intellectual treasures, fell into the hands of the Editor. The few specimens of their contents which he was enabled to give at the time,[1] on the eve of his being called abroad by his public duty, were favourably received: they indeed excited, among men of letters, a degree of surprize, which demanded the evidence of the originals to attest their authenticity. It was suspected that a new Psalmanazar, or another Damberger, of still more recent notoriety in literary imposture, had conceived and digested the plan of obtruding on the public credulity these scientific sketches, purporting to be from a part of the globe where not any degree of science could be reasonably supposed to exist.
Such were the sentiments generally entertained in this country, of the abject state of every description of knowledge in the South American continent, when the periodical work entitled "El Mercurio Peruano" (the Peruvian Mercury), strayed from its destination, to efface the impressions which had been made, and to substitute others very different in their nature. An Academical Society established in the capital of Peru, the members of which, in treating the diversified subjects of literature, philosophy, history, &c. displayed a profound know-
- ↑ Through the medium of the Monthly Magazine, in 1797, and the commencement of 1798.
