of Mayan and Central American ethnology, as
indicated by Dr. Berendt, seems to agree most fully with the views
entertained by some of the later writers in the publications of the
Societe Americaine de France, and may be thus stated in brief. _First_,
The Study of Native Languages. _Second_, The Study of the Antiquities
themselves. _Third_, The formation of Museums, where materials for
archaeological research may be brought together, and made accessible and
available. From the study of aboriginal American history in this
practical way, the most satisfactory results can not fail to be reached.

In this brief hour, it would be impossible to describe and elucidate
this interesting subject, if the ability were not wanting; but it may be
accepted as a welcome service, that draws the attention of this Society
to an important field, which the Societe Americaine de France, and other
European archaeologists, are regarding with increased interest.

FOOTNOTES:

[4-*] M. L'Abbe Brasseur de Bourbourg, in his _Histoire des nations
civilisees du Mexique_ (Paris, 1859, vol. I. Preface), speaks of M.
Aubin as the translator of the manuscript "_Historia Tulteca_," as the
author of the _Memoire sur l'ecriture figurative et la peinture
didactique des anciens Mexicains_, in which he reconstructed the system
of Mexican figurative writing almost entirely, and as the present owner
of what remains of the celebrated Boturini collection, and of many other
historical treasures, gathered in his various travels.

[5-*] "In the Congress of Americanists held last July at Nancy, France,
M. Leon de Rosny delivered a masterly address on the Maya hieroglyphics.
He critically analyzed the attempts at decypherment by Brasseur de
Bourbourg and H. de Charency. The Bishop de Landa first discovered a
clue to their meaning. He made out seventy-one signs, which number Rosny
has increased to one hundred and thirty-two. Rosny has also determined
the order in which they should be read, as a rule from left to right,
but in exceptional cases from right to left."--[The Popular Science
Monthly, New York, May, 1876, pp. 118-119.]

[7-*] _Geographia de las lenguas y carta ethnografica de Mexico._ By M.
Orosco y Berra, Mexico, 1864. Introduction p. X. _La Situation actual de
la Raza indigena de Mexico._ By Don Francisco Pimentel, Mexico, 1864,
Dedication.

[7-[+]] Views of Nature, page 131.

[8-*] Conquest of Mexico, New York, 1843, vol. III., page 404.

[8-[+]]