From available data it is quite a hopeless task to fix, with any degree of certainty, the number of Slays in Europe. Official statistics — where issued — are not ,always reliable, and independent authorities differ widely, even on the question of how many Slav languages there are. It was not until the first quarter of the 19th century that any serious attempt was made to estimate the Slav populations. Schaffarik in 1826 arrived at a total of 55,270,000; in 1842 he made it 78,000,000; basing his calculations on these figures and those of the Russian his torian Pypine, Prof. Louis Leger of the Insti tut de France struck a total of 79,550,000 in 1868. Zarianko's Russian geography (1891) gave a total of 101,724,000, while Schrader's atlas showed only 97,000,000. M. Niederle. a Bohemian authority, estimated 139,000,000 in 1900, and reduced it to 138,500,000 in 1905. In 1907 a distinguished Russian scholar, M. Florinsky, arrived at 147,146,000 and calculated that, the annual birthrate of the Slav race be ing 1.7 per cent, it would increase by 2,500,000 per year and would in consequence number 186,000,000 in 1915 and 200,000,000 in 1920. Taking such figures as are available, according — in each case — to the last census, we find the Slav population of Russia given as 92,089,733; Austria, 16,959,095; Hungary, 5,380,190; Serbia (subjects only) 2,890,602; Bulgaria, 3, 203, 810; Montenegro about 500,000: a grand total of 121,023,430. Most of these statistics, however, were compiled in 1910 and do not include the German Poles nor the other Slays residing in Germany, Rumania, Turkey, Great Britain, etc. Only one census has been taken in Russia — in 1897. During 1913 and 1914 there were 1,079, 677 emigrants to the United States from coun tries in Europe having predominant Slav popu lations, mainly Russia and Austria-Hungary, while between 1911 and 1915 Canada received 144,792 from those countries, and numbers also went to South America In the United States alone there are nearly 4,000,000 Poles, over 2,000,000 Czechs and Slovaks, and some 2,000, 000 Jugo or Southern Slays, besides Russians, Serbs, etc. The European War and the Balkan wars of 1912-13 exacted a heavy toll of Slav blood. The great losses of Russia on the bat tlefields and in the anarchy following the revolution; the casualties among the Slays of the ill-fated Austro-Hungarian armies; and the practical extermination of Serbia, besides Bul garian and Montenegrin losses, must inevitably exert a seriously weakening influence upon the Slav race and disturb the value of statistics. These factors should be borne in mind with regard to the following table, collected in 1918: The Slavic tongues have been the subject of much controversy and varied classification. On this point, as on that of vital statistics, several authorities — themselves Slays—differ. Josef Dobrovsky, a learned Czech (d. 1829), counted nine living languages and as many Slav nations in 1822; Schaffarik in 1842 found six languages and 13 dialects; Sreznevsky in 1843 discovered nine and Schleicher in 1865 counted eight. Jagitch made it eight in 1898, while Miklositch and Florinsky (the latter in 1907) came back to nine. Ac cording to more recent research, however, con sidering the numerous separatist tendencies, the number of Slavic languages has been raised from 11 to 14, without reckoning those which are extinct. According to Niederle there are
(1) the Russian group, regarded as two na tions, the Great Russians and the Little Rus sians, the latter including the southern Rus sians, Ukrainians and Ruthenes; (2) the Polish group; (3) the Lusatian-Serb group, divided into High and Low Lusatian; (4) the Czech group in Bohemia and Moravia, from which the Slovaks of Hungary are more or less divided 'according to political views; (5) the Slovene group, without separatist tendencies; (6) the Serbo-Croatic group, representing Serbs and Croats; and (7) the solid Bulgarian group, homogeneous except for the Macedonian Slays, of which some lean to the Bulgarians, some to the Serbs, and others who, until 1913, claimed a separate or Macedonian nationality. Another method of grouping is as follows: (1) Bul garian; (2) Serbo-Croatic; (3) Slovenian (2 and 3 sometimes being given as one group); (4) Russian, including Great Russian, Little Russian and White Russian; (5) Czechish with the closely related Slovak; (6) Sorb or Wen dish; and (7) Polish, Bulgarian, Serbo-Croatian and Russian have sometimes been classified into a Southeastern Slav group as against a West ern group consisting of all the others. To the latter group should be added the extinct Pola bian. The oldest of the Slavic tongues is the old Church Slavic or Old Bulgarian, which is still the ritual language of the Greek Orthodox Church in Russia, Bulgaria and Serbia. The Slavic languages are marked by a richness of vowel sounds and sibilants and a high degree of inflection, which in the noun possesses seven cases, and in the verb, in spite of a restricted number of tenses, a large number of modal and effective auxiliaries rendering possible the finest distinctions of meaning. The so-called Cyrillic alphabet is used in the Russian, Bul garian and Serbian, but the Old Church Slavic makes use also of the Glagolitic alphabet (q.v.). The Polish, Croatian, Czech, Slovenian and Sorb employ the Roman characters.
Slavic Music.— Sentiment, which forms so prominent a trait in the Slav character, renders the members of that race peculiarly subject to the influence of music. In Russia the origins are found in the folk-songs which were greatly influenced by the music of the Church. In the 17th century western influences entered the country and especially the Italian, which lasted well into the 19th century, when we have the use of a national school with the appearance of Glinka (q.v.). The prevailing characteristic of Russian music, whether classic or popular, is an all pervading tone of melancholy which has found its fullest expression, perhaps, in the works of Tschaikowsky. Polish music, in many respects resembling the Russian, differs from the latter in a greater vivacity of movement and spirit. The Bohemian is the third impor tant national school of Slavic music and one which in recent years has surpassed the Polish in productivity and held its own with the Rus sian. For the leading names in Russian music see in addition to those already mentioned, DARGOM YZS H KY ; BALA K IREV ; BORODIN ; RIM