16 



ARCHEOLOGY. 



and as an Integral Part of the Church Catholic " 

 (introduced by the Bishop of Peterborough); "The 

 Causes of Intemperance and Possible Remedies " ; 

 " The Supplementary Ministries of the Church of 

 England for Home-Mission Work " ; " The Bearing 

 of the Theory of Evolution on Christian Doctrine " 

 (discussed by Archdeacon Wilson, Prof. T. G. Bon- 

 noy. Canon Gore, and the Rev. C. L. Engstrom) ; 

 " Elementary Education," treated under the three 

 aspects of " Proposed Relief to Voluntary Schools," 

 " Decentralization," and " Parental Rights and Re- 

 sponsibilities " ; '* Church Reform " in its prac- 

 tical and its constitutional aspect, and including 

 " The Part of the Laity in the Government and Ad- 

 ministration of the Affairs of the Church in the 

 Province, in the Diocese, and in the Parish " and 

 " The Concession of Legislative Powers by Means of 

 a Reformed Convocation " ; " Missions " considered 

 under the heads of " The Necessity of stirring the 

 Heart and Conscience of the Church to Greater 

 Earnestness in Foreign Missionary Work " and 

 " The Need of a ' Eoreign Service Order ' for Insur- 

 ing an Adequate Supply of Men for the Colonies 

 and Mission Field " ; " The Duty of the Church in 

 regard to the Industrial Problems of the Day " ; 

 " The Disciplinary Powers of the Anglican Church 

 over Clergy and Laity respectively ; their Origin 

 and Excuse ; and the need of their Adaptation to 

 Present Requirements " ; " The Continuity of the 

 Church of England (1) a Historical Fact ; (2) not 

 broken by any Political Action under Henry VI IT, 

 Edward VI, or Elizabeth, or by any Doctrinal or 

 Disciplinary Changes " ; " Art in its Relation to the 

 Church " (Mr. Holman Hunt) ; " Different Aspects 

 of the Office for the Holy Communion (a) Com- 

 munion, (b) Worship, (c) Intercession " ; " Interna- 

 tional Relations in the Light of the Gospel " ; 

 " Tendencies of Modern Society which need to be 

 considered in the Light of Christian Teaching (a) 

 Social Extravagance, (b) Current Literature, Society 

 Papers, Novels, etc., (c) Amusements and Recrea- 

 tions " ; and " Impoverishment of the Clergy and the 

 Central Sustentation Fund." 



After the close of the Church Congress the 

 Church Reform League met and decided to follow 

 up the strong feeling that had been expressed in 

 favor of Church reform in the first session devoted 

 to that subject by organizing a series of public 

 meetings in behalf of it in various centers dur- 

 ing the ensuing winter months. Besides the local 

 meetings, 4 public conferences were contemplated, 

 to be held in London, on (1) the self-government of 

 the Church ; (2) the position of the laity ; (3) dis- 

 cipline ; (4) patronage and finance. 



ARCHAEOLOGY. In speaking at the annual 

 meeting of the Egypt Exploration Fund, Nov. 13, 

 of the great progress that had been made during the 

 last ten years in the study of archeology. Prof. W. M. 

 Flinders Petrie presented the scientific value and 

 importance of the subject. Egyptology in partic- 

 ular, he said, had made great advances, one indica- 

 tion of which was the unexpectedly large circula- 

 tion of books relating to it. There had, too, been 

 a more scientific spirit shown in its treatment, and 

 problems were approached simply with the desire to 

 learn the truth, and not with the object of pr< ving 

 something. The time had indeed come when ar- 

 cheology was regarded as one of the elements of a 

 liberal education. It was now fully recognized 

 that it was not a mere fad or dilettant amusement, 

 but had thrown great light on the history of the 

 human mind. Egyptology had, for example, laid 

 down a reasonable chronology, which might be ac- 

 cepted as accurate, within two or three centuries, 

 of the early historic civilizations. It pointed out 

 the date of the introduction of the use of metals in 

 Europe. Egyptology had brought us to more ac- 



curate methods of research into the twilight of the 

 historical dawn. 



American. Recent work in American archaeol- 

 ogy has been directed largely to the continued ex- 

 ploration and more careful examination of sites 

 previously entered upon and of the objects derived 

 from them, and has resulted in more accurate 

 knowledge rather than startling discoveries. Prof. 

 W. H. Holmes has published an account of his ob- 

 servations during a voyage to the Gulf coast of 

 Mexico, in which he made several visits to the 

 ruined cities of the interior, the descriptions of 

 which, with views, constitute the mass of the work. 

 He has reached the general conclusion that the peo- 

 ple who built these cities were of tribes represented 

 in the country to-day by 500,000 Indians of more 

 or less pure blood. They were well advanced in 

 many branches of culture, and stood at the head of 

 American nations in the march toward civilization. 

 They were recent comers to the peninsula (of Yuca- 

 tan), and must have had their origin in the West 

 or Northwest. They are best represented by their 

 architectural remains, which exhibit many unique 

 and interesting features, all probably of native 

 development, though in some cases strongly sug- 

 gesting foreign models. The author reviews critic- 

 ally some of the more striking features of this archi- 

 tect ure. The greatest marvel of the monuments is, 

 perhaps, the system of mural decoration, a large 

 part of the wall space being covered with sculp- 

 tures. A multitude of symbolic devices and de- 

 signs have been worked out in high relief by set- 

 ting separate sculptured blocks into the face of the 

 wall and forming a rich mosaic. We discover in 

 the nonessential elaborations of these ancient build- 

 ings numerous elements surely traceable to con- 

 st ructive sources, but we further perceive that most 

 of the motives employed in embellishments have 

 their origin in religion ; that their use in art was 

 first significant, and second aesthetic. It is pretty 

 certain that even in the latest periods of Maya 

 history the various motives employed in decoration 

 were not only significant, but that they were not 

 used out of their traditional or appropriate associa- 

 tions. The sculptor's work is crude when com- 

 pared with civilized art, but virile and apparently 

 full of promise of high achievements. Portrait 

 sculpture was probably not practiced, or if at- 

 tempted the form of expression was so conventional 

 as to rob the representation of marked individ- 

 uality. Sculpture found its subjects almost wholly 

 within the animal kingdom, and though we observe 

 that species were portrayed with some degree of 

 truth, it is apparent that with creatures as with 

 human beings, mythic characters were of more 

 importance to the sculptor than the realistic. 

 Graphic art seems to have covered the whole field 

 of Nature generally with rude vigor. Extensive 

 subjects in bright colors covering the walls of some 

 of the chambers of Chichen include village scenes 

 and battle pieces strongly suggesting the work in 

 some of the ancient manuscripts. There is a lack 

 of perspective and a mixing up of sizes, and the 

 general style of presentation is suggestive of that 

 of the ancient Egyptians. 



Wall Paintings of Mitla. The paintings that 

 once decorated the walls of the ruins of Mitla have 

 been copied, and are published in colors at Berlin 

 with a memoir on the subject by Dr. E. Seler, who 

 has attempted to identify the figures. The largest 

 number of the frescoes are found to represent Que- 

 tzalcoatl, a divinity whose story is familiar to stu- 

 dents of ancient Mexican history. The pictures 

 are shown by Dr. Seler to resemble those of the 

 Codex Borgia, whence the conclusion is drawn 

 that they and the codex had a kindred origin. 

 Representations of other mythical personages, 



