1887.] Dr. Iloerule on the 7th International Congress of Orientalists. 127 



given here. It will suffice to state that Dr. Hoernle showed that the 

 manuscript, written on birch-bark, probably dates from the 8th or 9th 

 century A. D., and therefore is one of the oldest Indian manuscripts 

 known to exist. It contains a work on arithmetic, written in the so- 

 called Gatha dialect, the literary form of the ancient North- Western 

 Prakrit, exhibiting a strange mixture of Sanskrit and Prakrit forms. 

 The work itself is much older than the manuscript in which it has been 

 preserved. On various grounds it appears probable that it is the pro- 

 duct of a member of the Buddhist or Jain community, dating from 

 before the 4th century of our era. It is, therefore, the earliest known 

 Indian work on arithmetic. It will shortly be published, partly at the 

 expense of the Panjab Government. 



" Dr. Hoernle was followed by Professor 0. G. Lignana on the 

 Navagvdh and the Dasagvah of the Rigveda, and by Professor Hunfalvy 

 of Budapesth, who dealt with the origin of the Rumanian language. 



" Attention was next drawn by Captain R. C. Temple to Dr. Fallon's 

 Dictionary of Hindustani proverbs, and the sitting concluded with a 

 paper by Dr. K. Glaser on ancient Indian descriptions of precious stones 

 " On Wednesday, the 29th September, Professor R. von Roth drew 

 attention to Professor Biihler's new translation of Manu, and Professor 

 Biihler to Dr. Dillon's new work entitled ' the Fatherland and age of 

 the A vesta.' 



11 Professor Leumann, of Strasbourg, read a note on a Jaina text 

 entitled Angavijja lent to him by Dr. Bhandarkar. He was followed 

 by Professor Jacobi who read a most interesting paper on Jainism and 

 the worship of Krisna. In the discussion which ensued, Mr. Grierson 

 took part, and pointed out some Jain folk-customs in India which were 

 apparently not known in Europe. 



" Next followed Mr. Grierson's paper on Hindi poetry. Its full title 

 is ' The Medieeval Vernacular Literature of Hindustan with special 

 reference to Tul'si Das.' 



" At the conclusion of the paper his note regarding a survey of the 

 Vernaculars of India was again brought forward, and an animated dis- 

 cussion arose as to the best means of forwarding the suggestions contained 

 in it. One of the speakers, we may mention, was Mr. C. Leland (Hans 

 Breitmann), the eminent Romani scholar. He drew attention to the 

 fact that the American Government was now holding a very similar 

 survey of the dialects of the North American Indians. Nearly every 

 scholar in Europe, who was unable to attend the Congress, and who was 

 interested in the subject, had written a short note warmly supporting the 

 proposal. Finally, Professor Biihler made a formal proposition on the 

 subject, which was seconded by Professor Weber of Berlin and carried 



