J897.] International Congress of Orientalists, Paris. 133 



2. The Congress Avas formally opened on Monday, the 6fch Septem- 

 ber, 1897, at a meeting held at the Lyc^e Loais-le-Grand at 9-30 a.m., 

 under the presidency of the Ministre de rinstruction et des Beaux- Arfs. 

 The Inaugural Address was delivered by M. Schefer, the President of 

 the Congress. It has been printed, and I have the honour to submit 

 herewith a copy. This was followed by an address of welcome deli- 

 vered by the President of the Municipal Council of Paris, and by 

 several short speeches of various delegates of Governments and Learned 

 Societies. The meeting then adjourned to allow the different members 

 to form themselves into sections. The following sections were consti- 

 tuted :— 



I. Languages and Archasology of Aryan Countries. 



(a) Languages and Archaeology of India. 



( b ) Iran. 



(c) Linguistics. 



I[. Languages and Archaeology of the Far East. 

 {a) China and Japan. 

 (6) Indo-China, Malay, and Polynesia. 



III. Musalman Languages and Archaeology. 



IV. Semitic Languages and Archaeology. 



(a) Aramaic, Hebrew, Phoenician, and Ethiopic. 



(b) Assyria. 



V. Egypt, and African Languages. 

 VI. The East, Greece. — Relations of Hellenism with the East. — 



Byzantium. 

 VII. Ethnography, Folklore of the East. 



3. I joined Section I (a). Languages and Archaelogy of India. 

 My report will therefore deal principally with that Section. The 

 following gentlemen were appointed the officials of the section: — 



President : Lord Reay. 



Vice- Presidents : Hofrath G. Buehler, Professor Pischel, and Profes- 

 sor Kern. 

 Secretaries : Dr. Formichi, Messrs. Stickney, and Grosset. 



4. The following is a summary of the proceedings of the Section : — 

 Monday, 6th September, Afternoon. 



Professor li. Oldenberg, of Kiel, read a paper on Taine's Essay on 

 Buddhism. He pointed out that this essay, which Jiitherto 

 had been almost unknown was full of suggestion to those who 

 were working now-a-days under more favourable conditions. 

 Professor Rhys Davids, Dr. Buehler, M. Senart, and Lord Reay 

 joined in the discussion which followed, and congratulated 

 Dr. Oldenberg on his discovery of the forgotten Essay. 



i 



