20 



Philology, regarded in itself as a science, is likewise 

 a branch of geography. Although its chief object is, 

 from the variety of languages which exist on the sur- 

 face of the earth, to trace the history of mankind, it 

 tends greatly to facilitate the commercial intercourse 

 of the world. It is only within the present century 

 that the various idioms of nations, not possessed of the 

 art of writing, have been seriously investigated ; but 

 great progress has been made in the acquisition of this 

 knowledge within that period, and not only vocabula- 

 ries, but dictionaries and grammars have been pub- 

 lished, of languages hitherto unknown except byname. 

 Formerly, missionaries and traders alone paid attention 

 to the languages of savage nations. The former, having 

 in view only their own laudable objects, kept their works 

 in manuscript ; the latter confined themselves to a few 

 meagre vocabularies, dispersed through books of travels, 

 and of little use to the philologist. At length "the com- 

 parative science of languages" was instituted, and the 

 philologists and learned societies of the United States 

 have contributed their share to the promotion of this 

 science, by making known the forms and character of 

 our Indian languages. 



The student of geography requires likewise to be 

 well acquainted with meteorology and terrestial mag- 

 netism, the configuration of the earth, the distribution 

 of heat, the movement of the waters of the ocean, the 

 geological structure of the soil, and the geography of 

 plants and animals, and to all these subjects the atten- 

 tion of the Institution ought to be directed. 



It was proposed at the last session of Congress to 

 establish magnetic stations, and to institute a series 



