37^ The Smithsoitian Institution 



gories of characters represented by language have been 

 found, through study of traditions and direct survivals, to 

 express the actual phylogenic development of the tribes and 

 stocks. Accordingly each linguistic character is treated not 

 merely as an external adventive feature, but as a product 

 of evolution, a record of the past, and a precursor of the 

 future. The classification of American Indians devised and 

 applied by the bureau is accordingly a condensed expres- 

 sion of the sum of present knowledge concerning the origin 

 and development of the native American people. 



It has been ascertained that certain words in American 

 languages are related in meaning to words of similar sound 

 in transoceanic tongues ; that the arrow of America is like 

 that of the Orient and other parts of the world, not only in 

 general form and function, but even in symbolic markings; 

 that certain hieroglyphics of the Occident are similar to those 

 of Egypt and the East in form and significance ; that the 

 calendar of Mexico duplicates in essential features the cal- 

 endars of India and Arabia ; that some social customs of 

 America resemble those of Africa and Australia; and that the 

 beliefs and ceremonials of the American aborigines simulate 

 and sometimes exactly repeat those of India, China, and other 

 countries. These parallelisms in the intellectual products of 

 mankind have carefully been considered and weighed in the 

 effort to trace general ethnic relation, and it has been found 

 that in the vast majority of cases they cannot be regarded as 

 indicating connection among peoples, and seem rather to in- 

 dicate a law of mental action — the law that different minds 

 of equal capacity respond similarly to like stimuli. This con- 

 clusion is expressed in different publications, notably a chap- 

 ter by Powell entitled "On Activital Similarities" in the 

 third annual report, and appears to be generally accepted 

 among American anthropologists. 



