Nappanee Advance-News, Volume 28, Number 48, Nappanee, Elkhart County, 29 January 1908 — Page 6

SCIENTIST TELLS OF FINDS AT NIPPUR LIGHT ON ANCIENT SYSTEMS OF LAW Discoveries Made by Prof. Hilprecht Declared to Be Among the Most Valuable Ever Made —Work of Translation Going On at the University of Pennsylvania —The Hymn to Ellil.

Jga HILADELPHIA Recentevidenoe that the so-called Hil-preoht-Peters controversy as to the results of the Nlp[jXf.) pur excavations was not killed but was . merely “scotched” by the course in relation to it taken by the governing body of the University of Pennsylvania, may lead to further action of some kind on the part of the latter. There has been much disappointment amoug the friends of Prof. H. V., Hilprecht, the head of the assyrlological section at the university, that the mild verdict rendered by the investigating committee of the trustees in 1905 did not carry with it the weight of a vindication. The degree of contempt with which this verdict was received in

on 6oi/#dary 1 tr£oj?o ' dYabvcAa<frejsa'- / | - from Jftj9jpi/r& ' ] archeological circles, the freedom with- - it was denounced in many scientific quarters as merely an application of what is figuratively known as ( "whitewash,* are almost unprecedent- , ed In any similar case- It may as well be said that among the alumni of the university there still subsists a strong feeling of dissatisfaction that a more positive course was not taken , by the trustees, and a movement has been begun to make a concerted representation -in favor of again forcing ; the issue between Prof. Hilprecht and" , his scientific accusers. ! . . —. i May Publish Stenographic Report. ( It was intimated to a representative of the Philadelphia Ledger by a triis- \ tee of the university that the board 1 might yet determine to give to the j public the stenographic reports of the , hearings in the matter, held 1 by its special committee in 1905. In. , this connection the statement was ■ made that the verdict of the committee exonerating Prof. Hilprecht was purposely couched in mild language in order that it might not wound the ; feelings of certain members of the university who had conscientiously , believed- that he should be compelled to answer formally the charges made by Rev. Dr. John P. Peters of New York and others. “As this considerate course has not won their appreciation,” it was added, "an entirely different one " may be adopted.” Os course, no official of the university will concede at this time that the board is at all likely to reverse its action of 1905 or to take any steps which will mean the severance of Prof. Hilprecht’s relations with the institution. _ There is said to be a disposition on the part of the trustees to rely upon the results of the examination of tablets brought from Nippur that has been in constant progress at the Museum of Archeology during the last two years and a half to obliterate the unfortunate effect of the revelations of Dr. Peters, Prof. Prince of Columbia university, and Mrs. Haynes as to the real nature of the discoveries aL Nippur, in their bearing upon Prof. Hilprecht's publications. It is declared that the translation of the tablets, which until the beginning of the controversy had remained for five years bqxed up in the cellars of the museum, is yielding results of the most brilliant character, far exceeding the expectations to Babylonia. The “Tetnpld Library" Exists. Dr. A. T. Clay, assistant professor of Semitic philology 1 and archeology, has done much very remarkable work as an interpreter of the cuneiform texts brought from Babylonia. As to the identity of the supposed "Temple library” at Nippur, he said, when interviewed on the subject: “You ask if there was a Temple library at Nippur? Most assuredly there was. Nearly 20 years ago Dr. Peters found tablets in the mounds at Nippqr, which he designated as relics of. a library. We have at the museum mkny religious texts of the early period in Babylonian history. But these are exactly what you would expect to find, for every Babylonian city had its temple and cultus, and in con-, nection with them schools for scribes.

This subject, I believe, I have already treated sufficiently In my book, ‘New Light on the Old Testament from Babel.’ "The advanced state of the systems of law In those old cities, for instance, was remarkable. The now famous code of Hammurabi is based upon precedents, proving the existence of systems of law long prior to his time. There may also have been codes even earlier than his. There must surely have been in the time of Abraham extensive legal libraries. Think also of the wonderful Babylonian system of writing! We know that the Chinese have from 30,000 to 40,000 values for their written signs. One scholar has already collected about 14,000 values for the Babylonian written signs, and another list is being compiled, which will, in all probability, contain as many more. Given these premises, it stands to reason that there must have been immense collections of documents and books in all the Babylonian cities. Some of the books must have consisted of a thousand tablets each. Os course, there were vast storehouses or libraries to hold them.

Religious and Literary Texts. “There must have been a great mass of religious literature in existence. There fhust have been in use hymns to all the gods, in practically every cult, for in Nippur not only Eilll, but most, of the other divinities of the middle. east were worshiped. There must also have been large numbers of inscriptions, omen texts, etc., which are to be classed under the head of literature. Thousands of these texts have been found at Nippur, and we have many of them at the University of Pennsylvania. One of our staff is now working at the translation of religious texts. Other.volumes embodying the results of study of the tablets have been projected and will be published in due order. I would not be surprised if a national epic should eventually be found in part or whole in Babylonian tablets. “The question as to what the depository of all this material shaft be called, whether a temple library or something else, is of comparatively trivial importance, although it admits, of of somq discussion. The temple was certainly the chief institution of the city, and dominated all the rest. The fact that arithmetical matter was found in the library would not make it any the less a library. The library of the University of Pennsylvania contains statistical books of all kinds as well as literary books. I would like it to be impressed upon the public that we have at the university, very large numbers of literary as well as business texts.” Prof. Clay; declined to discuss any other phase of the Nippur question. Prayer on a Boundary Stone. The archeological publication last issued by the University of Pennsylvania is a volume Os Series D, edited by Prof. Hilprecht and entitled “A New Boundary Stone of Nebuchadrezzar I. from’ Nippur.” The author is Dr. William J. Hinke, assistant professor in the Auburn Theological Seminary. Boundary stones first appeared in Babylonia under the third, or Cas-

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N f/pe’S-p WfifAuP)'/}© of Cj/r*rr<Tf7, af V-A JJo -1 lia.lv-t & site, dynasty and the date of-this -one in particular is about 1300 before Christ. In all royal grants of land two documents were used; one, a large, conical block, to be placed upon the field in question for the information of the people in general; the other, a private document or tablet, to be held by the owner as proof of his title. Curses Inscribed upon certain stones show that they were public monuments, which could be removed. The absence of curses in the inscriptions upon other stones Bhows that they were private documents. Boundaries and boundary marks were sacred to the god Ninib and were also under the

protection of Nabu, the god of agHculture. “An interesting reference to boundary stones In the religious literature,” says Dr. Hinke, "occurs in the Shurpu series, in a prayer which is remarkable for Its ethical contents. The priest Intercedes for the worshiper and implores the deity to forgive him, asking the following questions: ‘Has he drawn a false boundary? Has he omitted to draw a true boundary? Has ’he removed the confines, the limits or the boundary stone?” Peculiar Features. There Is an immense amount of very curious information about the formalities of land cessions, in Dr. Hlnke s book, but in view of the nature of the controversy regarding the "Temple library” at Nippud the literary features of the inscriptions are of most Immediate interest. The boundary stone erected under Nebuchadrezzar 1., which is under special consideration, contains a transcription of “a magnificent and typical Babylonian hymn.” The stone was found at Nlppiir on the northwest side of the'Ziggurat, within the temple area, by Dr. Haynes, in February, 1896, at the close of the third Babylonian expedition of the University of Pennsylvania. It is a conical block of black limestone, 49 centimenters in height and 73.2 centimeters in circumference $t the middle. The inscription consists of a heading of two lines placed among symbols at the top, and 155 lines of text, arranged in five columns. The stone is slightly damaged, but the few lines which have been partly lost have been almost completely restored from the context. The stone has several features not found in other monuments of this kind. One is a drawing of the piece of land to which the inscription relates. The second is a beautiful hymn to Ellil at the beginning of the inscription. Dr.

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that "ft is the finest Ellil hymn which has been found thus far, fitly celebrating the majesty and power of the god pf Nippur. In some of its expressions it a proaches the psalms of the Old TtestamenL” The inscription recites the historical circumstances under which land was given to Nusku-ibni, a‘high dignitary of Ekur, the temple of Ellil at Nippur, declares curses upon any official who appropriates the land or Interferes with the rights of the owner, and offers an invocation to the gods and asks them to mete out certain punishments to an offender. The names of 14 witnesses of the grant arc given. The symbols at the top of the stone are outlines of shrines, ornamented with a spearhead, a pointed shaft, a skepter, a tiara, the head of a lion, the head of a vulture, a scorpion, a five-pointed star,/a crescent, a sundisk, a lightning fork, serpents, a tortoise, etc. Tire translation given by Dr. Hinke of the hymn to Ellil is as follows: EUil—the lofty lord, the ruler of heaven and earth, • the prince, the lord of all, the king of the great gods, whose equal as a god does not exist in heaven and on earth, upon the giving of whose command the Igigi prostrate themselves, reverently pay homage. and upon whose decision the Anunnak! wait in submissive awe, stand in humble fear, •„ the lord of lords, the word of whose mouth no god can set aside, T the potentate of the Anunnakl, the lord of the blackheaded, the sovereign of lands, the ruler of kingdoms. The god whose splendor Is overwhelming (?) and filled with brilliancy, with whose glory the whole extent of heaven. all habitations and all dwellings, are clothed, with whose majesty the lands are cov- * ered, whose rule cannot be rivaled, whose divinity cannot be equaled, whose decision is weighty, whose command Is lofty, whose law is supreme, whose ways are wonderful, „ who rules heaven and earth, who sustains the lands. who calls the faithful shepherd, who appoints the governor of the earth, forever—Wl,th the light of his gracious countenance, With his shining face he looked faithfully upon Nebuchadnezzar, the prince, his favorite,, who is devotedL to his sanctuaries, and that he might shepherd Shumar and Akhad. that he might renew the sanctuarl of the city of dwellings, and regulate the tithes of Ekur and Nippur, - he broke the weapon of his enemy and the scepter of his enemy he placed in his hand, a life of eternal days he granted to him and V above any preceding king he magnified his name. f. Because of the regulation of the tithes of Ekur. because ..of the magnificent sacrifices, ■!

b-cause of the rich gifts and the treasures field) before Ellil, because of the prostrations, with whleh the lord and the son of the lord, with which to Ellil and Nlnlb he showed his respectful reverence, because of the utterance of supplications, because of the prayer of the king, the priest. Curses Upon Offenders. Then follows the statement of the grant of land. Here is the curse directed against him who shall deny the legal giving of the land: May Anu. the king, the father of the gods, In anger overthrow him and annihilate his life, . Ellil, the lofty god, who appoints the fate of gods, appoint for him an evil fate, so that calamity, misfortune and the commands of men may oppress him. v Ea, the king of the ocean, the lord of wisdom, take away from him gladness of heart, happiness of mind, abundance and fullness, so that lamentation may seize him. Sin. the lord of the crown of splendor, darken his face, so that he may not have merriment (?) Shamash and Ramman, powerful gods, the'lofty judges, give him evli plans, and with a judgment of Justice and righteousness may they not Judge him Nlnlb, the lord of confines and boundaries, tear out his boundary-stone. Oula, the great mistress; put lingering sickness Info his body, so that dark and bright red blood he may pour out as water. Ishtar. the mistress of lands, whose fury Is like a flood, reveal the difficulties to him, so that he may not escape misfortune. Nuaka, the powerful lord, the mighty scorcher, (the god), my creator, be his evil demon and may he burn his root. The inscription apparently establishes the fact, says Dr. Hinkle, that Nebuchadrezzar was a usurper and that the first kings of his dynasty were contemporaneous with the Cassite kings. At first he battled in vain against the Elamite and Assyrian supremacy, but after repeated reverses and late in his reign he was able to

throw off the foreign yoke, ascend the throne of Babylonia and even extend his conquests to the Lulubeans in the -past and the land Amurru in the wesL This enabled him to assume the proud title of “King of the World.” V 21,424 TONS OF GOLD DUG. Since Columbus’ Discovery Over $12,600,000,000 Has Been Mined. Since Columbus found his new world, 21,424 tons of gold have been dug from the mines of the earth. Their value is over $12,600,000,000. Os this vast total 19 per cent., or nearly one-fifth of the whole, has been mined in the last ten years; 30 per cent.,, or almost a third, in the last 20 years; 41 per cent in the last 30 years; 54 per cent, in the last 40 years, and 68 per cent., or over two-thirds, in the last half century. Assuming that an increase occurs in the annual output, this amount will be doubled in 30 years, while if an annual increase of 5 per cent, is obtained, the doubling will take place in less than 20 years. H. F. Van Wagenen predicts that as a result of the creation in so short a time of so immense an atnount of indestructible wealth as this, a general advance in the market price of all commodities may be expected. Interest rates will certainly decline. | Wages should rise, for with this amount of new capital arising in the brief period every department of human activity is bound to be stimulated, and this will create an enormously increased demand not only for all those thingg that machinery and art can produce,'but also for those that can only be brought into being by human hands and human service. Accident Qualifications. “Run over by an automobile, was he?” said the city salesman. “I’ll bet he was a big man —six feet high and weighed 200 pounds, or something like that.” “Five feet 11% and weighed 180 j” corrected his informant.“A knew.it,” said the city salesman “In casualties of that kind you maj generally figure on unusual physical proportions of the victim. In fact, itproof4s needed that large bodies move sjowly, it can be found in the statistics of street accidents. Barring the children, most persons who figure in such accidents are heavyweights. Os course, little people are by no means immune, but in the majority of c?3es where a pedestrian las got tangled up with an automobile, a horse captor a street car, the description of his personal appearance brings out the fact that he was Ttve feet 11 Inches high or moire, and was possessed of unusual i avoifdupois.” ;.

HAVE BOUGHT ALDEN HOUBE. Descendants of John snd Priscilla Now Owners of Old Homestesd. Duxbury, Mass. —The Alden kindred of America, which comprises descendants of John and Priscilla Mullins Alden of Duxbury, who are scattered from the Atlantic to the Pacific ocean, from Cana.da to the Gulf of Mexico, have at last obtained possession of the old Alden homestead here. The house has nine rooms and a number of acres of land about it. It Is near the railroad station. During the 254 years of existence of this property it has always been occupied, with one exception, by a person named Alden. The old homestead, according to the story generally told to visitors In Dux-

John Alden House at Duxbury, Mass. bury, was not built by John the Pilgrim. A site east of the present house is pointed out as having been the place where John and Priscilla dwelt, and it is commonly stated that the house built by John’s own hands was destroyed by fire, and the exact spot is pointed out John W. Alden, the tenth in a direct line of Johns and the Pilgrim forefather, and now occupant of the old homestead, says this story is not correct. He declares that John and Priscilla occupied a house of which the ell on the present house was a part, and that timbers from the first house are now la existence in the present house. The ell? which is a story an,d a half high, is undoubtedly older than the main house, which is two and a half stories, and has all the marks which distinguished the old-time Plymouth houses. ..There are the small diamondpaned windows; there are the beams, running across the low ceiling and throughout the house; there are the old-fashioned latches on the doors, the step-up or step-down between connecting rooms, the large square chimney, and many other old-fashioned and quaint characteristics. The tiny "set-in” cupboards, in all the rooms, Are things tv make the modern dweller full of envy; the low ceilings make even a short person reach to see if it is possible to touch them. . * A tiny bedroom on the ground floor is shown to visitors as the room in which Priscilla died, and it is commonly believed that John, too, died In the present house. The Alden story is that the house was built by Jonathan, the son of John and Priscilla. BRYCE"MAY RETIRE SOON 7 British Ambassador, Reaching Age Limit, May Not Return. London—The report that Bryce, the British ambassador In Washington, is doming home shortly to confer with the cabinet on the far east-

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AMBASSADOR BRYCE. .. • ; — . ' ■■ ■■* ern racial question, which affects Canada as well as the United States, raises the presumption that he is coming home for good. Bryce will be 70 May 10. This compulsory age’ retirement from the diplomatic service was insisted on by the government in the cases of two eminent British diplomatists, much more accomplished and experienced than Bryce, namely, the late Marquis of Dufferin and Edmund Monson, who were each ohiiged to retire from the Paris embassy and the British diplomatic service on reaching the ‘age limit. It is scaiyly conceivable ‘hat a rule which was applied so rigorously against such men as these will be relaxed in favor of Bryce, who was lr> his sixty-ninth year when he was ap pointed to the diplomatic service.

HOUSE WOBK Thousands of American women in our homes are daily sacrificing their lives to duty. In order to keep the home neat and pretty, the children well dressed and tidy, women overdo. A female weakness or displacement is often brought on and they suffer in silence, drifting along from bad' to worse, knowing well that they ought to have help to overcome the pains and aches which daily make life a burden. It is to these faithful women that LYDIA EsPINKHAM’S VEGETABLE COMPOUND comes as a boon and a blessing, as it did to Mrs. F. Ellsworth, of Mayville, N. Y., and to Mrs. W. P. Boyd, of Beaver Falls, say: “I was not able to do my own work, owing to the female trouble from which I Buffered. Lydia E. Pink ham’s Vegetable Compound helped me wonderfully, and I am so weU that I can do as big a day’s work as I ever did. I wish every sick woman .vouid try it. FACTS FOR SICK WOMEN. For thirty years Lydia E, Pinkham’s Vegetable Compound, made from roots and herbs, has been, the standard remedy for female ills, and has positively cured thousands of women who have been troubled with displacements, inflammation, ulceration, fibroid tumors, irregularities, periodic pains, backache, that bear-ing-down feeling, flatulency, indigestion,dizziness,or nervous prostration. Why don’t you try it ? Mrs. Pinkham invites all sick women to write her for advice. She has guided thousands to health. Address, Lynn, Mass.

COMPLAINTS MANY AND VARIED. Complete Harmony Had to Obtain in Organizations. "All clubs,” said the secretary, "keep complaint books, and some of the com plaints set down in them are funny. In our book yesterday a member complained ‘that the hot water was always cold, and moreover, there was any.’ “A novelist last week had the nerve to complain that his last new novel hadn’t been added to the club library. “Young swells sometimes complain about the club wines and cigarettes and cigars in order to introduce brands that they are touting for on the sly. . "Sometimes anonymous scandal soils, the complaint book's pages. Thus, last year, appeared this entry about a very popular member: ‘“Maj. Hawkins is flirting with too many of our wives. By the way, he still owes that tenner —he knows to whom.’ ” CUTICURA CURED FOUR Southern Woman Suffered with Itching, Burning Rash—Three Little Babies Had Skin Troubles. "My baby had a running sore on his neck and nothing that I did for it took effect until I used Cuticura. My face was nearly full of tetter or some similar skin disease. It would itch and burn so that I could hardly stand it Two cakes of Cuticura Soap box of Cuticura Ointment cured me. Two years after it broke out on my hands -and wrist. Sometimes I would go nearly crazy for it itched so badly. I Went back to my old stand-by, that had never failed me—one set of Cuticura Remedies did the work. One set also cured my uncle’s baby whose head was a cake of sores, and another baby who was in the same fix. Mrs. Lillie Wilcher, 770 Eleventh St., Chat* tanooga, Tenn., Feb. 16, 1907.” Chance to Show It Mrs. Biggs—l hear Mrs. Hilow In going to move again. Mrs. Diggs—Yes, she moves every month since she got her new furniture. PILES CUBED IN S TO 14 DATS. PAZO OINTMENT >8 guaranteed to cure any case of Itcblng. Blind. Bleeding or Protrnding Pile* in 6to U days or money refunded. 60c. It’s easy for the average man to make a bad break. t

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