2 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 94 



through the irencrosity of Ambassador Charles G. Dawes, the Smith- 

 sonian Institution sent Dr. Charles U. Clark to Europe in search of 

 earlv Latin American texts. Through the courtesy of the \^atican 

 Library. Dr. Clark was able to obtain photographs of the original 

 manuscript, and it is from these that the present translation has been 

 made. The manuscript is a complete herbal consisting of 6t, folios 

 approximately 6 by 8^ inches in size, clearly written in Latin and 

 Aztec. It is divided into 13 chapters, each representing an attempt 

 to group maladies of either similar type or similar location of the 

 body. The first eight chapters follow the latter arrangement, begin- 

 ning with the head and continuing to the feet ; in the last five chapters 

 an attempt has been made to group them according to subject matter. 

 The text is exquisitely illustrated with pictures of 204 herbs and 

 trees, and these illustrations still today retain their brilliancy of color. 

 Through the kindness of Dr. Charles G. Abbot, of the Smithsonian 

 Institution, the original water-color sketches for the colored plates, 

 made by Mrs. Missonnier, niece of Mgr. Eugene Tisserant. Pro- 

 Prefect, Vatican Library, have been obtained, and it is hoped that it 

 will be possible at a later time to publish the herbal in colored facsimile 

 with a translation. 



The herbal is the work of two Aztecs who were educated at the 

 College of Santa Cruz. It was first written in Aztec and then, with 

 the exception of the names of the plants, stones, and animals, trans- 

 lated into Latin within the same year. The exact title reads as follows : 



A book of Indian Medical Herbs composed by a certain Indian physician of 

 the College of Santa Cruz, who is not theoretically learned, but is taught only 

 by experience. In the year of our Lord Saviour 1552. [PI. i.] 



There seems little doubt that the principal author of the manu- 

 script is one Martin de la Cruz, whose name appears in the first line 

 of the dedication ; the second author is Juannes Badianus. the trans- 

 lator, whose signature appears in the postscript at the end of the last 

 chapter. Both of these men were natives taught in the first college 

 erected for the Indians, the College of Santa Cruz. 



The manuscript is fittingly dedicated to Don Francisco de ]\Iendoza, 

 son of Don Antonio de Mendoza, the first viceroy to New Spain. 

 Although the dedication is addressed to Don Francisco de Mendoza. 

 it is none the less a tribute to the first viceroy. That it is not ad- 

 dressed directly to the viceroy may be explained by the fact that 

 Don Antonio de Mendoza had been transferred to Peru 2 years be- 

 fore. Since history records his death on July 21, 1552, the day before 



