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



heavy substance situated in the surrounding atmosphere, and that sub- 

 stance appears as if it fell. But whither can the earth fall in ethereal 

 space which is equal and alike on every side ? " 



It may be admitted that the idea of attraction is a step in advance of 

 those who see bodies fall without attempting to inquire why they fall, 

 but we are still far from anything like an anticipation of the great generali- 

 zation of Newton, a generalization which was based on a theory of at- 

 traction which had been verified by elaborate calculation and which 

 gave the key to the explanation of all the heavenly movements. Let 

 every credit be given to Aryabhatta and to Bhaskaracharya, great 

 mathematicians both ; but let us not transplant them into a world of 

 ideas that had not yet dawned on the thought of the men of any land. 

 I have been endeavouring to show that Indian science in all its ancient 

 stages was dominated by a specific practical religious purpose and was 

 hampered in its freedom by certain traditional conceptions which had 

 acquired a religious sanction. The stage of the free independent study 

 of nature had not yet been reached. Nor was there a scientific effort 

 after ideal exactness. One of India's great astronomers, Bhaskaracharya, 

 defends his predecessor Brahmagupta from the charge of having refused 

 to admit a periodic motion of the equinoxes. He says that the incon- 

 siderable quantity of the procession which was not marked in his time was 

 the reason why he omitted it from his system : but that, now that it had 

 become sensible in amount, it is taken into account. This plea for in- 

 accuracy is most remarkable. It confirms the view I have stated, that to 

 the mind of India what was sufficient for practical purposes was sufficient 

 also for scientific statement. This is one of the inherited tendencies 

 which we sometimes meet with in the students of to-day. Ideal exacti- 

 tude has not the place it ought to have in our investigations. We are too 



much disposed to be satisfied with what will sufficiently serve a particu- 

 lar purpose. 



M 7^** we s hould aim at in view of the widening field of Indian scien- 

 tific inquiry is that sense of absolute freedom which is the vital air of the 

 physical investigator and that exactness of observation and inference 

 which is its necessary complement. It is a hopeful sign of progress that 

 our Indian students of science are beginning to enter into and enjoy this 

 atmosphere and that new ideas of accuracy are being eagerlv assimilated. 

 ™ fi-Vu th f' e t a j ly r ?° m for nat ional presuppositions or predilections 



l«ll l \ ? eW f 8tudy - J* is a field in which national distinctions are 

 absolutely unknown. There is no commonwealth so comprehensive as 

 that of science, none m which the brotherhood of men and their share in 

 a common inheritance is so completely realized. The facts with which we 

 ^ii5 r l , ?° m ™°! 1 Passion of us all, and the laws which we seek to 



lm f A ij n *. nn i 11 e x . "° <*!*, aim wie laws WHICH we ?co^ w~ 



nnfo Hino *m ' ? ? °l US ,i n ? Xactly the same elation, and success in their 

 ui folding ministers to all of us the samn man*. I a .*Uf.~«& M fl>« *»me in- 



tellectual jo " S Same raenta] satisfaction, th e * ame "' 



ae »n!h n w th h« b T* Ce,lt influence which the development of scientific re- 

 S TnH; u * ♦ eX6rC1Se ° n the ed «cation and the life of the people 

 amontft thJ^t nec * ssar - v now to dwell. Suffice it simply to say that 

 foT Him ihn b ^ efit ? J mua t be included a new reverence for truth an 

 overw hrfn^ni m?° U , 8hte I™ bebg con tinua11v revealed to us in their 

 in e ho Id % ft T ie ! y IT d 1 POWer> This ™w movement of thought lay- 

 ofth tslS^? *'^ 1 tend encies of the Indian mind is destined to call 

 blems winch S an ? r6S r rce in baling with the many practical pro- 

 devdoD^n^ I C ° nt,nua ^ emerge as India moves forward to higher 

 Sve imnf,'l« f aS . m ,tS Past hi8tor y the mind of India received a 

 accSent Tcimi I* 8 ?*•'"* with the *™™e of Greece through the 



tual moveLTTll C,al re,atlon *hip, may we not exp, ,t a new intellec- 

 cTser conS if- ^conspicuous and more fruitful from India's 

 thai other ^H " '? ^ST* * 1 life and in its imperial destinies, with 



nT Hntd bSJLSttKfi* «** " ^ ^^ - ** " 



