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closely printed matter, replete with innumerable essays, papers, monographs, and notes of great interest." By most men these volumes can be consulted only in one of our large public libraries; and a scholar interested in any particular subject in coins or inscriptions, language or literature, manners or religion, geology or geography, &c., even when within reach of one of the eentres of learning, has had to search through many volumes in order to ascertain what, or where, or whether anything had been written on it in this Society's journals. Such search, if not rendered altogether unnecessary, has now been at least greatly facilitated by this Centenary Review.
As has been suggested above, the Review consists of three parts. In the first part Dr. Rajendralal Mitra has sketched what may be called the outward history of the Society; how it was founded by Sir W. Jones; what rules were made from time to time regarding the election of members, their contributions, meetings, &c.; how the Society acquired a house of its own, and founded and extended its library; what gifts were made to it of coins, inscriptions and other objects of interest; how it created the finest Museum in India, undertook the completion of a series of valuable works, the printed sheets of which had been directed by Government "to be sold as waste paper," gave its liberal assistance to Oriental publications of all kind, and particularly established and successfully carried on the Bibliotheca Indica, &c. Towards the end Dr. R. Mitra has given brief personal notices of some of the most renowned scholars with whom the fame of the Society is intimately associated, of Sir W. Jones, F. H. Colebrooke, Sir Charles Wilkins, H. H. Wilson, James Prinsep, B. H. Hodgson, and others; and in four appendices he has added a statement showing the number of members from time to time, a list of the officers of the Society from 1784 to 1883, a list of the books published directly or indirectly by the Society, and finally a valuable alphabetical index of the papers and contributions to the Asiatic Researches and the Journal and Proceedings of the Society.
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
The literary work done by members of the Society or under its auspices has been more fully detailed in the second and third parts of the Review, the former composed by Dr. A. F. Rudolf Hoernle and the latter by Mr. P. N. Bose. Dr. Hoernle has arranged the matter which fell to his share under the heads of Antiquities, Coins, Ancient Indian Alphabets, History, Languages and iterature; and Mr. Bose has described the achievements in Mathematical and Physical Science, Geology, Zoology, Botany, Geography, Ethnology, and Chemistry. Under similar headings both scholars
[DECEMBER, 1885.
have appended to their own account and estimate of what has been done, accurate classified indices of all the papers in the Society's publications arranged in the order in which they have been published,-indices which will prove of very great value to future inquirers. That both Dr. Hoernle and Mr. Bose have had to go through an immense amount of reading is evident from the innumerable references which are crowded together in the pages of their reviews. It is equally certain that what they have done has been a labour of love to themselves, and that they will earn the gratitude of many scholars for what they have so successfully accomplished.
Where three men have done so much to insure our grateful acknowledgment of their services, it would seem invidious to single out one of them for particular praise. But there can be no doubt that, of the scholars named, it is Dr. Hoernle, whose task has been the most laborious; just 28 it is his share of the work which will prove of the greatest interest to most readers of the Indian Antiquary. The great discoveries which form the foundation of our knowledge of the history of Ancient India, the decipherment of the Indian alphabets which will ever render illustrious the names of men such as James Prinsep and Alexander Cunningham, and the researches of Prinsep, Thomas, and others, into the coinages of various Indian dynasties, were indeed sure to prove attractive themes to a scholar who combines accuracy in details with a wide range of reading; and the account which he has given of them will in turn be regarded as perhaps the most attractive portion of this Centenary Review. That opinions should differ regarding some of the statements made by Dr. Hoernle, and the views suggested by him, is only natural, when we remember how fragmentary is our knowledge of the history of India, and how often new discoveries force us to cast aside what were before accepted facts. It is true that some scholars do consider A.D. 166 as the initial year of the Gupta era, and that some do place the accession of Kanishka A.D. 78; though an impartial examination of all the evidence available would appear to prove that the Gupta era really commenced A.D. 319, and that Kanishka must have reigned long after the date assigned to him. But such and similar details in no wise detract from the value of the work before us; and the writer of this notice feels sure that all readers will join him in thank. ing both those who designed, and those who were directly instrumental in bringing about the publication of the Centenary Review of the Asiatic Society of Bengal.
F. KIELHORN.
