312 THE INSCRIPTIONS AT COPAN. 
column, counting from the left. Not only is its coefficient of 18 on the right, 
but the elements of the month-sign there recorded, Zac, are actually reversed. 
Note the superfix Co}, which should have the element now on the right 
on the left instead, the cross-hatched circle and concentric dots {@, which 
should be turned with its concavity to the right instead of to thetlenm 
and findly the wedge of dots ep which should be on the left of the cross- 
hatched circle instead of the right. In other words, each element has 
not only been transposed in position, but reversed in direction. 
Another case in point is the katun-sign in Hs. Not only is the coefficient 
3 on the right, but the half-circle of dots in the Cauac element of the super- 
fix is on the left instead of the right, as usual. We note the same inversion 
of the hotun-glyph in cs. Other examples of this are Hs and Fs, where the 
coefficients, 5 and 15 respectively, are reversed, and Ho and Gs, where the 
signs are reversed. 
In c7 there is a very illuminating example of this inversion. This glyph 
is clearly Glyph A of the Supplementary Series, with a coefficient of 10 on 
its /eft side. The writer has shown elsewhere (Morley, 1916, p. 372) that the 
regular position for the coefficient of Glyph A is either to the right of, or below 
the sign it modifies, that is, just the reverse of the position of all other Maya 
coefficients. In this particular panel, therefore, where all the positions are 
reversed, the coefficient of Glyph A is also reversed; that is, it appears at the 
left side of the sign it modifies, whereas its normal position is to the right or 
below. In a word, the sculptor of this text went out of his way to reverse 
the position of this particular coefficient as well as of all the others, so that it 
would be different from the others, and its necessary individuality thereby 
preserved.! 
It is apparent from the foregoing that in the delineation of the glyphs of 
this panel the elements have been intentionally reversed, those facing to the 
right having been deliberately turned to the left and vice versa, but why? 
In answering this question let us first cite one other possible parallel. 
On Stela 6, at the recently discovered city of Uaxactun, in northern 
Guatemala? (see plate 1), the last half of the Initial Series, the uinals, kins, 
day, and month, presented on the left side of the monument facing it, all have 
their coefficients on their right sides, contrary to the universal practice in these 
glyphs. The first half of this Initial Series on the opposite side of the monu- 
ment is perfectly normal, the cycle, katun, and tun coefficients appearing in 

‘With the exception of Glyph A of the Supplementary Series, three glyphs on the reviewing-stand in the 
Western Court here, and the uinals, kins, and day of the Initial Series on Stela 6 at Uaxactun, Maya coefficients 
are invariably placed either above or to the left of the signs they modify. In Glyph A, on the contrary, with but 
three known exceptions—four, if we include the present example—the coefficient is attached either to the right or 
below the sign it modifies. The reason for this, as the writer has shown in the reference cited above, was that 
the coefhcient of Glyph A is joined to the sign it modifies by addition and not by multiplication, the process by 
which all other coefficients are joined to their accompanying signs. In order to distinguish between multiplication 
and addition, a different position for the numeral modifiers was therefore adopted. Hence the inversion of the 
regular practice in Glyph A in this text. The three exceptions noted above are: Stele I and K and Structure 1 
at Quirigua, all late. 
* This site was discovered by the Carnegie Institution Central American Expedition of 1916. See Morley, 
19164, pp. 337-341. 
