0), "when we were reading the translation of
Manu, by Sir W. Jones, a note led us to consult the Indian commentator,
Kulluka Bha_tt_a, when we found an allusion to the sacrifice of a son by
his father prevented by God himself after he had commanded it. We then had
only one _idee fixe_--namely, to find again in the dark mass of the
religious books of the Hindu, the original account of that event. We
should never have succeeded but for 'the complaisance' of a Brahman with
whom we were reading Sanskrit, and who, yielding to our request, brought
us from the library of his pagoda the works of the theologian Ramatsariar,
which have yielded us such precious assistance in this volume."

As to the story of the son offered as a sacrifice by his father, and
released at the command of the gods, M. Jacolliot might have found the
original account of it from the Veda, both text and translation, in my
"History of Ancient Sanskrit Literature." He would soon have seen that the
story of _S_una_hs_epa being sold by his father in order to be sacrificed
in the place of an Indian prince, has very little in common with the
intended sacrifice of Isaac by Abraham. M. Jacolliot has, no doubt, found
out by this time that he has been imposed upon; and if so, he ought to
follow the example of Colonel Wilford, and publicly state what has
happened. Even then, I doubt not that his statements will continue to be
quoted for a long time, and that _Adima_ and _Heva_, thus brought to life
again, will make their appearance in many a book and many a lecture-room.

Lest it be supposed that such accidents happen to Sanskrit scholars only,
or that this fever is bred only in the jungles of Indian mythology, I
shall mention at least one other case which will show that this disease is
of a more general character, and that want of caution will produce it in
every climate.

Before the discovery of Sanskrit, China had stood for a long time in the
place which was afterwards occupied by India. When the ancient literature
and civilization of China became first known to the scholars of Europe,
the Celestial Empire had its admirers and prophets as full of enthusiasm
as Sir W. Jones and Lieutenant Wilford, and there was nothing, whether
Greek philosophy or Christian morality, that was not supposed to have had
its first origin among the sages of China. The proceedings of the Jesuit
missionaries in China were most extraordinary. They had themselves
admitted the antiquity of