ADMINISTRATIVE REI'OET XXXI 



linguistic development is that of oi-al speech, and the ac- 

 tivities of expression have been so long and so vigorously 

 exercised in this line as to have developed a series of spe- 

 cial organs differing widely in refinement of function and 

 delicacy of structure from those of lower animals. By 

 m.eans of these organs the speaking animal, Man, gains 

 mastery of sound, which is created at will and reduced to 

 vocables, tones, and sentences in such manner as to convey 

 ideas of the utmost complexity with hardly perceptible 

 loss of meaning ; and with the development of words and 

 sentences lexicology and grammar arise, while etymology 

 and sematology gradually acquire importance. The third 

 line of lingiiistic development is that of written lang-uage, 

 which first involved manual adaptation, together with a 

 revolution in mode of thought, and afterward involved the 

 invention of that long series of mechanical devices now 

 forming the sign and measure of higher intellectuality. 

 The last line of linguistic development is that represented 

 by characters expressing quantitative values ; it may be 

 styled logistic language . Although based primarily on the 

 rich records of aboriginal American languages preserved 

 in the archives of the Bureau, the system of linguistic 

 classification was shaped by extended comparisons with 

 the various languages of Europe and Asia, together with 

 some of those of Australia, Africa, and Polynesia. The 

 system was freely discussed with students and published 

 in preliminary form for the purpose of eliciting further 

 suggestion and criticism ; the matter was incorporated in 

 full in the Twentieth Annual Report. 



In connection with the linguistic classification, the 

 Director continued to study the recorded languages of the 

 Mexican and Central American tribes, with a view to 

 classifying these tribes by linguistic affinities in a manner 

 corresponding to that already adopted for the American 

 tribes north of Mexico (the classification being jiublished 

 in the Seventh Annual Report) . In this work he had 

 the constant assistance of Dr Cyrus Thomas, whose famil- 

 iarity with the literature of the southern districts of North 



