The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1908-09-27
HISTORIC Fakes AND FRAUDS
SOME COUyTERFETTs THAT DE-
CEIYED THE LEARNED.

SOME tCOUyTERFEITS THAT DE-
CEIRED THE LEARNED.
George psalmanaxar, Who Masqueraded
as q Native Of Fefmosa and Deceived
Engiifh Clergy - vrain Lucas-
An Itanan's Ingenious Ferseries.
About 100 Baron Kempelen Of Hungary
began to astonish the civiiized world OF
Europe with his chess player. h was
apparently q figure controlled by me-
chanioal devices. and able. notwfth-
standing the fact that apparently no
intelligence was concerned In its move
menta and decisions. generally TO beat
its human antagonists.
The cabinet connected with the autom-
atom appeared entirely too small TO
contain O hidden operator. And yet.
writes ]. +. Springer In the Scfentfc
American, It did conceal q man who wa
an expert chess player. He was a Polish
patriot who had lost both Of his legs-per-
haps In the recent war over Poland. This
man. Woronsky by name. was an expert
player. With him hidden In the cabinet
the rest was easy.
The oareer Of George Psalmanazar--as
he called himselfxwas n OF the most
astonishing on record. This man was
born In Switzerland or France. but during
the time Of his fame claimed to be a
native OF the island Of Formosa. He had
acquired a moderate education. but
seemed indisposed TO employ himself In
any regular occupation. Instead. he
roamed over Europe, serving with the
Dutch and with the German army. At
one time he pretended to be an Irishman,
at another an u~noonverted Japanese. at
a third a converted japanese.
In the last capacity he deceived the
Colonel Of o British regiment at Sluys.
The chaplain Of the regiments man
named fnnes-however. did not seem to
have been deceived. He and Psalmanazar
proceeded to England and there began
q marvellous career. Psalmanazar mas
queraded as q genuine native Of Formosa
converted to Christianity. The clergy
received him with open arms He had
an interview with the Archbishop Of Can
terbufy. who. however. was unable to
understand his Latin. But then who
would expect q Formosan to speak. Latin
with perfection?
He published an invented Formosan
alphabet, together with forged examples
Of the native language. accompanying
them with translationa. The Bishop OF
London seems TO have believed implicitly
in his claim to know the language Of For
mosa. for he employed Psalmanasar TO
translate the Church oatechism into It.
He was sent TO the University of Oxford
to finish his education. There he lie said
to have employed his waking hours in an
idle way, but to have left a candle burning
while he slept to bear witness OF his zeal
In schoiastic pursuits. He wrote a treat
ise upon Formosa In Latin. When this
was translated into English IL had a very
lar &c success.
To corrob crate hiss claim OF being o
native rormosan he would eat raw meat,
roots and herbs. He wal iionized. and
was immensely successful. Although he
carried ON the deception with the greatest
ingenuity, deceiving great and small.
he trinped at last. In an unwary moments
he Joined with some one In exploiting q
-vhite Formosan ware.' This led to his
downfall. Detection being imminent. he
confessed. This is one account. An
other has Il that ne became conscience
stricken and voluntarily Withdrew from
the public gaze.
A self-eduoated man Of humble origin
of the name Of vrain Lucas, ignorant OF
both Greek and Latin. became the perpe-
traitor OF fraud involving the prepara-
ton OF 81. 600 odd forged documents. many
Of them purporting to be letters written
by celebrated historical personages. AL
though written in French. they purported
to be letters from Sappho. Thales, Dante.
Petrarch, Julius Cesar. Alexander the
Great. st. Luke, Shakespeare. lazarus,
Newton, Pascal. Cleopatra and others.
M. Chasles. the great mathematician.
was apparently ready 10 believe that all
the ancients were proficient In this Ian
guage, for he was completely fooled by
Lucas. In 1857, among other documents.
Lucas communicated to the Academic
through Chasles two letters and four
notes purporting to have been written by
the celebrated French mathematician and
thinker Blaise Pascal (16ss-loo2). III
these letters had been genuine they would
have proved him to have anticipated
Newton Qez2-i72D in his great discovery
Of the law Of g~ravitation. Chasles was
attacked, but stood his ground. even pro-
duoing other letters to bear him out
from pascal to the boy Newton. The dis
lasted for two years. Ip 1859 the
Academic made IN, official declaration In
favor Of the ~genuineness Of the letters.
France went wild. The people In the
cheered the name Of Pascal.
But shortly afterward an official OF the
Observatory pointed out that sixteen Of
the Pascal letters were to be found In
History Of Modern Philoso-
pheu,s which had appeared a century
But NJ. Chasles claimed that
Saverien had used them without acknowL
edoinr his source. And 90 Il went.
Ie Verrier demolished the whole
fabric OF the fraud. Lucas was finally
brought to trial. convicted and sent 70
nrison for two years He Rad realized
about $50 900 from his activities.
Slmonides was o past master In the art
Of literary forgery. His performances
belong to approximately the same period.
but were accomplished on different soil.
Of q history Of ancient Egypt written in
sell to the Germans for q great sum. In
order to understand just what q marvel
lous piece Of work he produced it will be
- puInrokanA srn.a AZ.