94 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 57 



ble to any period; for no period could be exac% complete \^^tllout a 

 fractional remainder unless all the lower periods were wanting; that 

 is, represented by zero. Whether this explains the connection be- 

 tween the outline of the tonalamatl and the zero sign, or whether 

 indeed there be any connection between the two, is of course a 

 matter of conjecture. 



There is still one more normal form for zero not included in the 

 examples given above, which must be described. This form (fig. 49), 

 which occurs throughout the inscriptions and in the Dresden Codex,^ 

 is cMefly interesting because of its highly speciahzed function. 

 Indeed, it was used for one purpose only, namely, to express the 

 first, or zero, position in each of the 19 divisions of the haab, or year, 

 and for no other. In other words, it denotes the positions Pop, 

 TJo, Zip, etc., which, as we have seen (pp. 47, 48), corresponded 



A\dth ourfii'st days of the months. 

 The forms slio\ra in figure 49, a-e, 

 are from the inscriptions and those 

 in f-h from the Dresden Codex. 

 They are all similar. The general 

 outhne of the sign has suggested 

 the name "the spectacle" gl3iT)h. 

 Its essential characteristic seems 

 to be the division into two roughly 

 circular parts, one above the 

 other, best seen in the Dresden 

 Codex forms (fig. 49, f-Ji) and a 

 F,<,.«. sp.,.^,j.„_^,o^o^„s.d»c,„s,,,,,.. ^„„guy eircular infix in each. 



The lower infix is quite regular 

 in all of the forms, being a circle or ring. The upper infix, however, 

 varies considerably. In figure 49, a, h, this ring has degenerated into 

 a loop. In c and d of the same figure it has become elaborated mto 

 a head. A simpler form is that in / and g. Although comparatively 

 rare, this glyph is so unusual in form that it can be readily recognized. 

 Moreover, if the student will bear in mind the two following points 

 concerning its use, he will never fail to identify it in the inscriptions: 

 The "spectacle" sign (1) can be attached only to the glyphs for the 

 19 divisions of the haab, or year, that is, the 18 uinals and the xma 

 kaba kin; in other words, it is found only with the glyphs sho^vn in 

 figures 19 and 20, the signs for the months in the inscriptions and 

 codices, respectively. 



(2) It can occur only in connection with one of the four day-signs, 

 Ik, Manik, Eb, and Caban (see figs. 16, c, j, s, t, u, a' , h', and 17, c, d, Jc, 

 r, X, y, respectively), since these four alone, as appears in Table VII, 

 can occupy the (zero) positions in the several divisions of the haab. 



I This form of zero has been found only in the Dresden Codex. Its absence from the other two codices 

 is doubtless due to the fact that the month glyphs are recorded only a very few times in them— but once in 

 the Code.x Tro-Cortesiano and three times in the Codex Peresianus. 



