Smithsonian Institution, Bureau op Ethnology, 



Washington, D. C, September 9, 1882. 

 Prof. Spencer F. Baird, 



Secretary Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D. G. : 



Sir : I have the honor to transmit herewith my second an- 

 nual report as Director of the Bureau of Ethnology. 



The first part of the volume consists of a brief account of 

 the operations of the Bureau for the fiscal year ; the second, 

 of a series of papers by my assistants, illustrating the methods 

 and results of the researches prosecuted under the direction of 

 the Bureau. 



It will be seen that investigations have been pursued in the 

 four great departments of objective human activities, viz, arts, 

 institutions, languages, and opinions; the design being to pros- 

 ecute I'esearch in a systematic manner. It is believed that the 

 facts in each field of research throw such light upon each other 

 field that one cannot be neglected without injury to the others. 



The study of the arts is but the collection of curiosities 

 unless the relations between arts, institutions, languages, and 

 opinions are discovered. The study of institutions leads but 

 to the discovery of curious habits and customs unless .the 

 deeper meaning thereof is discovered from arts, languages, and 

 opinions. In like manner the study of language is but the 

 study of words unless philologic research is based upon a 

 knowledge of arts, institutions, and opinions. So also the 

 study of opinions is but the collection of mythic stories if 

 their true meaning is not ascertained in the history of arts, 



m 



