292 REMARKS on the, &c. 



combine this, and the other principles of their aftronomy together, 

 and to deduce from them the juft: conclufions ; the pofTeflion of 

 a calculus equivalent to trigonometry ; and, laftly, their ap- 

 proximation to the quadrature of the circle, we fhall be afto- 

 nifhed at the magnitude of that body of fcience, which muft 

 have enlightened the inhabitants of India in fome remote age, 

 and which, whatever it may have communicated to the weftern 

 nations, appears to have received nothing from them. 



Suc^i are the conclufions that feem to me to follow, with 

 the higheft probability, from the facts which have been ftated. 

 They are, without doubt, extraordinary ; and have no other 

 claim to our belief, except that, as I think has been fully 

 proved, their being falfe were much more wonderful than their 

 being true. There are but few things, however, of which the 

 contrary is impoilible. It muft be remembered, that the 

 whole evidence on this fubjeel is not yet before the public, and 

 that the repofitaries of Benares may contain what is to confirm 

 or to invalidate thefe obfervations. 



XIV. 



