1834.] Miscellaneous. 413 



Three of the shells are small univalves of 4 whorls, resembling the genus turbo : 

 one is a species of turritella ; the matrix is grey sandstone, containing the debris 

 of trap rocks, and effervescing in acids slightly. 



The coal is a lignite, leaving only 1-8 per cent, of ash on incineration. 

 Read the following extracts of a letter from the Reverend R. Everest 

 regarding the fall of an aerolite at Hissar. 



" Having seen in the possession of Mrs. Metcalfe of Delhi a fragment of me- 

 teoric stone, which she informed me had lately fallen near Hissar, I wrote to 

 Capt. Parsons, Supt. H. C. Stud there, for particulars, and have now the 

 pleasure of sending his answer to you. The fragment I have seen bears the 

 usual external characters of meteoric stone, has the same specific gravity, viz. 3.6, 

 and affects the magnet. There can therefore be no doubt of the fact. 



Rob. Everest. 

 Extract of a letter from Captain Parsons, dated Hissar, 2nd August, 1834. 

 " I hasten to give you all the information I possess relative to the meteoric 

 stone. It fell on the 8th of June, (as far as I could ascertain) at Charwallas, a 

 village 23 coss west of this ; about 8 o'clock in the morning the sky was cloudy 

 and the weather gusty, or approaching to a north-wester, but no rain ; very loud 

 thunder, similar to constant discharges of heavy artillery, was heard for about half 

 an hour before it fell, and in the direction with the wind to a great distance ; when 

 the stone fell it was accompanied by a trembling noise similar to a running fire 

 of guns. It fell in the jungle close to a palee (or herdsman), who was out with his 

 cattle. The original weight of the stone was 12 seers ; but before my man reached 

 the place, it had been broken and pieces taken away to Bikaneer, Puttialah, &c. 

 the piece I have is upwards of 4 seers, and if you would like to send it to Calcutta, 

 you are most welcome to it, and I will send it to you, should you wish for it." 



Further specimens of the Jumna fossil bones belonging to Serjeant E. 

 Dean, were exhibited, and a paper on the subject by the same party was read. 

 [This will be given at length hereafter.] 



IX. — Miscellaneous. 

 Mr. Trevelyan's Defence of Sir William Jones' System of Oriental Orthography. 



The Hurkaru newspaper of the 29th August, contains a reply to the article in 

 our June number (p. 281), on the Adaptation of the Roman Alphabet to the Ortho- 

 graphy of Oriental Languages, by the gentleman who has come forward with such 

 vigour to revive the scientific system, as a necessary concomitant of his more ex- 

 tensive scheme of publishing Oriental books altogether in Roman characters 

 "We have not space to insert the whole of his observations, but to such as bear 

 upon the point at issue, we feel bound to give a place, being more satisfied, the 

 more we reflect on the subject, that it is essential and imperative in the present 

 widely diffused cultivation of the learned languages of India, to adhere to that 

 notation which can alone command general acquiescence throughout Eurojie, and 

 which is in fact the system followed in the great majority of the Dictionaries 

 Grammars, and transcribed works not only of our learned societies, but even 

 of our colleges and schools. 



The fundamental maxim of Sir William Jones was, that each original sound 

 and its appropriate symbol in the Deva Nagari or Arabic should have its representa- 

 tive in the Roman, " with due regard to the primitive power of the latter alphabet." 



