i6o NATURAL SCIENCE. l8g 6. 



was purely of a negative character, and led Mr. Mercer to conclude, 

 like that prince among pioneers, Stephens, "that no earlier inhabitant 

 had preceded the builders of the ruined cities of Yucatan. That the 

 people revealed in the caves had reached the country in geologically 

 recent times. That these people, substantially the ancestors of the 

 present Maya Indians, had not developed their culture in Yucatan, 

 but had brought it with them from somewhere else." 



Therefore, despite the energy of Mr. Mercer and his colleagues, 

 this straightforward and detailed account of their investigations leaves 

 unanswered the burning question of American archaeology : Whence 

 came the Aztecs and Mayas ? 



The Bohemian Museum. 



We have very great pleasure in publishing in this number the 

 interesting description, with which Professor Anton Fritsch has 

 favoured us, of the arrangement that has been introduced in the New 

 Museum of Natural History at Prague. We, who have always been 

 advocates of the intelligent method of museum exposition, are 

 especially pleased to see that the important and classical collections 

 contained in this museum have been arranged on such a truly scientific 

 plan. All who have engaged themselves in practical museum -work 

 know well enough how difficult it is to combine the two very different 

 aims of general instruction on the one hand, and the illustration of 

 the natural history of a limited district on the other. In a metro- 

 politan museum, such as that at Prague, it is, of course, necessary to 

 pay considerable attention to the large general public that supports 

 the museum. But when we consider the extreme scientific interest of 

 the collections, notably those that illustrate the great " Systeme 

 silurien " of Barrande, we must admit that a far larger number of 

 specimens ought to be exhibited than such a one as, say, Sir Henry 

 Howorth would consider absolutely necessary. But, by the juxta- 

 position of drawings and references to literature along with the 

 specimens, as represented in Fig. i (p. 169), the systematic collections 

 themselves subserve the purpose of more general instruction. Those 

 who have recently visited the Bohemian Museum can substantiate 

 the claim of Dr. Fritsch that the problems to which we have alluded 

 are adequately solved. 



