Proceedings of the Seventeenth Anniversary Meeting of the Society, held on the 9th of May, 1840 : the Right Hon. C.W. Williams Wynn, M.P., President, in the chair.

  • Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland.
Date:
[1840]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Proceedings of the Seventeenth Anniversary Meeting of the Society, held on the 9th of May, 1840 : the Right Hon. C.W. Williams Wynn, M.P., President, in the chair. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    [May, larger accommodation; if the hopes of public assistance in obtaining more suitable apartments, though long cherished, must now be abandoned, the friends of the Society must lament the limited extent of that prosperity which ought to attend such an Institution in this great country. Much as the Council deplore this inadequate support, it was their duty not to attempt more than their resources would justify ; and they can only urge on every Member of the body the great importance of the utmost individual exertion •to increase the number of Resident Members, on whose annual subscriptions must chiefly depend the usefulness of the Society. The regulation of January, 1838, increasing the amount to be paid by Life Members, appears to have had some, though not a very considerable, effect in diminishing the number of those who compound for their subscrip- tions. The amount received from that source in the last year has been much below the average of former years; but that average is deduced from sums so very different in amount, that no positive opinion can be formed as to the eventual operation of the altered rule. The amount was something above 115/., which exceeds the receipt of the preceding year. It is more important to notice, that the alteration has not diminished the whole receipts of the So- ciety, which are larger this year than on an average of the last ten years. The Council have also the satisfaction to observe, that they continue to experience the good effects of the regulation passed in 1838, the object of which was to recover arrears of subscription, and to prevent, as far as prac- ticable, their future accumulation. They are now enabled to state, that their lists exhibit fewer defaulters than have at any former period been found upon them. ' The number of Elections during the past year has considerably exceeded that of the preceding, being nineteen Resident Members. There were two Elections of Honorary Members, one of his Highness Ikbal-ood-Dowlah, Prince of Oude, an Oriental scholar of considerable attainments, who, while in London, frequently attended the Meetings of the Society, and ex- hibited a lively interest in their proceedings ; and the other, of His Highness the Sultan of Turkey. His Highness’s donations of Oriental works not otherwise readily accessible, entitle him to be held in grateful remembrance by this Society, which has, by his death, so soon been deprived of the further advantages promised by his enlightened assistance. I Two Corresponding Members have been also added to the Society’s List: one, the Rev. C. F. Schlienz of Malta; and the other. Professor Gustavus Fluegel, the learned Editor of Haji Khalfah’s great Bibliographical Dictionary. The deaths of Members during the past year have been more than ordi- narily numerous. They include two Honorary, two Corresponding, two Foreign, and eighteen Contributing Members, and are as follows;— Honorary, H is Highness Runjit Singh, Rajah of the Punjab. H is Highness INtahmud, Sultan of Turkey,