Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1879-10-25
TIE SIGN LANGUAGE OF THE INDIANS.

HOnLnly mfcung on TUESDAY evening IN the re-
gents room, Smithsonian Institution; Dr.J. Mere
| Reynolds, secretary.
| A large and distinguished audience was pres
ent, Notwithstanding the unfavorabe character
| Of the weather.
Lieutenant Commander N. Bainbridge Hoff, q.
| S. n, and DR.. n II. Triplett, of Washington, d.
C., were nominated by the council and elected to
active membership.
| reported having received from Dr. Toner a series
Of notes on chronological subjects. Also. a COM
munlcation from the Rev. Horace Edwin Hay
den, of Brownsville, Pa, in reply to notttica-
ton of his election as corresponding member of
| the society.
In accordance with previous notice, Col Gar
rick Mallery, of the United States army, and now
attached to the bureau of ethn0logy OF the Smith
sOnian Institution, read an elaborate paper on
The Sign Language OF the North Americ IN In
dams" as illustrating the gesture speech OF man
kind, presenting points both OF novel scientific
| interest and practical value. After tracing the
history OF gesture speech, SO far as known in
verified that the power OF the visible gesture rela-
tive to and its influence upon the audible word
was inveIsely proportional to the development OF
the oral language. The travellers tales Of PEG
pie unable to understand their mother tongue
In the dark because not then able to see accom-
pany1ng gestures, were OF doubtful truth any
where, and certainly false as regards the Ameri-
can tribes, many Of those that gesture most
freely having cOpiOus vocabulary with highly
differentiated parts of speech. The true distinc-
ton is, that where the number OF men speaking
the same dialect is small, and when they are
thrown into contact on equal terms with others
OF different tongues gesture is necessarily re-
sorted to for converse while large bodies enjoy
ing common language. and either isolated from
foreigners, or If in contact with them, so dOmin-
ant as to compel the learning and adoption of
their own tongue, become impaSSive In its de-
livery. Instances of this from the Old World
were presented. But nowhere as on our CONT
nent was there spread over so vast space so
small number of individuals divided by so
many linguistic boundaries. The general use OF
signs originating from the necessity for extra
tribal communication, became also convenient
from the habits OF hunters and the military tao
tics OF surprise. So naturally, the practice of
sign language among our Indians Is noticed by
all Travellers and the assertion has been current
that 1t was single universal and absolute code.
To test this remarkable statement a number of
sign vocabulareS, taken in different parts OF the
country at several dates from the last century to
the last month, were collected by the writer
comprising together
MORE THAN EIGHT HUNDRED SIGNS.
The result is that there is often an entire dis
crepancy between the signs made by different
bodies of Indians to express the same idea. Very
few OF the limited number Of gestures that are In
general use are at all conventional, being only
portions more or less elaborate OF obvious natural
pantomlme; and those proving to be the fitteSt eX
preSSiOnS OF the several ideas became the most
widely adopted. In some cases the original air
pictures OF an outline Or action have become alb
Ii
ton and delineatiOn were the same, the two or
more authorizations became unlike. The first
conceptions were also diverse, because all objects
have several characteristics, and what struck
one set OF people as the most distinctive would
not always so impress another Col. Ma!lery
then gave from the collected lists, or vOcabl-
the conception or execution, or both, to express
the same idea, were widely diverse. Also a
plumber of typical cases of agreement. followed
by Illustrations of others not remarkable either
for general or limited acceptance, but for the
philosophy or poetry suggested by the pictur-
esque fignration. Some OF these were compared
with the gestures OF savage and civilized people
In the old world with those of deaf muteS
with the code of the Cistercian monks who were
vowed to silence, and with the picture writing
on buffalo robes and on Egyptian pyramids
The general result proved that there was no uni
fOrm1ty in detail, but the variety in eXpr oSSiOn
was in itself of great psychological interest.
VALUE OF THE SIGN LANGUAGE.
While the assertion Of a single universal sign
language among the tribe is, therefore, one OF
the popular errors about our aborigtnes, 1t Is
nevertheless, true that the attempt to convey
meaning by signs Is universal among them, and
SO Is its successful execution not by arbitrary
semaphoric motions, but in a cultivated art
which is founded upon principles that can readily
be applied by travellers and officials so as to give
them much independence of profeSsed 1nterpre-
ters. Two intelligent pantomimists, whether
Indian or Caucasian, deaf or without common
tongue, will seldom fall OF mutual understand
ing when their attention is exclusively directed
to expressing thoughts by means of comprehen-
sion and reply equally possessed by both, with
out the mental confusion of conventional sounds
only Ineligible to one.
Whether or not gesture utterance preceded
articulate speech, the study Of the art in its
high development will, by return to early
principles tend to solve the old problem of uni
versal communication among men in spite Of
their dialectfc divisions. A main object OF the
paper was to invite suggestions and contribu-
tons to perfect comprehensive monograph on
the subject now in preparation, to be published
with Illustrations under the auspices OF the
Smithsonian Institution.
DISCUSSION.
Upon the conclusion Of Col. Mallery's paper
an essay of exceptional merit, evinciag many
striking and unique features not hitherto Oh
served by ethnologists-the remainder OF the
evening was devoted to the discussion of Its
most prominent points.
Prof Mason, of the Columbian College took a
leading part in the debate, and from his famtli-
arity with Indian vacabularies and Photographs
was able to add much interest to the aesthetic
character OF the subject
Prof Fay, OF the National Deaf Mute College
fully corroborated the statement set forth by
Col. Mallery, with reference to the value OF sign
language. He stated that many Of the symbols
described were unquestionably the same as thoSe
used by the unfortunate muteS, but not In every
case having the same Specification.
Prof Lester F. Ward, While discussing the
writings Of the ancient Egyptians-the hyero-
glyphicS-and from their venerable antiquity
questioned whether the Egyptians were not able
to communicate through the medium Of these
symbols without the aid of speech.
Mr.. Gatchell OF the Bureau of Ethnoiogy, was
able to add much additional Information to the
facts already presented He mentioned many
peculiar1ties of the Indians and spoke of the
difficulty Of procuring reliable Information from
the natives, owing to their SuperSttiouS jealousy.
He looked forward hopefully to the future, and
expected to be able to accomplish much by COM
pairing the sign vocabularieS in use among the
various tribes OF the west.
The society is about to commence the publica-
ton OF scientific papers, and that hereafter it
will issue monthly journal of its proceedings.
The secretary is now actively engaged in pre-
pairing material for the press. 1t will probably
be issued before the holidays Committee on
printing consists Of Messrs. Mallery, Reynolds,
Mason and Long.
The Pharaoh Recovery Company.
An enthusi astIc person in Paris has deter
mined TO 1ish Pharaoh up, If possible, and together
with his bones to recover some of the portable
possessions of the Egyptian army. He thinks
he sees cash in 1t, and he wants to prove the
truth OF Scripture. 1t is well that the claims of
the Mosaic record on public belief do not rest
only on the result of the FrenchmanS enter
prise. He may fish in the wrong place and leave
the Egyptians undisturbed. Considering that
the engulfment took place so long ago the
corpses and chariOts may have sunk 500 feet or
more into the sand If so, the Frenchman's
capital will be exhausted in digging and erect