1148 Asiatic Society. [No. 107. 



" The foregoing report will 1 fear be thought too long, though I have endeavoured, 

 by abstaining almost wholly from explanatory notes and quotations in support of 

 some of the views advanced, to make it as brief as possible. It will not I hope be 

 forgotten how vast are the questions to which almost every paragraph of it leads. 

 I have adverted in it, more than once to the high importance of the proposed 

 Museum, in common with all institutions of the kind, as affording a ready access 

 to much of what the student and speculator could not otherwise hope to obtain a 

 sight of. 1 would farther remark, for this cannot be too well borne in mind, that in 

 India we require, of necessity, much more assistance than in Europe, to prosecute 

 successfully researches of this kind. We require this from the vast unexplored 

 fields on all sides, and because the labourers in them are so few, and so liable to be 

 interrupted by illness or change of residence, that, unless the objects of research are 

 within their immediate reach, the mere time occupied in collecting them involves a 

 thousand chances of fatal interruptions. We require it, moreover, because it so sel- 

 dom occurs in India that the talent, the time, and the pecuniary means, are all 

 found together. Those who have the time and the talent, lack the means j and those 

 who have amply the means and the knowledge, can rarely afford the time, unless at 

 the sacrifice of their health, of which we all know more than one melancholy exam- 

 ply. It is thus that so little has been done by the English in India in the way of 

 researches of this kind, and that we have often, unjustly enough, borne the reproach of 

 indifference or of ignorance. It is thus 1 would then respectfully urge, that we 

 require far more assistance than in Europe, where, from the abundance of talent, 

 means, disposable time, settled modes of life, great facilities of communication, 

 and of reference ; and almost perfect knowledge of every existing resource, the 

 student or speculator has, so to say, a mere pastime, in comparison with the difficul- 

 ties which beset him in India : — India ! a field of research so vast, that no man can 

 even guess the extent of it; and he would be a bold one who would venture to 

 pronounce to what its investigation may not yet lead us." 



Calcutta, 1 have the honor to be, 



Asiatic Society's Rooms, Sir, 



2Qth February, 1841. Your obedient, humble Servant, 



H. PiDDINGTON, 



Actg. Curator As. Soc. Museum. 



It was resolved — That a copy of this interesting document be forwarded to Mr. 

 Secretary Bushby, for submission to the Right Honorable the Governor of Bengal. 



The President noticed the presentation of the plan and section of the Ghaut about to 

 be constructed to the memory of the late James Prinsep, Esq. by R. H. Rattray, 

 Esq. 



Resolved — That Mr, Rattray be thanked for the same, and that it be hung up in 

 the rooms of the Asiatic Society, as requested by that gentleman. 



For the presentations and contributions, the thanks of the Society were accorded. 



