Natural-Historical Collections. 46} 
Vedas, since the metaphysics of these latter books are entirely pantheistic. The 
temples with which we are acquainted, are therefore less ancient than the Vedas. 
As to the Vedas themselves,—the sacred volumes written in Sanscrit,—we have 
learnt their age from a calendar which was found annexed to one of them, and 
which gives the position of the vernal equinox. We have been able, by means 
of the known laws of the precession of equinoxes, to see in which year this calen- 
dar must have been closed. It goes back to 1500 years before Christ. 
The Vedas contain the exposition of the religious philosophy of the Indians : 
the Oupavedas, which are of the same date, are composed of different scientific 
treatises on music, medicine, war, architecture, the mechanical arts, &c. These 
.two works are, as well as some very considerable poems, written in the Sanscrit 
language, which is not spoken at the present day,—the most regular of all known 
tongues,—and especially remarkable for containing the roots of different Euro- 
pean languages, of the Greek, the Latin, the German, the Sclavonic,—so that it 
would seem that, to discover the primitive instrument of science, language, we 
must look to the Indian nation. The astronomical part of the Vedas contains 
few rules: those by which the Indians now calculate eclipses belong to treatises 
much posterior, and all bearing a date. These treatises are in verse, and are 
learnt by heart by the Brahmins of the astronomical caste. 
We know that, in the last century, Bailli contended that there were formerly in 
India a highly advanced astronomy, of which that of the present day is but a fee- 
ble relic. His system rested mainly on this point, that the Indians possess me- 
thods of calculation much more perfect than their present limited knowledge of 
mathematics would seem to allow. Admitting the fact, what can we in tre logic 
’ deduce from it? That the Indians, in times past, have been a little more learned 
than at present. But this past time is, perhaps, not far removed. Wemay even 
admit, with M. Delambre, that the Indians did not invent the formulas of cal- 
culation, but received them from the Arabians. These formulas are far from 
being as perfect as Bailli supposed ; but their very defects have served to prove, 
in a pointed manner, the falsity of the system of which we speak. The Indians 
vaunt of the possession of a long series of observation, ascending to 4000 years 
before Christ, an epoch at which, according to them, there was a conjunction of all 
the planets. If they had, in truth, observed this conjunction, we could, by means 
of calculation, confirm its reality. And this attempt has beenmade. But it has 
been found that this conjunction did not exist; and it hds, moreover, been ob- 
served, that, if in the retrograding calculation, instead of using the exact formulas 
which we now possess, we employ the imperfect formulas of the Indians, we ar- 
rive at an erroneous result, but which, at the stated epoch, gives the appearance 
of a conjunction. 
It results from these facts, and from many others known by the researches ofa 
learned Englishman, that the ancient Indians had neither an advanced astro- 
nomy, nor regular geometry. As to the natural sciences they must have had 
some smattering, since commerce, which was then in a flourishing condition, 
caused a multitude of products to pass through their hands; but these sciences 
never made much progress amongst them. The prohibition which existed against 
their touching carcases, and the horror which they had of hides, opposed an insur- 
mountable obstacle. In fine, every thing which the Indians could communicate 
to the Egyptians, was their metaphysics, their mythology, and their constitution. 
é (To be continued. ) 

Spontaneous Generation. —M. Geoffroy St. Hilaire, in reporting to the Aca- 
demy of Sciences, in December last, on M. Bourdon’s Letires a Camille sur la 
Physiologie, announced his opinion on the important question of spontaneous ge- 
neration. MM. Bourdon regards this idea as highly erroneous, and disfiguring the 
works of Aristotle. St. Hilaire considers that he has pronounced too quickly 
