perfection. Where, then, are the imperfect attempts which issued in this perfection to be found? No such have been discovered, either at Ghizeh or in any other locality in Egypt, notwithstanding that no work of man perishes there. This circumstance compels us to assume that the skill of these primitive artists of Egypt was a portion of that civilization which its first settlers brought with them when they located themselves in the valley of the Nile." NOTE XII. (Page 105.) (1) Dr. Daniel G. Brinton, "Essays of an Americanist" (p. 439), says: "I do not know of any measurements undertaken in Yucatan to ascertain the metrical standard employed by the ancient architects. It is true that Dr. Augustus Le Plongeon asserts positively that they knew and used the metric system, and that the metre and its divisions are the only dimensions that can be applied to the remains of the edifices. But apart from the eccentricity of this statement, I do not see from Dr. Le Plongeon's own measurements that the metre is in any sense a common divisor for them.” Abbé Brasseur is now dead-he cannot, therefore, refute Dr. Brinton's imputations; but I am still in the land of the living, and will speak for the learned Abbé and for myself. The measurements that Dr. Brinton ignores to have been undertaken in Yucatan, I have made most carefully, as proved by my plans of the buildings and my restorations of the same. The exactness of these surveys can be vouched for by the officers of my escorts in the ruined cities, they having helped me in that work. Unlike some genuinely good things, the would-be critic's memory does not seem to improve with age. It is, indeed, a pity. When he wrote the lines just quoted he surely had forgotten that, once upon a time, after the one visit with which he has ever honored me, he stated in the November (1885) number of the American Antiquarian (page 378), under the heading "The Art of Ancient Yucatan: " "I recently passed an evening with Dr. and Mrs. Le Plongeon, who, after twelve years spent in exploring the ruined cities of Yucatan, and studying the ancient and modern Maya language and character, are passing a few months in this country. The evening was passed in looking at photographs of the remains of architectural and plastic art, in examining tracings and squeezes from the walls of the buildings, in studying the accurate plans and measurements made by the doctor and his wife of those structures, in reviewing a small but exceedingly choice collection of relics, and in listening to the doctor's explanation of the Maya hieroglyphic system. Whatever opinion one may entertain of the analogies the doctor thinks he has discovered between Maya culture and language and those of Asia and Africa, no one who, as I had the privilege of doing, goes over the actual product of his labors and those of his accomplished wife, can doubt the magnitude of his discoveries and the new and valuable light they throw upon ancient Maya civilization. They correct, in various instances, the hasty deductions of Charnay, and they prove that buried under the tropical growth of the Yucatan forests still remain monuments of art that would surprise the world were they exhumed and rendered accessible to students." Compare this with his other statement. It would indeed be most interesting to know if it was envy or charity that thus caused him to alter his mind. He has never visited the ruined cities of Yucatan, unless it be in imagination. He has, therefore, never made measurements of the buildings erected by the Mayas. How, then, can he know, of his own knowledge, which of our modern standards of lineal measures applies to them exactly? This, however, I do know, not from hearsay, but from actual experience, that the metre is the only measure which, when applied to said buildings, leaves no fraction. How, then, does he, a mere closet archæologist, dare impute to eccentricity my statement to the "American Antiquarian. Society of Worcester," made first in June, 1878, and reiterated in 1881, which reads: "I have adopted the metric standard of lineal measure, not from choice, but from necessity, and made the strange discovery that the metre is the only measure of dimension which agrees with that adopted by these most ancient artists and architects; another very striking point of contact with the Chaldean priests, the Magi"? In August, 1893, in the New York Advertiser, I publicly challenged Dr. Brinton to a conference before any scientific society of his own choice, to show what he really knew about the Mayas, their language, manners, customs, and history. He prudently took no notice of my challenge. But, being as desirous to defend my reputation in my chosen field of study as he is to shield his, I seized the opportunity offered by the members of the American Association for the Advancement of Science holding their annual meetings, under his presidency, a few steps from my residence in the city of Brooklyn, to send him this second challenge, a copy of which was placed in his hand on August 20th, while he was standing with other members of the association in the reception room of the Polytechnic Institute: DR. LE PLONGEON TO DR. BRINTON. AN OPEN LETTER WHICH CONTAINS AN INVITATION TO A SCIENTIFIC DUEL. The Eagle has received the following: Dr. Daniel G. Brinton, President of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. SIR Do you remember that in 1887, when the American Association for the Advancement of Science met in New York at Columbia College, by direction of Professor Putnam, I wrote to you from this city, inquiring if I might be permitted to read a paper on Ancient American Civilization" before the archæological department of said association, you being then the President of said section? Do you remember also that I did not receive until three weeks after the closing of the sessions of said association the answer to my letter, it having somehow been sent to San Francisco, Cal., instead of Brooklyn, L. I.? It is to avoid another such clerical mistake that I now take this mode of reaching the association and yourself. You are well aware that during the last quarter of a century, particularly, human knowledge has made great progress in all branches of science except that of American archæology, which is not now much more advanced than it was a century ago. You also feel, if you do not admit it, that all that has been written on that subject in Europe and America does not pass from mere speculation on the part of the writers, and is therefore, scientifically and historically speaking, scarcely worth the paper on which said speculations and theories are printed; that none of the pretended authorities on the subject can read a single sentence of the Maya books and mural inscriptions; that they therefore know nothing about the ancient Mayas, their culture and scientific attainments, although some of said writers presume to pronounce magisterially on these subjects. You pose as, and are therefore considered, the authority in the United States on all questions pertaining to the ancient Mayas; for this reason I address myself to you, and also because you are now the president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, whose members should be proud to help in shedding light on the ancient civilization of the continent on which they live. In your book, "Essays of an Americanist " (p. 439), you aver that my asserting that the ancient Maya standard of lineal measures was the metre, or be it the ten millionth part of the quarter of the meridian, is one of my eccentricities, but give no reasons for so attacking my statement. A year ago, through the columns of the New York Advertiser, a copy of which I mailed to your address, I sent you an invitation to prove your averment before any scientific society of your own choosing, provided the meeting were public. There can be no better opportunity than the present, no better qualified audience than the scientists now assembled under your presidency, for passing judgment on all such questions. Will you, then, appoint a day, at your own convenience, to meet me before the members of the association and discuss all points treated by you in your book above mentioned ? 1. Maya phonetics. 2. What were the true signs used by ancient Mayas for the cardinal points? 3. Landa alphabet and Maya prophecies. 4. Maya standard of measures. And, besides, the following: (1) Maya science of numbers; (2) Maya cosmogony; (3) Maya knowledge of geography, geology; and, if you please (4), Maya language and its universal spread among all ancient civilized nations of antiquity in Asia, Africa, and Europe. All said discussion to rest altogether on hard facts, scientific or historical, not on mere conjectures or suppositions, so as to be of real value to the scientific world, and thus give ancient America its proper place in the universal history of the world. Of course, the four hundred photographic |