665 



[Valentini. 



sliows a shaft, vertically placed upon a disk, rom wliich four flashes of 

 smoke aud fire curl up. By this picture was 

 expressed the solemn act of re-kindling the 

 sacred fire ; a ceremony which took place before 

 the assembly of the whole people in the last 

 hour of the cyclical year. The identity of this 

 pictiire, sculptured, with that painted in the 

 Mexican Codies is exemplified by copies taken 

 from the large collection of Lord Kingsborough, 

 aud its correct interpretation is warranted by 

 referring to the authentic text. The author 

 now says : That, if the stone evidently was consecrated in the year 1479 : 

 if further, the tablet containing the sign for this year not only is fixed at 

 the top of the monument, but also, within this cycle-zone and at its top : 

 and finally, if two large pointers are seen to lead the two halves of this 

 zone toward this same tablet of 1479 — the artist's intention has been to 

 give to understand that the Mexicans, in the year 1479, had counted the 

 sum of twenty-four cycles elapsed, or twenty-four festivals celebrated 

 in honor of their Sun god. Twenty-four cycles represent the sum of one 

 thousand two hundred and forty-eight years. This sum subtracted from 

 the year 1479 leads back to a year of our era equivalent to 231 A.D. 

 Hence, the stone not only shows division of time, generally, but alsa a 

 definite quantity of time, which the benignant Deity had granted to his 

 people. To find a chronological record of this kind sculptured upon this 

 monument appears to be in full concordance with its votive character. 



The author is of the opinion, that by the year 231 A.D. the date has 

 been expressed from which the civilized races of Mexico and Yucatan 

 began to reckon a new political or religious era. His computations of 

 the chronologies written by Satlilxodritl, Veytia and Chimalpopoca, and 

 of that of the Maya-people, have given him an almost identical result. 

 The variations are : 231 A.D., 242 A.D., and 245 A.D. 



Dates prior to these, and mentioned in Mexican history, can now be 

 correctly determined. Thus, the year X Calli, that of an universal 

 eclipse of the Sun, is equivalent to our year 137 A.D. = Lapse of the 

 great Sothic period in the Orient, and coinciding with the Mexican date 

 of the departure of the civilizing races from the distant Tiilapan. The 

 year 1 Tecpatl proves to be equivalent to 29 B. Cr. = Introduction of the 

 Julian calendar in Asia Minor by Cgesar Octavianus, and it is called by the 

 Mexicans : the meeting of the Astrologers in Huehuetlapallan for the 

 purpose of correcting the calendar. 



These latter suggestions do not enter into the memoir, but will be 

 more extensively treated in a later paper, if that of the Mexican Calendar 

 Stone should meet with a favorable reception. 



Mr. Walter presented to the library of the Society, as a 

 srift from Mr. John Mc Arthur, Jr., architect of the New 



