November 4, 1898.] 



SCmNGE. 



627 



Archreology is a branch which the Mu- 

 seum has always cultivated, and it made an 

 honorable display at Madrid and Chicago. 

 In the present report there is appended a 

 lithograph of a remarkable monolithic in- 

 scription on the right bank of the Eio 

 Colorado, province of Guanacaste. It dis- 

 plays two well-known conventional signs 

 for ' man ' surmounted by what seems to be 

 the drawing of a tomahawk, and above 

 this an elaborate figure, apparently of a 

 house or other building. A photograph 

 and exact measurements would be most 

 desirable and are necessary for a proper 

 study of the monument. 



THE BORGIAN CODEX. 



This valuable relic of ancient Mexican 

 literature, deriving its name from Cardinal 

 Borgia and preserved in the library of the 

 Vatican, has been recently reproduced in 

 fac-simile by the munificence of the Due de 

 Loubat. The copies are limited in number 

 and most of them have been presented to 

 institutions. The one I have seen is in the 

 library of the Museum of the University of 

 Pennsylvania. 



The Codex makes a book lOJ inches 

 square, folded in the usual Mexican manner 

 (like a screen), of 74 pages, and is appar- 

 ently complete. Its contents appear to be 

 the arrangement of the tonalamatl, in various 

 sequences, for divining purposes. The gro- 

 tesque collections of objects indicate the 

 phonetic element of the picture writing, 

 according to the ' ikonomatic ' system . 



The reproduction is most carefully exe- 

 cuted and olfers the student all the advan- 

 tages of the original document. 



A NEWLY-PUBLISHED AZTEC DOCUMENT. 



Dr. Antonio Penafiel, already well 

 known for his publications on Mexican 

 archaeology, has begun the issue of a ' Col- 

 lecion de Documentos para la Historia 

 Mexicana,' with a reproduction, in colors, 

 of the ' Mexican Manuscript, No. 4,' of the 



Royal Library of Berlin. It dates from 

 after the Conquest, about 1539, with a text 

 in Nahuatl and Spanish. The colored fig- 

 ures represent the names of places and of 

 persons exhibited by that method of pho- 

 netic writing for which I have proposed the 

 term ' ikonomatic ' (see my ' Essays of an 

 Americanist,' pp. 213-229). Dr. Penafiel 

 is not always successful in the analysis of 

 these complex figures. Thus (p. 33) Tepe- 

 coman was not understood by the native 

 artist as tepetl, town, and comalU, dish (as 

 Dr. P. says, p. 73), but as tepetl, mountain; 

 CO, in ; maitl, hand ; so he drew the picture 

 to represent a baud in, and coming out of, 

 a mountain. 



The publication is of much interest to 

 archseologists, and it is earnestly to be 

 hoped that the erudite editor will continue 



the series. t\ r^ -d 



D. G. Beinton. 



Univeesity of Pennsylvania. 



SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS. 

 THE naturalists AND AFFILIATED SOCIETIES. 



The program of the American Society of 

 Naturalists to beheld in New York on Wednes- 

 day and Thursday, December 28th and 29th, is 

 as follows : 



December SSth, at the American Museum of Natural 

 History, at 8 p. m. Address of welcome by the Pres- 

 ident of the Museum, Morris K. Jesup, followed by a 

 lecture on ' Collections of Fossil Slammals and their 

 Care,' by Professor Henry F. Osborn. At 9:30 a re- 

 ception to the Naturalists and AiiSliated Societies, 

 given by Professor Osborn at his house, No. 850 Madi- 

 son avenue. 



December S9tli, at Sohermerhorn Hall, Columbia 

 University, 12:30-3 p. m., provision will be made for 

 those members who wish to lunch at the University 

 (West Hall). 2. p. m., business meeting of the Nat- 

 uralists. At 3 the anunal discussion on ' Advances 

 in Methods of University Teaching,' by representa- 

 tives of seven societies, the Ana omists, Anthropolo- 

 gists, Geologists, Botanical Morphologists, Animal 

 Morphologists, Physiologists and Psychologists. At 

 6:30 an informal session of the Naturalists will be 

 held, pending the annual dinner at 7. 



On Friday, December 30th, an opportunity 

 will be given for the members to visit the 



