CXViii Proceedings of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. [ Dec. 
1889 to 1890. Subsequently he went to Berlin to study classi- 
cal and Indo-Germanic Philology. He studied Sanskrit under 
Windisch; Comparative Philology under Brugmann; Modern 
Persian, Turkish and the Semitic languages, especially Arabic, 
Hebrew and Syriac under Socin; Zend, Pahlavi and Religious 
History under Lindner. He also attended the lectures of 
Weber, Oldenberg and Johann Schmidt. In 1893 he gradu- 
ated at the University of Leipzig as Doctor of Philosophy 
‘cum summa laude.’’ His thesis for the doctorate was the well- 
known monograph on the Prakrt Grammarians entitled 
“Vararuci und Hemacandra.’’ About this time he made the 
acquaintance of Hofrath Dr. Georg Biihler who, struck with 
the young man’s singular attainments, invited him over to 
Vienna, At Vienna he spent two years in the study of Smriti, 
and it was Biihler’s influence that made him an ardent 
student of ancient Indian History, Paleography and Epi- 
eae. ed ay which, as he himself used to tell his friends, 
he 
Asiatic Society under the title «« An unpublished Valabhi Copper- 
plate Inscription of King Dhruva SenalI.” In the following 
appointed First Assistant to the Superintendent of the Indian 
Museum, Calcutta. On the 3rd February, 1897, he was elected 
. G. A. Grierson, 
resigned. He continued to be the Philological Secretary till 
1904. In those days there were few coin committees, and 
tary’s work. the decipherment of Tughra and Kifi, Dr 
Bloch’s skill was unrivalled, and he could read fluently, speak 
and understand Hindi, Urdu, Bengali, Uriya, Kas d 
was the greatest living authority on Indian inscriptions. 
In 1898 Dr. Bloch’s essay on an inscribed Buddhistic ‘ae 
from Sravasti appeared in our Society’s Journal. It is per- 
haps the only extant authoritative treatment of Indian 
Paleography of the Kusina period. Appointed Archzo- 
logical Surveyor, Bengal Circle, in 1900, he explored with 
