351 
engineer, Cooke went to India in 1860 as an engineer in the service 
of the Bombay, Baroda and Central India Railway, then under 
construction ; while in the service of this corporation he had charge 
of the building of the great iron bridge at Bassein, over 4000 feet 
long, which carries the line northwards to Surat. The work of the 
talented and versatile young engineer attracted the attention of 
Government, and in 1865 he was chosen to fill the important post 
of Principal of the Civil Engineering College at Poona. ‘This 
college, with widened scope, developed into the Poona College of 
cience, and the principalship was he Cooke with all the 
success that his wide and varied knowledge, his unvarying tact, and 
a Flora, though deferred had not, however, en 
abandoned, and in 1898, Cooke resubmitted the original pro : 
w on this occasion met with the approval of the Secretary 0 
Western India in 1891, he placed a moiety of his magnificent 
private collection in the Hechastia: of the College of Science at 
Poona, retaining the other moiety as a wo used 1i 
preparation of “the Flora. This personal set he aK — him 
England, and when his employment as author o M e “ee " 
sanctioned he brought his specimens with him we ew, W - a 
ook up permanent residence in order that he might carry out the 
work in the Herbarium there. - : ; 
