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Show XLIV BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY measure of mind, conditioned by circumstances of surroundings or environment to which man adjusts himself not so much by biotic survival as by intelligent effort; and, concordantly, the sources of the activities are to be traced through the habitual mental operations of primitive men. It was with this view that Mr McGee undertook to trace the origin of counting devices, and through them the beginnings of numerical concepts. The data derived from various primitive peoples seem to indicate clearly that numerical concepts originally crystallize with exceeding slowness, at first about practical customs and later about symbols of ceremonial or ritualistic character; and that throughout the subsequent development symbol and function ( i. e., notation and numeration) grow up together. It also seems clear from the data that the earliest symbols, with the concomitant methods of counting, antedated the custom of counting on the fingers; but that after the finger- count was adopted it aided greatly in the development of numeral systems on quinary, decimal, and vigesimal bases. It is of no small significance that various vestiges of primitive counting and number systems still survive among modern peoples, even in the most advanced culture. Mr McGee's writing was designed to complement that of Dr Thomas on the numeral systems of Mexico and Central America; and the two papers combine to illumine in a useful way certain puzzling problems by which the ethnologic student is constantly confronted. NUMERAL SYSTEMS OF MEXICO AND CENTRAL AMERICA The researches of the last two decades have shown clearly that primitive arts arise in symbolism, develop through con-ventionism, and mature in a combined realism and idealism far beyond the grasp of primitive peoples. The researches of the last lustrum have shown similarly that primitive industries are shaped by symbolism and developed through convention-ism. SeveraJ of the accompanying papers indicate likewise that primitive society is shaped and established largely by symbolic motives, and is developed* through conventional systems of remarkable strength and persistence; and Dr Thomas's |