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Physician to William V., and the author of numerous medical works. Another son of Aaron de Sola settled in Curaçao, and was the progenitor of that General Juan de Sola who won such high military distinction fighting under Bolivar and Paez in the revolt of the South American Colonies from Spain. In 1690 another member of the family, Isaac de Sola, became famed in London as a preacher and author. Some volumes of his writings are still to be seen among the rare collections of European libraries. Abraham de Sola was born on the 18th September, 1825. His father, David Aaron de Sola, was a very prominent rabbi, celebrated for his theological writings, and had removed from Amsterdam to London, England, early in the present century, where the subject of this sketch was born. His mother was of the illustrious Meldola family, who had furnished leading rabbis to the Jews of Europe for twelve consecutive generations. From childhood Abraham de Sola betrayed a strong inclination for study, and having received a thorough training in those branches which form the usual curriculum of higher education, he turned his attention to theological and linguistic studies, and early laid the foundation of that deep acquaintance with oriental languages and literature which afterwards won him such renown. In 1846 he was offered the position of minister of the Congregation of Portuguese Jews of Montreal, and, having accepted this call, arrived in Canada early in 1847. Here began the great work of his life. Shortly after his advent to Montreal his eloquent sermons in the Synagogue attracted the attention of the Mercantile Library Association, and upon invitation he delivered before this body a series of lectures upon the history of the Jews of England. The interest evoked by these efforts led to his delivering a further course of lectures upon Jewish history before this association the following year, and also before the Mechanics’ Institute. In 1848 he published his “Notes on the Jews of Persia, under Mohammed Shah.” This was followed by “A History of the Jews of Persia,” and within the same year he published his “Lectures on Scripture Zoology” which was succeeded by his “Lectures on the Mosaic Cosmogony.” Shortly afterwards he gave to the world “The Cosmography of Peritsol,” a work which at once attracted great attention and brought its author prominently to the front. It received such favourable notice from leading reviews as to be republished in part by the Occident and other magazines, and translations in various languages were brought out by publishers in foreign countries. As late as 1881 we find it attracting the attention of the learned Chevalier Pesaro, of Italy, in the columns of an Italian review. His next important work “A Commentary on Samuel Hannagid’s Introduction to the Talmud,” displayed a deep and broad acquaintance with rabbinical literature, and was received with marked approbation by the literati of this continent and Europe. His literary labours had now made him a prominent figure among the learned bodies of Montreal, and in 1853 he was appointed Professor of Hebrew and Oriental literature at McGill University, Montreal, a position which he continued to fill with marked ability during the rest of his life, and for which his deep knowledge of Semitic tongues particularly adapted him. He was also a co-labourer of Sir William Dawson in the Natural History Society, as well as at McGill, and did much towards vitalizing and extending the usefulness of that body. In 1853, in conjunction with the Rev. J. J. Lyons, of New York, he published his work on “The Jewish Calendar System,” containing a very exhaustive and abstruse treatise upon the Jewish mode of calculating time by the lunar system. Some years after this he completed one of his greatest and most learned productions, “The Sanitory Institutions of the Hebrews;” a work containing a most elaborate and critical consideration of the rabbinical dietary and hygienic laws, as based upon the Jewish traditional exposition of the hygienic statutes of the Bible, viewed in the light of modern scientific discoveries. The work excited alike the applause of scientists and of rabbinical scholars, and the eminence to which its author had now attained resulted in his having the degree of LL.D. conferred upon him in 1858. Shortly after the publication of “The Sanitory Institutions of the Hebrews,” Dr. de Sola published a supplemental work to it, entitled, “Behemoth Hatemeoth;” and in 1860, when Dr. Hall founded the British American Journal, devoted to the advancement of medical and physical sciences, Dr. de Sola accepted an invitation to assist the publication, and among many others of his writings that appeared in this journal his articles “Upon the Employment of Anæsthetics in cases of Labour, in connection with Jewish Law,” is specially worthy of notice. During the succeeding decade he was particularly active with his pen, bringing out in rapid succession numerous works and treatises, besides constantly lecturing before various literary and scientific associations. Of his writings and lectures at this period the principal ones were: “Scripture Botany,” “Sinaitic Inscriptions,” “Hebrew Numismatics,” “Philological Studies in Hebrew and the Aramaic Languages,” “The Ancient Hebrews as Promoters of the Arts and Sciences,” and “The Rise and Progress of the Great Hebrew Colleges.” For several years he occupied the position of President of the Natural History Society, and in that capacity he received Prince Arthur (now Duke of Connaught) when His Royal Highness visited the society in 1870. His address upon “The Study of Natural Science,” delivered before the Prince upon this occasion, called forth a letter of approbation from Queen Victoria. In 1869 Dr. de Sola completed his valuable historical work entitled, “The Life of Shabethai Tsevi, the Jewish False Messiah.” This was followed by two other important historical works: “The History of the Jews of Poland,” published in 1870, and “The History of the Jews of France,” published one year later. Ever since his arrival in Canada Dr. de Sola had been labouring zealously in every movement that tended to the advancement of the Jewish people. His eloquence as a preacher, added to his intimate knowledge of rabbinical learning, placed him among the very foremost exponents of Jewish thought of the day, and he was recognized as one of the chief leaders of the orthodox Jews of America. Broad-minded and tolerant in all things, he was at the same time strictly orthodox in his Judaism. His deep studies in the paths of science, literature and philology all tended the more to confirm him in his abiding faith in the Book of Books; hence we find that throughout his career he was constantly engaged, both in the pulpit and press, in giving battle to those who would assail the Hebrew Scriptures. Scarcely a work ever left his hands that did not contain many a well directed shaft at the infidel teachings of certain modern sceptics. In the columns of the Jewish press he was particularly active in this respect, and for many years he was a very regular contributor to various Jewish journals, particularly to the Occident of Philadelphia (edited by the gifted Isaac Leeser), with which he was closely identified. He also frequently visited the United States, where his lectures invariably attracted large audiences and brought him into great prominence. In 1872 Dr. de Sola was invited by General Grant’s administration to open the United States Congress with prayer, and for the first time in history the extraordinary spectacle was witnessed of one who was not a subject of the United States nor of the dominant faith—one who was a British subject and a Jew—performing the opening ceremonies at the assembling of Congress at Washington. This high example of liberality upon the part of the government of the United States was generally looked upon as one of the earliest indications of the birth of a more friendly feeling between the United States and Britain, whose relations had then been but recently strained by the Alabama Claims; and Sir Edward Thornton, the British Minister at Washington, as well as Mr. Gladstone—who was then premier—extended to Dr. de Sola the special approbation and thanks of the British Government. Having purchased the stereotype plates and copyright of Isaac Leeser’s works, Dr. de Sola published about this time a new and carefully revised edition of that author’s English translation of the Bible, according to Jewish authorities. He also brought out a new translation of the Jewish Forms of Prayer, based upon the editions of his father (D. A. de Sola) and of Leeser. These were heavy undertakings, and their completion entailed several years of severe work. In addition to his other arduous duties, Dr. de Sola had now been appointed Hebrew Lecturer at the Presbyterian College, Montreal, and also Lecturer in Spanish Literature at McGill—a literature with which he was particularly familiar. But the heavy strain of such intense application to work at length undermined his naturally strong constitution, and in 1876 his health suddenly gave way. After a year’s rest in Europe he was so far recuperated as to be enabled to partly resume his duties, and in 1878 and 1879 he was again an active contributor to the Hebrew press. Among other of his writings at this time one of the most noteworthy was, “Yehuda Alcharizi, and the Book Tachkemoni.”—In 1880 he produced his last great work, “Saadia Gaon”—a book which gives a vivid picture of the political struggles and literary labours of one who played so important a part at the court of a Prince of the Captivity. But Dr. de Sola’s health was now rapidly failing, and, while in New York, on
