Page:American Historical Review vol. 6.djvu/808

 79^ Reviezvs of Books futility of such researches shown by a forceful exposition of the instability of language. The subject of language is treated with unusual fulness, about two-fifths of the volume being devoted to it, the greater part of which might have been written if the Amerindian languages had never been known. Though it is stated that the history of speech as here traced probably could not have been recovered from the Turanian, either alone or in connection with any other group of the Old World, yet the personal basis of objective speech is emphasized and the fact pointed out that syntax is an essential function of mind. The oralization of the primitive human cry is regarded as the result of the assumption of the erect posture which necessitated eating with erected head. The develop- ment of grammar from the crude holophrase has proceeded along the same lines in American and Turanian but the American languages represent the lower stages. A very complete account of the American calendar systems is given and the evidence ably marshalled to show that they are of independent origin. The Mexican calendar has been regarded as a very perfect device which by intercalations and corrections accommodated itself to the true course of the sun. Payne maintains that no corrections whatever were made. In tracing the general migrations of the principal stocks of the North American continent the centre of distribution is placed on the northwest coast. Thence the Eskimos spread to the northward ; the Algonquins toward the east and south ; the Athapascans north and south ; the Na- huatlaca down into Mexico. Furthermore, the Mexicans are declared to be clearly related in culture to the Kwakiutls and others of the North- west. The Mayas are regarded as the descendants of the Toltecs and hence an off-shoot of the Nahuatlaca. The Toltecs themselves are highly praised for their achievements in the industrial and esthetic arts : they are termed the Greeks of the New World. The Dresden codex is con- sidered the principal one of those to be ascribed to the Toltecs, and throughout this the " Man of the Sun " so largely predominates that it is denominated by Payne the " Book of Quetzalcohuatl." The codex con- veys an impression of the god's attributes and history together with the Toltec conception of human advancement by successive stages, at least as far as their traditions revealed it. From the codices and from the early writers, many of whose publications are now rare, the pre-Columbian history of the Mexican pueblos is reconstructed and a detailed account given of their condition at the time of the Conquest. The conclusion is reached that their development was recent and tending toward the strengthening of the military despotism of Mexico. Tlacopan and Tez- cuco were becoming mere dependencies of Mexico. The worst feature of Mexican life was the almost continuous cannibal carnival, which was ostensibly to procure victims for sacrifice, but in reality to provide ani- mal food for the privileged class ; this is to be regarded as one of the re- sults of the absence of large animals capable of furnishing labor power and food.