1854.] Literary Intelligence. 721 



" Catalogues such as these are not only a saving of time and 

 trouble to the literary student, but are, moreover, guides to the 

 discovery of works, buried and, for all practical purposes, lost in 

 libraries of private individuals, who, in not a few cases, knew not, 

 and, in others, act as though they knew not, the value of the treasure 

 and the trust of which they are accidentally the custodians. This 

 remark applies with especial force to the known stores of Sanskrit 

 literature, a history of which has never been attempted by Hindu 

 writers, what is known of it being mostly derived from general 

 classifications and occasional notices and references, found in works 

 dedicated to scientific research. There are a large number of San- 

 skrit works, unknown even to native scholars, notwithstanding that 

 they are within the range of their particular studies, and such 

 works ought surely to be preserved in the archives of a public 

 library, where alone they can assume the due and practical import- 

 ance which belongs to them. The several collections of Sanskrit 

 works, made chiefly by Englishmen towards the close of the last 

 and the opening of the present century, may embrace as valuable a 

 portion of Sanskrit literature as any that may yet remain hidden, 

 still the known, compared with the unknown, is probably but a 

 fraction, and not a considerable one. For a collector of MSS. it is 

 of the highest importance to know, whether a work with which he 

 may meet, is already to be found in collections, information which 

 can only be obtained from published catalogues. The collection of 

 Fort William as well as those of the Sanskrit Colleges of Calcutta. 

 and Benares respectively have been embodied in the catalogue, 

 printed by our Society, which however is very imperfect and often 

 incorrect. Professor Hall is now preparing a descriptive catalogue 

 of the Sanskrit collection in the Library of the Benares College, 

 and has already met with a great number of works in all branches 

 of Sanskrit literature, works hitherto unknown to us." 



Dr. Koer's concluding remarks on the value of Catalogues are 

 quite to the point and his strictures on our Society's Sanskrit Cata- 

 logue, compiled so far back as 1838, merit the attention of our 

 Philological Committee. A revised English Catalogue of our MSS. 

 in the Eaisonne form, such as we now have for the St. Petersburgh, 

 Ley den aud Berlin collections, is a great desideratum, and it should 



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