as, except
in a very limited degree, but only to show him how to express ideas
according to the order and methods of spoken language. As there were
no repetitions of time in narratives in the sign language, it became
necessary to unite with the word-sign for verbs others, to indicate
the different tenses of the verbs, and so by degrees the methodical
signs not only were required to comprise signs for every word, but
also, with every such sign, a grammatical sign to indicate what part
of speech the word was, and, in the case of verbs, still other signs
to show their tenses and corresponding inflections. It was, as Dr.
Peet remarks, a cumbrous and unwieldly vehicle, ready at every step to
break down under the weight of its own machinery. Nevertheless, it was
industriously taught in all our schools from the date of the founding
of the American Asylum in 1817 down to about the year 1835, when it
was abandoned.

The collection of narratives, speeches, and dialogues of our Indians
in sign language, first systematically commenced by the present
writer, several examples of which are in this paper, has not yet
been sufficiently complete and exact to establish conclusions on the
subject of the syntactic arrangement of their signs. So far as
studied it seems to be similar to that of deaf-mutes and to retain the
characteristic of pantomimes in figuring first the principal idea and
adding the accessories successively in the order of importance, the
ideographic expressions being in the ideologic order. If the examples
given are not enough to establish general rules of construction, they
at least show the natural order of ideas in the minds of the gesturers
and the several modes of inversion by which they pass from the known
to the unknown, beginning with the dominant idea or that supposed
to be best known. Some special instances of expedients other than
strictly syntactic coming under the machinery broadly designated as
grammar may be mentioned.

DEGREES OF COMPARISON.

Degrees of comparison are frequently expressed, both by deaf-mutes
and by Indians, by adding to the generic or descriptive sign that
for "big" or "little." _Damp_ would be "wet--little"; _cool_,
"cold--little"; _hot_, "warm--much." The amount or force of motion
also often indicates corresponding diminution or augmentation, but
sometimes expresses a different shade of meaning, as is reported by
Dr. Matthews with reference to the sign for _bad_ and _contempt_, see