M 



useum 



Notes 



Since the last issue of the Journal, the 

 following persons have become members of 

 the Museum : 



Patron, Mrs. Willard Straight. 



Life Members, Mrs. Delos O. Wickham, 

 and Messrs. Wm. Eeynolds Brown, 

 Henry L. Doherty, Bruce Ford, E. H. E. 

 Green, H. M. Hanna, Jr., W. P. Harden- 

 BERGH, Edwin Kuttroff, W. H. Marshall, 

 Wm. H. Nichols, E. W. Eice, Jr., Archi- 

 bald T. ScoFiELD, Edw. E. Stettinius, and 

 Samuel M. Vauclain. 



Sustaining Member, Mr. C. H. Zehnder. 



Annual Members, Mrs. Frederick H. 

 Eaton, Mrs. Louis Fitzgerald, Mrs. 

 Maude Kissam, Mrs. Geo. Lauder, Jr., 

 Misses A, V. Acker, Thora Eonalds, and 

 Annette Young, General John Pitman, 

 United States Army, Colonel David L. 

 Brainard, United States Army, Dr. E. H. 

 Arnold, Dr. James C. Ayer, Dr. Frank 

 Erdwurm, and Messrs. Frank Altschul, 

 W. I. Babcock, George V. N. Baldwin, 

 Jr., Paul J. Baumgarten, Eobert C. Birk- 

 HAHN, Henry Block, Albert Blum, Er- 

 nest Clive Brown, Edwin G. Bruns, Jr., 

 William J. Burns, George H. Burr, 

 Charles E. Bushnell, Edward T. Cald- 

 well, Herbert J. Carr, John J. Carty, J. 

 Herbert Case, A. Wayne Clark, Wm. Ed- 

 ward Coffin, Martin Conboy, H. C. Cor- 

 son, George D. Cross, John V. N. Dorr, 

 Leonard H. Dyer, Ernest Ellinger, 

 Franklin Ford, W. W. Frazier, Abraham 

 A. Heller, Victor Herbert, Chas. H. 

 Herty, Harvey Lewis Hooke, Edwin J. 

 Keane, F. J. Le Maistre, Fritz Linden- 



MEYR, E. C. LUFKIN, NeLSON B. MaYER, T. 



E. Mitten, Ewald Mommer, Charles S. 

 Montgomery, William J. Palmer, Ber- 

 nard E. Pollak, David Price, Louis Eie- 

 gel, Edward G. Eiggs, Joseph Eunsheim, 

 Eaymond M. Schrenkeisen, Herbert Sco- 

 viLLE, John Sloane, Augustus Smith, 

 Elmer A. Sperry, C. W. Stowell, Duncan 

 D. Sutphen, W. E. Symons, Alfonso P. 

 Villa, Francis Eawle Wadleigh, Ellis 

 D. Williams, and Walter H. Wilson, and 

 the Ethical Culture School. 



For their generous gifts and continued co- 

 operation in the work of the American Mu- 

 seum, the following have been elected to 

 higher degrees of memVjership: 



Associate Founder, Mr. A. D. Juilliard. 



Associate Benefactors, Messrs. Freder- 

 ick F. Brewster, James B. Ford, Heney 

 C. Frick, and Adrian Iselin, Jr. 



Patrons, Mrs. Paul J. Sachs, and 

 Messrs. Henry P. Davison and Paul J. 

 Sachs. 



Fellows, Messrs. Charles L. Bern- 

 HEiMER and B. Preston Clark. 



An interesting series of slabs of carved 

 jade, together with other semiprecious stones 

 from the state of Oaxaca in southern Mex- 

 ico, has recently been acquired by the Amer- 

 ican Museum. The slabs of jade are 

 perforated for suspension and were probably 

 used as breast ornaments by persons of rank. 

 They were cut from stream-worn pebbles, by 

 a tedious process, using sand and water and 

 a cord, and were afterward carved by the 

 same general method, the circle being made 

 by means of hollow canes, and the lines by 

 means of a pointed stick and sand. The de- 

 signs in most cases represent entire human 

 figures with greatly enlarged heads and with 

 limbs warped to fill out the irregularities of 

 the slab. Headdresses of animals are worn 

 by the figures in some instances, but are so 

 conventionalized that only the eyes and teeth 

 can be made out. The chief beauty of the 

 carvings consists, however, not in the design, 

 but in the exquisite coloring of the stones. 



The town of Tuxtepec, from which the 

 specimens come, is a region now occupied by 

 the Chinanteca Indians, and the carvings re- 

 semble those found at the famous ruin of 

 Monte Alban, which occupies the great hill 

 overlooking the city of Oaxaca and repre- 

 sents one 'of the earlier civilizations of the 

 Mexican highlands. The fact that most of 

 these tablets show weathered surfaces gives 

 some indication of the geological conditions 

 under which the jade occurs. As yet jade 

 has not been found in situ in this region, and 

 it has been a mystery to many persons where 

 the material was obtained by the Indians in 

 such quantity. Examination of the Aztecan 

 documents discloses the fact that jade and 

 other precious stones, called by the Aztecs 

 "clialchihuitl," were demanded as a tribute 

 from certain vassal towns in southern Mex- 

 ico. This fact seems to localize the occur- 

 rence of jade and to offer hints to the 

 mineralogist. Carved stones of this type 



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