54 ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE UNITED STATES. 



It is in the forms of grammatical structure, the modes of associating and express- 

 ing ideas, without regard to the meaning of particular words, that modern philolo- 

 gists have found the true key to the origin and connection of the varieties of 

 human speech. 



This is claimed to be a discovery so newly made as to be known and practised on 

 only by scholars of the present generation. It is to Frederic Schlegel that Chevalier 

 Bunsen attributes the establishment of this principle, and so recently as 1S0S. 1 It 

 is relied upon to solve the question of the relative antiquity of nations, and to 

 elucidate some of the mysteries connected with the descent and distribution of 

 races. The proposition is, simply, that names of things, and terms of expression, 

 are transitory, and in the course of time may be wholly replaced by others; but 

 the system of grammatical construction is permanent, assimilating to itself, and 

 distributing, according to its own laws, whatever new material is acquired; and, 

 unless overwhelmed by the irruption of a new system, sustained by the dominating 

 force of numbers and conquest, maintains its vitality through all changes. 



As applied to American languages, the results of this rule of exegesis have been 

 most remarkable. No theories of derivation from the Old World have stood the 

 test of its alchemy. All traces of the fugitive tribes of Israel supposed to be 

 found here, are again lost. 2 Neither Phoenicians, nor Hindoos, nor Chinese, nor 

 Scandinavians, nor Welsh, have left an impress of their national syntax behind 

 them. But the dialects of the Western Continent, radically united among them- 

 selves, and radically distinguished from all others, stand in hoary brotherhood by . 

 the side of the most ancient vocal systems of the human race. " It deserves 

 notice," says Mr. Gallatin, " that Vater could point out but two languages that, on 

 account of the multiplicity of their forms, had a character, if not similar, at least 

 analogous to those of America. These were the Congo and the Basque. The first 

 spoken by a barbarous nation of Africa, the other now universally admitted to be 

 a remarkable relic of a most ancient and primitive language found in the most 

 early ages of the world." 3 



The science of comparative philology is yet in its infancy, and investigators are 

 constantly pointing out new analogies, and as often invalidating those which had 

 before been suggested. The subject is one of great complication and difficulty; and 

 it is not always easy to draw the line of distinction between resemblances incident 

 to the attributes of a common human nature, and affinities upon points of structure 

 that constitute the original and peculiar genius of a language. With whatever 

 primordial forms of speech the American languages may be associated by different 

 writers (and on this point they are by no means agreed), their primitive unity and 

 long separation from those of other countries seem to be generally admitted. 



There arc three epochs in the progress of information respecting the languages 



1 Buusen's " Outlines of the Philosophy of Universal History, applied to language and religion." 

 Lond., 1854, I, 50. 



■ The essential diversity between the Indian languages and the Hebrew, is learnedly exhibited in the 

 Discourse of Rev. Dr. Jarvis before the N. Y. Hist. Soc. in 1819, on the Religion of the Indian tribes. 



3 Trans, of Am. Antiquarian Soc., II, 203. 



