The New Student's Reference Work/Müller, Friedrich Maximilian

MAX MÜLLER

Müller (mü'lẽr), Friedrich Maximilian, was born at Dessau, Germany, Dec. 6, 1823. His father, Wilhelm Müller, one of the greatest German lyric poets, died when Friedrich was four. He took his degree at Leipsic in 1843, and devoted himself to the study of Sanskrit. In 1847 the East India Company commissioned him to edit the Rig-Veda at their expense. In 1854 he became professor of modern languages at Oxford. Müller published treatises on many language-topics, which have done more than the labors of any other single scholar to awaken a taste in England for the science of language, and by his happy illustrations he made subjects attractive that ordinarily are dry. In 1875 he resigned his professorship and edited a series of translations of the Sacred Books of the East. In 1878 he was Hibbert lecturer, in 1890—2 Gifford lecturer. His indefatigable industry was astounding. Among his books are Chips from a German Workshop; Comparative Mythology; The Science of Thought; Physical Religion; The Science of Religion; Language, Mythology and Religion; The Science of Language; and The Origin and Growth of Religion; to say nothing of his Autobiography, his English translation of Kant's Critique of Pure Reason and monographs on a dozen languages. In oriental languages, literatures and religions he was a successful popularizer, but only in Sanskrit did he outrank the specialists. He died at Oxford, England, on Oct. 28, 1900.