philosopher and a man of science, the first countries in Europe; and having passed into and explored Egy])t, he published, on his return to Denmark, an account of his travels in Egypt and Nubia, which is interesting, cor- rect, and accurate. It is written in French, and entitled Voyage d'Ef/ypte et de Xiibie (Copenh. 1752, 1755,2 vols, fol.). The first volume consists entirely of plates, being a series of maps of the course of the Nile from Cairo to Derr, and a succession of views of the scenery aloaig the banks of the river, forming a kind of panorama of the Nile; besides plans and sections of the pyramids, tem- ples, and other remarkable buildings. The second vol- ume contains Norden's journal, which is written in a plain, unpretending style. The editors have added a biographical notice of the author. Norden was the first traveller who explored Egypt as an artist, and his draw- ings gave the first tolerably correct idea of the stupen- dous monuments of that countrv. His work was trans- lated into English, and published, enlarged by Dr. Pe- ter Templeman, in London (1757), in 2 vols. fol. Lan- gles published a new and corrected edition of the orig- inal French (in 3 vols. 4to) at Paris in 1795-98. (J. H.W.) Nordheinier, Isaac, Ph.D., one of the most noted Hebraists of modern times, and a philosopher of no mean order, was born of Jewish parents, in 1809, at Memels- dorf, a village not far from Erlangen, Germany. He received the rudiments of his education at a Jewish school of his native place, and having acquired that pro- ficiency in Jewish learning which fitted him to become a rabbi, J'onng Nordheimer, in 1828, entered himself at the Gymnasium of Wlirzburg, to acquire a knowledge of classical literature, theology, and philosophy, in ac- cordance with the demands made in the present day of a Jewish public teacher. After remaining two years in the gymnasium, he was transferred (1830) to the Uni- versity of Wiirzburg, which he left in 1832, and went to complete his studies at the high .school in Munich, where he took his degree as doctor of philosophy in the au- tumn of 1834, and afterwards sustained, pro forma, the public examination required of Jewish theologians. Assured by two American pupils, who took jirivate lessons of him in 1832, that he could find a pleasant home in the United States of America, and more rajiidly secure positions of trust and influence, Nordheimer left his home in 1835 for America, and arrived in New York in the summer of the same year. He soon received from the university of that city the nominal a]ipoint- ment as professor of Arabic and other Oriental lan- guages, and acting professor of Hebrew. He also soon after received the appointment of instructor in the Union Theological Seminary-, New York City, tliough he remained steadfast to the faith of his forefathers. His great learning, and especially his mastery of the Hebrew tongue, made him a desirable instructor and associate. He was the teacher of many divines now eminent in this country, and enjoyed the companionship of Dr. Alexander, Eobinson, Stuart, and other noted Bib- lical scholars. He died Nov. 3, 1842. On his way to this country, on shipboard, Nordheimer had begun the construction of a Hebrew grammar on a philosophical basis. In 1838 he brought out the first volume of it, and in 1841 the second volume (2d od. with additions and im- provements, N. Y. 1842, 2 vols. 8vo). In a review of this work. Prof. Alexander writes : " This new work requires no painful eflFort of memory to keep its parts in order ; the perusal in it of the most thorny part of Hebrew grammar ojiens a vista superior in clearness, extent, and beauty to that exhibited by any other wri- ter. Nothing but the fear of being thought to deal in sweeping panegyric prevents our speaking in the highest terms" (Princet. Rep. [1858] x, 197 sq.). Home (in his Bibl. Bib. [1839] p. 197 sq.) does not hesitate to pronounce it "the most elaborate and philosophical He- brew grammar in the English language." The truth is, Nordheimer had made discoveries in the formative laws of language generally, and thus he was able to master the intricate Hebrew, and to simplify its study. He re-
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ducetl the Hebrew declensions from Stuart's thirteen and Gesenius's nine to four; entered into the working and make-up of the verb, and accounted for the irregular ones on tlie ground that the regular verbs could not, without violation of all proper laws of speech, redupli- cate their consonants sufficiently, cspecialh' when gut- tural, to <nve the intensive sense required, and that there- fore new ones, called irregular, but normally constituted, had to appear. Similar explanations as to the changes in other parts of the verb, and in all parts of the Hebrew speech, lifted the obscurity from the language of the an- cient writings, and made its study an intellectual pleas- ure and profit. Besides this great work, he published .4 Grammatical Analysis of Select Portions of Scripture, or a Chrestomaihi/ (IS38) :^T/ie Philosophy of Kcclesiustes, beinr/ an Introduction to the Book of Ecclesiastes, in the Biblical Repository (July, 1838). Of this work Prof. Kood, who was for ten years president of the theological seminary at Gilmanton, N. H., writes : " I think Nord- heimer's masterly power, that in which he excelled other writers— such as the Kimchis, Ewald, Gesenius, and Prof. Stuart — consisted in the magnificent ease and absolute perfection of his analyses. I think that this talent was so much a part of his nature that he may have been quite unconscious of it. When his mind turned itself in a direction that called for the ex- ercise of this faculty, it seemed like an eagle soaring over the heights, and yet peering into all below. He could separate elements, and throw aside all but the in- dispensable." He also contributed several valuable arti- cles to the Biblical Repository. Dr. Nordheimer also left tlie following works in MS. : A Chaldee and Syriac Grammar, in German : — A rabic Grammar, in German : — A larger A rabic Grammar, in English : — .1 Transla- tion and Exposition of the Book of Ecclesiastes, in Ger- man : — Hebrew Concordance, incomplete : — Philolor/icul Memoranda, etc. It is to be greatly regretted that Nord- lieimer did not live to complete his Concordance ; the lit- tle of it extant proves the master-mind that conceived it, and gives promise of a great and valuable work. Like his grammar, it would have brought honor to American scholarship. We are glad to say that he prided himself in his new country, and honored his scholarly associ- ates. His criticisms on Koy's Hebrew Lexicon in the Biblical Repository (April, 1838), art. vi, in which he takes occasion to condemn that book because it may prove " a reproach to the literary character of the countrj' in which it was produced" (p. 490), evince that he delighted to be counted a contributor to American literary liistory. See Dr. Robinson, in the Bibliotheca Sacra (1843)," p. 389-390; Mill, Reminiscences of Dr. Isaac Nordheimer, in the New-Enylander (July, 1874), art. iv. See also Allibone, Diet. Brit, and Amer. Auth. s. V. (J. H. W.)