4 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 94 



Whether this beautiful Httle manuscript ever came into the hands 

 of Charles V is not known, but Mendieta * records the fact that 

 His Majesty contributed to the support of the College : 



His Majesty gave to the College of Santa Cruz, where they were taught Latin 

 a thousand pesos for each year for certain years. To those who taught in the 

 Chapel of Santa Jose to read, write and sing and play instruments of the 

 church, three hundred ducats was given for some years. To illuminate the Holy 

 Sacrament he commanded to give to each monastery six measures in each year, 

 one half measure for eacli month. For celebration of mass in the monastery he 

 commanded wine. 



and in addition we read — 



for the hospitals of St. Francis of Mexico and convent of Los Angeles loo 

 pesos per year. And in order that the sick Indians should not remain untreated, 

 he ordered to be built a royal hospital near Saint Francis of Mexico where 

 they were cared for. 



Entirely apart from wishing to enlist His Majesty's support of the 

 college which, after the early prosperous period, was always in need 

 of funds, Don Francisco undoubtedly had a keen interest in the herbs 

 and medical knowledge of New Spain. Verification of Don Francisco's 

 personal interest in herbs is to be found in the quotation from the 

 Frampton translation of Monardes : ' 



Don Frauncis De Mendosa, Sonne unto the vise Roye, Don Antony de 

 Mendosa did sowe in the new Spaine Cloaves, Pepper, Ginger, and other spices, 

 of those whiche are brought from the Orientall Indias, and that whiche by hym 

 was begonne was loste, by reason of his death, onely the Ginger did remain, for it 

 did growe verie well in those partes, and so thei bryng it greene from newe 

 Spain and other partes of our Indias, and some they bring drie, after the maner 

 of that of the East India. 



Besides the personal interest of Don Francisco in herbs and his 

 desire to foster the education of the Indians, a third and more force- 

 ful influence gave impetus to the writing of this herbal ; namely, the 

 demand on the part of Europeans for herbs and medicaments. 



The expansion of the West had been stimulated by a desire to find 

 a shorter trade route to the spice-producing countries of the East. 

 The tales and accounts of voyages of Columbus ( 1492-1502) . X'espucci 

 (1499- 1 503), Balboa (i 512-13) and Magellan (1519-22) and others 

 had already awakened Europeans to the value of spices and herbs from 



* Icazbalceta, Joaquin Garcia, 1870. 

 Mendieta, Fray Geronimo de Mendieta-Historia Eclesiastica Indiana. Publ. 

 Mexico, 1870. Antiqua Libreria, portal de Augustinos no. 3. 1870. 



'"'Frampton, John, 1577 — Joyfull Newes of the Newe Founde Worlde . . . . tr. 

 of Monardes, Nicholas, vol. 2, p. 5, Introduction by Stephen Gaselee, Constable 

 and Co., Ltd. London, 1925. 



