ART. VI. Asiatic Researches ; or Transactions of the Society instituted in Bengal, for inquiring into the History and Antiquities, the Arts, Sciences, and Literature, of Asia. Vol. the Eighth *. 4to. pp. 58. Printed at Calcutta. 1805. Imported by Cadell and Davies. London. Price 11. 118. 6d.

Talways gives us pleasure to receive the reports of a body

of men whose objects are so commendable, so important, and so fertile as those of the Asiatic Society. We had our fears that the loss of the inestimable founder of this institution might even be fatal to its continuance; but though it must ever be severely felt, we are happy in obtaining proofs that the members are still zealous in the cause for which they are associated, and active in their exertions to promote it.

The present volume, however, affords us no account of the internal state of the society; of the countenance which it still derives from "men in authority," nor of the aid which it obtains from its existing president, by whom no Discourses are here delivered. The evidence of the papers themselves, then, is our only information respecting the proceedings of this learned body; and to them we must now apply for this purpose.

Our attention is first directed to a communication intitled Observations on the Remarkable Effects of Sol-lunar Influence in the Fevers of India; with the Scheme of an Astronomical Ephemeris for the Purposes of Medicine and Meteorology. By FRANCIS BALFOUR, ESQ. M. D.-Dr. BALFOUR here calls the attention of the society to a subject on which he has before given his sentiments to the public; viz. the effects which planetary attraction exercises on the human body, more particularly when under the influence of fever. In the healthy state, thefe effects are not sufficiently powerful to become manifest; but when, from any circumstance, debility is induced, the sol-lunar action is supposed to be eapable of producing a febrile paroxysm. These paroxysms, originating from the same cause with the tides, have a tendency to take place at the same times; and on this principle the author explains the periodical accessions, which constitute all the different types that fevers assume. The following are the fundamental positions of his doctrine, and the general theorem which he deduces from them:

1st. That the paroxyms of fevers are produced by the action of sol-lunar influence.

zdly. That there is, however, a certain state of the human constitution, denominated the paroxysmal disposition, required to concur with the exacerbations of sol-lupar power in exciting and reiterating paroxysms, in such a manner as to form fevers.

* For Vols. vi. and vii. see M. R. Vols. xlv. and xlvi. N. S.

3dly. That

3dly. That in the course of the disease there takes place in the constitution a certain state, denominated the critical disposition, which tending gradually to maturity, at length concurs with certain remis. sions of sol-lunar power in producing a crisis; by which salutary change the tendency to paroxysm is diminished or removed, so as to bring fevers to an end after certain intervals of time.

Theorem. The fluctuating force of sol-lunar influence coinciding and co-operating in all its various stages and degrees, with the various modifications of the paroxysmal disposition, excites febrile paroxysms to attack on all the days of the neaps and springs, and supports and reiterates them, according to various types, until the commencement of different neaps; at which junctures the maturity of the critical disposition happening to concur with the periodical decline of sollunar influence, these paroxysms then subside and come to a termination or crisis: and thus form different successions of paroxysms constituting fevers of various length or duration.'

According to Dr. B., not only the general character of the disease but even its particular symptoms are materially affected by this sol-lunar attraction: for he observes that a regular fluctuation occurs in the color and consistence of the urine in fever, corresponding to the positions of the sun and moon; and that the appearance of eruptions, sores, and ulcers, undergoes similar changes.

Proceeding on this principle, Dr. BALFOUR has found that fevers are most frequent about the equinoxes; at which periods, the influence of the sun and moon is more powerfully excited, and the tides rise to greater heights. In support of his doctrine, and to shew that the same effects are produced in other quarters of the globe, he refers to some remarks made by Dr. Currie on the fevers in Liverpool; from which it appears that in that town, during a period of 17 years, the disease prevails more frequently at the equinoxes than at the solstices. From Dr. Currie's statement, Dr. BALFOUR deduces these propositions :

1st. That whilst the temperature of the season in the spring was passing from cold to hot, the number of typhus fevers rose about above the common standard.

2dly. That whilst the temperature of the season in the autumn was passing from hot to cold, the number of typhus fevers rose in like manner about above the common standard.

3dly. That during the months of summer, when the heat of the season is greatest, the number of typhus fevers fell beneath the common standard about; and

4thly. That during the months of winter, when the heat of the season is kast, the number of typhus fevers fell in like manner below the common standard in the same proportion, about 4.'

As may be conceived, Dr. B. regards this as a striking illustration of his doctrine: but we confess that we are more dis

posed to consider it only as an example of the greater effect produced by a variable temperature, than by the extreme of heat or cold which occurs in England.

The existence of this sol-lunar influence is a mere question of fact; and although we believe it is not to be discovered in this country more than in India, where all meteorological phænomena are much more uncertain, and are affected by many incidental circumstances, we must acknowlege that a powerful body of evidence exists in favor of its agency in tropical regions. Its effect. on the ocean is most evident, and perhaps we may add on the atmosphere; and therefore we see nothing repugnant to the principles of philosophy in supposing that it may affect the human body. Farther experience and observation alone can decide the inquiry.

Extract from a Journal, during the Late Campaign in Egypt. By Captain C. B. BURR.-We are here presented with accounts of the temple of Dendera, or Tentyris, similar to those which have been recently published by the French. Speaking of the figures on the walls, Captain B. observes,

The dresses, the utensils, canoes, and many of the articles of the domestic economy of the ancient Egyptians, are herein represented in the most minute and pleasing manner; and the entire state of these figures, not only in shape, but colouring, conveys the most perfect idea of the habits of the times. A vast resemblance exists in the dresses with those at present worn in India; the cholie of the woman, the moond, and many others, claiming a direct comparison. It has often struck me, and never more forcibly than in contemplating this temple and its sculptures, that there must have existed a much greater affinity in the customs of, and of course a more friendly intercourse amongst, the nations of the East formerly, when they pursued one system of worship, than since the introduction of Christianity, and Mahometanism.'

Some natives of Eastern Asia having accompanied our troops, Captain BURR had an opportunity of witnessing the impression which these relics of Egyptian idolatry, having perhaps the same origin with that of the Hindus, produced on their minds:

Our Indian followers, who had attended us, beheld the scene before them with a degree of admiration, bordering on veneration; arising not only from the affinity they traced in several of the figures to their own deities, but from their conviction of its being the work of some Rácshas, who they conceived had visited the earth, to transmit to an admiring posterity a testimony of supernatural talents.'

Of the Origin of the Hindu Religion. By J. D. PATTERSON Esq.-That" more was meant than met the ear," or the eye, in the religious institutions of the Heathens, is very certain;

since we are informed of mysteries intended to explain to the initiated that which, under figures and ceremonies, was concealed from the vulgar. It is to be lamented that none of the books used in the mysteries have descended to us; and that we are forced in a great measure to appeal to conjecture, for explanations of their sacred fables and mythologies. The deities of the Iliad, though they play so absurd a part, and must impress all persons of reflection with a contempt for the idolatry of the Greeks, might originally have been invented as mere signs of the parts and powers of nature; and it is highly probable that the Metamorphoses of Ovid have a meaning to which, not having the key, we cannot attain. Hieroglyphic writing having introduced an extensive use of emblems, they were employed to express philosophical as well as other ideas; and it is natural to conclude that when, in after ages, these were attempted to be interpreted, they occasioned gross errors and mistakes. It may reasonably be supposed that the mythology of the Greeks, which is of very high antiquity, is founded on symbolical representations; and in many instances they appear to have been ignorant of its original purport. We can perhaps scarcely expect that, after a lapse of ages, we should completely enlighten the darkness which rests on this mysterious subject but our connection with the east affords an opportunity for making the experiment, and such essays as that before us cannot fail of being gratefully received by the learned world. Mr. Patterson's account of the Origin of the Hindu Religion contains at least a plausible conjecture, which is offered to the public with much diffidence; and which, if it be admitted, will help to explain Grecian as well as Hindu fables and rites. We cannot more neatly exhibit his view of the subject than by employing his own words:

The Hindu religion appears to me to have been originally a reform of existing systems, when the arts and sciences had arrived at a degree of perfection; that it was intended to correct the ferociousness and corruption of the times, and to reduce mankind to an artificial order on a firmer base of polity; that it was the united effort of a society of sages, who retained the priesthood to themselves and rendered it hereditary in their families by the division of the people into separate casts; that it was supported by the regal authority, which, while it controuled, it supported in return: that it was promulgated in all its perfection at once as a revelation of high antiquity, to stamp its decrees with greater authority; and that it was founded on pure Deism, of which the Gayatri, translated by Sir William Jones, is a striking proof; but to comply with the gross ideas of the multitude who required a visible object of their devotion, they personified the shree great attributes of the deity.

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The first founders of the Hindu religion do not appear to have had the intention of bewildering their followers with metaphysical definitions; their description of the deity was confined to those attributes which the wonders of the creation so loudly attest: his almighty power to create; his providence to preserve; and his power to annihilate or change what he has created.

In fact, no idea of the deity can be formed beyond this: it is simple, but it forces conviction upon the mind. This simplicity however was destroyed, when they attempted to describe these attributes to the eye, by hieroglyphics; perhaps letters had not then been invented in which case they could have no other mode of instruction than by signs and emblematical figures.

In order to impress on the minds of men a sense of their total and absolute dependance on him, by whom they live, and from whom they have their being, they invented the hieroglyphical figures of

for

BRAHMA had originally five heads, alluding to the five elements; hence in one of the forms given to Si'va, as the Creator, he is likewise represented with five heads. But the introduction of imagesgoon led the mass of mankind to consider these personified attributes as real distinct personages; and as one error brings with it many others in its train, men separated into sects, each selecting one of the triad, the particular object of their devotion, in preference to and exclusive of the others: the followers of VISHNU and Si'VA invented a new symbol each, to ascribe to their respective divinity the attribute of creation. This contention for pre-eminence ended in the total suppression of the worship of BRAHMA, and the temporary submission of the sect of VISHNU, to the superiority of Si'va; but this did not last long; the two rival sects raised crusades against each other; hordes of armed fanatics, under the titles of Sannyasis and Vairagi enlisted themselves as champions of their respective faith; the former devoted their lives in support of the superiority of Siva, and the latter were no less zealous for the rights of VISHNU: alternate victory and defeat marked the progress of a religious war, which