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Show ADMINISTRATIVE REPORT XXV similar weapons and implements, to adopt similar modes of thinking and working, to worship similar deities, and thus to be brought from complete dissonance to potential harmony whensoever the exigency of primitive life may serve; and thus the course of that convergent development, which is the most important lesson the American aborigines have given to the world, is made clear. Some idea may be formed, also, of the history of piratical acculturation. WORK IN PHILOLOGY Dr Albert S. Gatsche* has continued the preparation of a comparative vocabulary of Algonquian dialects, making satisfactory progress. The Algonquian linguistic stock was the most extensive of North America, both in the number of dialects and in the area occupied by the tribes using them. For this and other reasons the stock has been a source of much labor among philologists, and there has been considerable diversity of opinion as to its classification. One of the tasks undertaken by the Bureau early in its history was the review of Algonquian linguistic material for the purpose of formulating a definite and satisfactory classification. Many vocabularies have been collected and compared; to aid in the determination of affinities, grammatic material has alsp been obtained in considerable volume; and still further to elucidate relations, a body of records of myths and ceremonies has been accumulated. The lexic, grammatic, and mythologic records of the Algonquian stock collected by collaborators of the Bureau and obtained from correspondents form several hundred manuscripts; and it is from this voluminous material that the comparative vocabulary is compiled. In addition to this routine work on the vocabulary, Dr Gatschet has from time to time prepared linguistic material for use in answering inquiries of numerous correspondents. Mr J . N. B. Hewitt has continued the study of the Iroquoian languages during the year. As has been noted in former reports, he has also carried forward a general study of the pronoun as used in primitive tongues, with a view to the preparation of a memoir on linguistic development. Partly as a ineT& is |