Then the preface, which must embrace some account of the Rig-veda, the Sama-veda, the Yagur-veda, and the Atharva-veda, with the Brahmanas, could hardly be completed in less than ten volumes.

Now, if we apportion one volume to each year, there is every prospect of the family coming to an end of its task about the date 2250, the twelfth generation completing the work, while the thirteenth might occupy itself upon the index." "And how are our descendants to live, sir," I asked, with a smile, "during the progress of this great undertaking:'" "That's the worst of you, Jack," my father cried petulantly.

"There is nothing practical about you.

Instead of confining your attention to the working out of my noble scheme, you begin raising all sorts of absurd objections.

It is a mere matter of detail how our descendants live, so long as they stick to the Djarmas.