xl Annual Address. [February, 1910. 



and doubtful events during the early Mahomedan period, spe- 

 cially problems connected with the five successive capitals of 

 Bengal during Mahomedan Rule. The only other paper in this 

 department which demands prominent mention is the Memoir 

 of Dr. Ross on Birds in Turki, Manchoo and Chinese. Our 

 enthusiastic Philological Secretary also invited the attention 

 of the members of the Society to the life and writings cf the 

 Hungarian scholar Csoma de Koros, the value of whose work as 

 that of a pioneer in the field of Tibetan research can never be 

 over-estimated, and we are anxiously awaiting the publication 

 of the unique work on Tibetan vocabulary by the Hungarian 

 scholar which has been undertaken by Dr. Ross and Dr. Satis 

 Chandra Vidyabhushan. 



In the domain of Pure and Applied Science, we have had a 

 number of important papers. Professor Syamadas Mookerjee 

 has continued his researches on the theory of Osculating Conies, 

 which contain the germs of a general theory of great importance 

 and wide application. In the field of Chemistry, we had papers 

 of practical importance from Mr. Hooper and Babu Bidhu 

 Bhusan Dutt, the latter of whom has analysed the constituents 

 of two well-known famine foods. In the field of Zoology, there 

 were valuable notes by Dr. Annandale and Mr. Chowdhuri, while 

 Dr. Travers Jenkins gave us an interesting discourse on Sea- 

 fishing. To these must b'e added the Monograph on Sea snakes 

 by Major Wall, published as a Memoir during the course of the 

 year. In the department of Botany, we had more than one 

 paper likely to prove to be of great practical importance. Of 

 these, the most important are the contributions of Mr. 

 Leake on Indian Cottons and of Mr. Stebbing on a peculiar 

 kind of parasites destructive of oaks in the Himalayas. We 

 had also interesting notes by Mr. Burkill on varieties of the 

 Lemon oil grass, and on two well-known Indian drugs. To these 

 must be added an elaborate paper by Professor Bruhl in which 

 he examines the subject of recent plant immigrants into Bengal. 

 In the department of Anthropology, there were only two papers, 

 but both of them of very special interest. Dr. Annandale and 

 Mr. Pettigrew have both dealt with the subject of the theory 

 of souls, the former among the Malayas and the latter amongst 

 the people of Manipore in North Eastern India. A comparison 

 of the two papers brings into prominence the fundamentally 

 distinct notions on the subject which prevail amongst people in 

 different grades of civilization, a distinction likely to be 

 obscured, if not overlooked, when notions so widely different 

 are sought to be represented by the same English word. 



I feel myself incompetent to review even in the barest 

 outline the work of the Medical Section. But there is one 

 Resolution of that section, which will, I am sure, meet with 

 universal approval from all persons interested in the mitigation 

 of the sufferings of humanity. That Resolution emphasises 



