28 Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. [Jan. 



of this will be, a large withdrawal of support from individuals. Indeed, 

 I found it very difficult to persuade a member of the Society the other 

 day that this was not the case now, and to induce him to continue his 

 contributions. I confess I anticipate this result with some dread, 

 and I would seek to avert the evil. The case would be different if 

 the proposition were to construct a separate abode for the Asiatic 

 Society, which could be specially adapted to their wants. But 

 this is not the case : the proposition is, that the Society should take 

 up its abode in a corner of a great building designed for other pur- 

 poses, in rooms that beyond a question will soon be needed for other 

 purposes. I venture to think, that the Society would be vastly 

 more benefited if a pecuniary equivalent for the proposed rooms were 

 secured to them, and they continued in their present abode. There 

 is, however, ample time for the consideration of this question, as the 

 move cannot be made for some years yet. 



You will, gentlemen, have heard with regret of the loss of seven of 

 our members during the past twelve months by death. Of those 

 seven, one only, Mr. Foster Hill, had been a contributor to our meetings. 

 Mr. Hill joined the Society soon after his arrival in this country to 

 take up the important duties of Professor of Civil Engineering in Cal- 

 cutta, and we looked forward with much hope to his increasing in- 

 terest in our common pursuits. Of the others, whose decease has 

 been announced to you, some had filled prominent positions, as citizens 

 and rulers in the land, with high honour and credit ; one especially, 

 Prosonno Coonnir Thakur, we would name as having long and earnest- 

 ly shewn his appreciation of the value of knowledge by actively en- 

 gaging " in the holy cause of enlightening his countrymen ;" but this is 

 scarcely the place to consider their history in such a light. As mem- 

 bers of the Asiatic Society, they had not been contributors to our 

 Journal, but they had for many years proved by their constant mem- 

 bership, that they appreciated the importance of science, and were 

 impressed with a sense of that duty which devolves on the wealthy to 

 maintain and support, by their wealth and by the sanction which 

 their names and public station give, those means of co-operation, by 

 which the progress of the real labourers in science is facilitated. In 

 this they had offered an example worthy of imitation to a wider ex- 

 tent than it has hitherto claimed. 



