STUDIES IN RUSSIAN 527 



Buslaiev's book, therefore, is not one that can be used without a cer- 

 tain mistrust. Among the works of A. Potebnia, most profound and 

 ingenious studies, the Papers on Russian Grammar (2d ed. Kharkov, 

 1889) should be mentioned in the first rank. But perhaps they are 

 defective by that very excess which the author considered a merit. 

 It would be better at times to find in them less psychological ana- 

 lysis, less "philosophy of language," and more simple description 

 of facts and their interpretation, their explanation being sought in 

 the history of the language rather than in the general laws of the 

 human mind. Something of this same excess is found in a recent 

 work of one of the best students of this master, the Syntax of the 

 Russian Language of Ovsianiko-Kulikovski, an incomplete work, 

 which beside the problems solved gives decidedly too much space to 

 problems to be solved. 



The number of problems stated and not solved in Russian syntax 

 is very large. In any page of a contemporary Russian writer it is 

 probable, it is certain, that you will find a construction, a fact of 

 language, the explanation of which, however near it may be, has 

 not yet been given. 



Should we mention the dictionaries and grammars written by 

 foreigners for the use of foreigners? The number is large; the quality 

 is seldom more than mediocre. Only two exceptions, perfectly 

 justified, moreover, should be made in the one as in the other field. 

 In the matter of dictionaries, above the level of all others we find the 

 excellent Russian-German dictionary of J. Pawlowsky (3d edition, 

 Riga and Leipzig, 1900), of which one of the merits is that in more 

 than one place it completes Dal; arid also the very convenient and 

 original Russian-German pocket-dictionary of Mieskowski (collection 

 Feller, Leipzig, Teubner). There are also two grammars of praise- 

 worthy conciseness, both recommending themselves by the correct- 

 ness of their doctrine as well as by their practical character: the 

 Kurzc Russische Grammatik of Professor Oskar Asboth (1st edition, 

 Leipzig, 1888) and the very original Russische Grainmatik of E. 

 Berneker (collection Goschen). 



We see what still remains to be done in the vast field of investiga- 

 tion which the study of the Russian language presents. The tasks are 

 numerous and can be coped with only by the joint effort of Russian 

 and foreign scholars. Russian is a language which prodigious rich- 

 ness of vocabulary. suppleness of inflection, and variety of syntactical 

 forms make one of the most difficult; without doubt it is. of all the 

 principal languages of the globe. Chinese excopted, the least easily 

 accessible. This would present less of a disadvantage if Russian 

 were one of those languages which have, so to speak, only a lin- 

 guistic interest, if Russian, like the Lithuanian for example, were 

 only interesting on account of the antiquity of its forms, precious 



