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ANTOINE GALLAND (1646-1715)

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Originally appearing in Volume V11, Page 413 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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ANTOINE See also:GALLAND (1646-1715)  , See also:French Orientalist and archaeologist, the first See also:European translator of the Arabian Nights, was See also:born on the 4th of See also:April 1646 at Rollot, in the See also:department of See also:Somme . The completion of his school See also:education at See also:Noyon was followed by a brief See also:apprenticeship to a See also:trade, from which, however, he soon escaped, to pursue his linguistic studies at See also:Paris . After having been employed for some See also:time in making a See also:catalogue of the See also:Oriental See also:manuscripts at the See also:Sorbonne, he was, in 167o, attached to the French See also:embassy at See also:Constantinople; and in 1673 he travelled in See also:Syria and the See also:Levant, where he copied a See also:great number of See also:inscriptions, and sketched, and in some cases removed See also:historical monuments . After a brief visit to See also:France, where his collection of See also:ancient coins attracted some See also:attention, See also:Galland returned to the Levant in 1676; and in 1679 he undertook a third voyage, being commissioned by the French See also:East See also:India See also:Company to collect for the See also:cabinet of See also:Colbert; on the expiration of this See also:commission he was instructed by the See also:government to continue his researches, and had the See also:title of resorted to by the public, and excited considerable controversy in the scientific See also:world . He had almost reached the See also:zenith of his fame when, in 1807, he repaired to Paris and established himself there as a medical practitioner, at the same time continuing his activity as a lecturer and writer . In 18o8 appeared his Introduction au See also:tours de physiologic du cerveau, which was followed in 1809 by the Recherches sur le systeme nerveux en See also:general, et sur celui du cerveau en particulier (originally laid before the See also:Institute of France in See also:March 1808), and in 18ro by the first See also:instalment of the Anatomic et physiologie du systeme nerveux en general, et du cerveau en particulier, avec See also:des observations sur la possibilite de reconnaitre plusieurs dispositions intellectuelles et morales de l'homme et des animaux See also:par la configuration de leers Mks . The Recherches and the first two volumes of the Anatomic See also:bear the conjoint names of See also:Gall and See also:Spurzheim . The latter See also:work was completed in 1819, and appeared in a second edition of six volumes in 1822-1825 . In 1811 he replied to a See also:charge of Spinozism or See also:atheism, which had been strongly urged against him, by a See also:treatise entitled Des dispositions innees de l'dme et de l'esprit, which he afterwards incorporated with his greater work . In 1819 he became a naturalized French subject, but his efforts two years afterwards to obtain See also:admission to the See also:Academy of Sciences, although supported by E . See also:Geoffroy See also:Saint-Hilaire, were unsuccessful . In 1823 he visited See also:London with the intention of giving a See also:series of phrenological lectures, but his reception was not what he had anticipated, and he speedily abandoned his plans .

He continued to lecture and practise in Paris until the beginning of 1828, when he was disabled by an apoplectic seizure . His See also:

death took See also:place at Montrouge near Paris, on' the 22nd of " See also:antiquary to the See also:king " conferred upon him . During his See also:pro-longed residences abroad he acquired a thorough knowledge of the Arabic, See also:Turkish and See also:Persian See also:languages and literatures, which, on his final return to France, enabled him to render valuable assistance to Thevenot, the keeper of the royal library, and to See also:Barthelemy d'Herbelot . After their deaths he lived for some time at See also:Caen under the roof of See also:Nicolas See also:Foucault (1643–1721), the See also:intendant of Caen, himself no mean archaeologist; and there he began the publication (12 vols., 1704–1717) of See also:Les See also:mule et une nulls, which excited immense See also:interest during the time of its See also:appearance, and is still the See also:standard French See also:translation . It had no pretensions to verbal accuracy, and the coarseness of the See also:language was modified to suit European See also:taste, but the narrative was adequately rendered . In 1701 Galland had been admitted into the Academy of Inscriptions, and in 1709 he was appointed to the See also:chair of Arabic in the See also:College de France . He continued to See also:discharge the duties of this See also:post until his death, which took place on the 17th of See also:February 1715 . Besides a number of archaeological See also:works, especially in the department of See also:numismatics, he published a compilation from the Arabic, Persian and Turkish, entitled Paroles remarquables, bons mots et maximes des orientaux (1694), and a translation from an Arabic See also:manuscript, De l'origine et du progres du cafe (1699) . The former of these works appeared in an See also:English translation in 1795 . His Conies et fables indiennes de See also:Bidpai et de Lokman was published (1724) after his death . Among his numerous unpublished manuscripts are a translation of the See also:Koran and a Histoire generate des em¢ereurs turcs . His See also:Journal was published by M .

See also:

Charles See also:Schefer in 1881 .

End of Article: ANTOINE GALLAND (1646-1715)
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