664 SCIENCE PROGRESS 



on the otherwise enthusiastic delegate be passed over in silence. In educational 

 work the cold season, and therefore the most suitable time in India for all 

 Congresses, is perhaps the busiest time of the academic year. 



The Indian Science Congress held its first meeting at Calcutta in January 1913, 

 and since then its meetings have been held at Madras, Lucknow, and recently 

 (January 1917) at Bangalore. Each meeting has been very successful, and the 

 attendance has been larger than one might have expected. A Science Congress 

 is on the whole very much like that of a meeting of the British Association. 

 There is the large meeting with the Presidential address, there is the formal 

 reception, there are the sectional meetings, public lectures, joint discussions, and 

 there are the excursions which, in India, do not have to be curtailed on account 

 of the war. 



The meeting at Bangalore was held under the patronage of His Highness the 

 Maharaja of Mysore, G.C.S.I., G.C.I.E. ; and Sir A. G. Bourne, K.C.I.E., F.R.S., 

 Director of the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, and formerly Director of 

 Public Instruction in Madras, was the President. As usual each of the six 

 sections into which the Congress is divided held its own meetings under its own 

 President. In all sections a considerable amount of work was got through, and it 

 may surprise many to know that eleven papers were read in the Agriculture 

 section, fifteen papers in that devoted to Botany, nineteen in Chemistry, seven in 

 Geology, nine in Physics and Mathematics, and eleven in Zoology and Ethno- 

 graphy. Unfortunately, lack of space prevents any adequate description being 

 given of the communications, but it is interesting to note that pure and applied 

 science were both well represented. In connection with the latter, attention may 

 be directed to the communications in the Chemistry section by members of the 

 staff of the Indian Institute of Science at Bangalore, which show that scientific 

 work of great economic importance to Mysore is in active progress. Of the three 

 public lectures one was on the topical subject of " Explosives." The full report 

 of the meeting will be published later by the Asiatic Society of Bengal, and this 

 will afford interesting reading to those interested in the development of scientific 

 research in India. 



That those responsible for the success and progress of the Science Congress 

 do not regard it as having yet attained its full development, is shown by the fact 

 that one of the discussions was on " The Future of the Indian Science Congress." 

 From a scientific point of view India teems with immense possibilities. The 

 difficulties in the way of rapid progress in science are perhaps greater there than 

 in most places. These difficulties can be surmounted, and the Indian Science 

 Congress, even in a short time, has shown that amongst its members are English- 

 men and Indians capable of working for a healthy development of India and 

 Indian resources. 



The Committee on the Neglect of Science. 



This Committee has not been idle since its Conference of May 3rd, 1916. 1 It 

 has distributed 13,000 copies of the Report of the Proceedings of the Conference, 

 which include those forwarded to Members of both Houses of Parliament, Fellows 

 of the Royal Society, Editors of the leading newspapers, the Chambers of Com- 

 merce, the Prime Minister and Minister for Education in every self-governing 

 Colony, and members of many other distinguished bodies. 



Representatives of the Committee have come into touch with Lord Crewe and 

 Mr. Stanley Heath, C.B., Civil Service Commissioner, in order to discuss with 

 1 Science Progress, July 1916, p. 146. 



