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of this University in having, at last, found a home worthy of its reputation, in a Temple erected by one of its Fellows, which adds to the list of magnificent edifices by which he has gradually changed the features of our city; and, although some of us who have gazed upon the Taj could wish, at the risk of being deemed hypercritical, that the domes of this building partook somewhat more of the aerial gracefulness of those seen in that marvellous structure—revealed more of themselves and less of their supporting columns—yet must we give our unqualified admiration of the rest of this beautiful building, and especially of the noble room wherein we are now assembled. I have been long enough in Madras to remember what the style of our public buildings was before Mr. Chisholm came amongst us, and when we contrast this Senate House, the Presidency College, and the Railway Station, to say nothing of other buildings, with the old stereotyped structures of the Department Public Works, the Madras University may well be proud that one of its Fellows has added so much to his own and their reputation by his beautiful science.
And the situation of this building seems to me so happily chosen, so full of the highest auguries. It is almost the first, if not the very first, building of any consequence in this continent which catches the
