1838.] Proceedings of the Asiatic Society, 743 



guage ? and the second whether publications of similar works would be more useful 

 and would contribute more to the instruction of the people in a vernacular tongue 

 than in the Sanskrit. 



With regard to the first my opinion is that the Vade Mecum should be published 

 in Sanskrit for the following reasons. 



1st. The work has already been translated into Sanskrit, and prepared for the 

 press, paid for by the Education Committee, and 32 pages have already been printed. 



2ndly. This is one of the works transferred to the Asiatic Society, which has 

 engaged to complete it. 



3rdly. When the Asiatic Society applied for aid from Government to finish the 

 work, it never had it in contemplation to publish it in the vernacular language. 



4thly. The Sankrit is read in several parts of India, where there, are many thou- 

 sand Vaidyas practising: in medicine, a considerable portion of whom are versed in 

 Sanskrit, and who will find the work useful and read it to help themselves in becom- 

 ing acquainted with the European system of Anatomy. 



5thly. Until the natives are put in possession of the means of learning this sys- 

 tem through the language they are familiar with, it will never be successfully 

 cultivated among them, and it is believed that this work with plates and illustrations 

 if rendered into Sanskrit will be a preparatory step towards the accomplishment of 

 that object. 



6thly. The learned and scientific class of the people of India has a prejudice 

 against the vernacular tongue, through the medium of which they cannot be easily 

 induced to learn a foreign science, however beneficial and instructive it may be. 



7thly. Mr. Muir, has made an offer of one thousand rupees for the work, on con- 

 dition that it should be published in Sanskrit : from this it appears that he must have 

 ascertained the feeling and opinion of the people for whom the work is intended. 



8thly. The work will be useful to the cause of education and read with success 

 by the Sanskrit classes in the public Colleges of Calcutta, Benares, Agra and Delhi, 

 where there are still several hundred young men, studying Sanskrit. To these students 

 it will be a valuable acquisition, as it will greatly help them in learning the system 

 of Anatomy. 



9thly. Modoosoodon Goopta, who has translated the work appears to be very 

 anxious that his labor should not be lost to his countrymen. This is I believe the 

 first medical work that has ever been translated from English into Sanskrit, and if 

 the wish of the translator is not realized, it will in future deter others from similar 

 attempts, and at the same time damp the spirits of enterprizing men desirous of 

 undertaking works of a similar nature. 



]0thly. The Missionaries of Serampore published some time ago a complete 

 system of Anatomy called Vidya Haivbuli in the Bengali language, but for the 

 reasons stated in Para 6th, it has met with a very indifferent reception. The 

 work did not sell even to so much as to exonerate the publishers from the printing; 

 charges. 



With regard to the 2nd question, I think the fund at the disposal of the Asiatic 

 Society should not be confined to the publication of works of one particular lan- 

 guage or subject, but its benefit ought to be held out for the encouragement of 

 the learned natives, and the preservation and cultivation of the languages of Asia of 

 which Sanskrit and Arabic are the two most learned in Hindustan, and translations 

 from European science in these languages would be desirable. 



Books calculated for school purposes printed in the vernacular tongues, used in 

 different parts of the country no doubt will prove more useful than Sanskrit or Arabic, 

 and conduce more to the instruction and improvement of the natives. If they are in a 

 form and of a nature suitable to their taste, and capacity and state of reading amongst 

 them and the state of society. 



As for the term vernacular language, I do not understand what is meant by it. 

 If it is meant to be Bengali it is understood by the people inhabiting the coun- 

 try which comprehends Rajmehal, Orissa, Chittagong, Assam and Mithila. But a 

 considerable portion of the language is intermixed with Sanskrit, and when a work 

 written in that language is of a scientific character, it must require a pandit to ex- 

 plain its meaning. If it is meant to be Hindi a term by which languages spoken 

 in Behar, Lucknow, and Agra is called ; it must come under the head of Urdu, 

 Hindi, or Hindui. 



The Hindi which is a degeneration of words derived principally from the ver- 

 nacular language*, is very poor and incapable of interpreting any difficult and scieu- 



* By Hindi is meant the vernacular written in Nagari, which differs 30 far from 

 the Persian-written TJ'rdu that its reading is confined nearly to Hindus; and abstract 

 terms borrowed from Sanskrit or rather Prdkrit will in it take the place of the Arabic 

 5 A 



