Wilson Philological Lectures on Sanskrit and the Derived Languages c6.2

c6.2

THE occasion that brings us here together to-day is the first of its kind in the history of this University. Hitherto the University of Bombay has been merely an Examining Board. But this day witnesses the beginning of an attempt to discharge another and a more important function of such an institution. The main idea of a University is that it is a body of men devoted to learning, and engaged in acquiring knowledge and disseminating it. A country that has no such bodies of men occupies but a low position in the intellectual scale of the world, and contributes little to the general advancement of mankind in knowledge. But a devotion to learning implies sacrifice of worldly interests, and the poverty of learned men has become proverbial. To enable persons, therefore, to apply themselves to the pursuit of knowledge with undivided attention, there exist in connection with such institutions certain appointments tenable for life called professorships or fellowships, endowed by the enlightened liberality of private individuals or of the goverment of the country.