xxx Annual Address. [February, 1914. 



opportunity for their study cannot last much longer. Unless 

 Anthropological researches on these tribes are undertaken at 

 once, the valuable information they can afford, and the light 

 which they may be able to throw on many unsettled problems, 

 will be irretrievably lost. 



During many years past the Society has keenly felt the 

 urgent need for the close association of European Sanskritists 

 in the important work of editing the texts published in the 

 Bibliotheca Indica. It is no disparagement to Indian scholars, 

 especially of the older type, to say that their very familiarity 

 with the texts makes it extremely difficult for them to assume 

 that critical spirit in their examination which is imperatively 

 demanded by genuine scholarship. We have had men like Dr. 

 Rajendra Lai Mitra and Pundit Satyabrata Sama&rami, — to 

 mention only names of departed scholars, — who have been dis- 

 tinguished by critical acumen and who have produced work 

 which will stand the test of scrutiny from the point of view of 

 Western scholars. But men of this type are rather the excep 

 tion than the rule, and if the reputation of the Society is to be 

 maintained, we must endeavour to attract the cooperation of 

 Western scholars in a much larger measure than we have been 

 able to do in recent years. From this point of view it is fortu- 

 nate that a number of Orientalists have recently been in our 

 midst, mainly through the endeavours of the University of 

 Calcutta, such men as Dr. Oldenberg, one of the foremost 

 among the Vedic and Buddhistic scholars of the present genera- 

 tion, and Dr. Jacobi who is the leading authority on the 

 subjects of Indian Poetics and Indian Logic. We have also 

 amongst us Dr. Strauss, who is a distinguished scholar in Vedic 

 learning, and last but not the least Dr. Thibaut, who is famous 

 for his contributions to our knowledge of Indian Philosophy 

 and Indian Astronomy. There is no reason why men of the 

 type I have mentioned should not be persuaded to take a lead- 

 ing part in the work of the Bibliotheca Indica and thereby to 



set up a standard from which our successors will not willingly 

 depart. 



The acquisition of Sanskrit manuscripts has been limited 

 to works of extraordinary interest pending the completion of 

 the catalogue of the large collection of Sanskrit manuscripts in 

 the Society's library. During the year only three manuscripts 

 were acquired. The policy adopted last year in the search for 

 Arabic and Persian manuscripts has been maintained. The 

 fund set apart for the object has been applied to information 

 concerning the existence and the present locale of rare and 

 interesting manuscripts rather than in the purchase of new 

 manuscripts. With this object in view, the first travelling 

 Maulvi visited four places at Lucknow and one in Benares. He 

 also examined the stocks of several manuscript dealers at Cawn- 

 pore and Lucknow. Short accounts of these manuscripts have 



