722 Literary Intelligence. [No. 7- 



embrace all the Sanskrit MSS. traceable in private collections in 

 the neighbourhood of the Presidency. It is probable that such 

 native gentlemen as have MSS. would cordially respond to any 

 invitation to produce them, which might emanate from the Society. 



The Eoyal Asiatic Society has just published a descriptive cata- 

 logue of 163 Arabic and Persian MSS. which form the historical 

 portion of its collection. The work is edited by Mr. Morley, and 

 contains a short analysis of each history, mentioning where extracts 

 have been published by Sir H. Elliot. It further gives such informa- 

 tion as is available of the author of each work, and describes the 

 exact size of each volume. Garcin de Tassy has noticed some of 

 the more important MSS. of this collection in a late No. of the 

 Journal Asiatique. 



In No. 12 (May and June) of this same Journal M. Defreme- 

 ly commences a paper entitled ' Nouvelles Eecherches sur les 

 Ismaeliens ou Bathiniens de Syrie,' better known under the desig- 

 nation of Assassins. The author announces that he has had access to 

 sources, some of which were not consulted by Ealconet, De Sacy and 

 Quatremere and others of which were far from being exhausted by 

 them. A paper by M. Garcin de Tassy follows on the proper names 

 and titles in use by Musalmans, and the No. concludes with a list, 

 alphabetical and chronological, of the names given by Chinese emper- 

 ors to the years of their reigns from the Han dynasty downwards, 

 and drawn up by M. de Meritens. M. Chodzko replies to the 

 Kazan professor's criticisms of the new system of pronunciation 

 introduced into his Persian Grammar. The No. concludes with an 

 obituary notice of M. Marcel, one of the founders, and since 1847 

 a ' Censeur' of the Paris Society. 



The July No. contains M. Mohl's Annual Report from which 

 it will be seen, that the object of the recent changes in the 

 mode of publishing our Bibliotheca Indica is appreciated in Eu- 

 rope. The learned Secretary's remarks on the value of such col- 

 lections as are now being published in Paris as well as in Cal- 

 cutta are striking. The Chinese and Tibetans have long since 

 anticipated us, the collection in the former language made by the 

 emperor Kienlong, being represented to equal in size about 30,000 

 vols, of an European library. The Turks at Constantinople and 



