SCOPE OF THE PRESENT INVESTIGATION. 35 
interlocking relationships, to the standard section of ancient American his- 
tory furnished by the Maya inscriptions. 
In addition to this purely chronological matter in the Maya inscriptions, 
there is also a mass of related astronomical data, as noted above. For 
example, the apparent revolutions of the Moon, Venus, and probably other 
planets were accurately observed and recorded. Solar eclipses were pre- 
dicted; and larger time-periods exactly containing different smaller time- 
periods were evolved.'' Moreover, as we gradually press our way into the 
meaning of the undeciphered glyphs, it is becoming increasingly apparent 
that these intricate graphic symbols deal more with the subject-matter of 
astronomy than with the details of history. 
With far-reaching vision and profound understanding, Brinton, in 
another passage written over 25 years ago, long before the results of modern 
research had justified such a conclusion, closely prognosticated this condition: 
“A careful examination of Dr. Férstemann’s remarkable studies, as well as a 
number of other considerations drawn from the Codices themselves, has persuaded 
me that the general purpose of the Codices and the greater inscriptions, as those of 
Palenque, have been misunderstood and underrated by most writers. In one of his 
latest papers Professor Cyrus Thomas says of the Codices: ‘These records are to a 
large extent only religious calendars’; and Dr. Seler has expressed his distrust in 
Dr. Férstemann’s opinions as to their astronomic contents. My own conviction is 
that they will prove to be much more astronomical than even the latter believes; 
that they are primarily and essentially records of the motions of the heavenly bodies; 
and that both figures and characters are to be interpreted as referring in the first 
instance to the sun and moon, the planets, and those constellations which are most 
prominent in the nightly sky in the latitude of Yucatan. 
“This conclusion is entirely in accordance with the results of the most recent 
research inneighboring fields of Americanculture. The profound studies of the Mexi- 
can calendar undertaken by Mrs. Zelia Nuttall have vindicated for it a truly surpris- 
ing accuracy which could have come only from prolonged and accurately registered 
observations of the relative apparent motions of the celestial bodies. We may be 
sure that the Mayas were not behind the Nahuas in this, and in the grotesque 
figures and strange groupings which illustrate the pages of their books we should 
look for pictorial representations of astronomic events. 
“Of course, as everywhere else, with this serious astronomic lore were associated 
notions of astrology, dates for fixing rites and ceremonies, mythical narratives, 
cosmogonical traditions and liturgies, incantations, and prescriptions for religious 
functions. But through this maze of superstition I believe we can thread our way 
if we hold onto the clue which astronomy can furnish us.’” 
1The best example of this last is the period of 2,920 days, containing 8 solar years of 365 days each, and 5 Venus 
years of 584 days each, so elaborately set forth in pages 24 and 46-50 of the Dresden Codex. See Bowditch, 1910, Pp- 
63-68, 229; Férstemann, 1906, pp. 110-120, 182-196; Morley, 1915, pp. 31-32, 276-278; Spinden, 191% pp. 109-1123 
and Seler, 1902-1908, vol. 1, pp. 618-667. For an English translation of the last, see Seler, 19044, pp,i355-391. 
2Brinton, 1895, pp. 32, 33. This prediction i is all the more remarkable in view of the state of knowledge onthe: 
subject when it was made. Goodman’s important publication had not yet appeared, and the Maya chronological 
system as recorded in the inscriptions was but imperfectly comprehended. In Maya archeology Brinton’s contri- 
butions are for the most part fundamental and permanent. Thus his Maya Chronicles (1882), published a genera- 
tion ago, in spite of many inaccuracies, contains the essentials for the entire reconstruction of Maya history. To 
an extraordinary degree, doubtless due as much to an innately philosophical mind as to his breadth of learn- 
ing, he seems to have possessed a faculty of prevision, of seeing in advance of exact proof, the broad general out- 
lines of the subjects with which he was dealing. This is certainly true of his work in the Maya field, and 
probably also of his work in the related field of Mexican linguistics. 
