General Science. 
207 
lected, by Vyasa, — to whom are also ascribed the Puranas , the 
Sacred Books of Hindostan. This poem, which consists of 
above 100,000 metrical stanzas, contains the history of the two 
great collateral branches of the House of Bharat, the Kurus, 
and Pandus, well known in Indian mythology. This mytho- 
logy is, by its admirers, considered as entirely allegorical ; and 
the struggles between the Kurus and the Pandus are by them 
interpreted as the struggles which are maintained between the 
Virtues and the Vices of the human character. The Maha- 
barat is known to the English reader, through the transla- 
tion of one of its most splendid episodes by Dr Wilkins, un- 
der the title of 44 Bhagavat Geeta, or Dialogues of Krisha and 
Arjun. 11 Mr Hastings, in his prefatory recommendation of that 
work, expresses himself thus : 44 I hesitate not to pronounce the 
Geeta a performance of great originality, — of a sublimity of 
conception, reasoning, and diction, almost unequalled; and a 
single exception, among all the known religions of mankind, of 
a theology accurately corresponding with that of the Christian 
dispensation, and most powerfully illustrating its fundamental 
doctrines. It will not be fair to try its relative worth by a com- 
parison with the original text of the first standards of European 
composition : but let these be taken even in the most esteemed 
of their prose translations, and in that equal scale let their merits 
be weighed, I should not fear to place, in opposition to the best 
French versions of the most admired passages of the Iliad or 
Odyssey, or of the first and sixth books of our own Milton, 
highly as I venerate the latter, the English translation of the 
Mahabarat.'” 
We rejoice that, through Colonel Walker’s liberality, our 
University is enriched with an entire copy of a work thus eulo- 
gized by a most competent and enlightened judge. The MS. is 
in perfect preservation, and is very distinctly written. Colonel 
Walker accompanied this splendid gift with a portfolio contain- 
ing some very elegant specimens of ornamental penmanship in 
Arabic and Persian. 
52. Society of Arts for Scotland .— As this Society is now 
holding its meetings, the authors of new inventions or processes 
are requested to transmit them, free of expence, to the Secreta- 
ries, John Robison, Esq. 16. Coates Crescent, to T. G. Wright, 
Esq. Charlotte Square, Edinburgh. 
