74 Literary and Miscellaneous Intelligence. [No. 1. 



were not safe in any place of the JBijaz, nor at any season of 

 the year, and henceforth the want of safety, and the difficulties and 

 expense of communication were so great that their commerce was 

 ruined. If the object of Mo7zammad in planning this expedition 

 had been to bring matters to a crisis, he obtained it, for two 

 months after, the battle of Badr was fought, which decided the 

 fate of the ancient institutions of Makkah. One of the greatest 

 advantages which Mohammad bad over his enemies, and one of the 

 main causes of his success was, that he was perfectly free from the 

 fetters which ancient habits imposed upon them. He could break 

 through any law, through any custom, through any preconceived 

 notion of honor, alleging a divine command to counterbalance public 

 opinion. It is true in this instance he gave way ; but when he grew 

 stronger he neither sacrificed an advantage nor a passion to public 

 opinion. If necessary he justified his acts by a revelation. 



Literary and Miscellaneous Intelligence. 



The January No. of the Journ. Asiatique for 1855 contains the 

 conclusion of M. Defremery's paper on the history of the Assassins 

 of Syria. The author is about to publish a detailed work on the 

 Carmathians of Persia, and he will then enter into an examination 

 of the religious dogmas of both these sects. M. Pavie also con- 

 cludes his analysis of the Bhoj-prabundh, 



The same periodical for February and March opens with a lexicon 

 compiled by M. de Saucley in justification of his translation of the 

 Behistan inscription published in a previous No. Then follows 

 a notice of the principal porcelain manufactories in Japan by M. 

 Hoffman with translation of an extract from a Japanese MS. in the 

 Leyden library which describes the manufactures of Imari. M, 

 "Wophe continues his * Kecherches' on the history of the Mathe- 

 matical Sciences among the Arabs, and M. Victor Langlois gives a 

 narrative of his Journey to Sis, the ancient capital of Armenia. 



The April No. continues Wophe' s Mathematical paper. An 

 analysis with extracts is here given of a Persian MS. of Abul Wafi 

 in the Imperial Library. The only other original paper is by M, 



