Г2 



accurately distinguishing (lie sounds of a language and of ap- 

 preciating the finest shades of artiL'ulation. It is not enougii 

 to draw up a table of the sound-symb(ds or letters of the 

 alphabet used; the meaning of these symbols, that is to say, 

 the articulation of each sound must be accurately described. 

 But in order to give such a description, it is necessary, first, 

 to observe correctly, and secondly, to describe competently. 



Well, it is the business of the scientific worker to be careful, 

 and 1 have only ventured these remarks in order to justify the 

 use which I in spite of everything have made of the specimens 

 of the language given by travelers and the descriptions of the 

 language written by missionaries. The paragraphs in which I 

 especially treat the Eskimo dialects will show in how far I have 

 dared to make use of these sources and what conclusions 1 

 could draw from them. I have felt in regard to them in about 

 the same way — mutatis mutandis — as the historical philo- 

 logist feels in regard to the alphabetical symbols in the old 

 inscription which he is interpreting. On account of typogra- 

 phical difficulties, I have not always been able to retain throughout 

 the orthography used by the foreign author; in such cases, I 

 have substituted for his symbols those of my own which I con- 

 sidered most adequate. 



If I have thus been compelled to use the severest kind of 

 criticism with respect to the works of others on this subject, 

 1 realize that the value of my own w(H'k will depend upon 

 whether I have been equally critical with respect to it. I too 

 in examining this language, which only a few years ago was 

 unknown to me, have had to proceed from something known to 

 something new and have had to see the latter in the light of 

 the former. What mistakes and inaccuracies 1 may have been 

 guilty of, future investigations of the subject will have to decide. 

 To facts I willingly submit; but I think I have been ahead of 

 previous investigators of this language in my theoretical know- 

 ledge of the formation of speech-sounds in general and in my 



