earnest student of American hieroglyphs. From his lifelong studies in
linguistics in connection with his research in "the motifs of
civilizations and cultures," he comes well-equipped to take up the
difficult and all-absorbing study of American hieroglyphic writing. Mr.
Gates has materially advanced this study by his reproduction of the
glyphs in type. These type-forms he has used first in his reproduction
of the Codex Perez, and now in this Commentary they are used for the
first time in printing. The method used in the construction of this font
of type is explained by Mr. Gates in the following pages. This important
aid to the study will be highly appreciated by all students of American
hieroglyphs, as it will greatly facilitate the presentation of the
results of future research.

It will be seen that this Commentary is more in the line of suggestion
to be expanded after further studies, than in the way of conclusions.

At the close of the paper the author presents the general deductions he
has drawn from his comparative study of languages and cultures. His
concluding paragraph forcibly presents the hope that the understanding
of the Maya glyphs will furnish new and important data in the life
history of man.

F. W. PUTNAM

PEABODY MUSEUM

October, 1910

[Illustration: PEREZ CODEX: PAGE 6]

[Illustration: PEREZ CODEX: PAGE 17]

THE PEREZ CODEX

The Perez Codex was discovered just fifty years ago by Prof. Leon de
Rosny, while searching through the Bibliotheque Imperiale, Paris, in the
hope of bringing to light some documents of interest for the then newly
awakened study of Pre-Columbian America. It was found by him in a basket
among a lot of old papers, black with dust and practically abandoned in
a chimney corner. From a few words with the name Perez, written on a
torn scrap of paper then around it but since lost, it received its name.

Being restored to its proper place in the Library, it was in 1864
photographed by order of M. Victor Duruy, Minister of Instruction, and a
few copies issued without further explanatory notes than the printed
wrappers. The number of copies is stated by Prof. de Rosny to have been
very small; in Leclerc's _Bibl. Amer._ (1878, No. 2290) it is given as
only 10, and in Brasseur's _Bibl. Mex.-Guat._ (page 95), as 50. A copy
is in the library of the Bureau of Ethnology at Washington, and referred
to in their publications as a most fortunate acquisition. I had the