Humboldt Museum

Professor Elhuyar often ordered instruments for the School of Mines through von Humboldt, who selected and purchased them without any commission. In return for this courtesy he gave the Baron much valuable information for his Political Essay on New Spain (13, 16). Von Humboldt later presented to European museums numerous specimens of Mexican minerals which this Spanish scientist had given him. 

Dr. Ernst Wittich, German Ambassador to Mexico, pointed out that Baron von Humboldt was also led into the same error, for the specimen in the Museum fur Naturkunde in Berlin is labeled in the Baron s handwriting Brown lead ore from the veins of Zimapin in northern Mexico. Lead chromate. M. del Rio thought he had discovered a new metal in it, which he named erythronium, then panchromium later he realized that it was ordinary chromium. The label was later corrected by Gustav Rose to read Vanadiumbleierz (vanadium lead ore) (29). 

Carsten Liiter, University of Glasgow, Institute of Biomedical and Life Sciences, Division of Molecular Genetics, 56 Dumbarton Road, Glasgow Gll 6NU, Scotland. Current address Humboldt-Universitaet zu Berlin, Museum fuer Naturkunde, Institut fuer systematische Zoologie, Invalidenstrasse 43, D-10115 Berlin (carsten.lueter rz.hu-berlin.de). 

The senior author thanks the Chinese Academy of Sciences (KZ952-S1-412), National Natural Science Foundation of China and the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation (fellowship to M. Zhu to work at Museum fiir Naturkunde in Berlin) for their generous support. Frau E. Siebert, Museum fiir Naturkunde in Berlin, has prepared the drawings. 

The material is deposited in the Canadian Museum of Nature, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada (CMN), and the Museum fiir Naturkunde der Humboldt Universitat, Berlin, Germany (MB). 

Schultze, H.-R, Institut fiir Palaontologie, Museum fiir Naturkunde, Humboldt -Universitat zu Berlin, Invalidenstrasse 43, D-10115 Berlin, Germany. 

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