people are other good subjects to begin with. Most of them being engaged in agriculture, tracts on sowing, reaping, the barren mango-tree, paying tax to Government, &c., would come home to them.

Our Lord's parable of the Prodigal and several others, can be appreciated by all.

Poetical Tracts are specially wanted for the Heathen. The Committee of the South Travancore Tract Society have acted wisely in issuing several of this description.

The large number of works on Vedantism, prepared for every grade of the Tamil community, must strike all who examine the catalogue. It is very desirable that two or three good treatises, in refutation of them, should be prepared.

Probably some materials for publications for Hindus might be collected from the Roman Catholic books mentioned at page xliii.

EFFORTS TO CALL FORTH NATIVE WRITERS.

Most of the Christian books which have appeared in Tamil have been translated by Natives under the direction of Europeans. Original compositions by them are, however, the great want, and of these very few have been produced. Of Protestant Christian books in prose, there are only two of any size from the pens of native writers. Only natives can fully enter into the feelings of their countrymen. In many cases the arguments and illustrations, which seem most convincing and telling to a European, fall without weight ; while others, which he would almost laugh at as absurd, carry irresistible force. Additional exertions should, therefore, be made to secure the co-operation of native writers. Missionaries should encourage their agents to undertake the preparation of suitable works. The offer of rewards for the best compositions on specified subjects has already been repeatedly tried with success. It would be well to adopt the plan more frequently. Short and easy compositions should be selected.

GENERAL LITERATURE.

One of the greatest wants in Tamil is a supply of interesting general literature of a wholesome character. Without being directly religious, the tone should be such as would commend itself to a Christian mind. It is to be hoped that the Madras School Book Society will make an effort in this direction, and that all other available agencies will do what lies in their power.

With the masses, it is still the mythological period. They will require appropriate intellectual pabulum. Education, however, is spreading, and every year there will be an increasing demand for works of a higher character.

It will be observed that the department of Natural Science is almost a total blank in Tamil literature. The best mode of rendering scientific terms has been the subject of much discussion. Some would transfer the English terms; others would compound existing words to prevent the foreign phraseology rendering the subject distasteful; while a third course is to adopt both plans in certain cases. It has also been suggested that there should be two nomenclaturesscientific terms for students, and popular terms to be used in works for general readers.

Dr. Green, Medical Missionary, Jaffna, has devoted considerable attention to the subject. He suggests the following Rules :—

I. Aim to have each Term apposite, brief, and euphonious.

or,

II. Seek for it first in the TAMIL, thus ;

1. Prefer a simple or compound word in common use;

2. If none, appropriate some abstruse but aptly characteristic word; or,

3. Compound a word by the union of two or more apt simples; or,

4. By the union of an apt particle and root; or,

5. Modify some apt radical word by ending it euphoniously in any ordinary form; or,

6. Adopt a word having the same meaning as the original of the English Derivative; or,

7.

When there are several words for one meaning; or several meanings for one word; restrict as may be requisite, to designate the specific object.

III. Failing to secure a satisfactory Term in the Tamil, seek it in the SANSCRIT, thus;

1. Consult an English and Sanscrit Dictionary and select from that; or,

2. Select from a Sanscrit and English Dictionary.

3. Prefer a Term sanctioned by both; or,

4. Should no specific Term be found, appropriate some word not in common use, which is expressive of one or more characteristics of the object to be named; or,

5.

Compound a word by the union of two or more apt simples; or,

6. If it better suit the case, either construct a Term by the union of an appropriate particle and root; or,

7.

Adopt a word having the same meaning as the original of the English derivative.

8. When there are several words for one meaning, or several meanings for one word, restrict, as may be requisite, to designate the specific object.

ÍV. Finding no Term either in Tamil or Sanscrit transfer the ENGLISH.

1.

Write the word according to its elementary sounds. 2. Modify it when requisite, by the addition of an appropriate particle.

3. In compounds, if there be for any member, a good common Tamil word, use it, combined with the English word.

V. Inflect all Terms according to the Rules of Tamil Grammar.

Examples.

Anthelmintic, சிருமிக்கொல்வி.(T. 3.)

Eschar, §. (T. 5.)

Dysentery, . (S, 1.

Dysmenorrhoea, yƒ‰. (S. 2. 6.)

Demulcent, T. (838-S. 3.)

Albumen, o. (White, 441. S. 3, 4.)
Ether, . (E. 1.)

Gum Arabic,

UNNAør. (E. 3.)

UNIVERSITY AND GOVERNMENT SCHOOL TEXT-BOOKS IN INDIA.

Sad is the condition of the great majority of educated youths in India. They have been sufficiently enlightened through English science and literature, taught in Government Colleges, to be convinced that their ancestral faith is a mere invention of the Brahmans. Did they stop here, this would be a gain; but the conclusion which they generally draw is, that all religions are cunningly devised fables. In some respects they are in a worse position for arriving at the truth than the illiterate peasant, who believes that God has spoken to man.

It cannot be denied that such young men are tempted to act upon the maxim, "Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die." If, in accordance with the rule of professed religious neutrality, the only effectual safeguard against the snares of youth must not be mentioned, it is doubly incumbent upon all connected with Government education in India that allurements to vice should not be presented. Where conscience has few supports, where temptations beset on every side, where youthful passions are wild and strong, the utmost jealousy should be shown of every thing calculated to have an injurious moral tendency.

It is deeply to be regretted that, in some cases, in the selection of Vernacular books, sufficient care has not been taken. The Director of Public Instruction for the North-West Provinces, in his Report for 1863-64, has the following remarks :

"The Urdu subjects for the current year are not desirable books to place in the hands of students. The books I take exception to are the Nasr-i-be-Nazir, Fasanah-iAjaib. To these may be added" Selections from the Poets," (for the same examination) published by authority, on the subject of which I have been addressed by a gentleman recently in charge of a large private (affiliated) institution. He says (March 1864) Our head maulvie told me that the book was so immoral and khrab (bad) in every way, that no respectable Mahommedan would allow his son to read

it.' Yet the book must be digested for examination, whether moral or immoral."

It would appear from the above, that the professedly Christian men connected with the first University in India prescribed a book which "no respectable Muhammadan would allow his son to read."

The Madras University selected for examination in 1864 and 1865 portions of the Naishadam. Some expressions in the poem would amuse a European. The heroine is said to have had eyes reaching to her ears, and a waist as slender as a flash of lightning! The work, however, is so fascinating to a Tamil, that it has been called "the nectar of poets."

The portion for the First Examination in Arts in 1864 included 272 stanzas, as given in the edition published by the Director of Public Instruction. There are several stanzas in which Damayanti is described in a voluptuous style, with allusions to her breasts. To understand fully the poem, students would require to refer to the complete Native edition with the commentary. As the verses are numbered differently, all of them would have to be examined. In their search they would find, in compliance with the rules of Tamil poetry, a glowing description of every member of Damayanti. In preparing for the examination for 1865, they would come across, in the complete edition, the scenes which took place in the bridal bed-chamber: also as laid down in the Grammar, Agaporul.

It has often been noticed that a Hindu pundit, instead of passing over anything indelicate, seems to revel in it, and delight in explaining it in disgusting detail. Such a work as the Naishadam, even though expurgated, should be struck out of the university list, and excluded from schools.

In the case of young men anything having an immoral influence is chiefly to be dreaded. With regard to younger pupils, all encouragement of superstitious errors and inculcation of idolatry, have likewise to be guarded against.