My object in the present essay on the Bábís is twofold. Firstly, I desire to bring to the notice of those who are interested in the history of thought generally, and Oriental thought in particular, the results of my investigations into the doctrines, history, and circumstances of a religious body which appears to me to constitute one of the most remarkable phenomena of the present century.

In two previous papers written in the Journal of this Society I have adduced reasons for believing that the earliest Indian civilization was originated by the Dravidian immigrant races who formed stable governments in the countries previously ruled under the more loosely organized system of the Kolarian tribes, and who founded and maintained a flourishing internal and foreign trade. In my latest paper I brought forward arguments, based chiefly on the early religious history of India, to prove that there were at least two Dravidian immigrations into Northern India before the Aryans entered the country, or at least before the arrival of that section of the Aryan race who founded the Brahmanical religion. The first Dravidian immigrants were the Accadian moon and snake worshippers, called in India Haihayas, or Sombunsi, the sons of the moon or Lunar Rajputs, and the second were the Semite-Accad trading and warrior tribes, called Sukas Sans, sons of Ikshvaku, or Solar Rajputs. These latter immigrants worshipped the snake as their predecessors had done, but regarded the snake sun-god Vasuki, or Vishnu, as their parent and as the true symbol of the creative energy of nature, instead of the moon, which had occupied a similar position in the theology of their Accadian predecessors.

Whether the division and classification of linguistic affinities will always remain such as are propounded at the present day, or whether in due course and as a result of further research, this arrangement will have to make way for other conclusions, is not the question intended to be discussed here. The object of this paper is merely an attempt to bring together some historical, geographical, and literary databased upon more recent investigations, referring chiefly to one single linguistic branch, namely, the Ugor division of the Ural-Altaic family of languages,- to point out the habitat and numbers belonging to the various tribes classified under that head, and to bring down, as far as possible to our own day, the history of linguistic researches in that special field of study.

The dialectical variations of a language principally consist of deviations from the standard rules of Grammar and accent, and in the adoption of certain words in preference to others. In this latter respect Arabic is particularly remarkable, as owing to the copiousness of its vocabulary, its dialects are so strongly marked as to render the speech of an uneducated inhabitant of one province sometimes almost unintelligible to an equally uneducated inhabitant of another province. In the case of educated Arabs, however, although the colloquial language may be affected by the dialectical influence, still, in writing, the established rules of grammar are generally observed, and words with universally accepted meaning are only nsed. It follows, therefore, that the state of education of a province must influence to a considerable extent the degree of departure from standard rules in the dialect of that province.

So well-intended, almost sympathetic, and, in some sense, ingeniously expressed an exposition of Elementary Arabic as that of Mr. Frederic Dupré Thornton, deserves every encouragement, but even the author himself would perhaps feel as much surprise as gratification to find his method of instruction approved in every respect by the majority of scholars and students whom it may concern. To facilitate the study of the language in question, with its mathematically precise yet essentially intricate grammar, difference of opinion must exist as to the better way, and this difference will at once become apparent in elementary as well as in advanced treatises by independent writers. Nothing, for example, can be simpler, shorter, or less pretentious in form than the present publication. Practically, it consists of ten pages only; for if out of the sixty-four which constitute the whole book we deduct the Preface and Appendix, there remain no more than this number. They set forth the native alphabet and corresponding English letters, and explain a system of transliteration which, however Indian in principle, we believe to be sufficiently sound for ordinary purposes, and more appropriate for ordinary learners than one of stricter science or minuter erudition. But the exposition is suggestive of objections, the nature of which will be made evident if exception be taken to the results of the author's experience in certain matters of detail.