January 8, 1892.J 



SCIENCE. 



21 



or tramp; from latcha, to build, we have, in the frequenta- 

 tive or usitative form, laltshish, an architect; from tedsha, 

 to wash, tetddshish, laundress. Almost endless examples 

 might be given, showing the wealth of varied expressions 

 which the language derives from this form of inflection. 



Of the more ordinary class of inflections, derivational and 

 grammatical, produced, like most of those in the Aryan 

 tongues, by the agglutinative process, the Klamath has a 

 vast number. Mr. Gatschet gives a list of formative atHxes, 

 filling more than a hundred quarto pages, arid rivalling in 

 extent and variety the list comprised in the second volume 

 of Brugmana's " Comparative Grammar of the Indo Ger- 

 manic Languages." The prefixes exceed fifty, and the suffixes 

 two hundred. These afB.-;es have sometimes internal euphonic 

 inflections. The prefix hash, or hssh, for example, which 

 forms causative, reciprocal, and reflective verbs, varies its 

 vowel in a certain correspondence or euphonic correlation 

 (though not always agreement) with the varying vowel of 

 its radical. From pa7i, to eat, we have hdshpa, to feed or 

 cause to eat ; from udmpeli, to recover, heshudinpeli, to re- 

 store to health ; from piinua, to drink, hushpanua, to give to 

 drink. A is a common suiRx, which forms verbs from nouns, 

 adjectives, and particles; ka is a "'factitive " suffix, forming 

 causative and transitive verbs; anJc is the suffix which forms 

 the present participle, like the Latin ans and ens, and the 

 English mg. An example will show the fine shades of 

 meaning in the derivatives formed by these suffixes. Hewa 

 or shewa, to siippose, believe, think, coalesces with the re- 

 flexive prefix hush to form a new verb husha, to remember. 

 The factitive affix ka, added to husha, produces hushka. to 

 think about a thing, to study. The active participle of 

 hushka is hushkank, thinking, studying. Adding to this 

 the verb-forming particle a, we obtain the derivative verb 

 hushkanka, to be reflecting or considering, to be in a certain 

 mood or state of mind about anything. These word-forming 

 particles yield an enormous addition to the Klamath vocab- 

 ulary. 



The declensions of nouns and adjectives resemble those of 

 the Aryan languages, but are more extensive and more logi- 

 cally exact. There are fourteen cases, comprising, besides 

 those of the Sanscrit, Greek, and Latin, several locative cases, 

 and a temporal case. The latter ends in emi or am, and 

 signifies " during" or " at the time of; " as from sko, spring, 

 we have skoemi, during springtime; from kish, sunset, 

 kishemi or (contracted) kiss'hn, at sunset. The accusative (or 

 objective) case of " inanimate " nouns — corresponding to the 

 Latin neuter — has (as in Latin) the same form as the nomi- 

 native; but that of animate nouns ends in ash, or some- 

 times simply in sh or a. Thus laki, chief or headman, has 

 in the accusative lakiash ; muni, great, has muydnash. The 

 adjective agrees with its noun in case and number, though 

 with some variations in the forms; thus from muni laki, 

 great chief, we have in the genitive (or possessive) case 

 muydnam lakiam, of the great chief; in the accusative, 

 muydnash (or munish) lakiash ; in the instrumental case, 

 muydntka Idkiika, by means of the great chief; in the direc- 

 tive case, muydn'sh (or m,unish} lakiashtala. toward the 

 great chief, etc. The distributive form, which answers for 

 the plural, has, in the nominative, milmeni laldki, each great 

 chief; in the accusative, mumidn'sh (or m/lmeuish) laldkiash; 

 in the possessive, mumidnam laldkiam, of each great chief; 

 and so on, through the various cases. 



Space fails for describing the conjugations of the verb, 



except to mention the two participles, so curiously resem- 



ling the Aryan forms, namely, the present (or indefinite), 



ending usually in ank or an, and the preterite, ending in 

 tkoov tk; as from koka, to bite, kokank or kokan, biting, and 

 kokatko, bitten. The substantive verb gi or ki (pronounced 

 ghee or fcee) has for its present participle gian or giank. 

 being, and for its preterite gitko, been. As an auxiliary 

 verb it is used, in its various inflections, with the past parti- 

 ciple of other verbs to form the passive voice, as in kokdtko 

 gi, to be bitten ; kokdtko giuapk, will be bitten ; kokdtko git. 

 may be bitten; kokdtko giuga, in order to be bitten. This 

 substantive verb has a Signification as abstract as the same 

 verb in any Aryan or Semitic language, with often a 

 wider compass of meaning, answering to both ser and estar 

 in Spanish. 



The pronouns, personal and possessive, are never com- 

 bined with either the noun or the verb. What some gram- 

 marians have styled the transitions, and others the composite 

 or objective conjugations, are therefore unknown to the 

 Klamath, which in this respect is as analytic as the English 

 or German, and far more analytic than either Greek or 

 Hebrew. 



Mr. Gatschet, after describing the great variety of structure 

 in the American languages, varying from the extremely 

 synthetic to the markedly analytic, observes that the Kla- 

 math "occupies a middle position" between these extremes, 

 " but that, nevertheless, it shows very plainly all the charac- 

 teristics of agglutinative tongues." He should have added — 

 as his own minute and careful descriptions clearly show — 

 "but not more plainly than these characteristics are dis- 

 played by the Sanscrit or the Greek." Liberal and philo- 

 sophical as he is, he has not yet succeeded in entirely eman- 

 cipating his mind from the influences of the Aryo Semitic 

 superstition, which is now in comparative philology what the 

 geocentric superstition, before the time of Copernicus, was in 

 astronomy. But he proceeds, in terms as accurate as they 

 are elegant and forcible: "These and other characteristics 

 impart to the language of the Maklaks a well-defined type, 

 and approach it to the tongues of modern Europe, in which 

 analysis has not preponderated over synthesis. An attentive 

 study of the numerous texts obtained from the Indians [of 

 which, it should be added, Mr. Gatschet's work furnishes an 

 ample and most interesting collection] paired with constant 

 comparison of Klamath structure with the structure of many 

 foreign and American languages, could alone furnish a solid 

 basis for establishing the grammatical rules of this upland 

 tongue. The rhythmic, stately, and energetic tenor of its 

 periods, especially those of the larger mythologic pieces, will 

 please every student who has ever lent his attentive ear to 

 the well-poised periods of Roman historians, and will even 

 evoke comparison with them, not as to their contents, but as 

 to the plan of the well-constructed sentences which appear 

 in these narratives." Horatio Hale. 



Clinton, Ontario, Canada. 



IOWA ACADEMY OF SCIENCE?. 



As announced, the sixth annual session of the Iowa Acad- 

 emy of Sciences was held in DesMoines, on the 29th and 

 30th of December. Interest and enthusiasm were manifested 

 throughout the session. Heretofore the annual meetings 

 have been held in September, an unfortunate time for most 

 of the scientific workers of the State. The following pro- 

 gramme was carried out. 



Professor C. C. Nutting, the president, delivered an ad- 

 dress on " Systematic Zoology in Colleges." He urged the 

 importance of systematic zoology in colleges. He thought 



