oe 
1898-99]. THE USE AND ABUSE OF PHILOLOGY. 97 
to totally dissent from such a conclusion, for, in the Aryan languages, all 
the principal roots are practically identical, while in the present case, [| 
fail to see how they could well be more dissimilar. For the benefit of 
such of my readers as have not made special studies in that branch of 
science, let me quote just only one word, the numeral “three” in the 
dialect of the seven principal groups into which the Aryan family is 
usually divided. The reader may then revert to the would-be analogies 
suggested by my opponent in his Déné-Tungus Vocabulary, defective as 
it is, and then judge between us. 
English, Slavic. Lithuanic. Celtic, Latin. Greek. Iranian. Sanskrit. 
three ae tre tre tres trets thri tri 
Other Aryan roots exhibit generally quite as marked family traits, 
and Dr. Campbell should be the last not to know it. 
Coming nearer home in search of genuine linguistic assimilations, I 
may instance, as a contrast with Dr. Campbell’s identifications, the case 
of the Navajo Indians. Physically those aborigines have little in com- 
mon with our Dénés; their psychological characteristics are quite distinct; 
their mythology has not, to my knowledge, a single point of similarity 
with the Déné folk-lore, and sociologically they are still more different. 
Yet philologists have not been long in detecting their perfect identity 
with the Northern Dénés. And no wonder ; for their language abounds 
in clear and real, not nebulous or uncertain, analogies with the dialects 
of my Indians. For the benefit of some too easily satisfied ethnologists, 
let me remark that in the “Mountain Chant” which contains the only 
continuous Navajo texts I have ever seen, you find, side by side with 
some terms proper to that tribe, or borrowed from adjacent stocks, no 
less than 72 words which, in spite of what may be defective rendering, 
are easily recognizable here, Stuart’s Lake Mission, B.C., at a distance of 
perhaps 2000 miles from the nearest Navajo. To form a just idea of 
the proportion of really genuine Déné with local or loaned words, it 
should be borne in mind that those texts are composed of only a few 
words very often repeated. In fact, the proportion of truly Déné words 
in that “Chant” cannot be less than 75 per cent. Of course, such a 
large percentage is not necessary for the legitimate identification of two 
ethnographical divisions of mankind; a third or a fourth of that amount 
is more than sufficient. But where is the philologist who is ready to risk 
his reputation by asserting his willingness to be satisfied with two or 
three per cent. of related terms to determine the original identity of 
two separated branches of the human family ? 
Of Dr. Campbell’s assimilation of the Othomi with the Déné, I shall 
