,transcriber's ,note ,typographical errors in the original have been maintained in this version4 ,they are marked with a ,,tn-4 ,a list of the errors is found at the end of the present text4 ,the following codes are used for characters that are not found in the character set used for this ebook3 o ,,latin ,,small ,,letter ,o ,,with ,,double ,,acute ',s ,,latin ,,capital ,,letter ,s ,,with ,,acute ,,papers ,,of ,,the ,,peabody ,,museum ,,of ,,american ,,archaeology ,,and ,,ethnology1 ,,harvard ,,university ,,vol4 ,,vi4--,no4 #a ,,commentary ,,upon ,,the ,,maya-,,tzental ,,perez ,,codex ,,with ,a ,,concluding ,,note ,,upon ,,the ,,linguistic ,,problem ,,of ,,the ,,maya ,,glyphs ,,by ,,william ,e4 ,,gates ,,professor ,,in ,,school ,,of ,,antiquity1 ,,international ,,theosophical ,,headquarters1 ,,point ,,loma1 ,,california ,,cambridge1 ,,mass4 ,,published ,,by ,,the ,,museum ,,november1 #aiaj ,illustration ,,the ,,aryan ,,theosophical ,,press ,point ,loma1 ,california ,,note ,in presenting this ,commentary on the ,codex ,perez to students of ,american ,archaeology1 the ,peabody ,museum adds another paper to its series relating to the study of the hieroglyphic writing of the ancient peoples of ,mexico and ,central ,america4 ,the ,museum is fortunate in adding to its collaborators ,mr4 ,william ,e4 ,gates1 of ,point ,loma1 ,california1 who for more than ten years has been an earnest student of ,american hieroglyphs4 ,from his lifelong studies in linguistics in connection with his research in the motifs of civilizations and cultures1 he comes well-equipped to take up the difficult and all-absorbing study of ,american hieroglyphic writing4 ,mr4 ,gates has materially advanced this study by his reproduction of the glyphs in type4 ,these type-forms he has used first in his reproduction of the ,codex ,perez1 and now in this ,commentary they are used for the first time in printing4 ,the method used in the construction of this font of type is explained by ,mr4 ,gates in the following pages4 ,this important aid to the study will be highly appreciated by all students of ,american hieroglyphs1 as it will greatly facilitate the presentation of the results of future research4 ,it will be seen that this ,commentary is more in the line of suggestion to be expanded after further studies1 than in the way of conclusions4 ,at the close of the paper the author presents the general deductions he has drawn from his comparative study of languages and cultures4 ,his concluding paragraph forcibly presents the hope that the understanding of the ,maya glyphs will furnish new and important data in the life history of man4 ,f4 ,w4 ,,putnam ,,peabody ,,museum ,october1 #aiaj ,illustration3 ,,perez ,,codex3 ,,page #f ,illustration3 ,,perez ,,codex3 ,,page #ag ,,the ,,perez ,,codex ,the ,perez ,codex was discovered just fifty years ago by ,prof4 ,leon de ,rosny1 while searching through the ,bibliotheque ,imperiale1 ,paris1 in the hope of bringing to light some documents of interest for the then newly awakened study of ,pre-,columbian ,america4 ,it was found by him in a basket among a lot of old papers1 black with dust and practically abandoned in a chimney corner4 ,from a few words with the name ,perez1 written on a torn scrap of paper then around it but since lost1 it received its name4 ,being restored to its proper place in the ,library1 it was in #ahfd photographed by order of ,m4 ,victor ,duruy1 ,minister of ,instruction1 and a few copies issued without further explanatory notes than the printed wrappers4 ,the number of copies is stated by ,prof4 de ,rosny to have been very small2 in ,leclerc's ,bibl4 ,amer4 7#ahgh1 ,no4 #bbij7 it is given as only #aj1 and in ,brasseur's ,bibl4 ,mex4-,guat4 7page #ie71 as #ej4 ,a copy is in the library of the ,bureau of ,ethnology at ,washington1 and referred to in their publications as a most fortunate acquisition4 ,i had the good fortune to secure a copy some ten years ago1 and one other has recently appeared in a ,leipzig catalog at a high price4 ,beyond these ,i have not traced any other copy4 ,in #ahgb ,prof4 de ,rosny published a reproduction1 drawn by hand1 which1 as stated by him later1 may be disregarded for practical purposes4#g-99 ,in #ahhg he issued a facsimile edition in colors1 #he copies1 which up to the present time has remained the only attempt to show the ,codex in its proper colors1 and has become exceedingly difficult to procure2 so much so that it was only after seven years search that ,i was able to secure my own copy4#h-99 ,in #ahhh he reissued the ,codex1 uncolored1 with the same letter-press1 and in an edition of #ajj copies4 ,this has also become scarce4 ,each of these three editions has its advantages and disadvantages4 ,the colored edition of #ahhg1 having been worked over by hand1 in lithography1 is defective in various places1 both as regards the black of the figures and glyphs1 and in the colors4 ,coloring exists on the original codex which was not reproduced at all in the edition1 and the colors given are in many cases not exact4 ,thus on pages #ai and #bj two different reds are used for the backgrounds1 whereas but one is found in the original2 on pages #ae1 #af the figures are a turquoise green1 and on pages #ag1 #ah an olive green1 the correct color for all four being turquoise green4 ,i have been able to find no inaccuracy in the #ahhh edition1 which is indeed stated in the introduction to be entirely by mechanical process1 without hand intervention2 but being reproduced by printer's ink in black only1 not only do the colors not appear1 but the chromatic values are actually far inferior to the photographs of #ahfd4 ,it was stated further by ,prof4 de ,rosny that some features of the ,,ms4 had been lost by deterioration in the #be years previous to his editions of #ahhg and #ahhh1 but this ,i have not been able to verify in any important point4 ,the photographs and the edition of #ahhh are to all general purposes identical2 but1 notwithstanding that the photographs are steadily yellowing by age1 the chromatic values are so far superior that ,i have continually come to find them the court of final decision in doubtful matters4 ,in a very considerable number of instances a close examination of the photographs has suggested the presence of faint lines of color on glyphs or figures1 which was entirely indistinguishable in both of the printed editions1 and which was yet in every case confirmed1 although sometimes with difficulty1 by the examination of the original ,,ms4 ,the proved value1 as well as the scarcity1 of these photographs was so great1 that in #aije ,i had my set photographed twice1 by dry and wet plate processes1 and a few copies printed after a careful comparison and selection of the two sets of plates4 ,it is from these that the present edition has grown4#i-99 ,the present edition1 save for the photographs thus reproduced1 having been entirely redrawn1 and partly restored1 it is fitting to detail just what has been done in this respect4 ,at the very beginning of my introduction to ,maya studies the enormous burdens placed on research therein at every turn1 bore upon me as upon every other student4 ,the subject and its possibilities stimulate enthusiasm to the highest degree2 the rewards of success are greater than those of any like problem today2 and yet1 fifty years since the present ,codex was discovered1 and thirty years since ,dr4 ,foerstemann's unsurpassable edition of the ,dresden ,codex1 the actual workers on the problem are the barest handful4 ,a few scattered and obscure references amongst the volumes on volumes of ,spanish writers1 nearly all untranslated1 most of them scarce or almost unprocurable1 and many not even printed1 make up the literature to be searched out4 ,and a few points of decipherment won and safely fixed by the researchers1 from ,brasseur1 de ,rosny1 ,pousse1 ,brinton and others a generation ago1 to ,messrs4 ,bowditch1 ,seler1 ,goodman and a few others of today1 are all we have--standing out in a wilderness of guesses by many writers1 needless of naming4 ,of course the prime and absolute necessity of such a study is true facsimiles2 but the task of using even these1 taken as they must be from much defaced inscriptions and manuscripts1 is too obvious for comment4 ,so from the very first of my studies ,i began to cherish thoughts of the day when ,maya could be printed with type1 and classified indexes to the glyphs at hand4 ,from one point of view such facilities can only be expected to come after decipherment2 from another1 in absence of bilingual keys1 they are a necessity before that can be attained4 ,so far as his work covers1 a great deal has been done in this line by ,mr4 ,a4 ,p4 ,maudslay in the field of the inscriptions4 ,at the very outset therefore ,i must enter acknowledgment of the assistance that ,i owe to the courtesy at that time of ,prof4 ,f4 ,w4 ,putnam1 of ,peabody ,museum1 and ,mr4 ,chas4 ,p4 ,bowditch1 in placing1 with a freedom by no means universal among curators and researchers1 their material at my disposal1 with privilege of copying4 ,i am safe to say that while ,i have reclassified the glyphs for my own use as my studies went on1 yet without the copy which by ,mr4 ,bowditch's courtesy ,i was allowed to make of his card index to the glyphs of the three codices1 as a start1 this edition of the ,perez ,codex would not yet have reached daylight through the many other occupations among which ,maya studies have had to take their chances4 ,at first it seemed possible to prepare a font of separate types for the various elements of the compound glyphs we find in the texts2 but after having such a font made a number of years ago1 and printing a couple of pages of the ,dresden ,codex1 the result was unsatisfactory2 it became evident that the proper ,maya font of type must be both separate and composite1 as is used in ,chinese1 and not separate only as we have for ,egyptian4 ,the type for the text cards of this edition have therefore been made this way4 ,as to the colored plates of the ,codex herewith1 it is evident that nothing whatever is gained by preserving the irregularities of the defaced parts of the ,codex1 while everything is to be gained by making all as clear and distinct as possible4 ,the first step therefore was to have a set of photographed enlargements of two diameters1 made direct from the #ahfd issue4 ,from these ,i made careful tracings1 myself1 of the black figure and glyph lines of the original1 making at the same time the separate enlarged drawings from which the type were afterwards made4 ,at this first drawing only the evident1 the indisputable parts were drawn4 ,the type forms were then classified1 arranged in parallel columns1 and compared4 ,all was then gone over1 and new points settled on the basis of the familiarity thus gained4 ,it is a fair estimate to say that this process of checking and verifying was gone through1 first to last1 down to the final proof-reading of the printed sheets1 some fifty times4 ,one most important fact was established by this process1 and must be noted4 ,in the ,perez ,codex at least1 nothing is to be taken for granted1 nothing charged to a careless scribe1 and no variants regarded as being identical in value--with a very few exceptions1 to which ,i shall advert later4 ,wherever there remains enough of any glyph to show its characteristic strokes1 it can be regarded as safely indicated2 whenever the strokes are not just those characteristic of any glyph1 it cannot be inferred4 ,down to the very end of the various revisions ,i found myself able to add glyphs which at first seemed hopeless1 and yet when once seen became clear and plain4 ,relying on the presence of the photographs to check the work1 ,i have thus added a very considerable number to the glyphs at first apparent4 ,in some cases1 as in #f-;b-#aa and #ag1 and especially in #h-;b-#g1 #h1 #aj1 where glyphs were only partially erased1 but no other instances of perfect glyphs existed to compare them with1 ,i have let them alone1 without attempting restoration4 ,in short1 ,i may have made some errors of eye1 but ,i have guessed nothing4 ,in a very few places ,i have restored glyphs totally erased1 relying on the parallelism of the passages4 ,such are some of the ,ahau-numbers in the upper sections of pages #b to #aa1 and in the central sections on those pages1 the initial pairs of glyphs on pages #ae to #ah-;a1 b1 c1 the first columns of pages #ai and #bj1 and a few day-signs on pages #ba1 #bc and #bd4 ,these glyphs are all necessitated by their different series1 and hence can cause no confusions2 while it seemed advantageous to have them before the eye4 ,a fair instance of the procedure is shown on page #c-;b-#a1 #c4 ,the temptation was strong to put the usual ,hieroglyph glyph here as on all the other pages1 but the slight variation in the lines left of glyph #c-;b-#c forbade it4 ,the restoration will further be found a little bolder on the type-cards than in the colored plates1 where ,i have in general only endeavored to reproduce what could be seen actually present4 ,the glyphs restored on the upper part of page #g would seem hopeless at first sight2 but they are well-known and common forms1 and the characteristic traces shown on the photographs belong to these and to no others known4 99 99 99 99 99 ,the cards of type-printed text1 in parallel columns for convenience of study1 are self-explanatory4 ,such an arrangement has from the first seemed to me indispensable for proper study and comparison4 ,the paging of the de ,rosny editions ,i have retained1 except to change the practically blank page #a to be page #be1 since to number this as #a is confusing4 ,for the divisions and the numbering of the glyphs ,i have made my own arrangement4 ,it is possible that section b on pages #b to #aa should only go to the bottom line of the central figure1 leaving section d to read clear across the page1 and another section to be made to the left of the nearly erased figures at the bottom2 but the chances as shown by the lining and arrangement of the columns seemed to favor it as ,i have given it4 ,only final decipherment can decide definitely4 ,,footnotes3 #g-99 ,in ,archives paleographiques de l',orient et de l',amerique1 atlas1 t4 ,i1 pl4 #aag-adb4 #h-99 ,in his ,commentar zur ,pariser ,mayahandschrift1 ,danzig1 #aijc1 ,dr4 ,foerstemann does not know of the existence of this edition4 #i-99 ,codex ,perez3 ,maya-,tzental4 ,redrawn and ,slightly ,restored1 and with the ,coloring as it originally stood1 so far as possible1 given on the basis of a new and minute examination of the ,codex itself4 ,mounted in the form of the ,original4 ,accompanied by a ,reproduction of the #ahfd ,photographs2 also by the entire ,text of the ,glyphs1 unemended but with some restorations1 ,printed from ,type1 and arranged in ,parallel ,columns for convenience of study and comparison4 ,drawn and edited by ,william ,e4 ,gates4 7,privately printed47 ,point ,loma1 #aiji4 ,,the ,,colors ,the colors of the ,codex afforded a number of questions for solution1 some of which ,i have cleared up and embodied in the plates2 a few are ,i believe insoluble4 ,i have also been able to add a few wholly new points1 not indicated by any of the preceding editions4 ,being unable to make a personal examination of the original1 ,i prepared from my enlarged black drawings1 above mentioned1 another full set including the figures and all glyphs or other parts showing any suggestions of color4 ,upon these ,i prepared a list of nearly #bjj questions covering every detail1 together with certain general specifications1 and had the whole made the subject of a careful and exhaustive comparison with the original at the ,bibliotheque ,nationale4 ,this report1 when duly returned with the various details set out1 with the various colors shown in their exact tints by water-colors1 and with a special analysis of the question of the fading of the colors1 was again checked and verified by the evidence of the three editions4 ,in doubtful questions arising from faded colors1 ,i have sought to show the condition of the original as it exists today4 ,in the solid red backgrounds and other places ,i have aimed to show as far as possible what the ,codex looked like when fresh4 ,this question as to what all the colors in detail were when fresh1 ,i do not feel that ,i have quite solved4 ,the following palette scheme seems to me about as near as the data permit us to formulate4 ,a permanent black1 being the parts reproduced in black in the present edition4 ,a brick-red1 tinged with crimson1 used for backgrounds1 red numerals1 and probably elsewhere4 ,this we may call unfading red4 ,a genuine brown1 as on the animals1 pages #e-;a1 #h-;a2 perhaps also elsewhere as lining ornament4 ,a pale pink as flesh color on the human figures4 ,a blue1 as on the possible katun number series on pages #bc and #bd4 ,a turquoise-green1 with varying amounts of blue tinge1 on the spotted figures and in the numeral columns of pages #ae to #ah2 also1 with somewhat less of the blue1 for the water bands on pages #ba to #bd4 ,the above colors are all definite and positive4 ,then next appears a brownish color used for lining or ornamenting various glyphs1 and the clothing1 headdress1 etc41 etc41 of the figures4 ,we find many shades from a pale neutral up to a darker clear brown1 and also a definitely reddish1 as on the tail of the bird on the right side of page #bc4 ,this brown may be a fading of the red of the backgrounds and numerals1 but the permanence of the color in these latter places is so positive that ,i believe it is not so4 ,i think it should be regarded as separate4 ,we next come to a color question related directly to decipherment1 that of the very difficult numeral columns on pages #ae to #ah4 ,there is no practical reason discernable for the use of alternating colors save the avoidance of confusion between bar combinations4 ,three bars together of different colors stand of course for three #e's2 of one color they would make a single number #ae4 ,we therefore find here our above black1 red and blue-green alternating and clearly marked in places2 but we also find many numerals of varying shades of brownish1 bistre and grayish4 ,i called for especial care in the examination of these points on the original ,codex1 and the water-color sheets and explanatory notes show in detail the facts of the present state of the ,codex4 ,prior to the examination ,i supposed that these faded numerals were a faded red1 but this is stated in the report to be certainly not the case2 the suggestion is made that they are probably faded blacks4 ,from the latter conclusion ,i am inclined in part to dissent1 at least as to certain passages1 for two reasons4 ,these are1 first the actual permanence of the above noted main colors1 everywhere else2 and second1 passages in the second columns of pages #af and #ag4 ,in each of these we find faded brown or gray bars1 so placed between or next to plain black bars as would give1 were they faded blacks1 more than three black bars together4 ,another point on page #ag is to be noted4 ,in the top section1 first column1 are five blue #c's4 ,some of these blue dots1 as shown in the #ahhg edition and in my water-colors1 have faded to the same light brown seen elsewhere4 ,the brown and the blue #e in the second column of this page1 middle division1 as just mentioned1 have also an identical chromatic value in the photographs4 ,my whole conclusion therefore1 so far as ,i can formulate one1 is that in these columns we have3 ,red1 black1 and blue-green numerals1 as shown4 ,some of the blue numerals seem to have been outlined with black1 of which traces still appear on the original1 are seen in the photographs1 and indicated in the present color plates4 ,several instances where the ,codex has been rubbed so as to leave only the outlines of original black numerals4 ,these are now gray in the original1 and ,i have left them as black outlines1 touched in with gray4 ,finally1 a number of pale brown numerals which are either faded blue-greens1 or else indicate a fourth color in the original4 ,which of these alternatives is the true one1 ,i cannot say4 99 99 99 99 99 ,the original ,codex is still in practically as good condition as when the three editions were taken from it4 ,the material of which it is made is a maguey paper of grayish tinge1 and not a yellowish brown as would be inferred from the #ahhg edition4 ,this is noteworthy1 as the wearing away of the coating with which the paper was surfaced for the writing1 does not leave a brownish place which1 as in the #ahhg edition1 might be mistaken for traces of applied color4 ,this coating is indeed better preserved in places than is shown by the #ahhg edition2 thus the headdress at the extreme left of page #bj1 just to the right of the restored #h ,ezanab on the present color plates1 is shown with the coating all erased and the black writing as if left on the ground-paper--which is incorrect4 ,,the ,,pages ,,in ,,detail ,coming then to the question of the subject-matter of the ,codex1 ,i feel that little is in order beyond a simple analytical description of the different pages1 rather than any attempt at an interpretation4 ,the road of general deductions from superficial resemblances between unknown elements and the details of other known things from other times and places1 is strewn by the wrecks of too many theories to be attractive traveling4 ,i am firmly convinced of the greatness and importance of the study we have before us1 and the exalted civilization which produced it2 but ,i do not know how to interpret these monuments4 ,indeed the very persistence with which the interpretation 7which will certainly be self-evident and everywhere applicable when it does finally come7 still eludes us1 is a sufficient proof that we have not yet found the right road4 ,when we do1 great doorways to the past of mankind will open of themselves1 and we will know more of human life and evolution than we now guess4 ,until then we can only describe1 classify1 and try to get rid of some of the mechanical impedimenta of the search4 ,what we have of the ,perez ,codex is manifestly but a fragment2 the extent of it originally we have no means of even guessing4 ,it is fortunate however that what we have gives several practically complete chapters or portions of the work4 ,taking first the side of the ,,ms4 paged #b to #ab1 we find the entire side covered by a series of pictures with text1 all identical in arrangement4 ,the few remaining traces on page #ab show its likeness to the others1 for we see in their proper places parts of the ,tun-glyph on which the figures on the upper section are seated2 of the ,cimi1 ,tun and ,cauac glyphs just as in pages #aa-;c-#b1 #f and #h2 also of the columns of glyphs to the left1 and traces of the headdress4 ,as will appear further1 at least two more pages are required to complete this series1 and it is as good a supposition as any other that they were those which would be numbered #a and #ac--that is1 one before page #b and one after page #ab4 ,for convenience of reference the divisions of these pages may be lettered from a to e2 a being given to the upper portion1 b to the left columns of glyphs1 e to the large middle picture1 and c and d to the text divisions above and below this4 99 99 99 99 99 ,taking up first the central figures1 section e1 we find in each a standing figure1 with ceremonial headdress of varying character1 offering a dragon's head 7a universal symbol of wisdom7 to another figure1 seated on a cushioned dais1 the side of which bears various constellation signs4 ,the latter in turn extends his hands1 either holding some object1 or else in a simple gesture4 ,the standing figures are all almost completely preserved2 the seated ones unfortunately largely or wholly obliterated4 ,in front of the standing ministrant is a vase of offerings1 usually a triple ,kan figure1 and in two cases with knives4 ,in the upper part of the picture1 facing in every case but one towards the ministrant1 is a bird figure1 different on each page1 and having in two cases a human head4 ,on each page is an ,ahau sign with red numeral1 all of them together forming a series which 7starting on the supposed page #a with #d ,ahau7 gives the succession #d1 #b1 #ac1 #aa1 #i1 #g1 #e1 #c1 #a1 #ab1 #aj1 #h1 #f2 in other words the numbers of thirteen consecutive katuns4 ,the ,ahau numerals #ac1 #aa1 #i1 on pages #c1 #d and #e1 are entirely distinct1 and enough traces appear on other pages to establish this as a katun series beyond question4 ,if this chapter includes just a round of numbers it would of course be complete in #ac pages4 ,the chapter may be historical in contents1 but the presence of this numeral ,ahau-series clearly relates these pages to successive katuns in some way1 whatever other bearings they may have4 ,the ten pages thus in some way definitely have to do with the lapse of #gb1jjj days1 or not quite #bjj solar years1 and the extension of the series to a full cycle of #bj katuns is quite likely4 ,the background of this section e is red on each alternate page4 ,returning now to section a1 we find on each page three figures1 nearly all of persons or animals1 seated on a large base ,hieroglyph practically identical with the tun-glyph4 ,fourteen of the backgrounds to these figures are red4 ,above each figure there seems to have been at least six glyphs1 of which but very few are left4 ,above these is a space entirely erased4 ,in the center of the section on each page is a column containing at least two ,ahaus with red numerals4 ,the numerals of the upper row exceed those of the lower by #f2 each row decreases from page to page by #d4 ,the erased margins of the ,,ms4 do not afford space for another picture besides the three1 on either side1 but they do just give room for another ,ahau-column on the left of each page4 ,if this second ,ahau-column existed1 we have again the katun-series repeated in each row across4 ,if it did not exist1 the series 7reading from the supposed page #a7 of #ac1 #i1 #e1 etc41 and #g1 #c1 #ab1 etc41 decreasing by #d's1 give the numbers of successive tuns4 ,once again the question of whether a simple number-round of thirteen terms1 or a full round of twenty terms1 whether tuns or katuns1 was originally displayed on the ,codex1 must be left undetermined4 ,it is further to be noted that faint but exact traces of a third ,ahau1 on a higher line1 appear on page #e1 as well as some doubtful traces on page #h4 ,no definite relationship between the pictures of this section a and those of section e is apparent4 ,section b is made up of #de or more glyphs in three columns4 ,the first column is almost totally erased on every page1 and ,i have disregarded it both in assigning reference numbers and in the type cards4 ,the other two columns ,i have numbered in double column sequence downwards2 but this can be regarded as solely for convenience' sake4 ,the glyph ,hieroglyph which is three times repeated at the beginning of page #b1 and recurs in parallel position repeated two to five times on each page1 is the most common glyph in the whole ,codex4 ,it is identifiable probably #ch times1 including twice at the top of the erased first column on page #d4 ,it heads the second column several times on every page1 except #g1 which is too erased for any determination1 and page #c1 where a slight variation in what is left of the postfix at b-#c forbade its insertion under the rules ,i have given limiting restorations4 ,i suspect that this glyph should be repeated at #c-;b-#i and #aa-;b-#i1 for the following reason4 ,in positions b-#f1 b-#h or b-#aj of each page occurs a certain face-glyph ,hieroglyph that is found nowhere else in either the ,perez1 ,dresden or ,tro4-,cort4 codices4 ,if the initial glyph is repeated at #c-;b-#i and #aa-;b-#i as suggested1 then 7with a slight variation on page #d7 this series of repetitions of the initial glyph will in each case be closed by the face-glyph in question4 ,a marked feature of section b is the occurrence1 near the bottom of each page1 of a ,cauac-sign1 with or without the ,hieroglyph wing-postfix1 and with prefixed and superfixed ,hieroglyph numerals1 exactly as is so common in connexion with the ,chuen-sign on the ,inscriptions4 ,this ,cauac-sign is usually accompanied by an ,ahau and a ,tun1 each with numerals that are for the most part erased4 ,this combination suggests distance-numbers and dates1 somewhat as on the ,inscriptions2 in this case the double-numbered ,cauacs would stand for so many uinals plus so many days4 ,the following combinations1 besides the one above1 are also found3 ,hieroglyphs ,section c consists of #af glyphs in two rows1 above the central picture4 ,glyphs #ae and #af on each page are erased4 ,the chief general characteristic is the frequent repetition of the ,cimi-compound1 ,hieroglyph2 the repetition on each page of a ,cauac-sign with single or double numerals as in section b2 and of ,tun-compounds1 with ,hieroglyph subfix and with varying prefixes 7frequently faces71 as especially see page #e4 ,section d is a triple row of glyphs1 originally #ba in some instances1 but with many now erased4 ,i am able to establish few general characteristics for this section1 save again the frequency of the ,cimi-compound as in section c1 of various ,tun-compounds1 and of the two glyphs ,hieroglyph and ,hieroglyph,,tn-#a ,with the exception of #aj-;b-#d1 the face with the tau-eye occurs only in this section d and on pages #ae to #ah4 ,this glyph is exceedingly common both in ,dres4 and ,tro4-,cort1 the form in which it appears at #c-;d-#d1 #f1 ,hieroglyph occurring 7including its secondary compounds7 no less than #abf times in ,dres4 and #cc times in ,tro4-,cort4 ,beneath section d are the remains of red numerals and of heads and headdresses of figures which are now too much erased to give any basis for comment4 ,a most marked feature of the ,codex is the very large number of ,tun-compounds1 a feature confined exclusively1 with one exception1 to the present pages #b to #aa1 and pages #bc1 #bd4 ,a classified list shows #bh compounds of this glyph1 ,hieroglyph #bj of these showing the subfix1 and combined with a face or other prefix4 ,the connexion of this fact with the ,tun-bases of section a1 and with the katun-rounds shown by the ,ahau-series above referred to1 is manifest4 ,to sum up the general characteristics of this side of the ,,ms41 and without attempting to interpret any separate glyphs1 we find the following data3 ,the ,cimi-compound ,hieroglyph and its sub-compound ,hieroglyph occurs #be times4 ,the numeral-compounded ,cauac occurs #bj times4 ,the glyph ,hieroglyph occurs #ac times on this side and once on page #bc4 ,the ,chuen-compound ,hieroglyph occurs #ai times and probably oftener--once only on the other side of the ,,ms4 ,the various ,tun-glyphs occur #de times1 on the two sides4 ,the face-glyph ,hieroglyph occurs #aj times4 ,the ,kan-,ymix glyph ,hieroglyph occurs #aj times4 ,the glyph ,hieroglyph occurs #cg times on this side and1 with a prefix and a changed postfix1 once on page #bd4 ,with the exceptions noted1 none of the above glyphs occur at all on the reverse side of the ,,ms4 ,there are finally #ai different ,yax 7,hieroglyph7 compounds1 occurring in all #be times1 #af of them on this side of the ,,ms4 ,with three exceptions the above glyphs are the only ones that are repeated in the ,codex with any marked frequency4 ,the three exceptions are the face with tau-eye1 already ,hieroglyph mentioned1 and the two glyphs occurring as an initial ,hieroglyphs pair twelve times on pages #ae to #ah1 sections a1 b1 c4 ,of month signs used as such ,i am only ,hieroglyphs satisfied of #ab ,cumhu1 at #ah-;b-#d and of #af ,zac1 at #d-;c-#g4 ,the glyph ,hieroglyph at #g-;c-#b may also be #a ,yaxkin4 ,the only cardinal point sign is that of the ,west1 ,hieroglyph occurring at #d-;b-#ad and again at #af-;a-#f4 ,there are besides these numeral ,cauacs1 #ae other ,cauac ,hieroglyph compounds1 occurring in all #ag times on this side1 and twice on pages #bc1 #bd4 99 99 99 99 99 ,upon turning over the ,codex1 we find that whereas on the side we have been considering the scribe limited himself to the conventional red numerals and backgrounds1 with here and there a touch of brown1 upon this other side we have a wealth of color united with a harmony of composition and structure that marks a very high degree of artistic skill4 ,it is not alone the accuracy of the drawing and the writing1 such as we have noted in connexion with the study of the glyphs1 but the whole manuscript as it lies open before us shows that sense of proportion1 that ability to unify without seeming effort a multitude of details into a perfectly balanced whole1 which is the positive mark of developed and genuine culture4 ,when we remember the exceeding difficulty of combining primary colors into a brilliancy that is not garish1 and the equal difficulty of achieving artistic mastery in a conventional treatment of forms1 we are simply forced to recognize that we have here the evidence of an advanced school of art with full rights of independent citizenship4 ,if the figures look strange and sometimes distorted1 we must remember that our whole training has been in the realistic school1 by which we are prone to judge all others1 but by which they must not be judged4 ,we have no more right to weigh these compositions in the scales of our art motifs than we have to weigh ,greek rhythm of quantity or ,saxon of alliteration against our weights by which we measure rhythm of rhyme and stress4 ,in fact it is impossible for us even to judge concerning the true harmonic effect of these other measures1 and it may well be doubted whether the very soul itself of our meter is not empty and tinny as compared with these others--quality for quality4 ,there is one great broad line that divides the nations and civilizations of the earth1 past and present1 in all their arts of expression4 ,we may call it that of the ideographic as against the literal4 ,it controls the inner form of language and of languages2 it manifests in the passage of thought from man to man2 it determines whether the writing of the people shall be hieroglyphic or alphabetic2 it gives both life and form to the ideals of their art4 ,it is a distinction that was clearly recognized by ,wilhelm von ,humboldt1 when he laid down that the incorporative characteristic essential to all the ,american languages is the result of the exaltation of the imaginative over the ratiocinative elements of mind4 ,the time has passed when we think that the absence of our perspective drawing in ,japanese pictures is due to the fact that these children of nature never happened to recognize that a thing looks smaller in proportion to its distance1 so that they ought to come to us to learn4 ,we have come1 in some measure if not yet fully1 to recognize that whereas we show a thing to the eye1 these other peoples suggest a thought to the mind1 by their pictures4 ,and we should remember1 and remember always1 that while our modern art having won its technical and artistic skill within the past few hundred years1 is now beginning to emancipate itself from the materialism of the eye by efforts towards the impressionist methods1 these ancient peoples had long since arrived at the ability to convey impressions through the medium of harmonious compositions of the most rigid conventional elements--an artistic achievement which those who know its difficulties can alone begin to appreciate4 ,it may be quite easily forgiven to one trained with ,western1 modern eyes1 who at first sight of these monuments1 in total ignorance of their meanings1 sees them as strange or grotesque4 ,but when1 as their strangeness wears away1 one comes to see the unfailing accuracy with which the glyphs are drawn1 one's opinion of their makers has to change4 ,and when1 with this familiarity gained1 one advances to an appreciation of the work in its bearings as a whole1 one has to acknowledge himself facing the production of craftsmen who had the inheritance of not only generations1 but ages of training4 ,such a combination of complete mastery in composition1 perfect control of definite and fixed forms1 and hand technique1 can grow up from barbarism in no few hundred years4 ,i would hesitate to think it could even come in a few thousands1 unless they were years of greater settledness and peaceful civilization than our two thousand years of disturbed and warring ,european ,christendom have yet had an example of to show us4 ,it is easy enough in the absence of definite historical records1 and in our general ignorance of human evolution1 to theorize and speculate about it all2 but the commonly accepted picture in our minds of a few savage wandering tribes settling and growing up in this country some several hundred or a thousand years after the ,christian era1 simply will not fit in with the fact of their ability to produce such works a few hundred years later4 ,had we nothing but the ,perez ,codex and ,stela ,p at ,copan1 the merits of their execution alone1 weighed simply in comparison with observed history elsewhere1 would prove that we have to do not with the traces of an ephemeral1 but with the remains of a wide-spread1 settled race and civilization1 worthy to be ranked with or beyond even such as the ,roman1 in its endurance1 development and influence in the world1 and the beginnings of whose culture are still totally unknown4 ,as to the ,codex before us1 we can only imagine what the beauty1 especially of the pages we now come to discuss1 must have been when the whole was fresh and perfect4 ,the second side of the ,codex has to be treated in four divisions or chapters1 the first of which includes pages #ae to #ah4 ,for numerical reasons which will appear1 this chapter must probably have begun1 however1 at least one page further to the left4 ,these four pages are laid out with three main divisions1 upper1 middle and lower4 ,too much of the upper section is erased for any comment other than that its arrangement seems to have been parallel in all respects with the middle section4 ,this latter shows three subsections1 the backgrounds in some cases being red1#bd-99 containing each a picture 7probably of a god or a human figure in every instance71 surmounted by a black and a red numeral and by six glyphs1 in double column4 ,this gives #ab subsections for the four pages1 which we may refer to respectively as #ae-;a1 b1 c1 etc4 ,of the initial pairs of glyphs in each subsection many are complete1 and no section is left without the correct traces of the corresponding glyph for one or other of the positions2 so that although #e of the #bd glyphs are totally erased1 we may safely restore them all4 ,other features of the comparative use and frequency of the glyphs on these pages have already been given4 ,at the top of each picture is found a black and a red numeral4 ,these form the consecutive black counters or interval numbers1 and the corresponding red day numbers of subdivided tonalamatls1 so common in ,dres4 and ,tro4-,cort4 ,it is customary to find these tonalamatls divided into fifths or fourths1 #eb or #fe days respectively--four or five trecenas4 ,at the #ecrd or #ffth day the initial red number is again reached1 and the calculation is 7by hypothesis7 repeated1 starting again at the left with a new day-sign below the first4 ,such a column is seen in the lower part of page #ag1 where we find #f ,oc1 ,ik1 ,ix2 these are to be completed by restoring below an erased ,cimi and ,ezanab1 completing the #bfj days and bringing us around again to #f ,oc4 ,the total of all the black counters in any series must always be some multiple of #ac1 usually #eb or #fe1 as stated4 ,and since each counter is the interval between its adjoining red numbers1 wherever a red and a black number are given1 the other red number1 whether before or after1 can always be filled in4 ,no traces of this initial column appear for the series in the middle division1 and several of the numerals are also erased4 ,two obscurities must be cleared up before trying to fill out the series4 ,on page #af right is a partly erased black numeral1 which from the traces may be either #aj or #aa4 ,taking it as #aj1 we have #ac plus #aj equals an erased red #aj2 plus #e 7on page #ag7 equals the red #b below the #e4 ,this verifies so far4 ,but we next find--plus #e equals #h1 which is of course incorrect4 ,an inspection of the ,,ms4 and the photographs reveals a reddish spot 7or perhaps even three such spots7 in the extreme upper right corner of the picture space1 #ag-;a1 and also a dark spot under the black #e in #ag-;b4 ,it is possible that the separated red dots 7one doubtful7 are to be read together as #c2 or that the red dots under the #e are to be disregarded in the count 7just as is the red #h on the next page1 #ah-;a71 and the red number for #ag-;a found in the upper right1 above the seated figure4 ,if the red number in #ag-;a is #c1 the two numbers in #af-;c must be #aa4 ,or it may be assumed that the spot under the #e in #ag-;b belongs to it1 making #f instead of #e1 which figures out4 ,the final result is the same1 as we have either #aj and #f1 or #aa and #e1 in these two places1 and either reaches properly the clear red #h in #ag-;b4 ,in #ah-;a we find black #bf1 with a small red #h below1 and a large red #ac in the usual place at the side4 ,the red #h will have to be disregarded1 as not part of the series1 which requires #ac1 and nothing else4 ,we may now possibly set down the series as follows1 using small figures above the the,,tn-#b line for the black counters1 and putting in parentheses all numbers restored3 7#f7ci7f77b7egfacaa7aa7ecehe7ac7bfacajaj 1 or else 7#f7ci7f77b7egfacaj7aj7ebfhe7ac7bfacajaj ,this leaves us the black number at the beginning1 in #ae-;a1 and both numbers at the end1 #ah-;c1 still not filled in4 ,adding together all the counters we get #hb1 plus at least the two missing black numbers1 one at each end4 ,if the total were #ajd1 we might expect it to have been comprised within the four subsections #ae-;a to #ah-;a4 ,but #ajd is not a tonalamatl fraction4 #acj days1 although a tonalamatl half1 is an unknown division1 and would hardly get into the space4 ,if we begin the series in the upper division of the page 7as occurs in ,dres47 and come around to the middle division1 the probabilities would require that it displayed a full series of #bfj days1 and again also that it began to the left of page #ae4 ,the probabilities of this series as it is1 therefore1 indicate at least a page #ad to the left1 arranged like the other four1 and forming one chapter with them4 ,we have now to deal with the puzzling numeral columns1 in alternating colors1 found to the left of each subsection of the upper and middle divisions--#bd columns in all4 ,these have been referred to at some length in the preliminary discussion of the colors1 and there is little more that can be said4 ,as there said1 the entire reason for alternating the colors can not be certainly assumed4 ,alternation of color occurs not only where it is needed to distinguish bars1 but also where we have only lines of dots1 which are of course self-separating4 ,and to say that it is only for artistic purposes is a mere begging of the question4 ,only four or five of these columns are complete1 and a footing of the numbers in each gives us varying amounts from #aac to #aec1 and tells us nothing4 ,on the parts that are left we six times have a ,chuen ,hieroglyph with a black number apparently belonging to it 7perhaps a multiplier71 and also once a double ,chuen1 as in ,tro4-,cort4 ,the use of the red kal-sign1 or #bj1 is frequent4 ,the lower division of these pages was also subdivided1 into four sections on each1 which we may refer to as d1 e1 f1 g4 ,each contains a picture1 with black and red numerals as above1 surmounted by four glyphs only4 ,the pictures are all quite incomplete2 neither is there anything to add to what has been already said of the glyphs4 ,in the middle of page #ag one tonalamatl ends1 with a red #f1 and another begins1 also with #f4 ,the second starts with the day #f ,oc1 is divided into fifths1 and the initial column must have been in full3 #f ,oc1 ,ik1 ,ix1 ,cimi1 ,ezanab4 ,the restoration of the series gives3 #fbbb7ae in two stages77#d7ajadf4 ,this however only gives a total of #ea for the black counters4 ,there is space to the right for another section1 but whatever may have been written there has entirely disappeared4 ,the last three numbers #adf seem unmistakable1 the ,hieroglyph especially so4 ,if we regard the last #f as an error for #e1 and then restore #af in section #ah-;g1 it would give the necessary #eb4 ,this is the one passage in the ,codex where ,i can see no way but to assume a mistake in the writing2 for #a plus #d does not equal #f1 and unless for some entirely unknown reason the error is clear4 ,the preceding tonalamatl may have been divided either into #eb- or #fe-;day periods4 ,if the period was #eb1 it must have begun with an initial column on page #ae1 right side4 ,in this event it would be restored as follows3 7initial #f77ai in two stages77#ab7fegab7ab in two stages7 7#aa7hf1 giving #eb4 ,in this case a third tonalamatl must have begun somewhere to the left1 and ended on the erased right side of page #ae4 ,a different restoration would carry the initial column back to the extreme edge of page #ae1 when we would have this3 7initial #f77b77h7hcaa7a77aa in two stages77#ab7feg #ab7ab two stages77#aa7hf giving #fe4 ,to choose between these two would be mere guessing4 99 99 99 99 99 ,the well-known pages #ai and #bj come next4 ,together they make four compartments1 up and down the full length of the pages1 two with red and two with black backgrounds4 ,each is1 or rather was1 preceded by a column of #ac year-bearers4 ,the left column on each page ,i have restored1 although no traces of it are left4 ,but apart from its manifest necessity1 as part of the series1 if the width of the red ground on page #bj 7see the photographs7 is measured1 it will be found to be just the correct proportion1 and part of the straight left edge of the red can still be seen1 just left of the rod in the hand of the mummy-figure1 and leaving just room for the ,ezanab column4 ,in the colored plates ,i have only shown #ab instead of #ac day-signs in each column1 but a measurement of the space above and below shows that the missing four are to be placed at the top and not at the bottom4 ,these two pages therefore have application in some way to #eb solar years1 beginning with #a ,lamat and ending with #ac ,akbal 7,votan74 ,these year-bearers are those of the ,tzental instead of the ,yucatecan system1 as described by ,landa1 and on these two pages rests1 so far as regards known subject-matter1 the assignment of the ,codex ,perez to the ,palenque rather than to the northern ,maya district4 ,it is thus to be considered with the ,inscriptions of that region1 and with the ,dresden ,codex4#bh-99 ,and in accord with what is known of the state of the different parts of the country at the time of the ,conquest1 and of the history of the break-up and extinction of the ,maya empire1 it must be assigned the greater antiquity on that account4 ,it is probable that pages #ai and #bj had no text passages4 99 99 99 99 99 ,pages #ba and #bb again1 judging from the coloring and the arrangement1 seem to form a pair4 ,each had on the upper part probably five rows of glyphs1 some #gj in all1 of which only #aj or #ab are at all recognizable4 ,contrary to all the pages hitherto discussed1 it may be that these glyphs are to be read from right to left4 ,the faces in these all look to the right1 and the customary prefixes are all on the right4 ,in classifying these glyphs1 therefore1 they must be all reversed4 ,the greater part of page #ba is framed in and divided up by green bands1 evidently for water1 two branches of which1 after crossing a constellation band near the bottom1 end one in falling torrents1 the other in a circle surrounding a kin-sign1 ,hieroglyph1 the sun1 and itself surrounded by four dragon's heads1 all figured in the midst of the torrents4 ,below this symbol is the open mouth of a dragon1 towards which is looking and pointing a black-faced figure1 of the god ,d1 the ,ancient of ,days1 described by ,schellhas as the moon and night god4 ,to the left of the torrents is a figure1 nearly erased1 but with the wristlets characteristic of the god of death1 and holding in the hand a torch4 ,the glyph ,hieroglyph occurs written in the torrents1 at the left side4 ,the green bands divide the middle of the page into six compartments containing1 so far as not totally erased1 #fe day-signs1 in columns of five4 ,all my efforts to relate these signs either to each other or to any other series in the codices1 have so far been fruitless4 ,the upper seven columns have each a black numeral beneath1 running from right to left1 #a #b #c #c #e #f and the dot of another #f4 ,each of the columns of five day-signs forms a closed circuit returning into itself4 ,in the upper row the #ast and #fth columns show successive days #h apart in order2 columns #b1 #c1 #d1 #e and #g are #af apart in order4 ,the #ast in the lower row is at intervals of #h1 the #bnd and #eth at intervals of #af4 ,the #crd column is1 with the #dth1 an exception1 the intervals being successively #h1 #d1 #d1 #h1 #af4 ,that this is probably not a scribal error is shown by the fact that the same series1 though beginning with different days1 occurs in both columns4 ,the #fth and possible #gth columns of the lower part are indeterminable4 ,we thus have three rounds of #e times #h1 or #dj days2 seven rounds of #e times #af1 or #hj days2 two irregular rounds of #dj days4 ,these are not such columns as could form the beginning of a series of tonalamatl fifths1 in which the successive days come #ab apart4 ,so that this section must be left unexplained4#bi-99 ,at the right of page #ba begins a solid red background which probably extended right across page #bb4 ,two standing spotted green figures appear on page #ba2 seven seated figures1 one green spotted1 on page #bb4 ,page #bb is crossed by a winding dragon whose body is covered by the constellation band4 ,a narrow green band also winds across the page1 inclosing two of the upper figures4 ,below the dragon and this green band are seen1 seated above the open mouths of two erect dragons1 two figures in conversation1 each bearing various insignia of the death god4 ,a very curious cartouche outline1 partly erased1 at the lower right1 incloses what seems to be #ac ,ahau1 #c1 #f1 the right hand dot of the #c being erased4 99 99 99 99 99 ,on pages #bc and #bd the brilliant backgrounds of the preceding pages disappear1 and we have two pages1 to be read together1 of glyphs1 day-signs and small figures1 finely and sparingly illuminated with the usual four colors4 ,the body of the dragon is apparently continuous from page #ba1 and crosses these pages entirely with the constellation band1 displayed along its full length4 ,the upper part of these two pages contained originally #ia glyphs1 perhaps to be read from right to left1 the same as #ba and #bb4 ,the faces look to the right1 the usual prefixes and the few numerals are also on the right of their respective compounds4 ,many of the glyphs are the same as those on pages #b to #aa1 reversed right for left4 ,glyph #bc-;a-#aa should be specially noted4 ,at first sight the numeral prefix1 #f1 appears to belong1 postfixed1 to glyph #bc-;a-#ag4 ,but on investigation we find the same compound1 a yax-chuen with ,hieroglyph prefix1 also at #ba-;a-#h and #bd-;a-#bf1 in each case with the #f attached4 ,the ,hieroglyph affix just below this number #f is also plainly a prefix to glyph #bc-;a-#ab2 so that glyph #bc-;a-ll must be read ,hieroglyph and include the #f as prefix4 ,at #bd-;a-#bf1 ,hieroglyph the same glyph is written left to right4 ,there are also a few other glyphs on these pages which cannot be regarded as right to left4 ,such for instance1 as ,hieroglyph at #bc-;a-#ai and #bd-;a-#ag4 ,in this glyph the affix ,hieroglyph at the side is properly a prefix 7perhaps the possessive71 and ,i do not recall any instance of its use as a postfix4 ,in the affixes1 the superfix and prefix positions may as a general rule be regarded as wholly identical2 also the subfix and postfix positions4 ,but also as a general rule the two pairs are ,i believe not to be interchanged1 any more than we interchange prefixes and endings in ,english2 this rule is not universal for all affixes1 as some seem able to go anywhere1 but it is one ,i have always regarded in my glyph classifying4 ,as to ,hieroglyph it is to be noted that this is a symmetrical glyph and as there can be no doubt that these glyphs were equally legible to the ,maya reader written in either direction1 it may well be regarded as unimportant1 and not to be rated even as an error4 ,hieroglyph is a still stronger similar case4 ,here the wing ,hieroglyph affix to the right is certainly a postfix1 the superfix is in the usual left to right order1 ,hieroglyph and the main element written left to right1 as in all its other instances4 ,and ,hieroglyph is again in point4 ,the face-tun compounds on these pages1 and also on the opposite side of the manuscript1 should be particularly noted4 ,below the constellation band1 inscribed on a wavy green band 7the waters of space87 are seven repetitions of ,hieroglyph or the sun glyph ,hieroglyph within the shields4#ca-99 ,between each appeared probably two black #h's4 ,the sun-shields are about to be seized by different animals1 dragon1 tortoise1 bird1 etc41 a seeming evident suggestion of either an eclipse1 or the passage of the sun into some zodiacal sign4 ,another series of seven sun-shields1 on the green band1 separated by numeral #h's1 and attacked by animals and a skeleton1 crosses the lower part of the pages4 ,between these two bands we find a series of columns of five day-signs each preceded by red numerals4 ,allowing for the space erased ,i have restored the last column to the right1 and part of the preceding4 ,this gives #ab columns only1 whereas at least #ac are required4 ,there may have been a #abth column to the left of page #bc1 where there is just the proper space for this1#cb-99 leaving the dragon's body to curve above the column so as to pass to page #bb4 ,the series may have continued on across page #be2 #ac columns on pages #bc1 #bd1 and #g more filling page #be1 would make a full cycle of #bj columns4 ,and in this connexion it should be noted that the dragon's body with constellation band goes almost to the edge of page #bd with no sign of ending or turning1 such as might be expected if the chapter ends here4 ,and if the constellation dragon continues over page #be1 the column series may well have done the same4 ,before discussing this series it will be of advantage to review what the ,codex gives us on the question of reading left to right or right to left4 ,first1 in both the ,dresden and ,tro4-,cort4 the glyph faces look to the left2 and1 as shown by the calculations1 reading is from left to right1 with a very few possible exceptions1 such as the tables on ,dres4 #bd1 #fd1 #fi1 etc4 ,in the ,perez1 as shown by the tonalamatls on #ae to #ah1 the #eb year-bearers on #ai and #bj1 and the katun-series on #b to #ab1 the general direction of the reading is also left to right4 ,above or below each of the red number columns of these pages #bc1 #bd1 is to be found a blue number4 ,these numbers make a katun-series1 starting with #d1 decreasing by #b1 if we read it left to right4 ,it is not1 to be sure1 accompanied by the customary ,ahau-sign1 ,hieroglyph1 but1 taken in connexion with the marked parallelism of the glyphs1 face-tun glyphs and also others1 on these two pages with those on pages #b to #aa1 already discussed1 the possibility that a katun-series is a part of this subject-matter must be considered4 ,on the other hand1 the glyphs in the upper part of all four pages #ba to #bd face to the right1 and1 as already set out in detail1 are practically all written in reverse position as regards their prefixes1 etc4 ,and so also does the ,eb-glyph in the day-columns we are now considering face to the right4 ,these columns1 unlike those on page #ba1 which include all of the #bj day-signs1 only include #e of the day-signs3 ,kan1 ,lamat1 ,eb1 ,cib and ,ahau2 ,eb being the only non-symmetrical one of these4 ,we have thus quite strong evidence1 especially as provided by the position of the prefixes1 for a right to left reading1 opposed by the direction of this katun-number series--if it be one4 ,in ,egyptian writing1 of course1 the direction of the reading changes with the facing of the figures4 ,to return now to the columns themselves1 all the day-signs in any one column have each the same red numeral1 so that we have3 #h ,cib1 #h ,ahau1 #h ,kan1 #h ,lamat1 #h ,eb2 and so on4 ,the red numerals to each column also decrease by #b towards the right1 pari passu with the blue numerals4 ,if we read each column downwards1 it will form a closed circuit or round1 returning into itself1 with intervals of #ajd days1 from #h ,cib to #h ,ahau1 etc41 and again from #h ,eb back to #h ,cib4 ,but if we next try to go to the next column1 the series breaks1 for from #h ,eb to #f ,lamat is only #gf days4 ,we get a like break whether we read upward or downward1 or right to left4 ,taking the columns separately then1 the entire series 7whether made up of #ac1 #bj or any other number of columns7 cannot be made to read in one regular series1 with a constant interval between the successive days of the whole4 ,but1 if we restore two columns1 making #ac columns1 and then read horizontally across1 either right to left1 or left to right1 one line after another1 the first day of the second line follows the last of the first1 and after going through the whole #fe terms1 we return again from the last of the last line to the first of the first--always with a constant interval4 ,in other words1 this section could be written around a wheel4 ,if we read left to right1 the distance from 7#aj ,kan7 to #h ,cib1 etc41 is #bcb days2 #bcbx#feae1jhj4 ,or if from right to left1#cc-99 the interval from 7#ab ,lamat7 to #a ,cib1 etc41 is #bh days2 #bhx#ac #cfd1 x#e #ahbj4 ,that both of these products are multiples of #bfj is a truism1 and cannot in any way require us to see a tonalamatl reckoning as the basis of this passage4 ,nor is each separate day-column a tonalamatl in fifths1 as so often found4 ,finally1 if we should assume that the series went on across page #be1 to a full katun-round of #bj terms1 the circuit would be broken2 line #b would not regularly follow line #a1 and so on4 ,the probabilities then1 as derived from the succession of the days1 seem almost conclusive that this is a section of #fe terms1 to be read horizontally1 in whichever direction4 ,and then1 since the subdivision of #ae1jhj days 7or #ahbj1 if read right to left7 into #fe terms1 necessarily gives us successive day-numbers decreasing 7or increasing7 by #b1 the likeness to the katun-series may be only apparent--a simple truism4 ,or1 on the other hand1 in view of the glyph similarities 7a point which ,i think should always be given close attention71 there may be some relation to the katun-series--all in spite of the right-left or left-right difficulties4 ,what part the blue#cd-99 number series plays1 ,i cannot say4 ,dr4 ,seler1#cd- suggests that they are corrections1 to set each term ahead #bj days4 ,this states a fact1 but does not give any explanation4 ,each blue number is #f less than its red column1 and #g ,kan is of course #bj days later than #ac ,kan4 ,,footnotes3 #bd-99 ,dr4 ,foerstemann 7,comm4 z4 ,par4 ,mayahds47 speaks of the background to the central figure on page #af as black1 instead of red2 he also describes the number columns as made up of red and black numerals only4 ,there are many similar errors in his ,commentary1 due to his ignorance of the colors1 and to the obscurity of the photographic reproductions4 #bh-99 ,where to place the ,tro4-,cort41 in view of the apparent ,kan1 ,muluc,,tn-#c ,ix1 ,cauac years indicated on pages #cd-cg1 and the #ac ,cumhu immediately next to #ac ,ahau on page #gc 7#ac ,ahau #ac ,cumhu falling only possibly in a year #ab ,lamat7 ,i am not ready to say4 #bi-99 ,mr4 ,bowditch suggests to me that the numbers #a #b #c #c #e #f #f are to be read with each of the day signs in their respective columns1 and1 being placed in the middle1 may apply both to the upper and lower sets4 ,the strongest objection ,i can see to this is that the numbers are black1 instead of the usual red4 ,in this case1 instead of intervals of #h and #af1 giving rounds of #ex#hdj and #ex#afhj days1 we would have intervals of #aef and #bjh 7from #a ,ymix to #a ,muluc1 etc471 giving rounds of #ghj and #ajdj days respectively4 ,or1 if read upwards1 we would have #eb and #ajd day intervals 7#a ,ben to #a ,chicchan1 etc471 and rounds of #bfj and #ebj days4 ,but whichever be the case1 the page is sui generis1 and its why is still beyond us4 #ca-99 ,i have retained the usual term shields for the flaring forms which embrace the sun glyph1 though without accepting its appropriateness4 ,they might with equal likelihood be conventionalized wings4 #cb-99 ,dr4 ,foerstemann ignores the space on the right of page #bd1 and restores two columns to the left of page #bc in order to make up the thirteen columns2 but1 as shown by the edges of the pages in the photographs1 one column restored in each place will just fill the obliterated space4 #cc-99 ,dr4 ,seler's reading2 ,gesammelte ,abhandlungen1 ,i1 #eae4 #cd-99 ,the blue is a true blue1 quite distinct from the turquoise blue elsewhere1 and is found in the case of these numbers only4 #cd- ,gesammelte ,abhandlungen1 ,i1 #eae2 ,zur mexik4 ,chronologie4 ,,the ,,maya ,,glyphs ,up to date our knowledge of the meanings of the glyphs is still to all intents and purposes limited to the direct tradition we have through ,landa1 and the deductions immediately involved in these4 ,we know the day and month signs1 the numbers1 including #j and #bj1 four units of the archaic calendar count 7the day1 tun1 katun and cycle71 the cardinal point signs1 the negative particle4 ,we have not fully solved the uinal or month sign1 which seems to be chuen on the monuments and a cauac1 or chuen1 in the manuscripts4 ,we are able to identify what must be regarded as metaphysical or esoteric applications of certain glyphs in certain places1 such as the face numerals4#ce-99 ,but every one of these points is either deducible directly by necessary mathematical calculation1 or else from the names of certain signs given by ,landa in his day and month list1 and then found in other combinations1 such as yax1 kin1 etc4 ,that we have as many of the points as we have1 and still cannot form from them the key--that we cannot read the glyphs--is a constant wonder2 but a fact nevertheless4 ,the innumerable efforts to identify the glyphs by their superficial appearance1 calling the banded headdress a pottery decoration1 and explaining the face-glyph of the ,north thereby1 because in ,maya xaman is north and xamach a tortilla dish 7to say nothing of others still more fanciful1 by a host of writers71 have broken down1 as was to be expected4 ,i mention this instance because it illustrates fully the results of superficial analysis1 united with a seeming ineradicable tendency even among those most able students who have added the most to our stock of ,maya knowledge 7among whom ,dr4 ,brinton was certainly one of the foremost71 to treat these glyphs as carelessly done1 to disregard the differences between manifest variants1 or else to talk freely1 whenever a passage does not fit the explanation which is being worked out1 of scribal errors4 ,in the first place1 if these glyphs are to be interpreted primarily by the ,yucatecan ,maya dialect 7one in which we have most ample printed and ,,ms4 lexicographic material71 and if in that dialect no other words at all resembling xaman and xamach are found1 as we are told1 then 7if the ,mayas named the north star1 or the ,north1 by a pun on a tortilla dish7 wherever this banded headdress is found1 we must assume the text to be treating either of the ,north1 or of tortillas4 ,that might safely be left to break down of its own weight2 but we shall also see that the explanation is given in total disregard of manifest1 important variants4 ,this banded headdress appears ornamenting at least ,hieroglyphs five separate and distinct faces2 one a wholly human face1 the others with various other definite characteristics1 the most frequent and prominent of which are the monkey-like face and mouth we see in the ,hieroglyph glyph for the north1 and a sort of bird's plumage covering the back of the head4 ,these two are separate1 are never combined1 and must be classified rigidly apart4 ,we have therefore three elements1 the monkey face1 the plumage covering 7if we may call it so71 and the banded headdress4 ,it is obvious that while the monkey face may be specific of the ,north1 the bands are not specific at all1 but general4 ,it is with the greatest diffidence that ,i suggest any interpretations on my own part as yet1 but it is of course certain that the distinction of masculine and feminine existed in the spoken language1 and it must exist somewhere in the glyphs4 ,and it will have to be a prefix1 not a postfix2 for what ,i may call the syntax of glyph formation must follow that of the speech4 ,at the bottom of ,dres4 #fa and #fb are seven identical ,oc-glyphs with subfix1 and with prefixes4 ,five of these prefixes are faces with the woman's curl1 recognized on the figured illustrations4 ,one is a face with the banded headdress4 ,remembering that this headdress occurs not infrequently on a plain human face with no other characteristic1 it is not a far guess that it may have denoted a freeman1 a lord1 entitled to such a headdress4 ,in this event it may on the one hand serve as a simple masculine definitive1 the prefix ah-1 and on the other1 to attach the idea of lordship to other glyphs with which it is incorporated1 as3 the ,north ,star1 or region1 the ,lord of the ,firmament4 ,this illustration serves to show what seems to me an essential preliminary of the work we have in hand1 and the part to which ,i have so far devoted most effort4 ,the glyphs must be determined1 compared and classified1 and what ,i have called the syntax of their composition1 studied4 ,the particles and their positions1 the various incorporated elements1 are of the utmost importance1 though they are very frequently ignored4 ,they are the written picture of the spirit of the spoken language4 ,the task ,i have most looked forward to in this connexion has of course been with the ,dresden1 but having started upon the ,perez for the reasons ,i have given1 it was a smaller task in itself1 and could be brought to completion within less time1 while serving as part of the larger work4 ,as the determination and classification of the glyphs had to proceed all as one work1 it has enabled me not only to complete my ,index for this codex1 but also to print the text in type1 and to verify and bring out such facts regarding the color questions as was possible to do--both of them stages needed in the general work4 ,in doing it ,i have studied with my hands as well as with eyes1 and ,i have been well repaid4 ,the actual labor has not been small1 but it has been worth it all if only to see before the eyes something of what this ,codex must have been when fresh and new4 ,for as ,i have said1 while in my colored restoration ,i may have made some mistakes of eye1 for which the photographs will be a check1 ,i have guessed nothing4 ,the classification of the glyphs meets of course with some difficulties in detail1 but it can readily be cast into a quite simple general outline4 ,something over #bjjj different compound forms are found in the three codices4 ,the simple elements composing these are perhaps #cej in number1 and may be divided broadly into main elements and affixes or particles4 ,first of course come day and month signs1 which1 with kin1 tun1 kal1 and a few marked variants1 use up #ej numbers4 ,next will come the faces1 about #ge simple elements4 ,next the animal and bird heads and figures1 about #ej numbers4 ,next the hands1 crosses1 etc41 and the list of conventional or geometric forms1 another #ge4 ,then some #ge particles4 ,the cards required for the first #ej numbers1 including only compounds formed from day-signs and excluding day-signs used simply as such1 amount to practically one half of the number required for the whole index4 ,certain elements1 notably the kin1 the tun1 the monkey-face with banded headdress1 already referred to1 the face with tau-eye1 the yax1 the cross1 produce a great number of compounds--a fact of note1 as it is evident that the number of compounds1 having due regard to our limited material1 is an index to the relative position of the idea in the ,mayan vocabularies4 ,some of the day-signs produce practically no compounds1 others a great many4 ,the compounds fall readily into a system of primary and secondary derivatives1 by which their relations may be easily studied1 and their proportions recognized4 ,coming to the distinguishing of variants1 one first meets the fact that the three codices differ4 ,the writing of the ,dresden and ,perez is regular and accurate1 the ,perez exceedingly so4 ,every different variant must here be accounted for4 ,in ,tro4-,cort4 the writing is crude and careless1 so that we have many evident abbreviations which are not genuine variants4 ,in the next place1 certain regular differences occur in this or that glyph or particle1 between the forms of the different manuscripts4 ,thus the ,perez uses ,hieroglyph and the others ,hieroglyph and so on4 ,a comparison of the compounds shows that these must be the same4 ,the regular variations between the three manuscripts and variations of abbreviation1 when well evidenced1 may be eliminated4 ,the day-signs have many variants1 mostly quite simple1 and all checked positively by the use of the form in some day-series4 ,ix has many forms4 ,there are at least three entirely different ,cimi forms3 ,hieroglyphs,,tn-#d ,there are found two different forms of the closed eye1 one of which certainly is ,cimi1 the other occurs regularly in such different compounds 7and ,i think never as a simple day-sign71 as to make it necessary to separate it2 ,hieroglyph it has probably a different meaning entirely--perhaps that of sleep4 99 99 99 99 99 ,a noteworthy technical line is to be found in the drawing of the glyphs4 ,whereas in the case of the day-signs1 faces1 and conventional forms in general1 certain variations of handwriting1 etc41 are evidently permitted1 but only within certain definite lines1 in some few animal glyphs no two instances are just alike4 ,in other words1 the glyphs in general are conventions with established meanings--actual writing2#ci-99 but we also have pictures of birds or animal forms1 where the writer is not following convention1 but nature4 ,the freedom of style used in the latter case only serves to emphasize the conventionality of the former1 and to separate the entire system from either picture or rebus writing4 ,see the following fish-glyph forms3 ,hieroglyphs ,these pictures are almost exclusively in uncompounded forms1 whereas the conventional glyphs1 whether human1 animal or otherwise1 are subject to the general rules of incorporation4 ,writing is a system of conventional forms with established meanings1 corresponding to and reflecting the structure of the spoken language2 some picture elements whose value as such has remained either wholly or partly present in the minds of those who use them1 are not inconsistent with genuine writing2 when present they add vividness to the writing1 and emphasize its ideographic character4 ,a combination of picture forms only1 may be used as means of communication to a certain degree1 but can never constitute writing2 that1 like speech1 must provide for the expression of the relationships and categories that make up the structure of language4 ,egyptian writing1 which is of course true writing1 contains elements of every class4 ,it has symbols and also pictures1 not only of things or creatures1 but of actions as well1 contracted to a narrow space1 made cursive2 these pictures1 although still ranking as such1 stand for words--they can be pronounced1 and have syntax1 which is the crucial test4 ,egyptian next has unrecognizable forms1 whose meaning has become a simple convention1 but which still stand for words1 or particles4 ,it has elements which are not pronounced for themselves1 but only serve as determinatives4 7,such a use of determinatives is not limited to hieroglyphic writing1 but is possessed also by alphabetic2 the second o in the word too is strictly a determinative1 to distinguish the adverb too from the preposition to1 both pronounced alike4 ,tibetan has an elaborate system of silent letters used as grammatical determinatives47 ,and then ,egyptian writing finally has pure alphabetic elements4 ,as to ,maya1 ,i think it far more than likely that1 when at last deciphered1 it will be found to contain most if not all of these classes--mutatis mutandis4 ,there seems every evidence that it is made up of pictures with probably both concrete and abstract meanings2 word-conventions2 and grammatical particles4 ,it is at least probable that there are also silent determinatives and not unlikely that there is also a pure phonetic or alphabetic element4 ,that the latter element is not the basic one may ,i think be now regarded as established4 ,,footnotes3 #ce-99 ,the ,tibetan use of symbolical words in place of numerals is worth noting here1 even though we do not know the ,maya face numerals well enough as yet for any comparison4 ,see ,csoma de ,koros1 ,tibetan grammar1 ,calcutta1 #ahbd1 pp4 #aee et seq42 also ,ph4 ,ed4 ,foucaux1 ,grammaire ,tibetaine1 ,paris1 #aheh1 pp4 #aeg et seq4 #ci-99 ,these the ,maya glyphs do not represent a real script1 as is so often maintained1 but are only pictures which have been reduced to the appearance of letters1 contracted to a narrow space1 made cursive46--,dr4 ,eduard ,seler1 ,codex ,vaticanus ,no4 #cggc1 page #fe4--,well8 ,,conclusion ,introite1 nam et hic dii sunt4 ,it is not my desire to add1 as a conclusion to a comment bearing on the restoration and interpretation of ,mayan hieroglyphic texts1 any general discussion of the data which tradition and the early ,spanish writers have left us of the mythology1 rites and customs of the ,american races2 and still less to run out a line of attractive analogies between isolated instances of their words1 symbols or works1 with those of any of the various nations of the other hemisphere2 nor to build up any theory of descent or intercourse with any of these latter as today known to history4 ,the subject before us is on its very face too vast2 the written and traditional data are entirely too scanty and too little understood2 and while we are still obliged to designate the various gods and personages of the ,codices as god ,a1 ,b1 etc41 and are unable to fix definitely#da-99 a single inscribed date in terms of our chronology1 or tell the event attached to it1 fancied comparisons amount to little4 ,and the favorite linguistic method is more fragile yet1 especially when the uncertainties of spelling and transliteration are considered1 and above all the frequent total ignorance of the past history and changes the different words compared must have gone through since the time when by any possibility a physical transmission from one locality to the other could have taken place4 ,these ought to be commonplaces of research1 but it is to be feared that they have not quite yet become so4#db-99 ,there is no need to give instances of such false analogies which have served as the bases for a multitude of filiation theories1 all equally well supported by details1 and all mutually exclusive4 ,nor on the other hand can we deny the existence actually of a very great number of resemblances and identities which cannot be ignored1 but must imply connexions of some kind4 ,the ,english nation is not a ,hebrew people because it had a prime minister ,disraeli1 nor ,greeks because they have a ,queen ,alexandra1 nor ,romans because of certain local names4 ,such facts even when real1 and established as such1 may only be evidence of a single continental culture or transcontinental intercourse4 ,it has been the dictum of a certain school of archaeology1 still very much in general favor1 that all these identities are to be explained as the natural result of the innate tendencies of untutored men1 on their evolutionary rise1 at certain cultural stages1 to imagine the same myths and invent the same rites4 ,from this as a principle ,i wholly dissent2 it simply does not meet the facts4 ,there are of course many facts to which it does apply1 such as those that both ,chinese and ,americans made paper1 tanned leather1 made feather ornaments1 used star and flower names for their children1 and so on3 facts which had been used to prove ,chinese and ,american identity1 and to which ,dr4 ,brinton justly added in retort that they also slept at night1 wore clothes when it was cold1 and so on4 ,but there is a very great number of facts1 a number constantly growing with research1 which cannot be so dismissed4 ,such are the employment of abstract symbolism1 the erection of great structures all having a definite and identical astronomical bearing and evident use1 the common possession of so-called myths all telling the one story1 and only slightly modified locally1 such as the birth-stories of ,huitzilopochtli and of ,herakles1 and the stories of the travail of ,latona pursued by the ,python and of the ,woman clothed with the ,sun in ,revelation2 or the universal tradition of seven ancestral caves or cities in ,america1 compared with the ,tibetan and ,puranic stories of the seven lotus-leaves of ',sveta-dvipa1 the first continental home of the race2 the ,hacha de cobre of the ,miztecs and the ever-turning spear of jade of the ,japanese story of the place where the gods first descended on earth2 or the whole question of the origin of the ,zodiac4 ,these things1 and a host of others1 need a different explanation--all the more since the more we are learning of them the more we find that they enclose facts of which the hypothetical savage children could not1 ex hypothesi1 have been aware--some facts indeed which our very latest modern science is only now learning4#dc-99 ,but while dissenting now wholly from this theory 7of coincidentalism7 one cannot but hold in all respect those who in their time held it4 ,it is the duty of the savant to make the best logical use he can of what he has1 and he cannot be criticised for not using finer scales than the time affords4 ,and this theory was needed as an answer to the absurdities1 brought out in utter disregard of physical possibilities1 postulating off-hand migrations and filiations and evolutionary advances totally impossible within the periods allowed for their completion1 and utterly without parallel in any known part of the world or page of history4 ,and yet1 when this theory had its birth1 the most of ,christendom was still enthralled by the ,ussherian chronology of the creation and history of the whole divine universe1 which simply did not have room in it for all these things to happen naturally and connectedly4 ,and if it is urged that present science had already say a generation ago1 a second's time we might say in the life of humanity1 begun to emancipate our ideas of time and evolution1 still it is the fact that that increase in breadth of vision has so far applied to every known thing but man himself4 ,the old belief that gave the world #fjjj years of life1 at least put thinking man at its beginning2 the modern nightmare gives us a world for hundreds of millions of years without thought1 and makes human civilization an ephemeral episode of a few seconds of universal duration4 ,disregarding1 one is forced to say wilfully1 the fact that every single one of their own arguments in favor of anthropoid descent for man would equally support a theory that the anthropoids are debased offshoots of human stocks1#de-99 biology still demands such a lapse of time for its physical evolution that its adherents oppose and belittle to the utmost every bit of evidence of any antiquity even for the physical frame of man4 ,we have1 to say nothing of the rest of the world1 ,egyptian civilization now pushed back #aj1jjj years1 and 7together with others as we slowly uncover them7 as far removed as ever from barbarism1 if not indeed growing greater as we go back2 but we are not allowed anything but apelike1 half arboreal savages #ej1jjj years ago4 ,and yet every observed fact shows us savage or worn-out races everywhere throughout the world deteriorating and dying out1 and nowhere any savages progressing or1 unaided by outside influence1 developing what we know as civilization4 ,we see everywhere the rise and fall of nations1 races and civilizations1 and their utter blotting out2 and we refuse to accept that process as a universal law through which the destiny of the human race is working itself out4 ,in fact1 we do not seem to believe that the human race has any destiny2 it may have beginning and an end1 but no destiny4 ,and so although this modern scientific school began as a reaction against the narrowness of theological limitations1 both of time and greatness1 so hampered and hypnotized has our thought been by both1 that man is of nearly as little universal account with one as with the other1 and we find a seemingly ineradicable repugnance to admit that any people had developed writing before the least possible time ago we can fix it1 usually this side of the year #a of the ,christian era4 ,and thus we have ,m4 ,terrien de ,lacouperie's #dej embryo scripts and writings--which another fifty years may show to be nearly as many fragments of one or a few great stocks of ancient hieroglyphs4 ,of course it is impossible to derive the ,american races or civilizations from the ,chinese1 ,phoenicians1 ,hittites1 or any of the cultures of the other hemisphere1 if we limit the latter to what we know of their history within the past two or three thousand odd years1 and ,american civilization to the past fifteen hundred years4 ,the matter is somewhat greater than that--just as man is somewhat greater than a fool of natural caprice4 ,there is one point from which this question of ,american origins1 at least of ,american place in human society and civilization1 can be studied in its broader lines1 even with what materials we have4 ,it is that of language in general4 ,all these other matters we have touched upon are necessary factors in the question of human evolution1 and the position of ,america cannot be considered apart from them1 and all of them4 ,but ,language touches both the glyphs directly and also all these other things1 and is itself of surpassing interest and importance as a human study4 99 99 99 99 99 ,from one point of view ,language is man himself1 and it certainly is civilization4 ,without it man is not man1 a ,self-expressing and social being4 ,it is1 as von ,humboldt laid down1 not an act but an activity1 or energy1 not a thing done1 but a doing4 ,it is the constant effort of the conscious self to formulate thought4 ,it is the use of the energy of creation1 of objectivation1 a veritable many-colored rainbow bridge between the inner or higher man and the outer or lower worlds4 ,and it is not only the expression of ,man as man1 but in its varied forms it is the inevitable and living expression of each man or body of men at any and every point of time4 ,itself boundless as an ocean1 it is in its infinite forms and streams and colors and sounds1 the faithful and exact exponent both of the sources and channels by which it has come1 and of the banks in which it is held1 racial1 national or individual4 ,it is living or dead1 forceful or weak1 pure or foul1 refreshing or flat1 healing or poisonous4 ,it limits us1 but yields to our force4 ,every word or form comes to us with the thought impress of every man or nation that has used or molded it before us4 ,we must take it as it comes1 but we give it something of ourselves as we pass it on4 ,if our intellectual and spiritual thought is aflame1 whether as nation or individual1 we may purify it1 energize it1 give it power to form and arrange the atoms around it--and we have a new literature1 a new and beneficent1 creative social vehicle of intercourse1 mutual understanding1 and human unification4 ,or if our mental or spiritual life is stale1 and petty1 or egoistic1 or seeking for enjoyment only rather than action2 if we have nothing in us to give the words and forms we use1 but only some national force left to use and play with them1 we for a while refine1 and paint1 and pettify1 and elaborate into meaningless subtleties of form1 every one of which in turn reacts upon our mental and spiritual life1 distracting and enchaining us1 until at last the nation and its language--die out2 for neither can live without the other4 ,now it is evident that the criterion of the perfectness of any language is not to be found in a comparison of its forms or methods with those of any other1 but in its fitness as a vehicle for the expression of deeper life1 of the best and the greatest that is in those who use it1 and above all in its ability to react and stimulate newer and yet greater mental and spiritual activity and expression4 ,the force behind man1 demanding expression through him1 and him only1 into the human life of all1 is infinite--of necessity infinite4 ,there is no limit1 nor ever has been any limit1 to what man may bring down into the dignifying1 broadening and enriching of human life and evolution1 save in his own ability to comprehend1 express1 and live it4 ,and the brightness and cleanness of the tools whereby he formulates his thought1 as well as the worthiness and fitness of the substance and the forms into which he shapes it for others to see1 are the essentials of his craft4 ,for such is the economy of nature1 which wastes nothing in reality1 that a fit vehicle will be taken possession of by its own tenant2 and the unfit left to and be taken by those who can use no better4 ,before1 then1 taking up the great formal classes into which language at large is usually divided1 it will be necessary to say a few words as to the foundations of form itself in language1 that we may then proceed to consider these classes from the standpoint of their inner meaning rather than solely of the outer form2 and by seeking to understand the mental and spiritual equipment and life of those that used them1 may perhaps in turn be better fitted finally to enter into the genius of their written and spoken languages1 and to interpret through them in the detail more of the ideas which those forms were both fitted and used to express4 ,such a method is essential for the understanding of any language or culture1 but it is absolutely necessary in the case of these non-,aryan tongues1 so great is the distance both of time and thought which separates us from them4 ,if we set out to compare the forms by which they expressed their thought with those within which we develop ours1 or approach these cultures and peoples in the attitude of alien criticism1 study their interesting ways through a mental lorgnette and impale their dead forms on the needles of our collection1 we shall not only show ourselves less broad in culture than many of them1 but we shall simply close and lock the doors of discrimination and understanding before us4 ,the question is not1 ,how do their forms and ways appeal to us8 but1 ,how did those forms1 and ways1 achieve their underlying objects1 and what was the thought behind them8 ,life is action1 and without activity whatever powers lie within any conscious being are only potential4 ,activity is the bridge between the inner man and the outer world1 by which he impresses his thought1 in forms1 on chaos or the atoms about him1 receiving in return increased knowledge and experience of all he touches1 and knowledge of himself through the results of his own actions2 and it is the bridge between man and man4 ,for this reason the verb1 the word of action1 is the most important and most developed part of speech4 ,the three hypostases of life1 as of language1 are the self1 activity1 and the world2 and it is for the expression of all the possible varied relations between these three1 that all the forms of any language come into being4 ,and from the way in which these forms are developed1 and the relative importance which is given to this or that form of thought or activity1 the character of the people1 their grasp of nature1 and their own conception of themselves and their relation to the world1 can be seen4#di-99 ,some languages have the strong impress of impersonality1 without any loss of virility2 others are strongly egotistic and self-assertive1 with perhaps the braggart's lack of genuine strength4 ,each spoken language that we know has its own color and tone1 to which our thought must respond1 if we would know and use it well4 ,to speak good ,swedish1 for instance1 requires clear thinking to an exceptional degree4 ,to show this1 the form come here1 which is the ordinary ,english expression1 is simply bad grammar in ,swedish2 the use of come hither 7kom hit1 instead of kom haer7 is imperative4 ,we have the hither in ,english1 but it has become stilted1 and the linguistic distinction lost4 ,compare also the use of fa1 as a common auxiliary2 nor are these exceptions1 but1 on the contrary1 characteristic examples4 ,also to enunciate the language rightly one must hold the back and neck erect and the muscles firm4 ,in some languages the speaker thinks of himself and his completed action as inseparable1 as a single idea1 as the ,latin edi for ,i have eaten2 in others he thinks of himself subconsciously as possessing the results of his action1 as our ,i have eaten2 and in others1 as among the ,irish peasantry1 he separates himself and his action entirely1 as ,i am after eating4 ,in some grammars1 as in ,maya1 the verbal concept starts with the past2 in others1 as our own1 we live in the present2 in the ,welsh1 the future is the chief tense4 ,the mere choice of shall or will as the first person future auxiliary denotes a specific mental quality4 ,now the expression of all these infinite shades of relationtionship,,tn-#e between the self1 the activity and the world1 is achieved in two ways3 position or placement--syntax2 and form4 ,the customary division of languages is into ,monosyllabic1 ,agglutinative1 ,incorporating1 and ,inflectional1 and this division will suit our purpose1 though it must be used with care4 ,it is held in the ordinary theory that these classes must represent successive stages of linguistic perfection1 each in turn being higher in the scale than the other1 they having grown one from the other as the race advanced4 ,by the theory the monosyllabic is lower than the agglutinative1 and inherently less useful4 ,but the theory does not work out in practical application to the facts we have to deal with1 for while we cannot find still left in the world any agglutinative languages representative of sufficient culture to bring into our present consideration1 we do find a monosyllabic in the highest rank1 and meeting the highest cultural requirements4 ,in short1 the latter may be theoretically the inferior tool1 but the genius of thought behind is greater than the form4 ,one man can draw a masterpiece with a burnt stick1 another only paint a daub with all the brushes made4 ,once again we must not judge by our preconceived preferences of form4 ,omitting therefore the modern remnants of agglutinating languages1 outside of ,america1 as affording us no literary material of value for our study1 we shall find at once drawn across all the other great classes a single broad line of division1 between the ideographic and the literal--the same as already mentioned4 ,and the moment we draw this line as an exponent of the mental and spiritual thought-life of the different peoples1 we shall find it not only molding their language forms1 both written and spoken1 but manifest as well in their art1 philosophy1 and even their social polity4 ,and of course we must be fair in our comparisons1 and not set a ,chinese coolie in the concrete against an ,english statesman1 nor any concrete example of another kind of culture in its decay with the highest bloom to which we believe our own type to be able to carry us4 ,it would be absurd to say that the ratiocinative1 literal mind is higher than the ideal4 ,one man sees directly the meaning of the things1 the events and situations before him2 another reasons it all out4 ,and contrary to many of our current beliefs1 the former is often the man of action2 he sees at a flash to the heart of the matter1 and gets things done4 ,his thought1 his activity1 is vivid2 and his words are likely to be so as well4 ,the idealist1 if he be broadminded1 and not merely sentimental1 is indeed likely to be the practical man4 ,and the type of mind that is made manifest to us by these great non-,aryan languages and their forms1 is the former4 ,of course idealism in its decadence becomes negative1 inactive1 self-consuming and no longer creative4 ,but in its bloom the direct vision may be even more active1 more practical1 than are the reasoned processes4 ,much ink and paper has been spent over the question whether the ,chinese hieroglyphs are ideograms or phonograms1 whether the character ,illustration3 ,chinese character1 for instance1 conveys to those using it primarily the idea of ,heaven1 or the spoken word ,t'ien4 ,it is necessarily both1 in a sense2 it would not be written language otherwise4 ,and it is equally true that the letter-combination ,heaven is in a way as much to us a picture of the idea as of the sound2 but the difference of procedure is radical4 ,the glyph is related to the idea directly1 the spelled word only through the formal combination of symbols for single vocal speech-elements1 meaningless when separate4 ,the relation of spoken sound to glyph is wholly adventitious2 the relation of the idea to the spelled word is equally adventitious4 ,the ascent1 if we so call it1 of written speech from the ideographic to the alphabetic1 is the descent of the thought further into material forms4#ec-99 ,and while it may be 7and in the course of universal evolution rightly so7 necessary for our thought to descend into the bondage of matter and form1 for its knowledge and experience1 and for the development of matter and form into fitter vehicles of thought1 nevertheless the process is a binding and for a time an enchaining one1 and the thought is1 for a time at least1 likely to be lost in the confusion of forms4 ,thus we may lay down as our fundamental proposition that a hieroglyphic form of writing is better fitted to1 and must properly1 in the period of its natural development1 accompany the imaginative processes of mind4 ,or1 since imagination to our literal thought implies in some degree the fanciful 7though wrongly so in essence71 we might perhaps better say that that form of writing is the fit attendant and exponent of those functions of mind which cognize the inner meanings of the facts of life directly1 rather than those which study them through the correlation of their phenomena4 ,and also1 that the development by any people of an alphabetic out of a hieroglyphic system1 does not imply a greater advance in linguistic perfection on their part1 but indicates a corresponding mental and inner change of attitude towards ideas and things1 and a different conception of the self as related to them all4 ,it is not at all necessary to assume that the knowledge gained by one method is deeper or more exact than the other4 ,true science may exist as fully under one set of circumstances as the other4 ,if we will take the type of the so-called most primitive form1 the monosyllabic--the ,chinese1 we shall find all this evidenced in the clearest manner4 ,to note but one illustration1 a study of the scientific and philosophical ideas involved in and conveyed by the word k'ung1 for ,space1 ether1 the fundamental substratum of sound or vibration1 as well as the interetheric central point of balance and power1 will disclose an understanding that has nothing to fear from modern comparisons4 ,and the very fact that ,chinese has had to depend on placement of its monosyllables to express all the relations for which speech is called upon1 instead of relying on changes of form1 seems to have1 and indeed has so stimulated the development of pure linguistic power that the language is actually as perfect and clear a medium of cultured and learned intercourse1 as is the ,sanskrit1 the supreme type of the so-called most developed form1 the inflectional4 ,and by reason of its possession of the ideographic element it has a vividness which the ,sanskrit has not4 ,no language can be a highly developed one which does not provide in some way for the expression of all possible needed relations between the three fundamental postulates of life and activity--the self1 the action and the world2 and ,chinese does this in spite of its monosyllabic structure by the development of its syntax of position4 ,and it should be remembered further that ,chinese syntax1 in strict correspondence to the genius of the language1 is not the same formal thing that syntax is with our inflectional tongues1 but includes1 or rather is primarily based on the harmonic adjustment of the inherent basic ideas of or within the words4 ,the ,chinese monosyllables are then not the naked separate things they are in the dictionary1 but the whole phrase or sentence is on the contrary as much a unit as one of ours2 and often more so4 ,this integral unity of the whole sentence or expression1 dominated by a perspective of ideas rather than of forms1 which is achieved in ,chinese by the elaboration of placement1 is also characteristic of the structure of the languages of the ,american continent2 but1 these languages being polysyllabic1 the vividness and unity are attained by a method described as ,incorporation1 whereby the accessories of relation are so included in or attached to the leading word that the whole expression assumes the form and sound of a single word4 ,and a similar process takes place with the various elements of a compound sentence4 ,so that although this one of the divisions of language approaches very closely to the ,inflectional in its external forms1 it yet has held to the vividness and essential characteristics of the ideographic method4 ,and it is a point of the utmost importance for the decipherment of the ,maya glyphs1 to note as has been stated before1 that their syntax of combination must follow that of the spoken language1 which we know4 ,there is one broad line of division marking all the languages and civilizations of the world--the line between the ideographic and the literal2 it marks the use of hieroglyphic or of alphabetic writing1 and it denotes a culture so widely different from ours1 modes of thought so distinct1 views of life and man's relation to it one might almost say so opposite to ours1 as to point unmistakably to a most distant past1 and a former world-culture probably as wide-spread in its day as is now ours--or more so4 ,and it is one of the strangest and most remarkable of the phenomena we are considering1 that the two divisions have overlapped each other in time to such a degree that whereas we have in ,sanskrit1 the most perfect type of ,aryan1 or inflectional languages1 the oldest of them all2 on the other hand we have in ,chinese an equally perfect linguistic medium of the other type1 kept alive into our own times4 ,when we consider the development and status of the ,american civilizations which have been revealed to us1 and especially when we have once opened our minds to the possibility that world-civilizations different in their time from ours in ours1 may for all we know have existed and been blotted out ages ago1 leaving linguistic traces1 and perhaps perpetuating cultural remnants in a few parts of the earth1 it is impossible not to recognize the breadth of the problem we are considering4 ,all over the ,american continent at the time of the ,discovery we see cultures and systems whose time had come4 ,back of most of the ,north and ,south ,american tribes we find the remains of mighty and utterly extinct civilizations--only their dim memory left4 ,in the centers of higher culture from ,mexico to ,peru we see the ancient civilization brought further down to our own times2 but there also1 in process1 all the incidents of break-up and an expiring greatness4 ,internecine strife1 invasion from outside1 changes of center1 are all going on1 and all marked by a steady decrease in everything that means civilization4 ,of the ancient mathematical and astronomical knowledge a corner of which is revealed to us by the ,maya glyph remains1 only a distorted fragment appears in the ,mexican1 where also hieroglyphs have yielded to a cruder rebus-writing4 ,the stately and incomparable compositions and architecture of ,palenque1 ,copan and ,quirigua have yielded to the ball courts and local strifes of ,chichen ,itza--all this following the very course of changing historical succession preserved in the ,chronicles4 ,the later the date1 the lower in every case the culture2 this is impossible not to recognize1 nor have we traces of any different course of events4 ,of course we see the rise of the ,aztec nation1 a small cycle1 but like the ,gothic upon the ,roman1 it comes at the end of the general ,american break-up--an incursion of barbarians settling on and preserving for us fragments of the culture that preceded them1 just as has happened over and over again all over the world4 ,and the same with the ,incas in ,peru4 ,and yet even the ,mexican culture demands our high respect1 comparing favorably with ,european of the same period4 ,indeed it was actually far ahead of the latter in matters of education and many points of polity4 ,but in spite of its seeming greatness1 its heart and energy were gone1 just as with ,peru1 and both yielded to what on the face seems a miracle1 but was only the expression of that force which was preparing the ,american continent for a new race and civilization1 still now only in its beginnings4 ,the ,mayan empire had already broken up4 ,and even as we write1 the archaeological history of the other hemisphere is being repeated here2 on the heels of ,manabi comes the ,chimu ,valley1 and soon it will be with ,america as with ,egypt--one will not be able to print an up-to-date work on its early history1 for new discoveries will carry it back further1 and to greater scope1 before the previous ones can be edited and gotten to press4 ,compare the few pages of earliest ,egypt in ,sharpe's history1 with ,flinders ,petrie's work of a decade or so ago1 and that with the situation today4 ,it is a simple fact that decipherment and publication all over the world can no longer keep pace with discovery2 and the time has come for archaeology to begin to survey these remnants1 engineering works that would tax any modern nation with all our appliances1 vast ruined cities1 one above the other1 innumerable languages and writings1 the traces of peoples whose very names are lost to history--as a whole1 and to ask itself how long it must have taken for all these works to be accomplished1 let alone for the birth and decay of the civilizations that supported them1 and gave environment for the development of such technical skill as could finish the enormous bulk of the ,great ,pyramid with an accuracy beyond the fineness of our best instruments to measure4 ,for not only mere bulk is to be considered--though there is enough of that scattered over the earth to keep all the possible available craftsmen of the world a wholly incommensurate time achieving them1 but the ability to conceive and carry out such works4 ,what sort of people leveled ,monte ,alban for its crown of pyramids1 dreamed and executed the stucco modelings of ,palenque1 built the temple of ,boro ,budur in ,java1 cut the ,bamian statues of the ,hindu ,kush1 and so on1 and so on1 for page after page8 ,if they had such appliances as we have1 they must be ranked at least in our class for having them2 if they did them without our great engines1 what sort of men were they8 ,and if they could do these things without our appliances1 is it not a fair inference that they could easily have made the tools1 or others better perhaps8 ,one fact is becoming more prominent with every advance of archaeology over the world1 a fact of the greatest linguistic interest1 namely that ancient civilizations and empires1 as a whole1 lasted longer than ours of today4 ,consider how many different and successive empires ,europe has had in the last #bjjj odd years1 our history2 and how long each of our cultures has lasted4 ,all of them put together would go into one of these older periods1 and have plenty to spare4 ,passing over what may be the real meaning and bearing of this fact on the problem of universal history and human evolution1 and the position of our race today1 the linguistic considerations which follow are most interesting4 ,if the fundamental thesis of language as a human activity is its direct correspondence to and expression of all the inner motives and forces of the users1 we have here a key to the survival to our day1 an unknown period past its own time1 of the ,chinese type4 ,of the development1 modification and decay of languages we have ample material in our own times for study1 the periods over which the modifying forces operate being an equal measure of the periods of national activity and change4 ,and1 what is perhaps not always sufficiently recognized1 we have an elaboration of the formal elements going on under very different impulses1 at different periods of the life of the language4 ,the time has come in the history of a people for it to play a greater part on the world's stage3 some danger has threatened the national life and aroused its energies1 or other causes have worked to quicken the mental and spiritual life2 an ,elizabethan era is ushered in1 frequently by a forerunner1 a ,chaucer1 and the language responds1 its forms develop and are perfected4 ,or else some fitting or amalgamating force comes in from outside1 the life of the people is widened1 new blood enters in every sense1 and the forms of the language respond4 ,or perhaps1 when they may seem to have come to the tether end of things1 and men's minds turn back to older1 even prehistoric times1 seeds long buried and forgotten in the nature spring up1 and a true national ,renaissance follows4 ,in these cases the change and elaboration of forms is a symptom of new life2 the vehicle is being molded and expanded to fit the growing thought4 ,but it is not always so4 ,there comes a time when the outgoing force1 the activity of life1 wanes and1 after a greater or less period of settled conditions1 a period of proper use and government of the regions occupied1 a change sets in4 ,and then we may have again the wholly deceptive phenomenon of linguistic amplification2 but it is the false activity of decay4 ,the energy has turned in and begun to feed upon itself4 ,the national impulse has changed from achievement to gratification1 more and more sources are drawn upon to minister to its enjoyment1 and that enjoyment becomes an art2 forms of every kind are subtly refined in its service1 and linguistic forms with them4 ,and this is then the very period when all these material1 formal elements are pointed to with pride as the evidence of culture and progress4 ,the thought-life of the nation has lost itself in the conflict and confusion1 in the distractions of the forms into which it has molded the matter its creative force had entered4 ,we have thus in nations and languages1 as in individuals1 the phenomena of birth1 growth1 use1 and a quick or a slow death1 all marked by various degrees and signs of health or disease1 and every one at root a moral question4 ,these are the facts of general average1 quite corresponding to those that form the bases for life insurance tables4 ,but1 as with these latter1 not only are there variations for inheritance1 class1 locality1 and so on1 but there are here and there cases of out and out exception--which from all we can see must be assigned to some external force in operation on the individual4 ,we call them freak occurrences1 only because we cannot see the wider law or causes at work4 ,when we meet them in sufficient numbers1 we make new tables to cover them as far as we can1 again in general only4 ,other causes still elude us1 though they must have a fountain somewhere4 ,we have1 as great exceptions to our general averages1 two opposite phenomena4 ,one is the sudden inexplicable and dazzling rise on the world's stage of a totally insignificant people1 the other the seeming arrest for long periods of time of the normal processes of even incipient decay4 ,and touching the latter point1 it is strange indeed that in two such widely different cultures as those of ,iceland and ,china we should find the same law apparently at work2 the periods are vastly unlike in actual1 but not so in relative duration4 ,we have no way of properly placing the maintenance of ,icelandic and ,chinese as they have been other than by simply laying down the existence of what we may call a ,law of ,retardation1 whose ultimate causes we cannot fathom or classify1 but which will stand as an opposite phase of the ,law of ,stimulation1 which is more frequent in operation1 but is equally unexplained4 ,if we will now regard the languages and cultures of the world1 we will find all the phases of linguistic and cultural activity1 operative with about the same degree of rapidity1 all over both hemispheres1 save in places protected by our ,law of ,retardation4 ,we will find the rate of changes and successions generally far less rapid the farther back in time we go2 and finally we will find a special and marked acceleration on both sides of the ,atlantic during the last thousand years1 all incident to the placing of a new race in ,america4 ,so for the facts as we find them4 ,they point to the descent of past ,american civilizations from a past period of continental1 or far more probably1 of world-wide extent4 ,for who can imagine that people great enough to build as these did1 should not also have navigated8 ,why should we assume in the face of other experiences1 that ,maya dates and calculations mean nothing1 except on the general principle that they did not know as much as we do1 and were doubtless liars8 ,bailly proved over a hundred years ago that ,hindu exact astronomical observations must date back at least #ejjj years1 and that they were in possession of minutely accurate tables#fa-99 long before ,europe was4 ,and the rotundity of the earth was certainly known both to them and the other great nations of antiquity4 ,archaeology is today pushing back the dates of fixed and acknowledged history almost to the date given by the ,egyptians to ,solon for the submersion of the great ,atlantean island2 and if we can but read the ,maya glyphs1 and open that door1 another twenty years from now may show us beyond all possible dispute evidences in every part of the earth belt of a contemporaneous culture1 different from and precedent to the ,aryan4 99 99 99 99 99 ,i have so far in this monograph1 based upon and having to do as it has with the ,maya glyphs1 their interpretation and their place in the linguistic field1 limited myself to an analysis and consideration of the facts presented to us by those linguistic and cultural data we have actually before us4 ,but there is one further problem which is suggested by it all4 ,it is this3 ,where1 in point of time and place1 is the change in the world's linguistic and cultural life from ideographic to literal to be sought for1 and what is its rationale8 ,separated from us by such an enormous period of time as it is1 ,i still cannot believe that some view of it cannot be had4 ,there are various facts of ,old ,world history and language1 partly of prehistoric ,europe1 partly of ,asia1 an analysis of which would extend this paper too far into other fields2 but apart entirely from the question of myths or traditions1 there are various actual observed phenomena both of language and writing1 especially in ,central ,asia1 which do not fit into any of the ordinary theories1 and which do suggest this1 as a simple linguistic conclusion4 ,in point of locality1 at least1 the conclusion agrees with the usual ,aryan home theory2 but as far as concerns this latter it must be remembered that however fully it demonstrates the unity of the ,aryan race1 beyond that fact all questions of dates and even of the state of civilization at the time1 are not matters of history as yet for us1 but only of theory--as to which our present perspective may be once more as faulty as it has often been heretofore4#fb-99 ,i believe that this center of transition lay somewhere in ,central ,asia1 to the north of the great ,himalayan range4 ,that this region was a sort of alembic1 a melting-pot 7as ,america is today7 for various peoples of an ancient world-wide culture1 as broad at least in its scope as the term ,aryan is today4 ,that this culture displayed the ideographic traits we have discussed1 and that it has left more or less definite traces at different places in the world4 ,that it covered the two ,americas1 in whatever continental form they may then have existed1 leaving us there les debris echappes a un naufrage commun4 ,that coincident with a new and universal world-epoch1 as wide in its cultural scope as the difference between the ideographic and literal1 there was finally formed a totally new vehicle for the use of human thought1 the inflectional1 literal1 alphabetic4 ,that this vehicle was perfected into some great speech1 the direct ancestor of ,sanskrit1 into the forms of which were concentrated all the old power of the ancient hieroglyphs and their underlying concepts4 ,for ,sanskrit1 while the oldest is also the mightiest of ,aryan grammars2 and no one who has studied its forms1 or heard its speech from educated native mouths1 can call it anything but concentrated spiritual power4 ,that the force which went on the one hand into the ,sanskrit forms1 was on the other perpetuated on into the special genius of ,chinese1 in which1 as we know it1 we have a retarded survival1 not of course of outer form so much as of method and essence4 ,and in ,tibetan1 in spite of all that is said to the contrary1 ,i suspect that we have a derivative1 not from either ,chinese or ,sanskrit as we know them1 but by a medial line from a common point4#fc-99 ,of course the time for such changes must have been enormous2 but whatever it was1 it was no greater in its realm as time1 than were the mental differences in theirs4 ,and they both are equally human data4 ,certain other facts point to the ,american or ,atlantic source and center of this ancient epoch4 ,they are briefly that all around the ,mediterranean basin we find traces of a vanished culture1 unknown to our history1 and living only in tradition and some archaeological remains4 ,and of this culture various investigators1 each approaching it from his particular favorite locality1 have constructed for us as many different ,empires1 by theories each supported by various details of analogies4 ,one calls them ,tartars1 another ,hittites1 another ,pelasgians1 and so on4 ,and all of them1 in each of the theories1 have as a fact a great many unexplained characteristics1 different from those of our historical nations4 ,some of these characteristics1 most markedly the ,basque1 but also not a few at greater distance1 have definite ,american similarities4 ,it might not be a far guess that these fragments represent an eastward movement1 which later in the history of the ,aryan development met and was pushed back westward again by the fully formed and dominant ,aryan race from its ,central ,asian center4 ,this is the future province of ,archaeology4 99 99 99 99 99 ,and ,i am convinced that the widest door there is to be opened to this past of the human race1 is that of the ,maya glyphs4 ,the narrow limitations of our mental horizon as to the greatness and dignity of man1 of his past1 and of human evolution1 were set back widely by ,egypt and what she has had to show1 and again by the ,sanskrit2 but the walls are still there1 and advances1 however rapid1 are but gradual4 ,with the reading of ,america ,i believe the walls themselves will fall1 and a new conception of past history will come4 ,,footnotes3 #da-99 ,see ,memoranda on the ,chilam ,balam ,calendars1 ,c4 ,p4 ,bowditch1 #aija4 ,the obscurities of the ,chronicles render the questions connected with ,ahpula's death exceedingly difficult4 ,for instance1 the immediate context in the books of ,mani and ,tizimin make the date #aecf1 as given in numerals1 an impossible one4 ,but1 if the date as given in ,maya terms is to be accepted at all 7and it certainly is too specific to be rejected71 then by the long count such a date must have been either #aejb1 #ecej1 or #ab1ghf years after the date of ,stela #i1 ,copan4 ,mr4 ,bowditch favors the lower figure1 chiefly because it is the lower1 and thus puts ,stela #i at ,a4 ,d4 #cd4 ,to get this date the longest possible distance from ,ahpula's death to the end of the katun must be used--that is1 #f tuns short must be taken to mean almost #g tuns short4 ,i can only say here that if1 in correcting the figures #aecf1 as demanded by the immediate context1 we make the simplest possible correction1 and put them one katun earlier1 #aeaf1 and then take as the unexpired time to the end of the katun the shortest of the three terms given as possible1 or #e tuns #aci days1 bringing the end of ,katun #ac-;,ahau on ,jan4 #bh1 #aebb1 we not only bring the end of ,katun #aa-;,ahau within the year #aeda1 as is most positively stated by the practically contemporary ,pech ,chronicle1 but we also bring in line nearly all the important events of the ,chronicles1 from the fall of ,mayapan1 ca4 #adej1 the coming of the ,spaniards1 and the smallpox1 in #aa-;,ahau 7#aeba to #aeda71 the conversion to ,christianity in #i-;,ahau1 down to ,landa's death 7#aegi7 in #g-;,ahau2 as well as many outside references4 ,any other combination requires harsher emendations somewhere else4 ,but the above choice of the term of #e tuns #aci days1 thus seemingly called for1 means that ,stela #i at ,copan is dated1 by the long count1 #ecej years before ,ahpula's death1 or ,b4 ,c4 #chbd4 ,whether this is right1 is a question for the future4 #db-99 ,in ethnology however one troubles oneself little with the detail of linguistic structure4 ,it is held quite sufficient to gather from different peoples and collate a couple of hundred vocables1 into whose actual nature all insight is lacking1 and then upon dubious1 often purely superficial and apparent similarities1 to deduce linguistic affinities4 ,or else1 as is now most in fashion1 the claims of linguistic research towards the solution of ethnological questions are reduced to a 'most modest share' in comparison with other fields 'somewhat more in line with natural sciences'--meanwhile pointing for justification to the absurdities set forth as the results of too far-fetched linguistic deductions4444 ,the errors and sophistries charged against ethnological linguistics are rather an accidental result of the individuality of single investigators1 than essential to the subject4 ,they are at least scarcely greater than those to the credit of recent ,anthropometry4 ,a brief glance at the strange changes of opinion in the latter field during the last three decades1 in spite of all its boasted figures1 shows how little ground it has to throw stones4 ,serious students1 such as ,wallace and ,dall1 whose critical ability in ,zoomorphology no one can deny1 and who do not rest content with a few skulls of doubtful provenance1 gathered a la ,hagenbeck1 have come to a wholly negative view of the value of ,craniometry4--,dr4 ,otto ,stoll1 ,maya-,sprachen der ,pokom-,gruppe1 ,i1 vii1 ix4 #dc-99 ,our present day speculators never seem to think for a moment that these things may conceal1 and thereby preserve1 some real meaning1 or be more than nonsense4 ,the theory of mythological interpretation pushed to such extremes as in the animistic explanations of ,weber1 ,keightley1 and others1 and not absent from the writings of some ,americanists 7namely1 that it was all nothing but ridiculous or concocted fancy1 taken soberly7 is bad enough1 and argues little breadth or insight1 when applied to the myths of a single people1 considered alone4 ,applied to comparative mythology1 in the state of things today1 it is simply impossible4 ,the plain fact is1 that such identities as these must indicate one of two things3 a common tradition1 locally modified by circumstances2 or a fact in nature or history1 symbolically expressed in different ways according to the times and modes4 ,and it most probably indicates both of these4 ,it is indeed hard to account for the extent1 and the weight given to some of these myths1 now that we are coming to a better appreciation of the scope and greatness of ancient civilizations--everywhere--except they do correspond to actual facts in nature and history4 ,and it might be worth our while to get at some of these4 #de-99 ,we might just as well acknowledge1 once for all1 that in spite of its present-day currency in ,england and ,america1 and its pre-emption of the field of science for the people1 the theory of man's physical and mental descent from the anthropoids1 is not only not proved1 but is vehemently denied by an equally able and scientific1 and withal more logical1 body of researchers than those who form its supporters4 ,to fabricate a missing link in a chain 7or even1 as with ,haeckel1 several links71 whose only authority is acknowledged to be its necessity in order to complete the evidence for the theory1 and then to declare the theory proved because the fabricated link fits perfectly the gap it was created for1 is equally vicious scientifically whether the fabrication be the work of a physicist of renown or a linguistic theorizer4 ,let it simply be agreed1 as it now is by all science1 that the evolution of form is a universal and well evidenced principle1 working out through the various well established and comprehensible incidents1 such as natural selection1 adaptation to environment1 and so on--yet this statement of the fact is not an explanation of its cause4 ,and every scientific and logical requirement will be equally1 and better1 met by regarding all forms1 whether physical1 linguistic1 or of any kind1 as coming1 or rather brought1 into being by the force of a consciousness which needs them as the vehicles of its expanding activity4 ,that this is absolutely true in language1 anybody can see4 ,that it is true in every department of daily life about us1 everybody does see4 ,that it should be equally true in biology and physics1 would not affect the standing or verity of a single observed fact4 ,there was1 along about the beginning of the ,christian era1 and for some time before and after1 a very curious movement1 which seemed to spread itself over nearly the entire world1 east and west4 ,it is told of the early ,aztecs that they destroyed the records of their predecessors1 in order to increase their own prestige4 ,it is related that writing once existed in ,peru1 but was entirely wiped out1 and the ,inca records committed to quipus alone4 ,the burning of the books under ,tsin ,chi ,hwangti in ,b4 ,c4 #bac sought to do the same for ,china4 ,the times of ,akbar witnessed much of the same in ,india4 ,and in ,europe almost nothing was left to tell the tale of the great pre-,christian eastern empires and systems of thought2 so that from the establishment of ,state ,christianity under ,constantine1 and the final settlement of the ,canon at the ,council of ,nicaea1 an impenetrable veil was drawn over the achievements and greatness of the ,past1 and all connexion therewith broken off4 ,it was some time after this that we find the heliocentric theory1 as well as that of other habitable worlds1 denied 7in ,europe71 because it would deprive the ,earth of its unique and central eminence4 ,just as we also today are served up with prehistoric savage and animal ancestors1 to the greater glory of our own present-day magnificence4 ,but it really is in sober truth only a question of mental perspective which does not affect the facts of history1 biology1 archaeology or language in the least4 ,it is only a question of which end of the telescope we look through4 #di-99 ,it is exceedingly interesting to trace the course of criticism since the appearance of ,wilhelm von ,humboldt's great work1 ,ueber die ,verschiedenheit des menschlichen ,sprachbaues und ihren ,einfluss auf die geistige ,entwickelung des ,menschengeschlechts 7,berlin1 #ahcf74 ,dr4 ,brinton gave it most unqualified approval2 7see especially his monograph read before the ,american ,philosophical ,society in #ahhe1 and printed the same year74 ,prof4 ,h4 ,steinthal 7,grammatik1 ,logik und ,psychologie1 #ahee7 calls the subject of inner form the most important one in linguistic science1 and von ,humboldt's treatment of it his greatest contribution to that science4 ,and so on4 ,but the work has nevertheless received little attention from a large number of writers1 most of them declaring it unclear4 ,these two views1 when one studies the various writers1 seem to follow closely upon the standpoints from which each approaches the study4 ,those who study language 7perhaps one should here say1 languages7 as a phenomenon1 a set of external forms1 an act1 a thing done1 get little use out of von ,humboldt's work4 ,those who see it as a human activity1 an energy1 get much4 ,this is quite apparent in one of the clearest and ablest linguistic works which has recently appeared1 ,dr4 ,adolf ,noreen's ,vart ,sprak 7in #i vols41 still in course of publication1 ,lund1 #aijc and later71 a work of far wider linguistic value than appears from its title4 ,dr4 ,noreen1 however1 dismisses von ,humboldt's work1 and the subject of inner form1 with a few pages1 and the results are apparent in several interesting points4 ,in the first place1 in the course of an acute and critical analysis1 wherein he shows that the purpose of speech is not simply expression of thoughts or ideas1 but the communication to some other person of the knowledge of the ideas so held by the speaker1 he goes on to say3 the same knowledge of ,a's wishes could be as well communicated by his saying ',i want you to come' as by his saying just ',come4' ,this is quite true2 but the energic effect is quite different4 ,language is the bridge from man to man1 and it is also a creative activity of man4 ,of course ,dr4 ,noreen1 in a later volume1 where he most lucidly analyses the terms 'words1' 'forms1' and 'concepts1' etc4 7ord1 morfem1 semem1 etc471 and corrects many errors of definition made by his predecessors1 acknowledges the difference between the two forms2 still his whole admirable work1 analytical and critical as it is1 is devoted to this phase of language as a mere phenomenon1 a set of forms which serve as a medium of communication4 ,from this standpoint1 we know all there is to know about language when we have classified its forms4 ,but from the other1 the study is ever leading us into the regions and depths of man's consciousness1 his creative activity as it goes out to the world2 and the true definition of language1 from this position1 can hence only be a genetic one4 7von ,humboldt1 ,gesammelte ,werke1 ,,vi1 #db7 ,it is further not unworthy of note that1 except where directly required in treating of verbal categories1 nearly all of the enormous number of illustrations which ,dr4 ,noreen chooses for his points1 are nouns1 names of things1 and vary rarely verbal forms1 words of action and doing4 ,but it is simply a fact that all the potency of language is in the verb1 and almost all there is of language1 in a philosophic sense1 lies there4 ,the verb is the bridge of communication and action upon external things1 just as is language itself1 going out of man4 ,and it is also noteworthy that the recognition of this position of the verb1 together with these other matters of which we are speaking1 seems nearer at hand and clearer to those students who are led beyond ,aryan languages to the study of ,american and ,asiatic1 especially ,central and ,northern ,asiatic4 ,for instance1 ,g4 v4 d4 ,gabelentz1 ,die ,sprachwissenschaft1 and other works4 #ec-99 ,it was not until after this paper was already in type that my attention was directed to the complete agreement of this and the succeeding sentences with the following passage in ,the ,secret ,doctrine1 by ,h4 ,p4 ,blavatsky1 ,london1 #ahhh1 vol4 ,,ii1 page #aii4 ,after saying that some of the ,atlantean races spoke the agglutinative languages1 the passage continues3 ,while the 'cream' of the ,fourth ,race gravitated more and more toward the apex of physical and intellectual evolution1 thus leaving as an heirloom to the nascent ,fifth 7the ,aryan7 ,race the inflectional1 highly developed languages1 the agglutinative decayed and remained as a fragmentary fossil idiom1 scattered now1 and nearly limited to the aboriginal tribes of ,america4 ,note the words ,i have italicized1 marking the evolution of the inflectional languages as an attendant phenomenon on physico-intellectual evolution1 compare the passage with von ,humboldt's thesis1 already quoted1 that the incorporative quality denotes an exaltation of the imaginative over the ratiocinative processes of mind in its users1 and further with the surviving genius of ,chinese1 the type of monosyllabic languages1 and the agreement is evident4 ,von ,humboldt1 however1 did not carry out so fully the archaeological results1 for which indeed the materials were in his day still lacking4 ,see also other passages in ,the ,secret ,doctrine4 #fa-99 ,traite de l',astronomie ,indienne et ,orientale1 ,disc4 ,prel4 et seq4 #fb-99 ,the suggestion above is linguistic1 and in that phase is given as a corollary to the foregoing discussion2 but1 as stated1 it is at the same time in accord with the ,aryan theory in its essentials 7though not in its hypothetical and ultra-historical speculations71 and it also finds confirmation by various passages in ,the ,secret ,doctrine1 by ,h4 ,p4 ,blavatsky1 as already quoted4 ,the traces of an immense civilization1 even in ,central ,asia1 are still to be found4 ,this civilization is undeniably prehistoric4444 ,the ,eastern and ,central portions of those regions--the ,nan-,shan and the ,altyn-,tagh--were once upon a time covered with cities that could well vie with ,babylon4 ,a whole geological period has swept over the land1 since those cities breathed their last1 as the mounds of shifting sand1 and the sterile and now dead soil of the immense central plains of the basin of ,tarim testify4444 ,in the oasis of ,cherchen some #cjj human beings represent the relics of about a hundred extinct nations and races--the very names of which are now unknown to our ethnologists4 7,vol4 ,i1 page xxxii et seq47 ,see also ,col4 ,prjevalsky's ,travels4 ,why should it not be so8 ,the above was written in #ahhh1 but the evidences are growing every day1 and it will be against all archaeological precedent if far-reaching results do not follow from ,dr4 ,stein's small find1 and from ,capt4 d',ollone's recent researches among the ,lolos1 and the securing by him1 as we are informed1 of the long-sought knowledge of their hieroglyphic system4 #fc-99 ,the study of ,tibetan has so far been approached almost exclusively from the south1 that is by those already familiar with ,sanskrit and ,pali4 ,to this fact1 as well as to the overwhelming influence exercised on literary ,tibetan by the ,buddhist propaganda1 is due the difficulty one meets in any study of its origins4 ,the traces1 however1 do nevertheless exist4 ,some interesting facts concerning both ,chinese and ,tibetan1 which seem to be entirely omitted in such later standard works as those of ,summers1 ,wade1 and ,giles1 are to be found in the almost forgotten ,chinese ,grammar of ,dr4 ,marshman1 ,serampore1 #ahad4 ,transcriber's ,note ,page ,error ,,tn-#a #bj two glyphs ,hieroglyph and ,hieroglyph should have a 4 at the end ,,tn-#b #be above the the should read above the ,,tn-#c #cd ,muluc ,ix1 ,cauac should read ,muluc1 ,ix1 ,cauac ,,tn-#d #ch ,cimi forms3 ,hieroglyphs should have a 4 at the end ,,tn-#e #ea relationtionship should read relationship