Page:Convocation Addresses of the Universities of Bombay and Madras.djvu/107

 used to preserve purity and expressive vigour in the living dialects. Through them the Natives are taught that no man can speak or write his mother-tongue competently well, unless he knows something of the classic tongue of his ancestors.

To the students of these vernacular Colleges an example has been set by European scholars, such as Haug Buhler and Kielhorn, members of this University. Some Native scholars of this Presidency, such as Bhau Daji and Bhandarkar, have made additions to our knowledge of the ancient language of India, which are appreciated at such seats of learning as Oxford and Berlin.

One of the first objects to be set before Native authors in the vernacular, is the preparation of text books in the several physical sciences, especially chemistry, botany, physics, and physiology, which are the sciences most practically useful in the circumstances of Western India. Some such writers have already appeared, and many more are appearing. Those of them who may be content with making translations, can take the various science primers now being brought out in England, under the authority of some of the greatest names in science. The fact that such eminent men write such elementary books, is an acknowledgment of the value set upon educating the people in these subjects.

Time does not permit me to summarize the instances which might be adduced to show how popular ignorance of practical science is retarding the material progress of the country, and is even in some respects causing retrogression.

The impoverishment of the cultivated soil in most parts of India is a result of that indifference to agricultural chemistry which pervades the middle classes and the peasantry. The botanist shows us that the plants of the crops take up certain elements from the soil, which elements are necessary for the growth of the plants, and that if the soil becomes gradually deprived of these elements, its fertility is injured. The chemist shows us that these elements must be artificially replaced in the soil by means of manure or equivalent substances. The land-holders and cultivators have these substances to a large extent ready on or near the land, but neglect to use them. And yet some Asiatic nations, such as the Chinese and the Japanese, understand and act upon these principles.

The wasteful destruction of the trees and brushwood in India is another example of that sort of carelessness which is caused by ignorance. The physicist shows us that the moisture drawn from the ocean by solar evaporation is gathered into clouds which pass over the land;