Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-01-02
GAVE US OUR NAME
Something About the Life of
Americas Vespucoi.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
MADE AT SAINT DIE IN THE
YEAR 1910.
May Be Sent to the st. Louis EXPOSE.
tion-How Lasting Fame Was
Undeservedly Obtained.
BY WILLIAM Z. CURTIS.

BY WILLIAM Z. CURTIS.
Special Correspondence of The Evening Star and
| Chicago Record Herald.
| ROME, December "a, 1903.
| Professor Fischer, a German scholar OF
| fame, has appeared in Rome with a map OF
| America made in 1910 at the town of Saint
| Die, Lorraine, by Martin Waldseemuller. 1t
was found by Professor Fischer few
| weeks ago in the library of Walfach Castle
In Wurtemberg, and has attracted great
| deal of interest, although the Importance of
the discovery is yet to be determined by
comparison with other maps of similar date.
1t will at least be valuable contribution
| to cartography, because the man who made
| 1t tackled the label to our hemisphere. But
| for him America might now be known as
Columbia, or New Spain, or it might have
been christened the Philippines after queer
King Philip II of Spain instead of the is
| lands in the Pacific. Father Ehrle, who, as
| I have already told you. is preparing Vat
| lean exhibit for the St.,IouiS exposition,
| will endeavor to secure this map, and he
| thinks that Professor Fischer will be will
| ing to loan it. Father Ehrle is planning to
make collection from The maps of the Vat
! lean showing the development of human
! knowledge concerning the American con-
| tinent down to the date of the transfer
naparte to Thomas jefferson.
Captain Frank Mason, the energetic and
versatile consul general of the United
| states at Berlin, who, has done almost
everything during his long and useful ca
| reer in the service, and has always done 1t
! well, made a thorough investigation of
| Waldseemullers work in geogra ply and
| cartograp ply for the historical department
| of the Chicago exposition and until he and
| other authorities Oh American history have
| passed judgment the Importance of Profess
| sor Fischers find must remain in doubt.
How America Was Named.
| For more than three centuries Americas
| Vespucci rested under the odium of having
usurped the honors of Columbus. 1t was
| not until 1887 that he was acquitted by AL
| eXander Won Humboldt, who proved that
Vespucci had nothing to do with giving
name to America. and 9tl1at Martin VALID
| seemuller was responsible for christening
| the continent. The name was first Sug-
gested in a small Latin treatise entitled
| 'Cosmographiae Introductio'' C''The Rudi-
| ments of Geography, published in 1907 at
Saint Die The story of the. authorship and
publication and the unconscious part it
| played in giving name to the western
hemisphere forms one of the most curious
and fascinating narratives in the romance
of photography.
| During the latter part of the fifteenth CEN
fury group of learned men at Saint Die
| organized the Gymnase Vosgien academy
| or the Vosges), under the patronage of
Duke Rene II of Lorraine, one of the most
| just and progressive rulers of that time
VINO was not only a soldier. but a scholar
and patriot. The art of printing with NOV
able types had just been invented; presses
and type were scarce and books were SO
| valuable that they could be afforded only
| by kings and princes To encourage learn
Ing and extend the fame of his province for
| scholarship Rene set up al press ard font
| OF large, round-face type in the house of
Gautrln hud, on the principal street of the
| town which is now a thriving community
or nearly 12.OGO people, engaged in spn-
| ming. weaving. tanning and other indus tries
| Martin Waldseemuller the most active of
| this little band, came from Frieberg and
was educated at the university in that
| town. He was an accomplished Greek and
| Latin Scholar, skillful mathema tician
| and geography was his fad. With the as
| sistance of his colleagues he proposed to
pupiish a synopsis OF the great geography
or Ptolemy the famous Egyptian and while
| ne was engaged upon the work Martin
| R1ngman. one of the most Jealous mem
bers of the gymnasia. returned from Paris
| where he had been making visit with
| copy of the letter which Americas Yes
| pucci had written in June, 1901 to his ma
| iron. Lorenzo de Medic, Florence giving a
superficial account of his third voyage to
the new world. The letter had been pull
| lished in Florence in Italian and sent to
| Paris. where it was republished in French
Waldseemuller learned from that little
| pamphlet for the first time of the discovery
|
OF his cosmographe was not begun until
within a month of the day in 1905 when
Christopher Columbus, poor. neglected and
broken hearted, was laid In his humble
| grave at Valladolid. The manuscript was
finished the following winter, and four let
tiers of Vespucci, which had been collected
and published in Paris, We're added as an
| appendix. The first edition was dated
April D. 1907, and the demand for the book
was so great that four other editions were
printed In less than five months. The title
| translated Is as follows:
"Rudiments of Geography, Together With
| Some Principles of Geometry Necessary 10
the Purpose. Also Four Voyages of Amer
| icus Vespucci. Description of Universal
Cosmography, Both Stereometrical and
Planometrical, Together With Much That
| Was Unknown to Ptolemy and Has Been
Recently Discovered. Neither the Earth
| Nor the Stars Possess Anything Greater
| Than God and Caesar, for God Rules the
| Stars and Caesar the Nations of the
| Earth"
The ninth chapter is devoted to a de-
scription of Europe. Asia and Africa, the
| three grand divisions of the globe and
| when the author has disposed of them to
| his satisfaction he launches the following
|