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THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
[NOVEMBER, 1888.
Hashim styled Mo'atamed ul. Muldk, on compound medicaments and compiled a qardbadin, called Ullás, so
we divided into a muqaddimeh subdivided into 20 fasts, and the dictionary of compound drugs in alphabetical order in twenty-eight kitdbs, or books.
The Makhnan-ul-Adviyeh and the Qardbad in, the two volumes in one, were lithographed at Teheran in 1277 A H. The Qardbddin has been twice printed in India (Calcutta P) A.H. 1248-49 and 1254-55.
S. J. A. c.
NOTES AND QUERIES. SUPERSTITION AS TO CIRCUMCISION it will at once give rise to remark. He will be told AMONGST THE MALAYS.
not to eat it lest his skin should be tough and he Among the Malays, if an uncircumcised boy is be caused extra suffering when he submits to the eating with a party of men and the gizzard of rite of circumcision. a fowl, in some dish or other, falls to his share,
W.E.M.
BOOK NOTICE.
GENERAL INDEX TO THE REPORTS OF THE ARCHEO
LOGICAL SURVEY OF INDIA, VOLS. I. TO XXIII. by V. A. SMITH, B.C.S. Printed by the Superin tendent of Government Printing, India, Calcutta, 1887. Royal 8vo.; pp. xviii., 216. We regret that we have not been able to notice before now Mr. V. A. Smith's most valuable addition to the Reports of the Archeological Burvey of India, in the shape of a General Index to Vols. I. to XXIII.,--the whole series of Reports issued by, or under the direction of, General Sir A. Cunningham,with a Glossary and General Table of Contents.
As remarked by the Compiler of this Index in his Preface, everyone who has had occasion to consult the Reports in question must have felt the want of a General Index, such as has now been made available. "The Reports contain a vast mass of " valuable information, but it is presented in "such an undigested form that much of it is "practically inaccessible. Each volume is cer"tainly provided with an Index, but these Indices " are, with two exceptions, extremely meagre, and " of very little service." Under these circumstances the present Index was undertaken, with Gen. Sir A. Cunningham's approval. And we find every reason for congratulating Mr. V. A. Smith on the results of his work, which will * greatly enhance the utility and value of the series of Reports.
The Index does not aim at giving a reference for every proper name mentioned in the Reports, or for every topic discussed in them. For in. stance, Mr. V. A. Smith has very wisely passed over, with but very little notice, "the crude and "unscientific speculations of General Cunning- "ham's assistanta, which waste so much space in "several volumes of the Reports," and which
ought, in fact, never to have been allowed to appear in print at all. But, excluding matter of this kind, and bearing in mind that the large number of reports to be indexed in a single volume rendered it necessary to avoid many minor entries, such as subordinate and almost unknown dynastic names which must be traced by referring to the dynasties concerned, the Index appears to render easy for the first time a reference to nearly everything in these Reports that is worth turning up. And by no means the least important feature in it, is, that, with the help of maps and gazetteers, the Compiler has remedied in almost every instance Compiler has remedied in what was a most serious and inconvenient defect in the Reports themselves, vix, the omission to give full and definite details, by reference to districts, sub-divisions, &c., as to the exact localities at which epigraphical, architectural, and other remains are to be found, if still in situ, or as to the exact places at which such remaine, and especially coins, were originally found, though, having been since removed into public and private collections, they are not now to be looked for there.
The short Glossary, at the end of the book, is intended to explain Oriental words, used in the Reports, for the benefit of readers who have not resided in India, and to whom therefore they would ordinarily be unintelligible; and, as far as it goes, it is a serviceable addition.
One of the most useful parts of the book is the General Table of Contenta, pp. vii. to sviü. which reproduces, with some additions, the Table of Contents of each separate volume, and thus showe almost as a glance where we have to look for the detailed accounts of the various places described in each Reporte.
