40 A mm a] Address. [Feb 



your afctentlon to the most proiniiieiit of the facts they meution. 

 However unlearued any one of ua may like myself be iu specific 

 branches of our enquiries, 1 am quite certain that there is not one of u.s 

 who is not interested in every research, which unfolds new features of 

 Eastern life, and in the conclusions which those researches add to our 

 general knowledge. 



Before, however, going on to these more special questions, I may 

 congratulate the Society upon the position it holds at the end of this 

 year. The roll of its members stands higher than it has done for sixteen 

 years. Its linancial position has correspondingly improved, and the 

 balance at its credit now stands at the respectable iigure of Rs. 1,60,000. 

 1 do not think it has shirked, to attain this useful end, any of iis 

 understood and traditional duties. For instance, it has persevered 

 faithfully in its self-imposed but invaluable duty of publishing, for tlie 

 information and use of the learned, ancient manuscripts of importance 

 which have come under its cognizance. The Society spent upwards of 

 Rs. 10,000 last year in the furtherance of its liibliotheca Indica. The 

 published fasciculi were chiefly from Sanskrit manuscripts. Two of 

 these are of much importance : one a treatise of the 18th centuiy on the 

 Vedanla philosophpy; the other a codification of the loth century of 

 tiie existing rules of Hindu law and riiual. Important progress was 

 made in the printing of Sir George King's costly, but vei-y valuable, 

 memoir on the Flora of the Malayan Peninsula — a work in which the 

 Government of the Straits Settlements has now taken a warm and prac- 

 tical interest. Upon the contributions of the members to the Journal of 

 the Society I shall presently say something. I am speaking at present 

 only of the financial side of our business. We have our buildings iu good 

 repair; for the first time we have insured them. But though we stand 

 well, we might stand better, and there are many directions in which 

 larger money help from us is most necessary for the prosecution of 

 researches, both scientific and literary. We have therefore seriously 

 considered the question whether we might not with advantage sell our 

 ])resent house and its site and transfer ourselves to a cheaper situation. 

 Your decision will, of course, depend upon the offers which may be 

 made to you. 



A proposal of cardinal importance was also brought befoie you for 

 altering the status of the Society by including in its scope the develop- 

 ment of Indian art, and especially by an enlarged attention to the 

 application of science in Eastern studies. The decision of the Society 

 lias been to leave its name and status unchanged. If I may say so, I 

 ill ink that decisipn was right. The Society has an ancient and 

 honoured name. Its special iind proper objects have been consecrated 



