MEMOIR OF t^LfilSCHER. 525 



from mere copyists' blunders, it is easier to make conjectures in class- 

 ical philology, but, on the other hand ceteris paribus it is easier for us 

 to make correct conjectures or emendations. For both reasons we are not 

 justified in resting satisfied with the mere recensio, as our GraMio-Roman 

 l^hilologiaus may sometimes do. It follows that a man like Fleischer 

 may not be disposed of by praising him as the lucky ])ossessor of a talent 

 for conjecturing, and then casting him into the great lumber-room, where 

 the superannuated philologists' apparatus is stored. True, he is the 

 author of thousands of conjectural corrections, but at least two-thirds 

 of his conjectures, if this measure of worth be applicable, are emenda- 

 tions. Whoever admits this, will thereby agree with me in saying that 

 self forgetful work limited by wise self-restraint, and undertaken with a 

 definite aim in view, is as a matter of course and almosi in opposition 

 to the wishes of its author, rewarded with the prize. 



It is time to conclude. Fleischer's prominent position in the history 

 of our science is due to these circumstances; by precei)t and example he 

 made a home in Germany for the scientific study of Arabic Moham- 

 medan philology ; he trained generations of scholars with this purpose 

 in view ; he similarly infiiienced his co-laborers in Germany and abroad; 

 he doubled the sum total of all the results reached by De Sacy in the spe- 

 cial field of Arabic language and literature, and by his help the work 

 of his contemporaries was raised to the eminence occupied by his own. 

 There was no lack of prominent scholars in his own department, nor of 

 such as took up and supplemented his work outside of the limits he 

 himself had drawn. Still he and no other can be called the true heir 

 and successor of De Sac^'. In knowledge and ability he excelled his 

 great teacher. But he himself would have administered a sharp reproof 

 to him who might venture to rank him above his master, in scientific 



matters : " Honor be to him who leads the way." pJ^Jj;_A\ Lao\\ 



The unstinted recognition yielded to the great scholar on all sides 

 was commensurate with his deserts. The most promitient Orientalists of 

 Germany and others of foreign countries readily acknowledged that his 

 was unequalled knowledge and ability ; one learned society after another 

 conferred ui)on him honorary membership, and to several Saxon orders 

 and the Turkish Medjidie were added the two highest scientific distinc- 

 tions in the giving of Germany, — the Bavarian order of Maximilian and 

 the Prussian j>owr le merite. For a long time it seemed as though age 

 itself could not impair the octogenarian's vigor nor destroy his love of 

 work. However, in the spring of 1884, there appeared the first symp- 

 toms of an abdominal disorder, which gradually grew. But whoever 

 saw him when he was not troubled with i)ain, scarcely noticed any change 

 in his appearance,— none whatever in his manner. On October 19, 1885, 

 I enjoyed the privilege of participating with many others in the celebra- 

 tion of the fiftieth anniversary of his official connection with the univer- 

 sity, and on October 4, 1880, when I again visited him during his stay at 



