Jozef Dobrovsky, a Slavic scholar, born near Raab, Hungary, Aug. 17, 1753, died in BrUnn, Moravia, Jan. 6,1829. He early applied himself to the study of the German language, and acquired afterward still greater knowledge of the Bohemian. He studied at the university of Prague, became a Jesuit at Brunn in October, 1772, and after the dissolution of that order in July, 1773, devoted himself to literature. From 1780 to 1787 he conducted a journal devoted to the literature of Bohemia and Moravia. His subsequent works on the Slavic languages and history gained him the reputation of having laid the foundation of Slavic philology. The most celebrated of them are the Geschichte der bohmischen Sprache (1792), Entwurf zu einem allgemeinen Etymologikon der slawischen Sprachen (1813), and Institutiones Linguoe Slavicoe Dialecti veteris (Vienna, 1822). In 1792 and 1794 he visited Sweden, Russia, and western Europe, to collect documents bearing upon Slavic history. On his return he was for several years afflicted with insanity, brought about by the intensity of his labors, but recovered his health in 1803. An account of his life and writings was published by Palacky at Prague in 1833.