Read the following letter from Mr. E. C. Bayley, Secy. to Govt.

of India, in the Home Dept. :

FROM E. C. BAYLEY, ESQ.,

Secretary to the Government of India.

To W. S. ATKINSON, ESQ.,

Home Department.

1858.

To ditto in reply No. 2700, dated 8th December, 1858.

Secretary to the Asiatic Society. Dated Fort William, the 22nd May, 1862.

I

SIR,-With reference to the correspondence noted in the margin, From the Asiatic Society am desired to inform you that, in the No. 308, dated 8th October, opinion of the Governor-General in Council, the time has arrived when the foundation of a Public Museum in Calcutta, which has been generally accepted as a duty of the Government, may be considered with a view to its practical realization, and when the proposition which emanated from the Asiatic Society in 1858, "for the foundation of an Imperial Museum, to which the whole of the Society's collections, except the Library, might be transferred" may with propriety be entertained.

2. This proposition was made conditionally on the approval by the Society at large "of the locality, general arrangements, and managements," of the Museum; and it is, therefore advisable at once to state generally the views of the Government on these points.

3. The Governor-General in Council considers it to be essential to the success and good management of the Museum that the control of all the collections which it may contain should be always unreservedly vested in one and the same authority.

4. It is accordingly thought right that the whole of the collections, including those to be transferred by the Asiatic Society, those contributed by the Government, and all future additions to the Museum, shall be placed under the sole management of a Board of Trustees.

5. His Excellency in Council acknowledges the importance and value of the collections which the Asiatic Society has offered to transfer to the Public Museum, and the just claims which the Society has to share in the management of an institution, the foundation of which will be so much dependent on these contributions and on the previous labours of the Society.

6. The Governor-General in Council also fully recognizes the historic association connected with the Asiatic Society, its present high position and reputation, the great services which it has rendered to Literature, Archæology, and Science, and the assistance which it has afforded from time to time in developing the material resources of India.

7. His Excellency in Council, therefore, considers that it will be both just and appropriate to secure to the Society a liberal share in the control of the Museum, by constituting its representatives members of the Board of Trustees in such proportion, and under such conditions, as may be hereafter determined.

8. The Governor-General in Council is further prepared to furnish whatever accommodation may be requisite for the business of the Society, and for the reception of its Library, in close proximity to the proposed Museum. This accommodation would of course be assigned to the exclusive use of the Society, and would be given in exchange for their present premises, which under this arrangement, would become the property of Government.

9. With regard to the locality of the Museum, the GovernorGeneral in Council, as at present advised, considers that it may most advantageously be placed on the site now occupied by the Small Cause Court in Chowringhee Road, and he is disposed to believe that some such building as that which has been recently proposed by Dr. Oldham (himself a member of the Society's Council) for the Government Geological Museum will be well adapted to the purposes of the General Museum.

10. His Excellency in Council would suggest "The India Museum" as an appropriate name for the Institution.

11. I am directed to submit the above outline of the measures which the Governor-General in Council would propose to adopt for the consideration of the Asiatic Society. If they meet the wishes of the Council and of the Members of the Society at large, His Excellency in Council will be happy to receive any suggestions upon matters of detail which the Society may wish to offer, with a view to secure more completely the interests of the proposed Museum, as well as those of the Society.

I have &c.,

(Sd.) E. C. BAYLEY,

Secretary to the Government of India.

The President intimated that the Council were considering the course which they should recommend the Society to pursue in referencé to the offer now made to them by Government.

The Council reported that the election of Nawab Mohammad Khazam Ali Khan had been cancelled at his request.

The nomination of the Hon'ble C. J. Erskine to be a member of the Council, vice Sir B. Frere, was confirmed.

The Council reported that they had appointed the Hon'ble W. Grey, a member of their body, in the room of the Right Hon'ble S. Laing.

With reference to Mr. Oldham's proposal to amend rules 78 and 86, of which notice was given by him at the April meeting, the Council reported that they considered the adoption of these amendments would be inexpedient.

The President observed, that the purport of this proposal of Dr. Oldham's had been recommended to the Council by himself two years ago, but that he had not suggested any alteration in the rules, because it seemed to him that the present rule, which provided for an annual election of all office-bearers, was sufficient. All that was necessary was for the Council to act on his recommendation when preparing their next list of nominations for office. He was glad that the Council had concurred with him in this view, and hoped that his suggestion would be acted on at the next anniversary meeting.

The Council announced that, in accordance with the resolution of the last meeting, a deputation consisting of the President, the VicePresidents, and the Secretaries had waited upon the Governor-General pursuant to appointment to request him to become the patron of the Society, and that he had been pleased to accept the office.

A letter from Capt. W. A. Ross announcing his withdra val from the Society was recorded.

Dr. Bhau Daji, duly proposed at the last meeting, was balloted for and elected an ordinary member.

The following gentlemen were named for ballot at the next meeting :---

Hon'ble T. J. H. Thurlow, proposed by the President, seconded by Dr. Macrae.

J. Gordon, Esq., C. S., proposed by the President, seconded by Dr. Macrae,

A. M. Monteath, Esq., C. S., proposed by Archdeacon Pratt, seconded by Mr. E. C. Bayley.

Captain Hyde, Bengal Engineers, proposed by Lieutenant-Colonel Thuillier, seconded by Major J. E. Gastrell.

Baboo Bhola Nauth Mullick, proposed by Moulavi Abdul Luteef Khan Bahahur, seconded by Mr. Atkinson.

The Hon'ble Major General Sir Robert Napier, K. C. B., proposed by Lieut.-Colonel Thuillier, seconded by the President.

Major Allen Johnson, Bengal Staff Corps, proposed by Lieut.Colonel Thuillier, seconded by Mr. Atkinson.

Mr. W. Theobald, Junior, exhibited some celts which he had found in Bundlekund, and some chert implements from the Andamans, and read the following note on the subject:

During the past cold season I had the opportunity of examining a portion of the country in which Mr. Le Mesurier first discovered celts (vide J. A. S. No. I. of 1861) and I was so fortunate as not only to collect a fair series of these weapons, but also to ascertain their extension upwards of 200 miles East of the Tons River which Mr. Le Mesurier in his Memoir considered as their boundary in that quarter. In other directions I had not the opportunity of tracing them, but that their range extends over a much larger area than is at present assigned them in Bundlekund is almost a certainty. Of the most marked varieties of these implements I shall give a short description, that any one so minded may satisfy himself of the precise identity of these celts with those found in Europe, in confirmation of which I may quote Mr. Oldham, whose acquaintance with stone weapons from Irish and European localities, is very extensive. There is something, however, very peculiar in the mode of occurrence of these weapons, which must be cleared up hereafter, for though they may be traced as far into Behar as I have stated above, it is only west of the Tons that they are plentiful; for (rejecting a dubious case) I have not as yet obtained a single perfect one east of that river. The most natural explanation of this appears to be some superstition which induced men of old time to collect these relics of a still older age and convey them to the shrines and localities where they are now so abundant, so that celts collected over thousands of square miles are now accumulated about Karoi (Tirhowan or Kirwee) and its environs. This is of course a mere hypothesis, but agrees well with the scarcity of

other stone weapons compared with the multitude of celts, one stone hammer and a single arrow head only as recorded by M. Le Mesurier in addition to the numbers of celts scattered by threes and fours under pipal trees and in temples about Karoi. In the same neighbourhood a stone punch or chisel was procured by me and at Powari east of the Son River a stone hammer, which should encourage us to search more diligently for other relics of this most interesting stone period.

Very few of the celts in this collection offer any evidence of their ever having been fixed in handles, and where such has been the case, it was probably by a race of far more recent date than the original fabricators, for it is difficult to conceive a form less adapted for such a purpose than the typical celt or more liable to be always falling out this difficulty is greatest in the case of the smallest celts and when we consider that a little flattening or notching the sides could have enormously facilitated their retention in any handle, it seems difficult to suppose that their original makers ever so used them. Can Nos. 1, 7 or 12, ever have been so used? No. 4 though merely chipped and not smoothed at the sides, presents the most perfect cutting edge of any in the collection, and what could have been easier than to fashion its sides if ever intended for a handle, or what form can possibly be suggested as less applicable for firm retention in a socket than that given to it, carefully wrought though it be? Some celts perhaps may have been fitted to handles, but hardly I think by their original makers, for reasons above stated, unless No. 6 is an exception. This celt presents a curious pit or depression on one side which might have been intended to receive the head of a handle and could certainly have contributed to its firm retention, though but slightly, and the general form is as in all celts singularly ill-adapted for such an application. The only other possible use I can suggest for this depression is, that of breaking nuts or fruit stones, which would not be so likely to fly off or slip aside if struck with the cupped side of this celt.

Celt No. 14 is the only one in the collection which exhibits any traces in fact of an adaptation fitting it for a handle, and it only differs from others in certain rude notches cut in the side, which certainly suggest the probability of their having been made to receive some sort of lashing. Their rough finish, however, suggests doubts of their being as old as the original date of the weapon. The several typical