The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1922-09-11

WAOHlNGION, ID. c., Sept IL. -
So many people come 10 my door
and read the sign Maps and Charts
and turn away" P. L. Phillips, chief
of the Map Division of the Library of
Congress made this remark, and he
made it rather sadly There is as
much Of the picturesque in Mr. Phil
Lips division as in any part of the
great library. But the public thinks
OF map as a dull, abstract outline
OF country. So, more often than
not, visitors pass by and miss seeing
the map with the picture of the one
legged man holding his foot over him
like an umbrella.
This attractive novelty is just in
side the door. 1t is possible that If
he were outside, below the sign
maps and Charts" the one-legged
gentleman might stimulate the public
Imagination and Mr.. Phillips would
be swamped with visitors. But side
show advertising is beneath govern
mental dignity Mr.. Phillips has per
haps gone as far as this dignity per-
mits when he placed a swinging OF
quaint old sixteenth century maps just
inside his door.
The one-legged gentleman is in this
collection of valuable old vellum
charts. He is sitting blissfully in the
shade of his huge foot in Ethiopia,
region about which very little was
known when the map was drawn. In
another of these maps man with
neck like a camel is set down some
where in northern Europe.
These freak humans were not put
there in any spirit of levity. The
map makers of the sixteenth century
depend on explorers and travellers for
information about distant countries
just as map makers do today. Some
times they were deceived. Travellers
exaggerated or reported weired tradi-
lions as facts. Sir John Vaudeville,
famous traveller of the fourteenth cen
fury, is responsible for the onelegged
man Mr.. Phillips points out that
Mandeville's book of travels contains
the same picture that the map maker
used a couple of centuries later. Man
deville added a description to his pic
ture, written in the quaint old English
of his time:
Quaint Old English
''In Ethiope ben many diverse folk:
and Ethiope is clept (called( Gusts.
In that Centres ben folk that han but
foot: and thei gon so fast that
it is a marvalle: and the foot is so
large that it schadewethe allie the
Body azen the Some, whanne thel
wole I've and reste hem"
The man with the long, curved neck
is another concoction of some explor-
er. He adorns a 1859 sailing chart
of the coast lines of the world. The
map makers of that time often dec
5otJ, IF this
sort, showing the natural exhibits and
interesting features of the different
countries. This chart shows an ex-
cellently drawn elephant, cameh
deer, unicorn, and other animals in
Africa, for instance, and in Europe
the principal cities are marked by
their coats of arms and tiny view
of the city over the shield. Each OF
these views is no larger than %
cent piece Yet the towers and bat
Elements of each city are distinctive
The different countries are marked
by pictures of the rulers sitting on
canopied thrones. The apparel of the
kings and the colors and style in
which they are drawn are strongly
suggestive of the royalty on modern
deck of playing cards.
This was map of 1859, more col
orful and fanciful affair than our cur
rent maps with their dots for cities
and wavy lines for mountains. Yer
this map is scarcely considered ole
by cartography experts. A map made
after 1850 is comparatively modern
This is logical when you consider tina
the Romans made charts in planning
their roads, and that records of map.
go back several centuries befor'
Christ Some of the most interesting
maps in the Library of Congress, tt
Americans, at least, are not old b.
this standard
rare and unique map of this coun
try is one showing the names pro
posed by jefferson for new states, il
1854. What is now the north centra
and northwestern part of the Unitet
States was beginning to open up, ant
Jefferson proposed an ordinance Z
parcel it of and name it. He suggest
ed in his ordinance such names a
Sylvania, Assenisippia, Polypotarnia
Cherronesus, Metropotamia, Michigan
la, Saratoga, Pelisipia, Illinoio, an
Washington. Most of these name
were never taken seriously. One cri
ic said of them, "Such a mixture G
Greek, Latin, English and Indian pei
haps was never seen before" Blu
the next year a publisher printed
tiny book almanac containing a piC
ture of the map as Jefferson wante
it.
Division Saves Billions
Showing the public its entertainin
exhibits is not, of course, the mai
function of the Map Division. NJ
Phillips has in his charge one of tn
largest collections of maps in tn
world. and the material is put to in
portant uses He says that his divi
For a Good Dry Cleaner