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Show ADMINISTRATIVE REPORT XLIII review has been prepared by Dr Thomas, a student of aboriginal calendars during many years. The discussion extends not only to the inscriptions of the codices, but to other Mayan records, and also to the time systems of both the Mayan and Nahuatlan peoples; and full use is made throughout of the numeral systems tabulated and analyzed in a later paper. As is elsewhere noted, recent researches have shown that in primitive life the symbolism of a given stage frequently passes into the conventionism of the next stage; sometimes the passage is so complete that the original symbolism may be lost, yet in other cases the transitional steps may be traced through researches among cognate, albeit remote, peoples. Now, it is significant that various germs, or germinal types, of calendxic systems are found in different portions of North America; a well- known type is the uwinter count" or annual record of a person or family among the plains tribes; another genn is found in the solstitial ceremonies of the pueblo peoples, which denote clear recognition of a seasonal turning point; and it is of no small interest to find that the germinal types are combined in such comprehensive calendars as those incorporated in the Mayan inscriptions, so that the symbolism of the north explains the conventionism of the south. Such solstitial ceremonies as those of the Pueblos are especially instructive, for they at once attest the fundamental importance of the symbolic factors and explain the high degree of accuracy attained in the determination of the year- the Hopi winter ceremony, for example, being fixed by a simple observation on the setting sun behind a distant sierra, which would in itself permit a count of year- days, if not the recognition of the bissextile. PRIMITIVE NUMBERS Recognition of the human activities as the basis of ethnic classification has opened the way to a fuller comprehension of the characteristics and capabilities of both primitive and advanced peoples; and through this fuller comprehension it has been made clear that the essential and distinctive attributes of mankind are fundamentally intellectual. Accordingly the activities are properly viewed as the reflection and |