648 SCIENTIFIC RECORD FOR 1882. 



this is the only symbol which can be construed to indicate human sac- 

 rifices. 



6. The cross in some of its forms was in use as a religious emblem. 



7. The movement of the figures is from right to left, and the plates 

 should be taken in this way, at least by pairs; yet, as a general rule, the 

 characters are in columns, to be read downward, columns following one 

 another from left to right. When they are in lines they are to be read 

 from left to right by lines from the top downward. 



8. There is no fixed rule for the arrangement of the parts of compound 

 characters. 



9. That the characters, while phonetic, are not alphabetic, but sj'llabic. 



10. The work was probably written about the middle or latter half of 

 the fourteenth century. 



11. The Ahau, or Katun was a period of 24 years, and the great cycle, 

 of 312; the series commenced with a Cauac year. 



12. Brasseur was right in supposing it to have originated in Peteu. 

 {Cont. to N. A. Ethnology, vol. V.) 



VII. — COMPARATIVE TECHNOLOGY. 



The transfer of General Pitt-Rivers' collection to the university of Ox- 

 ford, during the current year, is an event which offers a fitting text on 

 which to rest the chapter on technology. This study includes every form 

 of human activity which demands a material upon which to operate 

 and implements for its prosecution. With the growth of society there 

 have been seasons of mutual helpfulness between the end to be attained 

 and its instrumentalities, wherein the better social order has invented 

 new tools; and, on the other hand, the improved invention has elevated 

 society. General Pitt-Rivers began many years ago to gather from all 

 parts of the world the implements of human warfare, arranging them, 

 regardless of tribes and areas, upon a theory of evolution, elaboration, 

 perfection. The same plan has been pursued in general and special col- 

 lections, resulting in a better knowledge of the progress of invention. 

 The motives operating in the works of men are two — the beautiful and 

 the good, the one resulting in art, the other in handicraft. The two can 

 hardly be separated except at their extremes, where the mere tool has no 

 symmetry or beauty, and where the chef cfceuvre has no useful function. 

 Both sorts have come over the same journey to their highest perfection. 

 The few titles cited in the bibliography appended to this paper must not 

 be looked upon as exhausting the subject. The enumeration of the titles 

 of works devoted to the history of technique would far transcend the 

 limits allowed to this entire paper. But, on the other hand, few writers 

 upon the history of useful or ornamental art seem to realize that their 

 subject has had an ontology and a phylogeny, that art itself has grown, 

 and that its growth has been indissolubly connected with the history of 

 humanity. Hence, most works on art or invention are not strictly an- 

 thropological, although their statements are of great value to the com- 



