OF ARTS AND SCIENCES: FEBRUARY 11, 1866. 437 



themselves. Its prevalence among these stocks rendered probable 

 its prevalence among the remaining stocks of the American abori- 

 gines. If then it should, upon investigation, be found to be universal 

 among them, it would follow that the system was coeval, in point of 

 time, with the commencement of their spread upon the American con- 

 tinent ; and also, as a system transmitted with the blood, it might 

 contain the necessary evidence to establish their unity of origin. And, 

 in the next place, if the Indian family came in fact from Asia, that 

 they must have brought the system with them from that continent, and 

 have left it behind them among the people from whom they separated ; 

 and, further than this, that its pei'petuation upon this continent would 

 render probable its like perpetuation upon the Asiatic, where it might 

 still be found ; and, finally, that it might possibly furnish some evi- 

 dence upon the question of the Asiatic origin of the Indian family. 



Having found, before the close of 1859, that the system prevailed 

 in the five principal Indian stock-languages east of the Rocky Moun- 

 tains, as well as in several of the dialects of each, its universal spread 

 through the Indian family had become extremely probable ; and hav- 

 ing also discovered traces of it both in the Sandwich Islands and in 

 South-India, it seemed advisable to prosecute the investigation upon 

 a more extended scale, and to attempt to reach, as far as possible, all 

 the families of mankind. This would require an extensive foreign 

 correspondence, which a private individual could not hope to maintain 

 successfully. I then applied to the Secretaries of the several Ameri- 

 can Boards of Foreign Missions for the co-operation of their respective 

 missionaries in foreign fields, which was cordially promised, and the 

 promise amply redeemed. I also applied to Professor Joseph Henry, 

 Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, for the use of the name of 

 that institution to insure attention to the circular and schedule by 

 means of which the system of relationship of the different nations was 

 to be obtained. Professor Henry not only complied with this request, 

 but also, at my suggestion, procured a circular to be issued by the 

 Secretary of State of the United States to the diplomatic and consular 

 representatives of the government in foreign countries, commending 

 the investigation to their attention. From this time onward, the foreign 

 correspondence, except with the missionaries, was conducted through 

 the Smithsonian Institution and the Department of State. 



In verification of the results it will be sufficient to state, that, by 

 personal explorations, continued through several years, in the Lake 



