664 PKOCEEDINGS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY. 



they are written (Burmese, Cingalese, Kambodian, Siamese), by a group- 

 letter (B, C, K, S) with an exponent (Arabic numeral or small Roman 

 letter). A group of mss. is to be designated by the group-letter with- 

 out the exponent : thus, B means all the Burmese authorities. — It will 

 be convenient to have a Table of Contents. 



The organization of science 665 



Organization as applied to Oriental studies 666 



Need of a new Pali dictionary 666 



Result of lack of organized effort, as concerns the dictionary 667 



Need of agreement as to designations of book-titles 668 



Citations in antiquity : among the Greeks 669 



Citations in antiquity : among the Hindus 669 



Buddhaghosa's citations 670 



Requirements for a good system of citations : 671 



Ready intelligibility, brevity, convenience, and precision 671 



Indication of the place in the book 671 



Indication of the title of the book 672 



Table I. Newly proposed abbreviations, uniliterals, etc 673 



Previously proposed abbreviations 674 



Bibliography of 14 lists of such abbreviations 674 



Table II. Previously proposed abbreviations compared 676 



Canons governing the determination of the new abbreviations .... 677 



Canon 1 : Full weight to be given to general considerations : thus . . . 677 



Designations of important texts to be determined first 677 



Other canons not always to be rigidly applied 677 



Canon 2 : The abbreviations should be readily suggestive 679 



Designations for parts of the Vinaya 679 



Canon 3 : Avoid abbreviations winch are ambiguous or not suggestive 680 



Maha. Culla. Vatthu, etc. P, V, S, N, M 681 



Combinations which are ambiguous are worst of all 682 



Canon 4 : Comprehensive titles often the better basis of a designation . 682 



Thus Vinaya is to be preferred to Bhikkhuni-parajika 682 



And Digha is to be preferred to Brahmajala-sutta 682 



This does not apply to Khuddaka-nikaya as a whole 682 



Canon 5 : Abbreviations should follow easily remembered scheme : thus . 683 



Uniliterals for 4 Nikayas: Digha, Majjhima, Sanyutta, Aiiguttara . 683 



Biliterals for 15 books of Khuddaka-nikaya _. . 684 



Triliterals for Vinaya-pitaka and Abhidhamma-pitaka 684 



Excursus : Sequence (as above) of the Pitaka texts 684 



Quadriliterals for miscellaneous uncanonical texts 685 



Canon 6 : A digraph must be counted as two letters, never as one . . . 685 



Canon 7: With due regard to Canon 1, abbr's to be as brief as possible 686 



Canon 8 : Arbitrary distinctions should be avoided 686 



Canon 9 : Alternative designations should be strictly excluded .... 686 



Canon 10: Typographical form should be duly regarded 686 



Comments on the individual abbreviations in their order 687 



Comment 1 : The uniliterals 687 



