Excerpt from The Mexican Calendar Stone, 1879 We are indebted to Stephen Salisbury, Jr., Esq., for a translation of Doctor Valentini's lecture on the "Mexican Calendar Stone," "Vortrag fiber den Mexicanischen Calendar-Stein, gehalten von Prof. Ph. Valentini, am 30. April 1878, in New York, U. S. A., vor dem Deutsch ges. wissenschaftlichen Verein"), and also for copies of a heliotype of the stone itself. The views of the lecturer, as is the case with all discussions in the publications of the society, are left to rest on their own merits. The matter is cognate to the recent investigations in the central portions of our continent, to which attention has been drawn by various communications from Mr. Salisbury, and is clearly and ably set forth by the lecturer. If the system of interpretation applied by Prof. Valentini to the "Calendar Stone" may not he wholly peculiar to himself, but has also been substantially advanced by Senor Alfredo Chavero, a learned Mexican scholar (sec "The Nation," New York, August 8th, and September 19th, 1878), the fact that two learned inquirers concur in adopting the same conclusion respecting the nature of the monument, and similar principles for the interpretation of its inscriptions, only gives additional weight to their opinions. The collateral estimate, by Professor Valentini, of the real character and purpose of Bishop Landa's phonetic alphabet, is plausible; and very likely to prove to he correct. It is a view that removes all obscurity from the dubious claim of an absolute key to the literal rendering of Mexican hieroglyphics. The aim of the missionary bishop to construct an alphabet from signs familiar to the natives, which might enable him to prepare religious manuals for their benefit, would be no more than has been attempted by other Catholic teachers - for example, among the Indians of Nova Scotia, as described by Father Vetromile. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.