The daily morning journal and courier., 1894-10-17

Ven, MT, Whitney's release iron
 drudgery with undergraduates ena
 bled him elso to enrich his Sanskri
 and linguistic courses. In the cata
 logue of is70-u we read: Tn philolo
 BY, somewhat regular course ol
 higher study, extending through tws
 years and leading to the degree Doe
 tor Of Philosophy. is offered" The re
 ward for the new enterprise of a for
 mai graduate school of philoiogy came
 almost immediately in the form of af
 unusual class of'students, nearly all oi
 whom were destined to secure honor
 able distinction in thc4r chosen work
 In the list of those who received the
 degree of Ph. D. In 1873 appear the
 names of Lanman of Harvard, Learned
 or the Japanese Doshisha, Luquiens oi
 Yale. Manatt of Brown. Otis of the In'
 stitute Of Technology, and Perrin oi
 Yale. Truly an unusual group! Only
 the year before Professor Easton. Of
 the University of Pennsylvania, Pro-
 lessor Beckwgth of Trinity, and the
 year following Professor Edgren of the
 University of Gothenburg, received the same degree, while soon after them
 President Harper of Chicago, Profes- sor H. P. Wright of Yale. Professor sherman of Nebraska, Professor Pe- ters of the University of Pennsylva- nia, and Professor Tarbell of Chicago. Professor Whitney was justly proud of his pupils, and was always interested In their work His classes in Sanskrit
 were not absolutely large, but ire quently he could say that more were studying this language with him than with any other university professor in the world.
 In 1855 he was made librarian of the Oriental society, and held that office until 1873. In 1857, on Professor Sails bury's going abroad and resigning the office. Professor Whitney was elected corresponding secretary, and continued In that position until 1884, when he was elected president Of the society.
 His resignation of this latter office did not take place until 1890, when for near ly four years the condition of his health had obliged him to absent him- self from its meetings
 The first great work of MT. Whit ney's scholarship was the publication of the Atharva-Veda-S -Sanhita, underta- ken in 1852 with Professor Roth. The first volume of 45S pages, royal octave, was published in 1S55-56.
 Perhap MT. Whitney's most impor- tant service to Sanskrit philology was the preparation of his Sanskrit Cram mar, including both the classical lan- guage and the other dialects of Veda and Brahmana, 4S6 pp. octave. This grammar provided an instrument which all Sanskrit scholars are now thankfully using.
 In March, 1864, MT. Whitney deliv- cred at the Smithsonian Institution a series of six lectures on the Principles of Linguistic Science-probably lec- lures he had given to the Sheffield Sci entific school the preceding year. This course was repeated before the Lowell Institute and published i'm 1867 under the title of Language and the Study of Language" 4S9 pages This was translated into German by Jolly and into Netherlandish by Vinckers. The clearness and conciseness of the state ments and the soundness of the views in. field where the widest .vagaries had prevailed. and where the fmagina- tion was still allowed rather free play, were recognized on evry hand. No one has done so much as MT. Whitney to teach sound views of linguistic sci ence. 'r --'f .'.
 His long experience as a teacher of modern languages and as student of linguistics aided to fit him pre-eni- nently for the preparation of gram mars, readers and vocabularies of French and German for schools and colleges, and his systematic habits of work enabled him to prepare these ea- silly. This apparatus met the needs of the newly awakened interest fn mod ern languages in this country, and has done much to further this interest, These books are said to be used more widely than any others of their kind in America.
 Professor Whitney had assisted in the preparation of Webster's dictiona- ry in 1864, rewriting the definitions of many of the important words. This experience, his keen sense of propor- tion, his practical turn of mind, his pre- else and concise manner of statement, his wide and varied attainments-all made him a peculiarly suitable person to be the editor-in-chief of the Centu- " Dictionary, with which the people of this country will long associate his name. His unfortunate illness pre- vented him from revising the work so as he doubtless would have | done had he been in vigorous health, | and some have thought that he should l be called supervising editor" rather | than editor-in-chief. As the dictionary | stands he cannot be held responsible l for details; but his influence upon the | work was strong as we'll as salutary. 1 Even in parts of the dictionary, though | he might not mark the proof for | dozen pages, he would score the next | page in such a way as to get stand | ard and showed what he. desired the revision of the rest to be, while the whole body of editors followed the gen. sral lines which he had drawn.
 As a teacher of advanced students Mir. Whitney was exacting. A two- 1our course under him in Sanskrit called for larger outlay of time and ,ffort than a four hour course under most other teachers He required pre- ,ise knowledge of others as we'll as of himself. He was never deceived, by ,litterfng generalities, nor satisfied with approximate accuracy when ab- olute accuracy was attainable.
 NIn cIy nf Nv. whit, ar,,c ol,o a ,.o oAo.. l