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172 ROMAN DAYS.
decision about it, for the only one who could with cer-
tainty say what he meant with his actuellement would be
D’Urville himself; and he died in 1842. But if, now, we
consider that D’Urville wrote his account of the discovery
only a few months after he had in the most precise man-
ner examined, measured and drawn the statue, it borders
very nearly on the impossible that he should have been
guilty of the lapse of memory Matterer would attribute
to him, touching the right arm of the statue. And since
not even Aicard asserts that the statue, when the dis-
covery was made, had the right arm remaining, D’Urville’s
declaration can hardly be interpreted otherwise than
thus : that by the help of the two arms, found in the
niche with the statue, but already broken, he had im-
agined the statue as it was at a former time and described
it in accordance with that idea.
Again, as far as Mr. Matterer’s evidence is concerned,
it certainly, looked at by itself, is clear and unequivocal
;
but unluckily, the same witness had previously given
entirely contrary testimony in the matter ; and thus, the
question is solely whether Mr. Matterer’s memory was
more trustworthy in the year 1842, when he first ex-
pressed himself on the subject, or in the year 1858, when
he wrote his notice historiqiie. In a biographical sketch
of Dumont d’Urville, written by Mr. Matterer, we read,
namely, of what they saw in Jorgos’s cabin :
" How great
was our surprise when we saw before us a beautiful statue
of Parian marble ! Unfortunately, both arms were
broken, and the tip of the nose was a little injured."
{^Les dciix bras t-taicnt malJieureusement casses, et le bout
du nez un peu alt&^.)
The other accounts are more than counterbalanced
by a document which has been discovered and published
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