Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. 



his career to turn out a succession of men fully fitted to distinguisli 

 themselves in the most difficult fields of Oriental study. One of his 

 pupils has testified to the abiding results of Atkinson's teaching and 

 influence in these remarkable terms : — " When one was his pupil, one 

 had to progress. There was nothing else to do. He would teach on 

 no other terms ; and I never heard of a pupil who failed to comply 

 with them. Year after year his pupils took the highest marks in one 

 Oriental language or another. But his influence did not stop there. 

 After their arrival in India it continued ; and several — indeed most 

 — of the Indian civilians who have distinguished themselves in the 

 field of Oriental studies have been his pupils. As for myself, when 

 I bade him good-bye in 1873, his last words were to set me the task 

 of my life." 



But Atkinson's energies were very far from being exhausted in the 

 sedulous discharge of his professorial duties. He was not content 

 with the continuous conquest of difficult Oriental dialects, nor yet 

 with that rapid assimilation of practically all the European languages 

 which his amazing powers as a linguist enabled him to accomplish 

 with such surprising ease. But over and above these studies, he early 

 threw himself, with all that intellectual ardour for which he was 

 conspicuous, into the study of the Celtic languages. Within a few 

 years of his nomination to the Chair of Comparative Philology, his 

 election as a member of this Academy opened up a new and, as the 

 event was to prove, a most fruitful field for the exercise of his 

 linguistic talents. One of the earliest landmarks in his career as 

 an Irish scholar was provided by his appointment in 1884 as Todd 

 Professor of the Celtic languages in this Academy ; and the delivery 

 of his Introductory Lecture on Irish Lexicography on April 13th, 1885. 



Atkinson's connexion with the Academy began in 1875. On 

 January 11th of tliat year he was elected a member, and at once 

 began to take an active share in our work here. Within two months 

 of his election he became a Member of our Council ; and in 1876 he 

 was chosen Librarian. He held this office for two years, until in 

 1878 he succeeded Dr. Ingram as Secretary of Council. This position 

 he filled with unwearying assiduity and to the great advantage of the 

 Academy for the long space of twenty-three years, until he finally 

 attained to the highest honour in our gift, being elected President of 

 the Academy in 1901 in succession to the Earl of Eosse. Many 



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