392 Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. [No. 4. 



of an Imperial Museum, to which the whole of the Society's Collec- 

 tions, except the Library, might be transferred, provided the locality, 

 the general arrangements, and management be declared, on a refer- 

 ence to the Society at large, to be perfectly satisfactory to its 

 members. " 



2. The Council were on the point of soliciting the Government 

 of India to take into its favourable consideration the subject of the 

 resolution when the terrible events of the last year burst upon us. 

 The time was obviously no longer suited for such discussions, and it 

 became necessary to wait till the question could once more be ap- 

 proached with propriety. This, the Council venture to think, may 

 now be done. 



3. The Council of the Society, first desire gratefully to acknow- 

 ledge the support which they have so long received from the Govern- 

 ment ; a support which has in all cases been accorded with liberality 

 and frankness. At the same time they may express their conviction 

 that the Society has not been found wanting on its own part. In the 

 face of many difficultes, the Asiatic Society has, it is believed, conti- 

 nued to advance the cause of knowledge from the days of its illustrious 

 founder to the present time. Large and important collections have 

 been brought together and preserved by its means ; and an unbroken 

 series of publications lias been maintained in its Researches and 

 Journal, which may generally bear a favourable comparison with the 

 records of the learned societies of Europe, and among the pages of 

 which, may be found many most valuable contributions to Litera- 

 ture and Science. 



4. The Council further have to express the high sense they en- 

 tertain of the liberal and enlightened arrangements which have 

 recently been adopted for the extension of education and the general 

 advancement of knowledge in this country ; and, speaking in the 

 name of the oldest of the Literary and Scientific bodies in the East, 

 they feel that they may beg to be heard on what they deem a most im- 

 portant element in all such arrangements, the foundation of a Public 

 Museum on a comprehensive basis. 



5. In addressing the Government on this subject, an explanation 

 may seem due in regard to a former decision of the Society concern- 

 ing its Geological collections, by which it may have appeared, in 



