352 Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. {September, 1912. 
n : 
We read in Eiliot’s History’ that in Sind " Abdu-!-Malik 
adopted an Arab currency in supersession of the Greek and 
Persian money, although the old denominations of denarius and 
drachma were still retained. 
- Hoernle asswmes that Hindu arithmetic and algebra 
‘are of entirely native origin.’’ Of course, the assumption is 
not substantiated by the facts as now known. 
He goes on to say that the modern place-value arith- 
metical notation was known in India as early as A.D. 500, an 
that there was no good reason why it should not have been dis- 
covered considerably earlier. Of course, these two points (f) 
and (9) are not arguments for great antiquity, but the writer 
evidently, felt how awkward it would be for his other arguments 
if it were proved, or even assumed, that the modern notation 
was not known in India until well into the Middle Ages! 
(h) A certain amount of Hindu civilization is certainly 
connoted by the production of a work on arithmetic ; but surely 
vasion! The Muhammadans themselves of the tenth and 
eleventh centuries were many of them most capable mathemati- 
ci 
ans. 
(?) That the country in which Bakhshali lies was lost to 
the Hindus about the time when the manuscript was written, 
only indicates the possibility of Muhammadan influence in the 
composition of the work. 
(j) The custom of burying manuscripts is not established 
as an Indian custom ! 

! See Suter’s Das Buch der Seltenheit, etc., Bibliotheca Mathematica, 
1910-11, p. 114, . 
See also Prinsep’s Essays cn Indian Antiquities (edited by 
E. Thomas), i, 246, ete. ‘ 
8 Vol. viii, p. 461. ’ 
* Colebrooke, Algebra with Arithmetic and Mensuration from the 
Sanskrit, ete., p. 185. 
