244 PHILOLOGY 



language not only was a great achievement in itself, 

 but helped all Oriental learning. The decipherment of 

 the cuneiform writing opened up new vistas in the 

 world's history, and in this work French scholars took 

 a splendid part. The names of LENORMANT, MENANT, 

 Jules OPPERT, BOTTA, DE SAULCY, and others, are familiar 

 wherever these languages are studied. The Crimean 

 War and the French expedition to Syria in 1860 not 

 only helped general interest in things Oriental, but the 

 latter gave an opportunity to RENAN to make a journey 

 not only to Phoenicia, but also to the Holy Land proper, 

 results of which appear in some of those works which 

 have made his name so famous. Meantime the genius 

 of DE SACY (1758-1838) had aroused new interest in 

 Arabic, and Caussin DE PERCEVAL (1795-1871), QUA- 

 TREMERE (1782-1857), and others, had done fine work in 

 this field. The conquest of Algiers (1830-1847) had 

 brought Islam to the very doors of France. The occu- 

 pation of Tunis brought still more Moslems under 

 French control; and with the acquisition of Morocco 

 France has become a great Mohammedan power and 

 must perforce give much study and attention to the 

 Arabic language and to Islam. 



In Archaeology, French scholars have done splendid 

 work, work in which they have had the intelligent and 

 liberal support of the government. Some of the results of 

 this work and this support are to be found, for example, in 

 the magnificent collections of Oriental antiquities at the 

 Louvre, in the Institut francais d'archeologie orientale du 

 Caire, and in such publications as the "Memoires publics 

 par les membres de la Mission archeologique au Caire," 

 those of the Institut francais just mentioned, and above all 

 in the magnificent " Corpus Inscriptionum Semiticarum." 



Such well known names as those of DEFREMERY, 

 SLANE, and Garcin DE TASSY (Arabic and Mohammedan 



