22 Hindu Asti'onomkal Tables. 



of nature. They particularly admired the devotedness which he 

 inspired in such of his children as remained with him. His 

 eldest daughter, entirely devoted to the duties of filial affection 

 for many years, never left him for an instant, readily engaged 

 in every study which might supply his want of sight, wrote to 

 bis dictation a portion of his last works, and accompanied and 

 supported him as long as he was able to take some exercise. 

 Her sacrifices, indeed, were carried to a degree which it is im- 

 possible to express ; when the father could no longer leave his 

 room, the daughter never once left the house. When she after- 

 wards did so for the first time, she was incommoded by the free 

 air, the use of which had been so long unfamiliar to her. It is 

 rare to see virtue carried to such a degree, and it is not less so 

 to inspire it to that degree ; and it is adding to the praise of M. 

 de Lamarck to recount what his children did for him. 



M. de Lamarck died on the 18th December 1829, at the age 

 of eighty-five years, leaving only two sons and two daughters. 

 The eldest of these sons occupies an important place in the Corps 

 des Ponts et Chaussees. His place in the Institute has been given 

 to M. Auguste de Saint Hilaire, whose travels in America have 

 procured so many interesting plants, and which he has studied 

 so profoundly. His chair in the Museum of Natural History, 

 the object of which was too extensive for the exertions of one 

 individual, has been, at the request of his colleagues, divided 

 into two by the government ; M. Latreille taking the charge of 

 Insects and Crustacea ; and M. de Blainville of all the other 

 divisions which constituted the Linnean Class of Vermes. 



On the Hindu Astronomical Tables. Communicated by the 



Author. 



There is a very singular revival of a justly exploded opinion 

 of the character of these tables, in the published proceedings of 

 the Anniversary Meeting of the Royal Asiatic Society, held on 

 Saturday 9th May 1835, appended to the journal of that So- 

 ciety. It is in the report of a speech, or observations, made by 

 Sir Alexander Johnston, Chairman of the Committee of Corre- 



