1064 Asiatic Society. [Dec. 



Quite concurring in that part of the report, which states that the Curator's great 

 object should be generalisation of several subjects, and not special devotion to minute 

 observation of a sub-division, yet as I conceive that the two objects are perfectly 

 reconcilable, I have no doubt that Dr. M'Clelland would pay due attention to 

 both ; neither do I imagine that the claims of speedy and effectual mechanical arrange- 

 ment would at all suffer in the hands of Dr. M'Clelland, or take up so much time, 

 as the proposal to tie down that gentleman's passing two hours daily in the Museum, 

 would seem to indicate. In conclusion, as far preferable to the plan of sending in 

 three months to Europe for a Curator, and procuring one who after his arrival in 

 India would very likely become discontented at finding himself tied down for five years 

 upon a salary which may sound imposing in Europe, but would be only a pittance for 

 a man of education in India, and scarcely upon a par with the pay of some mechanics, 

 I would prefer closing for a twelvemonth with Dr. M'Clelland, or with any other 

 qualified gentleman in India, to whom' such a limited salary might be an object — 

 should the conditions of offering the situation to the former be such as to make him 

 decline it. J. GRANT. 



Calcutta, IbthFeb. 1840. 



To J. C. C. Sutherland, Esq. and Dr. O'Shaughnessy, 

 Officiating Secretaries of the Asiatic Society. 



Gentlemen, — I was favoured on the 19th with your letter of the 17th inst. inclosing 

 a copy of a report of the Committee of Papers as to the manner in which the duties of 

 the office of Curator to the Asiatic Society's Museum are in future to be conducted, 

 and calling upon me rather prematurely to decide as to whether I can accept the 

 office under such circumstances or not. 



It appears to me that before my decision could be of any avail, the rules proposed by 

 the Committee should be passed into law, and authorised by competent authorities. 

 For my own part, I conceive the rules to be altogether vexatious, and so little calcula- 

 ted to promote the interests of the Museum, that I feel assured they will never be sanc- 

 tioned. 



2. In the next place, when the funds of the Society were inadequate to defray the 

 expense of the usual salary, the Museum was just as valuable as it is now, and yet the 

 duties were entirely left to me without restriction ; but no sooner was the grant of an 

 adequate allowance made by the liberality of the Government, than all became Cura- 

 tors; and I was supposed to be no longer competent to hold the office except under 

 stipulations quite unheard of, in similar cases. 



3. In vain did I even agree to the required stipulations in the sense in which those 

 who proposed them, explained at the last Meeting of the Society that they were intend- 

 ed to apply, for as one scruple was removed, a new one was suggested,* as if either to 



* Although I am the only officer of the Society who has but one other office to at- 

 tend to, yet one of the first obstacles suggested was, that I had not time enough to de- 

 vote to the duties, and although the officer who suggested this holds four or five ap- 

 pointments and is still a candidate for as many more as he can secure, he has time 

 enough withal to know more of my business than I know myself.f (Dr. M'Clelland's 

 note.) 



t Dr. M'Clelland forgetsthat he holds, or did then hold, three offices. Namely, Deputy Apothecary ; 

 Assistant Opium Examiner ; and Secretary to the Coal and Iron Committee — all salaried appoint- 

 ments ;— a short time before this discussion he was salaried Curator to the Museum also, to which he 

 had no objection to be re-appointed. The first of the appointments above mentioned requires actual 

 attendance at office from eleven to four daily.— Eds. 



