408 



8CIe:¥Ce. 



[Vol. VIII., No. 196 



genetically, or to investigate its distribution geo- 

 graphically. The making of such collections, re- 

 lating to every occupation or amusement in which 

 mankind in any part of the world is engaged, is a 

 kind of work which may be done by any consul, 

 merchant, missionary, traveller, or soldier. The 

 exhibition of any such collection at the next meet- 

 in g of the American association, accompanied by 

 a descriptive paper, making the whole subject 

 plain enough for the wayfaring man, would call 

 forth the high commendation which it would 

 most assuredly deserve. O. T, Mason. 



THE AMERICAN ORIENTAL ASSOCIATION. 



The American oriental association held its fall 

 meeting in New Haven, on Wednesday, Oct. 27, 

 in the library of the Yale divinity school. In the 

 absence of Professor Whitney, who, to the deep 

 regret of all, on account of ill health, was unable 

 to be present, Vice-President Dr. W. Hayes Ward, 

 editor of the Independent, occupied the chair. 

 As will be seen from the following, the papers that 

 were presented extended over almost the entire 

 range of oriental studies, — a welcome proof of 

 the growth of American scholarship in this direc- 

 tion, as well as an encouraging sign of the steadily 

 increasing utility of this association. Professor 

 Lanman of Harvard university began by reading 

 two interesting letters. The first, from an attache 

 to the American legation at Pekin, was accom- 

 panied by rubbings of a number of Sanscrit in- 

 scriptions found in Buddhistic convents. The 

 second was from an Indian gentleman of high 

 rank and scholarship, relating to the publication of 

 some important Sanscrit texts. Prof. Isaac Hall 

 of the Metropolitan museum thereupon spoke of 

 some Syriac manuscripts. He exhibited one which 

 had lately come into his possession, which proved 

 to be an ecclesiastical calendar, rather cui'iously 

 arranged, containing all the ecclesiastical feasts of 

 the year. Another manuscript which he described 

 gave an account of a journey undertaken to the 

 Occident in the middle ages by a Nestorian priest. 

 The discovery of the manuscript created quite a 

 sensation among the Nestorian Christians. It was 

 published in the Journal of the Missionary so- 

 ciety. Dr. Ward added a few remarks on the 

 importance of the manuscript. 



A letter from Mr. Jewett, a Harvard graduate 

 now pursuing his studies at Beyrut, ' On modern 

 Syriac and Arabic proverbs,' was then read by 

 Professor Toy of Harvard university. To judge 

 from the specimens of the proverbs which Mr. 

 Jewett has already collected, and which were in- 

 dicated in his letter, the entire collection promises 

 to be exceedingly interesting ; and, since there is 



pr obably nothing more characteristic of a people 

 than its proverbs, such a collection wiU. also be of 

 much value for the light it will throw on the traits 

 and civilization in general of the modem inhab- 

 itants of some parts of the east. Mr. Jewett is 

 enjoying particular advantages for his labors, 

 living as he does in the Moslem quarter of Beyrut, 

 and, indeed, almost like a Moslem. Professor 

 Bloom field of Johns Hopkins had a paper on 

 some Vedic hymns, an abstract of which was 

 read in his absence by Professor Lanman. Profes- 

 sor Hopkins of Bryn Mawr followed with what 

 was perhaps the most interesting paper of all, on 

 the position of woman in India according to the 

 Mahabharata, which brought out the important 

 fact that her standing, as weU as her rights, were 

 greater in the more ancient times than under the 

 later rule of Buddhism. This result is particularly 

 interesting in view of the I'eceut work of the 

 well-known W. Robertson Smith on • Marriage 

 and kinship in early Arabia,' which shows that 

 exactly the same was the case among the Arabs, 

 where Mohammedanism has tended, while elevat- 

 mg woman's position in some respects, on the 

 whole towards a decrease of the rights and privi- 

 leges which she enjoyed in the time of ' Igno- 

 rance,' as the heathen period is termed by the 

 Mohammedans. 



IVIr. A. Jackson of Columbia college followed 

 with a paper 'On the similes in the A vesta,' 

 showing the wide range of natural objects and 

 phenomena from which the metaphors were 

 chosen. General Carrington of the U. S. army 

 spoke briefly on the biblical genealogies, and Dr. 

 Morris Jastrovv, jun., of the University of Pennsyl- 

 vania, closed the series with two papers bearing 

 on Assyriology. The first offei'ed an explanation 

 for Assyrian proper names compounded with 

 Budu, and the second embodied the preliminary 

 results of a study of Samaritan in its bearings on 

 Assyrian lexicography and phonology. A num- 

 ber of Assyrian stems which had hitherto been 

 held to be peculiar to Assyrian, or at least so 

 in certain significations, were shown to exist in 

 Samaritan, and the light which the Samaritan 

 throws on some characteristic traits of Assyrian 

 phonology dwelt upon. The meeting thereupon 

 adjourned until the second week in May, 1887. 

 In the evening the members were tendered a 

 reception at President Dwight's residence, at 

 which a number of Yale college piofessors and 

 their ladies were present. 



It is pleasant to note, in connection with this 

 meeting, the greater interest which has during the 

 past decade sprung up in this country for what 

 might be called the more abstract departments of 

 knowledge. Much has been done to dispel that 



