August 4, 1893.] 



SCIENCE. 



67 



A NOTE ON THE APPLICATION OF SCIENTIFEC METHOD 

 TO LITERATURE. 



BY C. MICHENEB, SAN FRANCISCO, CAL. 



People have lately begun to study literary products induc- 

 tively; but that study has been almost entirely systematic. 

 Words, sentences, paragraphs, figures of speech, etc., are counted 

 and classified, and from the results obtained some slight conclu- 

 sions are drawn as to the development of style. This is un- 

 doubtedly good work. But it is easy work and perhaps it is on 

 that account that we so readily see that it is good. 



In the present paper I wish to propose something more diffi- 

 cult. I wish to indicate the use of a science as a tool in the 

 study of literary products scientifically. The history of any 

 science is a story of development by stages, each successive stage 

 of advance caused by the application of another department of 

 science to the investigation of the one in question, for example, 

 mathematics to electricity. 



Literature is a product of the mind, and its use and purpose are 

 by and for the mind. Is it not then intimately connected with 

 psychology, and should not an investigation and comparison of 

 the facts of each be of benefit in determining the laws of each? 



Let us take, for example, that exceedingly important part of 

 most literary products, Plot. As an outline for the study of plot 

 {not to be confounded, of course, with plot content), I would pro- 

 pose the following: — 



(A.) The psycholgical bases of plot. Here the main part of the 

 work is to be done. The exceedingly delicate mental phenomena 

 included loosely under such terms as attention and interest are to 

 be investigated by experiments as wide in range as possible ; and 

 from all this should result facts enough for the construction of 

 the ideal plot and the determination of its structure. This we 

 might call 



The typical plot, that is, plot stripped of all accidental factors 

 and limitations. The next step would be to consider the various 

 adaptive modifications which this typical plot would undergo 

 when subjected to the restraints and environment of the various 

 great classes of literary products ; and our investigations under 

 the first head, and I think I may say such investigation only, will 

 enable us to understand the differentiation. We should thus be 

 led to consider the plot of the lyric, the epic, the drama, the 

 novel, etc. 



B. The temporal development of plot. Here we should com- 

 mence from the other end as it were, and from the existing liter- 

 ary products trace the growth of plot from, its beginning to the 

 present ; and from these records obtain the history of the devel- 

 opment of those mental functions which plot presupposes. This 

 second division is the natural and necessary complement and 

 check of the first and should be as useful to psychology in this 

 department and, in an analogous way, as paleontology is to zool- 

 ogy or botany. 



That the method here outlined is merely tentative I confess. 

 It would, of course, be severely limited and the conclusions im- 

 paired by any limitation in (he range of experiments under the 

 first head ; and in the present state of scientific psychology to be 

 at all possible, the method would have to be materially modified 

 to produce any result at all. I have, however, in this present 

 note, only attempted to be suggestive, not conclusive. 



LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. 



A Case of Protective Mimicry. 



This morning, as I was passing a small apricot tree standing in 

 my yard, my attention was arrested by what appeared to be a 

 short stub of a branch, about IJ inches long, projecting from the 

 side of the tree about 20 inches from the ground. Having re- 

 cently pruned the tree carefully, I wondered how I had happened 

 to leave that stub, and at once applied my pocket-knife to remove 

 it. Much to my surprise, I found that the supposed stub of a 

 branch was a moth attached by its head to the side of the tree. 

 The accompanying sketch represents its appearance. 



The grayish-brown mottled color of the closed wings of the 

 moth matched the color of the bark completely, and the angle 



made by the axis of its body with the tree was such as a branch 

 would naturally make. It was attached with its ventral surface 

 uppermost, and the extremity of the abdomen, which projected 

 beyond the closed wings, was nearly white, as seen from above, 

 thus imitating very perfectly the central woody portion of the 

 broken branch. Having turned the moth over in my attempt to 

 remove the supposed branch, it assumed the natural position of 

 such insects on the side of the tree, but upon returning a half-hour 

 later I found it again in the position shown in the figure. Several 



other persons who saw it were as completely deceived by its ap- 

 pearance as I had been, and ic is easy to believe that the keen eyes 

 of a hungry insect-eating bird might see there only the stub, and 

 thus be cheated out of a breakfast. Geo. H. Colton. 



Htram, O., June 11. 



A Maya Month Name. 



As every additional find in reference to the Maya manuscripts 

 is of interest to some of the readers of Science, I submit the fol- 

 lowing item. 



In the bottom line, PI. 46, Dresden Codex, is the glyph shown 

 in P'ig. 1, which, as all students of these Codices admit, is the 

 symbol for the Maya month Kayab. Here it is without the ap- 

 pendage which sometimes accompanies it. In Fig. 3, from the 

 bottom line of the Dresden Codex, Plate 61, the form is more 

 complete, and the appendage is present. 



The signification given by Perez to the name of this month is 

 "singing," from the Maya word Kay, "to sing, to warble," but a 

 study of the symbol leads to quite a different interpretation. 

 According to the interpretation heretofore given by me {American 

 Anthropologist, July, 1893, p. 246) the character in the upper 

 right-hand corner of the glyph has b as its chief phonetic element, 



which is also one of the consonant sounds of the word Kayab, and 

 the appendage is the month determinative. But I was unable at 

 the time the article referred to was written to indicate the por- 

 tion of the symbol denoting the fc' element. A more thorough 

 examination, as given in Fig. 3, has called my attention to the 

 fact that in the left portion and general form we have precisely 

 the symbol for Aao (Ac, Ak), the "turtle," as given in the upper 

 division of Plate 17, Cortesian Codex. Following this interpreta- 

 tion, the true name of the month is Acyab or Akyab, which, for 

 the sake of euphony, has been changed to Kayab. The derivation, 

 according to this interpretation, will be from Ac or Ak, "turtle," 

 and Yabot Yaab, " many, abundant, plentiful." Adding the month 

 determinative, we obtain as the full signification, "The month 

 when turtles abound." Whether or not turtles are most abundant 

 on the coast of Yucatan during the month of June I am unable to 

 say. The only evidence I have at hand relating to the subject is 

 found in Mrs. LePlongeon's charming little work, " Here and 

 There in Yucatan." In this she describes a trip along the coast 

 in June, at which time turtle catching was in progress and at- 

 tended with great success, the fishermen's pens being full. Dr. 

 Sohellhas {Zeitschrift fiir Ethnologic, 1892) notices the resemblance 

 of this character to the turtle symbol. 



