Jnles Oppert, a French orientalist, born in Hamburg, of Jewish parents, July 9, 1825. He received a classical education, studied law at Heidelberg, and Sanskrit and Arabic at Bonn. He next studied the Zend and the ancient Persian, and published a treatise at Berlin on the vocal system of the latter language. His religion incapacitating him for a professorship in a German university, he went to France in 1847, obtained the professorship of German at the lyceums of Laval and Rheims, and was appointed on the scientific expedition sent by the government to Mesopotamia. After his return in 1854, he submitted to the institute a new system of interpreting the inscriptions. He also laid before the geographical society of the institute a plan of ancient Babylon. For 20 years he has devoted himself chiefly to the study of cuneiform inscriptions. In 1857 he was appointed professor of Sanskrit in the school of languages attached to the imperial library. Among his works are: Les inscriptions des Achémenides (1852); Etudes assyri-ennes; L'Expedition scientifique de France en Mésopotamie (1858-'64); Grammaire san-scrite (1859); Les fastes de Sargon, in company with M. J. Menant (1863); Grande inscription du palais de Khorsabad (1864); Histoire des empires de Chaldee et d'Assyrie, d'après les monuments (1866); and If Immortalite de l'âme chez les Chaldeens, suhi d'ine traduction de la descente aux enfers de la deesse Istar Astarte (1875).