24 Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. [No. 1, 
figures and plinths of pillars in red sandstone exhumed from a tope 
in the neighbourhood of Muttra, some of them containing inscriptions 
bearing the name of Huvishka, under whose auspices it is believed the 
vihar or monastery of which they are but fragments, was raised. 
They attest to a period when Buddhism prevailed throughout India. 
The Council, acting upon a proposal by the President for pushing 
forward Ethnological researches have commenced a collection of crania 
of the races inhabiting India, and the neighbouring countries. A 
series of photographs prepared under the orders of the Bengal 
Government has also been received, which, together with the facial 
casts now in the Museum, will yield most useful materials for future 
reference by ethnologists. 
At the suggestion of the Committee of Meteorological and Phy- 
sical science, the Council have addressed a letter to Government 
recommending that a Meteorological Committee should be constituted 
by Government on the plan of the Meteorological Committee of the 
Board of Trade in London, for the advancement of Meteorological 
science, by which means, it is hoped, that much practical benefit 
would be conferred upon the mercantile world. No answer to this 
letter has yet been received. 
They regret to notice that the Right Hon’ble the Secretary of 
State has declined to comply with their recommendation that the 
Zoological catalogues of the India House Museum which were in 
course of preparation should not be discontinued. 
The catalogue of mammalia in the Society’s collections, the Coun- 
eil are glad to report, has at length been completed and is now in 
the press. 
The subject of the foundation of a Public museum in Calcutta 
which the Society first proposed in 1857, the Council are glad to 
report, was taken up by Government in May last with a view to 
its practical realization. _In the letter received from Government, 
an outline of the measures which it was proposed should be adopted, 
was submitted for the consideration of the Society. 
The Council in reply to this important communication have 
forwarded a scheme which in its essential features is in consonance 
with the views propounded by Government, but at the same time 
they have distinctly reserved to the Society full power of dealing 
with the details of the scheme before they are finally settled. 
