THE death of Prof. Adolf Erman on June 26 inflicts an incalculable bereavement upon both the Egyptological world and a large circle outside it. In the realms of his own subject he was without doubt regarded as the foremost scholar, since it was he who first placed the study of the ancient Egyptian language upon a scientific basis. His "Ägyptische Grammatik", which first appeared in 1894 and which was destined to pass through four editions, revolutionized the method of approach to the classical language, while the later phase of Egyptian, known as "New Egyptian", was fully dealt with in his "Neuägyptische Grammatik" of 1880 and 1933. Yet he was far from belonging to that class, all too large even at the present day, of specialists who never trouble to interpret their discoveries for the benefit of the general reader. He could write excellent descriptive prose, informed by a considerable sense of humour, which presented a living picture to his readers, as in his "Ägypten", translated into English by Lady Tirard under the title of "Life in Ancient Egypt", his "Religion der Ägypter", translated by the same author and called "Handbook of the Egyptian Religion", and his "Literatur derÄgypter" of which the English edition has been prepared by Prof. A. M. Blackman. The last-named book is perhaps his greatest contribution of this kind, enabling the student of the past for the first time to become acquainted with specimens of ancient Egyptian literature of all periods, beautifully translated and explained.