In the present paper he submits the comprehensive results of his studies in one great branch, the textile art, and treats chiefly of its esthetic relations as distinct from those of construction and function, so far as they can be separately discussed.
He has been fortunate in the character of the material studied. In America there is yet found a great body of primitive, indigenous, and independent art, almost uncontaminated by the complex phenomena, processes, and conditions which elsewhere obscure its origin and development. To a knowledge of American art acquired by long study Mr. Holmes adds a mental equipment exceptionally qualifying him for its philosophic discussion. His conclusions therefore, presented with ample evidence and explained by illustrations, are to be received as those of a recognized authority, although they may disturb some sentimental and metaphysical fancies concerning abstract beauty in form, color, and design.
It is not contended that the earliest concepts of beauty originated with textile art. On the contrary, it is probable that the first esthetic attempts were in the line of personal decoration, such as paints on the skin and pendants and feathers disposed about the person. But as the textile art appears early and widely in culture it is believed that the association of esthetic concepts with it very generally preceded their association with other arts. Having thus the start in the field, its nature was full of suggestions of embellishment, while it was fixed in its method of expression. The technique therefore shaped and directed the esthetic concept and became the parent of much geometric ornament.
Mr. Holmes gives an instructive analysis of the forces and influences inherent in the textile art, the first lessons of which are order, uniformity, and symmetry; he shows how the necessities of technique determine ideas of the beautiful in linear geometric forms and how taste in selecting certain ornaments as the most beautiful is simply choosing that product which in the evolution of art gave it character and power.
The influence of textile ornament upon other forms of art, such as architecture and sculpture, is discussed, as also the manner in which extrinsic decorative elements are remodeled in accordance with the rules of textile combination. The paper, however, does not undertake to cover the whole field of the development of form and ornament, being confined to the relation of the textile art thereto, and similar studies in all other grand divisions of art must be made before the relative importance of all their forces and tendencies can be estimated. But the laws of evolution in all art closely correspond, and the present paper is eminently instructive to all students of the esthetic.
AIDS TO THE STUDY OF THE MAYA CODICES, BY CYRUS THOMAS.
That Prof. Cyrus Thomas has long been engaged in the examination of the few Maya records in existence is known from his former works, "A study of the Manuscript Troano" and "Notes on certain Maya and Mexican manuscripts," both published by the Bureau of Ethnology.
The object of the present paper is to give information of some original discoveries and to present some explanations not brought forward by Professor Thomas in his former papers.
The records of Maya and Mexico yet challenge students with unsolved problems similar to those which in the writings of Egypt and Assyria have perplexed so many generations. The translation of the paleographic literature of this continent may be expected to throw light on the past of America, in some degree reproducing the brilliant result which has attended the translation of the hieroglyphs of the eastern hemisphere. Long and laborious comparisons, together with the trial of successive hypotheses, will be necessary to the decipherment of our aboriginal manuscripts, and but few competent persons are actively engaged in the work. It becomes, therefore, the duty of any one whose discoveries tend to clear up even minor points of the great problem to furnish them to his fellow laborers, and thereby limit the remaining field of investigation. In this paper Professor Thomas supplements his former work.