796 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. IX. No. 232. 



and so confuses, distinct peoples. Various 

 descriptive or connotive terms are also in 

 use, such as 'North American savages,' 

 ' Eed Men,' etc. ; but these designations are 

 often misleading, and never adapted to con- 

 venient employment in a denotive way. 



2. In "most cases the chissifications on 

 ^which current nomenclature are based, and 



many terms depending on them for defini- 

 tion, are obsolete ; and the retention of the 

 unsuitable nomenclature of the past tends 

 to perpetuate misleading classifications. 



3. Wliile the name ' Indian ' is firmly 

 fixed in American literature and speech, and 

 must long retain its current meaning (at 

 least as a synonym), the need of scientific 

 students for a definite designation is such 

 that any suitable term acceptable to ethnol- 

 ogists may be expected to come into use 

 with considerable rapidity. In this, as in 

 other respects, the body of worliing special- 

 ists forms the court of last appeal; and it 

 cannot be doubted tliat their decision will 

 eventually be adopted by thinkers along 

 other lines. 



4. As the most active students of the 

 native American tribes, it would seem to be 

 incumbent on American ethnologists to pro- 

 pose a general designation for these tribes. 



5. In view of tliese and other considera- 

 tions,, the name Amerind is commended to 

 the consideration of An^erican and foreign 

 students of tribes and peoples. The term 

 is an aibitrar}' compound of the leading 

 syllables of the frequently-used phrase 

 ' American Indian ' ; it thus cirries a con- 

 notive or associative element which will 

 serve explicative and mnemonic function in 

 early use, yet must tend to disappear as the 

 name becomes denotive through habitual 

 use. 



6. The proposed term carries no implica- 

 tion of classific relation, raises no mooted 

 question concerning the origin or distribu- 

 tion of races, and perpetuates no obsolete 

 idea ; so far as the facts and theories of 



ethnology are concerned, it is pn^rely deno- 

 tive. 



7. The proposed term is sufficiently brief 

 and euphonious for all practical purposes, 

 not only in the English but in the prevail- 

 ing languages of continental Europe ; and 

 it may readily be pluralized in these lan- 

 guages, in accordance with their respective 

 rules, without losing its distinctive sematic 

 character. Moreover, it lends itself readily 

 to adjectival termination in two forms (a 

 desideratum in widely-used ethnologic 

 terms, as experience has shown), viz. : 

 Amerindian and Amerindic, and is suscep- 

 tible, also, of adverbial termination, while 

 it can readily be used in the requisite 

 actional form, Amerindize, or in relational 

 forms, such as post Amerindian, etc. ; the 

 affixes being, of course, modifiable accord- 

 ing to the rules of the different languages 

 in which the term may be used. 



8. The term is proposed as a designation 

 for all of the aboriginal tribes of the Ameri- 

 can continent and adjacent islands, includ- 

 ing the Eskimo. 



The working ethnologists in the Society 

 were practically unanimous in approving 

 the term for tentative adoption, and for 

 commendation to fellow students in this and 

 other countries.' 



EXP LOR I NO EXPEDITION TO THE MID- 

 PACIFIC OCEAN. 

 The unusual activity now being exhibited 

 by various European governments in scien- 

 tific exploration of the seas is soon to be 

 supplemented by the United States, for ar- 

 rangements are being perfected by the 

 United States Commission of Fish and 

 Fisheries for one of the most important 

 marine scientific expeditions ever under- 

 taken in this country. The association of 

 the name of Professor Alexander Agassiz 

 with the expedition is a guarantee of its 

 high scientific standing, and the employ^ 



