The 19th century also saw the growth of the first thorough academic studies, publications and translations of Buddhist texts. The work of the French orientalist Eugène Burnouf is some of the first academic work on Buddhism which includes a French translation of the Lotus sutra from Sanskrit. He laid the foundation for the study of Sanskrit Buddhist texts. He and Christian Lassen also published an early Pali grammar in 1826. Benjamin Clough, a Wesleyan missionary, also published an early grammar of the language in Colombo, 1924, A compendious Pali grammar with a copious vocabulary in the same language. The first Pali dictionary was published in 1875, Robert Caesar Childers' A Dictionary of the Pali language. The work of Emile Senart is also important, and includes a publication and study of the Sanskrit Mahavastu as well as his Essai sur la légende du Bouddha, which interpreted the Buddha as a solar deity figure.
