Note 236 — I. VOCABULARIES OF SOME OF THE TRIBES OF NORTHWESTERN AMERICA, WITH AN ACCOUNT OF THE INDIAN SIGN LANGUAGE

Johann Friedrich von Recke, born at Mitau, in Livonia, in 1764, early turned his attention to historical and linguistic pursuits. Educated under a brother of Emanuel Kant, he studied at Göttingen with Professor Johann Friedrich Blumenbach, who later gave an impetus to Maximilian's investigations. About 1785 Recke retired to Mitau where for over forty years he was state archivist, with leisure to pursue his special investigations. As a philologist his fame rests on his Allgemeinen Schriftsteller und gelehrten Lexikons der provinzen Livland, Esthland, und Kurland (Mitau, 1827-32). It would appear that Maximilian consulted Dr. Recke upon the analogies of his Indian vocabularies.—Ed.