132 proceedings: anthropological society 



article at the right side of her door if she belonged to the Ho n -ga division, 

 at the left side if she belonged to the Tsi-zhu division. The observance 

 of right and left pertained to many details connected with the tribal 

 ceremonies and appeared in the daily customs of the people. 



The paper was discussed by Miss Alice C. Fletcher and Messrs. 

 Hodge, Swanton, Fewkes, Mooney, and Michelson, among others. 

 Similar dualistic concepts regarding right and left or earth and sky 

 as determining social relationships and fundamental modes of con- 

 duct were reported as found in widely separated tribes, such as the Hopi 

 of the Southwest and the Piegan of the north. The discussion cen- 

 tered largely upon the significance of 7 and 6 as sacred numbers, which 

 are found widely spread in ancient and oriental nations as well as in 

 America. Several members referred the origin of 6 as a sacred or 

 occult number to the six "cardinal points," north, south, east, west, 

 up, and down. The number 7 adds to these the concept of the center 

 between the points. Dr. Fewkes referred at length to his earlier 

 studies of the preference given the left hand in the sacred mysteries 

 of the Zunis and what he has called the "sinistral circuit," which was 

 followed, for instance, in Zuni processions and by anyone approaching 

 the kiva. Some theories account for this significance of the left side 

 by this being the side where lies the heart and the side which sup- 

 ports the shield in battle. Miss Fletcher dwelt upon the intellectual 

 and especially the poetic and anthropomorphic character of the con- 

 cepts of the Indian thinker who faces nature in the open and feels im- 

 pelled to think out and give reasons for things. Is not the sky side, 

 the left in the Osage conception, given the place of honor because of a 

 deep feeling of its religious significance? 



Daniel Folkmar, Secretary. 



