Grantville Gazette, Volume IX

by Eric Flint

  When they finished discussing the boric acid project, Ferdinand asked Lewis more questions about Sherlock Holmes. After the audience ended, Lewis was not entirely sure whether the grand duke had truly appreciated that Sherlock Holmes was a fictional character. Or that it had merely been Lewis' intent, after college, to go into forensic science. Lewis had said so, of course. But he kept wondering about a remark Ferdinand had made just before they parted. Something about how he was pleased that one of Sherlock Holmes' disciples had come to Tuscany.

  * * *

  "What do you know about the Etruscans, Lewis?" asked Niccolo. He didn't sound happy.

  "They were here in Italy before the Romans. That's all I know." Lewis was only half paying attention to Niccolo. He was applying tincture of turmeric, a down-time spice and dye, to strips of paper. Turmeric changes color when exposed to boric acid.

  "Well, it appears that you are going to learn a lot more."

  Lewis stopped playing with his indicator strips and looked squarely at Niccolo.

  "One Curzio Inghirami, a nobleman of Volterra, found a linen scroll, with both Latin and Etruscan writing, supposedly inscribed by an ancient soothsayer. And this Curzio is from a very influential family in Tuscany, and thus has the ear of the grand duke."

  "How does this affect us?" asked Lewis, spreading his hands to emphasize his bewilderment.

  "The Provedditore of Volterra was asked to issue a decree that the artifact was authentic, and he promptly deferred to his superior. The case went up the ladder until it reached Grand Duke Ferdinand, and he remembered all the feats of detection which you regaled him with.

  "He would like to appoint Curzio as 'Defender of Etruscan Antiquities,' thereby pleasing the Inghirami family. But he is nervous. If the messages are formally pronounced authentic, but later proven fraudulent, it will reflect badly on him.

  "Ever since Curzio published his initial findings, there have been escalating attacks on his work from scholars outside Tuscany. So Ferdinand is vacillating on the issue of authenticity." Niccolo sighed.

  "He intends to appoint you as 'Consulting Detective to the Grand Duchy of Tuscany,' and instruct you to determine whether there is any cause to deny the requested decree."

  Lewis groaned. "Can't I refuse?"

  "Sure. If you want to antagonize the one person in Tuscany who can grant us the right to collect boric acid."

  "All right, all right. I'll do it. Although it will take time away from our boric acid prospecting."

  "It will do more than that. The only reason for bringing you into the matter is to satisfy the scholars who have cried 'foul.' The Inghirami will see you as being the leader of the opposition, out to prove that Curzio is a fool or a fraud. The Inghirami are one of the principal families of Volterra, and they can make life very difficult for us."

  "Why does the duke care about these artifacts?" Lewis put the prepared strips into a vial, stoppered it, and packed it away.

  "There are several reasons. First, the Medici united the provinces of Arezzo, Florence, Grosseto, Livorno, Massa, Carrara, Pisa, and Siena. Some of their subjects would rather be independent. Since those provinces were one country, or at least a close confederation, during the Etruscan period, the Medici encourage study of the Etruscans. They think it helps justify their own hegemony.

  "Also, Ferdinand is a very religious man, and therefore deeply interested in the prophecies which they make."

  "Prophecies?"

  "Yes, in Latin. Prophecies of many great events, from the birth of Jesus to the Ring of Fire."

  "The Ring of Fire? You must be joking. Curzio must be perpetrating a hoax."

  "Because of the prophecy?"

  "Yes, of course!"

  Niccolo looked away. "My colleague in Venice warned me that you up-timers, even the Catholics among you, have a very different view of religion than we do. I can't think of anyone I know, noble or commoner, who would question the possibility that the Ring of Fire could be prophesied. The only point of doubt would be whether it would be foreseen by an Etruscan rather than by one of the Hebrew or Christian priests."

  "Well, is there any other evidence of a hoax?"

  Lorenzo spoke up. "There is apparently some literary evidence. The Inghirami family has threatened or bribed some of the 'unbelievers,' but they haven't been able to quiet all of the opposition. Still, if no new evidence is presented, they are likely to prevail."

  "What do you suggest I do?"

  Niccolo smiled. "The safest course of action would be to declare the artifacts to be authentic, and head on to Devil's Valley with the goodwill of the Inghiramis."

  "I can't do that. If he is exposed by someone else, then I look like an idiot for having publicly accepted his story! He might even confess voluntarily, so he could brag about having fooled the so-knowledgeable Americans."

  "So what would your Sherlock do, in these circumstances?"

  * * *

  "Your Grace, in order to perform this task, I will need a certain amount of assistance that only you can provide. First of all, I will need to inspect as many as possible of the texts which have already been 'found' by Curzio. And also whatever is left of the material they were packaged in."

  Ferdinand nodded. "There are a few chrysali which have been entrusted to me, and you may have free access to them. The others are with Signore Inghirami, in Volterra. I can give you a letter requesting that he treat you as an investigating officer."

  "I would also ask that you advise Signore Inghirami that it is your special request that if any of the chrysali remain unopened, or if any new ones be found, that they be sent to you, that you may be the first to open them."

  Ferdinand narrowed his eyes. "He will consent to this, but he may reasonably ask that they be opened in his presence, lest he be denied his proper share of the glory in the discovery."

  Lewis resisted the urge to roll his eyes. "I can live with that—but it is extremely important that you obtain these unopened capsules before he is aware that they are to be subjected to special examination by me. Indeed, I would ask that you obtain them before you make public that appointment."

  After giving the matter a moment's thought, Ferdinand said, "Very well."

  "I will need to have access to as many unquestioned Etruscan inscriptions as possible, and I will need the cooperation of scholars who can tell me what the Greek and Latin authorities say about the linen, ink, writing implements, and history of the Etruscans."

  "The curator of my collection will show you what I own, and I will give you a letter of introduction to the faculties of the Universities of Pisa and Florence."

  Lewis studied Ferdinand's expression. Could he get away with another request? Yes, perhaps. "Finally, I will need a fully equipped laboratory."

  "You are fortunate, because the members of my family have been interested in alchemy and optics for several generations. We have everything you could possibly desire."

  Except equipment for radiocarbon dating, thought Lewis wryly.

  * * *

  Lewis had been unable to identify any forensically useful characteristics of the tar, the hairs, or the linen.

  The ink. What had he read about inks? Yes, the first inks were carbon-based. Then, in the Middle Ages, Europeans switched to iron gall inks. Curzio almost certainly used an iron gall ink. Given time, it would fade from black to brown. It would also contain iron, which could perhaps be detected chemically. And the gallic acid in the ink would eat at the fibers, and that might be visible under a magnifying glass. Or a perhaps a microscope. Did Grand Duke Ferdinand have one in his laboratory?

  Lewis approached the curator of the Uffizi, where the museum, library and laboratory were housed. "I will need access to the grand duke's chemicals."

  "That is not a problem."

  "Great! I just wish I had a microscope."

  "A 'microscope'? I am not familiar with that term."

  "It makes small things look larger." Lewis whipped out his magnifying glass, and demonstrated.

&
nbsp; "Oh. We have one made by Zacharias Janssen for the duke's father. It has two tubes, one of which slides, and two lenses, one at each end."

  "We call that a compound microscope."

  "And we also have a more powerful one, built by Galileo. It magnifies, oh, perhaps twenty times. Would you like to use that one?"

  * * *

  In the grand duchy, Galileo was a hero. Lewis was well aware that an endorsement from him would be helpful. Lewis, after all, was an unknown. The Cavrianis made inquiries on his behalf, but the results were disappointing.

  "Don't expect any help from Galileo," said Niccolo.

  "Why not? Surely a genius like him, known for his skepticism, would question Curzio's storytelling."

  "Galileo is known for more than his genius. His ego, for example. Let me read to you from another of Curzio's Etruscan revelations: 'One of great mind shall come, the like of which the world has never known before, out of Etruria reborn. He shall place ears on Saturn. He shall find the four lost children of Jove. Everlasting will be his glory.'"

  "I suppose the children are the four Galilean moons. But ears? Oh—that must be how the rings look in a telescope with bad optics. But what does 'out of Etruria reborn' mean?"

  "Etruria was the name given to the land of the Etruscans. And Galileo was born in Pisa, which was once an Etruscan city. But do you see my point? Galileo isn't likely to be critical of a prophecy which praises him so plainly."

  "Even though one could argue that it was more likely written after his discovery than seventeen hundred years before it?"

  "Even so."

  * * *

  The librarian showed Lewis recipes for the two types of ink, and Lewis whipped up a batch of each. Cavriani had fetched him several samples of linen cloth, chosen to match, as closely as possible, the appearance of Curzio's specimens. Lewis dipped one quill into the first ink and wrote with it. Then, with a second quill, he wrote with the other ink. He labeled his handiwork, and continued.

  Lewis didn't remember the standard forensic tests for inks. But he had plenty of chemicals to experiment with, including weak and strong acids and alkalis. He found that the acids bleached or eliminated the galled ink writing, while the sodium hydroxide changed the color to a dark red.

  So now all he needed was to persuade the grand duke to let him surreptitiously carry out some chemical tests on the Etruscan artifacts sent by Curzio. That shouldn't be difficult, given Ferdinand's interest in science. In fact, Lewis suspected that he would be the first American to have a duke as a lab assistant.

  Lewis returned to his studies. After some minutes, the curator came up behind him. "Dottore. We have an unpublished manuscript which you should read."

  ""What is its name?"

  "De Etruria Regali Libri Septum. Or, in English, Seven Books on Etruria of the Kings. It was written by Thomas Dempster, a professor at the University of Pisa, at the request of Cosimo II de' Medici. It analyzes all of the references to the Etruscans in Greek and Roman literature. It even presents a small Etruscan vocabulary."

  "Wonderful. Oh. Can you also provide me with access to the laboratory? I will need to carry out some alchemical operations."

  "That will not be a problem."

  * * *

  Lord Bailiff Andrea Cioli called for silence. "This proceeding is convened by the order of His Grace Ferdinand the Second, Grand Duke of Tuscany, to determine whether certain artifacts, discovered by Curzio Inghirami and various persons working under his supervision, are to be receive a writ of authenticity from the Mother Church."

  The first witnesses were men whose interest was in classical literature. They knew Latin and the history of Rome; they had studied the Etruscan inscriptions on stone and metal, and had tried to make sense of them.

  The strongest points in Curzio's favor were that he was a nobleman with an unblemished reputation, the chrysali he found had been found in an area known to possess Etruscan remains, and, most of all, the messages were written on linen cloth, as only classical scholars would have expected.

  Still, the courtroom discussion was heated. The learned scholars of Pisa insisted that the tales told in Latin by Curzio's Etruscan were inconsistent with the histories of Livy and other Roman authors. Their colleagues of Florence told the court that it was a mistake to assume that the Roman version of the early history of Italy was accurate or complete. "Now we are hearing the Etruscan point of view," they explained. Pisa and Florence had been traditional enemies for centuries; their ancient enmities had reasserted themselves in this courtroom.

  The professori of Pisa also declared that the Latin used by this supposed Etruscan was of an inferior quality, at odds with the high priestly position he claimed. They denounced the writing as that of a schoolboy. No one missed the implication that it could be that of a modern schoolboy, like Curzio.

  The Florentines, on the other hand, argued that one could not expect a leader of the Etruscan people, chafing under Roman rule, to write Latin as if he were a Roman patrician. They excused all mistakes as being those of a foreigner, albeit one having some dealings with Rome.

  Then there was the controversy concerning the way in which the inscriptions were written. It was accepted by all scholars that the Latin alphabet evolved from the Etruscan one. Certain of the Latin letters look different when flipped to face backward. There were Etruscan counterparts to the Latin letters C, E, F, K, and L, but they all faced backwards on almost every known Etruscan writing . . . save for Curzio's.

  Moreover, a few of the inscriptions provided several lines of text. These were aligned on the right side, but had a ragged left margin. In contrast, in the text provided by Signore Anghirami, the reverse was true.

  For these two reasons, the Pisans argued that Etruscan inscriptions were clearly written from right to left, and Curzio's weren't.

  Still, there were instances, although rare, in which indisputably authentic Etruscan text was written from left to right. And that gave Curzio's defenders an out.

  * * *

  Eventually, it was Lewis' turn to speak. "I am Lewis Bartolli, consulting detective and citizen of Grantville. I have been appointed by the grand duke to investigate the artifacts in question.

  "If the writings are taken at face value, they were authored by an Etruscan more than seventeen hundred years ago. If that be true, then there will be certain alchemical signs of the age of the writing. Signs which natural philosophy, as taught in Grantville, can reveal, whether to praise or damn.

  "I would like to direct the attention of this court to the ink used on these artifacts. I have consulted with the professors of Tuscany, and hence have determined that the inks of the ancients were described by Pliny the Younger, Vitruvius, and other authorities. The principal one was made from soot mixed with water and gum, and I have prepared a duplicate of it.

  "The black ink in common use today is made according to a recipe which your schoolchildren learn as a rhyme: Una due tre e trenta / A far la bona tenta. It means one part of gum arabic, two of green vitriol, and three of galls in thirty parts of water. The galls are soaked in rainwater to liberate what we call tannic and gallic acids. They react with the green vitriol, which in Grantville is called iron sulfate, to form the dark iron tannate and gallate. I have prepared this galled ink, as well.

  "I wrote with both inks, using a quill pen, on both paper and linen. I then had to find a way of differentiating the two. I experimented with different reagents, and found several which caused a change in color in the modern ink, but affected the ancient one not at all." Lewis demonstrated that this was the case.

  "So, there is clearly a detectable chemical difference between the two kinds of ink.

  "Now, I can carry out the same tests, only with the inks on the linen messages brought to us by Signore Inghirami."

  Curzio was quick to complain. "I must object, Your Grace. These are priceless artifacts. They could be damaged irretrievably by this foreigner's chemicals."

  Ferdinand was unimpressed. "I fully appreciate
your position, Signore Inghirami. However, it is you who have to come to us for a decree of authenticity. Either you must consent to such tests as we authorize, or you must withdraw your request."

  Curzio conferred hurriedly with his supporters. "We withdraw the objection." Ferdinand motioned to Lewis to continue with his alchemical operations. He took out one of the fabrics, read out for the record the text which he was going to treat chemically, and with what, and proceeded accordingly. He then displayed the results triumphantly.

  "As you can see, Your Grace, the behavior of the ink on this linen is that which would be expected of the iron-based modern ink, not the Plinian one."

  Curzio turned to one of the people behind him, dressed in the formal robes of a member of the faculty of the University of Florence. They whispered to each other, and then Curzio addressed his ruler. "Most wise grand duke, Pliny the Younger has described several inks which were in common use by the Romans his day. However, that does not mean that his list was exhaustive. I am told that he actually described an experiment in which he soaked papyrus in an infusion of galls, and showed that it was blackened by vitriol."