2 INTRODUCTORY XUTE. 



Tim. 1 ?, without looking beyond the publications of tliis institution, we have a fund 

 of materials, of recent compilation, for a clear understanding of the nature of these 

 remains, and a proper estimation of the kind and degree of archa3ological interest 

 attached to tbem. 



We have also other and distinct sources of information and opinion not com- 

 prehended, or only partially considered, in tbose volumes; some relating to the 

 character and design of existing monuments, and others to the origin and peculiari- 

 ties of ante-Columbian population in tbe country. Among the latter are vocabu- 

 laries of the native languages, analyzed and compared by able philologists. Mr. 

 Gallatin, especially, in his elaborate essay published by the American Antiquarian 

 Society, and in later communications to the American Ethnological Society, has 

 enlarged the range of that branch of inquiry, and poured a flood of light upon the 

 subject by an acute and philosophical analysis of the subtleties of grammatical- 

 construction ; the late eminent physiologist, Dr. Morton, has, in his speciality, 

 examined the analogies belonging to the physical attributes of the American races ; 

 Mr. Schoolcraft has collected the miscellaneous results of his protracted study of 

 the past and present history of the aborigines into the magnificent quartos pub- 

 lished at the expense of our national government; and these are only some of the 

 prominent writers who have studied the subject in one or another of its aspects. 

 A mass of information has thus accumulated, gathered from our whole territory by 

 intelligent and comparatively recent observers. 



The present may therefore be a favorable occasion for introducing a retrospective 

 view of the progress of opinion and information concerning the ethnological position 

 and social advancement of the people by whom our soil was occupied in ages beyond 

 the reach of history. The way would then be prepared for an estimate of the real 

 knowledge, thus far obtained, of the customs, arts, and civil condition of those mys- 

 terious races. 



This inquiry involves the necessity of referring to early hypotheses concerning 

 the origin of American population which embrace the whole of both continents, 

 although little beyond a mere allusion to the prolific themes of controversy they 

 have generated is permitted by the limits to which this paper is restricted. 



