May, 1914.] Proceedi?igs of the Asiat. Soc. of Bengal. xci 



shown, even the most enlightened Governments occasionally 

 require to be reminded of the full extent of the paramount 

 claims of Science upon the Public Funds. The votaries 

 of Science may, in this manner, give to their researches a 

 profitable direction, enable teachers and investigators to obtain 

 an intimate acquaintance with the practical needs of the 

 country, foster the growth of active co-operation between 

 Europeans and Indians in the spread of scientific education, 

 and, what is of the greatest importance in our present condi- 

 tion, on the one hand, bring home to the commercial com- 

 munity the inestimable value of science as an essential factor 

 of industrial regeneration, and, on the other hand, make tho 

 landed aristocracy realize that science enables us to solve 

 difficult agricultural problems and thereby to revolutionize 

 agricultural methods. In view of the various standpoints I 

 have just briefly indicated, it was only natural that the idea, 

 which lay at the basis of the proposal to establish an Indian 

 Association for the Advancement of Science, should meet with 

 ready recognition. But it was felt by many men of experience 

 that the pressure of heavy official duties under which many 

 investigators here carry on their scientific work, the climatic 

 conditions which prevail in this country, and the long distances 

 which have to be traversed, constitute practical difficulties of 

 no mean order in the way of the immediate formation of a 

 peripatetic association, designed to meet periodically in turn 

 in all the different centres of scientific activity. As the result 

 of full discussion of the situation, the view ultimately prevailed 

 that the desired object could be attained if a Science Congress 

 was held in the first instance in Calcutta, under the leadership 

 of the Asiatic Society, and simultaneously with the Indian 

 Museum Centenary Celebrations, which, under the special 

 facilities generously afforded by the Government of India to 

 scientific officers, was likely to* be attended by a large number 

 of distinguished scientific men. It is, I think, distinctly for- 

 funate for the success of the movement that we have been 

 able to secure as our Patron, His Excellency Lord Carmichael, 

 whose devotion to the cause of scientific research is equalled 

 only by his fame as a just and sympathetic statesman. I 

 trust it may fairly be maintained that we have started our 

 work under as favourable an auspice as the promoters and 

 supporters of the movement could reasonably expect under 

 the present conditions. Their call to scientific workers has met 

 with generous response, as is amply indicated by the presence 

 here of many notable investigators from all parts of the 

 Indian Empire. We hav also been favoured with a number 

 of important papers on Chemistry, Physics, Zoology, Geology, 

 Botany, and. last but not least, the fascinating subject of 

 Ethnography which is too often regarded, very erroneously, 

 as a popular and non-scientific branch of study. I now beg to 



