62 President's Address. [Feb. 



accuracy with which eclipses are calculated, while the visitor to Delhi or 

 Benares will not have failed to he struck and deeply struck with the nohle 

 remains of the observatories of old, and will have dwelt with grief on the 

 decay of knowledge since the days when such wondrous erections w r ere not 

 considered too costly or extensive for astronomical observations. Indeed it 

 would seem that the maintenance of such observatories is one of those things 

 which commend themselves to the wealthier natives of this land. And if 

 trained observers, accustomed to work with the improved instruments of 

 modern days, were available, I think we would be j ustified in anticipating 

 that in many places such would be utilized ; and their results, guided into 

 proper channels by advice and system, would prove most valuable adjuncts 

 to any general system of investigation. It is certain, that the establishment 

 of such an observatory does hold out hopes of a successful teaching of astro- 

 nomy which have long been sought, but have never existed in this country. 

 Another noble undertaking on the part of the British Government, in 

 which Indian naturalists and geographers are deeply interested, is the ex- 

 pedition of H. M. S. ' Challenger' for a three or four years' cruise, with a view 

 to the investigation, by dredgings and other means, of the physical history of 

 the bottom of the sea, its currents, its temperature, its depth. Looking to the 

 wonderful results obtained by a similar expedition under the guidance of the 

 veteran Agassiz round the south coast of America we are justified in anticipat- 

 ing for the well organized and fully equipped expedition of the Challenger re- 

 sults of the very highest importance to Natural History, to geology, and to 

 physics. And we doubt not that these hopes will be fully verified. But we 

 in India, are especially interested in this expedition, inasmuch as we are, as it 

 appears to me, bound to make every effort to supplement the researches of th e 

 Challenger, by similar investigations within our own waters. The Indian seas 

 are not included, indeed have been excluded from the route adopted for the 

 Challenger, and unless Indian naturalists can obtain the required information 

 in other ways, there is no hope of obtaining it at all. A Committee of our 

 Society has been organized for the purpose, as you are already aware ; the 

 necessary funds for the purchase of instruments have been granted, and these 

 instruments are in progress ; and it now only wants that a ship suited for the 

 purpose may be placed at the disposal of the Committee, so that the work 

 may be carried out. The ground to be examined is almost a virgin soil. There 

 have not, that I am aware of, ever been any dredgings worth notice round our 

 shores ; and even the recent littoral conchology of the Indian seas is very 

 slightly known. An immense area of country is now formed of rocks of 

 comparatively very recent formation round the coast of India, and it is simply 

 impossible that the study of their rich molluscan fauna can ever be carried 

 out effectively until the recent and living molluscs of the existing ocean are 

 better known. 



