Considering the fact that the Mīmāṃsā, the Vedānta, the Sāṃkhya, and the Yoga schools owe their origin directly to the Vedas, the Brāhmaṇas, and the Upaniṣads, it may be expected that the doctrines of these would have been systematized and put together into the form of the Sūtras earlier than those of the Vaiśeṣika and the Nyāya schools, the essential tenets of which had their beginnings in a later and different kind of literature. This expectation, however, seems to be belied by the fact that the present Sāṃkhya-sūtras have been proved to belong to a very late period, as late as the fourteenth century a.d.; and the Yoga-sūtras are now believed by a number of scholars, following Professors Jacobi and Woods, to be as late as the fourth or fifth century a.d. Now, while the gap of an early systematic work on the Sāṃkhya is filled up by the Sāṃkhya-kārikā, or it may be explained by the surmise that there was an early Sūtra work, either a shorter form of the present one or altogether different from it, which is lost, the Yoga-sūtras are all that we have as a systematic exposition of the Yoga doctrines, and there is no reason to believe that they were preceded by another work of a similar nature. • The question, then, is whether the systematization of such an early school of thought as the Yoga would have been postponed until as late as the fourth or fifth century a.d., and until after the systematization of the doctrines of even the Vaiśeṣika and the Nyāya schools, which began later on, and the Sūtras of which definitely contain a reference to the Yoga doctrines of mystic intuition and concentration.

Mr. Woolley said that the eighth season which they had just finished at Ur had been the most interesting historically and in some ways the most exciting season they had yet had: it was also undoubtedly the most varied. They were able to get plans of buildings, antiquities, etc., illustrating practically every phase in the history of the town of Ur from the 6th century b.c. back to a period which we cannot date, but which we call pictorially the Period of the Flood. Their programme when they started consisted of three principal objects—the first to clear up the plan of the city, tracing out its walls and fortifications which they knew to belong for the most part to the period of 2000 b.c., roughly speaking the period of Abraham. Then they had to go on with the great cemetery which in previous seasons had paid them so richly; and thirdly, they had to enlarge upon the work done in the season before when a trial pit brought to light material evidence of the flood and of a civilization older than the flood and following on after it. Dealing with the town defences he said he could not yet show them a complete plan, but could show a section of the wall and explain the character of what had been found. The whole circuit of the wall is nearly two and a half miles; they followed it all along. The defences consist for the most part of great ramparts of mud brick, solidly built throughout, to a height of 26 ft.

Parmi les génies tutélaires des villes du Nord-Ouest de l'Inde, la Mahāmāyurī cite le yakṣa Kharaposta dont le nom est traduit en chinois par “peau d'âne”. Khara signifie âne en indo-aryen, mais posta manque aux lexiques Sanskrits. Gauthiot en étudiant le mot voisin pustaka a montré qu'on devait en chercher l'origine dans l'iranien pōst (avest. pašta, pehl. pōst, pers. pūst) “peau”. Skr. pusta ou pustaka “manuscrit” dérive d'un mot iranien signifiant “peau” parce que le pustaka était d'abord un manuscrit sur peau dont l'usage se répandit de l'Iran dans 1'Inde du Nord-Ouest.

Coming at length to Khotan, we observe first that it is frequently mentioned in the documents under its name Hu-ten or with minor variations, such as Hu-den (M.T. a, iii, 0063), Hu-then (M.T. b, i, 0098). The country and the inhabitants are designated Li as in the other known sources. The material may be grouped under heads as follows:—I: The Khotan district and city, including A, The two rivers; B, The Parishes and streets; C, Temples or Monasteries; D, The citadel of Khotan; E, The Khotan King; F, Amacas, a Nan-rje-po and a Dmag-pon. II: Śin-śan. III: Gyu-mo, Ho-toṅ Gyu-mo, and Ho-se Gyu-mo. IV: Places with names ending in rtse. V: Other places presumably in the Khotan region. VI: Places or states adjacent to, or connected with, the Khotan region. VII: Personal names of Khotanī people. VIII: The Khotan language.

The majority of Arab weather prognostics are, as might be expected, concerned with the winter season, when the changeable weather gives scope for forecasting. The summer months in most Arabic-speaking lands are rainless, and except for wind changes offer little or no field for the activity of the weather prognosticator. The sun and moon, the stars, the rainbow, mist, dew, thunder and lightning, birds and insects all form constituents in Arabic weather forecasts.

In the Journal for 1923, pp. 386–90, in the Series of “Pictographic Reconnaissances”, Part V, a small set of ancient forms was discussed and illustrated which I gave reasons for considering the original scription of the word hsün, now written and meaning to question, examine with authority, and, in the phrase, chih hsün, standing for “bound captives”. It was there maintained that the archaic form represented a kneeling human figure having the arms pinioned behind with cords. Fig. 21 on p. 389 of that Paper, reproduced as Fig. 1 on Plate II of the present Number, shows best the conception of the early design.