ia, which he made a
specialty; and his French translation of and commentary on the Avesta,
the Bible of that religion. As an interpreter of Zoroaster he sought to
unite synthetically two opposing modern schools: that which relied
solely upon native traditions, and that which, regarding these as
untrustworthy, drew its conclusions from an examination of the text,
supplemented by the aid of Sanskrit on the side of language and of the
Vedas on the side of religion. Darmesteter's work was thus boldly
comprehensive. He found in the Avesta the influence of such discordant
elements as the Bible, Buddha, and Greek philosophy, and believed that
in its present form it was composed at a later time than has been
supposed. These technical questions are still mooted points with the
critics. The translation of the Avesta will perhaps stand as his
greatest achievement. A herculean labor of four years, it was rewarded
by the Academy of Inscriptions and Belles-Lettres with the 20,000-franc
prize given but once in a decade for the work which, in the Academy's
opinion, had best served or brought most honor to the country.

But the technical accomplishments of learning represent but a fragment
of Darmesteter's amazing mental activity. He wrote a striking book on
the Mahdi, the tenacious belief in the Mohammedan Messiah taking hold on
his imagination. He was versed in English literature, edited
Shakespeare, and introduced his countrymen to Browning. While in
Afghanistan on a philological mission he gathered, merely as a side
pursuit, a unique collection of Afghan folk-songs, and the result was a
fascinating and valuable paper in a new field. He helped to found a
leading French review. Articles of travel, critiques on subjects
political, religious, literary, and social, fell fast from his pen. In
his general essays on these broader, more vital aspects of thought and
life, he is an artist in literary expression, a writer with a distinct
and great gift for form. Here his vigorous mind, ample training, his
humanistic tastes and humanitarian aspirations, are all finely in
evidence.

The English reader who seeks an introduction to Darmesteter is directed
to his 'Selected Essays,' translated by Helen B. Jastrow, edited with a
memoir by Professor Morris Jastrow, Jr. (Houghton, Mifflin and Company,
Boston). There is a translation by Ada S. Ballin of his 'The Mahdi'
(Harper and Brothers, New York); and in the Contemporary Review for
January, 1895, i