February, 1910.] Annual Address. 



XXX VII 



course of the present and the next year. I trust 1 may b< 

 permitted to express the hope that this allotment wiJJ be regar 

 ded as a practical proof of the desire of the Council to meet the 

 special needs of one of the most important sections of the 

 Society, and I feel no doubt that if a larger number of members 

 is attracted to the Society by the formation of a Reference 

 Library and by reason of the satisfactory arrangements made by 

 our enthusiastic Medical Secretary Dr. Rogers for the supply of 

 medical periodicals, a still more liberal grant would be found 

 possible in future years. 



The most important point in connection with the internal 

 administration of the Society during the last year, is the 

 decision about the creation of Fellowships, to be conferred 

 solely in recognition of literary and scientific work. It cannot 

 be denied that a membership of the Asiatic Society does not 

 import any recognition of original work, and as such, has little 

 or no attraction to the modest scholar whose main object is the 

 advancement of knowledge. To alter the constitution of the 

 Society so as to restrict admission only to persons distinguished 

 for research, would obviously narrow the field of supply, and 

 might, indeed, in a brief space of time, prove suicidal. On the 

 other hand, if the prestige and reputation of the Society are to 

 be maintained undiminished, the object can be attained only by 

 the enrolment, as members, of distinguished workers in the 

 different branches of historical, philological, and scientific acti- 

 vity. With the formation, however, of important departments 

 of State, devoted to the furtherance of scientific research in 

 special branches, with the simultaneous increase in the number 

 of special societies for the promotion of different branches of 

 knowledge, and with increased facilities for the publication of 

 original researches of any degree of value and importance, it 

 would be idle to expect that any considerable proportion of the 

 research carried on in this country should, as it was a century 

 ago, be communicated for the first time to the learned worlc 

 through the medium of our publications. The practical mono- 

 poly which we then enjoyed in this respect, has long since 

 disappeared, and if we desire still to attract to our ranks the 

 best amongst the original workers in this country, we must be 

 prepared to create a distinction which would be valued as a 

 recognition of merit by people engaged in the task of widening 

 the bounds of knowledge. The fellowships which have now 

 been instituted, and the first appointments to which will be 

 made to-night, will, I trust, prove the means of addirm substan- 

 tially to our strength. The success of the experiment will 

 depend entirely upon the wisdom with which it is conduct 1. 

 If we never forget, that these fellowships are to be conferred 

 solely in recognition of historical, philological, or scientific work, 

 irrespective of personal considerations of rank and position, it 

 in other words, we always jealously seek in this matter to 



