HAMIIvTON SCIENTIFIC ASSOCIATION 73 



ore sometimes may aid in estimating the wealth of a gold- 

 field, so a glance at some achievements in one branch of the 

 study of comparative religions may help to gauge the value 

 of what is being done throughout the wide fields covered by 

 that study. If we glimpse only at work being done by 

 Knglish speaking Indianists in their special studies, we shall 

 find that the Oxford University Press alone has published in 

 this generation fifty volumes of the "Sacred Books of the 

 Kast." And within that time the late Max Muller, after 

 working at his task more than twenty years, completed his 

 great edition of the Rig- Veda, the oldest of the many old 

 works Indian literature can claim, and the one most highly- 

 prized by learned Brahmins. 



On this side of the Atlantic, a few months ago Prof. 

 Lanman brought out the revised, completed translation by 

 Whitney, of the Atharva-Veda. This work met with warm 

 welcome by students of Indian religions, from the reputation 

 of the translator, the time he was known to have given to 

 his translations, and from the fact that, though the latest of 

 the four Vedas, the Atharva-Veda sheds more light on Hindu 

 life, and on the superstitious side of Hindu religion, than is 

 given by the other Vedas. These are but tv/o of an 

 "Oriental Series" of works published under the auspices of 

 Harvard University. The latest volume, just printed, of 

 that series is a royal quarto of eleven hundred pages, on 

 which Prof. Bloomfield worked for twelve years. Its 

 publication has been eagerly looked for, as it is a concordance 

 to every line of every hymn found in the whole body of 

 published Vedic literature, and is also an index to every 

 sacrificial and ritual formula referred to in that literature. 



Thus in this year of grace 1907, scholarly men 

 appreciated by pupils and patrons patiently decipher rare, 

 time-stained manuscripts, bringing to the light of day 

 authoritative expositions of systems of faith and morals in 

 which millions outside the pale of Christianity still put their 

 trust. And these strange volumes may be freely read by all 

 who care to read them. 



