clxii Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. [N.S., XIII . 



The advancement of Science in any country depends not simply on 

 the gifts of individual genius but on the surrounding environment, and 

 both these factors are in their turn largely affected by a nation's tradi- 

 tions and history. This environment has received the form which it pre- 

 sents to-day to a large extent through the influence of Western education 

 which has re-awakened the scientiHc activities of India, which had long 

 lain dormant, into something of their ancient liveliness and vigour. This 

 Congress is itself a witness to this re-awakening and the Institute of 

 Science which has drawn us to this centre is a concrete exhibition of the 

 resolve of India to enter upon its rightful inheritance. The number of 

 Indian workers in the field of Science who are participating in this Con- 

 gress proclaims the fact of a Science Renaissance in India. 



mtu y r ° Wn memorv g° es bft ck to the time of its first real beginnings. 

 When I first came to India, the higher education of this country was 

 largely confined to literary channels, and Science, apart from its relation 

 to certain prof essional courses of study , had a very insignificant place in 

 tne system of higher general education. Pure Science as recognized in our 

 Indian Universities was, to a large extent, a merely theoretical study, 

 acquainting men, no doubt, with the results achieved by experimental 

 research m other ands, but having no definite purpose of training the 

 youth ot India in the processes by which these results were reached or of 

 inviting them to enter by similar methods into the same quest. But the 

 generation that has just ended has witnessed enormous changes. Just as 

 in England the period preceding that generation had seen a general revi- 



Ih L . Tl ern scienfcific s P ir it and a large infusion of it into the higher 

 education of the country, India receiving something of the same afflatus 

 oegan later to enter on the same path. Some of the best minds in our 

 Cniversities began to be attracted into special lines of sci-nce study 



™£ V? i J 6 y g u at Indlan names which have won distinction in these 

 new neJds are those of men whose student career began when this new 

 movement established itself. The eminence which they have attained 

 S. JSJT1 ?r° f ° f u the a P titud e of the Indian mind for such studies. 

 ahl« ,T,S««f u^i! whom we raa ^ cal1 specialists, the large number of 

 ednnftLn ' haV u Ch .° 3en this line of study as part of their general 



S2S£SV2J J 7£ U f y b i U i lding UP an environment composed of men 

 scienS ° * cie . ntin cknowledge and trained to appreciate the value of 



receh-S f P" r? S " From l m y ™* experience of Indian students, I have 



such \uJtt n ,mP T T*u hat s P eakin ? generally the students who select 



Cuenrfv?h?lw° f the, « C ? UPSear,> the most thoroughly trained and 

 frequently the ablest men of their respective vears 



methods of^dnfi"' that t,,is Sdence Renaissance in Europe, so far as 

 nirv otl L V^, arS con L Cerned ' is ™t much more than half a cen- 



advanceinThiXt r aS ° n i t -°u b ! fiUed with h °P* '» view of the marked 

 of the ks -SZt, n « h u Ch has been witnessed in India in the course 



of Un vfrsiJv y tS' • \ ^ 1 tfUe in re ? ard to En S ,and in the m $? 

 ° Ph«ik2h« T« A 1 * rUe , a,S0 of other ^eign Universities. The 

 vefopmiS i I £?*?' - 0f . Ger many is a comparatively modern de- 

 ■n BE UniveSvTn fh V,S,t , mg the Laboratory of the great Helmholtz 



»odSt co^^ t ^X^ y nS? ntie8 ^ ,,d findJng tLre °? ^ a Tnv 

 well-en uitmed CnuJrL • P t * a s not lar ^ er *an can be seen to-day m an> 



grea IStLT^XZ f & i As in England, so there also there were 

 vet beSrSSS^? ^ the educati °n of the community had not 

 zenith of hS Sme bu? h P™ SpiHt - Lord Kelvin was then ^ 

 (containing hi I ' , °' Was content with a limited laboratory 

 of his own' geniultin n m6 J P,endid ™<*™nts of precision, the products 

 body of stuS* ait ♦ y adapted for the accommodation of a large 

 duct,d researches under hkTnf - ° my ab ° Ut h alf-a-dozen men who con- 

 the proper sense Hit- inS P ,rm * 'oadership. Of science-teaching » 

 these daVs. AH this ha* JT^ discipline there was little thought m 

 verv stage of ed l££ **" changed an '' now here in India almost 



ge ot education is made to include some kind of training >* 



