OF THE HUMAN FAMILY. 447 



Whether this peculiar form, under different degrees of modification, prevails among 

 the remaining Asiatic nations, or whether one or more forms radically distinct from 

 the Turanian will yet be discovered, remains to be determined. Whichever may 

 be the case, it will be found, in the sequel, that any form, endowed with radical 

 and distinctive characteristics, is able, within certain limits, to survive radical 

 mutations of language, and, having crossed intact the boundary line which sepa- 

 rates one stock language from another, will remain unimpaired after the vocables 

 of the disunited languages (not to say their grammatical structure) have become 

 so entirely changed as to be unrecognizable. The schedules referred to exhibit, 

 at most, but two forms, both of which are classificatory. Of these, the Turanian, 

 as exemplified by the Tamil, Telugu and Canarese, is the highest and the most 

 artificial, and the other, whether independent or a subordinate form of the Tura- 

 nian as exemplified by the Burmese and the Karen, is the lowest and least artificial. 

 It will be necessary to bring together the systems of consanguinity and affinity of 

 the remaining Asiatic nations, and to compare their radical forms with each other, 

 and with those herein presented, before the true position of the latter nations can 

 be definitely ascertained. 



The principal object of the author has been attained in the discovery among the 

 people of South India, who speak the Dravidian language, of a system of relation- 

 ship which is at once original, clearly defined, and elaborate. The fact of the 

 actual present existence of such a system in practical operation upon the Asiatic 

 continent was the main fact to be established in the third part of this work. The 

 extent of the ramifications of the system in Asia is of much less importance than 

 the knowledge of its present existence among some portion of the continental 

 Asiatic populations. Should the uses of such a system of consanguinity and affinity 

 be found important, as well as successful, in advancing our knowledge of the 

 families of mankind, it will be comparatively easy, hereafter, to bring together the 

 forms which prevail in Central and Northern Asia, for the purpose of gathering up 

 the testimony which they may be able to deliver concerning the affiliations of these 

 nations with each other, and with those herein named, as well as with reference to 

 the order of their separation from each other. The principal object of developing 

 with so much particularity the Turanian system of consanguinity and affinity has 

 been to prepare the way for a comparison of its radical forms with those which 

 now exist in the system of the Ganowanian family. 



