February, 1911.] Vice-President’s Address. XXXix 
tem, one that has been established in the country by an alien 
race, anxious to impress Western ideas 
from their own ; and every serious contribution to the discus- 
sion that has already arisen with regard to the direction that 
these changes should take cannot fail to be useful. Th 
ciety numbers among its members many learned men of India, 
all of whom have passed through the educational mill under 
its present working conditions, and surely some of them are 
capable of expressing what, from their point of view, constitute 
the most glaring defects of the system. It s to me that 
the Society would fail in its duty if it did not at least attempt 
to guide public opinion in this matter ; one which, although of 
a somewhat controversial character, is or should be entirely dis- 
sociated from political questions, and seems to belong most 
appropriately to the province occupied by a learned body such 
as this. 
These are not the only directions in which I think that the 
Society might and ought to exercise its influence, but I have 
perhaps said enough for my present purpose, that is, to impress 
perfection. The aim of the Society from the beginning 
been a high one; no less, as we learn from the oft-quoted 
words of our Founder, than the investigation of all that per- 
tains to the operations of Man and Nature in Asia. The field 
of research that still lies open before you, in spite of the advance 
ein human knowledge since our Society was founded a 
century and a quarter ago, is a vast one. And I fervently 
trust that future years will bring to the Society, not only pros- 
perity along the lines on which it has hitherto travelled, but 
an increase of activity and influence proportionate to its long 
and useful career in the past. 
aca ~-— 
Mr. Justice Mookerjee then delivered an address on the 
work of the Society during the last year. 
Vice-President’s Address. 
In the course of the last five years, the duty has devolved 
on me several times to address the Society on the occasion of 
our annual gathering, and I am deeply sensible of the indul- 
gence with which my imperfect survey of the progress of our 
work has been always received. In the present instance, the 
nteresting address prepared by our retiring President indicates 
