62 PROCEEDINGS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. 



SOCIOLOGICAL CIRCULAR. 



Sir, — The Canadian Institute is desirous of collecting and incor- 

 porating in its Proceedings reliable data respecting the political and 

 social institutions, the customs, ceremonies, beliefs, ])ursuits, modes of- 

 living, habit, exchange, the devolution of i)roperty and office wliicli 

 obtain among the Indian peoples of the Dominion, and of enlisting 

 your voluntary cooperation in the work. It feels that this depart- 

 ment of research has not been so fully cultivated in Canada as its 

 importance demands, fears that the op[)ortunity of gathering and 

 carefully testing the necessary facts may with the advancing tide of 

 European civilization soon pass away, and is of opinion that much 

 light may be cast upon the genesis and gi'owth of government as well 

 as upon legal, sociological and economic thought by an accurate study 

 of our Indian tribes in their existing conditions and organizations. 

 Contributions to the philology of the Indian tongues and additions to 

 their folk- or myth-lore will be welcomed as heretofore. At the same 

 time the Insiitute begs leave, without desiring to contract the field of 

 observation, to direct your attention to the following matters : — 



(1.) The basis of family or tribal organization, e.g., whether it be 

 purely personal, or partake to any extent of territorial attributes ; the 

 received mode of ranking and tracing relationships, paternal, mater- 

 nal, or both ; with a table of degrees, if possible, of agnates and cog- 

 nates : 



(2.) Adoption, its kinds, ceremonies and formulie, the extent of 

 its use, and the particulars in which it modifies, the family, gens, 

 tribe, etc. : 



(3.) The rules and practice which govern the contracting, main- 

 taining and dissolving of marriage ; the degrees of prohibition : exog- 

 amy and endogamy ; the effect of marriage on the status of woman, 

 her position ujion divorce, etc. : 



(■4.) Grades of persons of both'sexes apai't from office, free and slave ; 

 to what extent mature children of either sex are the subjects of rights ; 

 the age of enfranchisement, if any : 



(5.) The character of parental power, paternal and maternal ; its 



