Page:Palestine Exploration Fund - Quarterly Statement for 1894.djvu/265

Rh letter sh presents itself as two letters. Besides this, there must be just so much broken off on the one side, that on this side, in consequence of the fracture, exactly the same group of letters appeared which on the other side may be seen without the fracture. I venture to hope that an English scholar may be able to compare the original and to decide the degree of inaccuracy in the copy.

(3) Professor Sayce presupposes that I undertook the examination of the weight out of love to negative criticism. I appeal to the justice of English scholars.

My publications are not unknown in England. I entertain the assurance that my "Einleitung," especially, will afford documentary proof of the genuineness of my examinations.

I am quite convinced that Professor Sayce and I have the same deep interest in arriving at historical truth.

18, Anerley Park, S.E., October 31st, 1893.

It was with some surprise that I read in the Academy of October 21 the statement of Professor Sayce, that the cast of the ancient Hebrew weight brought by me from Samaria, which has been circulated by the Palestine Exploration Fund, is "imperfectly executed." After very careful examination of the weight and the cast, both Mr. Armstrong, the assistant secretary of the Fund, and myself are of opinion that the cast accurately represents the inscription on the original. Of course, with such a small object and with some of the letters much worn, it may happen that not every specimen of the cast is equally perfect. As a member of the Executive Committee of the Fund I am anxious that this question should be set at rest; and in the interests of learning it is most desirable that the true reading of the inscription should be determined. I have sent the weight and cast to Professor W. Robertson Smith, of Cambridge, to be examined and reported on by him. Should Professor Driver, or any recognised authority, desire to see the original and compare it with the cast, I shall have great pleasure in endeavouring to arrange for their doing so.

2em

Christ's College, Cambridge, November 6th, 1893.

The size and form of this object are accurately represented in the woodcut given by Dr. Chaplin in Palestine Exploration Fund Quarterly Statement, October, 1890, p. 267. Professor König ("Einleitung in das A.T.," p. 425) describes it as something like a date stone {etwa in Form eines Dattelkerns), which gives a fair general notion of the size, but misses the characteristic point of the form. The weight is, in fact, a very perfect