1889.] Analysis of the Cherokee La)iguagc. 781 
shall be preserved in the interest of science, the present is about 
the last opportunity that will ever be offered for the discharge of 
such a service. The time for a work of this kind, owing to the 
rapid decay of these Indian tongues, is necessarily short, and it 
should be diligently improved. 
In order that a language may be of the greatest possible use 
as matter of reference in the establishing of scientific truth, it is 
not enough to be conversant with only a few of its more promi- 
nent features; it should be understood as a whole with entire 
familiarity. To this end it should be rendered as easy of access 
as possible by means of suitable guide-books of study. In a 
word it should, like a classic tongue, be reduced to a state of 
implicit subserviency to the will of any one who might have 
occasion to master its use or appeal to its facts. 
A very serious want of this kind has long been felt, especially 
with reference to the aboriginal languages of this continent. The 
work which Prof Duncan now has on hand is unique and 
thoroughly original, as well as rigidly scientific. When finished, 
it will, without doubt, constitute one of the most exact and 
exhaustive treatises on Indian philology that has ever been 
published. It will have the effect to rescue at least one of our 
many Indian tongues, the Cherokee, from oblivion; and by 
investing it with an intelligible immortality, make it an interesting 
fact for reference among students of philology for all time to 
Charles City, Iowa. 
