and his own observations. He sent this chart to Columbus;
the latter adopted it as his guide, and by means of it, faulty as it
was, achieved his great "discovery." Whose, then, is the merit of this
achievement? Does it not belong as much to Toscanelli as to Columbus?

To whomsoever the credit may be given--whether to the man who
conceived the idea, or to him who developed it, and whether or not
Columbus intentionally appropriated the honor and glory
exclusively--by the irony of fate, there stood a man at Toscanelli's
elbow, as it were, when he wrote to the Genoese, who was destined to
rob him of his great discovery's richest reward. This man was Amerigo
Vespucci, after whom--though unsuggested by him and unknown to
him--the continents of America were named, by strangers, before
Christopher Columbus had lain a year in his grave!

It is not at all improbable that Vespucci was aware of the
correspondence between Toscanelli and Columbus, as he was then
acquainted with the former, and at the age of twenty-three was
intensely interested in the pursuits of the learned physician. Next
to Toscanelli, in fact, he was probably the best-informed man then
living in Florence as to the studies to which his friend had devoted
the better part of his life, and it is not unreasonable to suppose
that he saw the letters before they were sent to Columbus.

But this is a trivial matter compared with the importance of these
letters, in a consideration of the effect they produced upon the mind
of Columbus, for, if they did not suggest to him the idea of voyaging
westerly to discover the Indies, they certainly confirmed him in the
opinion that such a voyage could be successfully made. By a strange
freak of fate these letters were preserved in the _Life of Columbus_,
written by his son Fernando, and there can be no question of their
authenticity. They breathe the spirit of benevolence for which
Toscanelli was noted, and indicate the greatness of the man--a
greatness decidedly in contrast to the mean and petty nature of his
correspondent, who would have perished sooner than allow information
so precious to escape from him to the world.

Toscanelli's first letter was written in Florence, June 25, 1474, and
is as follows:

"_To Christopher Columbus, Paul the Physicist wishes
health._

"I perceive your noble and earnest desire to sail to those
parts where the spice is produced, and therefore, in answer
to a letter of