November 11, 1898.] 



SCIENCE. 



667 



illustrated by some Rhode Island exam- 

 ples.' Its coatents are well worth perusal 

 and reflection. 



THE MAYAN HIEROGLTPHICS. 



In the Deutsche Literaturzeitung , August, 

 1898, Dr. Ed. Seler gives what is intended 

 to be a withering review of the ' Primer of 

 Mayan Hieroglyphics,' written by me and 

 published in 1895. It could hardly be ex- 

 pected that Dr. Seler should be pleasantly 

 impressed on reading the book, for I felt 

 constrained in various passages (pp.83, 87, 

 89, 91, 92, 99, 112, 114, etc.) to point out 

 the patent errors into which he had fallen, 

 and how often he had adopted the Abbe 

 Brasseur's views, always without acknowl- 

 edgment of his French authority. He 

 makes himself especially merry over what 

 I explain (p. 24) as the ' cosmic sign,' 

 representing the world as a whole in the 

 pictography of the Mayas. Had he been 

 really acquainted with the symbolism of 

 native American art, as shown, for instance, 

 by Professor Putnam and Dr. Willoughby 

 in their model paper on the subject (Proc. 

 Am. Assoc. Adv. Science, 1896), or as ap- 

 preciated in the writings of such students 

 as Mr. Gushing, Dr. Matthews and Miss 

 Fletcher, he would probably have been less 

 humorous, certainly less dogmatic and 

 possibly more just. 



COINCIDENCES. 



Under this title Professor Max Miiller 

 has an article in the Fortnightly Revieiu which 

 he closes in these words : " I shall remain 

 true to my conviction that all coincidences, 

 whether in mythology, religion, art or litera- 

 ture, have a reason, if only we can find it." 



It is evident from the examples in the 

 article that the Professor means an objec- 

 tive reason, one from external suggestion, 

 and that coincidences to him signify appro- 

 priations. 



Of course, in a certain percentage of cases 

 this is so, and nobody would deny it ; but 



in another and large percentage it is not 

 so. The coincidences are due to independ- 

 ent mental evolution along the same lines, 

 under the impulse of the same desires. 

 This is true in all four of the fields named 

 by the essayist, as well as others; and it is 

 perhaps the most significant discovery in 

 modern ethnology. That Professor Max 

 Miiller has refused to accept it is the reason 

 why his vast labors on Comparative Religion 

 have exerted such incommensurate influence 

 on anthropologic science. 



D. G. Brinton. 

 Univeesity of Pennsylvania. 



SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS. 



A MONUMENT to Pasteur was unveiled, if the 

 arrangements were carried out, at Lille, on 

 November 5th, an oration in memory of Pas- 

 teur being made by M. Duclaux. 



The University of Vienna will place in the 

 hall of the University a bust of Dr. Miiller, 

 whose life was sacrificed in attending the labora- 

 tory servant Barisoh, infected with the plague 

 in Professor Notbnagel's laboratory. 



The Royal University of Ireland has con- 

 ferred its honorary D.Sc. on Mr. Thomas Pres- 

 ton, the physicist. 



Dr. T. H. Bean has recently spent a month 

 in making collections of fishes along the southern 

 shore of Long Island, in the interest of the U. 

 S. Fish Commission. 



A vacancy in the position of Marine Meteor- 

 ologist, Mare Island Navy Yard, California, 

 will be filled by a civil service examination on 

 December 6th. 



We record with much regret the death of Dr. 

 James I. Peck, assistant professor of biology in 

 Williams College and Assistant Director of the 

 Marine Biological Laboratory at Woods Holl. 

 We hope to give in a subsequent issue some ac- 

 count of Dr. Peck's life and work. His un- 

 timely death is a serious loss to zoology and will 

 be deplored by many friends. 



The death is announced of Dr. David A. 

 Wells, the eminent writer on economics. It is, 

 perhaps, not well known that he began his 



