22 Annual Address. [Feb. 



subsidized by the Government of India, and is now in working 

 order. 



On the other hand, our attempt to ensure precision in meteorolo- 

 gical and seismological data, by advocating the establishment of a 

 standard time for all India, somewhat after the Continental manner, 

 was unsuccessful, the Government being of opinion that the time for 

 action had not yet come. 



Our financial position has decidedly improved, and we close the 

 year with a balance of Rs. 1,52,452-11-11 to our credit, which is 

 Rs. 5,247-10-10 more than our closing balance of the previous vear, 

 notwithstanding the fact that the Assam Administration has omitted 

 to pa)'' its usual contribution of Rs. 1,000 for anthropological research. 

 The balance looks well, but wo must not forget that our building is an 

 extremely old one and that we may any day have to face the question 

 of rebuilding. 



Of the first part of the Society's Journal, dealing with History, 

 Literature, etc., three numbers — two of which are "Extra Numbers" — 

 have been published ; but of the Extra Numbers, one, though it was 

 delivered by the press in July, has not yet been issued, owing to a 

 complication which is explained in the Report. 



The first number of Journal Part I. is occupied by an essay by 

 Dr. G. A. Grierson on the verb and indeclinable particles in the Ka9miri 

 language, which brings to an end this author's series of articles on 

 Ka9miri Grammar published in previous years. As to the importance 

 of these essays, I may quote Dr. Grierson's own words, taken from the 

 preface to a separate edition of them. " It is hoped," he says, 

 "that, as now completed, they will be found to give a much fuller 

 account of that interesting language than has hitherto been available. 

 Besides those who wish to study Ka9miri for its own sake, it is also of 

 considerable interest to comparative philologists. I know of no Indo- 

 Aryan language which in her grammatical construction is so naked and 

 unashamed. With but the thinnest veil of mystery, she freely displays 

 to the ardent eyes of the student, not only the getieral contour of her 

 graceful form, but each joint, each articulation. Devoid of every feeling 

 of false modesty, she discloses many a secret which is jealously hidden 

 by her more prudish sisteis of the south. It is sufficient to point out 

 that a study of Ka9miri is an essential preliminary to any enquiry which 

 deals comparatively with the mutual relations of the modern Aryan 

 vernaculars of India." 



The source from which the information contained in these essays 

 has been taken, is a grammar of the Ka9miri language, written by a 

 Ka9miri Paudit, Ijvarakaula by name, according to the style of native 



