January 23, 1902] 



NA TURE 



made of her previous labours. Unfortunately, Mrs. 

 Nuttall began to print before she realised the magnitude 

 of the task which she had undertaken, and it was im- 

 possible, therefore, for her to avail herself of the results 

 of the study of symbols, cic, given by the late Mr. John 

 O'Neil in his " Night of the Gods," by Mr. Elworthy 

 in his work on the " Evil Eye," and by Mr. Frazer in his 

 "(lolden Bough." There is, however, little cause to 

 regret this, for by works of this kind Mrs. Nuttall would 

 certainly, though unconsciously, have been influenced, 

 and it is probable that she might have been tempted to 

 modify some of her views as the result ; but as it is we 

 have her unbiased opinions placed before us, and this is 

 what is wanted at this stage of the study of primitive 

 beliefs and symbolism. Many years must elapse before 

 the final work can be written on these subjects, for all the 

 materials upon which it must be based have not yet been 

 collected, and until this is done it is futile to attempt to 

 deduce the " conclusion of the matter.'' 



Starting with the discovery that the great Mexican god 

 Tezcatlipoca was identical with Mictlantecuhtli, and that 

 having been overthrown by Huitzilopochtli he arose and 

 transformed himself into the constellation of Ursa Major, 

 Mrs. Nuttall goes on to show by a series of cuts that 

 the constellation of Ursa Major furnished the archetype 

 of the different forms of the swastika and cross symbols. 

 The ne.\t point to determine was at what epoch the 

 swastika was used as a symbol, and this Mrs. Nuttall 

 decides could not have been before Ursa Major became 

 circumpolar, i.e. about B.C. 4000. 



" At that period, when Draconis was the Pole-star, the 

 circle described about it by Ursa Major was considerably 

 closer than it is at present" (p. 21). 



At a very early period, Mrs. Nuttall thinks, Polaris 

 came to be regarded as an immutable centre of axial 

 energy, and in process of time as the symbol of the 

 Creator of the universe. The rotary motion of Ursa 

 Major was next observed carefully, and eventually the 

 different positions of the constellation became associated 

 with the seasons, and the swastika was commonly em- 

 ployed as the sign for year, or for a cycle of time. 



But besides the swastika another calendar sign is 

 known, i.e., that which is a representation of the night of 

 the winter solstice, the well-known triskelion ; examples 

 of the swastika are common among the ancient Mexicans, 

 while of the triskelion there are none. The constellations 

 of Ursa Major and Ursa Minor each contain seven stars, 

 and this mystical number appears in the seven tribes of 

 the ancient Mexicans who traced their origin to seven 

 caves situated in the north, and in the seven parts into 

 which Cosmos was divided. The first of Cosmos, or 

 fixed centre, was Polaris, creative, generative and ruling 

 power of the universe ; its Four Quarters were associated 

 with the elements and were ruled by the central force, 

 and the ideas of Above and Below, which are found in 

 Egyptian and other ancient languages, were suggested 

 by the rising and setting of celestial bodies. 



The Mexican religion being of a character so decidedly 

 astronomical, it follows that everything connected with 

 the worship of the great god would partake of the same 

 nature ; pyramids and temples were just as much astro- 

 nomical observatories as houses of God, and their con- 

 struction was planned accordingly. The people whojield 

 NO. 1682, VOL. 65] 



the views described above believed that they were de- 

 scended from star deities, and they had a legend that the 

 goddess " Starry Skirt,'' having been united to " Shining 

 Star," gave birthjo a flint knife, called Tecpatl. Their 

 other children were startled at this, and, seizing the flint 

 knife, hurled it to the earth, when it broke into pieces at the 

 " Seven Caves " and produced 1600 gods and goddesses. 

 It is worthy of note in connection with this that the flint 

 knife was called the son of Cihuacoatl, the earth-mother. 

 As befitted a religion which was based upon the cult of 

 the night sky, at least one-half of the ceremonies were 

 performed during the night ; the sacred fire burnt by day 

 and by night, and was only allowed to go out once every 

 fifty-two years. But it was rekindled at midnight 

 precisely. 



We regret that we cannot follow Mrs. Nuttall step 

 by step through her deductions from the Mexican 

 picture signs and her description of primitive cus- 

 toms and beliefs as illustrated by them, for to do so 

 would require the space allowed for several articles ; 

 the reader must do this for himself, and we are justi- 

 fied in saying that he will be rewarded for his pains if he 

 does so. The astronomical origin of nearly every habit 

 and custom of the ancient Mexican is clearly traced, 

 and the relative position of the sexes in the State, as well 

 as the classification of the people for administrative pur- 

 poses, are well delineated ; in short, what Mrs. Nuttall 

 has given us is a detailed history of the ancient Mexican 

 and his civilisation. The references to inscriptions 

 throughout the work prove that she is familiar with what 

 is known of the meaning of Mexican picture signs, and 

 many of her facts are based upon the results given by Mr. 

 Alfred Maudslay, but we are glad to see that whilst Mr. 

 Le Plongeon is quoted at times, Mrs. Nuttall does not in 

 any way identify herself with his wild views about the 

 Maya language. 



Passing from .American to Chinese civilisation, Mrs. 

 Nuttall has collected a large number of notes and 

 passages from which it is seen that the Chinese held 

 views about Ursa Major, the Four Quarters of Heaven, 

 the Above and the Below, &c., very like those which 

 were held by the ancient Mexicans, and it is re- 

 markable how close is the similarity between the habits 

 and customs and religion of the two peoples in certain 

 respects. The really interesting point in connection 

 with such similarity is to account for its existence ; at 

 present it is impossible to do this, and we do not see that 

 the difficulty is in any way lightened by the theory which 

 makes the Chinese to come originally from Babylonia, 

 which country the emigrants are said to have abandoned 

 when Kutir-Nakhkhunte conquered Babylon, B.C. 2295. 

 The identity of Chinese and Akkadian has not been 

 demonstrated to the satisfaction either of Chinese or 

 Akkadian scholars in general, although it was fashionable 

 some few years ago to declare that the two languages 

 were one and the same tongue ; the theory was not 

 entertained by any except Chinese scholars who knew 

 no Akkadian, or by men who knew a little Akkadian but 

 had no knowledge of Chinese. The remarks on the 

 entrance of Buddhism into China in the first century of 

 our era are to the point, and the e.xtracts from the famous 

 bilingual Syriac and Chinese inscription (p. 304) at 

 Singanfu which Mrs. Nuttall quotes contain interesting 



