354 GEOEG CURTIUS. 



GEORG CURTIUS. 



Georg Curtids, younger brother of the classical archaeologist and 

 historian, Ernst Curtius, was born at Liibeck in 1820. He studied 

 classical philology at Bonn and Berlin, and in 1842 became teacher at 

 the Blochmann Institute in Dresden. He early interested himself in 

 the comparative philology of the Indo-European languages, at that 

 time a new branch of inquiry, especially in its bearings on Greek, and 

 his most important contributions to science were made in this field. 

 His first book, issued in 1842, was entitled De Nominum Grcecorum 

 Formations Curtius's academic career began in 1846, when he became 

 privat-docent in Berlin ; in 1849 he was called to an extraordinary 

 professorship at Prague, and in 1851 he was appointed Professor Or- 

 dinarius in the same institution. From 1854 to 1862 he was professor 

 at Kiel ; in 1862 he went to Leipzig to the professorship held through 

 the first half of the century by the famous Gottfried Hermann ( 1 809- 

 48). This position he retained until his death, on August 12, 1885. 

 Professor Curtius will ever hold an honorable place in the history of 

 classical scholarship in Germany, in part through his own writings, and 

 in part through the school of philologians founded by him. His princi- 

 pal works are his Grundziige der griechischen Etymologie (1858-62, 1st 

 ed.), and his Griechisches Verbum (1873-76, 1st ed.). He also wrote 

 a Greek Grammar for schools (1852, 1st ed.), which, appearing in 

 many editions, is now the most popular school Greek Grammar in 

 Germany. Upon this work is freely based the Grammar of Professor 

 James Hadley. In 1863 was published the Erlauterungen zur meiner 

 griechischen Grammatik. Curtius's interests as a scholar were by no 

 means confined to the study of the Greek language. He lectured, and 

 wrote many articles and pamphlets, on subjects in classical literature, 

 philology, and history, and on classical education. A collection of 

 these essays has lately been made. As founder and as conductor of his 

 Grammatische Gesellschaft at Leipzig through many years, Professor 

 Curtius gathered about him a large number of men destined to become 

 eminent as classical and comparative philologists ; the first fruits of 

 their work under his inspiration were in part collected in the Studien 

 zur griechischen und lateinischen Grammatik (1868-77). Curtius was 

 a pioneer in his work, and it is not surprising that some of his positions 

 have been abandoned by the advancing scholarship of the younger gen- 

 eration. His writings, however, will long remain an indispensable part 

 of the apparatus of the classical scholar. As a university lecturer 

 Curtius enjoyed remarkable popularity ; his style was simple, and his 



