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[ 212 ] After returning to India he was appointed Professor of Chemistry in the Presidency College in 1889, and from that time he sent many essays to the various scientific societies of Europe, to be published in their proceedings, which were recognised as of rare ability and containing evidence of originality and research. Especially his discovery of u mercurious Nitrites, which was said to fill op a blank in our knowledge of the Mercury series, surprised the learned world. All competent judges gratefully acknowledge the high service thus rendered to chemical science by Dr. Ray.

Some of the greatest sods of the land, and Dr. Ray among others, noticed even long before the Swadesi movement, that the poverty of the country is largely due to (he want of proper industries. Dr. Ray especially found out that a large factor in the composition of the wealth of Germany was the production of chemical sub- stances like drugs, dyes, candles, soaps Sic. He established in conjunction with Mr. SatJsh Chundra Singha h. a. "the Bengal Chemical and Pharmaceutical Works." It had to struggle hard for want of the necessary capital, and Dr. Ray had to invent simpler and cheaper machinery for the more costly ones which were usually in use. The ability and honest work of Dr. Ray bore fruit. It is now a very flourishing concern, and its stability is secure. It is the first of its kind in India, and let us hope, it would not be the last.

The high regard m which he is held by savants in continental countries is shown from the fact that an eminent French Chemist asked him many particulars about the method of producing chemi- cal, substances to be found in ancient Sanskrit works. This is the origin of his celebrated work "History of the Hindu Chemistry" which besides being of much antiquarian interest as embodying the progress made in this line by the parents of civilization, is a practical treatise of the use to be made of Indian plants and minerals. The work, besides being an effort to save the Hindus from the charge of neglecting this branch of experimental science, is a monument of scholarship and research and has achieved a deserved popularity all over the world.

Dr. Ray is a single man—he devotes his whole energies to the silent service of his country. He is every simple in manners and regular in habits— his motto being "plain living and high thinking." His affability, kindness and modesty have endeared him to his numerous friends and students. May he be spared long to aid is the regeneration of his mother land!