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About Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 5, 1905)
in - -j ' " uTiiiiii iT "fir. I '.' N Florence, In the via GIno Capponl, which leads toward the fair hillside village of Fieaole, there Is a high wall which piques the curiosity of strangers In the city who happen to pass by. This Is true especially in the late spring and early summer, for then the wall (s over hung with roses; and at night. In the warm season, you can hear the nightingales, which nest In the trees Inside, singing their Impassioned hearts sky ward. On the other side of that garden wall Is the stronghold of Mantegazza, the great Italian psychologist whose name is throughout the world associated with Love. There stands his celebrated Museum of Human Passions, comprising sev eral Large buildings grouped together, which are, like Man tegazza's books, encyclopedic and kaleidoscopic. They dis play the virtues and vices of humanity, its beauties and Its deformities. " Yes, you may justly say that love is the inspiration of . my life," admits the scientist. " It Is not strange that this should be so, for love Is, one way or another, the Inspiration of all Italy. Our people love more and they love better than do the Inhabitants of any other part of the world, for this country of ours Is the land of the beautiful and of art. " But my aim here Is to collect all the evidence that I can concerning the passions of humanity, their manifestations in love, religion, vanity, cruelty. In the peculiarities of genius and of normality, as well as of idiocy and delinquency." J Dummies Represent Love Customs. A large percentage of these exhibits have, however, a leve interest when elucidated by this student of the affec tions. For example, when you enter the first room of the ethnological museum your eyes are greeted by what appears to be two automoblllBts in touring togs; yet these strange figures are representations of a wedded couple of Samoleds dressed In their furs. To Mantegazza they are not mere dummies; they are real people, and they suggest to his mind the peculiar matrimonial customs of their country. A Samoled wife, he explains. Is bought by her husband outright and Is worth many times her weight in reindeer. Samoled girls come high. Many a one of marriageable age Is worth to her parents 100 or l.TO reindeer. But a suitor has full ohance to make a good bargain, for If he is dissatisfied with hl bride he can return her to her family and demand tls reindeer back. This procedure Is, of course, hard on his temporary father-in-law, who has furnished the wedding feast of raw meat and brandy and who has provided all the pomp and ceremony of the wedding. It Is to a man's advan tage, therefore, to see that his daughters are brought up well. In a room which overlooks the beautiful garden of the Bempllce Is the anatomical museum, that contains the first Important collection of skulls which was ever made in Europe. These form a curiously Jovial company, reminding one of a similar brotherhood that Howells describes in his " Venetian Pays," which, he thought, " looked contented enough, and smiled after the hearty manner of skulls." Yet, arranged Jn daylight, with all the beauty of sunshine and blossom but a few feet away, and in full sight, they point out grewsomely the philosophic lesson contained in the poetic lines:: " Orudge every moment as it passes by, Made the more mindful that the sweet daya die." Skulls of Tree Top Dwellers. The set of Etruscan skulls Is certainly the finest in exist ence. That of the skulls of New Guinea is a veritable treas ure for students and has a romantlo Interest for the laity because of Mantegazza's observation, made, by the way, that this land Is the one where unmarried women live on the tree tops, in rockaby houses of bark or woven willow, and are wooed by suitors whom etiquette requires to bring pigs In plaoe of bouquets to the ladles of their heart's desire. The catalogued anatomical specimens number 4,416 and the ethnological specimens number 8,014. Side by side In one case stand as companion pieces the largest adult skull in the world and the smallest adult skull. In examining the various groups of skulls one Is struck by many of the con spicuous anomalies that Lombroeo has pointed out. At first It seems easy to distinguish the skulls of Idiots and delin quents and those that are of normal conformation. Some of the former have receding foreheads, others have protuberant temples, and still others are too prominent at the back of the skull box, characteristics which all impart a sinister ex pression. Yet, on the other hand, there was a round skull of great perfection which looked as if It must have belonged to n Individual of extraordinary Intellectual power; but It proved to be that of a Sardinian brigand, who in life had twenty-four murders on his conscience and who was killed n an encounter with the police. J J Skulls Mislead as to Character. It Is difficult," says Mantegazza, " to distinguish be tween the respective skulls of a man of genius, of an ordi nary man, of a saint, of an atheist, and of an idiot. Put them aide by side and only a scientist could pick each type out with any degree of certainty. " Mantegazza has more than one skeleton In his closet. But the rattling of their bones does not disturb his equanim ity, although It awakes his sch4arly teal. Among them Is the largest human skeleton In the world and also the small est one. The Museum of Human Passions proper Is a section of the Anthropological Museum. Prof. Mantegazza has been work ing on this for about fifteen years. Emlla Zola visited it when was In Florence a few years ago and was particularly in terested in the exhibits which portrayed religious sentiments, and also the distinctive peculiarities of the popular super stitions of middle and southern Italy. He was attracted, likewise, by the specimens which Illustrated human cruelty. Mantegazza showed among other things the remains of a cannibal's breakfast a mummified human arm, the flesh of which had been partially gnawed from the bone. There are in this latter collection the various Instruments i4 torture which were used In the Middle Ages; and anions- ien 1 an Iron helmet, fitted on its inside with sharp knife 1 T 4 PJIOLO I m ii mH1 Aril If ftl i? -V iB MQaC iSs miw WIP ' ' $u1l 1 1 Wit M HHJUwi' m:'-' jj srsz. r . ..A,vjr. v ,f. ;;- -aww w tT ... N 1 1 "vnw " mitt i . M-jasiB mm 7 m i wr w - m t UAVORITE mmmmtmiimfim wmtm ' KIM? OFLEmZI-E'S v aria. " t; t 9 'v re loin is, Y:-A .( '5?'Wi''V'-' '-2vH r i X mmmmmMmwmmmmtimmt9mmwmmwMmmmtmmm CV-v T 0 ft ; 1 SBBsmsMsniRpassssasiasassfsssa 71 ttoied HwsntfD CfrFlg LIVE I3T TREE TOPS points. There Is a headsman's ax and a collection of daggers f all epochs and all countries. An Abyssinian trophy con sists of a part of a human body that was sliced off and dried (n a post which was placed in front of the conqueror' hut. And there was a hunter's belt made of human skin, whose history takes us back to an old family feud In Corsica, the victor of which had this belt made out of the skin of the hande of their enemies, even leaving the finger nails on as ornaments. There la a case of keys of all kinds, all periods, and all nations. There are even some of those famous ones of papier maohe known to Romans who visited at least once the so called oastle of Conetantine. J, jt Exhibits of Human Vanity. But more interesting Is the case devoted to vanity. The objects gathered together here represent the most foolish vagaries of fashion not only of our ancestors but also of our contemporaries. Feminine ornaments predominate, and strange devices by which femininity has endeavored to make Its figure graceful of outline. Among the more Innocuous examples of this weakness of the human mind are many 'which men have contributed. Near by la Mantegazza's anthropometric laboratory. In whloh the psychologist and his assistants work. Adjoining 1 Is a private office where the specialist of the heart keeps his library ane all the specimens for his museum which have arrived but never been classified. These are all over the room, on chairs, tables, floor, even on the professor's desk. Among other Interesting things is a visiters' book In which are many noted names of distinguished callers. This book Is old and yellow, but It Is valuable for the famous autographs which It contains. Cesare Lombroso has written in it In a vein of original Jocularity: " To the greatest of my enemies, and one who Is the greatest of my Idols." Run ning down the album we come upon the familiar name of Zola and De Amlcls. ear I v.