Dr. Moore s Lost Tribes. 



331 



NOTE BY THE EDITOR. 



An Editor, especially of a Literary and Scientific Journal, is ge- 

 nerally credited, either in his own person or as the reputed leader of 

 a formidable band of literati, with the possession or command of vast 

 and varied stores of erudition. He must always speak ex cathedra ; 

 his censure or praise must be dealt round without any misgiving or 

 hesitation ; and he must never admit an error, or confess to the 

 smallest incapacity. But in Madras where the impersonality of an 

 Editor is by no means complete, and where the limited extent of 

 his resources is tolerably well known, it would be absurd to assume 

 the air of a final judge and authority, or to screen pretensious 

 sciolism behind the regal " we." 



Being neither a Sanscrit nor a Hebrew scholar, and my know- 

 ledge of Greek being more a matter of distant recollection than of 

 present proficiency, I should therefore under ordinary circumstan- 

 ces have been very reluctant to pass summary judgment on a book 

 such as that now under review, which has evidently been the result 

 of great labour and thought, however perverted, and the subject of 

 which is far removed from the ordinary sphere of my studies and 

 avocations. But in the present instance the author's offences are 

 so flagrant, his pretensions to occult learning and original research 

 so provokingly obtrusive, that I cannot decline the tempting invita- 

 tion of the Rev. Mr. Taylor that I should add a few words to his 

 interesting paper, assist in the exposure of Dr. Moore's distorted pa- 

 ragrams, and show how plain a tale can put him down. 



In pursuance of his determined purpose of finding the Lost Tribes 

 of Israel among the Bauddhists of North India, and of identifying 

 them with the Saxons of the West, Dr. Moore introduces two gold 

 coins of the Greek Bactrian King, Kanerkes, supposed to have 

 reigned about A. D. 100. These coins are represented in fig. 2 and 

 3 of the plate at p. 293 of the book. Both of them present on the 

 obverse the image of the King ; on the reverse of No. 2 is the well- 

 known figure of the Goddess Diana, with the crescent moon on her 

 head, and the word NANAIA ; on the reverse of No. 3 is the 

 equally well-known figure of Apollo, his head encircled by the solar 



