NATURE 



375 



THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER lo, 1874 



THE INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF 

 ORIENTALISTS 



THE International Congress of Orientalists, which is 

 about to be held in London, from the 14th to the 

 19th of September, promises fairly to become one of the 

 most striking events of the autumn. This philological 

 parliament is the successor and outcome of a similar 

 Congress held last year in Paris, which inaugurated a 

 movement likely to bear good fruit for a long time to 

 come. The idea of holding once during every year a 

 meeting of this nature in a different city originated with 

 M. Gabriel Mortillet, a distinguished French savant, who 

 proposed an annual International Congress of Prehistoric 

 Archreology. Of these, the first was held at Neuchatel, in 

 Switzerland, in i866. At the Brussels Congress of this 

 body, two monarchs, the Kings of Denmark and Sweden, 

 commissioned agents to represent them on the occasion, 

 and their example was followed by the municipal autho- 

 rities of Bologna. The French Congress of Orientalists 

 of 1S73 was mainly due to the exertions of JNI. L^on de 

 Rosny, who organised its machinery with the co-opera- 

 tion of MM. Madier de Montjau and Zelinsky. The 

 most prominent considerations of this Congress were 

 directed towards the Japanese Empire, history, and lan- 

 guage, and a very large and extremely interesting mass 

 of literary and scientific material was accumulated, and is 

 now in course of publication and distribution among the 

 members of that meeting. This collection of essays is 

 all the more important when we consider how few really 

 accurate channels of knowledge concerning that remote 

 country are available to the European student. Although 

 the French Congress was supported by a greater number 

 of members than the approaching London Congress 

 seems at present likely to enrol, nevertheless it was 

 not well attended ; for the principal Orientalists who 

 occupy /d/t/i:iii7s in the Institute held aloof from various 

 motives, while on the other hand the savaii/s of Germany, 

 in consequence of the recent war, were, however willing, 

 yet prevented by the French national feeling from making 

 their appearance in the capital city. Yet by far the 

 larger number of the most eminent professors in Ger- 

 many enrolled their names on the list of the supporters of 

 the Congress. 



The London Congress has, however," no difficulties of 

 this nature to surmount, and it will without doubt show a 

 great preponderance of learned Germans ; at the same time 

 a reference to the list of members indicates a very strong 

 contingent from the other side of the Channel. The vital 

 principle of these Congresses is, that each, at the conclusion 

 of its labours, transmits its powers to a chosen individual 

 who becomes president for the ensuing year ; this presi- 

 dent is elected after the country has been fixed upon in 

 which the next meeting is to be held. The Paris Congress, 

 in accordance with this principle, selected London, as the 

 metropolis of England, to be the place where the Con- 

 gress of the current year should be held ; and this was 

 done out of respect for the learning of the country, 

 although very flattering and advantageous offers had been 

 made by other European countries, which would have 

 Vol X. — No. 254 



perhaps accorded an official reception more cordial than 

 is likely to be given by the imperial authorities in this 

 country. At the conclusion of the French Congress in 

 September last year. Dr. Samuel Birch, K.R., Keeper of 

 the Egyptian and Oriental Antiquities in the British 

 Museum, a gentleman whose knowledge of the whole 

 range of ancient remains, whether Greek, Roman, or 

 Oriental, makes him facile princeps in this particular 

 study, was elected president of the English meeting, and 

 an executive committee was afterwards nominated to 

 carry out the necessary arrangements. These preliminary 

 matters are now so far advanced that the programme 

 has just been issued, and the sittings, which will occupy 

 the entire week, will commence on Monday next, the 

 14th inst. These' Congresses are likely to produce 

 several very excellent effects, by bringing together 

 distinguished Orientalists who would probably not other- 

 wise become personally acquainted with each other ; 

 by the mutual interchange of ideas, by the bringing about 

 some understanding on many disputed points, and by the 

 arrangement of some uniform system of transliteration 

 and transcription of Oriental texts. But above all it will 

 call public attention to^ ths importance of Oriental 

 studies, alas ! too long neglected in Great Britain, and 

 will elevate in public opinion the position of Oriental 

 students and studies, which already exercise, and will here- 

 after still more powerfully exercise, an influence over 

 European thought. 



The number of English members is at present about 

 I So, daily increasing and comprising all the names dis- 

 tinguished in Oriental studies ; indeed, it would be diffi- 

 cult to mention any Orientalist of leading note in England 

 who is not a member of this Congress. In addition to 

 these. Prof. Dr. Brugsch will represent Egypt. France 

 will be represented by upwards of thirty members, of 

 whom we may mention M. Franijois Lenormant, Pro- 

 fessor of Archaeology at the French Institute ; Prof. 

 Jules Oppert, whose labours on the Cuneiform languages 

 are well known ; and Prof. Leon de Rosny, who was pre- 

 sident of the Congress last year. Germany is also well 

 represented, sending such men as Prof. Brockhaus of 

 Leipzig, a leading expounder of the old school of Sanscrit 

 learning, with whom we may unite the name of Prof. 

 Stenzler of Breslau ; Prof. Dillmann of Berlin, chiefly 

 known for hisEthiopic researches and his valuable lexicon 

 and catalogues of Ethiopic MSS. in the British Museum 

 and the Bodleian Library ; Herr Euting, Librarian of 

 Strassburg, who has specially studied Phctnician inscrip- 

 tions ; Prof. Haug of Munich, whose particular branch 

 of study is the Sanscrit, Zend, and Pehlvi languages ; 

 Prof. Krehl of Leipzig, an illustrious Arabic scholar ; 

 Prof. Lepsius of Berlin, an Egyptologist of universal 

 repute ; Prof. Niildeke of Strassburg, who takes pro- 

 minence for his knowledge of Arabic and Syriac, and 

 has lately published works on the modern language of 

 Syria ; Herr Pertsch, Librarian of Gotha ; Prof. Roth 

 of Tiibingen, whose Sanscrit Lexicon of the University of 

 St. Petersburg is perhaps the best work of its kind ; Prof. 

 Spiegel, famed for deep studies in the Zend-Avesta and 

 languages of Persia ; Herr Trumpp of Munich, privat- 

 docent, and lately appointed Professor of Arabic and 

 Persian, who has published many works in the language 

 of Afghan, Sindhi, and Punjabi ; Prof. Weber of Berlin, 



