80 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



feet and a half in height. The original was found buried in the 

 city of Mexico ninety-six years ago. Humboldt believes that this and 

 other idols were placed under-ground by Cortes and his men in order 

 to escape the observation of the Aztecs, to whom these idols would 

 doubtless prove a serious obstacle to their embracing Christianity ; but 

 it seems more reasonable to suppose that these idols were buried by 

 the Aztecs themselves, in order to prevent their capture by the sol- 

 diers. The goddess Teoyoamiqui was charged with the gathering 

 in of the souls of persons killed in battle, it being supposed that their 

 souls went to the mansion of the sun in heaven, where they were 

 eventually transformed into humming-birds.* Near this is a cast of 

 the statue of the goddess Mictlanteuhtli, who presided over Mictlan- 

 teuhtli, by which name the Mexicans denoted the place to which the 

 souls of those who died natural deaths were transmitted. 



Perhaps the most interesting cast in this collection is that of the 

 Sacrificial Stone, which was found ninety-five years ago in the city of 

 Mexico. The complex figures and hieroglyphics on this stone utterly 

 astound the visitor to the Museum, and are only to be descried, to 

 say nothing of being understood, after the most careful examination. 

 This stone is about two feet eleven inches high and more than twenty- 

 seven feet in circumference. On its face is sculptured the image of 

 the sun, and around the stone are fifteen groups of two persons each, 

 one of each couple being represented as victorious over the other. 

 The number of victims indicates the number of conquered tribes. In 

 two couples the victim is a woman, which probably denotes that those 

 two tribes were governed by women. A groove running to the mar- 

 gin from the center marks the course for the flow of the victim's blood. 

 The conqueror is Tizoc, sixth king of Mexico, who reigned from 1481 

 to 1486, and the monument is commemorative of his victories. A cast 

 of the famous statue of Chac-Mool (tiger), about two feet six inches 

 high, is in the collection. The statue is believed to be twelve thousand 

 years old, and was, it is said, erected to the memory of Chac-Mool by 

 his wife. In the valley of Mexico and in Tlascala statues of similar 

 form have been found, and it is therefore assumed by some that the 

 same divinity was worshiped both in Mexico and Yucatan. The 

 statue was discovered by Dr. A. Le Plongeon in the ruins of Chichen- 

 Itza, Yucatan, and removed by the Mexican Government to the Na- 

 tional Museum of Mexico. Of exceeding interest is the reproduction 

 of the Commemorative Stone in remembrance of laying the founda- 

 tion of the great temple of the Aztecs, the building of which was com- 

 menced by Tizoc, who was desirous of erecting a sacred edifice which 

 should be the wonder of all the nations on earth. It was not finished 

 by him, its completion being reserved for Ahuitzotl, his successor, in 

 the year 1487. This temple has now given place to a magnificent 



* Charero, in his "Analcs del Museo National de Mejico," vol. ii, p. 293, holds that it 

 represents the earth-god, Coatlicue. 



