Garcin (de Tassy), Joseph Heliodore Sagessr Vertu
a famous French Orientalist, was born January 20, 1794, at Marseilles. In 1817 he went to Paris, where he studied under Svlvestre de Sacy. The latter especially interested him in the vulgar Arabic spoken by the Mussulmans of India, and to this he devoted himself entirely. A chair for Hindustani was especially created for him at the college in Paris; he succeeded Talleyrand as member of the Academy of Inscriptions, in 1838, and after Mohl's death, in 1876, he was made president of the Asiatic Society. Garcin de Tassy died September 2, 1878. He published, Rudiments de la Langue Hindoustani (Paris, 1829; with appendices, 1843): — Rudiments de la Langue findoui (ibid. 1847): — Les Ouvres de Wali, Celebre Poate du Dekkan (with a translation, 1834): — Les Aventures de Kamrup (ibid. eod.): an edition of the Pend-Nameh of Saadi, "Mantik ulAtair" (Le Language des Oiseaux): — Doctrines et Devoirs des l'Musulmans (from the Arabic, 1827-40): — Poesie Philosophique et Religeuse des Persans (1857): — Rhetorique et Prosodie de l'Orient Musulman. (1873). (B.P.)