312 M E X 
tokens of copper, iron, or wood, which pafs in the neigh¬ 
bourhood ; and even grains of cacao pafs as fmall coin. 
The city has feveral. ufeful regulations for guarding 
againft fires, and any confequent tumults. The water- 
pipes have been enlarged, and ten public fountains have 
been conftrufted, with cocks inftead of cifterns, which 
are found more convenient. The price of bread is regu¬ 
lated every four months, according to the price of grain. 
In this celebrated capital great quantities of rum are dil— 
tilled from the refufe of the numerous fugar-mills. 
The Univerfity of Mexico, founded in 1551, is ftyled 
Royal and Pontifical; and the cloifter is computed of 2.51 
doctors of all faculties. It is governed by a re6tor, an¬ 
nually elected by the feleft cloifter. compoled of the former 
reftor and eight counlellors, chofen by lot from the doc¬ 
tors and bachelors. The office of chancellor is annexed 
to the dignity of fchoolmafter of the metropolis ; his of¬ 
fice being to preiide at conferring fome degrees, while on 
other occaiions he holds the fecond rank. The profeiTors 
of this univerfity are named by a junta, confining of the 
archbilhop, the regent of the royal audience, the dean of 
the cathedral, the oldeft inquiiitor, the reftor of the uni¬ 
verfity, the mailer of the metropolitan lchools, the pro- 
fefl’or of the firlt clafs of theology, and the dean of the fa¬ 
culty. The public library of the univerfity was founded 
about forty years ago,and is well furnilhed with old books 
of divinity, but is miferably deficient in new editions of 
the dailies, or in works of fcience and philofophy : this 
library is open to the public at certain hours, except on 
Sundays and holidays. The College of St. Mary-of-all- 
Saints is the only one of the firlt rank in the Spanilh Ame¬ 
rican poU'ellions: it has a public library. This leminary 
was founded by an archbilhop of Mexico in 1682 ; and at 
prelent it has thirteen profelfors. The lludents amount 
to four hundred ; and a new building was erected in 1750. 
The Jefuits had formerly five colleges, two of which only 
remain; they are directed by the viceroy, orajuhtaof 
which he is prefident: the buildings are magnificent; the 
chapel and grand hall being the molt beautiful in the vice¬ 
royalty. The College of St. John of Lateran is the molt 
ancient of any in New Spain, having been founded in the 
reign of Charles V. for the inftru&ion of thole defeended 
from Spanilh and Indian parents. The College of St. Jago 
is without the walls of Mexico, in a houfe of the Fran- 
eifeans; but it is now merely a boarding-fehool for 
children. Other religious orders have alio public fchools. 
A College of Mines has lately been erected, in which 
voung perfonsare not only inftru< 5 ted in that!fcience, but 
in other important parts of education. The Royal Aca¬ 
demy of the Three Noble Arts is a valuable inllitution : 
it is provided with good profelfors in architecture, paint¬ 
ing, Iculpture, and engraving; and there is alfo a pro¬ 
le ffo r of mathematics. There are alfo particular lioufes 
in Mexico where Latin grammar is taught by preceptors 
approved by the government and univerfity. 
In the year 1813, an epidemic diforder raged in the 
city, and carried grief and diltrels into almolt every family. 
It is alcertained to have been brought from the coalt in 
the month of June, by fome leafaring people who took 
up their refidence at an agent’s. Shortly after their ar¬ 
rival, the party feparated : four departed for Acapulco, 
and three remained ; among the latter was a captain Vile- 
fior, who almolt immediately became ill : his friends 
wlllied to procure him medical advice, which -lie ftrenu- 
oully refilled, alferting that, with the alfiltance of the Vir¬ 
gin and the air of lake Tezcuco, he Ihould recover in a 
lew days. At the end of a fortnight Vileflor died, be¬ 
queathing his property, contained in feveral chelts, in 
equal proportions among his furviving friends and the 
religious of a neighbouring monallery. The germ of a 
contagious diforder, it appears, lurked among the clothes 
and linen in the chelts. A few' days after they were ex- 
p.ofed and diftributed, his two friends, the agent’s family, 
the people in the monallery, and near a hundred and fifty 
»tiic£ individuals, became infeCted witli a fever. The po- 
I c o. 
litical troubles which at this time-menaced the province 
fo fully engrolfed the viceroy’s attention, that he could, 
not himfelf take the neceifary precautions for preventing 
the propagation of the diforder ; and the officer to whom 
he delegated this important trull became ill at a very early 
period. At firlt the deaths did not exceed 14. per day; 
but the fpread of the contagion in one week increafed the 
mortality to 100 per day: in the beginning of Augult 
the daily average of deaths w'as 200, and betwebn^the 
tenth and twenty-eighth it exceeded 450. The diforder 
had then reached its height. A change of weather checked 
its progrefs ; and from that period the mortality abated. 
The vigorous meafures which were fubfequently adooted, 
had deltroyed the contagion in fome diftri&s, and reduced 
its power in others ; but up to the 16th of Oftober, it 
was alcertained that 26,800 fouls, or one lixth of the po¬ 
pulation of Mexico, had through its inftruinentali'ty been 
configned to the tomb. 
The environs of Mexico are richly cultivated with flax, 
hemp, cotton, tobacco, indigo, fugar, and mangueys ; and 
furnilh the city With ample fupplies of meat, poultry, ve¬ 
getables, and fruits. The molt,celebrated lanctuary in the 
vicinity of the city is that of Our Lady of Guadaloupe, 
'which has a college, a church, See. Another lamStuary, 
or houfe of pilgrimage, is that of Our Lady de los Re- 
medios, erefted on the fpot whither Cortes retired when 
he was repulfed from Mexico. Without the barrier of 
Santiago is the lanftuaiy of Our Lady of the Angels, 
formerly the refidence of a hermit. At the difiance of 
five leagues from Mexico is the defert of the Carmelites, 
in an enclofure about a league in circuit; the retreat of 
the molt aultere monks there being in folitary cells. The 
aqueduft of Chapul.tepec adorns the immediate environs; 
and on the hill fo called was a palace of Montezuma. 
Trafpana is another place of relort, where are feveral good 
houfes ; and many fettle there, as the air is elteemed very 
healthy. On the fide of San Lazaro, about half a league 
from Mexico, is the rock of the baths, which are warm, 
but the quality is not alcertained. Lat. 19. 54. N. Ion, 
99. 51. W. Pinkerton's Geog. vol. ii. p. 606. 
MEX'ICO, a town of America, in Oneida county. 
New York, at midway between Oneida Lake and Ofwego, 
twenty miles from each. Lat. 43. 32. N. Ion. 76. 18. W. 
MEXICO (Gulf of), a large bay or gulf of the At¬ 
lantic, extending north to l'outh, from the coalt of Flo¬ 
rida to the coalt of Tabafco and Yucatan, about 600 miles, 
and call to weft, from Cuba to the coalt of Mexico, about 
700. This gulf lies in a favourable climate, and prefents 
at its entrance the grand archipelago of North American 
Illands, called the Welt Indies. See Gui-F-Stream, vol. ix. 
p. 93. 
MEX'ICO (New), fo called becaufe it was difeovered 
later than Old Mexico. This large region, fometimes 
called the kingdom, and fometimes the province, of New 
Mexico, lies ealtward of California, being divided by the 
gulf from that peninfula. It extends a great way towards 
the north pole, bounded on that fide by very high moun¬ 
tains,'and a country which is utterly unknown; on the 
ealt it has the country of Louifiana; on the weft the Gulf 
of California and Rio Colorado ; while on the l’outh it 
borders on fome of the provinces of Mexico Proper or 
New Spain ; but the limits are uncertain. The divilion 
of the country is equally uncertain with its limits. Some 
geographers divide it into fifteen provinces, others into 
four only ; but the bulk of the Spanilh writers reckon 
eighteen provinces, concerning which they give us no¬ 
thing beiides a dry catalogue of the names. This coun¬ 
try was difeovered by a milfionary in 1581, but lcarcely 
fubdued till 1644; nor were many millions eftabiillied till 
after the year 1660 ; and the capital, Santa Fe, was found¬ 
ed in 1682. Not the twentieth part of the country is 
luppofed to be cultivated or inhabited either by Spa¬ 
niards or Indians. As it lies in themidll of the temperate 
zone, the climate, in general, is very pleafant; the fum- 
rnu's, though very warm, are neither fultry nor unvvhole- 
fome j 
