to the Ethnological Society of London. 55 



semblance as to suggest a suspicion that it may be the result 

 of later culture among the Finns, and, subsequent to their 

 conversion to Christianity, or the introduction of the Hebrew 

 Scriptures among them. But it appears to be a relic of an- 

 tiquity, and is traced in their ancient pagan Runot or sacred 

 hymns, addressed to the imaginary personages of their curious 

 and not unpoetical mythology. The observation is the more 

 interesting, as many writers have thought they observed 

 analogy in numerous words of the Finnish dialects to the 

 vocabulary of the Semitic languages. But the Finnish lan- 

 guage belongs, in the leading features of its grammatical 

 structure, and in a considerable proportion of its primitive 

 words or roots, to the Ugro-Tartar, or, as M. Kellgren terms 

 it, the Ural-Altaish family of languages.* The essential or 

 deeply-rooted affinities of the various languages belonging to 

 this groupe, have been illustrated with great ability and ac- 

 curacy of information by this writer. The principal lan- 

 guages which he has compared with the Finnish speech, and 

 which he considers as sister languages, are the Ouigourian or 

 Eastern Turkish, the Mongolian, the Tungusian or Mantchu- 

 Tartar, and, lastly, the Hungarian or Magyar. For the 

 future no reasonable doubt can be entertained as to the 

 affinity of these languages and of the races of people to whom 

 they respectively belong; and this must be considered as one 

 of the last great facts in Ethnology, established by linguisti- 

 cal research, since it was unknown even to Klaproth and 

 Abel Remusat. It has been a fortunate event for the pro- 

 gress of literary and ethnological researches connected with 



•' Morbus Puella, Mortis virgo (sc. filia) 



Morbos captives factos includito 



In variegatum vas, 



In splendidam capsam." 



* M. Kellgren has not given any new information as to the Lapponic. The 

 affinity of this language to the Ugrian dialects was demonstrated by Gyar- 

 mathi and Vater. Some curious remarks on it may be seen in Dr M. A. Cast- 

 ren's late memoir, entitled, " Von dem Einfliisse des Accents in der Lappland- 

 ischen Sprache." This paper was published in one of the last volumes of the 

 ''Memoires pr^sentels i I'Acadfemie Imp6riale des Sciences, a. St, Petersboorg. 

 Tom. vi. 1846." 



