508 MEMOIR OF FLEISCHER. 



Oriental Society, and the more extended memorial address by Goldziber 

 before ttie Hungarian Academy. Indeed it will ever be humiliating to 

 German orientalists, that although more than a year has elapsed since 

 Fleischer's death, the only searching analysis published of his great 

 activity as a scholar and a teacher (and such Goldziher's* essay ob- 

 viously is), has been written by an Hungarian in his native language, 

 with which no one of us is conversant. 



In fact, the number is not very great of those who may without pre- 

 sumption undertake an exhaustive treatment of the life of so distin- 

 guished a scholar. I am far from counting myself among that number, 

 but I believe I have learned enough to enable me to appreciate to a 

 certain extent the great ability of him who acquired such vast learning 

 by means of his own exertions; and I trust I have sufficient judg- 

 ment to designate at least approximately the rank and position due 

 my deceased teacher in the history of our science. Precisely here 

 I can not permit the motive of modesty to hinder me from attempt- 

 ing this task, for the reader who is interested in the science of Indo- 

 European languages may justly wish to gain an idea of the general atti- 

 tude of a scholar whose investigations border upon his own sphere. 

 That my task also involves the duty of pointing out the natural limita- 

 tions of his activity shall not hinder me from carrying out my intention. 

 Next to unselfishness, Fleischer's most prominent trait as a scholar 

 was his love of truth. He himself would be the tirst to censure me if 

 I were to sketch his personality in white on a white back-ground, ac- 

 cording to the latest fashion among painters. Admiration without criti- 

 cism is valueless. If, feeling the former, I venture to use the latter, no 

 one may xiharge me with presumptuousness. He is a poor master who 

 trains disciples bereft of the critical faculty; a poor disciple he who 

 leans unquestioningly upon the authority of even a deeply-revered 

 master. I must however refrain from giving a detailed description of 

 the purely human side of his being and life, incomplete though his pic- 

 ture will thus remain. I consider it improper to forestall a full presen- 

 tation by one more qualified for this task, who can base his assertions 

 upon intimate acquaintance with all the incidents and relations of his 

 private life. I shall confine myself to outlines, the data for which I 

 owe to the kindness of Prof. Dr. Curt Fleischer, of Meissen. They thus 

 may claim reliability on those points in which they disagree with state- 

 ments published elsewhere. 



Heinrich Leberecht Fleischer was born at Schaudau on February 21, 

 1801. His father, Johann Gottfried Fleischer, an officer in the custom- 

 service, died at the age of eighty-nine, on August 24, 1860, at Pirn a, 

 enjoying at that time a pension as inspector of customs. His mother, 

 whom he lost as earl^' as August 10, 1825, was the daughter of the 



* Eml^kbesz^d Fleischer Leberecht Henrik a M. Tud. Akad^inia kiiltaprja felett. 

 Goldziber Igniicz (a Magy. Tud. Ak. elhunyt tagjai folott tarttofc eml^kbeszMek. 

 Vkot. 4. sz^ni), Budapest, M. T. Ak., 1889, 44 p., 8. 



