1873.] President's Address. 49 



the satisfactory pursuit of such studies. Heavy critical work requiring con- 

 stant thought, and much accuracy of comparison can in this country only be 

 taken up, after the mind and after the body too are fatigued and jaded. And 

 the wonder really is, that so much can be done as has been, not that more has 

 not been accomplished. And further, the conditions of society here which lead 

 to much more rapid changes than elsewhere, tend to retard, if not altogether 

 to interfere with or interrupt, the progress of such editions. In many cases, 

 the editors who have commenced the publication of works in this valuable 

 series, bave been carried off' by illness, and new editors had to be sought out. 

 In some cases owing to these causes, successive portions of the same work have 

 been entrusted to the care of three and four different scholars. Every such 

 change inevitably involves delay. Time is required to seek out a new editor ; 

 he must fully acquaint himself with what has been done and what he is to 

 continue and so months, and even years, pass over before the work can be 

 satisfactorily resumed. I know of one case in our experience in which with 

 all possible anxiety to publish as quickly as possible one of the most valuable 

 remains in Hindi, the negotiation for editing the work has extended over 

 years and nothing definite is, I believe, yet adopted. 



But further, owing to the necessary delay in the transmission of these 

 fasciculi to places in Europe, Dr. Weber, in common with others, complains 

 of the irregularity with which the fasciculi are received. This is a grievance 

 under which we suffer in this country quite as much as European scholars 

 can possibly do. The delays in the transmission of books are most vexatious 

 and destructive to progress. But unquestionably these are not chargeable 

 to the Society, for every care is taken to despatch as quickly as practicable 

 the successive fasciculi. 



Of the several works noticed as still incomplete the past twelve months 

 have seen the conclusion of some. The Taittiriya A'ranyaka, on which Babu 

 Bajendralala Mitra has been engaged for the last seven or eight years has 

 been completed, forming a volume in all of considerably more than 1000 pages ! 

 It is accompanied by a complete analysis of the work in English, and a valu- 

 able table of contents. The Gopatha Brahmana has also been completed by 

 the same editor after it had been in the hands of another scholar, whose 

 death interrupted his labours. In this also, an introduction is given describ- 

 ing at length the nature, character, and contents of the work. Another work 

 of high value completed during the year has been the Pratis'akhya of the 

 Black Yajur Veda. For this, the preparation of an analysis in English was 

 considered unnecessary, as Professor Whitney had aheady published a trans- 

 lation. 



The S 'rauta Sutra of Lathyana has likewise been completed, and the learn- 

 ed Pundit who has edited it, gives promise of the Tandya Brahmana of the 

 Sama Veda, which he has undertaken. It is hoped, with some confidence, 



