Bhubaneswar and Konarak temples in the middle ages or the colossal copper statue of Buddha 80 ft. high which Hiyen Tsang saw standing at the gates of the famous Nalanda Convent were lost long ago. To repeat what I have said elsewhere. "From the seventeenth century onwards Europe began to wake up from her slumber of intellectual atrophy of the dark middle ages and scientific research began to strike deep roots in European soil. In India, however, the reverse reaction was in progress. The time from which Europe got a new lease of intellectual activity in all branches of human understanding marks the period when India reached the nadir of her intellectual decadence. Industries began gradually to be relegated to the least advanced communities as being unworthy of the higher castes with the inevitable result that old methods continued in a moriound condition without any improvement which is possible only when they are conducted by intellectual people." So complete was the emasculation of the scientific spirit In the latter half of the nineteenth century that when the Calcutta Medical College was opened, no Bengalee student was available who would dare commit, what was regarded as a deadly act, viz., the dissection of a dead body for the purpose of learning human anatomy. It is even reported that when at last one Hindu boy was actually found out to undertake the work, the tidings were trumpeted forth to the world by gunfire from the ramparts of Fort William. Thus judging from the fact that the introduction of the western sciences into India was in the nature of an innovation it is no wonder that for a full half a century India produced very few scientists who looked to research work as their vocation in life. Original work certainly presupposes the prior diffusion on a comprehensive schie of known knowledge, and it took full half a century to produce that amount of diffusion of * P. Negor's iron in ancient India. knowledge of the western sciences which is a necessary preliminary to the creation of an atmosphere of original thought and work. EARLIEST ATTEMPTS Nevertheless individual, though isolated,attempts were not wanting. So far as Chemistry is concerned, the credit of pioneering chemical research in India during this period of preparation is due to an Englishman. I refer to Sir Alexander Pedler at the Presidency College, Calcutta. Mr. Pedler was an assistant of the late Sir Henry Roscoe before he came out to India. He was a brilliant lecturer and I have been told by some of his pupils that he was extremely successful as a teacher. His work at the Presidency College on cobra poison and on the action of atmospheric moisture on red phosphorus was the best he turned out and won for him the coveted distinction of a Fellowship of the Royal Society of London. 66 But Sir Alexander was more or less an individual worker in the cause of chemical research. The general line of science teaching as distinguished from research work was not of a high order. Laboratories were conspicuous either by their absence or by their defective equipment. It was not uncommon for a professor of chemistry to hold up his thumb and this is a say suppose test tube". Even when we graduated so late as in 1903, no graduate in chemistry was required to do practical work of any kind. Honours students alone were asked to undergo a course of practical work in qualitative analysis only. It is no wonder that Sir Alexander did not get any student to follow in his footsteps. ASSOCIATION FOR THE CULTIVATION OF SCIENCE. Another noteworthy movement in this direction in a collective shape was started by the late illustrious Dr. Mohendra Lall Sircar. Almost single-handed he collected a large sum of money and established at Calcutta the Indian Associa tion for the Cultivation of Science with the two-fold object in view, viz., the diffusion of scientific knowledge on an experimental basis and the prosecution of research work. For more than a generation the Association has been delivering lectures on Physics and Chemistry (and lately Botany) to students as well as to the public. I was a pupil of this association myself and can personally testify that possibly with the exception of the Presidency College, Calcutta, no institution in Bengal delivered lectures in Physics and Chemistry with such a wealth of experimental illustrations. The second object of the illustrious founder of the Association was not naturally fulfilled in his life time for the very obvious reason that a sufficiently large number of students imbued with true love for science was not created by the system of science teaching then prevailing. It is, however, satisfactory to notice from the recent publications of the Association that the second object of the founder is now being fulfilled and it is being increasingly converted into a common meeting place of the younger generation of Indian scientists. NEW UNIVERSITY REGULATIONS So far as science teaching is concerned, it must be noted that the new Regulations of the Universities framed after the passing of the Universities Act during Lord Curzon's viceroyalty have completely revolutionised it. Science teaching has now become real. Laboratories have grown up like mushroom growths in the remotest colleges. Practical work has been made compulsory for every science student from the Intermediate to the M. Sc. degree. The result has been that science students now have an opportunity of reading science in the only manner it should be read. Science is now loved and appreciated by the students instead of being looked upon as a subject for pure memory work. How science teaching has been revolutionised by the new Regulations of the Calcutta University will be easily understood from the history of our own college. When I joined the Rajshahi College in 1907 there was no Chemical Laboratory worth speaking. It would be no disparagement to the memory of this college when I say that two dispensing tables with a few re-agent bottles formed all the paraphernalia of the Chemical Laboratory. But the requirements of the new regulations were rightly very high, and compliance with them was ably insisted on by the late Mr. J. A. Cunningham on behalf of the University. The old laboratory was remodelled and equipped at a total cost of about half a lakh of rupees. A new physics laboratory costing about three quarters of a lakh is now an ornament of the college. This story has its counterpart in every college teaching science subjects. The erection and equipment of these laboratories has not only made science-teaching real and attractive to students, but has alone enabled professors of colleges other than those of the premier college of the province to conduct research work. At present any college affiliated up to the Honours standard in any science subject must of necessity possess a sufficiently well-equipped laboratory where the professors would be in a position to carry on research work if their inclination tends in that direction. This radical improvement in the equipment of laboratories in response to the dictates of the new regulations of the Universities has indeed gone a very long way in ushering an era of research work in science. RESEARCH SCHOLARSHIPS Along with this improvement in science teach. ing a very real step for the advancement of research work was taken by the Government of Bengal in the institution of ten research scholarships of the value of Rs. 100 per mensem to be awarded to M. A. and M. Sc's in Arts and Science subjects and made tenable for three years. This step was perhaps the first recognition which the Government extended to the necessity and value of training in research work, The value of research work is not even now properly understood. It is thus often forgotten that we Indian teachers have so long been teaching in the form of textbooks the accumulated actual research work brought into being by our European confreres. Surely the time has come when India would no longer be a mere debtor country to Europe in point of new knowledge, but would also through the labours of her own sons repay her debt and present new thought to the world as it was her privilege to do in ages gone by. At any rate these research scholarships provide young aspirants for original work with the necessary training for such work. Every profession, every art, has its special training, and research workers would require training to imbibe the spirit of work as well as to learn the methods of work at the feet of some guru who has already got research work to his credit. I was a research scholar myself and can personally testify to the value of such scholarship in the act of providing the necessary training in this respect. Most of those who have now earned reputation for original work in our country in Chemistry and other subjects have been research scholars under some acknowledged authorities in their subjects. Fortunately the value of research scholarships has been understood by the Universities as well. The Premchand Roychand studentship, which was originally bestowed as the result of one of the stiffest competitive examinations, has now been converted into research scholarships. The Calcutta University has also provided several research scholarships out of the Sir Tarak Palit and Sir Rash Behari Ghosh endowments. Other Governments and Universities have followed suit with the result that an ever increasing number of earnest seekers after knowledge is springing up in all parts of India who are expected to raise in the near future the level of creative knowledge in our country. Whilst the improvement in science teaching and the recognition of the value of research training have been the most potent general factors tending to the creation of those environments which are necessary for the development of research work, it would be proper to refer here to the devoted labours of Dr. (now Sir) P. C. Ray in the cause of chemical research. Dr. Ray, after taking the D. Sc. degree at Edinburgh joined Sir Alexander Pedler as an Assistant Professor of Chemistry in the Presidency College. Like Sir Alexander, Dr. Ray had to be content for a number of years in being an individual worker. But by his magnetic personality and with the establishment of research scholarships he was gradually able to draw round himself a body of earnest students and assistants who were anxious to follow the example set by their guru. The result of the association of research assistants and scholars became soon apparent in the large increase in the output of original work from the Chemical laboratory of the Presidency College. Whilst Dr. Ray unaided contributed only ten papers during the decade 1893-1902, the number of papers contributed by himself and his assis tants and scholars during the next decade rose to the number of forty. Messrs Jatindra Nath Sen and Atual Chandra Ganguli and myself were fortunate in being Dr. Ray's earliest associates. Drs. Rashik Lal Datta, Nilratan Dhar, Hemendra Prasad Sen and Bimanbehari De and others joined him afterwards. The secret of success in maintaining a steady output of researchwork from a particular laboratory lies there -viz. in placing a large number of research scholars and assistants under a qualified person when a two-fold result accrues. In the first place the scholars receive the necessary training in the methods of work and in the second place the output of research papers steadily increases owing to the conjoint labours of the teacher and the taught. This system obtains every where in Europe where dozens of research scholars work under the guidance of one professor, the result being an enormous output of research work from a single laboratory and also the upbuilding of an army of trained research workers who spread the gospel of work in distant parts of their own country. INSTITUTES OF SCIENCE. A Whilst Sir P. C. Ray was training up his scholars in Bengal a great and noble mind in Bombay was conceiving the idea of establishing and endowing a purely research Institute in Southern India thus creating a nucleus of chemical research in that part of the Indian continent. The late illustrious Mr. J. N. Tata, spent a large portion of his enormous wealth in founding the Indian Research Institute which was ultimately located at Bangalore in the Mysore territory and brought from England Dr. Travers, one of the most brilliant co-workers of Sir William Ramsay as its first director. The work commenced by Dr. Travers and Dr. Rudolf has been ably tinued by Dr. Sudborough, Dr. Watson and Dr. Fowler, and the Institute has already succeeded in obtaining a name and fame in being a of chemical research. Professor Ray of the Patna College, Messrs' Paranjpe, Lakhaumani and others are the products of this Bhagabat institute and it is sincerely to be hoped that Dr. Sudborough and his colleagues would be able to train up an ever-increasing band of young chemists surcharged with the spirit of devotion for the science who in after-life will be able to keep the flame of work burning in other parts of India, con centre A prototype of this Institute has recently been established at Calcutta, thanks to the munificient donations of the late Sir Tarak Palit and Sir Rashbehari Ghosh. The Institute has been placed directly under the control of the Calcutta University as a University College of Science and aims at combining post-graduate teaching with research work in Chemistry. The services of Sir P. d. 399 Ray were requisitioned before his retirement from OTHER CENTRES. Other centres of chemical research have now happily been established as a direct result of the infinitely better condition of equipment of laboratories in fulfilment of the new regulations. Dr. E. R. Watson has very largely succeeded in converting the chemical laboratory of the Dacca College into a research centre. Many of his pupils like Drs. Anukul Ch. Sircar, Sudhamaya Ghosh, Brojendra Nath Ghosh have gained distinction by their research work in chemistry. The late Dr. Hill was carrying on research work in Chemistry at the Muir Central College, Allahabad and was assisted by Dr. A. P. Sircar in his work. Dr. Richardson worked in the Central Hindu College at Benares. Then again Dr. J. L. Simonsen was busy in his work and trained up research workers at the Presidency College, Madras and some of his pupils have published the results of their work in European Chemical Journals. Dr Meldrum is keeping up the tradition of research work at the Ahmedabad College in distant Guzerat. At Rajshahi I am particularly happy to be able to report that my colleague Mr. B. B. Adhicari and our only research scholar Mr. Tarini Charan Chowdhuri have turned out valuable work which has found place in English, German and 'American Chemical Journals. It will thus be seen that the spirit of work is there. It is expanding on all sides. It has got to be fostered with proper care. Facilities in the shape of research endowments and scholarships have got to be provided in every college. The difficulties of workers in mofussil colleges are hundred-fold in comparison with their more fortunate brethren at metropolitan centres and consequently the former should readily be provided with reference journals, special re-agents and apparatus as well as the services of a sufficiebt large number of research scholar INDIAN MUNITIONS BOARD It will be pertinent to refer here to the recent research activities of the Indian Munitions Board in the cause of Indian industries during the war. It is to be remembered that most of the chemists ordinarily engaged in chemical research undertake subjects of purely scientific interest. Very few researches relate to applied chemistry. Whilst it is true that development of chemical industries is absolutely dependent on the progress of the pure science, problems which are calculated to be of immediate use to the country in the development of industries should also be handled for solution. This aspect of chemical research attracted most attention in Germany where industrial concerns dependent on the progress of applied chemistry employ a large staff of che mists, sometimes even in hundreds in a single factory, whose labours enrich the proprietors themselves and at the same time add to the existing stock of knowledge of pure science. The Indian Munitions Board during the war harnessed the "research activities of the Indian chemists for the solution of chemical problems relating to industries which arose out of war conditions. Dr. Simonsen of the Madras Presidency College was appointed Chemical adviser to the Board. Sir P. C. Ray in the University College of Science, Dr. Sudborough and his colleagues at the Tata Institute of Science, Dr. De at the Presidency College, Dr. Ghosh at the Gauhati College, Prof. Normand at the Wilson College, Bombay, Prof. Dunnicliffe at the Government College, Lahore, were given by the Board industrial problems to solve. I was given the task of investigating the possibilities of manufacture of potash from the ashes of indigenous plants. Much of the results which have accrued were important for the period of war only but the Board indirectly stimulated one branch of chemical research which has hitherto been neglected by Indian chemists. It is sin cerely to be hoped that when the Munitiong Board is disbanded after the conclusion of peace, this branch of the Board would continue as a permanent feature of the industrial department of the Government. INDIAN SCIENCE CONGRESS Lastly I would like to refer to the services of newly formed Indian Science Congress in the cause of stimulating research work not only in Chemistry but also in Physics, Botany, Agriculture and other sciences. The Congress has been organised under the auspices of the Asiatic Society of of Bengal to fulfil the purpose an Indian "British association for the cultivation of science" on the suggestion of Dr. Simonsen and Prof. Macmohan of the Canning College, Lucknow. I have the good fortune of being able to attend all its sessions held at Calcutta, Madras, Lucknow, Bangalore, Lahore and Bombay and would be able to testify to the great utility in having such a It serves as a common congress in our midst. meeting ground for all science workers scattered in isolated laboratories throughout our vast country and at the same time not only stimulates healthy rivalry for more and better work amongst those who are actually engaged in research work but also serves to kindle a spirit of work in the minds of students and other local members of the younger generation who take part in the congress. My interest naturally centres in the Chemistry Section of the Congress, and I have it on the authority of a competent critic who attended several meetings of the British Associa tion that the quality of papers read and discussions conducted would not be unworthy of the British Association itself. Essays and Discourses. By Dr. Sir Prafulla Chandra Ray. Selected and Revised by the Author. Price Rs. 3. To Subscribers of the Indian Review. Rs. 2-8. G.A.Natesan & Co., Publishers, George Town, Madras |