To those who possess even an elementary acquaintance with the study of Mexican religion this will cause no surprise, for the initial difficulties which confront even the experienced antiquary who desires to gain a working knowledge of its principles are sufficiently discouraging. In all likelihood the quest is sooner or later abandoned in despair of acquiring that fundamental information from which it is possible to proceed to a more profound knowledge of the subject. The native languages, familiarity with which is desirable, are complex and difficult of mastery. The paintings or codices which depict the gods present a riot of symbolic intricacy sufficient in itself to damp enthusiasm. Many years must be spent in the study of a system of symbolic painting, to which a specially qualified section of the Mexican priesthood dedicated itself in the full knowledge of a mythological scheme at the nature of which we can but guess. It is, above all, necessary to become thoroughly conversant with an overwhelming body of Spanish Colonial literature, which must be handled with the greatest discretion, owing to its vague, contradictory, and essentially untrustworthy character. Lastly, an acquaintance with manuscript sources, obscure and difficult of access, is quite as indispensable, and these, indeed, are among the most valuable of the adjuncts to a knowledge of Mexican belief. By far the most eminent and successful among modern writers on Mexican mythology and ritual is Professor Eduard Seler, of Berlin, who, owing to the generosity of the Duc de Loubat, has been enabled to publish monographs upon the principal Mexican hieroglyphical paintings or codices. In these he has done much for the elucidation of the involved symbolism in which the native MSS. abound, and has greatly added to our knowledge of the divine forms represented in their grotesque pages. Elaborate photogravure reproductions of these, the papyri of Mexico, have also been published, superseding the older and less accurate copies in the great collection of Lord Kingsborough. In his Gesammelte Abhandlungen, [1] too, a work quite encyclopædic as regards its scope and aim, Professor Seler has approached almost every problem presented by Mexican archæology. But his work might have been of greater value had he been mindful of the difficulties which the subject presents to the non-specialist reader. Indeed, the technicality and aridity of his general method often render his output comprehensible to few but the “senior wranglers” of the study.