13 [ 108 ] 



assisted by the most intelligent natives of this tribe of Indians. The whole 

 has been arranged, and placed in its present form, by the Rev. S. R. Riggs, 

 of the American Board. 



This work was prepared under the auspices of the Historical Society of 

 Minnesota, and recommended by this association to the favorable attention 

 of the Smithsonian Institution. It is designed to meet the requirements of 

 the missionary in his labor of diffusing - the light of religion and civilization 

 among one of the most numerous and important tribes of Indians in the 

 country. It also forms an interesting addition to ethnology, which will be 

 highly prized by all devoted to this branch of knowledge. 



A language is not originally a thing of man's device, or the result of con- 

 ventional art, but the spontaneous production of human instinct, modified 

 by the mental character, the physical conditions, and other peculiarities of 

 the people or tribe among winch it had its origin, or by whom it is used. 

 It is subject to definite laws of formation and developement, and is inti- 

 mately connected with the history of the migrations and affiliations of the 

 people by whom it is spoken, and hence becomes an object of interest to the 

 student of the natural history of man. 



In accordance with the policy of not expending the Smithsonian fund in 

 doing with it what could be equally well done by other means, this memoir 

 was first referred to the Bureau of Indian Affairs, with the hope that it 

 might be adopted as a part of the materials of the volumes published under 

 the direction of that bureau; but this was not found practicable, and the 

 task was therefore undertaken by the Institution. 



The memoir will occupy an entire volume, and would have been too 

 much for our present income, had not about one-third of the whole cost of 

 publication been promised by subscription from the members of the Histori- 

 cal Society of Minnesota and the American Board of Missions. The latter 

 institution defrays the expenses of Mr. Riggs while he is engaged in super- 

 intending the passage of the work through the press. It is a pleasant cir- 

 cumstance that in this instance, as well as in many others, the organization 

 of the Institution enables it to co-operate with other institutions, and to 

 assist them in their labors of promoting knowledge. 



This memoir, which is now in the press, was referred for critical examin- 

 ation to Professor Felton, of Cambridge, Massachusetts, and to Professor 

 Turner, of New York. The latter has furnished us with a report on the 

 importance of collecting information relative to the different dialects now 

 in use among the Indians. 



Dr. Joseph Leidy, of Philadelphia, has prepared a memoir for the Insti- 

 luticn, accompanied by numerous illustrations, entitled " A Flora and Fauna 

 of Animals." It is an elaborate history of a most remarkable series of 

 plants, in many cases accompanied by parisitic animals, found growing, as 

 an ordinary or natural condition, within the interior of the bodies of living 

 animals. In some of the latter, it is stated, growing plants are never 

 absent ; and in a species of insects, viz : Papulus Gotnutus, a forest of 

 vegetation is always found covering the inner surface of the ventriculus or 

 second stomach. 



The plants of course are Cryptogamic, and are algoid in their character. 

 Some are as long as half an inch, but usually they are very much smaller. 

 They grow attached to the mucous membrane of the cavities in which they 

 are found, and occasionally from the exterior covering of worms infesting 

 the same cavities. Several genera and species of these plants are charac^ 



