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The fact is, until the majority of the General Committee see the folly of wasting funds in perpetuating this abominable system of education, the occasional efforts of such men as compose the Dihli Committee to introduce a more rational plan of instruction must fail. A proper selection of mem. bers for the Controlling Committee appears a sine qua non to any thing like an improved system of tuition. If the members of the Presidency Committee are patrons of Sanskrit and Arabic, it will be impossible for the Local and Subordinate Committees to give any encouragement to English literature. "Both Sanskrit and Arabic are studied as sacred tongues; the one, by Bráh mans alone, and the other by a particular class of Mahammadans: both lead to one qualification alone, the making of priests. Neither has the ordinary business of life for its object.

"Munshi Mir Ashraf Ali, the Librarian of the Dihlí Madrasá, has agreed to undertake the sale of the books in the Roman character, which you may send up. The whole of the English students (200), and 60 of the Madrasa, are studying away the new character! Several of the amlas of the court, correspond with me in that character. Send up as many copy slips and books in it, as you possibly can. Dihli promises very favorably for your plan. But by all means place the means of printing our own books in our power, and send the types."

"Pray always send Bákir a copy of every book, that is published in the new character. Mufti Ikrám ud Din, the Sadar Amín, is studying it, and at least 200 besides, not reckoning the whole of the students of both colleges! We want types; if we had them we would print several works, and set up a newspaper to boot. I wonder the editor of the Jám-i-Jahán Numá has not adopted the Roman in lieu of the Persian character: every body might read his paper then, Natives as well as Europeans, and it would be a further improvement if he used Urdú for the less known Persian. Such a paper would be profitable, and prove subservient to your scheme of enlightening India."

12.-LODIA'NA.

Extract from a recent Letter from Munshi Shahámat Ali, to his friend Munshi Mohan Lál.

"We are exceedingly happy to learn of the Rev.Mr. Lowrie's departure for this station. He is anxiously expected here by every one who wishes to learn the English language. There are several young men in this place, as well as in the neighbourhood, who are very desirous of receiving an English education, but unfortunately they have hitherto been prevented from executing their de signs for want of means; but as now the above Missionary intends to establish himself here for the purpose of teaching the natives, they will undoubtedly congregate about him in order to take their lessons, just like a swarm of famished flies round the honey. Every morning about 12 or 13 boys attend to me to take their tasks, and daily the number is increased.

"I am very glad to learn of Mohan Lál, Yákúb Khán, and Chiman Lál, and hope they are well, and going on with their English studies. I thank them for their kind recollection of me. Pray give my best regards to them."

To the above extracts, detailing the progress of education chiefly among the lower orders, we are happy to add a notice of an effort for the benefit of a native ruler. Mr. F. C. Smith, agent to the Governor General in the Narbada Territories, having observed with regret the shameful manner in which the children of the chiefs in that part of the country are brought up, has determined that one of them under his guardianship, the young Rájá of Uchera, near Jabalpur, now in want of an instructor, shall be

Placed in more favourable circumstances; and with this view has Just engaged an intelligent East Indian (Mr. Sandys), as his private tutor. We anticipate much good from the appointment. By this means the Rájá, instead of being nurtured in ignorance and vice, will, it is hoped, through the restraints on his passions, and the knowledge of his public duties, which a good education will secure, in due time become a blessing to the subjects he will have to govern, and a bright example to the neighboring princes. We regard the example of Mr. Smith, in thus securing to his ward the incalculable benefits of a sound English education, as highly to be commended; and trust that it will be imitated by all, who may be placed in similar circumstances.

The items of intelligence from different places, which we have had the pleasure of recording in this paper, will, if we mistake not, be perused with interest by all our readers. Affording evidence, as they do, that from Assam on the East, to Lodiána on the West, the desire for education in English is daily increasing among the natives, they also supply satisfactory proof, that a benevolent wish to impart that education, even at a considerable expense of time, property and labour, is felt more generally than ever by our countrymen. Much, very much, however, remains yet to be done. What has been effected ought to rouse us to exertion, by shewing how others are engaged;-not lull us into inactivity or indifference, as if our exertions were not required. The call for education by so many millions can be met only by the most extensive efforts. We hope, therefore, that none will be inactive. May the Government do its duty, and liberally promote an object so important to its own prosperity. May every individual whom God has distinguished by knowledge, influence, leisure, or wealth, determine to consecrate it to the noble purpose of enlightening the ignorant, till there be not a station without its school, nor a functionary or private individual residing in Hindusthan, who does not regard it at once his duty and his privilege to exert himself with vigour, for the intellectual and religious improvement of the myriads around him.

IX.-Account of certain Hindu Practices.

FROM THE A'CHA'R RATNA'KAR GRANTHA.

[Translated for the Calcutta Christian Observer.]

1.-How the Bráhman ought to reverence the Gods and his Guru. "Rising at the season called Brahma Muhurta, and changing his dress, let the Brahman call to mind the names of the gods, and meditate particularly on his chosen divinity, as Brahma Murári Tripurántikárí, the sun, &c., beseeching them to confer an auspicious morning; then let him think of his preceptor, who resembles his chosen divinity, seated on the thousand petalled lotus, and do him reverence, saying, I honor thee, that resemblest my chosen divinity, whose words, like the water of life, destroy the poison of this world."

2.-Rules for touching various parts of the body.

"After purifying the outward man, let the worshipper look at the sun, (or moon if it be night,) and perform the duty of touching the body, and then he will be pure. 1st, let the Bráhman take sufficient water in his palm to draw a máskalái seed, and thrice drink it off, and it will reach his heart. The Khetriya must take his drop between the thumb and middle finger, and drink it thrice, and it will reach his throat. The Vaiseya must put the drop in his mouth from the back of his thumb, and, thrice touching his tongue, drink it off. The Sudra must take up the drop, with the tips of his fingers, and barely touching his lips, drink it: then with the back of his thumb let him twice wipe his upper lip or mustachios, and with his fingers joined, let him touch his lips; then with the forefinger let him touch his nostrils, then with his middle finger and thumb_touch his eyes, then with his thumb and second finger touch his navel; then let him wash his hands, and with his palm touch the region of his heart; then with all his fingers let him touch his head, then with the tips of his fingers touch his shoulders. Women and Sudras have the same duties.

"Having performed , should a person sneeze, or spit, or sleep, or tears fall from his eyes, he should repeat his ceremony; but touching the right ear will be sufficient. But any act of worship, done without having performed A'chamanang, will be rendered vitiated and fruitless."

3.-Rule for cleaning the teeth.

"The person must face the east or north, and then take a piece of stick that is not split, and having its bark on: it may be very bitter or slightly so, or very pungent, and with the sap in (for it must be cut fresh from a tree every morning); having provided yourself with such a stick, scrub away. The Brahman's stick shall be twelve finger breadths in length, a Khetriya's nine, a Vaiseya's eight, a Sudra's seven, and a woman's four; the person who reads the Sáma Veda must have one of eight.

"On particular lunar and weekly days, scrubbing the teeth is prohibited, viz. on Shraddhas, birth-days, marriages, on days when one is costive, and on fast days; also on the first day of the moon, and on the 14th lunar day; on the 8th and 15th of the dark division of the moon; also on the day of full moon, and on the first of the month, and on the 6th, 7th, and 9th lunar days. If a person scrub his teeth on these days, seven of his ancestors will be burnt."

4. Of the mud of the Ganges.

"He who uses the mud on the banks of the Ganges will have his sins removed thereby, even as darkness is removed by the sun. They who use the mud of the river Gomati, or that which has been obtained from the ashes or remains of milk women (at Brindában), on marking their foreheads, will be free from all sin."

5.-Of a Guru.

"If a Guru teach a pupil but one letter of Sanskrit or Prákrit, the pupil will never be able to requite the obligation. He who puts confidence in his Guru, and always honors him, is a wise man; he has a clear understanding. "If a rich person gives presents to his Gurus to instruct his children, he is deserving of all praise."

6.-Of gathering flowers for offerings.

"If a Sudra bring sacrificial wood and flowers, and kusa grass, to a Bráhman, which he has bought, he will go to hell; he may buy, provided he does not beseech the seller to give him more than he (the seller) thinks he is entitled to. A Brahman may take flowers, whenever he can find them, even though he steal them."

REVIEW.

Principles of Chemistry, by John Mack, of Serampore College. Vol. I. Serampore Press, 1834, pp. 337.

[From a Correspondent.]

We are informed in the Preface to this work, that it was originally undertaken with the view of its forming one of a "series of elementary works on history and science for the use of the youth of India," as proposed by Dr. Marshman. It is a compilation by Mr. Mack, who candidly professes to have made free use of the best authors on chemical science, such as Murray, Henry, Brande, Ure, and Turner. It is accompanied with a Bengálí version, in which, in fact, the chief difficulty of the author's undertaking lay, and by the elegance, correctness, and idiomatic composition of which, the principal merit of the work is to be determined. On the English compilation it is the less necessary to make any detailed observations, as it pretends to little more than a succinct exhibition of the general principles of modern chemistry. Part I. exposes the nature and operation of chemical forces, including cohesion, chrystallization, and chemical attraction, with the laws which regulate chemical combinations; treats also of caloric, its operation and effects, of light, electricity, and galvanism. Part II. gives a successive account of chemical substances, with an Appendix exhibiting a tolerably neat, but very short article, on the steam engine, originally inserted in the tot about two years back.

Of the Bengáli version in general, we have small observation to make there is little in it of any very peculiar character; it is faithful certainly, and as a composition as fair as most of the productions of European foreigners that have hitherto appeared in the language of the Bengál province; not altogether free from those exotic peculiarities which have often been remarked upon, yet certainly freer from striking violations of native idiom and phraseology, than many of them have exhibited. If we find not much to call for encomium, there is at the same time little that asks for the severity of critical censure.

But passing from it, as a version, to another feature of its character of equal or even greater importance, especially considered as almost a first attempt to express the strict analytical science of Europe in any of the languages of the east, we have a more difficult point to decide, and one on which we have certainly entertained, and must still entertain, views diametrically opposite from those of Mr. Mack. In support of the propriety of putting into a Bengálí dress, the principles of a science hitherto altogether unknown to the native Bengálí student, the author, very justly in our opinion, alleges "That the native youth are those for whom we chiefly labour, and their own tongue is the great instrument by which

we hope to enlighten them." A sound principle, which it is the more requisite to hold in view, now that the question of English or the provincial vulgar dialects as the great means of extending the blessings of real knowledge, is so warmly agitated. We shall introduce what we have to say, by quoting Mr. Mack's own language on the subject of difference between us and him: "The processes of the science could be expressed only by the popular terms which most nearly described them; but in many cases, the chemical application of these terms, as was the case originally in European languages, is perfectly new; and future conventional use can alone make them synonimous (synonymous) with the corresponding English terms. The names of chemical substances are, in the great majority of instances, perfectly new to the Bengálí language; in giving these new substances Bengálí names, the chief difficulty was to determine, whether the European nomenclature should merely be put into Bengálí letters, or the European terms be entirely translated by Sanscrit, as bearing much the same relation (the italicks are our own) to Bengál, as the Greek and Latin (from which the European terms are derived) do to the English. The latter mode was urged upon me by several friends, whose opinion I highly respect; but I could not persuade myself to adopt it, for these two reasons:-first, that our European terms have been taken from our ancient languages, for the very purpose of preventing the confusion which must arise from as many different names being applied to the same thing, as there are languages in which it is spoken of; and 2ndly, that it is a mistake to suppose that any good will be done by accurate translations of scientific names, since so many of them, as far as their derivative import is concerned, are totally misapplied, and the translation of them therefore would only be giving currency to error. Thus the word

oxygen might have been very neatly rendered, the producer of acidity;" (should it not rather be ?)" but the result would have been, that the exploded idea of oxygen being necessary to the production of acidity would have been embodied in the new word. I have preferred, therefore, expressing the European terms in Bengálí characters, and merely changing the prefixes and terminology, so as decently to incorporate the new words into the language.

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Now we remark, 1st, that by Mr. Mack's own admission, the Bengálí bears, as a derivative, the same relation to the Sanscrit, that English does to the Greek and Latin; he should rather have said a much more intimate one; inasmuch as the very basis itself of the Bengálí dialect, or according to Dr. Carey, (an unquestionable authority with Mr. Mack,) at least nine-tenths of its actual vocabulary, are pure Sanscrit; whereas the substratum of the English tongue is neither Greek nor Latin: the accessions from those sources being subsequent to its use as a spoken, and in great measure even as a written, language; so that the argument which justifies the introduction from the Greek and Latin, of those

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