e.

If the preceding comparative study of the Chinese and ancient Mexican
civilizations be briefly summarized, the result is as follows: Both
civilizations alike rest on a foundation of pole-star worship and the set
of ideas which naturally proceed from this _i. e._, central impartial
power extending in constant rotation to the four quarters, figured by the
swastika, and the recognition of the all-pervading duality of nature.
These primitive concepts and their inevitable outgrowths, which might
naturally occur to human beings of the same grade of intellect in similar
conditions and circumstances and be most powerfully impressed upon the
mind of man in circumpolar latitudes beside a few resemblances in names,
which I shall proceed to point out, are nearly all that the Chinese and
ancient Mexicans may be safely said to have had in common. At a date
obviously anterior to 2356 B.C., when they were formulated, the Chinese
had made definitions of heaven and earth and of the five elements which
radically differ from those of the ancient Mexicans and Mayas.

The Chinese numerical system or calendar, though equally based on
rotation, and known to have been modified by contact with India, is
essentially different from the American. When carefully compared it must
be acknowledged that the Mexican is by far the more complex and highly
developed, and the same may be said of the social organization, which was
controlled by the calendar. A comparison between the Chinese and American
languages in general proves, moreover, that they differ not only in sound,
but in form and in grade of development, the Chinese being the lower in
the scale. To the above divergences we must add the fact that each people
evolved distinct national customs and costumes, foods and drinks,
industries, arts and forms of architecture, so markedly characteristic as
to be clearly distinguishable.

In conclusion a few words about the swastika in China (ouan). Its Chinese
name is wan, which signifies "ten thousand," or "all," also "many," a
great number. At the time of the Empress Wu (A.D. 684-704) the swastika in
a circle signified "the sun;" half a swastika in the circle "the moon,"
and the plain circle "the star." Deferring comment I emphasize here the
fact that the word wan resembles kwan=equal earth or land, and that it
signifies an entity composed of ten thousand parts. A proof that the wan
was also associated with the idea of time is given by the modern use