of this method
&c afforded by Remains History Of the People OF
Israel in which he undertakes 10 recognize ana
account with all the many influences operating
from within and without upon the Jews. vi
course difficulties are Just excuse Tor avoid
ing a given method, if, on fair examination, II
appears TO be the most scientific; and II must De
said that the considerations against the theory OF
n homogeneous race have not yet been answered IN
q satisfactory way. Yet if no limitations are put
upon the time-factor in the problem-if such
enormous periods Professor Geikie, Mr.. Croh
and others demand for the completion of past
geological changes and processes conceded
there seems TO why the argument may
not carry us back logically enough 10 primitive
man in no way superior to the original wearer Of
the Neanderthal skull. As yet the anthro-
biological evidence is incomplete, and, therefore,
contradictory theories flourish; but the trend Of
modern, and especially recent, discovery is GER
1ainly toward rather than against the long
periods hypothesis, and the testimony for very
early higher race does not accumulate so fast as
that for a primitive toglodyte
Mr. Stuart Glennie however, strong
point against his opponents in regard TO spirit
myths Their contention is that what Tylor calls
"Animism" arose out Of the belief that all
things were informed by separate souls con-
sciousnesseS, and that the notion of spirit-world
grew entirely out of dreams and observation
of shadows Now in answer TO this Mr.. Stuart
Glennie cites the vampire superstitions OF Bull
paria Armenia, Greece etc. and shows that
the believers in vampires do not believe at
all in the ordinary shadow ghost or phantom.
The yampire is not a ghost at all but a resusctated
dead person, who comes ont his grave to feed
upon the blood of his former friends and
neiehbors This belief has existed in the countries
named, and in Hungary, Wallacla, etc, for ages
In fact so long as any historical records exist
Where did the superstition come from? Certainly
not from any suggestions of dreams or shadows
for it has nothing dreamy or shadowy about
it, This is but Of many interesting
problems raised in the present volume For the
general reader the most interesting part OF the
book will be Mrs. Garnett's account of the
Christian women in Turkey and their folklore.
In these Turkish provinces still flourish all the
superstitions-and more than all-which were held
in England, Germany and France during the mid
die ages, and many which existed in the classi-
cal period. Whether the people care nominally
Catholic or nominally Protestant, their belief in