1838.J Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. 833 



Extracts of letters from Major Felix and Col. J. De Hezeta. 

 From Major O. Felix, dated 8th June, 1838. 

 "I enclose a letter which came under cover to me from a Spanish gentleman 

 who is now the head of Medical establishment in Egypt. He has also sent a 

 great many books printed in Cairo, which are translations from European au- 

 thors into Arabic ; but, as I think it probable that you will desire them to be 

 sent to Calcutta, I shall not forward the box till I hear from you. 



" Of course the Bey explains his motives for opening this correspondence, but 

 I am assured by Col. De Hezeta that he is a man of talent and consideration. " 



From Major. O. Felix, dated 5th July, 1838. 



11 1 enclose two lists which GaetaniBey " Le premier medecin chirurgien de 

 S. A. A. V. Roid' Egypte," as he styles himself, has requested me to forward 

 to you. 



" No. 1, is a list of the books he has sent, and No. 2, a list of all that have 

 been translated into Arabic at Cairo, and any, or all of which he will be happy 

 to be allowed to present to you. 



" I have packed the books named in list No. 1, and shall keep them till I 

 hear from you." 



From Col. De Hezeta, dated Cairo, 16th of April, 1838. 



11 You will readily excuse that I intrude on your valuable time, when you will 

 see that my letter has for its object the promotion of education in India, by 

 means of elementary and didactic works well translated in the vernacular lan- 

 guages. Travelling in this country I had the good fortune to meet my country- 

 men Gaetani Bey and Clot Bey, the first, the favorite and personal physician 

 to his Highness the Pasha, and the second the chief inspector of hospitals, and 

 both the creators of a medical college not only of males, but also of females for 

 the obstetric art. They have had the merit of overcoming by dint of persever- 

 ance and energy, and even at the risk of their lives, all the prejudices of the 

 Moslem, and to see them dissect, and some have already performed on living 

 subjects delicate cases of lithotomy. No sooner I heard of the great number 

 of translations which they have caused to be made into Arabic of medical works 

 which are already printed, I saw the great advantages which might result to 

 India and Egypt from a mutual interchange of such works. My wishes have 

 been met with alacrity on the part of these high-minded and learned indivi- 

 duals, and the consequence is the public letter which will accompany this. 

 I have no doubt that Lord Auckland and yourself will sympathize with him 

 in philanthropy. 



" What would your Education or School Committee have said if they had wit- 

 nessed as I did four days ago a polytechnical school, which deserves completely 

 its name and in which every branch of mathematical science is taught without 

 the help of any European language ? 



" This, I acknowledge, is carrying the thing too far, for we ourselves can- 

 not be thoroughly learned without the assistance of the classical languages. But 

 I prefer even this, to making a distantly foreign language the vehicle of all ele- 

 mentary learning." 



Mr. Sutherland, Secretary, Committee P. Instruction, informed the 

 Society that the essays intended to compete for Mr. Mum's prize must 

 be delivered in by the 15th March, 1839. 



Library. 



The following books were presented to the Asiatic Society : 

 The Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, for the 

 years 1835-6-7 — from the Royal Society. 



The list of the members of the Royal Society for the 30th November, 1837. 

 5 m 2 



