16 Proceedings of the Asiatic Soclvty. [Jan. 



Mr. Hill was good enough to promise a further communication on the 

 subject. 



At the June meeting, which I was unfortunately prevented by profes- 

 sional duties from attending, a paper by Mr. E B. Cowell was read, on 

 the Toles of Nuddea ; being a description of them, as they were observed 

 by the author in 1864. Tole (cTjT^O is described by Mr. Cowell to be 

 a Bengali word of uncertain derivation. It means or represents a state 

 of feeling in ancient India, similar to that which obtained in ancient 

 Greece, viz., the popular prejudice against receiving mercenary reward 

 for the communication of knowledge. The Pandit of a Tole should 

 not only instruct, but he should feed and lodge his pupils for nothing ; 

 and such is the case with the Pandits of many Toles ; though, in Nud- 

 dea, they have broken through the system, and now only sujDply 

 lodging for nothing. The nature of the studies, Nyaya and Smriti, was 

 also described, and information on the Hindu Systems of Philosophy 

 and Logic and their mode of teaching followed. The various Toles and 

 their students are mentioned, as also the pundits learned in these 

 abstruse subjects. The peculiarities of the scholastic training are 

 described — and the errors of the form of Hindu Logic, which is so fa- 

 tally bound up with technical terms, that it inevitably degenerates into 

 a mere playing with words, is described as being exaggerated to its 

 height in the Nuddea school, and specimens are given from actual 

 discussions held before Mr. Cowell of the nature of these logical 

 quibblings. 



Mr. Cowell says, that one of the things which most struck him was, 

 the desire for English education evinced by them all. These Toles 

 in Nuddea it appears, receive a pension from Grovernment of Us. 1200 

 a year. Mr. Cowell concluded his report by a recommendation that 

 some superintendence of the Sanscrit studies in these Toles should be 

 exercised, that examinations should be held, and rewards granted to 

 the deserving. 



This paper was followed by a report by Mr. McClintock, the Ame- 

 rican Vice-Consul at Bradford, on the manufacture of Chinese grass, 

 and he solicits information from Consular officers in China, especially 

 from Hankow, which is the chief market for the grass. 



Babu Protapchunder Ghoshe then read an interesting paper on the 

 Hindu Calendar, in which he informed the Society that the Hindoo 



