New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1902-09-27
COLUMBUS.
A CRITICISM OF HIS SCIENTIFIC FfSh
TENSIONS, AND A CHARGE OF FRAUD

tonber Columbus Critical STUDY on n.e a az
the Sources Of the Cosmographioal 1Ssas OF OF
Columbus. Followed by the rsiio Annotations
Several Facsrniles and Also Map BY states
TgnauG f RI Pa3ss eVfce-President Of the So
ciety of AmerfcaniSts OF rams e'0-
DID, xix 3s5. E. P Dutton & 90
The fame Of Columbus. based unshakaoiy as
is II upon the great fact of his discovery he'
ertbeIess involves matters which are open to
debate To the romantic figure embraced ny
popular Imagination and honored simply as 'he
hero NJ q supremely rnomentous adventure
scholarship has added certain traits Of deeper
meaning Columbus. We told, had the pow
ers Of the seer as well as the skill OF an eA
perienced navigator; he was more IMAM 'iie
brave sailor, daring the chances OF a mysterious
ocean; he a man given TO grave hPe0u
ton who moved steadily toward a goal long
and confidently foreseen. Mr.. Fignauo mas ms
doubts about all this. Years of study nave leu
him to question the authenticity OF the letter
and chart of Toscanelli. with which the olscos-
cry Of America has hitherto been associated
and from which the idea Of a scientihc orisln
for that discovery has In part been drawn III
this volume devoted chiefly to the olscreoltiiis
Of the two documents he further seeks 10 sio"
shat Columbus had no scientific theory 10 80
ON when he sailed to these shores, but Iraiileu
one afterward, and. indeed, owed such gum
ance as he enjoyed his memoranie 'oS 0se
to nothing more or less than the generosity "a
a nameless pilot who had seen western sun NC
fore him The work Is full Of interest Ii Is d
marvel Of patient industry, illuminated 10y
closely reasoned. if sometimes audacious. by
notheses and marked throughout by a couI'
+ou,ara writers Of differing opinions which Is
rare enough in iconoclastic literature Inc SUI
iact IS one appealing more to scholars than 10
che general reader But Mr. Nignaud's style Is
on clear his whole mode Of presenting his case
&c so animated and suggestive, that the Verles'
lavrnan could not but become ABSORBED III H4'
pages rh,
The main points at issue are easily stated
Portuguese of the fifteenth century were ho'aote
mariners. and the court, partly Tor uaue ie"
SONS and the hope of territorial ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
nsrtlv out of a desire for glory ana 10 st"io
veil with the pope. backed UP the national ex-
nlorers. Alfonso craved a western route 10
the Indies. A counsellor Of his, one Fernall
,r-..rr q, canon of Lisbon opened cornmunica-
.to, with Faolo Toscanelli, the F1orentlne as
+rono,ner from whom he sought advice on lhls
subject for his royal master. and from "hoiii nc
receixe5 a letter asserting the Feasibility OF tie
rorte desired 4 chart accompanied the ie1'
which was sent In 1414- Columbus heaio u
This episode and. moved by his keen scent io1
ANYTHING that might bear upon his own proJe0'
snnlied to Toscanelli himself The date OF HIS
correspondence with the Florentine Is uhkho"i'
INT IL is believed that several years elapsed NC
fore he received for his pains. copy Of the let
ter to Martins with duplicate OF lNe eNa4
rroscane1u must have kept a copy Of the two
documents he sent to Martins, other"lse he
could not have reproduced them Tor ColuiiipuS'
ca -bere rnust at one time have been three sets
,r existence They have all disappeared, utterly
The letter is known only in three forms An
Italian version, long the only one fafniilaf "
scholars appeared in the Historic atuipu'eo
"a Ferdinand the son Of Columbus, and pup
lshAd at Venice in 1911. Las Casas, VINO "Fole
his famous Historic" in 100. but whose coii-
nlete text was not published until 1870 EN-
bodied a Spanish version or the letter ili i.t'
,rork Nothing was known of the original Laun
text until Mr.. Harrisse, the distinguished Aiiiei
icanist discovered copy Of 1t IN the hOias
AZ Seville in ISL He found il, inscribed IN q
hand which NAV have been that Of Columbus OF
that Of his brother Bartholomew, upon one VI
the blank pages of a copy OF the hlspoit
Rerurn Unique Gestarum OF -41neas oSiNU'
Pope Plus IL that had belonged TO CoIuiiiou'
himself and had long been famous ioi Inc az
notattons he made in it. The chart was -oo' |e4'
turies ago. leaving no record beyond Inc anu
sion made to It in the letter and the asse tioii
of Las Casas that it was in his possession "iieii
he wrote his history. To accept the letter anu
,.n.r+ as authentic is to accept the proposition
that the discovery of America was the run Vi
q campaign on the part of Columbus IN "flcii
Ia moe sustained by convictions scientlnc III
,besr nature and confirmed, if not inspired pS
,n,erco,rse with an eminent Italian student ol
the ouestion he had set himself TO solve MI
V,pnaud refuses 10 accept either the documents
or the proposition
Ea AYERS that the letter could not have been
written by Toscanelh, but must have beeh
>orge6 by a kinsnlan of Columbus for reasons
which viii appear below There is nothing III
Tho archives Ga Alfonso to show that he ever
had any correspondence whatever with los
cane1u. independently through Martins. and
In fact. there is no evi 1ence anywhere that the
latter even existed Neither is there anything
q, the archives Of Florence. in it's literary
b,s-orx to throw light the subject Wher-
oyer the investigator goes he is thrown back
upon the three sources cited above, and these
are all, in Mr.. Vignaud's opinion, suspect.
Columbus himself. moreover, preserves an alb
solute silence upon the whole transaction. Seek
ing for internal evidence in the letter TO Mar
Tins the critic is confronted by the curious
fact that it brings up the question OF the spice
trade with the East as though that were mat
ter of familiar concern to the Portuguese,
whereas in MI Vignaud's words, it did not
exist for them in 1474. He adds that the let
fer expresses the cosTnographical system of
Mar,nus of Tyre. a system only known to us
through Ptoleny. who was still imprinted in
1474": that it ignores the very error in that
system which Ptolemy exposes in describing it,
and that its geographical nomenclature is Dor
rowed from Marco Polo. though he had then
been long out Of date Thus the argument pro-
ceeds. adding to the disconcerting fact that We
have no documentary proof of Toscanellfs ever
-neddling with the subject OF the letter to Mar
tins the weighty testimony of errors in the let