Page:The Whitney Memorial Meeting.djvu/107

Rh has been a heavy loss not only to his country, but to the republic of letters in general, and a severe blow to Indian philology. His eminent merits are so universally acknowledged and the chief characteristics of all his works are so striking that I do not flatter myself to say anything that does not re-echo the opinion of all fellow-laborers in the same field. It is a fact that Whitney almost from the beginning of his career stood foremost in the ranks of Vedic scholars; that his Sanskrit Grammar is, and for a long time will be, a standard work; that his works on the science of language are remarkable by the lucid exposition of facts and the soundness of reasoning; and, last not least, that his contributions to a critical knowledge of Indian astronomy are of sterling value, so much so that after Colebrooke no scholar has equal merits in that department with Whitney. In saying this I do not think I am unjust to any of the living.

From an obvious reason I refrain from expressing any opinion about Whitney's accomplishments as a teacher of the science to which he had devoted his life. I know from hearsay and from the works of his pupils that his influence upon the younger generation of students has been as great as beneficial, but it must be left to those who have followed his lessons to testify how greatly they are indebted to him. And surely they will not fail to do so with piety and love.

, 25. November 1894.

—Ihrer Aufforderung, mich über den Einfluss von Whitney's Auffassung der Sprachwissenschaft auf die deutschen Sprachforscher auszusprechen, folge ich mit grösstem Vergnügen. Aber ich werde mich kurz fassen, da ich höre, dass mein Freund Brugmann eine ähnliche Aufforderung erhalten hat und sich ausführlicher über Whitney's Stellung in