1868.] Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. 263 



preserved in the Fort William College Library. A third copy is at 

 Lucknow. 



" I have on several occasions drawn attention to the importance of 

 collecting MSS. of Persian lexicographical works. There is a two- 

 fold reason. First, the authors of the best dictionaries are Indians, 

 and few of their works have found their way into the libraries of 

 Europe. Secondly, the best Persian dictionaries are written towards the 

 end of the 17th and during the 18th centuries, when the rapid down- 

 fall of the Mogul dynasty, and the introduction into India of the 

 art of printing, caused a considerable decrease in the demand for 

 copyists. Hence the fact that our libraries contain more MSS. 

 written from the time of Akbar to Shahjahan, than MSS. written 

 during the 18th century. Adding to this the difficulty of copying 

 voluminous dictionaries, we cannot wonder that lexicographical MSS. 

 are now-a-days, even in India, where they were written, exceedingly 

 rare. 



" Of the 53 dictionaries which during thirty years were collected by 

 order, and at the expense, of the Emperor Akbar, for the compilation 

 of the dictionary entitled Farhang i Jahdngiri, about eight still exist, 

 of which our Society has but three. So rapid has been the destruction 

 of this class of MSS. during two and a half centuries." 



Dr. Stoliczka desired, before the ordinary business was com- 

 menced with, to draw the attention of the Meeting to a few very 

 fine specimens of the remarkable coral Sagartia Schilleriana. He 

 stated that he had lately found large numbers of that species in the 

 Mutlah river, where, during low water, the animals remain for many 

 hours exposed to the sun. 



Dr. Stoliczka also exhibited live specimens of Nanina pollux, 

 and Helix propinq/ua, both clearly shewing the pulsations of the heart. 

 In the former species, the pulsations were about 46 per minute ; in 

 the latter about 50. When the animals retire for a longer time to 

 their shells, the pulsations greatly diminish. In the case of Helix 

 propinqua, they were reduced from 50 to 17 per minute. — 



The President then asked the Secretary to read the first paper 

 announced for the evening. 



