r them, or how to appreciate them. He failed to see their
intimate connection with the religious worship of the Finns in paganism.

The next to study the Finnish poetry and language was Daniel Juslenius,
a celebrated bishop, and a highly-gifted scholar. In a dissertation,
published as early as 1700, entitled, Aboa vetus et nova, he discussed
the origin and nature of the Finnish language; and in another work of
his, printed in 1745, he treated of Finnish incantations, displaying
withal a thorough understanding of the Finnish folk-lore, and of the
importance of the Finnish language and national poetry. With great
care he began to collect the songs of Suomi, but this precious
collection was unfortunately burned.

Porthan, a Finnish scholar of great attainments, born in 1766,
continuing the work of Juslenius, accumulated a great number of
national songs and poems, and by his profound enthusiasm for the
promotion of Finnish literature, succeeded in founding the Society of
the Fennophils, which to the present day, forms the literary centre of
Finland. Among his pupils were E. Lenquist, and Chr. Ganander, whose
works on Finnish mythology are among the references used in preparing
this preface. These indefatigable scholars were joined by Reinhold
Becker and others, who were industriously searching for more and more
fragments of what evidently was a great epic of the Finns. For
certainly neither of the scholars just mentioned, nor earlier
investigators, could fail to see that the runes they collected,
gathered round two or three chief heroes, but more especially around
the central figure of Wainamoinen, the hero of the following epic.

The Kalevala proper was collected by two great Finnish scholars,
Zacharias Topelius and Elias Lonnrot. Both were practicing physicians,
and in this capacity came into frequent contact with the people of
Finland. Topelius, who collected eighty epical fragments of the
Kalevala, spent the last eleven years of his life in bed, afflicted
with a fatal disease. But this sad and trying circumstance did not
dampen his enthusiasm. His manner of collecting these songs was as
follows: Knowing that the Finns of Russia preserved most of the
national poetry, and that they came annually to Finland proper, which
at that time did not belong to Russia, he invited these itinerant
Finnish merchants to his bedside, and induced them to sing their heroic
poems, which he copied as they were uttered. And, when