Abstract
Toiling among the dust of ages, we Assyriologists fulfil, in our own domain, and as far aw we may, that dictum which says, that mankind's own true study is man. but mankind's own study is not man only, but everything that pertains to him. The student of Assyriology therefore not only tires in his special line to answer all questions concerning him-his origin in his native land, his history, his surroundings, his thoughts, his feelings, and his religion-but he studies his language too, and tell of his joys and sorrows. Day by day the quest goes on, and the cloud-masses obscuring the vista are little by little cleared away; and a time will doubtless come at last when the wide domain of Assyriology will have yielded up, as far as may be, its secrets, and the history of the human race and of civilization will present there no gap.