New-York tribune., 1900-08-20
pRE-COLUMBIAN AMERICA.
rzE INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF
AMERICANISTS AT THE
WORLDS FAIR.
Paris. August 10.

n, roeat at the College OF France on Septem-
~ II af 2:30 o'clock and continue daily, with
10Th morning and afternoon sessions, uutil
contender o. This congress is looked forward
- with unusual interest because 1t will be
-. arst reunion since the science of American
,sn has attained a classical academic basis
-.ooen,zed as such by the leading universities
- rrrone This will be the twelfth annual
aet,ne Of the association. which, largely owing
- she indefatigable initiative and liberatty of
+bs puke Of Loubat honorary president of the
7oe-is Society OF Americanists. has made great
Drosress toward popularizng the studies or the
b,sto-v archaeology, ethnology and languages
- the pre-CoIumbian inhabitants Of America.
.-none those who have signihed their inten-
ton Of taking part in the congress is PROFESSOR
seler who occupies the chair Of pre-Columoian
science founded at the University OF Berlin
With the cordial appreciation Of the Emperor
v7,,,,isn, nv the Duke OF Loubats endowment
OF $4,000
The list Of active members OF the congress in
,,,,5ss the names Of Prince Roland Bonaparte,
The Duke OF Bassano, the Duke OF Louoat'
,sarouis de Nadaillac Baron de Baye, Count
6e Charencey. Baron Hulot, Secretary-Genera4
Of the French Geographical Society; Emile Le-
vssseur. Of the Institute Of France; Gastoh
Nsspero. Jules oppert and many others familiar
,n scientific circles Of the United States ana
Fprope The afternoon sittings of the congress
will be held at the College Of France ana
will be reserved for communications per'aiiiAs
20 IN. history. geography, anthropology ana
languages Of the American Continent. Inc
morning meetings will take place at the Etnno-
logical Museum Of the Trocadero. or at otheT
s,,i+sble points in the Exposition, and VIII De oe-
voted IN the examination Of all the Anerlcahlst
collections al the various national pANIlons'
s,,cb az those OF Mexico and Peru, or thaI may
he found In any OF the scientific OF relroSpectiEe
sections Of the Exposition. The meetings VIII Oe
presded over by DR.. Hamy. member o. t14e ~
stit1te and professor ct the Museum Oh E'9'-
ursl History. who will also reao paper con-
.i,i,0 the very curious and long forgotten
French Official report Of the olscoNeFy u 1
o-sv World. Other papers will be read by MI.
- ,T,a,,a secre-arv Of the United States
r--rhsssv in Paris. always foremost among nard
,~,,,rz Aroe-icanists who has recently un-
.o-+bsa some interesting information relating TO
roscaneIu and Christopher Columbus Whlch ne
1,,n make the subject Of his forthcoming COM
r,ynication. Other papers will be read by the
Count de Charencey. NJ Henri Coroier, M
Henri Froideraux sehor Gonzalez NJ de Ia
Grasserie NJ. Gabriel Marcel Marquis dc Pc
rglta Mr. J. B shipley, the Count de la Vaulx
and DR.. Verneau. It is expected that al the
last moment several additional papers OF the
congress.
Most striking but unwelcome evidence ot the
growing popularity Of Anericanism is presented
by the fact that skiIful professional faor1cators
of ancient writings, documents and relics VINO
have reaped such golden Farvests in the realms
=. Fsvptologv and OF the antiquarianism OF
Greece and Of Syria, are now devoting their tai
ents TO manufacturing false Maya MSS, com
posite Aztec skulls and pseudo inscriptions.
Just as Birmingham used 10 furnish tourists OF
the Nile with imitation mummies. stelse, scara-
basi and bronze cats. so some town, probably IN
Mexico, but the identity OF which has not yet
been established. is now getting ready to supply
Ansrtcanists with false pre-Columbian an
tiquities.
During q recent visit to Mexico the Duke de
Loubats attention called to what pur-
ported 70 be an exceedingly rare Maya Ms. In
order 10 appreciate the value Of this Maya MS
II should be stated that only three others are
known TO exist. One OF these is the Famous
Peresianus Ms. published by De Rosny; then
there IS the Dresden Codex, published by Pro-
fessor Foersterman. and the third is the MS IN
TWO parts, called the Troano and the Corteziano.
published by Brasseur dc Bourbourg at the ex-
pense Of the French Government Consequently
the MAYA Ms. offered te the Duke OF Loubat
would II genuine be worth a very large sum OF
money The Ms. appeared at first sight 70 bear
al the marks Of authenticity. The price asked
was $4,000. The Duke Of Loubat examined the
Ms. with great care. His suspicion was aroused
by its being written upon deerskin instead OF
upon Maguey paper, and because the opening
chapters were written entirely IN the Nahusltl
language and style. These facts, however, in
themselves would not to a man of the Duke Of
Loubat's technical experience be sufficient alb
6olUtey TO demonstrate that the Ms. was false.
TFc
other intrinsic evidence but the MS. ap-
peared to be Of such unusual interest the Duke
Of Loubat offered $500 for il, intending to place
II among the collection Of pseudo-MS. in the
American Museum Of Natural History. The
man who offered the MS. for sale may have
been himself acting In good faith, but 1t is
now certain that the MS. must have been manu-
featured by some exceedingly clever dealer.
The Duke Of Loubat showed the Ms. to Sec
Tetary Hay, at Washington; to Mr.. Marshal H.
ssvile, sub-curator OF anthropology in New
York and TO Professor Putnam of Harvard
University. The MS. was carefully scrutinized
by Mr.. Saville and Professor Putnam. and they
concluded that IL was a fraud. The other day
the Duke had the Ms. examined by DR.. Seller,
professor Of pre-Columbian Americanism at the
University Of Berlin, who al once agreed with
Messrs. Savile and Putnam and declared that
he was willing to take his oath that the Ms. was
q forgery. The Duke Of LOubat has, moreover.
just been informed from a most trustworthy
source that obsidian marks and stones were be-
ilg manufactured in large quantities in Mexico
and sold 20 foreign collectors. NJ. Boban. the
vel known Paris dealer in Mexican antiquities.
rays that numoer Of so-caIled rock crystal pre-
Columbian skulls have been adroity made as
almost 10 defy detection. and have been palrned
OF as genuine upon the experts Of some Of the
principal museums OF Europe. and IL appears