The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1910-11-21
vAKDALISNMAkES
HIP R ECHT QUIT
Babylonian Tablets Are Dcfaced
and Others Cannot
Be Found.
UNABLE TO GET REDRESS
Tells of Wrongs Which Forbid
Him to Remain With univer-
sity of Pennsylvania.

Philadelphia Nov 90--Professor
Herman v. Hilprecht famous IN the
fierce and bitterly personal eontroyesr,
sizes which his Babylonian discoveries
aroused, has resigned his, position IN
the faculty of the University of Penn
sylvanta. His resignation hasl been
r, the hands of the university author
tiles since August 26 but no, announce
ment has been made OF what action,
u any. the authorities have taken upon
his withdrawal.
1t now develops thst there are as
founding reasons advanced by Profess
sor Hilprecht for sending IN MS res.
ignation No differences OF academic
pensions upon Professor Hilprecht's
intellectual integrity, have caused THIS
latest rupture. Action so petty ana
SO disgusting to a scholar as to be a..
grounds for his resignation. While
DR.. Hilprecht was In Germany last
summer he was informed by scholars
IN whose word he had every faith tnat
tablets from the Babylon!an eHcava-
tons in the museum OF archaeology
or the university Persons who had
visited the museum after his departure
Tor Europe told him that changes had
been made on the faces of the tablets.
and they warned him that he had bet
ter hurry back and look after his In
terests.
lAS SCdTCcly DelieNtu lIldL SuCll al
outrage upon his specimens could be
committed in an institution of learn
ing. and when he returned to this city
ne FASTENED to the board of managers
OF the museum and told them of the
reports that had been carried to him
in Europe He preferred to stay away
from the. museum until witnesses APP
pointed by the managers should be
able to accompany him
together with such committee he
nd fha n Eos y,1 thuI
some of his most valuable tablets
upon which he had based some of his
most weighty contributions to the
scholarship of the subject OF Babylo-
found that some of the tablets which
remained had been tempered with and
defaced. He found that locks of the
door to his private office had been
removed and Others put in their
places: that his records had been tam.
ted against him. which made II alb
solately impossible for him TO remain
In the university without some sort
Of an investigation being made by
Upon finding that in his absence
these things had been done, he sent in
his resignation. This latest quarrel
precht controversy which periodically
has rent the peace of the university
ever since 1905, when the bitter and
acrimonious discussion concerning the
famous tablets from the library at
Niypur in Babylonla ragged from one
end OF the country to the other in
learned societies. and when the mooted
questions We're reported to the insti
tutions of learning the world over.
DR.. Hilprecht refused to-day to dis
cuss the resignation or what caused 1t,
but 1t is known that he had printed
a pamphlet setting forth eNhaustiVely
his reasons for withdrawing from the
university 1t is thought that he pre-
pared this pamphlet in order to distri-
butte 1t to the learned societies and the
universities of the world in the event
of his resignation being accepted, and
in order to defend his reputation from
whatever attacks might be made upon
1t in view of summary action.
In this pamphlet DR.. Hilprecht re-
latea the whole story OF the destruc-
ton of his specimens, of the breaking
open of his private Office at the mu-
scum, of the placing of new locks upon
the doors. and of the tampering with
his records He charges no one with
theft.