The last quarter of the 19th century was simply remarkable. The seeds that had been sown earlier were beginning to sprout. A new middle class was finding its feet. New aspirations were in the air. The middle class was making new demands, even though India was now being controlled directly and more firmly by the Government in Britain. There were new schools, colleges, the telegraph, more railway lines, printing and publications, and so on, no doubt. Yet the flip side was heavier, for example, the economic drain, famines, severe pestilence, epidemics, and so on. It was during these difficult times that nationalism began to take root, and gradually flowered into a full-fledged national movement, not only for independence but reconstruction. It was also during this period that those who were to play a great role in different fields of life in the next century were maturing. The quest for identity had sharpened.

In terms of scientific knowledge, this quest had found early expression in the establishment of the Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science (IACS) by an eminent doctor, Mahendralal Sircar (1833–1904).