gem, the nucleus of the sets, but the number of local writers was large.[1]
At the close of the last century an impulse was given to literature, which in the present one manifested itself, among other forms, in the accumulation of books, and later in the issue of periodicals. Unfortunately, the revolution and subsequent disorder checked the one, and gave an irregular and less desirable direction to the other. Archives were destroyed, and most valuable libraries, such as those of Andrade and Ramirez, were lost to the country, being exported and sold in Europe. The extinction of the religious orders involved the disappearance of books and manuscripts which their convents contained. A few zealous persons in some of the states saved a remnant as a nucleus for public collections, but the general government took no effective steps to establish a national library until 1857.[2] The largest collections in the country, those of the university, cathedral, former Jesuit college, and others, were included, so that over 100,000 volumes were collected within a few years. A number of private collections have also been formed.[3] Men of letters have organized literary societies for the accumulation of books, the fostering of taste, and the publication of meritorious efforts.[4] These societies have also assisted to spread French ideas and methods. Mexico surpasses the mother
- ↑ Particularly the Franciscans, who inflicted upon mankind their verbose and monotonous narratives up to 1800. There were more than 400 of them, and very few could by any stretch of conscience be called learned. A notable exception was Torquemada, who though a bigot managed to manipulate some knowledge.
- ↑ Mex. Archivo, Col. Ley., vi. 709–10, refers to appointments of officers in 1861, and the grant of aid.
- ↑ Such as J. G. Icazbalceta's, including many early and rare Mexican books; others exhibit a wide range of subjects.
- ↑ The first was the Instituto de Ciencias, Literatura y Artes, opened in 1826, but did not long survive. An informal Arcadia had existed before the revolution. The next was the Academia de San Juan de Letran, which also sank to rise again in 1850 as the Liceo Hidalgo. Several others with less ambitious aims and less known members appeared in other state centres. None, however, have shown the vigor of the Instituto Nacional de Geografía, which, since its creation in 1833 has done great service in collecting historic, descriptive, and statistical data. Album Mex., ii. 62; La Cruz, iii. 469; Méx., Col. Ley., 1848, 270-1, and many others.
