The work, therefore, as now given to the public may fairly be said to represent the state of present knowledge.
In a science that grows so rapidly as Assyriology, to which more than to many others the adage of _dies diem docet_ is applicable, there is great danger of producing a piece of work that is antiquated before it leaves the press.

At times a publication appeared too late to be utilized.

So Delitzsch's important contribution to the origin of cuneiform writing[4] was published long after the introductory chapters had been printed.

In this book he practically abandons his position on the Sumerian question (as set forth on p.

22 of this volume) and once more joins the opposite camp.