146 CORRESPONDENCE. 



To the anthropologist should belong the duties of examining, 

 with a philosophic eye, the different tribes of men which may be 

 subjected to his notice; particularly, he should examine their 

 features, complexion, and physical conformation; their state of 

 rudeness and civilization ; their habits, manners, and customs ; 

 their progress in the arts ; their political institutions, which, though 

 rude, often display great wisdom; their religious opinions and 

 usages the impress, as it were, of a moral governor on their 

 minds ; he should form a fair estimate of their virtues and vices ; 

 and, in fine, he should examine their language, philosophy, tradi- 

 tions, and literature, which, as they draw nearer to nature, will be 

 studied with a deeper interest by the true philospher. 



To the philologist should belong, particularly, the task of exam- 

 ining the various languages, with respect to their phonology, or 

 elementary sounds ; the forms of their roots, or radical words ; the 

 inflexions for expressing the different relations of words, and the 

 structure or syntax of the language ; of collecting extensive vocab- 

 ularies from natives and interpreters ; and of furnishing materials 

 for the comparative philologist, by instituting similar and analogous 

 inquiries, in respect to each of the several dialects. 



It will be hardly possible for me to enumerate all the advan- 

 tages, or to point out the various important bearings, of this great 

 undertaking on the highest interests of man. 



I. It will serve to fill up a department of knowledge, which will 

 be seen to be important as soon as named the natural history of 

 man. m ..to 



II. It will serve to show the connexion and relation of the 

 different tribes of men; their common origin; and their progress, 

 from their original seat, to their present location : an important 

 chapter in the history of our race. 



III. Every new dialect is a new exemplification of the powers 

 and capabilities of human speech. The time is not far distant 

 when the formation of new languages, and the modifications of old 



