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  V. 
  — 
  Dissertation 
  on 
  a 
  Peruvian 
  Musical 
  Instrument 
  like 
  the 
  Syrinx 
  of 
  the 
  

   Ancients. 
  By 
  Thomas 
  Stewart 
  Traill, 
  M.D., 
  F.R.S.E., 
  Professor 
  of 
  Medical 
  

   Jurisprudence 
  in 
  the 
  University 
  of 
  Edinburgh. 
  

  

  (Read 
  1st 
  April 
  1850.) 
  

  

  The 
  attention 
  which 
  has 
  of 
  late 
  years 
  been 
  paid 
  to 
  the 
  elucidation 
  of 
  the 
  

   manners 
  and 
  arts 
  of 
  the 
  ancient 
  inhabitants 
  of 
  America, 
  has 
  been 
  productive 
  of 
  

   the 
  most 
  convincing 
  proofs 
  of 
  the 
  communication 
  between 
  the 
  Eastern 
  and 
  West- 
  

   ern 
  Continents 
  at 
  remote 
  but 
  unknown 
  epochs. 
  The 
  learned 
  and 
  highly-interest- 
  

   ing 
  researches 
  of 
  Humboldt 
  on 
  the 
  antiquities 
  of 
  the 
  New 
  World, 
  have 
  irresistibly 
  

   led 
  him 
  to 
  this 
  conclusion, 
  which 
  has 
  farther 
  been 
  strengthened 
  by 
  the 
  researches 
  

   of 
  later 
  travellers. 
  The 
  comparison 
  of 
  the 
  idioms 
  of 
  the 
  Asiatic 
  and 
  American 
  

   tongues, 
  has 
  hitherto 
  not 
  afforded 
  very 
  direct 
  proof; 
  because 
  the 
  philologist 
  has 
  not 
  

   yet 
  been 
  put 
  in 
  possession 
  of 
  a 
  sufficient 
  number 
  of 
  materials 
  to 
  make 
  the 
  comparison 
  

   with 
  advantage. 
  Our 
  ignorance 
  of 
  the 
  languages 
  and 
  customs 
  of 
  Central 
  Asia 
  is 
  a 
  

   great 
  bar 
  to 
  such 
  studies, 
  and 
  needs 
  not 
  any 
  other 
  illustration 
  than 
  the 
  fact 
  that 
  

   a 
  highly-polished 
  nation, 
  with 
  a 
  literature 
  and 
  arts 
  hitherto 
  almost 
  unknown 
  in 
  

   Europe, 
  should 
  have 
  existed 
  for 
  ages 
  in 
  Central 
  Asia. 
  Our 
  countryman, 
  Dr 
  

   Gerard, 
  stimulated 
  by 
  the 
  humane 
  desire 
  of 
  extending 
  the 
  blessings 
  of 
  vaccina- 
  

   tion 
  to 
  Thibet, 
  has 
  been 
  for 
  some 
  time 
  in 
  that 
  country, 
  and 
  has 
  discovered 
  in 
  its 
  

   language 
  an 
  Encyclopaedia 
  in 
  forty-four 
  volumes, 
  of 
  which 
  the 
  medical 
  part 
  alone 
  

   fills 
  five 
  volumes 
  ; 
  and 
  he 
  finds, 
  that 
  the 
  art 
  of 
  Lithography, 
  so 
  new 
  in 
  Europe, 
  

   has 
  been 
  practised 
  from 
  time 
  immemorial 
  in 
  Kinnaour, 
  a 
  principal 
  city 
  in 
  Thibet, 
  

   where 
  he 
  found 
  it 
  employed 
  to 
  display 
  the 
  anatomy 
  of 
  the 
  human 
  body. 
  At- 
  

   tempts 
  have 
  been 
  made 
  to 
  supply 
  such 
  deficiencies 
  in 
  the 
  knowledge 
  of 
  Asiatic 
  

   languages, 
  chiefly 
  by 
  the 
  Germans 
  ; 
  especially 
  in 
  the 
  first 
  volume 
  of 
  the 
  Mithridates 
  

   by 
  Adelung, 
  and 
  in 
  the 
  Asia 
  Polyglotta 
  of 
  Klaproth. 
  When 
  our 
  acquaintance 
  

   with 
  Central 
  Asia 
  shall 
  be 
  more 
  extensive, 
  and 
  the 
  American 
  languages 
  more 
  

   studied, 
  we 
  may 
  be 
  able 
  to 
  trace 
  the 
  origin 
  of 
  the 
  nations 
  of 
  that 
  continent 
  with 
  

   greater 
  success 
  ; 
  and 
  Humboldt 
  does 
  not 
  think 
  it 
  impossible, 
  that 
  traces 
  may 
  yet 
  

   be 
  discovered 
  in 
  America 
  of 
  tongues 
  and 
  nations 
  that 
  have 
  disappeared 
  from 
  the 
  

   older 
  hemisphere. 
  It 
  would 
  be 
  curious 
  if 
  future 
  inquirers 
  should 
  discover 
  in. 
  

   America 
  vestiges 
  of 
  those 
  torments 
  of 
  the 
  philologist 
  and 
  antiquary, 
  the 
  Median, 
  

   Oscan, 
  Phoenician, 
  and 
  Hetruscan 
  tongues. 
  

  

  " 
  If 
  language 
  supply," 
  says 
  Humboldt, 
  " 
  but 
  feeble 
  evidence 
  of 
  communica- 
  

   tion 
  between 
  the 
  two 
  worlds, 
  this 
  communication 
  is 
  fully 
  proved 
  by 
  the 
  cosmo- 
  

   vol. 
  xx. 
  part 
  i. 
  2 
  k 
  

  

  