vi PREFACE. 
for explanations. Thus there came to be an urgent demand for an 
“Introduction to the Study of Indian Languages.” In the year 1877 
the first edition was issued. The progress made by various students, 
and the studies made by the author, alike require that a new edition be 
prepared to meet the more advanced wants and to embody the results of 
wider studies. Under these circumstances the present edition is published. 
It does not purport to be a philosophic treatment of the subject of language; 
it is not a comparative grammar of Indian tongues; it is simply a series of 
explanations of certain characteristics almost universally found by students 
of Indian languages—the explanations being of such a character as expe- 
rience has shown would best meet the wants of persons practically at work 
in the field on languages with which they are unfamiliar. The book is a 
body of directions for collectors. 
It is believed that the system of schedules, followed seriatim, will lead 
the student in a proper way to the collection of linguistic materials; that 
the explanations given will assist him in overcoming the difficulties which 
he is sure to encounter; and that the materials when collected will consti- 
tute valuable contributions to philology. It has been the effort of the 
author to connect the study of language with the study of other branches 
of anthropology, for a language is best understood when the habits, customs, 
institutions, philosophy,—the subject-matter of thought embodied in the 
language are best known. The student of language should be a student 
of the people who speak the language; and to this end the book has been 
prepared, with many hints and suggestions relating to other branches of 
anthropology. 
In preparing the first edition the author appealed to the eminent scholar, 
Prof. J. D. Whitney, for assistance in devising an alphabet; since then 
further experience has demonstrated the propriety of some changes and a 
considerable enlargement of the scheme. For the alphabet as it is now 
presented, Professor Whitney is not responsible, but the writer is greatly 
indebted to him for laying the foundation of the chapter as it appeared in 
the previous edition. 
In the second chapter, entitled “Hints and Suggestions,” the fourth 
section embodies a series of questions prepared by the Hon. Lewis H. Morgan, 
