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Avhich the examination of a new production of the animal, vegetable, or 

 mineral kingdom does to the student of natural history. The phenomena 

 exhibiteil by tlie rudest form of speech furnish riiatter for admiring the wis- 

 dom of the Great Fashioner of man and all his faculties. 



Secondly, a knowledge of these languages is desirable in view of their 

 bearings on the great ethnological question of the origin, affiliations, and 

 migration of the tribes that inhabited this continent prior to its discovery by 

 Columbus. The Smithsonian Institution early gave evidence that it appre- 

 ciated tlie importance of these questions, by announcing among the depart- 

 ments of knowledge to which it proposed to lend its aid, "ethnological 

 researches, particularly with reference to the different races of men in North 

 America." This purpose has already begun to be carried into effect by the 

 publication of the " Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley*' and the 

 *' Aboriginal Monuments of the State of New York," works which have 

 received the meed of the heartiest approbation of ethnologists, both in this 

 country and in Europe. 



If asked in what mannei' do philological studies hear upon the ethnology 

 of Nortli America, we reply: It- is true, none of the numerous peoples of 

 this continent ever arrived at the grand and fruitful idea of an alphabet in 

 which 1o record their deeds for the instruction of posterity. The traditions 

 wliicli we find among them are of a vague and trivial character, and con- 

 tain in general no information that can lay claim to any thing like antiquity, 

 exce] tnig the bare fact that a given tribe at a period more or less remote 

 migrated from a certain direction north, south, east, or w^est. Hence it is 

 neither by perusing ancient records nor by conversing with individuals now 

 living, that a knowledge of the language of our aborigines can be made to 

 furnish us with true and reliable information on the topics alluded to; this 

 can be done only by comparing together and analyzing the structure of 

 these Innguages themselves. There arc various means for determining the 

 character and relationship of tribes of men who are without a history, such 

 as their physical conformation, character, habits, and manners, their imple- 

 mc.nts for procuring and preparing food, their clothing, weapons, dwellings, 

 their arts of various kinds, their marringe, funeral, and other rites, &c. ; 

 but of all means the structure of their languages is one of the most certain 

 and satisfactory. When the testimony of language can be addciced in cor- 

 roboration of that obtained from these other sources, the proof is considered 

 to be as perfect as the nature of the case admits ; but so long as that is 

 wanting, the argument is felt to be insecure and incomplete. 



We are already in possession of many printed vocabularies of Indian 

 languages of greater or less extent and accuracy, and of a very few gram- 

 mars, mostly meagre and imperfect. These have been studied and com- 

 pared by scholars with eager assiduity, and the interesting discoveries to 

 which they have led have created a demand for a body of materials more 

 copious and exact than has hitherto existed. In order that the philology 

 and ethnology of this continent may receive thorough elucidation, it is ne- 

 cessary that there should be given to the learned world a complete diction- 

 ary of each language containing, as far as is' practicable, all the words of 

 the language accurately analyzed and defined, and also a grammar in 

 which all its forms, inflexions, and constructions are fully exhibited. The 

 publication of works of this nature is too expensive an undertaking for in- 

 dividuals, pecuniarjr profit being altogether out of the question ; nor is there 

 any public institution to which th« duty 7^f nitiatin^ and carrying out a 



