834 Proceedings of the Asiatic Society . [Sept. 



Proceedings of the Royal Society, Nos. from 18 to 31, in the years 1834 — 1838. 



Abstracts of the papers printed in the Philosophical Transactions of the 

 Royal Society of London, from 1830 to 1837 inclusive, vols. 3. 1830 to 1837. 



Address of his Royal Highness the Duke of Sussex, K. G. &c. &c. the 

 President, read at the anniversary meeting of the Royal Society, on Thursday, 

 November 30, 1837. 



Address to Her Majesty referred to in the address of H. R. H. the President 

 of the Royal Society. 



Defence of the resolution for omitting Mr. Pannizzi's Bibliographical notes 

 from the Catalogue of the Royal Society. • 



The Sixth Report of the British Association for the advancement of science, 

 vol. 5 — presented by the Council. 



Annual Report of the Regents of the University of the State of New York — 

 by the Regents to James Prinsep, and by him to the Society. 



A Catechism in the Tai or Shyan language, by Nathan Brown, Esq. printed 

 at Sadiya— by Captain Jenkins. 



Tarjamah Kitab ul Filasafat, an Arabic work, printed at the Government 

 Press of Mahomed Alt, at Cairo. [See correspondence above ] 



Meteorological Register for August 1838— by the Surveyor General. 



Meteorological Registers from Mauritius in continuation of the series before 

 sent— by M. Julien Desjardins. 



Lardner's Cabinet Cyclopedia, •' Statesmen," vol. 5th.— from the Book- 

 sellers. 



Two Arabic books, printed, entitled " Destur-ul-Qorat," and " Fatawa 

 Ekhtiyar" — presented by Maulavi Za'hur All 



The Gardens and the Menagerie of the Zoological Society delineated, 2 vols, 

 purchased at 16 rs. on recommendation of the Museum Committee. 

 Literary and Antiquities. 



A despatch from the Acting Secretary at Bombay forwarded, through 

 the Government of India, Lieut. Postans' journal of his visits to Girnar. 



The facsimiles of the inscriptions are stated to be on their way — when we 

 shall be able to revise the translations andplace the whole upon sure foundations. 



Extract of a private letter from Professor Lassen, dated Bonn, 12th 

 February, 1838, (which however only reached Calcutta on the 16th Sep- 

 tember) was read by the Secretary, announcing his discovery of the 

 Bactrian language being closely allied to, if not identical with, the Pali, 

 and propounding a new alphabet, in almost exact accordance with that 

 adopted in the July No. of the Journal. 



We venture to extract the passage alluded to : — 



" To the very curious fact, that those inscriptions are in Pali (or perhaps 

 Prakrit), let me present you with the analogous one, that the legends of the 

 Bactrian coins, at least in my opinion, are also in Prakrit. But here I must ask 

 your pardon for some alterations I make in your alphabet of that character. 

 The letter ^ or ^ cannot, I think, be a, because this vowel is not expressed 

 by any sign in other places, where it ought to be written. I propose to read it 

 55? or.;. Then I find, that \ may every where be read ^- or h. The legend on 

 the coin of Amyntos (Asiatic Journal, v. p. 720) I read thus: Maharaja jayavato 

 amito. This dialect omits n before t and d, as the names prove ; jayavatfi is 

 therefore the Prakrit gflfer^f, Sanskrit s^en^f, the victorious. The word for 

 avlicriTos is apalihatd, the Prakrit of the Sanskrit ^gsjfFnfrT:, the unrepulsed. 

 The coin of Ayos (vol. IV. plate XXII. No. 1.) I read : Maharajo rajadirajd 

 mahatd Ay6. You have yourself observed, that +| di, is the correct reading. 

 Mahatd is again for TFf^'^'f, the great. The name of Menander would in Prakrit 

 dropther(in vavZpov), and this western dialect besides the n before d. 1 



