148 Philological Secretaiy — Exhibition of livo Astrolabes. [April, 



The Philological Secretary exliibited two Astrolabes purchased 

 for the Society, and read tlie following note from Raja Rajendralala 

 Mitra forwarding the instruments : 



" I send herewith two astrolabes which will interest you. They 

 have been purchased by Professor Mahesachandra Nyayaratna at Allaha- 

 bad for us at a cost of Rs. 9 only. On referring to the Journal, Vols. 

 X and XI, you will find that the large one is somewhat smaller than ths 

 Pottinger plate, but the details are closely similar. I imagine that it 

 is defective, wanting the central pivot and the tubular plumb-line index 

 "which were necessary for determining the position of the stars and the 

 use of the plate as an indicator of time. You know well that until 

 very recently captains of native ships, who had no chrononietors nor 

 quadrants, depended entirely upon their astrolabes. By men familiar 

 with the handling of the instruments latitudes, longitudes and the 

 progression of the equinoxes were all pretty accurately determined by 

 the use of the astrolabe, and the astronomical and astrological calcu- 

 lations for which it was employed were very various. 



" The second instrument is a pocket edition of the first. It is not 

 so elaborate, but much more handy. If you have any Maulvi in the 

 Madrasah, who is familiar with Arabic astronomy, you ean get from him 

 a full description of the uses of these instruments. If you should 

 remember the Kotah silver plate which we have in our library, you will 

 find that it differs entirely from the instruments now under notice. Its 

 details do not at all support the theory that the Hindus borrowed their 

 astronomy from the Arabs." 



Dr. HoERNLE remarked that the larger astrolabe was an Indian 

 one, made in Lahore. A similar astrolabe was described in the Journal, 

 As. Soc. Beng. Vol. X, p. 759./", by J. Middleton. It was a Persian one, 

 belonging to Major Pottinger, and was brought from Herat. It differed 

 from the present one in size as well as the number of discs. The 

 present astrolabe was about 5^ inches in diameter, and consisted of 

 seven pieces, while Major Pottinger's was about 8 inches in diameter, 

 and apparently consisted of only 5 pieces, with an index piece. The 

 latter was wanting in the present one. As suggested by Raja R. Mitra, 

 he had given the astrolabes to one of the Madrasah Maulvis for ex- 

 amination by himself and others. But they had been unable to explain 

 its use. 



On the interior face of the main piece were engraved two sets 

 of three concentric circles. The middlemost circle of each set was in- 

 scribed with the names of the best known towns of India, Persia, and 

 Arabia; the outer and inner circles of each set gave the loiigitudes 



