CASTREN, Matthias Alexan der, Finnish philologist: b. Tervola, 2 Dec. 1813; d. Helsingfors, 7 May 1852. While at tending, as a young man, the University of Hel singfors he conceived the project of tracing out the various detached branches of the Finnish races and languages, and presenting their ethnological and philological phenomena in one general view. Following out this idea he under took in 1838 a pedestrian excursion through Finnish Lapland, and another in 1840 through the district of Karelia, with the view of study ing the primitive language of that country, and enabling himself to translate therefrom into Swedish the great Finnish epic of the 'Kale vala.' This last work was accomplished by him after his return. He soon, however, re sumed his travels, and for several years con tinued to prosecute his researches among the nations of the Arctic regions, both in Europe and Asia, including the Norwegian and Russian Lapps, and the Samoyeds of Siberia and the coasts of the White Sea. Naturally of a weakly constitution, and in a failing state of health, he was frequently obliged in addition to submit in the course of his journeys to the most extreme privations. Having returned home
from his last journey to the Samoyeds, he was appointed in 1851 professor of the Finnish and old Scandinavian languages in the University of Helsingfors, but died before he had been able to add much more to his work — a martyr to the cause of science. Among his writings are his translation of the (Kalevaa' ; (Elementa Grammatices Syrjtenz ; (Elementa Gram matices Tscheremissz' ; and We Affixis Per sonalibus Linguarutn Altaicarum' ; besides travels and other works published after his death. His works were edited in Swedish (in 5 vols., 1852-58) and were supplemented in 1870 by another volume containing a biography by I. V. Snellman. A German translation was published between 1853 and 1862, under the auspices of the Academy of Saint Petersburg, by Anton Schiefner. They include, besides the works enumerated, grammars of the Samoyed, Buryat, Tungus, Koibalic languages.