Note 207 — PART III. GRAPHIC SYSTEMS AND LITERATURE.

The first of M. Aubin’s Memoirs appeared in 1849, and was the result of studies begun in 1830. A new and enlarged edition has lately been edited by Dr. Hamy: Mémoires sur la Peinture Didactique et l’Ecriture Figurative des Anciens Mexicains. Par. J. M. A. Aubin (Paris 1885.) But Dr. Hamy has traveled very far beyond the limits of a sober appreciation of M. Aubin’s results when he writes: “Les recherches de M. Aubin ont réussi à resoudre presque toutes les difficultés que presentait la lecture des hieroglyphes nahuas.” (Introduction, p. viii.) He is also in error in supposing (in a note to same page) that Aubin’s theory is not well-known to Americanists. Brasseur popularized it in his introductions to his Histoire du Mexique. Aubin, in fact, guided by the Spanish writers of the 16th century and the annotators of the Codices, first clearly expressed the general principles of the phonetic picture writing; but his rules and identifications are entirely inadequate to its complete or even partial interpretation.