366 ETHNOLOGY. 



catiug these go throng'li all the conjugations, moods, tenses, numbers, 

 and persons. It will at once be seen under wliat difiliculties the student 

 labors who is not forewarned of these modifications. 



It vvould, of course, be unwise to swell a work intended for i)opular 

 use, with all the nice distinctions of these languages, but it is desirable 

 that the main features of some leading ones be pointed out; and in my 

 ojnnion the best arrangement would be to take each part of si)cech con- 

 secutively, and to show those features as varying indifferent languages. 

 Those persons who have time and leisure for closer and more intimate 

 study could afterward refer to more elaborate grammars. 



Such guides, in the nature of instructions, " Hovr to Observe and What 

 to Observe," should, of course, be disseminated widely through the Army, 

 among missionaries, agents, surveyors, and other persons residing in or 

 traversing the Indian country. It is hoped that in this way a stimulus 

 may be given to the exertions of many who only require to know in what 

 direction to employ their leisure and tastes. 



In order to the fit preparation of complete and exhaustive works on 

 the indigenous languages, it is, however, necessary that there should 

 be fit collectors in the field. Among those who have given most time 

 to the actual study of our linguistics but few can afford to devote them- 

 selves to procuring new material. It is chiefly by missionaries, and by 

 the Catholic priesthood especially, that the most valuable vforks on the 

 subject have been prepared. Willing collectors of vocabularies have 

 not been wanting, but of trained men there are few or none. 



It appears to me that to accomplish any thorough and satisfactory 

 result, an attempt should be made to prepare the laboi'ers. It is possible 

 that a foundation may hereafter be created for a professorship in some 

 leading college where the teaching of American philology will form an 

 important item, if not its exclusive object; but that would, at best, reach 

 only a few individuals. Some wider method must be adopted to instruct 

 a larger number. There has, as yet, been little or nothing of " Universal 

 Grammar" taught at any of our institutions. Grammars of special 

 languages are taught, it is true, but with hardly an attempt to show 

 the common sources whence these are derived, or to exhibit the phonetic 

 changes undergone in the lapse of time and under physical iuiluences, 

 or to trace back the ideas which have developed, from single roots, words 

 of widely different signification, and none at all to develop the principles 

 lying at the root of ail speech. 



It is very true that in a short collegiate course, pursued for the most 

 part before the mind has become mature enougli to grasp at more tlian 

 the fiicts of language, and where utility is the presumed basis, it would 

 bo impossible to include such training to any considerable extent, but 

 the course might yet be pohited out for after-inquiry. When the time 

 comes — and it is to be hoped it will before the last vestiges of the 

 aboriginal tongues shall have disappeared — in which general grammar 

 becomes a common part of education, the curious modes of thouglit 



