185 



in China, in Mexico, and in Peru ; wherever 

 men were merely masses animated by a same- 

 ness of will ; wherever laws, religion, and 

 custom, have placed barriers to the progress of 

 intellectual improvement and individual happi- 

 ness. 



In the paintings of the Mendoza collection 

 we trace the ceremonies practised on the birth 

 of a child. The midwife, invoking the god 

 Ometeuctli, and the goddess Omecihualt, who 

 reside in the abodes of the blest, sprinkled 

 water on the forehead and the breast of the 

 newborn infant ; and after pronouncing dif- 

 ferent prayers*, in which water was considered 

 as the symbol of the purification of the soul, 

 the midwife bad the children draw near, who 

 had been invited to give the child a name. In 

 some provinces a fire was lighted at the same 

 time, and the infant was seemingly made to 

 pass through the flame, and undergo the double 

 purification of fire and water. This ceremony 

 reminds us of usages, the origin of which, in 

 Asia, appears to be lost in the darkness of the 

 remotest ages. 



Other plates of the collection of Mendoza 

 represent the punishments, often barbarous, in- 

 flicted by parents on their children, according 

 to the greatness of the fault, and the age and 



* Clavigero, vol. 2. p. 8C. 



