Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1910-04-08
The American
Oriental Society
By Frederic j. HaSkin

aCnlSN6HlenlS as tue American CAAN''NN'
society, which holds its 69th annual meet
ing at Johns Hopkins university in Bal
timore today and tomorrow. The society
was founded i'm Boston in 1912 by the
| learned John Pickering and few OF his
| fellow scholars. 1t was incorporated by
! the Massachusetts, legislature Tor the
purpose of the cultivation Of learning IN
the Asatic, African and Polynesian IAN
| guages." The journals of the society
testify that the organization has fulflled
| the purposes of its foundation to de-
gree far beyond what John Pickering
! could have hoped.
The incumbent president of the society
is the Rev. DIR. William Hayes Ward, edit
tor of the Independent, and one OF the
most eminent Orientalists now living. he
was the director of the Wolfe expedition
| to Babylonia which was concerned with
the finding and translation OF inscriptions
written in a language the very existence
of which was unknown to the founders
of the American Oriental society. Tne
great progress made during the 6S years
of the society's existence is forcibly IL
Illustrated, not only by the successful re-
construction of dead Oriental languages
but by the wonderful spread OF knowi-
edge concerning the living speeches of
the Orient.
When the society was four years DID,
in 1885, it already had become an insti-
tuition of more than nationwide interest
and Importance. The roster of it's mem
bership in that year includes the names
of three great American missionaries
who. in their respective fields, accom-
plished more than any other agencies IN
bringing together the east and the west.
One was Hiram Bingham. the apostle TO
/ the south seas, who had carried Chris
| he To and other POlV
nesian peoples He had given the island
ers of the south seas alphabets and
printing presses and had converted their
spoken dialects into orderly and gram
NAUTICAL written languages. Another was
| Adoniram Judson, a missionary in Bur
ma, who was practically the father or
the modern educational movement IN
| farther India 1t was Judson who in
vited the scholars of the world to a con-
| sideration of the living languages OF
those interesting buffer nations which
separate the Indian and Chinese civili-
cations The third was Peter Parker,
| the pioneer missionary at Canton. 1t was
Parker who brought TO the attention of
| American scholars the vast storehouse
of philosophy. poetry and history COM
prIsed in the Chinese classics. Parker
and his associates, together with Parker
Chinese students, were largely response
BILE for Commodore Perry's success in
opening up Japan.
|
The last annual address of the first
president of this society, delivered
4 shortly before his death, is striking il
Illustration of the ignorance of even the
most eminent scholars of that day con-
corning Japan, and all things Japanee.
| That was seven years before the Ameri-
can naval expedition persuaded the sho-
gun of Yeddo to establish communica-
lions with the outside world. Mr.. Pick
| ering in his last address sought to cor
rect the popular prevailing impression
| that the Japanese written language was
4 the same as the Chinese, although the
| spoken language was quite different. He
said that it had been lately discovered
| that the Japanese language was written
by the use of a syllable alphabet, en-
tirely different from the Geographic sys-
| tern of Chinese writing. Last year Count
| Okuma, formerly prime minister of ia
| pan, and one of the elder statesmen, pre-
scented to the American Oriental society,
through DR.. Kan-Ichi Asakawa, a Japa-
nese, who is a professor in Yale universe
| ty: a complete set Of Japanese printing
types. These consist of the Chinese ideo-
graph characters together with the Japa
nese syllable alphabet which is used in
| Japan in connection with the Chinese
| written language as a system of dlacriti-
| cal marks. The Japanese language Is
now familiar TO thousands of Americans,
and It's literature has long since yielded
| up all it's treaBures to the readers of
English. The Japan, whose language
| was unknown even to great scholars Is
years ago. is the same Japan which to-
day is looked upon as a probable martial
rival of the United States.
In the year 1916, when Pickering's last
| address was delivered, he announced to
the society the then recent discovery by
! Mai. Henry Rawlinson of a key to the
| dead and unknown languages Of Mesopo-
| tamia. Since that time the cuneiform
inscriptions have become the common
property of all scholars, and every high
| school boy and girl in the United States
is familiar with their appearance, and
has been possessed of translations which
| have brought to modern America the
codes of laws established long before
! Abraham left Ur of the Chaldees
|
| President Pickering in that same adj
dress congratulated the society that two
! or three American students were then
| residing in Germany, that greatest re-
| pository of learning becoming acquaint-
ed with the Sanskrit language. He
| looked forward with much pleasure TO
! the time when American college students
| could have the benefit of instruction in
| Sanskrit by native American scholars.
| Today the American colleges and univer-
| stiles would not defer even to Germany
/ with respect to their knowledge of this
, ancient mother tongue of the Ayran
| race. Tt is also a fact worthy of note
| that the only college in the world de-
| voted exclusively to the study of Sans
/ krit is conducted by Americans teachers
and American money in Ceylon. One of
! the most erudite linguists in the Buddhist
| world, a master both of Sanskrit and of
the sacred Pail language, was formerly
barber in San Francisco, and although
! his English still bears the unmistakable
stamp of his erstwhile surroundings, his
perfection in Oriental languages makes
his position as the abbot of a Buddhist
monastery secure.
| The second president of the society
| was the Rev. Edward Robinson, elected
in 1886. The active membership of tho
! society at that time included such men
| as Edward Everett, then president of
Harvard; Theodore Dwight, Woolsey,
president of Yale; Theodore Parker, the
eminent divine; Noah Webster, the great
| photographer; and Caleb Cushing, New
| England's most astute politician. The
| honorary membership include the