INTRODUCTION. 



In offering to the Public tht present portion of the Asiatic Researches 

 in a distinct and separate form, and in thus deviating from the mode of 

 publication which the Society has hitherto adopted, it appears expedient 

 to state briefly the circumstances which have led to the present arrange- 

 ment, and the motives by which it has been recommended. 



Towards the close of 1827, several members of the Asiatic Society, 

 who felt an interest in scientific enquiries, and who conceived that the 

 ordinary Meetings of the Society were held at intervals too remote, and 

 for purposes of too miscellaneous a nature to be calculated to promote 

 scientific investigation, were induced to consider the most effective means 

 to be pursued for the special furtherance of that object. On referring to 

 the Minutes of the Society, it appeared that on the 7th of September;, 

 1808, it was resolved, that " a Committee should be formed to propose 

 such plans, and carry on such correspondence as might seem best suited 

 to promote the knowledge of Natural History, Philosophy, Medicine, Im- 

 provements of the Arts and Sciences, and whatever is comprehended in 

 the general term Physics and a Committee was formed accordingly, and 

 Meetings were held, but they had for sometime past been discontinued. 

 The formation of the Committee was, therefore, recalled to the notice of 

 the Society, and on the 2d of January, 1828, it was resolved at a General 

 Meeting, that the Physical Committee should be considered as in 



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