44 Address. [Feb. 



At the same time I must confess that the task imposed upon our 

 Presidents of giving an annaal address is, as Mr. Medlicott remarked in 

 his very practical address as President tea years ago, somewhat more 

 or less of an incubus. Coming as it does at the busy season of the year, 

 it is really very difficult to find time to put together anything like 

 satisfactory resume of the literary and scientific work of the year and 

 for the same reason, one feels disinclined to ask one's friends to share 

 the labour, though I must gratefully acknowledge the kind assist- 

 ance I have received in preparing my address last year and again this 

 year. 



During the year steady and active progress seems to have been made 

 in India in all branches of the subjects falling within our ordinaiy scope, 

 thouo-h there is nothing exceptional to record. As usual, we have to 

 look to the scientific departments of Government for the principal addi- 

 tions to our knowledge of Indian geography, geology and mineralogy, 

 meteorology, botany (scientific and economic), chemistry, archaeology, 

 biology and, to a very great extent, of zoology, which seems to be the 

 one subject that appeals moi-e than any other to the private worker. 

 It is satisfactory to note the increasingly practical and remunerative 

 tendency of the work done in the Glovernment scientific departments, 

 though pure science is by no means neglected. There are few countries 

 where so much scientific work is done by Grovernment as in India, as evi- 

 denced by the many valuable publications that are yearly brought out in 

 the branches of science above enumerated. When we contrast the state 

 of Indian scientific literature now with what it was when I joined the 

 service some 30 years ago, the value and amount of the work of this 

 kind done by the Government will be clearly seen. There were then 

 no Archgeological Surveys, no Meteorological Department, no Scientific 

 Annals of any kind except, I believe, the Records of the Geological 

 Survey, and the Reports of the Great Trigonometrical Survey. The 

 principal Museum in the country was our own, and most of the scientific 

 work done was by members of our Society. As I remarked last year, 

 it is in many ways an advantage that scientific work in India should 

 be centralised in departments under Government, still it is to be 

 reo-retted that there are not more private workers in the field. I 

 have been very much struck in going through the scientific literature 

 of the year to see how little attention seems to be paid to India as 

 a field for scientific work, especially considering the comparatively large 

 number of travellers and visitors who now come to this country and 

 often spend some time here. Of scientific works, either in English on 

 the vei'nacularu, by native authors, there appear to be few or none 

 beyond elementary school books. I am glad, however, to hear that more 



