Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-03-16
NOTED L|NGU|ST DEAD
Dr.. Albert S. Gatschet Sue
CumbS to Disease.
NATIVE OF SWITZERLAND
Devoted Much of His Life to Scientific
Research.
AUTHOR OF NUMEROUS WORKS
Made Special Study Of American In
dams and Tribal Languages
Resided in Washington.
NATIVE OF SWITZERLAND
AUTHOR OF NUMEROUS WORKS

The many friends in Washington of DR..
| Albert s. Gatschet were shocked by the
announcement Of his death today at his
home. 2O22 18th street northwest. DR.. Cat
schet was one Of the best-known scholars
and linguists In the city, and his writings
| upon both ancient and modern languages
| made his name familiar in the student life
of this country and Europe as WELL
Arrangements for the funeral have not
yet been made. -
Albert Samuel Gatschet, linguist and
ethnologist was born October g. 1892. in the
village of st. Beatenberg, canton of Berne,
Switzerland, the son of Rev. Carl Albert
| Gatschet and Mary Ziegler. His elementary
EDUCATION was acquired in the colleges of
Neuchatel and Berne. Then he followed
courses preparatory to university studies,
upon which he entered in 1852. and which
included historic. linguistic, theologic and
-Berne and Berlin. The degree of doctor
of philosophy was conferred upon him
'honoris causa' in the year 1892 by the
University of Berne. DR.. Gatschet's lean
ings were always toward languages and
their comparative study. and the first re-
suits of his endeavors that appeared in type
were studies of the German and Romantic
dialects OF Switzerland. entitled .Ortsety-
mologische Forschungen aus der Schweiz"
| 1861 to 1857.
In the latter year he spent few months
| in London. pursuing antiquarian inyestiga.
| tons in the British Museum, and in 1868
came to the United States, settling first in
New York city. His early literary activity
| In America included reports upon Shosonan
and other Indian dialects which had been
| committed to writing by members Of Lieut.
| Geo. M. Wheeler's geogra phical and geo.
logical survey of the territories west Of the
one hundredth meridian. These articles,
| though short and of no special merit, at
| tracted the attention of Maj. j. w. Powell,
| the director of one of the three United
| States expeditions sent out at that period
| annually to explore the resources Of the
| far west.
Appointed Ethnologist.
Gatschet was appointed "ethnologist' of
Powelrs geographical survey in March,
| 1877. and remained in that position until
July 1, 1879. when the bureau of ethnology
was established and Gatschet transferred
| to that branch of the government service
Maj. Powell remained at the head of this
| bureau from 1879 until his demise. and the
| three geological surveys having been con-
| sondated into one Congress made him
| director of the joint surveys.
Early in 1877 the rich collections of In
| dian manuscripts In the Smithsonian Insti-
| tuition were placed at Mr.. Gatschet's dis
| pOsal The first task incumbent on him
! was to arrange them according to the lin
| guistic families to which they belonged. BY
| his and other subsequent claSsifcations 1t
was found that in North America within
| the area north of Mexico there are fifty
| eight families. OF this, the article Indian
Linguistic Families prepared by ]. W.
| Powell and embodied in the Seventh An
nual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology,
| 1884, gives full particulars and is accom-
panied by an photographic map. 1t fills 142
| pages lexicon-octavo, and will soon be sup
| plemented by synonymy of tribal names.
| After this classifying work had been well
started Gatsohet was commissioned to be-
| gin a full examination of a number Of In
| dian tribes of the Pacific coast. He Wis
| tied. in chronological order. the Otaki at
| Chico, in the Sacramento valley, California !;
the klamath lake and Modic Indians of
| southern Oregon. the Kalapuyas and Mo-
| hales of northwestern Oregon, with some
other natives he found on his route. He
| had now material enough on hand to select
a subject for an extensive monograph; he
chose the klamath of Oregon since supple
| mented by additions Obtained from the Mo-
die Indians. who had been living as exiles
| in the Indian Territory since 1873. The
work appeared in two quarto fascicles.
forming volume II. parts 1 and ., of Pow
| ellis Contributions to North American
| Ethnology," Washington, 1880.
Re-Examination Causes Delay.
| The cause which delayed the completion
| of the Klamath work until 1890 was the de-
| termination of the director that all linguls-
| tic families should be re-eXamined, to es-
| tablish this standing upon a true and unde
| niable basis. SO that the tribes who speak
| them may be assigned their definite and
| irrevocable position in the array of Amer
lean nations. Hence the bureau sent out a
number of linguists to ascertain matters in
| such portions of the United States with
which they appeared to be best acquainted.
On one of these trips. begun in December.
| 1881, Gatschet discovered that the Catawabe
| of South Carolina had to be placed with the
| Sioux or Dakotan stock of the west. but
| that the Shetimatha of Louisiana. spoken in
| ST. Mary's parish near Charenton, formed
| a linguistic family by itself.
| Another expedition covering several
| months brought him in contact with the
| Tonkawe. better Tankawa. Indians. who
call themselves Titskan-watitch or in
digenous people" and at that time So
| journed with nineteen Lpans (of Atha-
| paskan affinity at Fort Griffin, Shackle-
| ford county. northwestern Texas NO
| vember-December. 1SS4). All the facts
recorded in connection with these two
| tribes seemed of uncommon value to the
| explorer Starting from the south into
| other parts of Oklahoma. Gatschet settled
| for time upon the kiowa, Comanche and
| Apache reservation to study the principal
\ features of kiowa or kayowe, also of the
dialect of the Kiowa-Apaches. the affil-
| ated tongues of the Caddos and Wichitas
| and the Comanche almost identical with
! Shoshonian). In the southwest of Louisi-
| ana, at Lake Charles. he then saw the
| Atakapas. whose language is of great
! simplicity in morphology and syntax; and
| tHeTe went nOrthWard TO welcome
| the remnant of the Modoc Indians. who
| had been exiled into the northeast cor
ner of the Indian Territory since the
| sanguinary Modoc war of 1S72-1S73 The
| ethnologic texts obtained among these
| natives will prove to be of great value
for those who are endeavOring to get q
| correct idea of the inwardness of south
western Indian life and tendencies.
Prairie Tribes.
| While passing through the southwest in
the fall of 1889 he directed his attention
| mainly the prairie tribes of the Chey-
ennes and Arapahoes. who then resided
upon the reserve named after them. Here
Lalso he met with good success In securing
vocables. paradigms. sentences and In
structive texts showing the natural talk
| of the natives. and accompanied by all nee
| essary comments for a full understand
All travellers who met the Arapaho braves
have been surprised by the musical and
| Socalic character Of their speech. The
| other dialects of the extensive Algonkin
| family. which were studied. or at least ex-
/ amined by Gatschet are the Abnaki group
consisting of the Penobscot at Old Town,
| the Passamaquoddy at Eastpcrt, Me- and
| the Micmac dialects opposite Digby. Nova
| Scotia up to the northeast end OF that
peninsula, and the eastern half OF New
| Brunswick. Cree. Naskapl. Ottawa and