Deutsch

Deutsch, EMANUEL OSCAR MENAHEM, was born of Jewish parents at Neisse, in Silesia, October 28, 1829. His education was begun at the local gymnasium at the age of six, continued by his uncle, a learned rabbi, to whom he owed his mastery of Hebrew and Chaldee literature, and finally pursued at the university of Berlin. In 1855 he came to England to fill an appointment in the library of the British Museum, where 'for fifteen years with mighty ardour and magnificent industry he studied and wrote, enjoying life among his friends, yet more among his books; shedding sunshine wherever he went, attracting and attaching not a few.' He is best known to the outside world by his brilliant article on the Talmud in the Quarterly Review (1867), to which he also contributed an article on Islam (1869). He wrote excellent articles on the Targum and the Samaritan Pentateuch for Dr Smith's Dictionary of the Bible, and was a valued contributor to the first edition of Chambers's Encyclopedia, for which he wrote nearly two hundred articles. His scholarship was seen to great advantage when he wrote on Phœnician antiquities; and his remarkable command of a vigorous and poetic English style was shown in his articles in the Times on the Ecumenical Council. He died 12th May 1873 at Alexandria, whither he had gone in the hope of recovering the health which overwork had undermined. The dream of his life was to have written an elaborate work on the Talmud, of which his short essays and lectures gave brilliant promise; but a mortal disease, added to official duties, deprived the world of the results of his unrivalled learning. A volume of his Literary Remains, with a sketch of his life by Lady Strangford, was published in 1874.