52 Dr. Hoernle —Antiquities from Central Asia. [Extra No. 1, 
reversed, and reversed-upright. All these four arrangements occur with 
No. 12. 
V 
£ I'd ^ t-O 
VI 
almost equal frequency. A good example of this kind is hook No. V 
of the Seventh Set. In such books, too, any orderly reading is out 
of the question. 
If it were certain what the object of these books was—whether they 
were, or were not, intended for reading,—the 
Object and Use of presence or absence of systematic arrangement 
the Bk>ck^ print 0 £ the imprints might afford a good test to 
determine the genuineness, or otherwise, of 
the books. So long as their purport remains undeciphered, their object 
must be a matter of speculation ; but the fact that they contain nothing 
but interminable repetitions of the same text seems clearly to indicate 
that in these books we are dealing with set formulas—creeds, prayers, 
or incantations, or whatever one may call them,—possibly or probably 
Buddhistic,—the virtue of which was supposed to be in proportion to the 
frequency of their repetitions. The mode of this repetition, however, 
need not necessarily have been an intelligent one : it might have been 
quite mechanical, like that of the prayer-wheel or the prayer-flag. 
Turning the leaves of a book would serve the purpose of the devotee quite 
as well as turning a wheel, or letting the flags be moved by the breeze. 
If this were the object of the books, it is evident that the order or want 
of order in the arrangement of the formulas would be altogether im¬ 
material, provided the page is well covered with them. In any case, 
whether the leaves were intended to be read, or merely to be turned^ 
