This assertion must be qualified by a remark of the Abbé Brasseur de Bourbourg, who tells us that in some places the Indians still use lancets of obsidian to bleed themselves with. I believe there is nothing of the kind to be found in the part of Mexico which we visited.

The Aztecs had but one word to denote both gold and silver, as they afterwards made one serve for both iron and copper. This curious word teocuitlatl we may translate as “Precious Metal,” but it means literally “Dung of the Gods.” Gold was “Yellow Precious Metal,” and silver “White Precious Metal.” Lead they called temetztli, “Moon-stone;” and when the Spaniards showed them quicksilver, they gave it the name of yoli amuchitl, “Live Tin.”