xxxviii Annual Address. [February, 1910. 



maintain the reputation of the Society as a learned body, I am 



confident that the distinction will be regarded as worthy of 

 attainment by all scientific workers in our ranks. 



There is only one other matter relating to the internal 

 management of the Society to which I must make a passing 

 reference before I deal with the work of the year. Our building, 

 now more than a century old, has proved to the members of this 

 generation a costly and burdensome inheritance. We are 

 indebted to Mr. Burkill for the advance which has been made 

 with the scheme of a new building for the Society, which might 

 prove adequate for our growing needs, and might at the same 

 time prove a source of income for the maintenance and 

 expansion of our legitimate work. The land on which our 

 present building stands, received by us as a gift from the 

 Government, is an asset of considerable value, and if it is 

 properly laid out, there can be no question that a profitable 

 building scheme may be developed. In matters, however, 

 where large sums of money are involved, and an unprofitable 

 investment may lead to financial disaster, we must necessarily 

 proceed with caution. I trust, however, that the scheme now in 

 hand will shortly be placed on a thoroughly sound financial basis. 



In the course of the last twelve months, we have lost from 

 our ranks two distinguished workers to whose memory a 

 passing tribute is imperatively called for on an occasion like 

 this. By the death of Sir George King, we have lost one 

 of our brilliant members whose writings have considerably 

 enhanced the reputation of the Society. He was not only a 

 devoted worker in the field of Indian Botany, but deliberately 

 chose our publications for the communication of many of his 

 researches to the learned world, and his monumental work on 

 the Flora of the Malayan Peninsula, of which one instalment 

 was published so late as May last, will long be remembered 

 as one of the most notable contributions to our Journal in 

 recent years. Dr. Theodor Bloch, who joined the Society 

 about 13 years ago, and was for some years its Philological 

 Secretary, has been cut away in the prime of life, while in the 

 pursuit of important researches in the field of Indian History 

 and antiquities. He was a scholar of extraordinarily varied 

 attainments, and an examination of his published works proves 

 conclusively how heavy a loss has been caused by his premature 

 death to investigations in the field of Indian Archaeology. 



I shall now turn for a moment to a brief review of the 

 activities of our members in the different domains of research 

 during the last twelve months. It is a matter for congratulation 

 that the papers contributed are, on the whole, of a high 

 standard of excellence and will tend to maintain the reputation 

 of the Society. 



In the field of Sanskrit studies, we had an important 

 paper from Mr. Ambicacharan Sen. of a somewhat controversial 



