The record-union., 1891-01-11
WAS sCHLIEMANN A FRAUD.


WAS SCHLIEMANN A FRAUDs
We cannot refrain from expressing our
astonishment that SO distinguished a sci
enlist as the President of the California
Academy of Sciences should have ex-
pressed doubts of the. honesty of the
treasure discoveries of Schliemann. AT
least he has permitted himself to be re-
ported as sneering at the reputed discov-
cries Of the great archeologist at Hassar-
lik and Mycen@, and as suggesting that
the treasures found may have been fraud
ulent. 1t would seem from all that was
published about the matter, that this
doubt grew out of the fact that the Presi-
dent of the San Francisco Academy once,
many years ago, knew Schliemann when
he was a poor clerk in this city The
idea seems to have fastened upon the
Presidents mind that it was improbable
for such treasure to have escaped the
ravaging ancient to fall at last to the lot of
the discoverer of Troy. &
1t is perfectly true that we are apt t
underrate those whom we knew in hum
bic spheres, who later on have eclipsed us
in the worldly race. 1t is human nature,
perhaps, to look back upon such as we
knew as very humble persons, as impos-
sible of achieving greatness. Now we
have not the slightest doubt of the learn
ing of the President of the Academy, nor
of his profound devotion to scientific
progress. Indeed, we happen to know
that in at least one branch of natural his
tory he has achieved high and deserved
distinction and recognition by learned
societies abroad. But as positive eyi-
dences of the successful researches of
Henry Schleimann and the treasures he
unearthed are easily produced, the idea
that he salted the excavations at Hissar-
lik and deceived the archaeological soci-
ties of the world is absurd. Moreover.
there would appear to be lacking suffi-
| cient motive for any such action, and
certainly there could be no considerable
gain by any such performance.
The story of Schliemann's life is a ro-
mantle one, but cannot be even sketched
here. He educated himself, amassed a
fortune at business, and spent it in unset
fish archaeological research In 1866 he
went to Paris to make preparatory study
for what he believed to be the great work
TOR which he was intended. He went to
Ithaca, and to his own satisfaction identi-
fed it with indications of locality in the
Odyssey, and then began the search for
the plain of Troy, and at Hissarlik fixed
upon the spot where he would begin his
sinkings.
he published monograph giving his
reasons for this location, and while it was
yet in press made trip to the United
States, where he remained several
months, but in 1870 was back at Hissar-
lik and began to eXcavate. He secured a
flrmln from the Porte and pushed his
work with yigor under it. For three
years he labored at Hissarlik and then he
transferred his labors to Mycense where
he excavated for four years. In both
places he made important discoveries,
that were examined and proved by the
most advanced arch@ologists of the world.
He recovered monuments of art and a
large amount of gold and silver and other
treasure; while the Government offered to
permit him to retain his treasures as aids
in the prosecution of his researches.
he turned them all over to Greece. In
1880 he published the first account of his
discoveries in the volume entitled ssIlios.v
and In 1888 the second, entitled "Troja."
He found seven cities superimposed upon
each another, and while it is not clear and
may never be which was the ancient city
OF Troy, he entertained the firm belief
that the second was the original city of
which Homer treated in song.
1t is perfectly true that as late as 1875
Schliemann was visited with ridicule by
doubters, and was laughed at by scien-
lists even more famous than the Presi-
! dent of the California Academy, but long
before the close of that decade ridicule
gave place to respect, high honors were
showered upon the explorer and full
credit conceded for the verify of his dis
coveries by the Hellenic and other archse-
illogical societies. Despite the doubts of
the California President, it is in proof as
strong as that such man as Washington
lived, that Schliemann at Mycena made
discoveries of treasures of greatest value,
and all tending to prove the Homeric ac-
counts of culture and art.
| 1t is in proof as positive as that the
| Academy of Sciences is beneficiary of
James Lick, that Heinrich Schliemann
found at Hissarlik great mass of mute
witnesses of prehistoric cities, one of
which may have been the real Troy, and
that he found in them rich stores of pot
terry and jewelry, notwithstanding the
suggestion of the President of the Cali
fornia Academy OF Sciences that such
relics are now cleverly initiated. Schlie-
man found three helmeted skeletons, and
other evidences of prehistoric occupation,
| but it is not admitted that his proofs in