xc Proceedings of the Asiat. Soc. of Bengal. [May, 1914. 



ordination of scientific work and co- operation amongst scienti- 

 fic workers. It is not necessary on the present occasion to 

 attempt an exhaustive enumeration of the different branches 

 of scientific activity in which teachers and investigators are 

 engaged throughout this great continent. To enable us to 

 appreciate the vast extent and varied nature of the scientific 

 work to which they are devoted one need recall to mind only 

 the numerous colleges affiliated to the various Indian Univer- 

 sities, where the study of Mathematics, Pure and Applied, 

 Astronomy, Physics, Chemistry and Biology is enthusiastically 

 pursued; the excellent Institutions where branches of profes- 

 sional knowledge like Medicine and Engineering, whose founda 

 tions lie on a deep-rooted scientific basis, are studied; the 

 Institutes which are maintained in a high state of efficiency by 

 private munificence or by State grants, solely for the cultiva- 

 tion and advancement of Pure and Applied Science; the 

 Observatories where Astronomical and Meteorological investi- 

 gations are regularly carried on ; the various departments of 

 the State entrusted with the sj>e -ial care of important branches 

 of knowledge like Geology, Botany, Agriculture, Forestry, 

 Sanitation, Bacteriology, Meteorology, Trigonometrical Survey, 

 •Marine Survey, and Archaeology; finally, our splendid 

 Museums which have been in the past the chief centres of 

 Zoological and Anthropological study and research. In a 

 domain so vast in extent and diverse in character, it is ob- 

 viously essential, if the fullest measure of efficiency and 

 success is to be achieved, that the men of Science, engaged in 

 study and instruction, whether individually or in small groups, 

 should be brought into close association with each other ; they 

 really constitute an army of workers whose service to the 

 State are materially impaired in strength if they are allowed 

 always to remain scattered and isolated. The advantages of 

 personal intercourse between scientific workers, engaged in the 

 same field of activity or in the pursuit of allied lines of 

 research, are too obvious to require much elaboration. The 

 most beneficent results may be achieved by an instructive 

 interchange of ideas between scientific men; they may, how- 

 ever, not only mutually communicate their ideas, they may 

 also state the advance made in their own respective spheres cf 

 action, and indicate to each other the special departments 

 which may be most profitably cultivated or the outstanding 

 problems which may be attacked with the greatest utility, 

 tfut personal association amongst scientific men may be preg- 

 nant with important consequences, not merely by a fruitful 

 exchange of ideas; cultivators of Science, by periodical 

 meetings and discussions, may bring their aims and view 

 prominently into public notice, and mav also, whenever 

 necessary, press them upon the attention of the Government, 

 -a contingency by no means remote, for, as experience has 



