30 CONCEPTIONS OF COLUMBUS 



The method here employed by Columbus was ex- 

 actly the same as that followed by Marinus of Tyre 

 in reducing his itinerary distances^^ eastward to de- 

 grees and as that used by Ptolemy in correcting Mari- 

 nus: the distance to the east was calculated in miles 

 (or their equivalent), and the mileage distance was 

 then reduced to degrees b}^ division, employing for 

 the degree a value determined by a measurement 

 from north to south. Columbus thus restored to the 

 1 80 degrees of Ptolemy the 45 degrees the latter had 

 deducted from the calculation of Marinus. In this 

 way eastern Asia was placed at a relati^'ely moder- 

 ate distance w^est of Spain. One of the strange coin- 

 cidences in the case is that the result obtained was 

 a surprisingly close approximation to the position of 

 the new lands in America. 



CONXLUSION 



In conclusion, the writer submits that the evidence 

 shows Columbus to have been painstaking in his in- 

 quiries and to have utilized the best information 

 available in his time. He was in error; but his errors, 

 as has been shown, were of such a character as to 

 argue convincingly for his sincerity. The fact is that 

 a curious set of coincident inaccuracies gave Colum- 

 bus every reason to belie\-e that he had actually veri- 

 fied the old estimate of 56-3 miles to a degree. 



Bunbury, op. cit., \'ol. 2, p. 549. 



