xxxii Annual Address. [February, 1914. 



The other two events of which I wish to make special 

 mention are the Centenary of the Indian Museum and the hold- 

 ing of the first Science Congress. 



Not the least among the many scientific institutions and 

 departments now under Government control that owe their 

 origin to the Asiatic Society is the Indian Museum. A hundred 

 years ago, thirty years after the foundation of the Society, Dr. 

 Nathaniel Wallich, the eminent Botanist, suggested to our 

 Council that a Museum should be formed, offering his own ser- 

 vices as Honorary Curator and also duplicate specimens from 

 His own valuable collections. His offer was enthusiastically 

 received. It is interesting to note that Wallich was not an 

 Englishman, but a Danish Jew, and who was taken as a pri- 

 soner of war at the Seige of Serampore, but released on account 

 of his scientific attainments. He subsequently became the head 

 of the Royal Botanic Gardens at Sibpur. Sir Asutosh Mukharji, 

 the present Chairman of the Trustees of the Indian Museum, 

 described in a recent erudite address, which many of us had the 

 privilege of hearing, the growth and development of the great 

 Institution that sprang from Wallich 's suggestion. The Centen- 

 ary has been celebrated in Calcutta with the dignity due to so 

 well-established an Institution, and perhaps no more fitting 

 temporary memorial could have been devised than the special 

 Centenary Exhibition, arranged to serve as an epitome of the 

 various sections of the Museum. The question of raising a 

 more permanent record or aid to progress is still to be consi- 

 dered by the Centenary Committee of which I am the Chairman. 



The first of what we hope may be a long series of Indian 

 Science Congresses recently met in our historic meeting-room 

 under the auspices of our Society. Representatives from all 

 parts of India assembled to read and discuss scientific papers, 

 and, what is perhaps more important, to become acquainted 

 with one another personally and with one another's work. 

 The Government of India liberally assisted its Scientific Officers 

 to take part in the Congress by permitting them to visit Calcutta 

 on duty. The date of the first meeting was a day of the 130th 

 anniversary of the foundation of the Society ; that the assis- 

 tance of our Council should have been involved in convening 

 the Congress is in itself a proof that the Society's old age is 

 not its dotage, and our thanks are due to Mr. Hooper, and to 

 the members of the Local Committee, for the manner in which 

 our traditions were maintained on this important occasion. It 

 is hoped that arrangements may be made for the publication, 

 in a fitting and convenient form, of the Proceedings of the 

 Congress which has requested us to make the necessary arrange- 

 ments. 



I feel I cannot close without reference to the early depar- 

 ture of two of our most distinguished members— Dr. Denison 

 Ross and Mr. Hooper. Mr. Hooper's connection with the 



