MEMOIR OP FLEISCHER. 515 



who may venture to make this assertion is doubtful ; at all events, I do 

 uot reckon myself among them. 



Aside from a small edition of the Hermes trismegistus, written in 1870, 

 on a special occasion, Beidhawi is the last work published by Fleischer 

 without assistance. Even Beidhawi was noc complete when it left the 

 hands of the publisher. For years the Indices weighed heavily upon 

 his conscientious mind, until finally in 1878, they were brought out by 

 the helpful aid of Fell. With reference to this unusual delay, Fleischer 

 said in the preface with which he introduces his pupil's work : " Qui 

 me resque meas norunt, cos me ultra cxcusatum habere scio,''^ and his mean- 

 ing was evident to all. During the period while he was busy with the 

 Beidhawi text, the claims made upon him from all sides had increased 

 with his growing fame. These claims were put forth chiefly by three 

 parties: his pupils, his co-laborers, and the community at large. His 

 manner of satisfying them illustrates the most admirable traits in liis 

 character: extreme conscientiousness, faithful attention to the slightest 

 details, affability and absolute unselfishuess. 



His conscientiousness and faithfulness were pre eminently evinced in 

 his academic labors, as I can testify from personal experience in the 

 years 1867 and 1868. He knew Beidhawi thoroughly ; daily, at any 

 chance occasion, he excited admiration by his clear explanation of the 

 doctrines of Mohammedan scholasticism, or by his equally correct way 

 of tracing the history of a word and its development in meaning from 

 the Arabic through the Persian to the Turkish, — all this without refer- 

 ring, except in rare instances, to his inter-leaved copy of Freytag, 

 famous on account of its marginal notes, literally covering the text as 

 well as the inter-leaves. Yet he never lectured on Beidhawi without 

 preparation. His students, coming to attend a lecture at his study 

 early in the morning, freciuently found him standing by a high desk, 

 the text and a copy of Sheikh ZAde's super commentary lying before 

 him. In his "Arabic Association," difficult passages in various texts 

 were discussed, opportunity was given to gain practice in the reading 

 of manuscripts, etc. But outside of this, he gave instruction, at the 

 period spoken of, only in the writings of Arabic, Persian, and Turkish 

 authors. The texts selected for reading varied, frequently according 

 to the wishes of tbe students. But the two lectures a week on Beid- 

 hawi were inviolable. In these, he himself translated and explained, 

 frequently cross-questioning his hearers, in order to assure himself that 

 they had grasped his meaning and were making good progress. In 

 the remaining four to six hours a week, Arabic, Persian, and Turkish 

 texts were given to the students to traushite, their translations being 

 corrected and elucidated by tbe professor on the spot. In conducting 

 this exercise his talk wandered from topic to topic, so that in looking 

 back it appears that not the reading of the texts was of prime impor- 

 tance, but rather the wealth of information, relating to the subject- 

 matter, chiefly however of a linguistic nature, which he fairly showered 



