pose of M. Charnay to send his collections of antiquities to Paris, but the Mexican Congress refused to pass a bill allowing the articles to be taken out of the country.
4. The Academy of San Carlos is the only academy of the fine arts in the country, except one at Guadalajara. It contains a large number of paintings and some plaster casts of well-known statues. Most of the pictures are the work of foreign artists, such as Zurbaran, Murillo, Rubens, Correggio, and Velasquez. Some of them have been painted by Mexicans, and possess considerable merit. The principal native artists are José and Luis Juarez, Cabrera, Parra, and Balthazar de Chave. Unfortunately, there is no catalogue of the pictures. An art-school is connected with the academy. (Vide Chapter XXII.)
5. The Mining School was considered by Humboldt as one of the finest buildings in the country. It occupies a lot 300 X 340 feet, and has collections of rocks, minerals, and fossils, chiefly from Mexico. It cost $1,500,000.
6. The Mint is the oldest in Mexico. It is open from 8 a. m. to 5 p. m.
7. The Church of La Santissima is noted for the exquisite carvings on the façade.
8. The Church of Santo Domingo, in a square of the same name, possesses beautiful gilt wood-work, some old paintings, and a wooden model of the Saviour, in a recumbent attitude, and wearing a crown of thorns. Persons entering the church kiss the toe of this figure in the same manner as devout Roman Catholics kiss the statue of St. Peter at Rome. A table stands near the image to receive offerings (limosnas). The ruins of a convent, overgrown with weeds, are in the rear of the church. The Custom-House and Medical School are situated on the eastern side of the Plaza de Santo Domingo. The latter was once used by the Inquisition, and it now has a library and anatomical museum.
