•11 Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. [Feb* 



to a book or a daily or weekly or oven monthly journal, no matter 

 what its special subject might be, if they found that, instead of 

 appearing at the appointed time it came at long and irregular 

 intervals, the issue of January say, appearing in December! And 

 it is equally so with the Journal of your Society ; unless it appears 

 regularly and at stated intervals, it will unavoidably cease to excite 

 any interest in the subscribers. 



Gentlemen, no one save those who have actually tried the ex- 

 periment, can realize the difficulty, and the labour involved in the 

 regular issue of such a publication in this country. And if I 

 speak strongly of the obligations the Society is under to its 

 Secretaries for this result, and for the regular issue of your 

 Journal and Proceedings, I do so, because I can speak from per- 

 sonal and intimate knowledge of the exertions it has necessi- 

 tated, and of the time which has been, in the midst of other and 

 pressing duties, devoted to it. That this regularity in issue is ap- 

 preciated, I have had during the year many very gratifying 

 proofs, and only a short time since, an old and very valued con- 

 tributor to the Journal, and member of the Society, in Europe, 

 acknowledging the receipt of some parts of the Journal which were 

 wanting to complete his series of some years since, says with ear- 

 nestness : " As to 1868, I am now able to go to the Binder with 

 everything for the j^ear complete, long before the close of 1869, 

 which for the Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal is wonderful ! !" 

 I can only express an earnest hope that the Secretaries may be 

 enabled to maintain this regularity of issue, convinced that the 

 members will duly appreciate the importance of their exertions. 

 I would even venture to suggest that by alternating the appearance 

 of the different numbers, these advantages would be even more fully 

 secured. If the members, taking 4 numbers of each part as the 

 regular issue for the year, or eight in all, 1 of Part I, were to ap- 

 pear say in February, April, July and October, and the numbers 

 of Part II, in March, June, September, and December, the 

 members would have a number of the Journal every six weeks or 

 two months. Such a systematic issue, could only be maintained by 

 having tho printing and illustrations of the Journal prepared some 

 time before tho date of issue. But with the ]ar,<>;o number of 



