Career
Arbuthnot"s early career was spent as a civil servant in India. His last post was as Collector for the Bombay government. His first name is sometimes spelled "Foster".
Arbuthnot was well versed in the ancient literature of India.
He also wrote the books Arabic Authors, The Mysteries of Chronology, Early Ideas (1881, under the pseudonym Anaryan) and Sex Mythology, Including an Account of the Masculine Cross (1898, privately printed), which attempts to trace the phallic origins of religious symbols. He edited the Rawżat aṣ-ṣafāʾ (روضة الصفا, ‘garden of purity’) by Mīr-Khvānd, translated by the Orientalist Edward Rehatsek from 1891 to 1894 (Pt I, Volume(s) I.
Pt I, Volume(s) World War II Pt II, Volume(s) III. Etc).
lieutenant is largely due to his work that several of the masterpieces of Arabic, Persian and Indian literature first became available in English translation.