101 



to the Sanscrit language, in which there are several syllables 

 beginning with vowel sounds. To express such syllables the 

 Brahmans were obliged to adopt the European method, as 

 soon as their intercourse with the Greeks made them ac- 

 quainted with it. Their persevering in the use of their syl- 

 labary after they had acquired vowel letters, shows that they 

 were incapable of arriving at this improvement by their own 

 efforts ; and they could not have learned it from observation 

 of any Shemitic writing, as in no kind of that writing are 

 vowel letters found placed before consonants for the expres- 

 sion of simple syllables. Thus the writing in the Devanagari 

 character at present exhibits the very extraordinary phe- 

 nomenon of two different sorts of alphabets employed toge- 

 ther; and it could not have been advanced to this state 

 before the fifth, or perhaps before the sixth century ; for 

 the Pundits must have been long habituated to their sylla- 

 bary alone, or they would have deserted it as soon as they 

 came to learn the use of a superior alphabet. 



In support of this view of the subject, Dr. Wall adduced 

 several arguments from history, from astronomy, from the 

 serious difficulties with which the opinion at present re- 

 ceived is embarrassed, from the nature of the Sanscrit lan- 

 guage, and from its grammatic structure. 



Dr. Orpen presented the accounts, and petition to Par- 

 liament. 



Ordered, — " That the seal of the Academy be annexed." 

 Resolved, — " That the Academy cannot receive the inti- 

 mation of the vacancy that has occurred in Council since 

 their last meeting, by the sudden and lamented death of 

 their valued friend and associate, Dr. William West, without 

 placing on record their sincere feelings of regret, at an event 

 which has snatched from the successful pursuits of Science, 

 one whose exertions had been honorably devoted to its cul- 

 tivation, and had been endeared by his social and amiable 



