THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL 



a state of perfect preservation. This chamber has an extreme 

 length of about 45 ft. and is the most important structure of its 

 class thus far found in Mexico. 



Mr. Batres gave a description of the discoveries made in the 

 year 1 900 behind the cathedral in the City of Mexico while ex- 

 cavations were in progress for the new drainage system of the 

 city. The speaker stated that during these excavations more 

 than 8000 different objects had been brought to light, among 

 which were numerous idols, elaborately painted urns, stone knives 

 and various votive offerings, and that the number of articles of 

 jewelry made of gold, turquoise, jade, onyx and other valuable 

 stones was very large. Many of the objects show in their work- 

 manship a high degree of perfection. The scientific investigation 

 of this material is sure to throw much new light upon the culture 

 of the Aztecs. In this connection also the papers of Prof. Eduard 

 Seler on the religious compositions and picture-writings of the 

 ancient Mexicans were of great value. 



Mrs. Zelia Nuttall read a paper upon the self-inflicted tor- 

 tures of the religious devotees of the ancient Mexicans in which 

 she stated that on certain days the tongue, ears or other parts of 

 the body of the devotee were pierced with pointed sticks or the 

 sharp thorns of the agave. The blood flowing from the wound 

 was caught in sacrificial vessels which were then placed at the feet 

 of the representations of the gods. 



Edward Thompson displayed a complete series of reproduc- 

 tions in color of the wall paintings which he had discovered on 

 the peninsula of Yucatan in the temples of Chacmultun and gave 

 a clear idea of the heretofore practically unknown color-materials 

 of the Mayas. The conclusion to which Mr. Thompson has 

 arrived is that these people used nothing but vegetable colors in 

 the decoration of their walls, among which one can distinguish 

 two shades of blue, two diff'erent greens, besides red, brownish- 

 red, yellow, black and white. The colors were put on with an 

 oily fat, and by means of a fine brush of hair, upon the cream- 

 colored stucco which formed the surface of the walls. In their 

 character the paintings remind one of the naive pictures with 



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