1853.] Catalogues of Oriental Libraries. 535 



Catalogues of Oriental Libraries, by Dr. A. Sprenger, Secretary t 

 Asiatic Society, Bengal. 



Certain it is that mankind would not lose much in arts and 

 sciences, if all works in Eastern languages were destroyed. They 

 contain few facts, if any, in Astronomy, Medicine, Mathematics, 

 Natural History, or any other science, which are new to us. Even 

 in poetry and philosophy, their works contain few sentiments or ideas 

 which we can admire or would like to adopt. 



A century or two ago people thought if they could only under- 

 stand the language of birds, these disinterested bipeds would reveal 

 to them where treasures are hidden, they would teach them the 

 mysteries of nature, and enlighten them on the most important 

 questions connected with our existence. In like manner some per- 

 sons thought that in those venerable looking old oriental manu- 

 scripts, every science under the sun was locked up. Naturalists 

 and orientalists have dug up their respective vineyards. Treasures 

 they found none, but both parties have rendered the soil fertile. 

 Naturalists, though they have learned no mysteries from the 

 speeches cf birds, have founded a noble science by dissecting their 

 bodies, studying and comparing their physiology, observing their 

 habits, and following up their geographical distribution. Man is 

 a nobler object of study than birds, and the philosophy of history 

 is a higher pursuit than the philosophy of nature. The acquaint- 

 ance with the literature of the east shows us man reflected in his 

 own creation under peculiar circumstances and through a longer 

 period than the literatures of Europe exhibit him. The student is 

 carried beyond the narrow limits of European prejudices and 

 associations and enabled to enlarge them. Taking a historical view 

 of oriental pursuits, they are of the highest philosophical impor- 

 tance. Moreover, in India a knowledge of the eastern languages both 

 dead and living, and an acquaintance with their literatures, is the 

 first condition for acting upon the natives, for making one-self useful. 



It is from this wish to enlarge our knowledge of man and of his 

 creations under various circumstances and in various periods of his 

 historical existence, that several Governments and Institutions of 

 Europe have of late taken measures to have catalogues raisonnes of 



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