VIII

NOTICE.

regarding the writing of some words has, nevertheless, forced the deduction of a general rule from the greatest number of examples. But despite this, such has been the respect paid to the author that even in the numerous Italian and Latin citations he makes, his spelling has been kept, frequently consulting the codices and the oldest editions of the authors alleged by him; for, having made use of contemporary manuscripts and printed books, it did not seem appropriate to strip his History of this nuance of antiquity, which so recommends it to the estimation of the discreet ⁴. The Academy has wished, in a word, not moving an iota from the original codex and, having known the author’s spelling through it, that only the paper and the types should be modern.

The importance of this and the other productions of Gonzalo Fernandez de Oviedo, whose indefatigable pen was consecrated exclusively to historical studies, required that some news of those most useful tasks be given to the public, unknown for the most part even to those who pride themselves on being scholars. To such a purpose, the work that follows this Notice undoubtedly fulfills its goal, also entrusted to Don José Amador de los Rios, who, traveling step by step through the principal events of the life of the first chronicler of the Indies, opportunely points out the vicissitudes he suffered and observes the contrast they present with his literary enterprises, offering finally a judgment of all the works whose authenticity is recognized, and, more thoroughly, that of the General and Natural History of the Indies.

At the end of the third part, the last of the same work, it has seemed convenient to place a glossary of the American terms used by Oviedo, which have either become acclimated and frequent in our language or can serve as a compass for attempting some assay regarding the numerous dialects or languages spoken by the Indians at the time of the conquest. In the part of this work relative to the natural sciences, for greater illustration, the laborious and knowledgeable academician of the Royal Academy of Sciences, Don Mariano de la Paz Graells, also head of the Museum of Natural History and professor of the Faculty of Philosophy of the University of this Court, has been consulted. An equal service has been rendered to the Academy by the no less zealous professor Don Manuel Maria de Galdo, who has understood with a care worthy of all praise the verification of the plants and animals whose design Oviedo presented, taking care at the same time to obtain the greatest fidelity in the engravings.

The Academy has counted on such means: the publication of the General History of Oviedo begins, then, to realize the project conceived years ago, this Corporation harboring the flattering hope of successfully carrying out the Collection of Historians of the Indies.

4 The same has been done regarding proper and geographic names, which usage has either already modified or which have since gained a foothold on our soil. The histories written in past centuries should not only be considered as monuments of civilization regarding politics, the legal profession, or

the military, but also regarding letters, the most important instrument of which is the language of each people. The irrefutable testimonies of the progressive development of a nation are found mostly in the history of its language.