PROFESSOR WINNETT is a native of Oil Springs in Western Ontario. He received the B.A. degree in Oriental Languages at Toronto in 1923, and graduated in theology at Knox College in 1927. After completing the work for the doctorate in Semitics at Toronto in 1928, he spent a year doing advanced work in the field of Arabic at the Hartford Seminary Foundation, Hartford, Conn., U.S.A. In 1929 he joined the staff of the Department of Oriental Languages at University College, specializing in the fields of Hebrew, Arabic, Syriac and History of the Near East. He has travelled extensively in teh Near and Middle East, including India. He is best known for his contributions to the decipherment of early Arabic inscriptions.