Page:Vol 6 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/660

640 Science, either abstract or concrete, has not been greatly fostered in Mexico. But in spite of obstacles, the old scholasticism so much affected by the church is gradually disappearing. Medicine had been more favored for obvious reasons, there being several chairs in the university, including one of anatomy and surgery, medical students being compelled to attend lectures on botany.

A brilliant course of investigation was instituted into the flora of New Spain under Sesse and Mociño. The latter and a co-laborer named Echeverría were natives of Mexico. To further encourage medical study a school of surgery was established in the royal hospital in 1770. However, the profession was more hampered even than in Europe by old-fashioned schools and ideas. The profession of the church and bar had a greater attraction, and a large number of chairs was provided for these studies in the university; in addition thereto a royal academy of jurisprudence was established in the college of San Ildefonso, and lawyers were formed into a corporation named Real Colegio de Abogados. No mining school was founded before 1783, and this in a country where the mines formed the chief and almost solely appreciated wealth.

It does not seem, however, that the creoles were suited for the steady application demanded by a course

had all the needed material for his subject at command. A review of more historic character is presented by E. Montes in Diario de Debates, Cong. 10, iii. 22-51, in connection with a project for a new law to regulate public instruction.