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PREFACE

THIS is the first attempt to present to the public a comprehensive collection of the Essays and Discourses of Dr. P. C. Ray, the well known Indian chemist. Dr. Ray's discourses on Scientific topics and his researches in the field of Hindu Chemistry would by themselves form no negligible material for a volume of this kind. But his interests have by no means been confined to Hindu Chemistry alone. Education, social reform, industry, politics, indeed every aspect of India's material and moral progress has claimed his earnest attention and the papers collected in this volume testify to his manysided interests. Thus his statements before the Public Services and the Industrial Commissions, are full of practical suggestions for the advancement of Indian education and industries. His paper on "the Bengali Brain and and its misuse" and his address to the Indian National Social Conference at Calcutta which contain some trenchant criticisms of the Hindu Social polity evince his deep interest in subjects relating to social reform. His handsome tributes to the services of eminent patriots like Ananda Mohan Bose and Dadabhai Naoroji and his generous appreciation of the life and life work of Sir William Wedderburn testify to the silent interest he has all along been taking in hethe [sic] political advancement of this country. The last