Blau, Otto

Blau, Otto a famous German Orientalist, was born April 11, 1828, at Nordhausen, being the son of a Protestant theologian. He studied at Halle and Leipsic for the medical profession, which he soon exchanged at the latter place for the study of Oriental languages, numismatics, and archaeology; where Fleischer and Rodiger were his teachers. The expectation of these teachers of and their confidence in their pupil were so great that at the age of twenty-four they intrusted to him the redaction of the Zeitschrift der deutschen Morgen Indisches Gesellschaft. In 1852 he was attached to the Prussian legation at Constantinople, and, in close communion' with men like Mordmann, Schlottmann, Vogue, and others, he acquired a rare knowledge of the present linguistic, ethnographical, commercial, and political affairs of the Orient, and succeeded in bringing to light many a valuable treasure of the past of the East. From 1853 to 1858 he belonged to the officers of the German Evangelical Church at Constantinople, and contributed largely to the welfare of the German hospital and school connected with the church. In 1859 he was appointed consul at Trebizond, where he did good service to the poor oppressed Protestant Armenians. In 1861 he accompanied Omer Pasha as member of the pacification commission into the Herzegovina, and in 1862 he was appointed consul at Serajewo in Bosnia. In 1870 he was made general consul of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and in 1872 he was sent in tht same capacity to Odessa, where he died, Feb. 26, 1879. The fruits of his researches may best be seen from the many contributions to the Zeitschrift der' deutschen Morgenlandischen Gesellschaf since the year 1852. (B. P.)