266 



[May 20, 



The following report and resolutions were presented by Mr. 

 Williams : 



Your Committee, appointed under a resolution passed as follows : 



" Besohed, That a Committee of three be appointed by the President to 

 consider and report to the Society upon the advisability of an annual 

 grant for the purpose of aiding the publication or assuming the entire cost 

 of publishing transcripts of the Babylonian tablets on deposit in the 

 Museum of the University of Pennsylvania " 



has the honor to report that the collection of clay tablets inscribed in 

 cuneiform from the Temple of Bel at Niffer, now deposited in tlie 

 Museum of the Universitj^ of Pennsylvania, numbers nearly seven 

 thousand specimens and constitutes the most important collection of 

 this character in the country, and one of the most important in 

 the world, ranking third among such collections. The consecutive 

 character of these temple archives, the long period they cover, 

 and their complete and varied character, render their publication 

 of the utmost importance to the world of learning, while the circumstance 

 that similar records are frequently repeated render it possible to give a 

 fair summary by publishing portions arranged in selected series, by 

 dynasties and with reference to the subjects treated. It is therefore prac- 

 ticable to publish successive volumes of these texts, each of which shall be 

 complete in itself, and which do not necessarily involve the publication 

 of others in the series, though the value of all will be greatly increased 

 by the publication of the whole. 



The first cuneiform text was published by the East India Company in 

 1804, the inscription in its collection being engraved. Publications of 

 texts have since been made by the British Museum, by the French and 

 German Governments, by various learned societies and by private pub- 

 lishers, aided by subscriptions and grants. The experience of nearly a 

 century has conclusively established that the best results in development 

 of research and in aid of study are secured by publishing a transcription 

 of cuneiform texts, without translations. The texts once published, the 

 material for study now inaccessible in the Museum is opened to all 

 scholars. 



The transcription of a series of these tablets is now nearly completed 

 by a member ot this Society, Dr. H. V. Ililprecht. Its publication will 

 fill about seventy plates of a size similar to the quarto page of the Trans- 

 actions of the Society, and cost, if reproduced by any photo lithographic 

 process, about $500. Other similar volumes will be produced in the 

 future, and while the publication ot the first of these issues will not pledge 

 the Society to publish its successors, this fact ought to receive due con- 

 sideration. In any case, only a small portion of the 7000 tablets will be 

 published, and years Avill pass before even eight or ten volumes of like 

 size will be presented for publication. 



