RELATIONS OF ARCHEOLOGY 525 



Roman which inspired that of the Loggias, but also the polychromy 

 of Pompeii, served to give new ideals to art that were in reality 

 only archeological reflections. And there have been examples in 

 all ages, from the German Gothic, from the Spanish plateresque, 

 from the Arabian filigree- work, from the Cyclopean constructions. 

 Even to-day L 'Art Nouveau has been formed from the archeological 

 debris of the ancient arts. 



On this subject much aid can be given by our ruins. The con- 

 structions of triangular arches with odd superstructures from the 

 region of Palemke; its palaces with towers; its reliefs, which, like 

 that of La Cruz, reveal a study of composition; its stuccos, whose 

 figures are noteworthy for their design and the knowledge of the 

 human frame; the esthetical atmosphere of special character 

 which is dominant throughout; the rich reliefs and gorgeous 

 style of the gigantic monoliths of Copan: the Maya colonnades, 

 which, like those of Zayi, are as pure as the Greek, and the col- 

 umns carved with leaves of Tollan ; the ramparts with fanciful 

 faces of Kabdh and the sculptured walls of Chiche'n Itza; the fa- 

 c,ades with grotesque masks from the nuns' house in Uxmal; their 

 corners with monsters with uplifted trunks; all these furnish rich 

 and abundant elements for the arts; no less than the Grecian frets 

 of Mitla, and a few sculptures which have escaped from the de- 

 struction of the great Teocalli, such as the tiger unearthed in the 

 Department of Justice, the colossal Coatlicue adorned with ser- 

 pents beautifully carved, the spherical diorite head of Tlahuiz- 

 calpantecuhtli, and the cyclographical stone, popularly called the 

 Aztec Calendar, in which one is at a loss whether to admire most 

 the astronomical and chronological knowledge therein enshrined, the 

 geometrical science necessary in the making of it, or its marvelous 

 execution. 



Some day there will be a Mexican art. 



Archeolog}'', in its relation to the other sciences, deserves admit- 

 tance into this Congress, where all the living forces of humanity 

 are represented, whether in intellectual conception or in practical 

 process. 



But archeology is the symbol of death. Is it, perchance, rightly 

 admitted here, because life and death are ever linked together, 

 and together they comprise man's history, as the day has the bright- 

 ness of its sun and the dark shadows of its night? There is yet 

 a still more potent reason. All the sciences and all the arts are the 

 result of the accumulation of centuries of human thought. No- 

 thing is improvised on the earth. The first generations bequeathed 

 their meager knowledge to the next generations, who added to it. 

 These, in their turn, left it as a heritage to those who came after: 

 and so man formed that wealth of scientific knowledge which he, 



