*" CHARLES PICKERING BOWDITCH AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGY has lost one of its greatest patrons in the death of Charles P. Bowditch, which occurred on June I, 1921. He was born in Boston, September 30, 1842, the son of Jonathan Ingersoll Bowditch and Lucy O. Nichols and the grandson of Nathaniel Bowditch. He received the A.B. degree from Harvard College in 1863 and the A.M. degree three years later. He married Cornelia L. Rockwell on June 7, 1866. She and four children survive him. He served in the Civil War as 2d Lieutenant, 1st Lieutenant, and Captain of the 55th Massa- chusetts Volunteer Infantry and as Captain of the 5th Massachu- setts Volunteer Cavalry. Mr. Bowditch was a man of broad interests as his membership in various learned societies shows. He was elected a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1892 and was its Treasurer from 1905 to 1915 and President from 1917 to 1919. He was also a member of the Boston Society of Natural History, the American Antiquarian Society, and the American Geographical Society. His anthropological interests appear in his membership in the following societies: American Anthropological Association, American Association for the Advancement of Science, Archaeo- logical Institute of America, International Congress of Americanists, and the Societe des Americanistes de Paris. His historical-genea- logical interests are shown in his membership in the Massachusetts Historical Society, the Bostonian Society, the Colonial Society of Massachusetts, and the New England Historical-Genealogical Society. He was the author of the Pickering Genealogy. For many years he took a keen delight in the Bacon-Shakespeare controversary and was the author of Bacon's Connection with the First Folio of Shakespeare. As a man of affairs in Boston, Mr. Bowditch was an officer in many corporations and numerous benevolent enterprises. His 23 353 354 AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST [N. s., 23, 1921 list of charities was a long one. He was the author of the History of the Trustees of the Charity of Edward Hopkins. After a pleasure trip to southern Mexico and Yucatan, in 1888, Mr. Bowditch's main interest, outside that of his business as trustee, became centered in Maya antiquities. This enthusiasm for a region up to that time neglected and practically unknown resulted in establishing an entirely new field in American Anthropology. Mr. Bowditch's connection with the Peabody Museum of Harvard University was a long and a close one. From 1888, when the records show he presented his first gift to the Museum, up to the time of his death, he was its greatest benefactor. In 1894 he was elected a trustee of the Museum and he served on the Faculty of this institution continuously from that time onward, rarely missing a meeting and always taking a most active part in the deliberations of that body. In 1891 the Museum sent its first expedition to Central America. With the exception of only a few years this expedition has been an annual occurrence up to the present time. Mr. Bowditch planned and provided for these trips with little outside aid. The early work of Gordon, Saville, and Owens in Copan and the Uloa Valley, the discoveries of Maler on the Usumacinta River and Peten, the long continued investigations of Thompson in Yucatan and especially in the Cenote of Chichen Itza, the expeditions of Tozzer, Merwin, and Hay in British Honduras and northern Guatemala, of Lothrop in Honduras, the second expedition of Morley in Yucatan, and the work of Spinden in southern Yucatan are the most im- portant activities in this line. A very large number of hitherto unknown ruined sites were disclosed and a numerous addition to the wealth of hieroglyphic inscriptions resulted. There is hardly a man now working in the Central American field today who was not directly beholden at some time in his career to Mr. Bowditch for encouragement and aid. His interest in sending out expedition after expedition has re- sulted in a large accession to the collections of the Museum. Among the most important of these are: the large number of original stone carvings from Copan as the result of a concession from Honduras CHARLES PICKERING BO WD ITCH 355 in 1891 and continuing for ten years, molds and casts of the principal stelae and altars from Copan and Quirigua, lintels and stelae from Yaxchilan and Piedras Negras, and many of the sculptured stones from Chichen Itza, collections of pottery and other objects from the Uloa Valley and Copan, from Holmul, and from many of the ruins of Yucatan. Second to none is the unparalleled collection from the Sacred Cenote of Chichen Itza. This work was planned and financed almost entirely by Mr. Bowditch. The magnitude of these collections can be seen from the fact that they now fill at least three-fourths of two large hajls given over to Mexico and Central America. Mr. Bowditch's one aim was the advance of knowledge of the Maya field and he always laid stress on this rather than on the ac- quisition of specimens. He gave generously for the publications of the results of the various expeditions to Central America. To him the Museum owes in greater part the publication of the six: folio volumes of its Memoirs and the following Papers: v. i, nos. I, 3, and 7; v. 2; v. 4, nos. 1,2, and 3; v. 6, no. 2; v. 7; and v. 9, all of which contain material pertaining to the Maya field. As the grandson of Nathaniel Bowditch his mind ran to mathe- matics and his special interest in Central America was the study of the hieroglyphic inscriptions. His pioneer work in this field was second only to that of Goodman and Forstemann. His acute mind established many facts hitherto unknown concerning the Maya hieroglyphic writing. His unbiased opinion, strengthened by most painstaking study, was brought to bear on the many un- settled problems of the hieroglyphic system. The results of his investigations are summed up in his writings, a list of which is given at the end of this paper. Special mention should be made of his book, The Numeration, Calendar Systems, and Astronomical- Knowledge of the Mayas. This work was a landmark in the study of the Central American writing and served to focus attention om this subject as no other book had done. His mental agility in? working out the dates of the inscriptions and his feats of rapid calculation, often done without the aid of pencil and paper, were always received with wonder and admiration by his friends and 356 AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST [x. s., 23, 1921 colleagues in this study. His writings were almost exclusively technical in nature and served as guides to the specialist on the way to a complete elucidation of the hieroglyphic writing. Mr. Bowditch did not read German well and he secured the translation of practically the entire works of Seler, Forstemann, Schellhas, and other German writers in this field. Several of these translations have been published (P. M. Papers, v. 4, nos. I and 2, and Bulletin 28 of the Bureau of American Ethnology). The other translations have been deposited in the library of the Peabody Museum. His translation from the Spanish of the Relation of Landa and that of Avendano represent another line which his acute mind took in furthering the advance of knowledge of the Central American field. Another activity of Mr. Bowditch in Maya studies was the collection of works and documents covering this area. He built up gradually one of the best working libraries on this subject, and afterwards gave it to the Museum. He had the Nuttall Codex copied and published, the Laud Codex in the British Museum copied, and, at the time of his death, he was having prepared a copy of the Sahagun manuscript in Florence with its many colored illustrations. Mr. William Gates kindly allowed Mr. Bowditch to purchase duplicate sets of the photographic reproductions of over fifty thousand pages of manuscripts and rare books on Central America and Mexico. This comprises practically everything in manuscript form now extant on the languages of Central America and much of the material on Mexican linguistics. These reproduc- tions have been bound and given to the Museum. Mr. Bowditch himself reproduced the various manuscripts which he had given to the Museum as well as several which are in other collections. No field of activity was overlooked. He became the sponsor of several Fellowships. The first Fellowship in American Archaeology of the Archaeological Institute of America as well as the Central American Fellowship of the Peabody Museum were given by him. He was in great part responsible for the establishment of the Divis- ion of Anthropology in Harvard University and an Instructorship in Central American Archaeology was first established by him. CHARLES PICKERING BOW DITCH 357 Instruction in this subject has been carried on by Harvard since 1905. As one of the Founders of the American Anthropological Asso- ciation, Mr. Bowditch was a generous supporter of the cause of Anthropology in America. His ready response could always be depended upon for overcoming deficits and for advice. There is perhaps no other instance in American Anthropology where an effort in one field of interest has been so long continued, so intense, and so productive of results. His monument is the Central Ameri- can collections in the Peabody Museum, its Maya publications, and its remarkable collection of books and manuscripts on Middle America. This monument will continue to increase in size as his generous interest in the Museum will be reflected in future activities in the Maya field. Mr. Bowditch was a man of very strong personality. He tried to carry out the letter of the law and expected others to do so. Forceful but modest, always with opinions but willing to reason, wrathful before underhandedness but just to -all, Mr. Bowditch will be remembered by his colleagues as one of the greatest friends of the science and one who tried to uphold its highest traditions. BIBLIOGRAPHY PUBLISHED WORKS 1900 The Lords of the Night and the Tonalamatl of the Codex Borbonicus, in American Anthropologist, (n.s.) v. 2, pp. 145-154. Review of John Campbell's "Decipherment of the Hieroglyphic Inscrip- tions of Central America," in American Anthropologist, (n.s.) v. 2, pp. 741-745. 1901 Memoranda on the Maya Calendars used in the Books of Chilam Balam, in American Anthropologist, (n.s.) v. 3, pp. 129-138. The Age of the Maya Ruins, in American Anthropologist, (n.s.) v. 3, pp. 697-700. A Method which may have been used by the Mayas in calculating Time, Cambridge, 8, pamph. II pp. Was the beginning Day of the Maya Month numbered Zero (or twenty) or one?, Cambridge, 8, pamph. 8 pp. Notes on the Report of Teobert Maler in Memoirs of the Peabody Museum, Vol. n, No. i ; Cambridge, 8, pamph. 30 pp. 35 8 AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST [N. s. f 23, 1921 1903 A suggestive Maya Inscription, Cambridge, 8, pamph. 16 pp. Notes on the Report of Teobert Maler in Memoirs of the Peabody Museum, Vol. II, No. 2, Cambridge, 8, pamph. 29 pp. 1906 The Temples of the Cross, of the Foliated Cross and of the Sun at Palenque, Cambridge, 8, pamph. II pp., 3 tables. Mayan Nomenclature, Cambridge, 8, pamph. II pp. 1908 Collation of Berendt's Lengua Maya. Miscelanea, v. 2, in Berendt Linguistic Collection, No. 43. (Photographic reproduction by William Gates.) Collation of Berendt's Chilam Balam, in Berendt Linguistic Collection, No. 49. (Photographic reproduction by William Gates.) 1909 The Dates and Numbers of Pages 24 and 26 to 50 of the Dresden Codex, in Putnam Anniversary Volume, New York, pp. 268-298. 1910 The Numeration, Calendar Systems and Astronomical Knowledge of the Mayas, Cambridge, 8, xvii, 340 pp., xix pis. UNPUBLISHED WORKS Discussion of pages 3id~32d, 62, and 64 of the Dresden Codex, 4, MS. 37 ff. 4 Ahau 8 cumhu. What position does this date hold in the Maya reckoning of time?, 4, MS. 4 ff., tables. Cardinal point symbols, colors, etc., 4, MS. 25 ff. Dr. Seler's 59-day period, 4, MS. 8 ff. TRANSLATIONS List of Maya words in Landa and elsewhere with translation, 4, MS. 17 ff. Landa's Relacion de las cosas de Yucatan. Translation from the French edition of Brasseur de Bourbourg and corrected from the Spanish edition of Rada y Delgado, 4, MS. i6off. Avendano's Relacion de las dos entradas que hize a Peten Itza. Translation into English. (Published in large part in Means's History of the Spanish Con- quest of Yucatan and of the Itzas, in Papers of the Peabody Museum, v. 7, Cambridge, 1917.) Villagutierre's Historia de la Conquista de la Provincia de el Itza, 1701. Transla- tion of Books n, in, v, vm, ix. Lizana's Historia de Yucatan, 1633. Translation of Chaps. 1-6. Alonzo Cano's Manche and Peten. MS, 1696. Translation. (Published in large part in Means's History of the Spanish Conquest of Yucatan and of the Itzas, in Papers of the Peabody Museum, v. 7, Cambridge, 1917.) EDITORIAL WORK 1904 Mexican and Central American Antiquities, Calendar Systems, and History. Twenty-four papers by Seler, Forstemann, Schellhas, Sapper, and Dieseldorff, in Bulletin 28, Bureau of American Ethnology, Washington, 8, 682 pp., XLIX pis. CHARLES PICKERING BOWDITCH 359 Representation of Deities of the Maya Manuscripts by Paul Schellhas, in Papers of the Peabody Museum, Vol. 4, No. I, Cambridge. 1906 Commentary on the Maya Manuscript in the Royal Public Library of Dresden by Ernst Forstemann, in Papers of the Peabody Museum, Vol. 4, No. 2, Cambridge. PHOTOSTATIC REPRODUCTIONS Diccionario Pocomchi-Castellano y Castellano-Pocomchi de San Cristobal Cahcoh. MS. in Berendt Linguistic Collection, No. 61. Doctrina en Lengua Quiche. MS. owned by Marshall H. Saville. Maldonado de Matos. Arte de la Lengua Szinca, 1770. MS. in Peabody Museum. Alonso Martinez. Manuel breve y compendioso para enpesar a aprender Lengua Zapoteca. MS. in John Carter Brown Library. A Mexican Catechism in Testerian Hieroglyphs. MS. in Peabody Museum. Platicas de la historia sagrada en Lengua Cacchii. XVII century MS. in Berendt Linguistic Collection, No. 79. Quaderno de Idioma Zapoteco de Valle. MS. in John Carter Brown Library. Sermones en la Lengua Kekchi de Cajabon. MS. in Peabody Museum. Vocabulario de Lengua Kiche. 1787 copy. MS. in Peabody Museum. Xiu Chronicles or Libro de Probanzas, 1608-1817. MS. in Peabody Museum. ALFRED M. TOZZER. PEABODY MUSEUM, CAMBRIDGE, MASS. BOOK REVIEWS METHODS AND PRINCIPLES A Laboratory Manual of Anthropometry. HARRIS H. WILDER. P. Blakiston's Son & Co.: Philadelphia, 1920. 193 pp., 43 ills. This book of two hundred pages, opens with the sentence: It has long been a reproach to American science that now, for many years, the branch of Physical Anthropology has been so little cultivated, and this the more because of our early prestige in this very field and because of our unrivalled oppor- tunities. ... It was with a view to directing a broader American attention to this vitally important branch of Anthropology that the author . . . drew up, based largely upon the prescription of 1906, a set of rules for the guidance of the laboratory student . . . The intention of publishing a book on anthropometry in America is to be lauded, even though rules for measuring have been published re- peatedly in American journals (see: Wilder, in Science, LIII, p. 20). Wilder's manual will, no doubt, help to stimulate anthropometric work and will be especially of assistance in college courses on anthropology. The student receives from it guidance as to what and how to measure both the outer body and the skeletal parts of man, becomes acquainted with the chief anthropometric instruments, and learns what absolute measurements can to advantage be combined to form indices. The technical instructions are in parts enlivened by examples of the results of measurements taken on different races. From a critical point of view, however, a perusal of the manual leaves an impression of a certain unevenness and partiality in the arrange- ment and selection as well as the illustration of the text. The subject matter is divided into osteometry, comprising 114 pages, and somatom- etry, to which only 16 pages are devoted, a disproportion which seems hardly justifiable. The scanty bibliography (in footnotes), which is intended as an introduction to the literature on anthropometry, omits in many instances very important publications while giving certain special- ized papers of no general interest. In the part on "biometric" methods, which might more correctly be called "statistical" methods, one fails to find any mention of the correlation coefficient, which is as important as the coefficient of variation. Also the formulae for the various probable errors should have been included in this discussion. The lengthy chapter on craniometry would gain in value by a short enumeration of 360