JOHN WESLEY POWELL DAVIS 



exceeding one thousand dollars may be used for rent of build- 

 ing." The object of the Bureau, as denned in its reports, was 

 the prosecution of research by the direct employment of schol- 

 ars and specialists in the Bureau itself, and by the promotion 

 of research by collaborators elsewhere through the country. 

 As far as the general progress of ethnology was concerned, 

 Powell's great service here, as in geology, lay in organizing a 

 corps of experts, in providing opportunity for their steady 

 work under good conditions, in directing their work wisely, 

 and in securing assurance of fitting publication for their re- s^ 

 suits. In the opinion of an experienced Washington official; 

 Powell worked little less than a revolution in educating Con- 

 gress to bring the trained scientific expert into Government 

 research. Twenty-three large volumes of Annual Reports of 

 the Bureau, issued under Powell's direction,, mark an epoch in 

 American ethnology. But besides organizing this important 

 Bureau, Powell took a leading part in its work. He gave 

 much thought for many years, as well as all the time that he 

 could spare, to problems connected with the life and customs 

 of the American Indian; his favorite subjects for essays and 

 addresses were chosen from topics of the same nature and 

 from the philosophical problems to which they led. 



INDIAN LANGUAGES AND MYTHOLOGY. 

 I 



Powell's attention was early turned to the speech of Indian 

 tribes, because he felt that a knowledge of languages was 

 fundamental in gaining an understanding of other and more 

 important characteristics namely, thoughts and acts as em- 

 bodied in customs, institutions, and religions. An elaborate 

 Bibliography of North American Philology was undertaken by 

 his associate, Pilling, and Powell himself gave much time to 

 the study of Indian tongues in the field and office; the mono- 

 graph on Indian linguistic families, to which these studies led, 

 is further considered below. 



In the First Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology for 

 1879-1880 (1881) Powell's strong bent toward the treatment 

 of problems in generalized form is indicated by his discussing 

 so large a subject as the "Evolution of language" in an essay 



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