the Altar, and other pieces illustrating the ancient religious views and practices of the Chinese, in the Shih King or Book of Poetry; the Yî King; the Lî Kî; and the Hsiâo King or Classic of Filial Piety, will all be given, it is hoped, entire. Of the latter, the Series will contain the Kung Yung or Doctrine of the Mean; the Tâ Hsio or Great Learning; all Confucius' utterances in the Lun Yü or Confucian Analects, which are of a religious nature, and refer to the principles of his moral system; and Măng-zze's Doctrine of the Goodness of Human Nature. 5. For the system of Lâo-zze we require only a translation of the Tâo-teh King with some of its commentaries, and, it may be, an authoritative work to illustrate the actual operation of its principles. 6. For Islam, all that is essential is a trustworthy translation of the Koran. It will be my endeavour to divide the twenty-four volumes which are contemplated in this Series as equally as possible among the six religions. But much must depend on the assistance which I receive from Oriental scholars, and also on the interest and the wishes of the public. OXFORD, October, 1876. F. MAX MÜLLER. The following distinguished scholars, all of them occupying the foremost rank in their own special departments of Oriental literature, are at present engaged in preparing translations of some of the Sacred Books of the East: S. Beal, R. G. Bhandarkar, G. Bühler, A. Burnell, E. B. Cowell, J. Darmesteter, T. W. Rhys Davids, J. Eggeli SOC V. Fausböll, H. Jacobi, J. Jolly, H. Kern, F. K horn, J. Legge, H. Oldenberg, E. H. Palme Pischel, K. T. Telang, E. W. West. CIRCULATING+LIBRAKY+> The works which for the present have selected for translation are the following I. ANCIENT VEDIC RELIGK Hymns of the Rig-veda. I. ANCIENT VEDIC have bee The Upanishads. The Grihya-sutras of Hiranyakesin and others. II. LAW-BOOKS IN PROSE. The Sutras of Âpastamba, Gautama, Baudhâyana, Vasishtha, Vishnu, &c. III. LAW-BOOKS IN VERSE. The Laws of Manu, Yâgñavalkya, &c. IV. LATER BRAHMANISM. The Bhagavad-gîtâ. The Vâyu-purâna. V. BUDDHISM. 1. Pali Documents. The Mahâparinibbâna Sutta, the Tevigga Sutta, the Mahasudassana Sutta, the Dhammakakkappavattana Sutta; the Suttanipâta; the Mahâvagga, the Kullavagga, and the Pâtimokkha. 2. Sanskrit Documents. The Divyâvadâna and Saddharmapundarîka. 3. Chinese Documents. The Phû-yâo King, or life of Buddha. 4. Prakrit Gaina Documents. The Âkârânga Sûtra, Dasavaikâlika Sûtra, Sûtrakritânga, and Uttarâdhyayana Sûtra. VI. PARSI RELIGION. 1. Zend Documents. The Vendidâd. 2. Pehlevi and Parsi Documents. The Bundahis, Bahman Yasht, Shâyast-lâ-shâyast, Dâdistâni Dînî, Mainyôi Khard. VII. MOHAMMEDANISM. The Koran. VIII. CHINESE RELIGION. 1. Confucianism. The Shû King, Shih King, Hsiâo King, Yi King, Li Kì, Lun Yi, and Măng-jze. 2. Tâoism. The Tâo-teh King, Kwang-ze, and Kan Ying Phien. TRANSLITERATION OF ORIENTAL ALPHABETS. The system of transcribing Oriental words with Roman types, adopted by the translators of the Sacred Books of the East, is, on the whole, the same which I first laid down in my Proposals for a Missionary Alphabet, 1854, and which afterwards I shortly described in my Lectures on the Science of Language, Second Series, p. 169 (ninth edition). That system allows of great freedom in its application to different languages, and has, therefore, recommended itself to many scholars, even if they had long been accustomed to use their own system of transliteration. It rests in fact on a few principles only, which may be applied to individual languages according to the views which each student has formed for himself of the character and the pronunciation of the vowels and consonants of any given alphabet. It does not differ essentially from the Standard Alphabet proposed by Professor Lepsius. It only endeavours to realise, by means of the ordinary types which are found in every printing office, what my learned friend has been enabled to achieve, it may be in a more perfect manner, by means of a number of new types with diacritical marks, cast expressly for him by the Berlin Academy. The general principles of what, on account of its easy application to all languages, I have called the Missionary Alphabet, are these: I. No letters are to be used which do not exist in ordinary founts. 2. The same Roman type is always to represent the same foreign letter, and the same foreign letter is always to be represented by the same Roman type. 3. Simple letters are, as a rule, to be represented by simple, compound by compound types. 4. It is not attempted to indicate the pronunciation of foreign languages, but only to represent foreign letters by Roman types, leaving the pronunciation to be learnt, as it is now, from grammars or from conversation with natives. 5. The foundation of every system of transliteration must consist of a classification of the typical sounds of human speech. Such classification may be more or less perfect, more or less minute, according to the objects in view. For ordinary purposes the classification in vowels and consonants, and of consonants again in gutturals, dentals, and labials suffices. In these three classes we distinguish hard (not-voiced) and sonant (voiced) consonants, each being liable to aspiration; nasals, sibilants, and semivowels, some of these also, being either voiced or not-voiced. 6. After having settled the typical sounds, we assign to them, as much as possible, the ordinary Roman types of the first class. 7. We then arrange in every language which possesses a richer alphabet, all remaining letters, according to their affinities, as modifications of the nearest typical letters, or as letters of the second and third class. Thus linguals in Sanskrit are treated as nearest to dentals, palatals to gutturals. 8. The manner of expressing such modifications is uniform throughout. While all typical letters of |