632 Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. [No. 7. 



" The breech of the gun is not strengthened by the usual con- 

 vexity ; it is in fact rather concave, and the thickness of metal at that 

 point, though increased by the obliquity of the vent, is rather less than 

 that of the barrel. 



" The connecting screw, which is attached to the posterior portion, 

 is very roughly and clumsily made ; but the female screw in the ante- 

 rior portion, and which might be supposed to be more difficult of con- 

 struction, appears to be much more correctly formed." 



The following gentlemen were named for ballot at the next meeting. 



Dr. Christison; — proposed by Dr. Falconer and seconded by Mr. 

 Grote. 



Manickjee Rustomjee, Esq. ; — (for re-election) proposed by Mr. 

 Grote and seconded by the President. 



The Council submitted the following reports — 



1 st. Recommending, at the suggestion of the Philological Committee, 

 that the Arabic text of the Fateh-ul-Shdm of Wakidy (Wakidy's 

 Conquest of Syria), with an English translation by Ensign Lees, be 

 published in the Bibliotheca Indica. 



2nd. Recommending for adoption a suggestion from the Rev. J. 

 Long, to the effect that information be collected regarding vernacular 

 publications in different parts of India, and referring at the same time 

 for the meeting's consideration, whether measures should not be taken 

 for collecting in the Society's Library copies of all extant works in the 

 different vernacular dialects of India. The report embodied Mr. Long's 

 letter, which was as follows : 



" I send an alphabetical Catalogue of Bengali books and pamphlets 

 which have been printed within the last fifty years, amounting to 

 about 1,100; many of them are translations from the Sanskrit or 

 Persian. 



" The history of Vernacular Literature, both as a branch of Oriental 

 Literature, and as connected with the subject of Statistics, is one 

 deserving the attention of a Society like the Asiatic. The French 

 Government, a few years ago, sent a savant out to India to collect 

 MSS. and books ; among these were copies of all the Mahratta books 

 published, and the Paris Societe Asiatique did not think a list of these 

 Mahratta books unworthy of a place in its Journal. 



" I have now nearly ready for press a Catalogue Raisonne of Ben- 



