The work is a review of an article by V. I. Lamansky in the magazine ‘Zhivaya starina’, which was issued under his editorship from 1891 till 1916. That review was originated with the fact that V. Rozen found a support for his idea of ​​the importance of expanding university teaching of oriental languages ​​not from an orientalist, but from a philologist of general specialization.

In that review, R. argued for the opening of chairs of the main oriental languages ​​at all universities, but not in the form of separate faculties, but as chairs at the departments of Roman-Germanic or Slavic philology of the historical and philological faculties; he believed that they could benefit research and education both. He emphasized the importance of improving teaching of Oriental languages ​​for training orientalists, who would be ready to devote their whole life to Oriental studies, applying methods worked out in philological and historical disciplines. The author noted an importance of connection between orientalists and philologists, since orientalist, on his words, was also philologist, and did not much differ from a novelist, for instance. That is, the author advocated for a strictly philological method as a single way in studying European and Oriental languages. He emphasized that only under the offered conditions departments of Oriental languages ​​at philological faculties would promote Oriental studies with stable methodology; and one could be sure that Oriental studies would enrich research field and benefit Russian enlightenment.