The New International Encyclopædia/Hirth, Friedrich

HIRTH, hḗrt, (1845&mdash;). A German sinologue, born at Gräfentonna, Saxe-Gotha. He was educated at the universities of Leipzig, Berlin, and Greifswald (Ph.D., 1869), and from 1870 to 1897 was in the Chinese maritime customs service. In 1902 he was appointed to the professorship of Chinese in Columbia University (New York City). A collection of Chinese manuscripts and printed books made by him is in the Royal Library at Berlin, and another of porcelains of considerable historical importance in the Gotha Museum. As an investigator he conducted researches in Chinese literature by imitation of the methods of classical philology. His chief publications include: China and the Roman Orient: Researches Into Their Ancient and Mediæval Relations as Represented in Old Chinese Records (1885); Ancient Porcelain: A Study in Chinese Mediæval Industry and Trade (1888); Text-Book of Documentary Chinese (2 vols., 1885-88); Chinesisehe Studien (vol. i., 1890); Ueber fremde Einflüsse in der chinesischen Kunst (1890); and many papers on subjects connected with Chinese literature.