Explorations in Bible lands during the 19th century - H. V. Hilprecht

300 EXPLORATIONS IN BIBLE LANDS
Peters was confirmed as director, but the general plan previously
outlined bv him was somewhat modified in accordance
with the writer's suggestions. Upon the director's
recommendation, Dr. Robert Francis Harper, then instructor
in Yale University, was appointed Assyriologist, 1
Mr. Perez Hastings Field, of New York, architect and surveyor,
Mr. Havnes photographer and business manager,
and Mr. Noorian interpreter and director of the workmen,
while Mr. J. D. Prince, just graduating from Columbia
College and offering to accompany the expedition at his
own expense, was attached as the director's secretary. But
having fallen seriously ill on the way down the Euphrates
valley, he left the expedition at Baghdad, and returned to
America by way of India and China.
On April 4, I received an urgent note from Provost
Pepper requesting me to see him at once and stating that it
was his especial desire that I should serve on this expedi-
1
Peters, /. c. , p. 9, adds :
" At the time it was understood that Professor
Hilprecht's health was too delicate to permit him to serve in the field.
Later the physicians decided that he could go." Where and how this "it
was understood " originated, I do not know. There is an apparent misunderstanding
on the part of Dr. Peters concerning the whole matter which I do not
care to discuss within the pages of this book. Yet nevertheless I desire to state
briefly as a matter of fact, 1 . That I never had been asked to go to Babylonia
before April 4, 1888. 2. That I never consulted any physician with regard
to my accompanying that first Babylonian expedition. 3. That consequently
I never received medical advice or
" decision " from any physician in reply to
such a question. Dr. Peters's two volumes ("Nippur," New York, 1897)
unfortunatelv contain many other erroneous statements (comp. Ward's review
in "The Independent," July 29, 1897, p. 18, and Harper's in "The
Biblical World," October, 1897). In order not to appear through my
silence to approve of them in this first coherent sketch of the history ol the
whole expedition, I am unfortunately frequently obliged to take notice of
them. Personal attacks, however, have been ignored entirely ; other misstatements,
as a rule, have been changed quietly ; only fundamental differences
with regard to important technical and scientific questions have been
stated expressly in the interest of the cause itself.