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diff --git a/22085-h/22085-h.htm b/22085-h/22085-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e0a9bcd --- /dev/null +++ b/22085-h/22085-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,7365 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"> +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content= +"text/html; charset=us-ascii" /> +<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of Sir Jagadis Chunder Bose: +His Life and Speeches.</title> + +<style type="text/css"> + /*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ + + <!-- + body {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;} + p {margin-top: 1em; + margin-bottom: 0em; + line-height: 1.1em; + text-align: justify;} + p.indent {text-indent: 1.5em;} + p.center {text-align: center;} + span.pagenum {position: absolute; + right: 1%; + color: gray; background-color: inherit; + font-variant: normal; + font-style: normal; + font-size: 8pt;} + /* Text Blocks ------------------------------------------ */ + blockquote {text-align: justify; font-size: 0.9em;} + .blockquot {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;} + .note, .noteBox {margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + font-size: 1.0em;} + .noteBox {border-style: dashed; + border-width: thin; + padding-left: 1em; + padding-right: 1em} + /* Headers ---------------------------------------------- */ + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 {text-align: center; clear: both;} + /* Horizontal Rules ------------------------------------- */ + hr {width: 65%; + margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; + margin-top: 2.0em; margin-bottom: 2.0em; + clear: both;} + hr.full {width: 100%;} + hr.short {width: 20%;} + /* Tables ----------------------------------------------- */ + .tr {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; margin-top: 5%; margin-bottom: 5%; + padding: 1em; background-color: #f6f2f2; color: black; border: dotted black 1px;} /* transcriber's notes */ + + --> + /* XML end ]]>*/ +</style> +</head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +Project Gutenberg's Sir Jagadis Chunder Bose, by Sir Jagadis Chunder Bose + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Sir Jagadis Chunder Bose + His Life and Speeches + +Author: Sir Jagadis Chunder Bose + +Editor: Anonymous + +Release Date: July 16, 2007 [EBook #22085] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SIR JAGADIS CHUNDER BOSE *** + + + + +Produced by Bryan Ness and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + +<div class="tr"> +<p style="text-align:center;font-weight: bold;">Transcriber's +Notes:</p> +<ol> +<li>Typos and spelling variants (including hyphenated words) have been +checked against the Oxford English Dictionary (online edition, July +2007) and corrected as needed. Archaic spellings have been retained. In +rare cases, where a word replacement or correction was either uncertain +or impossible, the word was identified with [<i>sic.</i>]</li> +<li>Reference on 168 to the "The Presidency College Magazine" +must be to the second issue, as the 25th issue was in 1939 as +the events mentioned on p. 168 happened in 1915.</li> +<li>By-lines after various sections sometimes show as "Patrika," and at +other times as "A. B. Patrika." A. B. Patrika is not a person, but is +rather "Amrita Bazar Patrika," an English language daily newspaper +in India. To reduce confusion I have standardized the by-lines to +"Amrita Bazar Patrika."</li> +</ol> +</div> +<hr /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_i" id= +"Page_i">[pg_i]</a></span> +<h2>SIR JAGADIS<br /> +CHUNDER BOSE</h2> +<h3>HIS LIFE AND SPEECHES</h3> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<h3>Price Rs. 2 GANESH & CO.</h3> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_ii" id= +"Page_ii">[pg_ii]</a></span> +<h4>The Cambridge Press, Madras.</h4> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_iii" id= +"Page_iii">[pg_iii]</a></span> +<h2>CONTENTS</h2> +<table summary="TOC"> +<tr> +<td colspan="40%"> </td> +<td style="text-align: right;">Page</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="40%"><a href="#Page_001">His Life and +Career</a></td> +<td style="text-align: right;"><a href="#Page_001">1</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="40%"><a href="#Page_079">Literature and +Science</a></td> +<td style="text-align: right;"><a href="#Page_079">79</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="40%"><a href="#Page_102">Marvels of Plant +Life</a></td> +<td style="text-align: right;"><a href="#Page_102">102</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="40%"><a href="#Page_106">Plant Autographs—How +Plants can record their own story</a></td> +<td style="text-align: right;"><a href="#Page_106">106</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="40%"><a href="#Page_113">Invisible Light</a></td> +<td style="text-align: right;"><a href="#Page_113">113</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="40%"><a href="#Page_117">Lecture on Electric +Radiation</a></td> +<td style="text-align: right;"><a href="#Page_117">117</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="40%"><a href="#Page_122">Plant Response</a></td> +<td style="text-align: right;"><a href="#Page_122">122</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="40%"><a href="#Page_126">Evidence before the Public +Services Commission</a></td> +<td style="text-align: right;"><a href="#Page_126">126</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="40%"><a href="#Page_143">Prof. J. C. Bose at +Madura</a></td> +<td style="text-align: right;"><a href="#Page_143">143</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="40%"><a href="#Page_147">Prof. J. C. Bose +Entertained—Party at Ram Mohan Library</a></td> +<td style="text-align: right;"><a href="#Page_147">147</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="40%"><a href="#Page_154">History of a +Discovery</a></td> +<td style="text-align: right;"><a href="#Page_154">154</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="40%"><a href="#Page_165">A Social Gathering</a></td> +<td style="text-align: right;"><a href="#Page_165">165</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="40%"><a href="#Page_169">Light Visible and +Invisible</a></td> +<td style="text-align: right;"><a href="#Page_169">169</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="40%"><a href="#Page_172">Hindu University +Address</a></td> +<td style="text-align: right;"><a href="#Page_172">172</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="40%"><a href="#Page_177">The History of a Failure +that was Great</a></td> +<td style="text-align: right;"><a href="#Page_177">177</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="40%"><a href="#Page_187">Quest of Truth and +Duty</a></td> +<td style="text-align: right;"><a href="#Page_187">187</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="40%"><a href="#Page_200">The Voice of Life</a></td> +<td style="text-align: right;"><a href="#Page_200">200</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="40%"><a href="#Page_222">The Praying Palm of +Faridpur</a></td> +<td style="text-align: right;"><a href="#Page_222">222</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="40%"><a href="#Page_226">Visualisation of +Growth</a></td> +<td style="text-align: right;"><a href="#Page_226">226</a></td> +</tr> +</table> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_iv" id= +"Page_iv">[pg_iv]</a></span> +<table summary="TOC"> +<tr> +<td colspan="35%"><a href="#Page_231">Sir J. C. Bose at +Bombay</a></td> +<td style="text-align: right;"><a href="#Page_231">231</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="35%"><a href="#Page_235">Unity of Life</a></td> +<td style="text-align: right;"><a href="#Page_235">235</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="35%"><a href="#Page_243">The Automatic Writing of +the Plant</a></td> +<td style="text-align: right;"><a href="#Page_243">243</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="35%"><a href="#Page_247">Control of Nervous +Impulse</a></td> +<td style="text-align: right;"><a href="#Page_247">247</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="35%"><a href="#Page_254">Marvels of Growth as +Revealed by the "Magnetic Crescograph"</a></td> +<td style="text-align: right;"><a href="#Page_254">254</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="35%"><a href="#Page_262">The Night-Watch of +Nymphaea</a></td> +<td style="text-align: right;"><a href="#Page_262">262</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="35%"><a href="#Page_267">Wounded Plants</a></td> +<td style="text-align: right;"><a href="#Page_267">267</a></td> +</tr> +</table> + +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_001" id= +"Page_001">[Pg_001]</a></span> +<p style= +"text-align: center; font-weight: 600; font-size: 1.5em"> +<font face="@Arial Unicode MS">SIR JAGADIS CHUNDER +BOSE</font></p> +<p class="indent">On the 30th November, 1858, Jagadis Chunder was +born, in a respectable Hindu family, which hails from village +Rarikhal, situated in the Vikrampur Pargana of the Dacca +District, in Bengal. He passed his boyhood at Faridpur, where his +father, the late Babu Bhugwan Chunder Bose, a member of the +<i>then</i> Subordinate Executive Service was the Sub-Divisional +Officer; and it was there that he derived "the power and strength +that nerved him to meet the shocks of life."<a href="#_1_" name= +"f1" id="f1"><sup>1</sup></a></p> +<p style= +"text-align: center; font-weight: 600; font-size: 1.0em; margin-top: 2.0em"> +HIS FATHER</p> +<p class="indent">His father was a fine product of the Western +Education in our country. Speaking of him, says Sir Jagadis "My +father was one of the earliest to receive the impetus +characteristic of the modern epoch as derived from the West. And +in his case it came to pass that the stimulus evoked the latent +potentialities of his race for evolving modes of expression +demanded by the period of transition in which he was placed. They +found expression in great constructive work, in the restoration +of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_002" id= +"Page_002">[Pg_002]</a></span>quiet amidst disorder, in the +earliest effort to spread education both among men and women, in +questions of social welfare, in industrial efforts, in the +establishment of people's bank and in the foundation of +industrial and technical schools."<a href="#_2_" name="f2" id= +"f2"><sup>2</sup></a> However, his efforts—like most +pioneer efforts—failed. He became overpowered in the +struggle. But his young son, who witnessed the struggle, derived +a great lesson which enabled him "to look on success or failure +as one"—or rather "failure as the antecedent power which +lies dormant for the long subsequent dynamic expression in what +we call success." "And if my life" says Sir Jagadis "in any way +came to be fruitful, then that came through the realisation of +this lesson."<a href="#_2_" name="f2a" id="f2a"><sup>2</sup></a> +So great was the influence exerted on him by his father that Sir +Jagadis Chunder has observed "To me his life had been one of +blessing and daily thanksgiving."<a href="#_2_" name="f2b" id= +"f2b"><sup>2</sup></a></p> +<p style= +"text-align: center; font-weight: 600; font-size: 1.0em; margin-top: 2.0em"> +HIS EARLY EDUCATION</p> +<p class="indent">Little Jagadis received his first lesson in a +village <i>pathsala</i>. His father, who had very advanced views +in educational matters, instead of sending him to an English +School, which was then regarded as the only place for efficient +instruction, sent him to the vernacular village school for his +early education. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_003" id= +"Page_003">[Pg_003]</a></span>"While my father's subordinates" +says Sir Jagadis "sent their children to the English schools +intended for gentle folks, I was sent to the vernacular school, +where my comrades were hardy sons of toilers and of others who, +it is now fashion to regard, were belonging to the depressed +classes."<a href="#_3_" name="f3" id="f3"><sup>3</sup></a> +Speaking of the effect it produced on him, observes Sir Jagadis +"From these who tilled the ground and made the land blossom with +green verdure and ripening corn, and the sons of the fisher folk, +who told stories of the strange creatures that frequented unknown +depths of mighty rivers and stagnant pools, I first derived the +lesson of that which constitutes true manhood. From them too I +drew my love of nature."<a href="#_3_" name="f3a" id= +"f3a"><sup>3</sup></a></p> +<p class="indent">"I now realise" continues Sir Jagadis "the +object of my being sent at the most plastic period of my life to +the vernacular school where I was to learn my own thoughts and to +receive the heritage of our national culture through the medium +of our own literature. I was thus to consider myself one with the +people and never to place myself in an equivocal position of +assumed superiority."<a href="#_3_" name="f3b" id= +"f3b"><sup>3</sup></a></p> +<p class="indent">"The moral education which we received in our +childhood" adds Sir Jagadis "was very indirect and came from +listening to stories recited by the <span class= +'pagenum'><a name="Page_004" id= +"Page_004">[Pg_004]</a></span>"Kathaks" on various incidents +connected with our great epics. Their effects on our mind was +Very great."<a href="#_4_" name="f4" id="f4"><sup>4</sup></a></p> +<p class="indent">And it is very interesting to learn from the +lips of Sir Jagadis himself "that the inventive bent of his mind +received its first impetus" in the industrial and technical +schools established by his father.<a href="#_4_" name="f4a" id= +"f4a"><sup>4</sup></a></p> +<p style= +"text-align: center; font-weight: 600; font-size: 1.0em; margin-top: 2.0em"> +HIS COLLEGIATE EDUCATION IN INDIA</p> +<p class="indent">After he had developed, in the <i>pathsala</i>, +some power of observation, some power of reasoning and some power +of expression through the healthy medium of his own mother +tongue, young Jagadis was sent to an English School for +education. He passed the Entrance Examination, in 1875, from the +St. Xavier's Collegiate School, Calcutta, in the First Division. +He then joined the College classes of that Institution, and +there, in the "splendid museum of Physical Science Instruments," +he drew his early inspirations in Physics from that remarkable +educationist and brilliant experimentalist, the Rev. Father E. +Lefont, S.J., C.I.E., M.I.E.E., who had the rare gift of +enkindling the imagination of his pupils. He passed the First +Examination in Arts, in 1877, in the Second Division and the B.A. +Examination by the B. Course (Science Course), in 1880, in the +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_005" id= +"Page_005">[Pg_005]</a></span>Second Division. "It is the +paramount duty of the University" says Sir Ashutosh Mookerjea "to +discover and develop unusual talent."<a href="#_5_" name="f5" id= +"f5"><sup>5</sup></a> The Calcutta University, by the test of +examination which it applied, totally failed to <i>discover</i> +(not to speak of <i>developing</i>) the powers of an original +mind which was destined to enrich the world by giving away the +fruits of its experience.</p> +<p style= +"text-align: center; font-weight: 600; font-size: 1.0em; margin-top: 2.0em"> +HIS STUDY ABROAD</p> +<p class="indent">After Jagadis had graduated himself, in the +Calcutta University, he longed to get a course of scientific +education in England. He was sent to Cambridge and joined the +Christ's College. He came in "personal contact with eminent men, +whose influence extorted his admiration and created in him a +feeling of emulation. In the way he owed a great deal to Lord +Rayleigh, under whom he worked."<a href= +"#_6_" name="f6" id="f6"><sup>6</sup></a> He passed the B.A. +Examination of the Cambridge University, in Natural Science +Tripos, in 1884. He also secured, in 1883, the B.Sc. Degree with +Honours of London University. Jagadis had, by birth, the +speculative Indian mind. And, by his scientific education, at +home and abroad, he developed a capacity for accurate experiment +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_006" id= +"Page_006">[Pg_006]</a></span>and observation and learnt to +control his Imagination—"that wonderous faculty which, left +to ramble uncontrolled leads us astray into a wilderness of +perplexities and errors, a land of mists and shadows; but which, +properly controlled by experience and reflection, becomes the +noblest attribute of man; the source of poetic genius, the +instrument of discovery in Science."<a href="#_7_" name="f7" id= +"f7"><sup>7</sup></a> His strength and fertility as a discoverer +is to be referred in a great measure to the harmonious blending +of the burning Imagination of the East with the analytical +methods of the West.</p> +<p style= +"text-align: center; font-weight: 600; font-size: 1.0em; margin-top: 2.0em"> +APPOINTED AS A PROFESSOR</p> +<p class="indent">After having completed his education abroad. +Jagadis chose the teaching of Science as his vocation. He was +appointed as Professor of Physical Science at the Presidency +College, Calcutta. He joined the service on the 7th January, +1885. Although he was appointed in Class IV of the <i>then</i> +Bengal Educational Service, (which afterwards merged in the +present Indian Educational Service), he was not admitted to the +full scale of pay of the Service. He, being an Indian, was +allowed to draw only two-thirds the pay of his grade. This +humiliating distinction was, however, removed in <span class= +'pagenum'><a name="Page_007" id="Page_007">[Pg_007]</a></span>his +case, on the 21st September 1903, when the bureaucracy could not +any longer ignore the pressure of enlightened opinion that was +brought to bear on it.</p> +<p style= +"text-align: center; font-weight: 600; font-size: 1.0em; margin-top: 2.0em"> +HIS RESEARCHES ON ELECTRIC WAVES</p> +<p class="indent">It was in 1887, some times after Professor J. +C. Bose had joined the Presidency College, Hertz demonstrated, by +direct experiment, the existence of Electric Waves—the +properties of which had been predicted by Clerk Maxwell long +before. This great discovery sent a reverberation through the +gallery of the scientific world. And, at once, the scientists in +all countries began to devote their best energies to explorations +in this new Realm of Nature. Young J. C. Bose—who had drunk +deep at the springs of Scientific Knowledge and whose imagination +had been very deeply touched by the scientific activities of the +West and who had in him the burning desire that India should +'enter the world movement for that advancement of +knowledge'—also followed suit.</p> +<p style= +"text-align: center; font-weight: 600; font-size: 1.0em; margin-top: 2.0em"> +DIFFICULTIES OF RESEARCHES</p> +<p class="indent">When, however, Prof. J. C. Bose joined the +Presidency College, there was no laboratory worth the name there, +nor had he any of 'those mechanical facilities at his disposal +which every prominent European and American experimental +scientist <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_008" id= +"Page_008">[Pg_008]</a></span>commands'. He had to work under +discouraging difficulties before he could begin his +investigations. He was, however, not a man to quarrel with +circumstances. He bravely accepted them and began to work in his +own private laboratory and with appliances which, in any other +country, would be deemed inadequate. He applied himself closely +to the investigation of the invisible etheric waves and, with the +simple means at his command, accomplished things, which few were +able to perform in spite of their great wealth of external +appliances.</p> +<p class="indent">As the wave-length of a Hertzian (electric) ray +was very large—about 3 metres<a href="#_8_" name="f8" id= +"f8"><sup>8</sup></a> long—compared with that of visible +light, considerable difficulties were experienced in carrying on +experiments with the same. It was thought, for instance, that +very large crystals, much larger than what occur in nature, would +be required to show the polarisation of electric ray. Prof. Bose +who 'combined in him the inventiveness of a resourceful engineer, +with the penetration and imagination of a great +scientist'—designed an instrument which generated very +short electric waves with a length of about 6 millimetres or so. +And, by working with Electric radiations having very short +wave-lengths, he succeeded in demonstrating that the electric +waves are polarised by the crystal <i>Nemalite</i> (which he +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_009" id= +"Page_009">[Pg_009]</a></span>himself discovered) in the very +same way as a beam of light is polarised by the crystal +Tourmaline. He then showed that a large number of substances, +which are opaque to Light (<i>e.g.</i> pitch, coal-tar etc.) are +transparent to Electric Waves. He next determined the Index of +Refraction of various substances for invisible Electric Radiation +and thereby eliminated a great difficulty which had presented +itself in Maxwell's theory as to the relation between the index +of refraction of light and the di-electric constant of +insulators. He then determined the wave length of Electric +Radiation as produced by various oscillators.</p> +<p style= +"text-align: center; font-weight: 600; font-size: 1.0em; margin-top: 2.0em"> +HIS EARLY CONTRIBUTIONS AND THEIR APPRECIATIONS</p> +<p class="indent">His first contribution was 'On Polarisation of +Electric Rays by Double Refracting Crystals.' It was read at a +meeting of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, held on the 1st May +1895, and was published in the Journal of the Society in Vol. +LXIV, Part II, page 291. His next contributions were 'On a new +Electro polariscope' and 'On the Double Refraction of the +Electric Ray by a Strained Di-electric.' They appeared, in the +<i>Electrician</i>, the leading journal on Electricity, published +in London. These 'strikingly original researches' won the +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_010" id= +"Page_010">[Pg_010]</a></span>attention of the scientific world. +Lord Kelvin, the greatest physicist of the age, declared himself +'literally filled with wonder and admiration for so much success +in the novel and difficult problem which he had attacked.' Lord +Rayleigh communicated the results of his remarkable researches to +the Royal Society. And the Royal Society showed its appreciation +of the high scientific value of his investigation, not only, by +the publication, with high tributes, of a paper of his 'On the +Determination of the Indices of Electric Refraction,' in December +1896, and another paper on the 'Determination of the Wave-length +of Electric Radiation,' in June 1896, but also, by the offer, of +their own accord, of an appropriation from the Special +Parliamentary Grant made to the Society for the Advancement of +Knowledge, for continuation of his work.</p> +<p class="indent">In recognition of the importance of the +contribution made by Prof. Bose, the University of London +conferred on him the Degree of Doctor of Science and the +Cambridge University, the degree of M.A., in 1896. And, to crown +all, the Royal Institution of Great Britain—rendered famous +by the labour of Davy and Faraday, of Rayleigh and +Dewar—honoured him by inviting to deliver a 'Friday Evening +Discourse' on his original work. It would not be out of place to +observe that the rare privilege of being invited to deliver a +'Friday Evening <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_011" id= +"Page_011">[Pg_011]</a></span>Discourse' is regarded as one of +the highest distinction that can be conferred on a scientific +man.</p> +<p style= +"text-align: center; font-weight: 600; font-size: 1.0em; margin-top: 2.0em"> +HIS FIRST SCIENTIFIC DEPUTATION. (1896-97)</p> +<p class="indent">The Government of India showed its appreciation +of his work by deputing him to Europe to place the results of his +investigations before the learned Scientific Bodies. He remained +on his Deputation from the 22nd July 1896 to the 19th April 1897. +He read a paper 'On a complete Apparatus for studying the +Properties of Electric Waves' at the meeting of British +Association, held at Liverpool, in 1896. He then communicated a +paper 'On the Selective Conductivity exhibited by Polarising +Substances,' which was published by the Royal Society, in January +1897. He next delivered his 'Friday Evening Discourse,' at the +Royal Institution, 'On Electric Waves,' on the 29th January 1897. +"There is, however, to our thinking" wrote the <i>Spectator</i> +at the time "something of rare interest in the spectacle +presented of a Bengalee of the purest descent possible, lecturing +in London to an audience of appreciative European savants upon +one of the most recondite branches of the modern physical +science." He was then invited to address the Scientific Societies +in Paris. "Prof. J. C. Bose" wrote the Review Encyclopedique, +Paris "exhibited on the 9th of March before the Sorbonne, +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_012" id= +"Page_012">[Pg_012]</a></span>an apparatus of his invention for +demonstrating the laws of reflection, refraction, and +polarisation of electric waves. He repeated his experiments on +the 22nd, before a large number of members of the Academie des +Sciences, among whom were Poincare, Cornu, Mascart, Lipmann, +Cailletet, Becquerel and others. These savants highly applauded +the investigations of the Indian Professor." M. Cornu, President +of the Academy of Science, was pleased to address Professor Bose +as follows:—</p> +<p class="indent">"By your discoveries you have greatly furthered +the cause of Science. You must try to revive the grand traditions +of your race which bore aloft the torch light of art and science +and was the leader of civilization two thousand years ago. We, in +France applaud you." This fervent appeal, we shall see, as we +proceed, did not go in vain.</p> +<p class="indent">He was next invited to lecture before the +Universities in Germany. At Berlin, before the leading physicists +of Germany, he gave an address on Electric Radiation, which was +subsequently published in the <i>Physikaliscen Gesellschaft +Berlin</i>, in April 1897.</p> +<p style= +"text-align: center; font-weight: 600; font-size: 1.0em; margin-top: 2.0em"> +FURTHER RESEARCHES ON ELECTRIC WAVES</p> +<p class="indent">Having received the most generous and wide +appreciation of his work, Dr. J. C. Bose continued, with +redoubled vigour, his valuable researches on Electric Waves. He +studied the influence of thickness <span class='pagenum'><a name= +"Page_013" id="Page_013">[Pg_013]</a></span>of air-space on total +reflection of Electric Radiation and showed that the critical +thickness of air-space is determined by the refracting power of +the prism and by the wave-length of the electric oscillations. He +next demonstrated the rotation of the plane of polarisation of +Electric Waves by means of pieces of twisted jute rope. He showed +that, if the pieces are arranged so that their twists are all in +one direction and placed in the path of radiation, they rotate +the plane of polarisation in a direction depending upon the +direction of twists; but, if they are mixed so that there are as +many twisted in one direction as the other, there is no +rotation.<a href="#_9_" name="f9" id="f9"><sup>9</sup></a> He +communicated to the Royal Society the results of his new +researches. And the Royal Society published, in November 1897, +his papers 'On the Determination of the Index of Refraction of +glass for the Electric Ray' and 'On the influence of Thickness of +Air-space on Total Reflection of Electric Radiation' and, in +March 1898, his further contributions 'On the Rotation of Plane +of Polarisation of Electric Waves by a twisted structure' and 'On +the Production of a "Dark cross" in the Field of Electro-magnetic +Radiation.'</p> +<p style= +"text-align: center; font-weight: 600; font-size: 1.0em; margin-top: 2.0em"> +SELF-RECOVERING "COHERER"</p> +<p class="indent">The study of Electric Waves by Dr. J. C. Bose +led <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_014" id= +"Page_014">[Pg_014]</a></span>not only to the devising of methods +for the production of the shortest Electric Waves known but also +to the construction of a very delicate 'Receiver' for the +detection of invisible other disturbances. The most sensitive +form of detector hitherto known was the "Coherer." One of the +forms made by Sir Oliver Lodge consisted simply of a glass tube +containing iron turnings, in contact with which were wire led +into opposite ends of the tube. The arrangement was placed in +series with a galvanometer and a battery; when the turnings were +struck by electric waves, the resistance between loose metallic +contacts was diminished and the deflection of the galvanometer +was increased. Thus the deflection of the galvanometer was made +to indicate the arrival of electric waves. The arrangement was, +no doubt, a sensitive one, but, to get a greater delicacy, Dr. +Bose used, instead of iron turnings, spiral springs which were +pushed against each other by means of a screw.<a href="#_10_" +name="f10" id="f10"><sup>10</sup></a> Still the arrangement +laboured under one great disadvantage. The 'receiver' had to be +tapped between each experiment. So something better than a +'cohering' receiving was needed—something that was +self-recovering, like a human eye. To discover that something, +Dr. Bose began a study of the whole theory of 'coherer action.' +It was hitherto believed <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_015" +id="Page_015">[Pg_015]</a></span>that the electric waves, by +impinging on iron and other metallic particles in contact, +brought about a sort of fusion—a sort of +'coherence'—and that the diminution of resistance was the +result of that 'coherence.' To satisfy himself as to the +correctness of this theory, Dr. Bose engaged himself in a most +laborious investigation to find out the action of electric +radiation not only on iron particles but on all kinds of matter +and ultimately discovered the surprising fact that, though the +impact of electric waves generally produced a diminution of +resistance, with <i>potassium</i> there was an <i>increase</i> of +resistance after the waves had ceased.<a href="#_11_" name="f11" +id="f11"><sup>11</sup></a> This discovery at once showed the +untenability of the old theory and pointed to the conclusion that +the effect of electric radiation on matter is one of +discriminative molecular action—that the Electric Waves +produced a re-arrangement of the molecules which may either +increase or decrease the contact resistance. It may be +incidentally mentioned here that this detection of molecular +change in matter under electric stimulation has given rise to a +new theory of photographic action.</p> +<p class="indent">As a result of his painstaking investigation on +the action of Electric Waves on different kinds of matter, Dr. +Bose invented a new type of self-recovering electric receiver, +"so perfect in its action <span class='pagenum'><a name= +"Page_016" id="Page_016">[Pg_016]</a></span>that the Electrician +suggested its use in ships and in electro-magnetic light-houses +for the communication and transmission of danger-signals at sea +through space. This was, in 1895, several years in advance of the +present wireless system." Practical application of the results of +Dr. Bose's investigations appeared so important that the +Governments of Great Britain and the United States of America +granted him patents for his invention of a certain crystal +receiver which proved to be the most sensitive detector of the +wireless signal. Dr. Bose, however, has made no secret at any +time as to the construction of his apparatus. He has never +utilised the patents granted to him for personal gain. His +inventions are "open to all the world to adopt for practical and +money-making purposes." "The spirit of our national culture" +observes Sir J. C. Bose "demands that we should for ever be free +from the desecration of utilising knowledge for personal +gain."<a href="#_12_" name="f12" id="f12"><sup>12</sup></a></p> +<p style= +"text-align: center; font-weight: 600; font-size: 1.0em; margin-top: 2.0em"> +HIS RESEARCHES TAKE A NEW TURN</p> +<p class="indent">This inquiry which Dr. J. C. Bose started for +the purpose of ascertaining 'coherer action'—why the +"receiver" had to be tapped in order to respond again to electric +waves—took him <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_017" id= +"Page_017">[Pg_017]</a></span>unconsciously to the border region +of physics and physiology and gave an altogether new turn to his +researches. "He found that the uncertainty of the early type of +his receiver was brought on by 'fatigue' and that the curve of +fatigue of his instrument closely resembled the fatigue curve of +animal muscle."<a href="#_13_" name="f13" id= +"f13"><sup>13</sup></a> He did not stop there but pushed on his +investigations and found "that the 'tiredness' of his instrument +was removed by suitable stimulants and that application of +certain poisons, on the other hand, permanently abolished its +sensitiveness." He was amazed at this discovery—this +parallelism in the behaviour of the 'receiver' to the living +muscle. This led him to a systematic study of all matter, Organic +and Inorganic, Living and Non-Living.</p> +<p style= +"text-align: center; font-weight: 600; font-size: 1.0em; margin-top: 2.0em"> +RESPONSE IN LIVING AND NON-LIVING</p> +<p class="indent">He began an examination of inorganic matter in +the same way as a biologist examines a muscle or a nerve. He +subjected metals to various kinds of stimulus—mechanical, +thermal, chemical, and electrical. He found that all sorts of +stimulus produce an excitatory change in them. And this +excitation sometimes expresses itself in a visible change +of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_018" id= +"Page_018">[Pg_018]</a></span> form and sometimes not; but the +disturbance produced by the stimulus always exhibits itself in an +<i>electric response</i>. He next subjected plants and animal +tissues to various kinds of stimulus and also found that they +also give an <i>electric response</i>. Finding that a universal +reaction brought together metals, plants and animals under a +common law, he next proceeded to a study of <i>modifications in +response</i>, which occur under various conditions. He found that +they are all benumbed by cold, intoxicated by alcohol, wearied by +excessive work, stupified by anaesthetics, excited by electric +currents, stung by physical blows and killed by poison—they +all exhibit essentially the same phenomena of fatigue and +depression, together with possibilities of recovery and of +exaltation, yet also that of permanent irresponsiveness which is +associated with death—they all are responsive or +irresponsive under the same conditions and in the same manner. +The investigations showed that, in the entire range of +response phenomena (inclusive as that is of metals, plants and +animals) there is no breach of continuity; that "the living +response in all its diverse modifications is only a repetition of +responses seen in the inorganic" and that the phenomena of +response "are determined, not by the play of an unknowable and +arbitrary <i>vital force</i>, but by the working of laws that +know no change, acting<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_019" +id="Page_019">[Pg_019]</a></span> equally and uniformly +throughout the organic and inorganic matter."<a href="#_14_" +name="f14" id="f14"><sup>14</sup></a></p> +<p style= +"text-align: center; font-weight: 600; font-size: 1.0em; margin-top: 2.0em"> +SECOND SCIENTIFIC DEPUTATION, 1900-01</p> +<p class="indent">In the year 1900, the International Scientific +Congress was held, in Paris. And Dr. J. C. Bose was deputed by +the Government of India to the Congress as a delegate from this +country. Before the assembled scientists, Dr. Bose delivered a +remarkable address on the results of his researches on the +similarity of Response of Inorganic and Living Substances to +Electric stimulus ... 'De la gênêralitê de +Phênomênes Moleculairs produits par l'Ectricité sur la +matiriê Inorganique et sur la matiêre Vivante.' He +next read a paper 'On the Similarity of effect of Electric +Stimulus on Inorganic and Living Substances' before the Bradford +meeting of the British Association in 1900. He then contributed a +very interesting paper 'on Binocular Alteration of Vision,' which +was published by the Physiological Society of London, in November +1900. It may be mentioned here, by the way, that, in course of +his investigations on the Response of the Living and Non-Living +substances, Dr. Bose constructed an "artificial retina" to study +the characteristics of the excitatory change produced by a +stimulus on <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_020" id= +"Page_020">[Pg_020]</a></span>the retina and these +characteristics gave him a clue to the unexpected discovery of +the "binocular alteration of vision" in man—"each eye +supplements its fellow by turns, instead of acting as a +continuously yoked pair, as hitherto believed."<a href="#_15_" +name="f15" id="f15"><sup>15</sup></a> He next communicated to the +Royal Society his researches 'On the Continuity of Effect of +Light and Electric Radiation on Matter,' and 'On the Similarities +between Mechanical and Radiation Strains,' and 'On the Strain +Theory of Photographic action,' which were published in April +1901. Then, on the 10th May 1901, he delivered his remarkable +'Friday Evening Discourse,' at the Royal Institution, on the +'Response of Inorganic Matter to Stimulus.'</p> +<p style= +"text-align: center; font-weight: 600; font-size: 1.0em; margin-top: 2.0em"> +OPPOSITION OF THE PHYSIOLOGISTS</p> +<p class="indent">Then, on the 5th June 1901, he gave an +experimental demonstration, before the Royal Society, on the +subject of his researches 'On Electric Response of Inorganic +Substances' which had already been communicated to that Society, +on the 7th May 1901. He was strongly assailed by Sir John Burden +Sanderson, the leading physiologist, and some of his followers. +They objected to a physicist straying into the preserve +especially reserved for <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_021" +id="Page_021">[Pg_021]</a></span>them. They dogmatically asserted +<i>as physiologists</i> that the excitatory response of ordinary +plants to mechanical stimulus was an impossibility. But they +failed to urge anything against the experiment of the physicist. +In consequence of this opposition, Dr. Bose's paper, which was +already in print, was not published but was placed in the +archives of the Royal Society. "And it happened that eight months +after the reading of his Paper, another communication found +publication in the Journal of a different Society which was +practically the same as Dr. Bose's but without any +acknowledgment. The author of this communication was a gentleman +who had previously opposed him at the Royal Society. The +plagiarism was subsequently discovered and led to much +unpleasantness. It is not necessary to refer any more to this +subject except as an explanation of the fact that the determined +hostility and misrepresentation of one man succeeded for more +than 10 years to bar all avenues of publications for his +discoveries."<a href="#_16_" name="f16" id= +"f16"><sup>16</sup></a></p> +<p class="indent">The opposition of the physiologists, however, +did one good. It spurred Dr. Bose on and made him stronger in his +determination not to encompass himself, within the narrow groove +of physical investigation. He took furlough for one year, in +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_022" id= +"Page_022">[Pg_022]</a></span>extension of the period of his +Deputation, and applied himself vigorously to the investigations, +which he had already commenced in India and received facilities +from the Managers of the Royal Institution to work in the +Davy-Faraday Laboratory. He next read, at the Glasgow meeting of +the British Association, in 1901, a paper 'On the Conductivity of +Metallic particles under Cyclic Electro-magnetic +Variation.' Then, in March 1902, "Prof. Bose" says the +<i>Nature</i> "performed a series of experiments before the +Linnean Society showing electric response for certain portions of +the plant organism, which proved that as concerning fatigue, +behaviour at high and low temperatures, the effects produced by +poisons and anaesthetics, the responses are identical with those +held to be characteristic of muscle and nerve." The Linnean +Society published, in its Journal, in March 1902, his paper 'On +Electric Response of Ordinary Plants under Mechanical Stimulus.' +He then communicated to the Société de Physique, Paris, his paper 'Sur la Résponse +Electrique dans les Métaux, les Tissu Animaux et Végétaux.' The Royal Society +published, in April 1902, his contribution 'On the Electromotive Wave accompanying Mechanical +Disturbance in Metals in contact with Electrolyte.' He was next +asked by the Royal Photographic Society to give a <span class= +'pagenum'><a name="Page_023" id= +"Page_023">[Pg_023]</a></span>discourse 'On the Strain Theory +Vision and of Photographic Action,' which was published by the +Society, in its Journal, in June 1902. He then wrote a paper 'On +the Electric Response in Animal, Vegetable and Metal,' which was +read before the Belfast meeting of the British Association, in +1902. The President of the Botanical Section at Belfast, in his +address, observed "Some very striking results were published by +Bose on Electric Response in ordinary plants. Bose's +investigations established a very close similarity in behaviour +between the vegetable and the animal. Summation effects were +observed and fatigue effect demonstrated, while it was definitely +shown that the responses were physiological. They ceased as soon +as the piece of tissue was killed by heating. These observations +strengthen considerably the view of the identical nature of the +animal and vegetable protoplasm."</p> +<p class="indent">Dr. Bose then brought out a systematic treatise +embodying the results of his researches under the significant +title of 'Response in the Living and Non-living.' He returned to +India, in October, 1902.</p> +<p style= +"text-align: center; font-weight: 600; font-size: 1.0em; margin-top: 2.0em"> +GOVERNMENT RECOGNITION</p> +<p class="indent">After he had come back, from the Second +Scientific Deputation, the Government of India conferred on him +the distinction of Companion of the Order of <span class= +'pagenum'><a name="Page_024" id="Page_024">[Pg_024]</a></span>the +Indian Empire, in 1903, in recognition of his valuable +researches.</p> +<p style= +"text-align: center; font-weight: 600; font-size: 1.0em; margin-top: 2.0em"> +PLANT LIFE AND ANIMAL LIFE</p> +<p class="indent">Next Dr. Bose, in natural sequence to the +investigation of the response in 'inorganic' matter commenced 'a +prolonged study of the activities of plant life as compared with +corresponding functioning of animal life.'</p> +<p style= +"text-align: center; font-weight: 600; font-size: 1.0em; margin-top: 2.0em"> +ALL PLANTS ARE "SENSITIVE"</p> +<p class="indent">It was believed that so-called 'sensitive' +plants alone exhibited excitation by <i>electric response</i>. +But Dr. Bose, believing in continuity of responsive phenomena, +used the same experimental devices, with which he had already +succeeded in obtaining the <i>electric response</i> of inorganic +substances, to test whether ordinary plants also—meaning +those usually regarded as 'insensitive'—would or would not +exhibit excitatory <i>electrical response</i> to stimulus. With +the help of very delicate instruments, Dr. Bose demonstrated the +very startling fact that not only every plant, but every organ of +every plant gave true <i>excitatory electric +response</i>—and that response was not confined alone to +'sensitive' plants like <i>Mimosa</i>.</p> +<p class="indent">Dr. Bose then proceeded to investigate whether +the responsive effects which he had shown to occur <span class= +'pagenum'><a name="Page_025" id="Page_025">[Pg_025]</a></span>in +ordinary plants might not be further exhibited by means of +<i>visible mechanical response</i>, thus fully removing the +distinction commonly assumed to exist between the 'sensitive' and +supposed 'non-sensitive.' Dr. Bose invented 'special apparatus of +extreme delicacy,' which detected infinitesimal tremors, and showed that ordinary plants, usually +regarded as insensitive, gave <i>motile responses</i>, which had +hitherto passed unnoticed. His later investigation shows that +"all plants, even the trees, are fully alive to changes of +environment; they respond visibly to all stimuli, even to the +slight fluctuations of light by a drifting cloud."<a href="#_17_" +name="f17" id="f17"><sup>17</sup></a></p> +<p style= +"text-align: center; font-weight: 600; font-size: 1.0em; margin-top: 2.0em"> +'TROPIC' MOVEMENTS</p> +<p class="indent">Finding that the plants give, not only +<i>electric</i> but <i>motile</i> response as well, to stimulus, +Dr. Bose proceeded to study the nature of responses evoked in +plants by the <i>stimuli of the natural forces</i>. He found that +plants respond visibly, by movements, to <i>environmental +stimuli</i>. But the movements induced—'tropic' +movements—are extremely diverse. Light, for example, +induces sometimes positive curvature, sometimes negative. +Gravitation, again, induces one movement in the root, and the +opposition in the shoot. Dr. Bose applied himself to find out +whether <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_026" id= +"Page_026">[Pg_026]</a></span>the movements in response to +external stimuli, though apparently so diverse, could not be +ultimately reduced to a fundamental unity of reaction. As a +result of a very deep and penetrating study of the effects of +various environmental stimuli, on different plant organs, he +showed that the cells on two sides are unequally influenced, on +account of different external conditions, and contract unequally, +and hence the various movements are produced—that the many +anomalous effects, hitherto ascribed to +'specific sensibilities,' are due to the 'differential +sensibilities'—differential excitability of anisotropic +structures and to the opposite effects of external and internal +stimuli—that all varieties of plant movements are capable +of a consistent mechanical explanation. Dr. Bose's "latest +investigations recently communicated to the Royal Society have +established the single fundamental reaction which underlies all +these effects so extremely diverse."<a href="#_18_" name="f18" +id="f18"><sup>18</sup></a></p> +<p style= +"text-align: center; font-weight: 600; font-size: 1.0em; margin-top: 2.0em"> +EXTENDED APPLICATION OF MECHANICAL THEORY</p> +<p class="indent">With an extended application of his mechanical +theory, Dr. Bose has gradually removed the veil of obscurity from +many a phenomenon in plant life. <span class='pagenum'><a name= +"Page_027" id="Page_027">[Pg_027]</a></span>The 'autonomous' +movements of plants, for example, which remained enveloped in +mystery, received a satisfactory solution at his hands.</p> +<p style= +"text-align: center; font-weight: 600; font-size: 1.0em; margin-top: 2.0em"> +'AUTONOMOUS' MOVEMENTS</p> +<p class="indent">It was believed that automatically pulsating +tissues draw their energy from a mysterious "vital force" working +within. By controlling external forces, Dr. Bose stopped the +pulsation and re-started it and thus demonstrated that the +'automatic action' was not due to any internal vital force. He +pointed out that the external stimulus—instead of causing, +as was customary to suppose, an explosive chemical change and an +inevitable run-down of energy—brings about an accumulation +of energy by the plant. And with the accumulation of absorbed +energy, a point is reached when there is an overflow—the +excess of energy bubbles over, as it were, and shows itself in +'spontaneous' movements. The stimulus being strong a single +response—a single twitching of the leaflets—is not +enough to express the whole of the leaf's responsive energy and +it yields a multiple response—it reverberates—it +manifests itself in 'automatic' pulsations. When, however, the +accumulated energy is exhausted, then there is also an end of +'spontaneous movements.' There are strictly speaking, no +'spontaneous' movements; those known by that name are really due +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_028" id= +"Page_028">[Pg_028]</a></span>either to the immediate effects of +external stimulus or to the stimulus previously absorbed and held +latent in the plant to find subsequent expression—due to +the direct or indirect action of external forces which are +transformed in the machinery of the plants in obedience to the +principle of the Conservation of Energy.</p> +<p style= +"text-align: center; font-weight: 600; font-size: 1.0em; margin-top: 2.0em"> +"ASCENT OF SAP" "AND GROWTH"</p> +<p class="indent">Dr. Bose then showed that, not gross mechanical +movements alone, but also other invisible movements are initiated +by the action of stimulus, and that the various activities, such +as the "ascent of sap" and "growth" are in reality different +reactions to the stimulating action of energy supplied by the +environment. In this way, Dr. Bose showed that several obscure +phenomena, in the life-processes of the plant, can be very +satisfactorily explained by the Mechanical Theory.</p> +<p class="indent">It would not be out of place to mention that +Dr. Bose, to carry on his researches on the Ascent of Sap, +invented a new type of instrument (Shoshungraph). And for an +accurate investigation on the phenomenon of growth of plants he +devised an instrument (Growth Recorder) for instantaneous +measurement of the rate of growth and another instrument +(Balanced Crescograph) for determining the influences of various +agencies on growth. So <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_029" +id="Page_029">[Pg_029]</a></span>very marvellous these +instruments that the growth, which takes place, during a few +beats of pendulum, is measured, and, in less than a quarter of an +hour, the action of fertilizers, foods, electrical currents and +various stimulants are determined. "What is the tale of Aladdin +and his wonderful lamp" exclaims the Editor of the +<i>Scientific American</i> "compared with the true story told by +the crescograph?... Instead of waiting a whole season, perhaps +years, to discover whether or not it is wise to mix this or that +fertilizer with the soil one can now find in a few minutes!" Yet +these are the instruments which are better known in Washington +than in Calcutta! The question of their application to practical +agriculture has excited more interest in the United States of +America than in this unfortunate land, which is an essentially +agricultural country!</p> +<p style= +"text-align: center; font-weight: 600; font-size: 1.0em; margin-top: 2.0em"> +FUNDAMENTAL IDENTITY OF REACTIONS</p> +<p class="indent">Dr. Bose showed that there is no physiological +response given by the most highly organised animal tissue that is +not also to be met with in the plant. He carried on "Researches +on Diurnal Sleep" and showed that the plant is not equally +sensitive to an external stimulus during day and night, and that +there is a fundamental identity of life-reaction in plant and +animal, as seen in a similar periodic <span class= +'pagenum'><a name="Page_030" id= +"Page_030">[Pg_030]</a></span>insensibility in both, +corresponding to what we call <i>sleep</i>. He also showed that +the passage of life in the plant, as in the animal, is marked by +an unmistakable spasm. He invented, an instrument (Morograph) +with which he recorded the critical point of death of a plant +with great exactness. He demonstrated, in the most conclusive +manner, that there is an essential unity of physiological effects +of drugs on plant and animal tissues and showed the modifications +which are introduced into these effects by the factor of +individual 'constitution.' It may be mentioned casually that +"this physiological identity in the effect of drugs is regarded +by leading physicians as of great significance in the scientific +advance of Medicine; since we have a means of testing the effect +of drugs under conditions far simpler than those presented by the +patient, far subtler too, as well as more humane than those of +experiments on animals."<a href="#_19_" name="f19" id= +"f19"><sup>19</sup></a> Dr. Bose further demonstrated that there +is conduction of the excitatory impulse in the plant, like the +nervous impulse in the animal; and showed the possibility of +detecting the wave in transit and measured the speed with which +the excitation coursed through the plant and also showed that the +velocity of excitation is modified, by different agencies, even +in the case <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_031" id= +"Page_031">[Pg_031]</a></span>of ordinary plants. He also showed +that the polar effects induced by electric currents, both in +plants and animals, are identical.</p> +<p class="indent">These remarkable researches on Plant Response +have 'revolutionised in some respects and very much extended in +others our knowledge of the response of plants to stimulus.'</p> +<p style= +"text-align: center; font-weight: 600; font-size: 1.0em; margin-top: 2.0em"> +FURTHER DIFFICULTIES</p> +<p class="indent">Dr. Bose communicated his paper 'On the +Electric Pulsation accompanying Automatic Movements in Desmodium +Gyrans' to the Linnaean Society, which +was published, in December 1902. Then, in 1903, he communicated +to the Royal Society his researches on 'Investigation on +Mechanical Response in Plants,' 'On Polar effects of Currents on +the Stimulation of Plants,' 'On the Velocity of Transmission of +Excitatory waves in Plants,' 'On the excitability and +conductivity of Plant Tissues,' 'On the Propagation of the +Electromotive Wave concomitant of Excitatory Waves in Plants,' +'On Multiple Response in Plants,' 'On an enquiry into the cause +of Automatic Movements.'</p> +<p class="indent">"These new contributions" made by Dr. Bose on +Plant Response "were regarded as of such great importance that +the Royal Society showed its special appreciation by recommending +them to be <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_032" id= +"Page_032">[Pg_032]</a></span>published in their Philosophical +Transactions. But the same influence, which had hitherto stood in +his way, triumphed once more, and it was at the very last moment +that the publication was withheld. The Royal Society, however, +informed him that his results were of fundamental importance, but +as they were so wholly unexpected and so opposed to the existing +theories, that they would reserve their judgment until, at some +future time, plants themselves could be made to record their +answers to questions put to them. This was interpreted in certain +quarters here as the final rejection of Dr. Bose's theories by +the Royal Society and the limited facilities which he had in the +prosecution of his researches were in danger of being +withdrawn."<a href="#_20_" name="f20" id= +"f20"><sup>20</sup></a></p> +<p style= +"text-align: center; font-weight: 600; font-size: 1.0em; margin-top: 2.0em"> +HE BUILT HIS LIFE ON THE ROCK OF FAITH</p> +<p class="indent">But these difficulties—sufficient to +crush many a spirit—could hardly quench the ardour of his +burning soul, which was 'hungering and thirsting' for the +establishment of a truth in which he had a firm Faith. Though the +surges would beat against him, he would not give way. With the +true spirit of a <i>Sadhak</i>, he devoted himself to the +realisation of the great dream of his life. And, for the next ten +years, the one <i>tap</i>, <i>jap</i> and <i>aradhana</i> of his +life—the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_033" id= +"Page_033">[Pg_033]</a></span>one all-engrossing idea of his +mind—was how to make the plant give testimony by means of +its own autograph.</p> +<p style= +"text-align: center; font-weight: 600; font-size: 1.0em; margin-top: 2.0em"> +PUBLICATION OF "PLANT RESPONSE"</p> +<p class="indent">Though his researches did not find an outlet, +in the Proceedings of the Royal Society, he did not lose heart. +He brought out, in April 1906, a systematic treatise—"The +Plant Response as a Means of Physiological +Investigation"—in which he incorporated the results of his +investigations on plant life.</p> +<p style= +"text-align: center; font-weight: 600; font-size: 1.0em; margin-top: 2.0em"> +ADOPTS A NEW METHOD OF INVESTIGATION</p> +<p class="indent">Hitherto Dr. Bose detected the various +excitatory effects of plants by means of <i>mechanical +response</i>. Being now confronted with opposition, he turned his +attention to the finding of corroboration of the various results, +which he had already obtained, by some other method of +investigation. And for this he employed the method of <i>electric +response</i>. He found that the results obtained by this new +method of inquiry corroborated those already obtained by him by +the old method. Emboldened by this corroboration, he next +proceeded to extend this new method of inquiry by means of +<i>electric response</i> into the field of Animal Physiology with +a view to explain responsive phenomena in general on the +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_034" id= +"Page_034">[Pg_034]</a></span>consideration of that fundamental +molecular reaction which occurs even in inorganic +matter.'<a href="#_21_" name="f21" id="f21"><sup>21</sup></a></p> +<p style= +"text-align: center; font-weight: 600; font-size: 1.0em; margin-top: 2.0em"> +RESULT OF THE INVESTIGATION</p> +<p class="indent">Dr. Bose found, in the plant as well as in the +animal, "a similar series of excitatory effects, whether these be +exhibited mechanically or electrically. Both alike are +responsive, and similarly responsive, to all the diverse forms of +stimulus that impinge upon them. We ascend, in the one case as in +the other, from the simplicities of the isotropic to the +complexities of the anisotropic; and the laws of these isotropic +and anisotropic responses are the same in both. The responsive +peculiarities of epidermis, epithelium, and gland; the response +of the digestive organ, with its phasic alterations; and the +excitatory electrical discharge of an anisotropic plate, are the +same in the plant as in the animal. The plant, like the animal, +is a single organic whole, all its different parts being +connected, and their activities co-ordinated, by the agency of +those conducting strands which are known as nerves. As in the +plant nerve, moreover, so also in the animal, stimulation gives +rise to two distinct impulses, exhibiting themselves by two-fold +mechanical and electrical indications of <span class= +'pagenum'><a name="Page_035" id= +"Page_035">[Pg_035]</a></span>opposite signs.... The dual +qualities or tones known to us in sensation, further, are +correspondent with those two different nervous impulses, of +opposite signs, which are occasioned by stimulation. These two +sensory responses—positive and negative, pleasure and +pain—are found to be subject to the same modifications, +under parallel conditions, as the positive and negative +mechanical and electrical indications with which they are +associated. And finally, perhaps, the most significant example +for the effect of induced anisotropy lies in that differential +impression made by stimulus on the sensory surfaces, which +remains latent, and capable of revival, as the memory-image. In +this demonstration of continuity, then, it has been found that +the dividing frontiers between Physics, Physiology, and +Psychology have disappeared."<a href="#_22_" name="f22" id= +"f22"><sup>22</sup></a></p> +<p style= +"text-align: center; font-weight: 600; font-size: 1.0em; margin-top: 2.0em"> +CLASH WITH CURRENT VIEWS</p> +<p class="indent">The results, which Dr. Bose obtained from +actual experiments, clashed, however, with the theories in vogue. +The reactions of different issues were hitherto regarded as +<i>special differences</i>. As against this, a <i>continuity</i> +is shown to exist between them. Thus, nerve was universally +regarded as <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_036" id= +"Page_036">[Pg_036]</a></span>typically <i>non-motile</i>; its +responses were believed to be characteristically different from +those of muscle. Dr. Bose, however, has shown that nerve is +indisputably motile and that the characteristic variations in the +response of nerve are, generally speaking, similar to those of +the muscle.</p> +<p class="indent">It was customary to regard plants as devoid of +the power to conduct true excitation. Dr. Bose had already shown +that this view was incorrect. He now showed, by experiment, that +the response of the <i>isolated</i> vegetal nerve is +indistinguishable from that of animal nerve, throughout a large +series of parallel variations of condition. So complete, indeed, +is the similarity between the responses of plant and animal, +found, of which this is one instance, that the discovery of a +given responsive characteristic in one case proves a sure guide +to its observation in the other, and the explanation of +phenomenon, under the simpler conditions of the plant, is found +fully sufficient for its elucidation under the more complex +circumstances of the animal. Dr. Bose found 'differential +excitability' is widely present as a factor in determining the +character of special responses and showed that many anomalous +conclusions, with regard to the response of certain animal +tissues, had arisen from the failure to take account of the +'differential excitability' of anisotropic organs. Hitherto +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_037" id= +"Page_037">[Pg_037]</a></span>Pfluger's Law of the polar effects +of currents was supposed to rest on secure foundations. But Dr. +Bose showed that Pfluger's Law was not of such universal +application as was supposed. He demonstrated that, above and +below a certain range of electromotive intensity, the polar +effects of currents are precisely opposite to those enunciated by +Pfluger.</p> +<p style= +"text-align: center; font-weight: 600; font-size: 1.0em; margin-top: 2.0em"> +SENSATION</p> +<p class="indent">It was supposed that nervous impulse, which, +must necessarily form the basis of sensation, was beyond any +conceivable power of visual scrutiny. But Dr. Bose showed that +this impulse is actually attended by change of form, and is, +therefore capable of direct observation. He also showed that the +disturbance, instead of being single, is of two different +kinds—<i>viz.</i>, one of expansion (positive) and the +other of contraction (negative)—and that, when the stimulus +is feeble, the positive is transmitted, and, when the stimulus is +stronger, both positive and negative are transmitted, but the +negative, however, being more intense, masks the positive. He +identified the wave of expansion travelling along the nerve with +the tendency to pleasure, and the wave of contraction, with the +tendency to pain. It thus appears that all pain contains an +element of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_038" id= +"Page_038">[Pg_038]</a></span>pleasure, and that pleasure, if +carried too far becomes pain—that "the tone of our +sensation is determined by the intensity of nervous excitation +that reaches the central perceiving organ."</p> +<p style= +"text-align: center; font-weight: 600; font-size: 1.0em; margin-top: 2.0em"> +MEMORY IMAGE AND ITS REVIVAL</p> +<p class="indent">Dr. Bose next pointed out that there remains, +for every response, a certain residual effect. A substance, which +has responded to a given stimulus, retains, as an after-effect, a +'latent impression' of that stimulus and this 'latent impression' +is capable of subsequent revival by bringing about the original +condition of excitation. The impress made by the action of +stimulus, though it remains latent and invisible, can be revived +by the impact of a fresh excitatory impulse.</p> +<p class="indent">Experimenting with a metallic <i>leaf</i>, Dr. +Bose demonstrated the revival of a latent impression under the +action of diffused stimulus. The investigation by Dr. Bose on the +after-effects of stimulus has thrown some light on the obscure +phenomenon, of 'memory.' It appears that, when there is a mental +revival of past experience, the diffuse impulse of the 'will' +acts on the sensory surface, which contains the latent impression +and re-awakens the image which appears to have faded out. Memory +is concerned, thus, with the after-effect of an impression +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_039" id= +"Page_039">[Pg_039]</a></span>induced by a stimulus. It differs +from ordinary sensation in the fact that the stimulus which +evokes the response, instead of being external and objective, is +merely psychic and subjective.</p> +<p class="indent">Dr. Bose has, by experimental devises, shown +the possibility of tracing 'memory-impression' backwards even in +inorganic matter, such latent impression being capable of +subsequent revival. An investigation of the after-effects of +stimulus, on living tissues would open out the great problem of +the influence of past events on our present condition.</p> +<p style= +"text-align: center; font-weight: 600; font-size: 1.0em; margin-top: 2.0em"> +DEATH-STRUGGLE AND MEMORY REVIVAL</p> +<p class="indent">There is a wide-spread belief that, in the case +of a sudden death-struggle, as for example, when drowning, the +memory, of the past comes in a flash. "Assuming the correctness +of this," says Sir Jagadis "certain experimental results which I +have obtained may be pertinent to the subject. The experiment +consisted in finding whether the plant, near the point of death, +gave any signal of the approaching crisis. I found that at this +critical moment a sudden electrical spasm sweeps through every +part of the organism. Such a strong and diffused +stimulation—now involuntary—may be expected in a +human subject to crowd into one <span class='pagenum'><a name= +"Page_040" id="Page_040">[Pg_040]</a></span>brief flash a +panoramic succession, of all the memory images latent in the +organism."<a href="#_23_" name="f23" id= +"f23"><sup>23</sup></a></p> +<p style= +"text-align: center; font-weight: 600; font-size: 1.0em; margin-top: 2.0em"> +"COMPARATIVE ELECTRO-PHYSIOLOGY"</p> +<p class="indent">Dr. Bose published the results of these new +researches, in 1907, in another remarkable volume, which was +styled 'The Comparative Electro-Physiology.'</p> +<p style= +"text-align: center; font-weight: 600; font-size: 1.0em; margin-top: 2.0em"> +THIRD SCIENTIFIC DEPUTATION, 1907-08</p> +<p class="indent">After the publication of 'The Comparative +Electro-Physiology,' the Government of India again sent Dr. Bose +on a Scientific Deputation. He went over to England and America +and placed the results of his researches before the learned +Scientific Bodies. He read a paper 'On Mechanical Response of +Plants' at the Liverpool meeting of British Association, in 1907. +He then read a paper on 'The Oscillating Recorder for Automatic +Tracing of Plant Movements' before the New York Academy of +Sciences, and, in December 1908, he gave an address on +'Mechanical and Electrical Response in Plants,' at the Annual +Meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of +Science, held at Baltimore, and, in January 1909, he <span class= +'pagenum'><a name="Page_041" id= +"Page_041">[Pg_041]</a></span>delivered a lecture on 'Growth +Response of Plants' before the United States Department of +Agriculture and, in February 1909, he read a paper on +'Death-spasm in Plants,' before the University of Illinois, and, +in March 1909, a paper on 'Multiple and Autonomous Response in +Plants' before the Madison University. He also lectured before +the New York Botanical Society, the Medical Society of Boston, +the Society of Western Electric Engineers at Chicago. He also +delivered a series of post-graduate lectures on Electro-Physics +and Plant Physiology at the Universities of Wisconsin, Chicago, +Ann Arbor. He returned to India, in July 1909.</p> +<p style= +"text-align: center; font-weight: 600; font-size: 1.0em; margin-top: 2.0em"> +FURTHER EXPERIMENTAL EXPLORATION</p> +<p class="indent">By his new and newer methods of investigation, +Dr. Bose got a deep and deeper perception of that underlying +unity, for the demonstration of which he had been labouring since +1901. But the dream of his life was not yet realised. No direct +method of obtaining response record was yet obtained. Hitherto +the response recorder employed was a modification of the optical +lever, automatic records being secured by the very inconvenient +and tedious process of photography (which again introduced +complications by subjecting a plant to darkness and <span class= +'pagenum'><a name="Page_042" id= +"Page_042">[Pg_042]</a></span>thereby modifying its normal +excitability); and the plant was not automatically excited by +stimulus, besides the results obtained were liable to be +influenced by personal factor. So Dr. Bose set about the +invention of an apparatus, which should discard the use of +photography and in which the plant (attached to the recording +apparatus) should be automatically excited by stimulus absolutely +constant, should make its own responsive record, going through +its own period of recovery, and embarking on the same cycle over +again without assistance at any point on the part of the +observer. Great difficulties were encountered in realising these +ideal requirements. They appeared, at first, to be +insurmountable. But, with continuous toil and persistence, Dr. +Bose succeeded in designing a long battery of supersensitive +instruments and apparatus, which made the seeming impossible +possible. His ingenious "Resonant and Oscillating Recorders" gave +a simple and direct method of obtaining the record. The plant, +being automatically excited by stimulus, made its own +responsive record. The closed doors, at last, opened. The secret +of plant life stood revealed by the autographs of the plant +itself. The great <i>sadhana</i> of his life now received its +fulfilment. "It has been beautifully said—and it is a law +of the moral world as unchangeable as physical laws—'Ask, +and it shall be given you; <span class='pagenum'><a name= +"Page_043" id="Page_043">[Pg_043]</a></span>seek, and ye shall +find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you; for every one that +asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth and to him that +knocketh it shall be opened."<a href="#_24_" name="f24" id= +"f24"><sup>24</sup></a></p> +<p style= +"text-align: center; font-weight: 600; font-size: 1.0em; margin-top: 2.0em"> +TRANSMISSION OF EXCITATION IN MIMOSA</p> +<p class="indent">Dr. Bose had shown that all plants are +sensitive—that there is no difference between the so-called +'sensitive' and the supposed 'non-sensitive'—that they gave +alike the true excitatory <i>electric</i> +<i>response</i> as well as <i>motile response</i>. The evidence +of plant's script now removed beyond any doubt the long-standing +error which divided the vegetable +world into 'sensitive' and 'insensitive.' There remained, +however, the question of nervous impulse in plants, the discovery +of which, though announced by Dr. Bose, ten years ago, did not +yet find full acceptance.</p> +<p class="indent">Finding that the scope of his investigation has +been very much enlarged by the devise of the Resonant Recorder, +Dr. Bose proceeded to attack the <i>current</i> view "that there +was no transmission of true excitation in Mimosa, the propagated +impulse being regarded as merely hydromechanical." This +conclusion was based on the experiments of the leading German +plant physiologists, Pfeffer and <span class='pagenum'><a name= +"Page_044" id="Page_044">[Pg_044]</a></span>Haverlandt who failed +to bring on any variation in the propagated impulse in plants +either by scalding or by application of an anaesthetic. Dr. Bose +pointed out that, as Pfeffer applied the chloroform to the +<i>outer</i> stalk and Haverlandt scalded the <i>outer</i> stem, +neither the stimulant nor the anaesthetic reached the nerves. So +he, instead of applying the stimulant or the anaesthetic, in the +<i>liquid</i> form, to the outer stalk or stem, confined the +Mimosa, in a little chamber, and subjected it to the influence of +the <i>vapour</i> of the drug. The fumes now penetrated and +reached the nerves and the plant was made to record, by its own +script, the variations, if any, produced by the drugs. The plant, +by its self-made records, showed exultation with alcohol, +depression with chloroform, rapid transmission of a shock with +the application of heat, and an abolition of the propagated +impulse with the application of a deadly poison like potassium cyanide. This variation in the +transmitted impulse, under physiological variations, showed that +it was not a physical one. This sealed the fate of the +hydromechanical theory.</p> +<p class="indent">Dr. Bose went further and showed that the +impulse is transmitted in both directions along the nerve but not +at the same rate. And, by interposing an electric block, he +arrested the nervous impulse in a plant in a manner similar to +the corresponding arrest in the animal nerve and thereby +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_045" +id="Page_045">[Pg_045]</a></span>produced nervous +<i>paralysis</i> in plant, such paralysis being afterwards cured +by appropriate treatment. "If he had made no other discovery," +says the Editor of the <i>Scientific American</i> "Dr. Bose would +have earned an enduring reputation in the annals of science. We +know very little about paralysis in the human body, and +practically nothing about its cause. The nervous system of the +higher animals is so complicated, so intricate, that it is hard +to understand its derangement. The human nerve dies when +isolated. It is killed by the shock of removal, and responds for +the moment abnormally and therefore deceptively. But, if we study +the simplest kind of a nerve,—and the simplest is that of a +plant,—we may hope to understand what occurs when a hand or +a foot cannot be made to move. To find out that plants have +nerves, to induce paralysis in such nerves and then to cure +them—such experiments will lead to discoveries that may +ultimately enable physicians to treat more rationally than they +do, the various forms of paralysis now regarded as +incurable."</p> +<p style= +"text-align: center; font-weight: 600; font-size: 1.0em; margin-top: 2.0em"> +MIMOSA AND MAN</p> +<p class="indent">Dr. Bose showed not only that the nervous +impulse in plant and in man is exalted or inhibited under +identical conditions but carried the parallelism <span class= +'pagenum'><a name="Page_046" id= +"Page_046">[Pg_046]</a></span>very far and pointed out the +blighting effects on life of a complete seclusion and protection +from the world outside. "A plant carefully protected under glass +from outside shocks", says Sir Jagadis "looks sleek and +flourishing; but its higher nervous function is then found to be +atrophied. But when a succession of blows is rained on this +effete and bloated specimen, the shocks themselves create nervous +channels and arouse anew the deteriorated nature. And is it not +shocks of adversity, and not cotton-wool protection, that evolve +true manhood?"<a href="#_25_" name="f25" id= +"f25"><sup>25</sup></a></p> +<p style= +"text-align: center; font-weight: 600; font-size: 1.0em; margin-top: 2.0em"> +ROYAL SOCIETY</p> +<p class="indent">Having found that his investigation on Mimosa +had broken down the barriers which separated kindred phenomena, +Dr. Bose next communicated the results of his wonderful +researches to the Royal Society. His paper was read, at a meeting +of the Society, held on the 6th March 1913. The Royal Society +<i>now</i> found that Dr. Bose had rendered the seemingly +impossible, possible—had made the plant tell its own story +by means of its self-made records. It could no longer withhold +the recognition which was his due. The barred gates, at last, +opened and the paper of Dr. Bose "On an Automatic Method, for the +investigation of the Velocity of Transmission <span class= +'pagenum'><a name="Page_047" id="Page_047">[Pg_047]</a></span>of +Excitation in Mimosa" found publication in the "Philosophical +Transactions of the Royal Society" in Vol. 204, Series B.</p> +<p style= +"text-align: center; font-weight: 600; font-size: 1.0em; margin-top: 2.0em"> +HIS FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS</p> +<p class="indent">Dr. Bose next pursued with great vigour his +investigations on the Irritability of Plants. By making the plant +tell its own story, by means of its self-made records, he showed +that there is hardly any phenomenon of irritability observed in +the animal which is not also found in the plant and that the +various manifestations of irritability in the plant are identical +with those in the animal and that many difficult problems in +Animal Physiology find their solution in the experimental study +of corresponding problems under simpler conditions of vegetable +life.</p> +<p style= +"text-align: center; font-weight: 600; font-size: 1.0em; margin-top: 2.0em"> +HOURS OF SLEEP OF THE PLANT</p> +<p class="indent">It may be mentioned that Dr. Bose showed one +very remarkable fact—from the summaries of the automatic +records of the responses given by a plant (which was subjected to +an impulse during all hours of the day and night)—that it +wakes up during morning slowly, becomes fully alert by noon, and +becomes sleepy only after midnight, resembling man in a +surprising manner.</p> +<p style= +"text-align: center; font-weight: 600; font-size: 1.0em; margin-top: 2.0em"> +"IRRITABILITY <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_048" id= +"Page_048">[Pg_048]</a></span>OF PLANTS"</p> +<p class="indent">Dr. Bose embodied the results of his +fascinating researches, obtained by the introduction of new +methods, in another remarkable volume—"Researches on +Irritability of plants"—which was published, in 1913.</p> +<p style= +"text-align: center; font-weight: 600; font-size: 1.0em; margin-top: 2.0em"> +FURTHER RECOGNITION</p> +<p class="indent">In recognition of his valuable researches, Dr. +J. C. Bose was invested with the insignia of the Companion of the +Order of the Star of India by His Majesty the King Emperor, on +the occasion of his Coronation Durbar, at Delhi, in 1911.</p> +<p class="indent">The <i>intelligentsia</i> of Bengal showed also +their tardy appreciation by calling on him to preside over the +deliberations of the Mymensing meeting of the Bengal Literary +Conference, held on the 14th April 1911, when he delivered a +unique Address,<a href="#_26_" name="f26" id= +"f26"><sup>26</sup></a> in the Bengali language, on the results +of his epoch-making researches.</p> +<p class="indent">The Calcutta University next showed its belated +recognition, by conferring on him the degree of D.Sc. <i>honoris +causa</i>, in 1912.</p> +<p class="indent">And the Punjab University also showed its +appreciation by inviting him, in 1913, to deliver a course of +lectures on the results of his investigation.</p> +<p style= +"text-align: center; font-weight: 600; font-size: 1.0em; margin-top: 2.0em"> +PUBLIC <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_049" id= +"Page_049">[Pg_049]</a></span>SERVICE COMMISSION</p> +<p class="indent">Dr. J. C. Bose was invited to give his evidence +before the Royal Commission on the Public Services in India. With +reference to the Method of Recruitment, he observed, in his +written statement, as follows:—" ... I think that a high +standard of scholarship should be the only qualification insisted +on. Graduates of well-known Universities, distinguished for a +particular line of study, should be given the preference. I think +the prospects of the Indian Educational Service are sufficiently +high to attract the very best material. In Colonial Universities +they manage to get very distinguished men without any +extravagantly high pay.... At present the recruitment in the +Indian Educational Service is made in England and is practically +confined to Englishmen. Such racial preference is, in my opinion, +prejudicial to the interest of education. The best men available, +English or Indian, should be selected impartially, and high +scholarship should be the only test.... It is unfortunate that +Indian graduates of European Universities who had distinguished +themselves in a remarkable manner do not for one reason or other +find facilities for entering the higher Educational Service.... I +should like to add that these highly qualified Indians need only +opportunities to render service which would greatly advance the +cause of higher education.... If <span class='pagenum'><a name= +"Page_050" id="Page_050">[Pg_050]</a></span>promising Indian +graduates are given the opportunity of visiting foreign +Universities, I have no doubt that they would stand comparison +with the best recruits that can be obtained from the West.... As +teachers and workers it is an incontestable fact that Indian +Officers have distinguished themselves very highly, and anything +which discriminates between Europeans and Indians in the way of +pay and prospects is most undesirable. A sense of injustice is +ill-calculated to bring about that harmony which is so necessary +among all the members of an educational institution, professors +and students alike."<a href="#_27_" name="f27" id= +"f27"><sup>27</sup></a> Pressing next for a high level of +scholarship, in the Indian Educational Service, he +wrote:—</p> +<p class="blockquot">"It has been said that the present standard +of Indian Universities is not as high as that of British +Universities, and that the work done by the former is more like +that of the 6th form of the public schools in England. It is +therefore urged that what is required for an Educational officer +in the capacity to manage classes rather than high scholarship. I +do not agree with these views. (1) There are Universities in +Great Britain whose standards are not higher than ours; I do not +think <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_051" id= +"Page_051">[Pg_051]</a></span>that the Pass Degree even of Oxford +or Cambridge is higher than the corresponding degree here (2) the +standard of the Indian University is being steadily raised; (3) +the standard will depend upon what the men entrusted with +Educational work will make it. For these reasons it is necessary +that the level of scholarship represented by the Indian +Educational Service should be maintained very high."<a href= +"#_28_" name="f28" id="f28"><sup>28</sup></a></p> +<p class="indent">He then dwelt on what should be the aim of +Higher Education in India and observed as follows:—</p> +<p class="blockquot">"... I think that all the machinery to +improve the higher education in India would be altogether +ineffectual unless India enters the world movement for the +advancement of knowledge. And for this it is absolutely necessary +to touch the imagination of the people so as to rouse them to +give their best energies to the work of research and discovery, +in which all the nations of the world are now engaged. To aim +anything less will only end in lifeless and mechanical system +from which the soul of reality has passed away."<a href="#_28_" +name="f28a" id="f28a"><sup>28</sup></a></p> +<p class="indent">He was called, on the 18th December 1913, and +was put to a searching examination by the Members <span class= +'pagenum'><a name="Page_052" id="Page_052">[Pg_052]</a></span>of +the Royal Commission. The evidence that he gave is instinct with +patriotism and is highly remarkable for its simplicity and +directness about the things he said. To the Chairman (Lord +Islington) he stated that he "favoured an arrangement by which +Indians would enter the higher ranks of the service, either +through the Provincial Service or by direct recruitment in India. +The latter class of officers, after completing their education in +India, should ordinarily go to Europe with a view to widening +their experience. By this he did not wish to decry the training +given in the Indian Universities, which produce some of the very +best men, and he would not make the rule absolute. It was not +necessary for men of exceptional ability to go to England in +order to occupy a high chair. Unfortunately, on account of there +being no openings for men of genius in the Educational Service, +distinguished men were driven to the profession of Law. In the +present condition of India a larger number of distinguished men +were needed to give their lives to the education of the +people.</p> +<p class="indent">"... The educational service ought to be +regarded not as a profession, but as a calling. Some men were +born to be teachers. It was not a question of race, of course; in +order to have an efficient educational system, there must be an +efficient organisation, but this should not be allowed to +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_053" id= +"Page_053">[Pg_053]</a></span>become fossilised, and thus stand +in the way of healthy growth.... A proportion of Europeans in the +service, was needed, but only as experts and not as ordinary +teachers. Only the very best men should be obtained from Europe +and for exceptional cases. The general educational work should be +done entirely by Indians, who understood the difficulties of the +country much better than any outsider. He advocated the direct +recruitment of Indians in India by the local Government in +consultation with the Secretary of State, rather than by the +Secretary of State alone. Indians were under a great difficulty, +in that they could not remain indefinitely in England after +taking their degrees and being away from the place of recruitment +their claims were overlooked. There was no reason why a European +should be paid a higher rate of salary than an Indian on account +of the distance he came. An Indian felt a sense of inferiority if +a difference was made as regards pay. The very slight saving +which Government made by differentiating between the two did not +compensate for the feeling of wrong done. This feeling would +remain even if the pay was the same, but an additional grant in +the shape of a foreign service allowance was made to Europeans. +All workers in the field of education should feel a sense of +solidarity, because they <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_054" +id="Page_054">[Pg_054]</a></span>were all serving one greet +cause, namely, education."<a href="#_29_" name="f29" id= +"f29"><sup>29</sup></a></p> +<p class="indent">Being asked by Sir Valentine Chirol, he said +"If a foreign professor would not come and serve in India for the +same remuneration as he obtained in his own country, he would +certainly not force him to come."<a href="#_29_" name="f29a" id= +"f29a"><sup>29</sup></a></p> +<p class="indent">To Mr. Abdur Rahim he said: "Recruitment for +the Educational Service should be made in the first place in +India, if suitable men were available; but if not then he would +allow the best outsiders to be brought in. In the present state +of the country it would be very easy to fill up many of the +chairs by selecting the best men in India. The aim of the +universities should be to promote two classes of +work—first, research; and, secondly, an all-round sound +education...."<a href="#_29_" name="f29b" id= +"f29b"><sup>29</sup></a></p> +<p class="indent">In answer to questions of Mr. Madge, he said: +"Any idea that the educational system of India was so far +inferior to that of England, that Indians, who had made their +mark, had done so, not because of the educational system of the +country, but in spite of it, was quite +unfounded. The standard of education prevailing in India was +quite up to the mark of several British Universities. It was +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_055" id= +"Page_055">[Pg_055]</a></span>as true of any other country in the +world as of India that education was valued as a means for +passing examination, and not only for itself, and there was no +more cramming in India than elsewhere. The West certainly brought +to the East a modern spirit, which was very valuable, but it +would be dearly purchased by the loss of an honourable career for +competent Indians in their own country. The educational system in +India had in the past been too mechanical, but a turn for the +better was now taking place and the Universities were recognising +the importance of research work, and were willing to give their +highest degrees to encourage it."<a href="#_30_" name="f30" id= +"f30"><sup>30</sup></a></p> +<p class="indent">To Mr. Fisher, he said that he "desired to +secure for India Europeans who had European reputations in their +different branches of study. If it was necessary to go outside +India or England, to procure good men, he would prefer to go to Germany. This was the practice in +America where they were annexing all the great intellects of +Europe. He would like to see India entering the world movement in +the advance and march of knowledge. It was of the highest +importance that there should be an intellectual atmosphere in +India. It would be of advantage if there were many Indians in the +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_056" id= +"Page_056">[Pg_056]</a></span>Educational Service. For they came +more in contact with the people, and influenced their +intellectual activity. Besides, on retirement they would live in +India, and their ripe experience would be at their countrymen's +service."<a href="#_31_" name="f31" id= +"f31"><sup>31</sup></a></p> +<p class="indent">To Mr. Gokhale, he said that he "knew of three +instances in which the Colonies had secured distinguished men on +salaries which were lower than those given to officers of the +Indian Educational Service. One was at Toronto, another was in +New Zealand and the third at Yale +University. The salaries on the two latter cases were £600 +and £500 a year. The same held good as regards Japan. The +facts there had been stated in a Government of India publication +as follows: 'Subsequent to 1895 there were 67 professors +recruited in Europe and America. Of these 20 came from Germany, +16 from England and 12 from the United States. The average pay +was £384. In the highest Imperial University the average +pay is £684. As soon as Japanese could be found to do the +work, even tolerably well, the foreigner was dropped.' When he +first started work in India, he found that there was no physical +laboratory, or any grant made for a practical experimental +course. He had <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_057" id= +"Page_057">[Pg_057]</a></span>to construct instruments with the +help of local mechanics, whom he had to train. All this took him +ten years. He then undertook original investigation at his own +expense. The Royal Society became specially interested in his +work and desired to give him parliamentary grant for its +continuation. It was after this that the Government of Bengal +came forward and offered him facilities for research. In the +Educational Service he would take men of achievement from any +where; but men of promise he would take from his own +country."<a href="#_32_" name="f32" id= +"f32"><sup>32</sup></a></p> +<p class="indent">To Sir Theodore Morison, he said: "There should +be one scale of pay for all persons in the higher Educational +Department. The rate of salary, Rs. 200 rising to Rs. 1,500 per +month, was suitable subject to the proviso that a man of great +distinction, instead of beginning at the lowest rate of pay, +should start some where in the middle of the list, say, at Rs. +400 or Rs. 500. He would make no difference in regard to +Europeans or Indians in that respect.... It would not be right +for a great Government to grant a minimum of pay to Indian +Professors and an extravagantly high pay to their <span class= +'pagenum'><a name="Page_058" id= +"Page_058">[Pg_058]</a></span>European Colleagues, for doing the +same kind of work."<a href="#_33_" name="f33" id= +"f33"><sup>33</sup></a></p> +<p class="indent">To Mr. Gupta, he said that "He desired one +Service, because he thought it was most degrading that certain +man, although they were doing the same work should be classed in +a Provincial Service, while others should be classed in an +Imperial Service. The prospects of the members of the Provincial +Service were not at all what they ought to be, and that was the +reason why the best men were not attracted to it."<a href="#_33_" +name="f33a" id="f33a"><sup>33</sup></a></p> +<p style= +"text-align: center; font-weight: 600; font-size: 1.0em; margin-top: 2.0em"> +FOURTH SCIENTIFIC DEPUTATION (1914-15)</p> +<p class="indent">Though the theories of Dr. Bose received +acceptance from the leading scientific men of the Royal Society, +yet Dr. Bose realised the necessity of bringing about a +<i>general conviction</i> as to the truth of the identity of +life-reactions in plant and in animal. So he looked for an +opportunity of giving demonstration of his discoveries before the +leading Scientific Societies of the World. And that opportunity +came. The Royal Institution of Great Britain again invited him to +deliver a 'Friday evening discourse' on the results of his new +researches. The University of Oxford and Cambridge <span class= +'pagenum'><a name="Page_059" id= +"Page_059">[Pg_059]</a></span>also followed suit. The Government +of India also showed their appreciation by sending him again on a +Deputation for placing his discoveries before the Scientific +world. He remained on deputation from the 3rd April 1914 to the +12th June 1915.</p> +<p style= +"text-align: center; font-weight: 600; font-size: 1.0em; margin-top: 2.0em"> +DR. BOSE IN EUROPE</p> +<p class="indent">Proceeding on his Deputation to England, Dr. +Bose gave his first lecture, on the 20th May 1914, at +Oxford,—where the late Sir John Burden Sanderson and his +followers were the leaders of biological thought—in +presence of very distinguished scientists. It was a grand +success. Actual visualisation by physical demonstration of the +results of his novel researches at once convinced those who were +present. He next proposed to give a discourse on Plant Response +before the University of Cambridge. The interest in this lecture +became so very keen that the Botanical Department of Cambridge +went to the length of importing soil from India to give the +plants the most favourable conditions for exhibiting their +specific reactions. At the lecture, the large Botanical Theatre +became filled with scientific specialists, dons and advanced +students, who followed with great attention the experiments with +which he illustrated his discourse. He was greeted <span class= +'pagenum'><a name="Page_060" id= +"Page_060">[Pg_060]</a></span>with applause by the eminent +scientists who thronged the lecture-theatre, at the end of every +experiment. Sir Francis Darwin, the eminent botanist, in +proposing a vote of thanks to Dr. Bose, said that 'he was filled +with admiration, not only for the brilliancy of the work but for +the convincing character of the experiments.' The scientists next +assembled in great force, on the 29th May 1914, to hear the +'Friday Evening Discourse' of Dr. J. C. Bose on 'Plant Autographs +and their Revelations,' at the Royal Institution, which was +highly appreciated. At the end of the Discourse, Sir James Dewar, +President of the Institution, gave an 'At Home' in honour of Dr. +and Mrs. Bose.<a href="#_34_" name="f34" id= +"f34"><sup>34</sup></a></p> +<p style= +"text-align: center; font-weight: 600; font-size: 1.0em; margin-top: 2.0em"> +THE MAIDA VALE LABORATORY</p> +<p class="indent">The demonstrations of a far-reaching character +which Dr. Bose gave evoked considerable public interest in +England. His private laboratory at Maida Vale, in London, became +the object of pilgrimage to the leading men of thought there. Sir +William Crookes, the President of the Royal Society, came and +became 'much impressed by the most ingenious and novel +self-recording instruments.' Professor Starling, the author of +the standard work on Physiology, and Professor <span class= +'pagenum'><a name="Page_061" id= +"Page_061">[Pg_061]</a></span>Oliver, the well-known +Plant Physiologist, also became impressed by the delicacy and +importance of Dr. Bose's work and methods. Professor Carveth +Read, author of "Metaphysics of Nature," wondered how far the +researches would profoundly affect the philosophical thoughts. +Mr. Balfour, the ex-premier, became enthralled with what he saw. +Professor James A. H. Murray, Editor of the 'Oxford New English +Dictionary,' and Bernard Shaw, the famous dramatist, felt +themselves attracted to the great Indian Scientist and came to +pay their homage to him. Even Lord Crewe, the then Secretary of +State for India, paid a visit to his laboratory and spoke warmly +of the pride which he and the Government of India felt for his +discoveries and of high gratification to him that India should +once more make such contributions for the intellectual +advancement of the world. The leading newspapers wrote +eulogistically of his researches. The well-known scientific +journal <i>Nature</i> devoted ten columns to an illustrated +synopsis of his discoveries. Lord Hardinge, the then Viceroy, +wrote a congratulatory letter to him—"It has been a source +of immense gratification to the Viceroy to know that the foremost +place in the special branch of research has been taken by one of +India's most distinguished sons. The success you have won will +only serve to stimulate your efforts and those of your pupils to +other scientific investigations <span class='pagenum'><a name= +"Page_062" id="Page_062">[Pg_062]</a></span>which will redound +still further to the honour of those who conduct them, and of +India, the country of their birth."<a href="#_35_" name="f35" id= +"f35"><sup>35</sup></a></p> +<p class="indent">From England Dr. Bose proceeded to the +Continent, where his researches had already evoked keen +interest.</p> +<p class="indent">On the 27th June 1914, he gave an address, +illustrated with experiments, before the University of Vienna, +which stands foremost in Biological researches. He was greeted +with enthusiasm by the savants there. Some of the workers in +plant physiology became so very much impressed with his +demonstrations that they expressed a desire to be trained under +him. Professor Molisch, the Director of the +Pflanzen-physiologisches Institute of the Imperial University of +Vienna, in proposing a vote of thanks, spoke highly of the great +inspiration which the Viennese scientific men received from his +discourse and dwelt on the indebtedness of Europe to India for +the method of investigation initiated by Dr. Bose—method, +which rendered it possible to prove deep into plant-life and +bring forth results of which they could not hitherto dream. And +the University of Vienna officially addressed the Secretary of +State for India asking that special thanks of the University be +conveyed to the Government of <span class='pagenum'><a name= +"Page_063" id="Page_063">[Pg_063]</a></span>India for the impetus +given to them by Dr. Bose's visit. Dr. Bose was next to start for +Germany on his scientific mission, and address the University of +Strassburg, Leipzic, Halle, Berlin and Bonn and then attend the +international congress at Munich, but, as the War broke out, he +was compelled to come back to London.<a href="#_36_" name="f36" +id="f36"><sup>36</sup></a> On his way back, he gave a Discourse +before the eminent scientific men in Paris.</p> +<p class="indent">On his return to London, medical men evinced +great interest in his researches. Sir John Reid, President of the +Royal Society of Medicine, and Sir Lauder Brunton, Physician of +His Majesty the King Emperor, paid a visit to his laboratory to +witness the action of drugs upon plants. Sir Lauder Brunton +became of opinion that 'much light would be thrown on action of +drugs on animals, by first observing their effects on plants.' As +a result of this visit, Dr. Bose was invited to give an address +to the Royal Society of Medicine in the beginning of winter. But, +as the period of his Deputation was about to expire, the Society +cabled to the Government of India for an extension, which was +granted. Dr. Bose then delivered a lecture, before the Royal +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_064" id= +"Page_064">[Pg_064]</a></span>Society of Medicine, on the 30th +October 1914. The Royal Society of Medicine officially addressed +the Secretary of State for India as follows:—</p> +<p class="blockquot">"... The lecture was one of the most +successful we have had yet and evoked the keenest interest in the +audience, Sir Lauder Brunton, Bt., and others taking part in the +discussion, and warmly congratulating Prof. Bose and the Society +on the value of his work. Since then I have received many +expressions of appreciation that the Society was able to offer +its fellows such an interesting demonstration of an entirely new +departure in Biological Science." "At the invitation of the +Psychological Society of London, Dr. Bose next delivered an +interesting lecture on his theory of Memory Image."<a href= +"#_37_" name="f37" id="f37"><sup>37</sup></a> He also gave an +Address before the London Imperial college of Science.</p> +<p style= +"text-align: center; font-weight: 600; font-size: 1.0em; margin-top: 2.0em"> +DR. BOSE IN AMERICA</p> +<p class="indent">Dr. Bose's discoveries in the meantime evoked +great interest in America. He was invited by several leading +scientific bodies to come over there and acquaint them with the +results of his wonderful researches. So he next went to America. +"While in America, he was swamped with letters and telegrams for +lecture engagements from Maine to <span class='pagenum'><a name= +"Page_065" id="Page_065">[Pg_065]</a></span>California" wrote +Professor Sudhindra Bose M.A., Ph.D., of the Iowa University at +that time, in the Modern Review.<a href="#_38_" name="f38" id= +"f38"><sup>38</sup></a> "He has had so many calls for lectures +from various Scientific societies, Colleges and Universities, +that if he could speak twice a day and every day in the week, he +could not hope to comply with all of those invitations in much +less than a year." As he was in the United States, only for a few +weeks, "he spoke before such learned bodies as the New York +Academy of Sciences, the American Association for the Advancement +of Science, the Brooklyn Institute of +Arts and Science, the Philosophical Society of Philadelphia, and +joint meeting of Academy of Science, the Botanical Society, and +the Bureau of Plant Industry at Washington. Among the larger +Universities, he gave addresses at Harvard, Columbia, Iowa, +Illinois, Chicago, Michigan, Wisconsin.... Everywhere Dr. Bose +has met with a very hearty welcome from the people of the +American Republic. Even the Hon'ble Secretary of State, William +Jennings Bryan, invited him to give a demonstration of his work +at the State Department in Washington—an honour of unusual +significance.... Dr. Bose has been made the subject of many +magazine articles, newspaper editorials, cartoons and +poems"<a href="#_38_" name="f38a" id="f38a"><sup>38</sup></a>.... +"The famous Smithsonian <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_066" +id="Page_066">[Pg_066]</a></span>Institute showed its high +appreciation by submitting a report of Prof. Bose's work to the +Congress. The Bureau of Plant Industry in Washington recognised +his work on plant physiology as a very important contribution for +the advancement of agriculture.... At the Harvard University his +work has been received with high appreciation. President Stanley +Hall, who is one of the leading psychologists of the day, has +introduced Prof. Bose's work in the Post-graduate course of the +Clarke University. His books have also been prescribed for +physiological courses in different Universities in America, and +in one of the leading Universities there, a special course of +lectures is devoted to Prof. Bose's investigations on +plant irritability...."<a href="#_39_" name="f39" id= +"f39"><sup>39</sup></a></p> +<p class="indent">The Columbia University, the largest in the +United States, requested Dr. Bose to provide facilities in his +Laboratory "for the reception of foreign students, who are +desirous of familiarising themselves first hand with his +apparatus and methods."</p> +<p style= +"text-align: center; font-weight: 600; font-size: 1.0em; margin-top: 2.0em"> +WHAT DR. BOSE SAW IN JAPAN</p> +<p class="indent">Dr. Bose then came back to India, in June 1915, +<i>via</i> Japan. During his stay, in Japan, he acquainted +himself with the efforts of the people and their aspirations +towards a great future. He found that, <span class= +'pagenum'><a name="Page_067" id="Page_067">[Pg_067]</a></span>"in +materialistic efficiency, which, in a mechanical era, is regarded +as an index of civilisation, they have surpassed their German +teachers. A few decades ago, they had no foreign shipping and no +manufactures. But, within an incredibly short time, their +magnificent lines of steamers have +proved so formidable a competitor that the great American lines +in the Pacific will soon be compelled to stop their sailings. +Their industries again, through the wise help of the State and +other adventitious aids, are capturing foreign markets. But far +more admirable is their foresight to save their country from any +embroilment with other nations with whom they want to live in +peace. And they realise that any predominant interest of a +foreign country in their trade or manufacture is sure to lead to +misunderstanding and friction. Actuated by this idea, they have +practically excluded all foreign manufactured articles by +prohibitive tariffs."<a href="#_40_" name="f40" id= +"f40"><sup>40</sup></a> "Is our country slow to realise the +danger" asks Dr. Bose "that threatens her by the capture of her +market and the total destruction of her industries? Does she not +realise that it is helpless passivity that directly provokes +aggression?... There is, therefore, no time to be lost and the +utmost effort is demanded of the Government and the people for +the revival of our industries...."<a href="#_41_" name="f41" id= +"f41"><sup>41</sup></a></p> +<p style= +"text-align: center; font-weight: 600; font-size: 1.0em; margin-top: 2.0em"> +A <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_068" id= +"Page_068">[Pg_068]</a></span>PATRIOTIC CALL</p> +<p class="indent">"A very serious danger" continues Dr. Bose "is +thus seen to be threatening the future of India, and to avert it +will require the utmost effort of the people. They have not only +to meet the economic crisis but also to protect the ideals of +ancient Aryan civilisation from the destructive forces that are +threatening it.... There is a danger of regarding the mechanical +efficiency as the sole end of life; there is also the opposite +danger of a life of dreaming, bereft of struggle and activity, +the degenerating into parasitic habits of dependence. Only +through the noble call of patriotism can our nation realise the +highest ideals in thought and in action...."<a href="#_42_" name= +"f42" id="f42"><sup>42</sup></a></p> +<p style= +"text-align: center; font-weight: 600; font-size: 1.0em; margin-top: 2.0em"> +BACK TO INDIA</p> +<p class="indent">After his return to India, Dr. Bose attended +the Indian Science Congress at Lucknow. He then attended the +ceremony of the laying of the foundation stone of the Hindu +University at Benares. On that occasion he delivered a masterly +address. He said:—</p> +<p class="indent">"In tracing the characteristic phenomena of +life from simple beginnings in that vast region which may be +called unvoiced, as exemplified in the world of plants, to its +highest expression in the animal <span class='pagenum'><a name= +"Page_069" id="Page_069">[Pg_069]</a></span>kingdom, one is +repeatedly struck by the one dominant fact that in order to +maintain an organism at the height of its efficiency something +more than a mechanical perfection of its structure is necessary. +Every living organism, in order to maintain its life and growth, +must be in free communion with all the forces of the Universe +about it.</p> +<p class="indent">"Further, it must not only constantly receive +stimulus from without, but must also give out something from +within, and the healthy life of the organism will depend on these +two-fold activities of inflow and outflow. When there is any +interference with these activities, then morbid symptoms appear, +which ultimately must end in disaster and death. This is equally +true of the intellectual life of a Nation. When through narrow +conceit a Nation regards itself self-sufficient and cuts itself +from the stimulus of the outside world, then intellectual decay +must inevitably follow.</p> +<p class="indent">"So far as regards the receptive function. Then +there is another function in the intellectual life of a Nation, +that of spontaneous flow, that going out of its life by which the +world is enriched. When the Nation has lost this power, when it +merely receives, but cannot give out, then its healthy life is +over, and it sinks into a degenerate existence, which is purely +parasitic.</p> +<p class="indent">"How can our Nation give out of the fulness of +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_070" id= +"Page_070">[Pg_070]</a></span>the life that is in it, and how can +a new Indian University help in the realisation of this object? +It is clear that its power of directing and inspiring will depend +on its world status. This can be secured to it by no artificial +means, nor by any strength in the past....</p> +<p class="indent">"This world status can only be won by the +intrinsic value of the great contributions to be made by its own +Indian scholars for the advancement of the world's knowledge. To +be organic and vital our new University must stand primarily for +self-expression and for winning for India a place she has lost. +Knowledge is never the exclusive possession of any particular +race, nor does it recognise geographical limitations. The whole +world is interdependent, and a constant stream of thought has +been carried out throughout the ages enriching the common +heritage of mankind. Although science was neither of the East nor +of the West but international, certain aspects of it gained +richness by reason of their place of origin."<a href="#_43_" +name="f43" id="f43"><sup>43</sup></a></p> +<p style= +"text-align: center; font-weight: 600; font-size: 1.0em; margin-top: 2.0em"> +OUTCOME OF THE SCIENTIFIC MISSION</p> +<p class="indent">The scientific mission of Dr. Bose to the West +was a great success. The very convincing character of the +demonstrations that he gave, before the <span class= +'pagenum'><a name="Page_071" id= +"Page_071">[Pg_071]</a></span>leading Scientific Societies of the +world, with his newly invented Resonant Recorder and other +delicate instruments, secured a world-wide acceptance of his +theories and results. Not only that. He secured also a +recognition from the leading thinkers of "that trend of thought +which led him unconsciously to the dividing frontiers of +different sciences and shaped the course of his work."<a href= +"#_44_" name="f44" id="f44"><sup>44</sup></a> It has come to be +recognised that "India through her habit of mind is peculiarly +fitted to realise the idea of unity and to see in the phenomenal +world an orderly universe," to realise that "there can be but one +truth, one Science which includes all other branches of +knowledge,"<a href="#_44_" name="f44a" id= +"f44a"><sup>44</sup></a> and that the store of world's knowledge +would be incomplete without India's special contribution to it. +Thus he has raised India in the estimation of the intellectual +world.</p> +<p style= +"text-align: center; font-weight: 600; font-size: 1.0em; margin-top: 2.0em"> +RETIREMENT FROM GOVERNMENT SERVICE</p> +<p class="indent">Dr. Bose reached the age limit of 55 on the +29th November 1913 but he was granted an extension till the 13th +September 1915. The period of his extension having expired, he +retired from the Professorship in the Presidency College after 31 +years of service. The Governing Body of the College, <span class= +'pagenum'><a name="Page_072" id= +"Page_072">[Pg_072]</a></span>however, "in recognition of his +eminent services to Science and Presidency College," appointed +him <i>honoris causa</i> Emeritus Professor of the College. His +duties as a member of the staff ceased. But he was given +facilities to continue his work in the Physical Laboratory of the +College.<a href="#_45_" name="f45" id="f45"><sup>45</sup></a></p> +<p style= +"text-align: center; font-weight: 600; font-size: 1.0em; margin-top: 2.0em"> +FURTHER RECOGNITION</p> +<p class="indent">After his retirement, the Secretary of State, +who had already been impressed with the high value of his +researches, sanctioned a recurring grant of Rs. 30,000 a year +(for him and his assistants) for 5 years and a non-recurring +grant of Rs. 25,000 (for equipment) for continuation of his +original work.... And, in further recognition of his valuable +scientific work, the Government conferred on him a Knighthood, on +the 1st January 1917. It may, however, be mentioned that this +high honour has been bestowed for the first time on an Indian for +his original work in Science.</p> +<p style= +"text-align: center; font-weight: 600; font-size: 1.0em; margin-top: 2.0em"> +FEELS THE NECESSITY FOR THE FOUNDATION OF AN INSTITUTE</p> +<p class="indent">Relieved of the trammels of service, Dr. Bose +felt the necessity for realising a dream that wove a network +round his wakeful life for years past—for <span class= +'pagenum'><a name="Page_073" id= +"Page_073">[Pg_073]</a></span>establishing an Institute—a +Study and Garden of Life—where the creepers, plants and +trees would be played upon by their natural environment and would +transcribe in their own script the history of their experience, +where "the student would watch the panorama of life" and, +"isolated from all distractions, would learn to attune himself +with Nature and to see how community throughout the great ocean +of life outweighs apparent the dissimilarity," and where "the +genius of India would find its true blossoming," where the +"synthetical intellectual methods of the East would co-operate +with the analytical methods of the West," and whence would +emanate a rich and peculiar current of thought and to which would +be attracted votaries from all lands.<a href="#_46_" name="f46" +id="f46"><sup>46</sup></a></p> +<p style= +"text-align: center; font-weight: 600; font-size: 1.0em; margin-top: 2.0em"> +THE BOSE INSTITUTE</p> +<p class="indent">Though the realisation of such a glorious +Institute would not be effected through one life or one fortune, +he wanted to accomplish something—something, so far as it +lay in his power. So he proceeded to build and equip an +Institute—the "Bose Institute"—at a cost of about 5 +lakhs, the entire savings of his lifetime. While it was being +constructed Their Excellencies the Viceroy and the <span class= +'pagenum'><a name="Page_074" id= +"Page_074">[Pg_074]</a></span>Governor of Bengal paid a visit to +Dr. Bose's private laboratory. On the 30th November +1917—the anniversary of his sixtieth birthday—he +dedicated the Institute to the Nation, for the progress of +Science and for the Glory of India.</p> +<p style= +"text-align: center; font-weight: 600; font-size: 1.0em; margin-top: 2.0em"> +THE AIMS OF THE INSTITUTE</p> +<p class="indent">In this Institute, Dr. Bose intends to go on +with "the further and fuller investigation of the many and +ever-opening problems of the nascent science which includes both +Life and None Life" and wants to train up a devoted band of +workers, with the Sanyasin mind, who would keep alive the flame +kindled by him, and who, by acute observation and patient +experiment would "wring out from Nature some of her most +jealously guarded secrets" and who would thus lead to the +establishment of a great Indian School of Science and to the +"building of the greater India yet to be." There would be no +academic limitation here to the widest possible diffusion of +knowledge. The facilities of the Institute would be available to +workers from all countries and there would be no desecration of +knowledge here by its utilisation for personal gain—no +patent would be taken of the discoveries here made. The high aim +of a great Seat of Learning would be sought to be maintained +here. The lectures here given would not be mere repetitions, +second-hand knowledge but would announce <span class= +'pagenum'><a name="Page_075" id="Page_075">[Pg_075]</a></span>for +the first time to the world the new discoveries here +made.<a href="#_47_" name="f47" id="f47"><sup>47</sup></a></p> +<p class="indent">The efforts of Dr. Bose have also animated our +countrymen. Maharaja Sir Manindra Chandra Nandy of Kasimbazar has +made a gift of two lakhs to the Institute. Mr. S. R. Bomanji has +given one lakh. Mr. Moolraj Khatao has endowed the Institute with +two lakh and a quarter. Other contributions are still pouring +in.</p> +<p style= +"text-align: center; font-weight: 600; font-size: 1.0em; margin-top: 2.0em"> +A GREAT 'SADHAK'</p> +<p class="indent">With a true <i>Sanyasin</i> spirit, Dr. Bose +applied himself to the study of Nature. His ardour was ever +compassable. Even the limitations of the senses would hardly +fetter him in his explorations in the regions of the Unknown. He +expended the range of perception by means of wonderfully +sensitive instrumental devices. By acute observations and patient +experiment he wrung out from Nature some of her most jealously +guarded secrets in the realm of Electric Radiation, which +"literally filled with wonder and admiration" the greatest +scientist of the age. Allurements of great material +prospects—which might lead him to the path of immense +fortune—came to him, in the shape of the patents of his +inventions. But they had no attraction for <span class= +'pagenum'><a name="Page_076" id= +"Page_076">[Pg_076]</a></span>him. In utter disregard of all +worldly advancement, he continued in his pursuit of +knowledge.</p> +<p class="indent">In pursuit of his investigations on Electric +Radiation, he was unconsciously led into the border region of +Physics and Physiology. He caught a glimpse of ineffable wonder +that remained hidden behind the view. He attempted to lift the +veil. And, at once, difficulties presented themselves one after +another. An unfamiliar caste in the domain of Science got +offended. He was asked not to encroach on the special preserve of +the Physiologists and, as he did not pay any heed to the warning, +misrepresentations began. Even the evidence of his +supersensitive appliances failed to convince many. And the Royal +Society withheld publication of his researches. He was +recompensed with ridicule and reviling. The limited facilities +that he had in the prosecution of his researches were in danger +of being withdrawn. But he had a burning Faith in the Vision and +was not to be boggled at with these difficulties. He became +stronger in his determination. Realising an inner call, he +dedicated himself for the establishment of the truth underlying +his Faith. He cast his life, as an offering, regarding success +and failure as one, and engaged himself in a protracted struggle +to get behind the deceptive seeming into the reality that +remained unseen. After years of sustained efforts, <span class= +'pagenum'><a name="Page_077" id="Page_077">[Pg_077]</a></span>he +succeeded in overcoming almost insuperable difficulties in the +way of the realisation of the great dream of his life. The closed +doors at last opened, and the seemingly impossible became +possible. The secret of the plant world stood revealed by the +autographs of the plants themselves. "It was when I came upon the +mute witness of these self-made records," said Sir J. C. Bose, +when he stood before the Royal Institution "and perceived in them +one phase of a pervading unity that bears within it all things: +the mote that quivers in ripples of light, the teeming life upon +our earth, and the radiant suns that shine above us—it was +then that I understood for the first time a little of that +message proclaimed by my ancestors on the banks of the Ganges +thirty centuries ago."</p> +<p class="blockquot">"They who see but one in all the changing +manifestations of this universe, unto them belongs Eternal +Truth—unto none else, unto none else."<a href="#_48_" name= +"f48" id="f48"><sup>48</sup></a></p> +<p class="indent">The Rishis of ancient India, by their intense +Yoga, realised the One in the Many. But Sir Jagadis Chandra, by +rigorous experimental demonstration, realised a Unity amidst +Diversity. He perceived that "there was no such thing as brute +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_078" id= +"Page_078">[Pg_078]</a></span>matter, but that spirit suffused +matter in which it was enshrined."<a href="#_49_" name="f49" id= +"f49"><sup>49</sup></a></p> +<p style= +"text-align: center; font-weight: 600; font-size: 1.0em; margin-top: 2.0em"> +EFFECT OF HIS WORK</p> +<p class="indent">It is impossible to estimate the effect of his +epoch-making researches. The psychic stone flung by him into the +pool of physical botany, has made the ripples run in so many +directions. There have been produced "unexpected revelations in +plant life, foreshadowing the wonders of the highest animal +life." And there "have opened out very extended regions of +inquiry in Physics, in Physiology, in Medicine, in Agriculture +and even in Psychology. Problems, hitherto regarded as insoluble, +have now been brought within the sphere of experimental +investigation."</p> +<p class="indent">Sir J.C. Bose has not only extended the distant +boundaries of Science, but, by his peculiarly Indian +contribution, has secured a recognised place for India and has +revived a hope in the Indian mind that India may yet regain a +place among the intellectual nations of the world. Men like him +are rare not only in India but rare any where in the world. May +he live long!</p> +<div class="noteBox" style= +"margin-top: 3.0em; margin-bottom: 1.0em; padding-bottom: 1.0em; padding-top: 0.0em; background-color: #ccffff;"> +<p class="center"><b>Footnotes</b></p> +<p><a name="_1_" href="#f1" id="_1_">[1]</a> Vide 'History of a +Failure that was great'—Modern Review, Vol. XXI, p. +221.</p> +<p><a name="_2_" href="#f2" id="_2_">[2]</a> Vide 'History of a +Failure that was great'—Modern Review. Vol. XXI p. 221.</p> +<p><a name="_3_" href="#f3" id="_3_">[3]</a> <i>Vide</i> 'History +of a failure that was great'—Modern Review, Vol. XXI, p +221.</p> +<p><a name="_4_" href="#f4" id="_4_">[4]</a> 'History of a +Failure that was great'—Modern Review. Vol, XXI, p. +221.</p> +<p><a name="_5_" href="#f5" id="_5_">[5]</a> Convocation Address, +dated 2nd March 1907, delivered by Sir Ashutosh Mookerjea.</p> +<p><a name="_6_" href="#f6" id="_6_">[6]</a> Vide Evidence of Dr. +J. C. Bose before the Public Services Commission,—Vol. XX, +p. 136.</p> +<p><a name="_7_" href="#f7" id="_7_">[7]</a> Address to the Royal +Society by its President, Sir Benjamin Brodie, 30th November +1859.</p> +<p><a name="_8_" href="#f8" id="_8_">[8]</a> 1 metre = 39.4 +inches.</p> +<p><a name="_9_" href="#f9" id="_9_">[9]</a> Encyclopædia +Britannica, 11th Edition, Vol IX, p. 206.</p> +<p><a name="_10_" href="#f10" id="_10_">[10]</a> +Encyclopædia Britannica, 11th Edition, Vol. IX, p. 206.</p> +<p><a name="_11_" href="#f11" id="_11_">[11]</a> See 'History of +a Discovery'—Modern Review, Vol. XVIII, p. 693.</p> +<p><a name="_12_" href="#f12" id="_12_">[12]</a> See 'Voice of +Life'—Modern Review, Vol. XII, p. 590.</p> +<p><a name="_13_" href="#f13" id="_13_">[13]</a> Vide 'History of +a Discovery'—Modern Review, Vol. XVIII, p. 694.</p> +<p><a name="_14_" href="#f14" id="_14_">[14]</a> Response in +Living and Non-Living, p. 191.</p> +<p><a name="_15_" href="#f15" id="_15_">[15]</a> See 'Voice of +Life'—Modern Review, Vol. XXII, p. 588.</p> +<p><a name="_16_" href="#f16" id="_16_">[16]</a> See 'History of +a Discovery'—Modern Review, Vol. XVIII, p. 694.</p> +<p><a name="_17_" href="#f17" id="_17_">[17]</a> Vide 'Voice of +Life'—Modern Review, Vol. XXII, p. 592.</p> +<p><a name="_18_" href="#f18" id="_18_">[18]</a> See 'Voice of +Life'—Modern Review, Vol. XXII, p. 592.</p> +<p><a name="_19_" href="#f19" id="_19_">[19]</a> Vide 'Voice of +Life'—Modern Review, Vol. XXII, p. 592.</p> +<p><a name="_20_" href="#f20" id="_20_">[20]</a> Vide 'History of +a Discovery'—Modern Review, Vol. XVIII, p. 694.</p> +<p><a name="_21_" href="#f21" id="_21_">[21]</a> Cf. Preface to +'Comparative Electro-Physiology' p. IX.</p> +<p><a name="_22_" href="#f22" id="_22_">[22]</a> Vide +'Comparative Electro-Physiology' pp. 732-733.</p> +<p><a name="_23_" href="#f23" id="_23_">[23]</a> Vide 'Memory +Image and its Revival,' Sir J. C. Bose—Modern Review, Vol. +XXIV, p. 447.</p> +<p><a name="_24_" href="#f24" id="_24_">[24]</a> Sri Sermon on +"Prayer" delivered by Keshub Chunder Sen at the Prarthana Samaj, +Bombay, on March 26, 1868.</p> +<p><a name="_25_" href="#f25" id="_25_">[25]</a> See 'Voice of +Life'—Modern Review, Vol. XXII, p. 588.</p> +<p><a name="_26_" href="#f26" id="_26_">[26]</a> Vide Modern +Review Vol. XI, p. 539.</p> +<p><a name="_27_" href="#f27" id="_27_">[27]</a> Vide Appendix to +the Report of the Royal Commission on the Public Services in +India, Vol. XX, p. 135-136.</p> +<p><a name="_28_" href="#f28" id="_28_">[28]</a> Vide Appendix to +the Report of the Royal Commission on the Public Services in +India, Vol. XX, p. 135.</p> +<p><a name="_29_" href="#f29" id="_29_">[29]</a> Vide Appendix to +the Report of the Royal Commission on the Public Services in +India, Vol. XX, p. 136</p> +<p><a name="_30_" href="#f30" id="_30_">[30]</a> Vide Appendix to +the Report of the Royal Commission on the Public Services in +India, Vol. XX, p. 137.</p> +<p><a name="_31_" href="#f31" id="_31_">[31]</a> Vide Appendix to +the Report of the Royal Commission on the Public Services in +India, Vol. XX, p. 137.</p> +<p><a name="_32_" href="#f32" id="_32_">[32]</a> Vide Appendix to +the Report of the Royal Commission on the Public Services in +India, Vol. XX, p. 137.</p> +<p><a name="_33_" href="#f33" id="_33_">[33]</a> Vide Appendix to +the Report of the Royal Commission on the Public Services in +India, Vol. XX, p. 139.</p> +<p><a name="_34_" href="#f34" id="_34_">[34]</a> Vide Modern +Review—Vol. XVI, pp. 16, 118, 120.</p> +<p><a name="_35_" href="#f35" id="_35_">[35]</a> Vide Modern +Review, Vol. XVI, pp. 120, 121, 126.</p> +<p><a name="_36_" href="#f36" id="_36_">[36]</a> Vide Modern +Review, Vol. XVII, P. 559.</p> +<p><a name="_37_" href="#f37" id="_37_">[37]</a> Vide Modern +Review, Vol. XVI, p. 246.</p> +<p><a name="_38_" href="#f38" id="_38_">[38]</a> Vide Modern +Review, Vol. XVII, p. 559.</p> +<p><a name="_39_" href="#f39" id="_39_">[39]</a> Vide Modern +Review, Vol. XVIII, p. 1.</p> +<p><a name="_40_" href="#f40" id="_40_">[40]</a> Vide Modern +Review, Vol. XVIII. p. 214.</p> +<p><a name="_41_" href="#f41" id="_41_">[41]</a> Vide Modern +Review, Vol. XVIII. p. 215.</p> +<p><a name="_42_" href="#f42" id="_42_">[42]</a> Vide Modern +Review, Vol. XVIII, p. 215.</p> +<p><a name="_43_" href="#f43" id="_43_">[43]</a> Vide Modern +Review, Vol. XIX, p. 277.</p> +<p><a name="_44_" href="#f44" id="_44_">[44]</a> Vide 'Voice of +Life'—Modern Review, Vol. XXII, p. 591.</p> +<p><a name="_45_" href="#f45" id="_45_">[45]</a> Presidency +College Magazine, Vol. II, p. 335.</p> +<p><a name="_46_" href="#f46" id="_46_">[46]</a> Presidency +College Magazine, Vol. II, p, 335.</p> +<p><a name="_47_" href="#f47" id="_47_">[47]</a> Vide 'Voice of +Life'—Modern Review, XXII, p. 590.</p> +<p><a name="_48_" href="#f48" id="_48_">[48]</a> Vide 'Voice of +Life'—Modern Review Vol XXII, p. 590.</p> +<p><a name="_49_" href="#f49" id="_49_">[49]</a> Vide Modern +Review, Vol. XXI, p. 343.</p> +</div> +<p style= +"text-align: center; font-weight: 600; font-size: 1.25em; margin-top: 3.0em"> +LITERATURE <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_079" id= +"Page_079">[Pg_079]</a></span>AND SCIENCE</p> +<p class="indent">The following is a substance of the Address +delivered in Bengali by Prof. J. C. Bose, on the 14th April 1911, +as the President of the Bengal Literary Conference, which met in +the Easter of 1911 at Mymensing.</p> +<p class="indent">In this Literary Congress it would appear that +you have interpreted Letters in no exclusive sense. We are not +met to discuss the place that literature is to hold in the gospel +of beauty. Rather are we set upon conceiving of her in larger +ways. To us to-day literature is no mere ornament, no mere +amusement. Instead of this, we desire to bring beneath her shadow +all the highest efforts of our minds. In this great communion of +learning, this is not the first time that a scientific man has +officiated as priest. The chair which I now occupy has already +been held by one whom I love and honour as friend and colleague, +and glory in our countryman, Praphulla Chandra Ray. In honouring +him, your Society has not only done homage to merit, but has also +placed before our people a lofty and inclusive ideal of +literature.</p> +<p class="indent"><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_080" id= +"Page_080">[Pg_080]</a></span>You are aware that in this West, +the prevailing tendency at the moment is, after a period of +synthesis, to return upon the excessive sub-division of learning. +The result of this specialisation is rather to accentuate the +distinctiveness of the various sciences, so that for a while the +great unity of all tends perhaps to be obscured. Such a +caste system in scholarship, undoubtedly helps at first, in the +gathering and classification of new material. But if followed too +exclusively, it ends by limiting the comprehensiveness of truth. +The search is endless. Realisation evades us.</p> +<p class="indent">The Eastern aim has been rather the opposite, +namely, that in the multiplicity of phenomena, we should never +miss their underlying unity. After generations of this quest, the +idea of unity comes to us almost spontaneously, and we apprehend +no insuperable obstacle in grasping it.</p> +<p class="indent">I feel that here in this Literary Congress, +this characteristic idea of unity has worked unconsciously. We +have never thought of narrowing the bounds of literature by a +jealous definition of its limits. On the contrary, we have +allowed its empire to extend. And you have felt that this could +be adequately done only, if in one place you could gather +together all that we are seeking, all that we are thinking, all +that we are examining. And for this you have to-day invited those +who sing along <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_081" id= +"Page_081">[Pg_081]</a></span>with those who meditate, and those +who experiment. And this is why, though my own life has been +given to the pursuit of science, I had yet no hesitation in +accepting the honour of your invitation.</p> +<p style= +"text-align: center; font-weight: 600; font-size: 1.0em; margin-top: 2.0em"> +POETRY AND SCIENCE</p> +<p class="indent">The poet, seeing by the heart, realises the +inexpressible and strived to give it expression. His imagination +soars, where the sight of others fails, and his news of realm +unknown finds voice in rhyme and metre. The +path of the scientific man may be different, yet there is some +likeness between the two pursuits. Where visible light ends, he +still follows the invisible. Where the note of the audible +reaches the unheard, even there he gathers the tremulous message. +That mystery which lies behind the expressed, is the object of +his questioning also; and he, in his scientific way, attempts to +render its abstruse discoveries into human speech.</p> +<p class="indent">This vast abode of nature is built in many +wings, each with its own portal. The physicist, the chemist, and +the biologist entering by different doors, each one his own +department of knowledge, comes to think that this is his special +domain, unconnected with that of any other. Hence has arisen our +present rigid division of phenomena, into the worlds of the +inorganic, vegetal, and sentient. But +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_082" id= +"Page_082">[Pg_082]</a></span>this attitude of mind is +philosophical, may be denied. We must remember that all +enquiries have as their goal the attainment of +knowledge in its entirety. The partition walls between the cells +in the great laboratory are only erected for a time to aid this +search. Only at that point where all lines of investigation meet, +can the whole truth be found.</p> +<p class="indent">Both poet and scientific worker have set out +for the same goal, to find a unity in the bewildering diversity. +The difference is that the poet thinks little of the path, +whereas the scientific man must not neglect. The imagination of +the poet has to be unrestricted. The intuitions of emotion cannot +be established by rigid proof. He has, therefore, to use the +language of imagery, adding constantly the words 'as if.'</p> +<p class="indent">The road that the scientific man has to tread +is on the other hand very rugged, and in his pursuit of +demonstration he must pay a severe restraint on his imagination. +His constant anxiety is lest he should be self-deceived. He has, +therefore, at every step to compare his own thought with the +external fact. He has remorselessly to abandon all in which these +are not agreed. His reward is that he gets, however little is +certain, forming a strong foundation for what is yet to come. +Even by this path of self-restraint and verification, however, he +is <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_083" id= +"Page_083">[Pg_083]</a></span>making for a region surpassing +wonder. In the range of that invisible light, gross objects cease +to be a barrier, and force and matter become less aesthetic. When +the veil is suddenly lifted, upon the vision hitherto +unsuspected, he may for a moment lose his accustomed +self-restraint and, exclaim "not 'as if'—but the thing +itself!"</p> +<p style= +"text-align: center; font-weight: 600; font-size: 1.0em; margin-top: 2.0em"> +INVISIBLE LIGHT.</p> +<p class="indent">In illustration of this sense of wonder which +links together poetry and science, let me allude briefly to a few +matters that belong to my own small corner in the great universe +of knowledge, that of light invisible and of life unvoiced. Can +anything appeal more to the imagination than the fact that we can +detect the peculiarities in the internal molecular structure of +an opaque body by means of light that is itself invisible? Could +anything have been more unexpected than to find that a sphere of +China-clay focuses invisible light more perfectly +than a sphere of glass focuses the visible; that +in fact, the refractive power of this clay to electric radiation +is at least as great as that of the most costly diamond to light? +From amongst the innumerable octaves of light, there is only one +octave, with power to excite the human eye. In reality, we stand, +in the midst of a luminous ocean, almost blind! The little that +we can see is nothing, compared to the vastness of <span class= +'pagenum'><a name="Page_084" id= +"Page_084">[Pg_084]</a></span>that which we cannot. But it may be +said that out of the very imperfection of his senses man has been +able, in science, to build for himself a raft of thought by which +to make daring adventure on the great seas of the unknown.</p> +<p style= +"text-align: center; font-weight: 600; font-size: 1.0em; margin-top: 2.0em"> +UNVOICED LIFE.</p> +<p class="indent">Again, just as, in following up light from +visible to invisible, our range of investigation transcends our +physical sight, so also does our power of sympathy become +extended, when we pass from the voiced to the unvoiced, in the +study of life: Is there then any possible relation between our +own life and that of the plant world? That there may be such a +relation, some of the foremost of scientific men have denied. So +distinguished a leader as the late Burdon-Sanderson declared that +the majority of plants were not capable of giving any answer, by +either mechanical or electrical excitement, to an outside stock. +Pfeffer, again, and his distinguished followers, have insisted +that the plants have neither a nervous system, nor anything +analogous to the nervous impulse of the animal. According to such +a view, that two streams of life, in plant and animal, flow side +by side, but under the guidance of different laws. The problems +of vegetable life are, it must be said, extremely obscure, and +for the penetrating <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_085" id= +"Page_085">[Pg_085]</a></span>of that darkness we have long had +to wait for instruments of a superlative sensitiveness. This has +been the principal reason for our long clinging to mere theory, +instead of looking for the demonstration of facts. But to learn +the truth we have to put aside theories, and rely only on direct +experiment. We have to abandon all our preconceptions, and put +our questions direct, insisting that the only evidence we can +accept is that which bears the plant's own signature.</p> +<p class="indent">How are we to know what unseen changes take +place within the plant? If it be excited or depressed by some +special circumstance, how are we, on the outside, to be made +aware of this? The only conceivable way would be, if that were +possible, to detect and measure the actual response of the +organism to a definite external blow. When an animal receives an +external shock it may answer in various ways if it has voice, by +a cry; if it be dumb, by the movement of its limbs. The external +shock is a stimulus; the answer of the organism is the response. +If we can find out the relation between this stimulus and the +response, we shall be able to determine the vitality of the plant +at that moment. In an excitable condition, the feeblest stimulus +will evoke an extraordinarily large response: in a depressed +state, even a strong stimulus evokes only a feeble response; and +lastly, when <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_086" id= +"Page_086">[Pg_086]</a></span>death has overcome life, there is +an abrupt end of the power to answer at all.</p> +<p class="indent">We might therefore have detected the internal +condition of the plant, if, by some inducement, we could have +made it write down its own responses. If we could once succeed in +this apparently impossible task we should still have to learn the +new language and the new script. In a world of so many different +scripts, it is certainly undesirable to introduce a new one! I +fear the Uniform Script Association will cherish a grievance +against us for this. It is fortunate however that the +plant-script bears, after all, a certain resemblance to the +Devanagari—inasmuch as it is totally unintelligible to any +but the very learned!</p> +<p class="indent">But there are two serious difficulties in our +path; first, to make the plant itself consent to give its +evidence; second, through plant and instrument combined, to +induce it to give it in writing. It is comparatively easy to make +a rebellious child obey: to extort answers from plants is indeed +a problem! By many years of close contiguity, however, I have +come to have some understanding of their ways. I take this +opportunity to make public confession of various acts of cruelty +which I have from time to time perpetrated on unoffending plants, +in order to compel them to give me answers. For this purpose, I +have devised various forms of torment,—<span class= +'pagenum'><a name="Page_087" id= +"Page_087">[Pg_087]</a></span>pinches simple and revolving, +pricks with needles, and burns with acids. But let this pass. I +now understand that replies so forced are unnatural, and of no +value. Evidence so obtained is not to be trusted. Vivisection, +for instance, cannot furnish unimpugnable results, for excessive +shock tends of itself to make the response of a tissue abnormal. +The experimental organism must therefore be subjected only to +moderate stimulation. Again, one has to choose for one's +experiment a favourable moment. Amongst plants, as with +ourselves, there is, very early in the morning, especially after +a cold night, certain sluggishness. The answers, then, are a +little indistinct. In the excessive heat of +midday, again, though the first few answers are very distinct, +yet fatigue soon sets in. On a stormy day, the plant remains +obstinately silent. Barring all these sources of aberration, +however, if we choose our time wisely, we may succeed in +obtaining clear answers, which persist without interruption.</p> +<p class="indent">It is our object, then, to gather the whole +history of the plant, during every moment between its birth and +its death. Through how many cycle of experience it has to pass! +The effects on it of recurring light and darkness; the pull of +the earth, and the blow of the storm; how complex is the +concatenation of circumstances, how +various are the shocks, and how multiplex are the replies which +we have <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_088" id= +"Page_088">[Pg_088]</a></span>to analyse! In this vegetal life +which appears so placid and so stationary, how manifold are the +subtle internal reactions! Then how are we to make this invisible +visible?</p> +<p style= +"text-align: center; font-weight: 600; font-size: 1.0em; margin-top: 2.0em"> +THE DIARY OF THE PLANT.</p> +<p class="indent">The little seedling we know to be growing, but +the rate of its growth is far below anything we can directly +perceive. How are we to magnify this so as +to make it instantly measurable? What are the variations in this +infinitesimal growth under external shock? what changes are +induced by the action of drugs or poisons? will the action of +poison change with the dose? Is it possible to counteract the +effect of one by another?</p> +<p class="indent">Supposing that the plant does not give answers +to external shock, what time elapses between the shock and the +reply? Does this latent period undergo any variation with +external conditions? Is it possible to make the plant itself +write down this excessively minute time-interval?</p> +<p class="indent">Next, does the effect of the blow given outside +reach the interior of the plant? If so, is there anything +analogous to the nerve of the animal? If so, again, at what rate +does the nervous impulse travel the plant? By what favourable +circumstances will this rate of transmission become enhanced, and +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_089" id= +"Page_089">[Pg_089]</a></span>by what will be retarded or +arrested? Is it possible to make the plant itself record this +rate and its variations? Is there any resemblance between the +nervous impulse in plants and animals? In the animal there are +certain automatically pulsating tissues like the heart. Are there +any such spontaneously beating tissues in a plant? What is the +meaning of spontaneity? And lastly, when by the blow of death, +life itself is finally extinguished, will it be possible to +detect the critical moment? And does the plant then exert itself +to make one overwhelming reply, after which response ceases +altogether? Its autobiography can only be regarded as complete, +if, with the help of efficient instruments, all these questions +can be answered by it, so as to form the different chapters.</p> +<p class="indent">"If the plant could have been made thus to keep +its own diary, then the whole of its history might have been +recovered!" But words like these are born of day dreams merely. Vague imaginings of this kind may +furnish much gratification to an idle life. When, awaking from +these pleasant dreams of science, we seek to actualise the +conditions imposed by them, we find ourselves face to face with a +dead wall. For the doorway of nature's court is barred with iron, +and through it can penetrate no mere cry of childish petulance. +It is only by the gathered force of many years of concentration, +that the gate <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_090" id= +"Page_090">[Pg_090]</a></span>can be opened, and the seeker enter +to explore the secrets that have baffled him so long.</p> +<p style= +"text-align: center; font-weight: 600; font-size: 1.0em; margin-top: 2.0em"> +DIFFICULTIES OF RESEARCH IN INDIA.</p> +<p class="indent">We often hear that without a properly equipped +laboratory, higher research in this country is an absolute +impossibility. But while there is a good deal in this, it is not +by any means the whole truth. If it were all, then from these +countries where millions have been spent on costly laboratories, +we should have had daily accounts of new discoveries. Such news +we do not hear. It is true that here we suffer from many +difficulties, but how does it help us, to envy the good fortune +of others? Rise from your depression! Cast off your weakness! Let +us think, "In whatever condition we are placed, that is the true +starting-point for us." India is our working-place, and all our +duties are to be accomplished here, and nowhere else. Only he who +has lost his manhood need repine.</p> +<p class="indent">In carrying out research, there are other +difficulties, besides the want of well-equipped laboratories. We +often forget that the real laboratory is one's own mind. The room +and the instruments only externalise that. Every experiment has +first to be carried out in that inner region. To keep the mental +vision clear, great struggles have to be <span class= +'pagenum'><a name="Page_091" id= +"Page_091">[Pg_091]</a></span>undergone. For its clearness is +lost, only too easily. The greatest wealth of external appliances +is of no avail, where there is not a concentrated pursuit, +utterly detached from personal gain. Those whose minds rush +hither and thither, those who hunger for public applause instead +of truth itself, by them the quest is not won. To those on the +other hand, who do long for knowledge itself, the want of +favourable conditions does not seem the principle obstacle.</p> +<p class="indent">In the first place, we have to realise that +knowledge for the sake of knowledge is our aim, and that the +world's common standard of utility have no place in it. The +enquirer must follow where he is led, holding the quiet faith +that things which appear to-day to be of no use, may be of the +highest interest to-morrow. No height can be climbed, without the +hewing of many an unremembered step! It is necessary, then, that +the enquirer and his disciples should work on ceaselessly, +undeterred by years of failure, and undistracted by the thunder +of public applause. We may one day come to realise that India in +the past has shared her knowledge with the world, and we may ask +ourselves, is that destiny now ended for us? Are we of to-day to +be debtors only? Perhaps when we have once felt this, a new +Nalanda may arise.</p> +<p style= +"text-align: center; font-weight: 600; font-size: 1.0em; margin-top: 2.0em"> +THE <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_092" id= +"Page_092">[Pg_092]</a></span>PHYTOGRAPH</p> +<p class="indent">I was speaking of the need of various delicate +instruments—phytographs, as I shall call them—for the +automatic record of the plant's responses. What was, ten years +ago, a mere aspiration, has now after so many years of effort, +become actual fact. It is unnecessary to tell here of many a +fruitless and despairing attempt. Nor shall I trouble you with +any account of intricate mechanism. I need only say that with the +aid of different types of apparatus, it is now possible for all +the responsive activities of the plant to be written down. For +instance, we can make an instantaneous record of the growth and +its variations, moment by moment. Scripts can be obtained of its +spontaneous movement. And a recording arm will demorcate +the line of life from that of death. The +extreme delicacy of one of these instruments will be understood, +when it is said that it measures and records a time-interval so +short as one-thousandth part of a second!</p> +<p class="indent">It has been supposed that instruments for +research of this delicacy and precision, were only possible of +construction in the best scientific manufactories of Europe. It +will therefore be regarded as interesting and encouraging to know +that every one of these has been executed entirely in India, by +Indian workmen and mechanicians.</p> +<p class="indent">With perfect instruments at our disposal, we +may <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_093" id= +"Page_093">[Pg_093]</a></span>proceed to describe a few amongst +the many phenomena which now stand revealed. But before this, it +is necessary to deal briefly with the superstition that has led +to the division of plants into sensitive and insensitive. By the +electrical mode of investigation, it can be shown that not only +Mimosa and the like, but all plants of all kinds are sensitive, +and give definite replies to impinging stimuli. Ordinary plants, +it is true, are unable to give any conspicuous mechanical +indication of excitement. But this is not because of any +insensitiveness, but because of equal and antagonistic reactions +which neutralise each other. It is possible, however, by +employing appropriate means, to show that even ordinary plants +give mechanical replies to stimulus.</p> +<p style= +"text-align: center; font-weight: 600; font-size: 1.0em; margin-top: 2.0em"> +THE DETERMINATION OF THE LATENT PERIOD</p> +<p class="indent">When an animal is struck by a blow, it does not +respond at once. A certain short interval elapses between the +incidence of the blow, and the beginning of the reply. This lost +time is known as the latent period. In the leg of a frog, the +latent period according to Helmwoltz, is about one-hundredth of a +second. This latent period, however, undergoes appropriate +variation with changing external conditions. With feeble +stimulus, it has a definite value, which, with an excessive blow, +is much <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_094" id= +"Page_094">[Pg_094]</a></span>shortened. In the cold season, it +is relatively long. Again, when we are tired our perception time, +as we may call it, may be greatly prolonged. Every one of these +observations is equally applicable to the perception time of the +plant. In Mimosa, in a vigorous condition, the latent period is +six one hundredth of a second, that is to say, only six times its +value in an energetic frog! Another +curious thing is that a stoutish tree will give its response in a +slow and lordly fashion, whereas a thin one attains the acme of +its excitement in an incredibly short time! Perhaps some of us +can tell from our own experience whether similar differences +obtain amongst human kind or not? The plant's latent period in +our cold weather may be almost doubled. Ordinarily speaking it +takes <i>Mimosa</i> about fifteen minutes +to recover from a blow. If a second blow be given, before the +full recovery of its equanimity, then the plant becomes fatigued, +and its latent period is lengthened. When over-fatigued, it may +temporarily lose its power of perception altogether, what this +condition is like, my audience is only too likely to realise, at +the end of my long address!</p> +<p style= +"text-align: center; font-weight: 600; font-size: 1.0em; margin-top: 2.0em"> +THE RELATION BETWEEN STIMULUS AND RESPONSE</p> +<p class="indent">According to varying circumstances, the same +blow will evoke responses of different amplitudes. <span class= +'pagenum'><a name="Page_095" id= +"Page_095">[Pg_095]</a></span>Early in the morning, after the +prolonged inactivity of a cold night, we find the plant inclined +to be lethargic, and its first answers correspondingly small. But +as blow after blow is delivered, this lethargy passes off, and +the replies become stronger and stronger. A good way to remove +this lethargy quickly, is to give the plant a warm bath. In the +heat of the midday, this state of things is reversed. That is to +say, after giving vigorous replies the plant becomes fatigued, +and its responses grow smaller. This fatigue passes off, however, +on allowing it a period of rest. On increasing the intensity of +the impinging stimulus, the response also increases. But a limit +is attained, beyond which response can no longer be enhanced. +Again, just as the pain of a blow persists longer with ourselves, +in winter than in summer, so the same holds good of the reaction +of the plant also. For instance, in summer it takes <i>Mimosa</i> +ten to fifteen minutes to recover from a blow, whereas in winter +the same thing would take over half an hour. In all this, you +will recognise the similarity between human response and that of +the plant.</p> +<p style= +"text-align: center; font-weight: 600; font-size: 1.0em; margin-top: 2.0em"> +SPONTANEOUS PULSATION</p> +<p class="indent">In certain tissues, a very curious phenomenon +is observed. In man and other animals, there are tissues which +beat, as we say, spontaneously. As <span class='pagenum'><a name= +"Page_096" id="Page_096">[Pg_096]</a></span>long as life lasts, +so long does the heart continue to pulsate. There is no effect +without a cause. How then was it that these pulstations +[became spontaneous? To this query, no +fully satisfactory answer has been forthcoming. We find, however, +that similar spontaneous movements are also observable in plant +tissues, and by their investigation the secret of automatism in +the animal may perhaps be unravelled.</p> +<p class="indent">Physiologists, in order to know the heart of +man, play with those of the frog and tortoise. "To know the +heart," be it understood, is here meant in a purely physical, and +not in a poetic sense. For this it is not always convenient to +employ the whole of the frog. The heart is therefore cut out, and +make the subject of experiments, as to what conditions +accelerate, and what retard, the rate and amplitude of its beat. +When thus isolated, the heart tends of itself to come to a +standstill, but if, by means of fine tubing, it be then subjected +to interval blood pressure, its beating will be resumed, and will +continue uninterrupted for a long time. By the influence of +warmth, the frequency of the pulsation may be increased, but its +amplitude diminished. Exactly the reverse is the effect of cold. +The natural rhythm and the amplitude of the pulse undergo +appropriate changes, again, under the action of different drugs. +Under either, the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_097" id= +"Page_097">[Pg_097]</a></span>heart may come to a standstill, but +on blowing this off the beat is renewed. The action of chloroform +is more dangerous, any excess in the dose inducing permanent +arrest. Besides these, there are poisons also which arrest the +heart beat, and a very noticeable fact in this connection is, +that some stop in a contracted, and others in a relaxed +condition. Knowing these opposed effects, it is sometimes +possible to counteract the effect of one poison by administering +another.</p> +<p class="indent">I have thus briefly stated some of the most +important phenomena in connection with spontaneous movements in +animal tissues. Is it possible that in plants also any parallel +phenomena might be observed? In answer to this question, I may +say that I have found numerous instances of automatic movements +in plants.</p> +<p style= +"text-align: center; font-weight: 600; font-size: 1.0em; margin-top: 2.0em"> +RHYTHMIC PULSATIONS IN DESMODIUM</p> +<p class="indent">The existence of such spontaneous movements can +easily be demonstrated, by means of our Indian <i>Bon charal</i>, +the telegraph plant, or Desmodium gyrans, whose small leaflets +dance continually. The popular belief that they dance in response +to the clapping of the hands is quite untrue. From readings of +the scripts made by this plant, I am in a position to state that +the automatic movements of both plants and animals are guided by +laws which are identical.</p> +<p class="indent"><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_098" id= +"Page_098">[Pg_098]</a></span>Firstly, when, for convenience of +experiment, we cut off the leaflet, its spontaneous movements, +like those of the heart, come to a stop. But if we now subject +the isolated leaflet, by means of a fine tube, to an added +internal pressure of the plant's sap, its pulsations are renewed, +and continue uninterrupted for a very long time. It is found +again that the pulsation frequency is increased under the action +warmth, and lessened under cold, increased frequency being +attended by diminution of amplitude and <i>vice versa</i>. Under +either, there is temporary arrest, revival being possible when +the vapour is blown off. More fatal is the effect of chloroform. +The most extraordinary parallelism, however, lies in the fact +that those poisons which arrest the beat of the heart in a +particular way, arrest the plant—pulsation also in a +corresponding manner. I have thus been able to revive a leaflet +poisoned by the application of one, with a dose of a +counteracting poison.</p> +<p class="indent">Let us now enquire into the causes of these +automatic movements so-called. In experimenting with certain +types of plant-tissues, I find that an external stimulus may not +always evoke an immediate reply. What happens, then, to the +incident energy? It is not really lost, for these particular +plant-tissues have the power of shortage. In this way, energy +derived in various ways from without—as light, <span class= +'pagenum'><a name="Page_099" id= +"Page_099">[Pg_099]</a></span>warmth, food, and so on—is +constantly being accumulated, when a certain point is reached, +there is an overflow, and we call this overflow spontaneous +movement. Thus what we call automatic is really an overflow of +what has previously been stored up. When this accumulated energy +is exhausted, then there is also an end of spontaneous movements. +By abstracting its stored-up heat—through the application +of cold water—we can bring to a stop the automatic +pulsations of Desmodium. But on allowing a first accession of +heat from outside, these pulsations are gradually restored.</p> +<p class="indent">In the matter of these so-called spontaneous +activities of the plant, I find that there are two distinct +types. In one, the overflow is initiated with very little +storage, but here the unusual display of activity soon comes to a +stop. To maintain such specimens in the rhythmic condition, +constant stimulation from outside is necessary. Plants of this +type are extremely dependent on outside influences, and when such +sources of stimulus are removed, they speedily come to an +inglorious stop. <i>Kamranga</i> or <i>Averrhoa</i> is an example +of this kind. In the second type of automatic plant activity I +find that long continued storage is required, before an overflow +can begin. But in this case, the spontaneous outburst is +persistent and of long duration, even when the plant is deprived +of any immediately <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id= +"Page_100">[Pg_100]</a></span>exciting cause. These, therefore, +are not so obviously dependent as the others on the sunshine of +the world. Our telegraph-plant, <i>Desmodium</i> or <i>Bon +charal</i>, is an example of this.</p> +<p class="indent">It appears to me that we have here a suggestive +parallel to certain phenomena with which this audience will +surely prove more familiar than I, namely, the facts of literary +inspiration. For the attainment of this exalted condition, also, +is it not necessary to have previous storage, with a consequent +bubbling overflow? Certain indications incline me to suspect that +perhaps in this also we have an example of so-called spontaneity, +or automatic responsiveness. If this be so, aspirants, to the +condition might well be asked to decide in whose footsteps they +will choose to tread—those of <i>Kamranga</i>, with its +dependence on outside influences, and inevitably ephemeral +activity, or those of <i>Bon charal</i>, with its characteristic +of patient long enduring accumulation of forces, to find +uninterrupted and sustained expression.</p> +<p style= +"text-align: center; font-weight: 600; font-size: 1.0em; margin-top: 2.0em"> +THE PLANT'S RESPONSE TO THE SHOCK OF DEATH</p> +<p class="indent">A time comes when, after one answer to a +supreme shock, there is a sudden end of the plant's power to give +any response. This supreme shock is the shock of death. Even in +this crisis, there is no immediate <span class='pagenum'><a name= +"Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg_101]</a></span>change in the placid +appearance of the plant. Drooping and withering are events that +occur long after death itself. How does the plant then, give this +last answer? In man, at the critical moment, a spasm passes +through the whole body, and similarly in the plant, I find that a +great contractile spasm takes place. This is accompanied by an +electrical spasm also. In the script of the Morograph, or Death +recorder, the line that up to this point was being drawn, becomes +suddenly reversed, and then ends. This is the last answer of the +plant.</p> +<p class="indent">These are mute companions, silently, growing +beside our door, have now told us the tale of their +life-tremulousness and their death spasm, in script that is as +inarticulate as they. May it not be said that this their story +has a pathos of its own, beyond any that the poets have +conceived?</p> +<p style= +"text-align: center; font-weight: 600; font-size: 1.25em; margin-top: 2.0em"> +PROF. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id= +"Page_102">[Pg_102]</a></span>J. C. BOSE AT MAYAVATI</p> +<p style= +"text-align: center; font-weight: 600; font-size: 1.0em; margin-top: 1.0em"> +MARVELS OF PLANT LIFE</p> +<p class="indent">On the 8th June 1912, Dr J. C. Bose, who had +gone to Advaita Ashrama, Mayavati, on a holiday trip, gave an +illuminating discourse on the marvels of plant life.</p> +<p class="indent">He began by stating that a stimulus takes a +certain time before it gets a response. This stimulus may be of +different forms, <i>e.g.</i>, it may be a sound stimulus, a light +stimulus, an electric stimulus, and so on. The feebler the +stimulus, the greater is the time it takes to elicit the +response. For instance if one is called by a distant voice, one +doubts whether he has been called at all, but in the case of a +piercing scream, he starts up at once.</p> +<p class="indent">Now, the difficulty is +that when the stimulus, the blow, is so strong as to get an +instantaneous response, how is one to measure this infinitesimal +time between the blow and the response? And this must be done +absolutely free from any personal interference, so as to ensure +correct results.</p> +<p class="indent"><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id= +"Page_103">[Pg_103]</a></span>Dr. Bose here described how after +deep thought and careful experiments and researches of several +years he invented and manufactured a highly sensitive instrument +which could automatically record the "response time" of a plant +even to one thousandth part of a second. And in order to convey a +graphic idea of the principles under which it worked, he had even +made by means of a few simple things a crude form of his +instrument, which helped the audience to form a clear idea of how +a shock given to a plant which was experimented upon, would be +recorded automatically by the apparatus by means of dots on its +writing pad, and also how to ascertain the exact time each plant +took to respond to the stimulus received. Thus the plant now +records its own history unerringly by its own hand as it were. +And that the <i>same</i> results are obtained each time the +experiment is repeated under similar conditions, shows that this +recording of the response time is a scientific phenomenon.</p> +<p class="indent">As an example of the similarities of reactions +in plant and animal, Prof. Bose described the rhythmic activities +of certain plants, in which automatic pulsations are maintained +as in the animal heart. This phenomenon is exemplified by the +Telegraph plant, which grows wild in the Gangetic plane; its +Indian name is <i>Bon charal</i> or 'forest churl', the popular +belief being that it dances to the clapping <span class= +'pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg_104]</a></span>of +the hand. There is no foundation however for this belief. It is a +papilionaceous plant with trifoliate leaves, of which the +terminal leaflet is large, and the two lateral, very small. Each +of these is inserted on the petiole by means of pulvinule. The +lateral leaflets are seen to execute pulsating movements which +are apparently uncaused, and are not unlike the rhythmic movement +of the heart to which we shall see later that their resemblance +is more than superficial.</p> +<p class="indent">In the intact plant, under favourable +conditions, these movements are easily observed to take place +more or less continuously; but there are times when they come to +a standstill. For this reason and because of the fact that a +large plant cannot easily be manipulated as a whole and subjected +to various changing conditions which the purpose of the +investigation demands, it is desirable, if possible, to +experiment with the detached petiole, carrying the pulsating +leaflet. The required amputation however may be followed by +arrest of the pulsating movements. But, as in the case of the +isolated heart in a state of standstill, Dr. Bose found that the +movement of the leaflet can be renewed, in the detached specimen, +by the application of the internal hydrostatic pressure. Under +these conditions, the rhythmic pulsations are easily maintained +uniform for several hours. This is a great advantage, +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id= +"Page_105">[Pg_105]</a></span>in as much as in the undetached +specimen, the pulsations are not usually found to be so regular +as they now become. So small a specimen, again, can easily be +subjected to changing experimental conditions, such as the +variation of internal hydrostatic pressure and temperature, +application of different drugs, vapours and gases.</p> +<p class="indent">Under varying conditions the same plant has +been observed to take different response times, as for instance, +less in heat than in cold, less in summer than in winter, less in +the morning than in the evening, and so forth. Again, different +plants have different response times.</p> +<p class="indent">It is a remarkable fact that the mimosa is ten +times as sensitive as a frog in giving the response. And the +native idea that plants are of a lower order than animal life +will cost many a sad disappointment.</p> +<p class="indent">In the course of his lecture Dr. Bose spoke of +some of his startling discoveries recently made.... The lecturer +gave quite a spiritual turn to his discourse as he finished it +with the remark that, as it has been the earnest endeavour of +scientists to minimise material friction in order to get the best +results, so in our human concerns, it should be our best aim to +minimise friction,—which is, Ignorance.</p> +<p class="indent">—<i>Modern Review</i>, Vol. XII, pages +314-315.</p> +<p style= +"text-align: center; font-weight: 600; font-size: 1.25em; margin-top: 3.0em"> +PLANT <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id= +"Page_106">[Pg_106]</a></span>AUTOGRAPHS</p> +<p style= +"text-align: center; font-weight: 600; font-size: 1.0em; margin-top: 1.0em"> +HOW PLANTS CAN RECORD THEIR OWN STORY</p> +<p class="indent">Under the presidency of His Excellency Lord +Carmichael, Prof. J. C. Bose delivered on Friday, the 17th +January 1913 an interesting address on his recent researches at +the Physical Laboratory of the Presidency College, Calcutta, his +subject being "Plant Autographs."</p> +<p class="indent">Professor Bose has been long engaged in +researches on the "Irritability of Plants," with results of great +interest. These results have been made possible by the invention +of a series of instruments of extraordinary precision and +delicacy. Some of Professor Bose's instruments measure and record +a thousandth of a second. Invisible movements in plants, hitherto +beyond human scrutiny, have been brought within the range of +immediate perception through the wonderful devices shown by the +lecturer's demonstration of same on the screen.</p> +<p class="indent">Among those present were:—Sir William and +Lady Duke, the Maharaja of Nashipur, Sir Gurudas <span class= +'pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id= +"Page_107">[Pg_107]</a></span>Bannerjee, Sir Chundra Madhab +Ghose, Sir Lawrence and Lady Jenkins, Sir Richard Harington, Hon. +Mr. P. C. Lyon, Mr. Justice Holmwood, Mr. Justice Chaudhuri, Hon. +Mr. S. L. Maddox, Maharaja of Cossimbazar, Hon. Dr. Kuchler, Mr. +Bhupendra Nath Basu, Hon. Mr. E. W. Collin, Mr. W. Graham, Mr. +Fraser Blair, Hon. Mr. B. Chuckerbutty, Hon. Mr. J. G. Apcar, +Hon. Mr. B. C. Mitter, Hon. Rai Radha Charan Pal Bahadur, Hon. +Dr. D. P. Sarbadhikari, Mr. and Mrs. Williams, Mr. L. P. E. Pugh, +Mr. Lanford James, Dr. P. K. Roy, Khan Bahadur Moulvie Mahomed +Yusuf, Rai Bahadur Dr. Chunilal Bose, Mr. W. J. Simmons, Mr. and +Mrs. J. H. Hechle, Principal H. R. James and Mrs. James, Mr. T. +J. Waite, Dr. P. C. Roy and Rai P. N. Mukherji Bahadur.</p> +<p class="indent">His Excellency, as President, called upon Dr. +Bose to deliver his lecture.</p> +<p class="indent">Professor Bose commenced with a reference to +the claims made by those who profess to discriminate character by +handwriting. As to the authenticity of such claims, scepticism +was permissible; but there was no doubt that one's handwriting +might be modified profoundly by conditions, physical and mental. +There still existed, at Hatfield House, documents which contained +the signature of the historical Guy Fawkes. A photograph +projected on the screen showed a sinister variation in those +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id= +"Page_108">[Pg_108]</a></span>signatures. The crabbed and +distorted characters of the last words which Guy Fawkes wrote on +earth told their own tale of that fateful night. Such was the +tale that might be unfolded by the lines and curves of a human +autograph. Could plants be made similarly to write their own +autographs revealing their hidden story? Storm and sunshine, the +warmth of summer and the frost of winter, drought and rain, would +come and go about the plants. What subtle impress did they leave +behind? How were the invisible, internal changes to be made +externally visible?</p> +<p style= +"text-align: center; font-weight: 600; font-size: 1.0em; margin-top: 2.0em"> +AUTOMATIC RECORDERS</p> +<p class="indent">The lecturer had succeeded in devising experimental methods and apparatus by +which the plant was made to give an answering signal, which was +then automatically recorded into an intelligible script. The +results of the new investigations were so novel that Professor +Bose spent several years in perfecting automatic instruments +which completely eliminated all personal equations. The plant +attached to the recording apparatus was automatically excited by +a stimulus absolutely constant, making its own responsive +records, going through its period of recovery, and embarking on +the same cycle over again without assistance at any point +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id= +"Page_109">[Pg_109]</a></span>from the observer. The most +sensitive organ for perception of a stimulus was the human +tongue. An average European could by his tongue detect an +electrical current as feeble as six micro-amperes, a micro-ampere +being a millionth part of a unit of electrical current. Professor +Bose found that his Hindu peoples could detect a much feebler +current, namely, 1.5 micro-amperes. It was an open question +whether such a high excitability of the tongue was to be claimed +as a distinct advantage. But the fact might explain the eminence +of his countrymen in forensic domains! (Laughter.) The plant, +when tested, was found to be ten times more sensitive than a +human being.</p> +<p style= +"text-align: center; font-weight: 600; font-size: 1.0em; margin-top: 2.0em"> +EFFECT OF FOOD AND DRUGS</p> +<p class="indent">It was shown that when the plant had a surfeit +of drink, it became excessively lethargic and irresponsive. By +extracting fluid from the gorged plant, its motor activity was at +once re-established. Under alcohol its responsive script became +ludicrously unsteady. A scientific superstition existed regarding +carbonic acid as being good for a plant. But Professor Bose's +experiments showed distinctly that the gas would suffocate the +plant as readily as it did the animal. Only in the presence of +sunlight could the effect be modified by secondary reaction.</p> +<p style= +"text-align: center; font-weight: 600; font-size: 1.0em; margin-top: 2.0em"> +AUTOMATISM <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id= +"Page_110">[Pg_110]</a></span>AND GROWTH</p> +<p class="indent">It was impossible in a limited space, said +Professor Bose, to do more than mention the numerous other +remarkable experiments which riveted the +attention of the audience. By means of apparatus specially +devised, pulsative plants were made to record their rhythmic +throbbings. It was shown that the pulse beats of the plants were +affected by the action of various drugs, and divers stimuli, in a +manner similar to that of the animal heart. Perhaps the most +weird experience was to watch the death-struggle of a plant under +the action of poison. Turning from death to its antithesis life +and growth, the audience were shown how the latter was made +visible by means of the appliances invented by Professor Bose. +The infinitesimal growth of a plant became highly magnified in +the experiment.</p> +<p style= +"text-align: center; font-weight: 600; font-size: 1.0em; margin-top: 2.0em"> +RESEARCHES AT PRESIDENCY COLLEGE</p> +<p class="indent">When the lecturer commenced his investigations, +original research in India was regarded as an impossibility. No +proper laboratory existed, nor was there any scientific +manufactory for the construction of a special apparatus. In spite +of these difficulties it had been a matter of gratification to +the lecturer that the various investigations already carried out +at the Presidency College had done something for the advancement +of knowledge. The <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id= +"Page_111">[Pg_111]</a></span>delicate instruments seen in +operation at the lecture, which had been regarded with admiration +by many distinguished scientific men in the West, were all +constructed at the College workshops by Indian mechanics.</p> +<p class="indent">It was also with pride that the lecturer +referred to the co-operation of his pupils and assistants, +through whose help the extensive works, requiring ceaseless +labour by day and night, had been accomplished. Doubt had been +cast on the capacity of Indian students in the field of science. +From his personal experience Professor Bose bore testimony to +their special fitness in this respect. An intellectual hunger had +been created by the spread of education. An Indian student +demanded something absorbing to think about and to give scope for +his latent energies. If this could be done, he would betake +himself ardently to research into Nature, which could never end. +There was room for such toilers who by incessant work would +extend the bounds of human knowledge.</p> +<p style= +"text-align: center; font-weight: 600; font-size: 1.0em; margin-top: 2.0em"> +FROM PLANT TO ANIMAL LIFE</p> +<p class="indent">Before concluding the lecturer dwelt on the +fact that all the varied and complex responses of the animal had +been foreshadowed in the plant. The phenomena of life in the +plant were thus not so remote as had been hitherto supposed. The +plant <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id= +"Page_112">[Pg_112]</a></span>world, like the animal, was a +thrill and a throb with responsiveness to all the stimuli which +fell upon it. Thus, community throughout the great ocean of life, +in all its different forms, outweighed apparent dissimilarity. +Diversity was swallowed up in unity.</p> +<p class="indent">—<i>Amrita Bazar Patrika</i>, +20-1-1913.</p> +<p style= +"text-align: center; font-weight: 600; font-size: 1.0em; margin-top: 3.0em"> +INVISIBLE <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id= +"Page_113">[Pg_113]</a></span>LIGHT</p> +<p class="indent">A most instructive and interesting lecture was +delivered on Thursday, the 30th Jaunuary, +1913, at the Calcutta University Institute Hall, by Dr. J. C. +Bose, on the above subject. It was illustrated with experiments +and in spite of the technical nature of the subject, the manner +of treatment made the discourse extremely palatable and easy of +apprehension to the lay understanding and intelligence. The +truths of science could seldom be exposed so light-heartedly and +in language leavened with balmy humour. The lecture was very +largely attended by ladies and gentlemen, European and Indian, +representing the light and leading of the city. The chair was +taken by Mr. W. R. Gourlay. Amongst those present we noticed the +Hon. Mr. Ramsay McDonald, Mr. Justice Harington, Mr. Justice +Chaudhuri, Hon'ble Mr. Gokhale, Hon'ble Mr. Lyon, Hon'ble Mr. D. +N. Sarvadhikari, Sir Gurudas Banerji, Hon'ble Mr. Apcar and Dr. +Chuni Lal Bose Rai Bahadur.</p> +<p class="indent">The Chairman, in a few well chosen words +introduced the lecturer.</p> +<p class="indent"><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id= +"Page_114">[Pg_114]</a></span>Professor Bose in going to deliver +his highly interesting lecture first showed how on account of the +imperfection of our senses we fail to detect various forces which +play around us. We are not only deaf, but practically blind. +While we perceive eleven octaves of sound, we can see only a +single octave of other vibration which is called light. In order +to detect the invisible light a special detector +has to be devised. Prof. Bose showed his artificial +retina previously exhibited at the Royal Institution which not +only detected luminous radiation but also invisible lights in the +intra red and ultra violet regions. In the course of his remarks +illustrating the nature of electric or Hertzian waves, which gave +rise to the invisible radiation he proceeded to enumerate some of +the conditions necessary for experimenting with them, and to +describe the apparatus he had invented for the purpose. Hertz had +used waves which were about 10 metres in length. It was +impossible to attempt any quantitative measurement of their +optical properties on account of large waves curling round +corners. The lecturer had succeeded in producing the shortest +waves, with frequency of 50,000 millions of vibrations per +second, the particular invisible radiation being only thirteen +octaves below visible light. His generator produced the small +sharp beam which alone could be employed for quantitative +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_115" id= +"Page_115">[Pg_115]</a></span>measurements. By means of this +apparatus experiments on electric radiation could be carried on +with as much certainty as could experiments with ordinary light. +Prof. Bose then performed experiments illustrative of the +properties possessed in common by light waves and electric waves. +He exhibited the power of selective absorption to electric rays +displayed by many substances pointing out that while water +stopped them, pitch, coal tar, and others were quite transparent +to them. He showed how the rays were reflected by mirrors, +obeying the same laws as light. The hand of the experimenter was +found to be a good reflector, the rays rebounding after impact. +Electric rays also undergo refraction and he described an +ingenious method he had devised by which the index of refraction +of numerous opaque substances could be obtained with the highest +exactitude. In conclusion he gave an account of his discovery of +the polarisation of electric rays by crystals. He showed that +these polarised the electric rays just as they did ordinary +light. He further proved that substances under pressure and +strain could produce double refraction in them, as did glass +under the same conditions in light. Tourmaline was useless for +electric rays; but a lock of human hair was extraordinarily +efficient. According to this theoretical prediction, an ordinary +book was shown to exhibit <span class='pagenum'><a name= +"Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg_116]</a></span>selective absorption +in a striking manner. Thus while the Calcutta University Calendar +was, usually, very opaque, it became quite transparent when held +in a particular direction as regards the impinging ray.</p> +<p class="indent">Mr. Gourlay observed that the lecture opened +out to himself, as well as to other vistas, which they had never +dreamt of before.</p> +<p class="indent">—<i>Amrita Bazar Patrika</i>, +31-1-1913.</p> +<p style= +"text-align: center; font-weight: 600; font-size: 1.25em; margin-top: 3.0em"> +PROFESSOR <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_117" id= +"Page_117">[Pg_117]</a></span>J. C. BOSE AT LAHORE</p> +<p style= +"text-align: center; font-weight: 600; font-size: 1.0em; margin-top: 1.0em"> +LECTURE ON ELECTRIC RADIATION</p> +<p class="indent">A crowded assembly met at the University Hall, +on the 22nd February, 1913, to hear the first of Prof. Bose's +discourses before the University of Lahore.</p> +<p class="indent">Dr. Bose opened his address by alluding to the +historic journey of Jivaka, who afterwards became the physician +of Buddha, making his way from Bengal to the University of +Taxila, in quest of knowledge. +Twenty-five centuries had gone by and there was before them +another pilgrim who had journeyed the same distance to bring, as +an offering what he had gathered in the domain of knowledge.</p> +<p class="indent">The lecturer called attention to the fact that +knowledge was never the exclusive possession of any particular +race nor did it ever recognise geograpahical geographical limitations. The whole world was interdependent, +and a constant interchange of thought had been carried on +throughout the ages enriching the common heritage of mankind. +Hellenistic Greeks and Eastern Aryans had met here in Taxila to +exchange the best each had to offer. <span class= +'pagenum'><a name="Page_118" id= +"Page_118">[Pg_118]</a></span>After many centuries the East and +West had met once more, and it would be the test of the real +greatness of the two civilisations that both should be finer and +better for the shock of contact. The apparent dormancy of +intellectual life in India had been only a temporary phase. Just +like the oscillations of the seasons found the globe, great +pulsations of intellectual activity pass over the different +peoples of the earth.</p> +<p class="indent">With the coming of the spring the dormant life +springs forth; similarly the life that India conserves, by +inheritance, culture and temperament, was only latent and was +again ready to spring forth into the blossom and fruit of +knowledge. Although science was neither of the East nor of the +West, but international in its universality, certain aspect of it +gained richness of colour by reason of their place of origin. +India, perhaps through its habit of synthesis, was apt to realise +instinctively the idea of unity and to see in the phenomenal +world an universe instead of a multiverse. It was this tendency, +the lecturer thought, which had led Indian physicist, like +himself, when studying the effect of forces on matter to find +boundary lines vanishing, and to see points of contact emerge +between the realms of the living and non-living. In taking up the +subject of the evening's discourse on electric radiation of +Hertzian waves, the lecturer explained +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_119" id= +"Page_119">[Pg_119]</a></span>the constitution of the apparatus +which he had devised for an exhaustive study of the properties of +electric waves. His apparatus permitted experiments with the +electric rays to be carried on with as much certainty as +experiments with ordinary light, and he demonstrated the identity +of electric radiation and light. The electric rays are reflected +from plane and curved mirrors in the same way and subject to the +same laws. Electric rays, like rays of light are refracted. Like +race of light too, electric waves can be selectively stopped by +various substances, which are "electrically" coloured. Water +which is a conductor of electricity stops the electric ray; where +as liquid air which is a non-conductor is quite transparent to +the rays.</p> +<p class="indent">Finally Professor Bose explained his discovery +of Polarisation of these rays by various crystals. Tourmaline, +which was a good polariser for ordinary light, was not so +effective. The lecturer discovered that the crystal Nemalite +possessed the power of polarising the +electric rays in the most perfect manner. Professor Bose also +explained how the internal constitution of an opaque mass was +revealed by the help of light which was itself invisible.</p> +<p class="indent">The lecturer concluded his discourse by drawing +attention to the limitations of human perception. Man's power of +hearing was confirmed to eleven octaves of sound notes. +In the case of vision the <span class= +'pagenum'><a name="Page_120" id= +"Page_120">[Pg_120]</a></span>limitation was far more serious, +his power of sight extending only through a single octave of +those ether waves which constituted light. These ether vibrations +of various frequencies could be maintained by electrical means. +By pressing the stop button of the apparatus which was exhibited, +ether vibrations, 50,000 millions per second, were produced. A +second stop gave rise to a different vibration. Let his audience +imagine a large electric organ provided with an infinite number +of stops, each stop giving rise to a particular ether note. Let +the lowest stop produce one vibration a second. They should then +get a gigantic wave of 186,000 miles long. Let the next stop give +rise to two vibrations in a second, and let each succeeding stop +produce higher and higher notes. Let them imagine an unseen hand +pressing the different stops in rapid succession, producing +higher and higher notes. The ether note would thus rise in +frequency from one vibration in a second, to tens, to hundreds, +to thousands, to hundreds of thousands, to millions, to millions +of millions! While the ethereal sea in which they were all +immersed were being thus agitated by these multitudinous waves, +they would remain entirely unaffected, for they possessed no +organs of perception, to respond to these waves.</p> +<p class="indent">As the ether note rose still higher in pitch, +they would for a brief moment perceive a sensation of +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_121" id= +"Page_121">[Pg_121]</a></span>warmth. This would be the case when +the ether vibration reached a frequency of several billions of +times in a second. As the note rose still higher, their eyes +would begin to be affected, a red glimmer of light being the +first to make its appearance. From this point the few visible +colours would be comprised within a single octave of +vibration—from 400 to 800 billions in one second. As the +frequency of vibration rose still higher their organs of +perception would fail them completely; a great gap in their +consciousness would obliterate the rest. The brief flash of light +would be succeeded by unbroken darkness. How circumscribed was +their knowledge? In reality they stood in the midst of a luminous +ocean almost blind! The little they could see was as nothing +compared to the vastness of that which they could not. But it may +be said that, out of the very imperfection of his senses, man has +been able, in science, to build for himself a raft of thought by +which to make daring adventure on the great seas of the +unknown.</p> +<p class="indent">—<i>Amrita Bazar Patrika</i>, +24-2-1913.</p> +<p style= +"text-align: center; font-weight: 600; font-size: 1.25em; margin-top: 3.0em"> +DR. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_122" id= +"Page_122">[Pg_122]</a></span>BOSE IN LAHORE</p> +<p style= +"text-align: center; font-weight: 600; font-size: 1.0em; margin-top: 1.0em"> +PLANT RESPONSE</p> +<p class="indent">In his third lecture delivered, on the 25th +February 1913, at the Punjab University Hall, Dr. Bose of +Calcutta dealt with "Plant Response." He said:—</p> +<p class="indent">In strong contrast to the energetic animal, +with its various reflex movements and pulsating organs, stands +the plant, in its apparent placidity and immobility. Yet that +same environment which with its changing influences affects the +animal is playing upon it also. Storm and sunshine, the warmth of +summer and the frost of winter, drought and rain, all these come +and go about it. What coercion do they exercise upon it? What +subtle impress do they leave behind? These internal changes are +entirely beyond our visual scrutiny. Is it possible in any way to +have these revealed to us? Dr. Bose had shown the possibility of +this by detecting and measuring the actual response of the +organism to a questioning shock. In an excitable condition the +feeblest stimulus should evoke in the plant an extraordinarily large reply in a depressed state +even <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_123" id= +"Page_123">[Pg_123]</a></span>a strong stimulus would only call +forth a feeble response; and lastly, when death overcome life, +there would be an abrupt end of the power to answer to all. By +the invention of different types of apparatus, the lecturer had +succeeded in making the plant itself write an answering script to +a testing stimulus. Scripts could also be obtained of the plant's +spontaneous movements; and a recording arm demarcated the line of +life from that of death.</p> +<p class="indent">In taking the self-made records made by the +plant it was found that after the prolonged inactivity of a cold +night the plant was apt to be lethargic, and its first answers +indistinct. But as blow after blow was delivered, the lethargy +passed off, and the replies became stronger and +stronger. After the fatigue of the day, the state of things was +reversed. The plant became very lethargic after excessive +absorption of food; but the normal activity might be restored by +artificial removal of the excess. The effect of alcohol and of +various narcotics were clearly followed in the modification of +the automatic record made by the plant.</p> +<p class="indent">A prevailing scientific error had overcome in +life, there would be an abrupt end regarding a certain class of +plants to be alone sensitive. The lecturer showed by certain +remarkable experiments that all plants and all organs of plants +were sensitive.</p> +<p class="indent">In certain animal tissues, a very curious +phenomenon <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_124" id= +"Page_124">[Pg_124]</a></span>was observed. In man and other +animals there were tissues which beat spontaneously. As long as +life lasted, so long did the heart continue to pulsate. There +could be no effect without a cause. How then was it that these +pulsations became spontaneous? To this query, no satisfactory +answer had been forthcoming. Similar spontaneous movements were +also observable in plant tissues, and by their investigation the +secret of automatism in the animal world became unravelled. The +existence of these spontaneous movements could easily be +demonstrated by means of the Indian "Bon Charal", the telegraph +plant, whose small leaflets danced continuously up and down. The +popular belief that they danced in response to the clappings of +the hand was quite erroneous. From the readings of the scripts +made by this plant, the lecturer was in a position to state that +the automatic movements of both plants and animals were guided by +laws which were identical. Thus in the rhythmic tissues of the +plant and the animal the pulsation frequency was increased under +the action of warmth and lessened under cold, increased frequency +being attended by diminution of amplitude, and "<i>vice versa</i>". Under ether, there was a +temporary arrest, revival being possible when the vapour was +blown off. More fatal was the effect of chloroform. The most extraordinary parallelism, however, lay in +the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_125" id= +"Page_125">[Pg_125]</a></span>fact that those poisons which +arrested the beat of the heart in a particular way arrested the +plant pulsation in a corresponding manner. The lecturer had +succeeded in reviving a leaflet poisoned by the application of +one with a dose of counteracting poison.</p> +<p class="indent">A time came when after one answer to a supreme +shock there was a sudden end of the plant's power to give any +response. This supreme shock was the shock of death. Even in this +crisis, there was no immediate change in the placid appearance of +the plant. In man at the critical moment, a spasm passed through +the whole body, and similarly in the plant the lecturer had +discovered that a great contractile spasm took place. This was +accompanied by an electrical spasm also. In the script of the +death recorder the line that up to this point was being drawn +became suddenly reversed, and then ended. This was the last +answer of the plants.</p> +<p class="indent">Thus the responsiveness of the plant world was +one. There was no difference of any kind between sunshine plants, +and those which had hitherto been regarded as insensitive or +ordinary. It had also been shown that all the varied and complex +responses of the animal were foreshadowed in the plant. An +impressive spectacle was thus revealed of that vast unity in +which all living organisms, from the simplest plant to the +highest animal, were linked together and made one.</p> +<p class="indent">—<i>Amrita Bazar Patrika</i>, +5-3-1913.</p> +<p style= +"text-align: center; font-weight: 600; font-size: 1.25em; margin-top: 3.0em"> +EVIDENCE <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_126" id= +"Page_126">[Pg_126]</a></span>BEFORE THE PUBLIC SERVICES +COMMISSION</p> +<p class="indent">The following is the evidence given by Dr. J. +C. Bose, C. S. I., C. I. E., Professor of Physics, Presidency +College, Calcutta, on the 18th December, 1913, before the Royal +Commission on the Public Services in India, presided over by Lord +Islington, and published, in the Minutes of Evidence relating to +the Education Department, at pages 135 to 137, in volume XX, +Appendix to the Report of the Commissioners:</p> +<p style= +"text-align: center; font-weight: 600; font-size: 1.0em; margin-top: 2.0em"> +WRITTEN STATEMENT RELATING TO THE EDUCATION DEPARTMENT</p> +<p class="indent">83, 627 (I) <i>Method of +recruitment.</i>—The first question on which I have been +asked to give my opinion is as regards the method of recruitment. +I think that a high standard of scholarship should be the only +qualification insisted on. Graduates of well-known Universities, +distinguished for a particular line of study, should be given the +preference. I think the prospects of the Indian Educational +Service are <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_127" id= +"Page_127">[Pg_127]</a></span>sufficiently high to attract the +very best material. In colonial Universities they manage to get +very distinguished men without any extravagantly high pay. +Possibly the present departmental method of election does not +admit of sufficiently wide publicity of notice to attract the +best candidates.</p> +<p class="indent">83, 628 (II) <i>System of training and +probation.</i>—As regards probation and training, +Educational officers should first win a reputation as good +teachers before the appointment is confirmed as they are +transferred to important colleges.</p> +<p class="indent">83, 629 (IV) <i>Conditions of +Salary.</i>—As regards conditions of Salary, the pay should +be moderately high, but not extravagant, and settled once for all +under some simple and well-defined rules. It is not only very +humiliating but degrading to a true scholar to be scrambling for +money. The difference between the pay of the higher and lower +services should be minimised.</p> +<p class="indent">83, 630 (VI) <i>Conditions of +pension.</i>—With reference to pension, I think it is very +unfair that more favourable terms are offered, when the pensioner +elects to retire in England.</p> +<p class="indent">83, 631 (VII) <i>Such limitations as exist in +the employment of non-Europeans.</i>—Passing on to the +question of limitations that exist in the employment of Indians +in the higher service, I should like to give expression to an +injustice which is very keenly felt. It is <span class= +'pagenum'><a name="Page_128" id= +"Page_128">[Pg_128]</a></span>unfortunate that Indian graduates +of European Universities who have distinguished themselves in a +remarkable manner do not for one reason or other find facilities +for entering the higher Educational Service.</p> +<p class="indent">As teachers and workers it is an incontestable +fact that Indian officers have distinguished themselves very +highly, and anything which discriminates between Europeans and +Indians in the way of pay and prospects is most undesirable. A +sense of injustice is ill-calculated to bring about that harmony +which is so necessary among all the members of an educational +institution, professors and students alike.</p> +<p class="indent">83, 632 (VIII) <i>Relations of the service with +the Indian Civil Service and with other services.</i>—As +regards the relations with the Indian Civil Service, I am under +the impression that they are somewhat strained, but of this I +have no personal experience.</p> +<p class="indent">83, 633 (IX) <i>Other points.</i>—I have +endeavoured to give my opinion on the definite questions which +have been asked. There is another aspect of educational work in +India which I think of the highest importance, though I am not +exactly sure whether it falls within the terms of reference to +the Royal Commission. I think that all the machinery to improve +the higher education in India would be altogether ineffectual +unless India enters the world <span class='pagenum'><a name= +"Page_129" id="Page_129">[Pg_129]</a></span>movement for the +advancement of knowledge. And for this it is absolutely necessary +to touch the imagination of the people so as to rouse them to +give their best energies to the work of research and discovery, +in which all the nations of the world are now engaged. To aim at +anything less will only end in a lifeless and mechanical system +from which the soul of reality has passed away. On this subject I +could have said much, but I will confine myself to one point +which I think at the present juncture to be of importance. The +Government of Bengal has been foremost in a tentative way in +encouraging research. What is necessary is the extension and +continuity of this enlightened policy.</p> +<p class="indent">83, 634. <i>Supplementary Note.</i>—I +would like to add a few remarks to make the meaning of paragraphs +83, 627 and 83, 631 in my note more explicit.</p> +<p class="indent">At the present recruitment in the Indian +Educational Service is made in England and is practically +confined to Englishmen. Such racial preference is in my opinion, +prejudicial to the interest of education. The best man available, +English or Indian should be selected impartially, and high +scholarship should be the only test.</p> +<p class="indent">It has been said that the present standard of +Indian Universities is not as high as that of British +Universities, and that the work done by the former is more like +that of a sixth form of public schools in <span class= +'pagenum'><a name="Page_130" id= +"Page_130">[Pg_130]</a></span>England. It is therefore urged that +what is required for an Educational officer is the capacity to +manage classes rather than high scholarship. I do not agree with +these views: (1) there are Universities in Great Britain whose +standards are not higher than ours; I do not think that the Pass +Degree even of Oxford or Cambridge is higher than the +corresponding degree here; (2) the standard of the Indian +Universities is being steadily raised; (3) the standard will +depend upon what the men entrusted with Educational work will +make it. For these reasons it is necessary that the level of +scholarship represented by the Indian Educational Service should +be maintained very high.</p> +<p class="indent">In paragraph 83,631 I have stated that even +these Indians who have distinguished themselves in European +Universities have little chance of entering the higher +Educational Service. I should like to add that these highly +qualified Indians need only opportunities to render service which +would greatly advance the cause of higher education. As regards +graduates of Indian Universities, I have known men among them +whose works have been highly appreciated. If promising Indian +graduates are given the opportunity of visiting foreign +Universities, I have no doubt that they would stand comparison +with the best recruits that can be obtained from the West.</p> +<p style= +"text-align: center; font-weight: 600; font-size: 1.0em; margin-top: 2.0em"> +DR. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_131" id= +"Page_131">[Pg_131]</a></span>J. C. BOSE CALLED AND EXAMINED</p> +<p class="indent">83,635. (Chairman). The witness favoured an +arrangement by which Indians would enter the higher ranks of the +service, either through the Provincial Service or by direct +recruitment in India. The latter class of officers, after +completing their education in India, should ordinarily go to +Europe with a view to widening their experience. By this he did +not wish to decry the training given in the Indian Universities, +which produced some of the very best men, and he would not make +the rule absolute. It was not necessary for men of exceptional +ability to go to England in order to occupy a high chair. +Unfortunately, on account of there being no openings for men of +genius in the Educational Service, distinguished men were driven +to the profession of Law. In the present condition of India a +larger number of distinguished men were needed to give their +lives to the education of the people.</p> +<p class="indent">83,636. The witness himself had spent part of +his career in Europe, and looking back he could say that this had +been of great profit to him, not so much on account of the +training he got, as by being brought into personal contact with +eminent men whose influence extorted his admiration, and create +in him a feeling of emulation. In this way he owed a great deal +to Lord Rayleigh under whom he <span class='pagenum'><a name= +"Page_132" id="Page_132">[Pg_132]</a></span>worked, but he did +not see why that advantage should not eventually be secured by +Indians in India under an Indian Lord Rayleigh.</p> +<p class="indent">83,637. There should be only one Educational +Service, but men who were distinguished in any subject should not +start from its very lowest rung but should be placed somewhere in +the middle of it.</p> +<p class="indent">83,638. There were men in the Provincial +Service who were very distinguished; it was all a question of +genius. The Educational Service ought to be regarded not as a +profession, but as a calling. Some men were born to be teachers. +It was not a question of race, of course; in order to have an +efficient educational system, there must be an efficient +organisation, but this should not be allowed to become +fossilised, and thus stand in the way of healthy growth.</p> +<p class="indent">83,639. In the Presidency College a young man +fresh from an English university was at once appointed a +Professor regardless of his lack of experience, whereas an Indian +who passed in highest examination with honours in India was +appointed as an Assistant Professor. This grounding often made +him more efficient as a teacher than the Professor recruited from +England. There were now several Professors in the college, in the +Provincial Service, who were highly qualified, and who lectured +to the highest classes with very great success.</p> +<p class="indent"><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_133" id= +"Page_133">[Pg_133]</a></span>83,640. In the Physics Department +he had under his direction several Assistants who were so well +qualified that they were allowed to give lectures to several +classes. These Assistants, after their experience at the +Presidency College, would be best fitted to become Professors in +the mofussil at Colleges. He would like to see them promoted to +the higher service after they had had experience. But before he +gave them the highest positions, he would make it compulsory for +them to go to Europe.</p> +<p class="indent">83,641. A proportion of Europeans in the +service was needed, but only as experts and not as ordinary +teachers. Only the very best men should be obtained from Europe, +and for exceptional cases. The general educational work should be +done entirely by Indians, who understood the difficulties of the +country much better than any outsider.</p> +<p class="indent">83,642. He advocated the direct recruitment of +Indians in India by the local government in consultation with the +Secretary of State, rather than by the Secretary of State alone. +Indians were under a great difficulty, in that they could not +remain indefinitely in England after taking their degrees and +being away from the place of recruitment their claims were +overlooked.</p> +<p class="indent">83,643. There was no reason why a European +should be paid a higher rate of salary than an Indian on account +of the distance he came. An <span class='pagenum'><a name= +"Page_134" id="Page_134">[Pg_134]</a></span>Indian felt a sense +of inferiority if a difference was made as regards pay. The very +slight saving which government made by differentiating between +the two did not compensate for the feeling of wrong done. This +feeling would remain even if the pay was the same, but an +additional grant in the shape of a foreign service allowance was +made to Europeans. All workers in the field of education should +feel a sense of solidarity, because they were all serving one +great cause, namely, education.</p> +<p class="indent">83,644. The term "professor", as at present +used in India, was undoubtedly a comprehensive one, but it was +equally comprehensive in the West.</p> +<p class="indent">83,645. (Sir Murray Hammick). The witness did +not wish to recruit definite proportions of the service in +England and in India respectively. He would for various reasons +prefer a large number of Indians engaged in education.</p> +<p class="indent">83,646. Even in Calcutta he would not make any +difference between the pay of the Indian and the pay of the +European.</p> +<p class="indent">83,647. (Sir Valentine Chirol). The witness +attached great value to the influence of the teacher upon the +student in the earlier stages of his education, and it was in +these stages that that influence could best be exercised. At the +same time he desired to limit the appointment of non-Indians to +men of very great distinction.</p> +<p class="indent"><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_135" id= +"Page_135">[Pg_135]</a></span>83,648. If a foreign professor +would not come and serve in India for the same remuneration as he +obtained in his own country, the witness would certainly not +force him to come.</p> +<p class="indent">83,649. (Mr. Abdur Rahim). Recruitment for the +Educational Service should be made in the first place in India, +if suitable men were available; but if not then he would allow +the best outsiders to be brought in. In the present state of the +country it would be very easy to fill up many of the chairs by +selecting the best men in India.</p> +<p class="indent">83,650. The aim of the universities should be +to promote two classes of work—first, research; +and secondly, an all-round sound education. Men of +different types would be required for these two duties.</p> +<p class="indent">83,651. (Mr. Madge). Any idea that the +educational system of India was so far inferior to that of +England, that Indians, who had made their mark, had done so, not +because of the educational system of the country, but in spite of +it, was quite unfounded. The standard of education prevailing in +India was quite up to the mark of several British universities. +It was as true of any other country in the world as of India that +education was valued as a means for passing examinations, and not +only for itself, and there was no more cramming in India than +elsewhere.</p> +<p class="indent"><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_136" id= +"Page_136">[Pg_136]</a></span>83,652. The West certainly brought +to the East a modern spirit, which was very valuable, but it +would be dearly purchased by the loss of an honorable career for +competent Indians in their own country.</p> +<p class="indent">83,653. The educational system in India had in +the past been too mechanical, but a turn for the better was now +taking place and the universities were recognising the importance +of research work, and were willing to give their highest degrees +to encourage it.</p> +<p class="indent">83,654. (Mr. Macdonald). The witness did not +think it was necessary to have a non-Indian element in the +service in order to stiffen it up, but he accepted the principle +that there should be a certain small proportion of +non-Indians.</p> +<p class="indent">83,655. The title of professor at a college or +University should carry with it dignity and honour, and ought not +to be so freely used as at present. All he asked was that it +should not be abolished at the expense of such Indians as were +doing as good work as their European colleagues.</p> +<p class="indent">83,656. If the Calcutta university continued to +develop its teaching side, there would be no objection to +recruiting University Professors from aided colleges. This would +have certain advantages.</p> +<p class="indent">83,657. (Mr. Fisher). The witness desired to +secure for India Europeans who had European <span class= +'pagenum'><a name="Page_137" id= +"Page_137">[Pg_137]</a></span>reputations in their different +branches of study. If it was necessary to go outside India or +England to procure good men, he would prefer to go to Germany. +This was the practice in America where they were annexing all the +great intellects of Europe.</p> +<p class="indent">83,658. The witness would like to see India +entering the world movement in the advance and march of +knowledge. It was of the highest importance that there should be +an intellectual atmosphere in India. It would be of advantage if +there were many Indians in the Educational Service. For they came +more in contact with the people, and influenced their +intellectual activity. Besides, on retirement they would live in +India and their life experience would be at their countrymen's +service.</p> +<p class="indent">83,659. There was very little in the complaint +made in certain quarters that the work of the Professors in the +colleges in India was hampered by the Government regulations as +to curricula. A good teacher was not troubled by such +matters.</p> +<p class="indent">83,660. (Mr. Sly). There was no scope for the +employment of non-Indians in the high schools as apart from the +colleges. It was in the professorial line that more help from the +West was required.</p> +<p class="indent">83,661. (Mr. Gokhale). The witness knew of +three instances in which the colonies had secured distinguished +men on salaries which were lower than these given to officers of +the Indian Educational <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_138" +id="Page_138">[Pg_138]</a></span>Service. One was at Toronto, +another was in New Zealand and the third at Yale university. The +salaries on the two latter cases were £600 and £500 a +year. The same held good as regards Japan. The facts there had +been stated in a Government of India publication as follows: +"Subsequent to 1895 there were 67 Professors recruited in Europe +and America, of those, 20 came from Germany, 16 from England and +16 from the United States. The average pay was £384. In the +highest Imperial University the average pay is £684. As +soon as Japanese could be found to do the work, even tolerably +well, the foreigner was dropped."</p> +<p class="indent">83,662. When the witness first started work in +India, he found that there was no physical laboratory, or any +grant made for a practical experimental course. He had to +construct instruments with the help of local mechanics, whom he +had to train. All this took him ten years. He then undertook +original investigation at his own expense. The Royal Society +became specially interested in his work and desired to give him a +Parliamentary grant for its continuation. It was after this that +the Government of Bengal came forward and offered him facilities +for research.</p> +<p class="indent">83,663. In the Educational Service he would +take men of achievement from anywhere; but men of promise he +would take from his own country.</p> +<p class="indent"><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_139" id= +"Page_139">[Pg_139]</a></span>83,664. (Mr. Chaubal). He did not +know whether the salaries he had mentioned as having been paid in +Japan, New Zealand and Yale were on an incremental scale or not.</p> +<p class="indent">83,665. There was a difference of kind between +the way in which students were taught in schools and the way in +which they were taught in colleges. He did not agree with the +witnesses who had said that during the first year or two years at +college the instruction given was similar to that given in a +school. It was very difficult to disprove or to prove such +statements. There would be no advantage in keeping boys to a +school course up the intermediate standard and making the +colleges deal with only those students who had passed the +intermediate examination.</p> +<p class="indent">83,666. (Sir Theodore Morison). There should be +one scale of pay for all persons in the higher educational +department. The rate of salary, Rs. 200 rising to Rs. 1,500 per +month, was suitable, subject to the proviso that the man of great +distinction, instead of beginning at the lowest rate of pay, +should start some where in the middle of the list, say, at Rs. +400 or Rs. 500. He would make no reference in regard to Europeans +or Indians in that respect. In effect this no doubt amounted to +making Indians eligible for higher educational posts both by +direct recruitment and by promotion.</p> +<p class="indent"><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_140" id= +"Page_140">[Pg_140]</a></span>83,667. He would not favour the +handing over of all the Government institutions in Bengal to +private agencies; there must be one or two Government colleges in +order to keep up the standard. He should be sorry to see the +Government dissociating itself from one of its primary duties, +which was education.</p> +<p class="indent">83,668. Privately managed Colleges paid less in +salary than the Government Colleges. They paid about the same as +was given in the Provincial Service, and they obtained fairly +good men. It would not be right for a great Government to grant a +minimum pay to Indian Professors and an extravagantly high pay to +their European colleagues, for doing the same kind of work.</p> +<p class="indent">83,669. At the Presidency College the +facilities for scientific work were now greater than in many +institutions in England. India was now becoming a great country +for Biological research. Again, the Physical and Chemical +Laboratories at the Presidency College were finer than many in +England. If young men of science in England thought they obtained +better opportunities in pursuing their subjects in New Zealand +and Toronto than in India, the India office ought to remove that +impression at once.</p> +<p class="indent">83,670. (Lord Ronaldshay). When an Indian +graduate under the witnesses' scheme was appointed direct to the +higher service in India he would <span class='pagenum'><a name= +"Page_141" id="Page_141">[Pg_141]</a></span>not compel him to go +to England for a period of training. The person who would be +appointed in India directly from the Indian Universities would +have to have previously served with distinction in subordinate +positions; a visit to Europe would be an advantage but not +absolutely necessary.</p> +<p class="indent">83,671. (Mr. Biss). The cost of living in +Calcutta to an Indian Professor or Lecturer would all depend as +the style in which he lived. In each service there is always a +standard of living to which every member is expected to conform. +An Indian Professor had to go to Europe from time to time to keep +himself in touch with the developments of his subject. An Indian +officer had to support a large number of relations. The question +of a man's private expenses should not be raised in fixing his +pay. One might as well inquire whether the candidate for +admission to the service was a bachelor or married, or as to how +many children he had. He had known Europeans who had led a simple +life, and had been all the better for it.</p> +<p class="indent">83,672. He could not understand why men went to +Japan and Canada instead of coming to India on better terms. It +was a mystery to him. He thought it was either sheer ignorance or +the spread of the commercial spirit.</p> +<p class="indent">83,673. All the students coming to his side of +the University, were, as a rule, keen and <span class= +'pagenum'><a name="Page_142" id= +"Page_142">[Pg_142]</a></span>anxious to learn; he could not wish +for better students.</p> +<p class="indent">83,674. (Mr. Gupta). He desired one service, +because he thought it was most degrading that certain men, +although they were doing the same work, should be classed in a +Provincial Service, while others should be classed in an Imperial +Service. The prospect of the members of the Provincial Service +were not at all what they ought to be, and that was the reason +why the best men were not attracted to it.</p> +<p style= +"text-align: center; font-weight: 600; font-size: 1.0em; margin-top: 3.0em"> +PROF. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_143" id= +"Page_143">[Pg_143]</a></span>J. C. BOSE AT MADURA</p> +<p class="indent">On his way back to Calcutta from the Fourth +Scientific Deputation to the West, Prof. J. C. Bose visited +Madura, 14th June 1915. The Tamil Sangam presented him with an +address. In reply Dr. Bose made an important speech, in course of +which he said:—</p> +<p class="indent">I am no longer a representative of Bengal nor +have I come to a strange place, but as an Indian addressing the +mighty India and her people. When we realise that unity of our +destiny then a great future opens out for us.</p> +<p class="indent">It may be we may theorise and attribute to the +plants all the characteristics of the animals; but that will be +merely theory: there will be no proof. There are certain classes +of people who think that plants are utterly unlike animals and +some hold that they are like animals. The mere theory is +absolutely worthless in order to find out the truth. We have to +find by investigation, by means of researches, by means of +proofs, that one is identical with the other. We have not only to +drop all theory but we have to make the plant itself write +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_144" id= +"Page_144">[Pg_144]</a></span>down the answers to the questions +that we have to put to them. That was the great +problem,—how to make the plant itself answer and write down +answers to the question....</p> +<p class="indent">If the plants are acted on by various medicines +and drugs like ourselves, then we can create an agent or a +spokesman on which we can carry out all future investigations on +the action of drugs. Then there is opened out a great vista for +the scientific study of medicine. And let me tell you medicine is +not yet an exact science. It is merely a phase of tradition. We +have not been able to make medicine scientific. Now by the data +of the influence of drugs on the fundamental basis of life, as is +seen in the plant, we shall be able to make the science of +medicine purely scientific.</p> +<p class="indent">In travelling all over the world, which I have +done several times, I was struck by two great characteristics of +different nations. One characteristic of certain nations is +living for the future. All the modern nations are striving to win +force and power from nature. There is another class of men who +live on the glory of the past. Now, what is to be the future of +our nation? Are we to live only on the glory of the past and die +off from the face of the earth, to show that we are worthy +descendants of the glorious past and to show by our work, by our +intellect and by our service that we <span class= +'pagenum'><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[Pg_145]</a></span>are +not a decadent nation? We have still a great and mighty future +before us, a future that will justify our ancestry. In talking +about ancestry, do we ever realise that the only way in which we +can do honour to our past is not to boast of what our ancestors +have done but to carry out in the future something as great, if +not greater than they. Are we to be a living nation, to be proud +of our ancestry and to try to win renown by continuous +achievements? These mighty monuments that I see around me tell us +what has been done till very recent times. I have travelled over +some of the greatest ruins of the Universities of India. I have +been to the ruins of the University of Taxilla in the farthest +corner of India which attracted the people of the west and the +east. I had been to the ruins of Nalanda, a University which +invited all the west to gain knowledge under its intellectual +fostering. I had been all there and seen them. I have come here +also and want to visit Conjeevaram. But are you to foster the +dead honours or to try to bring back your University in India and +drag once more from the rest of the world people who would come +down and derive knowledge from India? It is in that way and that +way alone we can win our self-respect and make our life and the +life of the nation worthy. The present era is the era of temples +of learning. In order to erect temples of learning we +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_146" id= +"Page_146">[Pg_146]</a></span>require all the offerings of our +mighty people. We want to erect temples and "viharas" which are +so indispensable to the study of nature and her secrets. It is a +problem which appeals to every thoughtful Indian. It is by the +effort of the people and by their generosity that all these +mighty temples arose; and now are we to worship the dead stones +or are we to erect living temples so that the knowledge that has +been made in India shall be perpetuated in India? I received +requests from the different Universities in America and Germany +to allow students from those countries to come and learn the +science that has been initiated in India. Now, is this knowledge +to pass beyond our boundaries to that again in future time we may +have to go to the west to get back this knowledge or are we to +keep this flame of learning burning all the time?</p> +<p class="indent">(<i>Modern Review, Vol. xviii, p. +22-23</i>).</p> +<p style= +"text-align: center; font-weight: 600; font-size: 1.25em; margin-top: 3.0em"> +DR. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_147" id= +"Page_147">[Pg_147]</a></span>J. C. BOSE ENTERTAINED</p> +<p style= +"text-align: center; font-weight: 600; font-size: 1.0em; margin-top: 1.0em"> +PARTY AT RAM MOHAN LIBRARY</p> +<p class="indent">On Saturday, 24th July, 1915, the members of +the Ram Mohan Library and Reading room received Dr. J. C. Bose, +the President of the Library in a right royal fashion, on his +return to India from his Scientific Deputation to the West.</p> +<p class="indent">There was a large and influential gathering, +and the spacious hall was tastefully +decorated.</p> +<p class="indent">Dr. J. C. Bose arrived at 6:15 p.m. and was +received at the gate by Mr. D. N. Pal, Secretary. Dr. Bose then +went round the hall accompanied by the members of the Executive +Committee while the Bharati Musical Association played excellent +Jaltaranga Orchestra.</p> +<p class="indent">Babu Bhupendra Nath Bose, Vice-President of the +Library, made a brilliant speech welcoming Dr. Bose and detailing +the great services done to the country by him.</p> +<p style= +"text-align: center; font-weight: 600; font-size: 1.0em; margin-top: 2.0em"> +DR. BOSE'S REPLY</p> +<p class="indent">Dr. Bose in reply expressed his thanks for the +great interest shown in different parts of this country in the +success of his work. This was the fourth <span class= +'pagenum'><a name="Page_148" id= +"Page_148">[Pg_148]</a></span>occasion on which he had been +deputed to the West by the Government of India on a scientific +mission, and the success that has attended his visit to foreign +countries has exceeded all his expectations. In Vienna, in Paris, +in Oxford, Cambridge and London, in Harvard, Washington, Chicago +and Columbia, in Tokio and in many other places his work has +uniformly been received with high appreciation. In spite of the +fact that his researches called into question some of the +existing theories, his results have notwithstanding received the +fullest acceptance. This was due to a great extent to the +convincing character of the demonstration afforded by the very +delicate instruments he had been able to invent and which worked +under extremely difficult tests with extraordinary perfection. +Even the most critical savants in Vienna felt themselves +constrained to make a most generous admission. In these new +investigations on the border land between physics and physiology, +they held that Europe has been left behind by India, to which +country they would now have to come for inspiration. It has also +been fully recognised that science will derive benefit when the +synthetic intellectual methods of the East co-operate with the +severe analytical methods of the West. These opinions have also +been fully endorsed in other centres of learning and Dr. Bose had +received applications from distinguished <span class= +'pagenum'><a name="Page_149" id= +"Page_149">[Pg_149]</a></span>Universities in Europe and America +for admission of foreign post graduate scholars to be trained in +his Laboratory in the new scientific methods that have been +initiated in India.</p> +<p style= +"text-align: center; font-weight: 600; font-size: 1.0em; margin-top: 2.0em"> +RESEARCH LABORATORY FOR INDIA</p> +<p class="indent">This recognition that the advance of human +knowledge will be incomplete without India's special +contributions, must be a source of great inspiration for future +workers in India. His countrymen had the keen imagination which +could extort truth out of a mass of disconnected facts and the +habit of meditation without allowing the mind to dissipate +itself. Inspired by his visits to the ancient Universities, at +Taxila, at Nalanda and at Conjevaram, Dr. Bose had the strongest +confidence that India would soon see a revival of those glorious +traditions. There will soon rise a Temple of Learning where the +teacher cut off from worldly distractions would go on with his +ceaseless pursuit after truth, and dying, hand on his work to his +disciples. Nothing would seem laborious in his inquiry; never is +he to lose sight of his quest, never is he to let it go obscured +by any terrestrial temptation. For he is the Sanyasin spirit, and +India is the only country where so far from there being a +conflict between science and religion. Knowledge is regarded as +religion itself. Such a misuse of science as is now unfortunately +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_150" id= +"Page_150">[Pg_150]</a></span>in evidence in the West would be +impossible here. Had the conquest of air been achieved in India, +her very first impulse would be to offer worship at every temple +for such a manifestation of the divinity in man.</p> +<p style= +"text-align: center; font-weight: 600; font-size: 1.0em; margin-top: 2.0em"> +ECONOMIC DANGER OF INDIA</p> +<p class="indent">One of the most interesting events in his tour +round the world was his stay in Japan, where he had ample +opportunity of becoming acquainted with the efforts of the people +and their aspirations towards a great future. No one can help +being filled with admiration for what they have achieved. In +materialistic efficiency, which in a mechanical era is regarded +as an index of civilisation, they have even surpassed their +German teachers. A few decades ago they had no foreign shipping +and no manufacture. But within an incredibly short time their +magnificent lines of steamers have proved so formidable a +competitor that the great American line in the Pacific will soon +be compelled to stop their sailings. Their industries again, +through the wise help of the State and other adventitious aids +are capturing foreign markets. But far more admirable is their +foresight to save their country from any embroilment with other +nations with whom they want to live in peace. And they realise +any predominant interest of a foreign country in their trade +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_151" id= +"Page_151">[Pg_151]</a></span>or manufacture is sure to lead to +misunderstanding and friction. Actuated by this idea they have +practically excluded all foreign manufactured articles by +prohibitive tariffs.</p> +<p style= +"text-align: center; font-weight: 600; font-size: 1.0em; margin-top: 2.0em"> +REVIVAL OF INDIAN INDUSTRIES</p> +<p class="indent">Is our country slow to realise the danger that +threatens her by the capture of her market and the total +destruction of her industries? Does she not realise that it is +helpless passivity that directly provokes aggression? Has not the +recent happenings in China served as an object lesson? There is, +therefore, no time to be lost and the utmost effort is demanded +of the Government and the people for the revival of our own +industries. The various attempts that have hitherto been made +have not been as successful as the necessity of the case demands. +The efforts of the Government and of the people have hitherto +been spasmodic and often worked at cross purposes. The Government +should have an advisory body of Indian members. There should be +some modification of rules as regards selection of Industrial scholars. Before being sent out to foreign +countries they should be made to study the conditions of +manufacture in this country and its difficulties. For a +particular industry there should be a co-ordinated group of three +scholars, two for the industrial and one for the commercial side. +Difficulties <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_152" id= +"Page_152">[Pg_152]</a></span>would arise in adapting foreign +knowledge to Indian conditions. This can only be overcome by the +devoted labour of men of originality, who have been trained in +our future Research Laboratory. The Government could also +materially help (i) by offering facilities for the supply of raw +materials (ii) by offering expert advice (iii) by starting +experimental industries. He had reason to think that the +Government is full alive to the crucial importance of the subject +and is determined to take every step necessary. In this matter +the aims of the people and the Government are one. In facing a +common danger and in co-operation there must arise mutual respect +and understanding. And perhaps through the very catastrophe that +is threatening the world there may grow up in India a realisation +of community of interest and solidarity as between Government and +people.</p> +<p style= +"text-align: center; font-weight: 600; font-size: 1.0em; margin-top: 2.0em"> +A CALL FOR NOBLER PATRIOTISM</p> +<p class="indent">A very serious danger is thus seen to be +threatening the future of India, and to avert it will require the +utmost effort of the people. They have not only to meet the +economic crisis but also to protect the ideals of ancient Aryan +civilisation from the destructive forces that are threatening it. +Nothing great can be conserved except through constant effort and +sacrifice. There is a danger of, regarding <span class= +'pagenum'><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[Pg_153]</a></span>the +mechanical efficiency as the sole end of life; there is also the +opposite danger of a life of dreaming, bereft of struggle and +activity, degenerating into parasitic habits of dependence. Only +through the nobler call of patriotism can our nation realise her +highest ideals in thought and in action; to that call the nation +will always respond. He had the inestimable privilege of winning +the intimate friendship of Mr. G. K. Gokhale. Before leaving +England, our foremost Indian statesman whose loss we so deeply +mourn, had come to stay with the speaker for a few days at +Eastbourne. He knew that this was to be their last meeting. +Almost his parting question to Dr. Bose was whether science had +anything to say about future incarnations. For himself, however +he was certain that as soon as he would cast off his worn out frame he was to be born once more in the +country he loved, and bear all the country that may be laid on +him in her service. There can be no doubt that there must be +salvation for a country which can count on sons as devoted as +Gopal Krishna Gokhale.</p> +<p class="indent">—<i>Amrita Bazar Patrika</i>, +26-7-1915.</p> +<p style= +"text-align: center; font-weight: 600; font-size: 1.25em; margin-top: 3.0em"> +HISTORY <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_154" id= +"Page_154">[Pg_154]</a></span>OF A DISCOVERY</p> +<p class="indent">Substance of a Lecture delivered by Prof. J. C. +Bose on the 20th November 1915, at the Ram Mohan Library, under +the Presidency of the Hon'ble Mr. P. C. Lyon, and published at p. +693, Vol. xviii, of the "Modern Review" (July to December, +1915).</p> +<p class="indent">At the tournament held before the court at +Hastinapur, more than twenty-five centuries ago, Karna, the +reputed son of a Charioteer, had challenged the supremacy of +Prince Arjuna. To this challenge Arjuna +had returned a scornful answer; a prince could not cross swords +with one who could claim no nobility of descent. "I am my own +ancestor," replied Karna, and this perhaps the earliest assertion +of the right of man to choose and determine his own destiny. In +the realm of knowledge also the great achievements have been won +only by men with determined purpose and without any adventitious +aids. Undismayed by human limitations they had struggled in spite +of many a failure. In their inquiry after truth they regarded +nothing as too laborious, nothing too insignificant, nothing too +painful. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_155" id= +"Page_155">[Pg_155]</a></span>This is the process which all must +follow; there is no easier path.</p> +<p class="indent">The lecturer's research on the properties of +Electric Waves was begun just twenty-one years ago. In this he +was greatly encouraged by the appreciation shown by the Royal +Society, which not only published his researches, but also +offered a Parliamentary grant for the continuance of his work. +The greatest difficulty lay in the construction of a receiver to +detect invisible ether disturbances. For this a most laborious +investigation had to be undertaken to find the action of electric +radiation on all kinds of matter. As a result of this long and +very patient work a new type of receiver was invented, so perfect +in its action that the <i>Electrician</i> suggested its use in +ships and electro-magnetic high houses for the communication and +transmission of danger signals at sea through space. This was in +1895, several years in advance of the present wireless system. +Practical application of the result of Dr. Bose's investigations +appear so important that Great Britain and the United States +granted him patents for his invention of a certain crystal +receiver which proved to be the most sensitive detector +of wireless signals.</p> +<p style= +"text-align: center; font-weight: 600; font-size: 1.0em; margin-top: 2.0em"> +UNIVERSAL SENSITIVENESS OF MATTER</p> +<p class="indent">In the course of his investigations Dr. Bose +found <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_156" id= +"Page_156">[Pg_156]</a></span>that the uncertainty of the early +type of his receiver was brought on by fatigue, and that the +curve of fatigue of his instrument closely resembled the fatigue +curve of animal muscle. He was soon able to remove the +'tiredness' of his receiver by application of suitable +stimulants; application of certain poisons, on the other hand, +permanently abolished its sensitiveness. Dr. Bose was thus amazed +at the discovery that inorganic matter was anything but inert, +but that its particles were a thrill under the action of +multitudinous forces that were playing on it. The lecturer was at +this time constrained to choose whether to go on with the +practical applications of his work, the success of which appeared +to be assured, or to throw himself into a vortex of conflict for +the establishment of some truth the glimmerings of which he was +then but dimly beginning to perceive. It is very curious that the +human mind is sometimes so constituted that it rejects lines of +least resistance in favour of the more difficult path. Dr. Bose +chose the more difficult path, and entered into a phase of +activity which was to test all his strength.</p> +<p style= +"text-align: center; font-weight: 600; font-size: 1.0em; margin-top: 2.0em"> +CASTE IN SCIENCE</p> +<p class="indent">Dr. Bose's discovery of Universal sensitiveness +of matter was communicated to the Royal Society on May 7th, 1901, +when he himself gave a successful <span class='pagenum'><a name= +"Page_157" id="Page_157">[Pg_157]</a></span>experimental +demonstration. His communication was, however, strongly assailed +by Sir John Burden-Sanderson, the leading physiologist, and one +or two of his followers. They had nothing to urge against his +experiments but objected to a physicist straying into the +preserve that had been specially reserved for the physiologist. +He had unwittingly strayed into the domain of a new and +unfamiliar caste system and offended its etiquette. In +consequence of this opposition his paper, which was already in +print, was not published. This is not by any means to be regarded +as an injustice done to a stranger. Even Lord Rayleigh, who +occupies an unique position in the world of science, was +subjected to fierce attacks from the chemists, because he, a +physicist, had ventured to predict that the air would be found to +contain new elements not hitherto discovered.</p> +<p class="indent">It is natural that there should be prejudice +against all innovations, and the attitude of Sir John +Burden-Sanderson is easily explained. Unfortunately there was +another incident about which similar explanation could not be +urged. Dr. Bose's Paper had been placed in the archives of the +Royal Society, so that technically there was no publication. And +it came about that eight months after the reading of his Paper, +another communication found publication in the Journal of a +different society which <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_158" +id="Page_158">[Pg_158]</a></span>was practically the same as Dr. +Bose's but without any acknowledgment. The author of this +communication was a gentleman who had previously opposed him at +the Royal Society. The plagiarism was subsequently discovered and +led to much unpleasantness. It is not necessary to refer any more +to the subject except as explanation of the fact that the +determined hostility and misrepresentations of one man succeeded +for more than ten years to bar all avenues of publication for his +discoveries. But every cloud has its silver lining; this incident +secured for him many true friends in England who stood for fair +play, and whose friendship has proved to be a source of great +encouragement to him.</p> +<p style= +"text-align: center; font-weight: 600; font-size: 1.0em; margin-top: 2.0em"> +FURTHER DIFFICULTIES</p> +<p class="indent">Dr. Bose's next work in 1903 was the discovery +of the identity of response and of automatic activity in plant +and animal and of the nervous impulse in plant. These new +contributions were regarded as of such great importance that the +Royal Society showed its special appreciation by recommending it +to be published in their Philosophical transactions. But the same +influence which had hitherto stood in his way triumphed once +more, and it was at the very last moment that the publication was +withheld. The Royal Society, however, informed him that his +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_159" id= +"Page_159">[Pg_159]</a></span>results were of fundamental +importance, but as they were so wholly unexpected and so opposed +to the existing theories, that they would reserve their judgment +until, at some future time, plants themselves could be made to +record their answers to questions put to them. This was +interpreted in certain quarters here as the final rejection of +Dr. Bose's theories by the Royal Society, and the limited +facilities which he had in the prosecution of his researches were +in danger of being withdrawn. And everything was dark for him for +the next ten years. The only thought that possessed him was how +to make the plant give testimony by means of its own +autograph.</p> +<p style= +"text-align: center; font-weight: 600; font-size: 1.0em; margin-top: 2.0em"> +LONG DELAYED SUCCESS</p> +<p class="indent">And when the night was at its darkest, light +gradually appeared, and after innumerable difficulties had been +overcome his Resonant Recorder was perfected, which enabled the +plant to tell its own story. And in the meantime something still +more wonderful came to pass. Hitherto all gates had been barred +and he had to produce his passports everywhere. He now found +friends who never asked him for credentials. His time had come at +last. The Royal Society found his new methods most convincing and +honoured him by publication of his researches in the +Philosophical transactions. And his discoveries, <span class= +'pagenum'><a name="Page_160" id= +"Page_160">[Pg_160]</a></span>which had so long remained in +obscurity, found enthusiastic acceptance.</p> +<p class="indent">Though his theories had thus received +acceptance from the leading scientific men of the Royal Society, +there was yet no general conviction of the identity of life +reactions in plant and animal. No amount of controversy can +remove the tendency of the human mind to follow precedents. The +only thing left was to make the plant itself bear witness before +the scientific bodies in the West, by means of self-records. At +the recommendation of the Minister of Education, and of the +Government of Bengal, the Secretary of State sanctioned his +scientific deputation to Europe and America.</p> +<p style= +"text-align: center; font-weight: 600; font-size: 1.0em; margin-top: 2.0em"> +JOURNEY OF INDIAN PLANT ROUND THE WORLD</p> +<p class="indent">The special difficulty which he had to contend +against lay in the fact that the only time during which the plant +flourished at all in the West, was in the months of July and +August, when the Universities and scientific societies were in +vacation. The only thing left was to take the bold step of +carrying growing plants from India and trust to human ingenuity +to keep them alive during the journey. Four plants, two Mimosas +and two Telegraph plants, were taken in a portable box with glass +cover, and never let out of sight. In the <span class= +'pagenum'><a name="Page_161" id= +"Page_161">[Pg_161]</a></span>Mediterranean they encountered +bitter cold for the first time and nearly succumbed. They were +unhappier still in the Bay of Biscay, and when they reached +London there was a sharp frost. They had to be kept in a drawing +room lighted by gas, the deadly influence of which was discovered +the next morning when all the plants were found to be apparently +killed. Two had been killed, and the other two were brought round +after much difficulty. The plants were at once transferred to the +hot-house in Regents Park. For every demonstration in Dr. Bose's +private Laboratory at Maida Vale, the plant had to be brought and +returned in a taxicab with closed doors so that no sudden chill +might kill them. When travelling, the large box in which they +were, could not be trusted out of sight in the luggage van. They +had practically to be carried in a reserved compartment. The +unusual care taken of the box always roused the greatest +curiosity, and in an incredibly short time large crowds would +gather. When travelling long distances, for example from London +to Vienna, the carriage accommodation had to be secured in +advance. It was this that saved Dr. Bose from being interned in +Germany, where he was to commence his lectures on the 4th August. +He was to start for the University of Bonn on the 2nd, but on +account of hasty mobilisation of troops in Germany he could not +secure the reserved accommodation. <span class='pagenum'><a name= +"Page_162" id="Page_162">[Pg_162]</a></span>Two days after came +the proclamation of War!</p> +<p style= +"text-align: center; font-weight: 600; font-size: 1.0em; margin-top: 2.0em"> +OUTCOME OF HIS WORK</p> +<p class="indent">The success of his scientific mission exceeded +his most sanguine expectations. The work in which he long +persevered in isolation and under most depressing difficulties, +bore fruit at last. Apart from the full recognition that the +progress of the world's science would be incomplete without +India's special contributions, mutual appreciation and better +understanding resulted from his visit. One of the greatest of +Medical Institutions, the Royal Society of Medicine, has been +pleased to regard his address before the society as one of the +most important in their history and they expected that their +science of medicine would be materially benefited by the +researches that are being carried out by him in India. India has +also been drawn closer to the great seats of learning in the +West, to the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge; for there also +the methods of inquiry initiated here have found the most cordial +welcome. Many Indian students find their way to America, +strangers in a strange land; hitherto they found few to advise +and befriend them. It will perhaps be different now, since their +leading Universities have begged from India the courtesy of hospitality for their post graduate +scholars. Some <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_163" id= +"Page_163">[Pg_163]</a></span>of these Universities again have +asked for a supply of apparatus specially invented at Dr. Bose's +laboratory which in their opinion will mark an epoch in +scientific advance.</p> +<p style= +"text-align: center; font-weight: 600; font-size: 1.0em; margin-top: 2.0em"> +THE INEFFABLE WONDER BEHIND THE VEIL</p> +<p class="indent">As for the research itself, he said its +bearings are not exclusively specialistic, but touch the +foundation of various branches of science. To mention only a few; +in medicine it had to deal with the fundamental reaction of +protoplasm to various drugs, the solution of the problem why an +identical agent brings about diametrically opposite effects in +different constitutions; in the science of life it dealt with the +new comparative physiology by which any specific characteristic +of a tissue is traced from the simplest type in plant to the most +complex in the animal; the study of the mysterious phenomenon of +death and the accurate determination of the death point and the +various conditions by which this point may be dislocated +backwards and forwards; in psychology it had to deal with the +unravelling of the great mystery that underlies memory and +tracing it backwards to latent impressions even in the inorganic +bodies which are capable of subsequent revival; and finally, the +determination of the special characteristic of that vehicle +through which sensiferous impulses are transmitted and the +possibility <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_164" id= +"Page_164">[Pg_164]</a></span>of changing the intensity and the +tone of sensation. All these investigations, Dr. Bose said, are +to be carried out by new physical methods of the utmost delicacy. +He had in these years been able to remove the obstacles in the +path and had lifted the veil so as to catch a glimpse of the +ineffable wonder that had hitherto been hidden from view. The +real work, he said, had only just begun.</p> +<p style= +"text-align: center; font-weight: 600; font-size: 1.0em; margin-top: 2.0em"> +A <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_165" id= +"Page_165">[Pg_165]</a></span>SOCIAL GATHERING</p> +<p class="indent">At the Social Gathering held on the 16th +December 1915, in the compound of the Calcutta Presidency +College, to meet him after his highly successful tour through +Europe, America and Japan, Dr. Bose spoke as follows:—</p> +<p class="indent">He said that it was his rare good fortune to +have been amply rewarded for the hardships and struggles that he +had gone through by the generous and friendly feelings of his +colleagues and the love and trust of his pupils. He would say a +few words regarding his experience in the Presidency College for +more than three decades, which he hoped would serve to bring all +who loved the Presidency College—present and past pupils +and their teachers—in closer bonds of union. He would speak +to them what he had learnt after years of patient labour, that +the impossible became possible by persistent and determined +efforts and adherence to duty and entire selflessness. The +greatest obstacle often arises out of foolish misunderstanding of +each other's ideals, such as the differing points of view, first +of the Indian teacher, then of his western colleague, and +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_166" id= +"Page_166">[Pg_166]</a></span>last but not least, the point of +view of the Indian pupils themselves. In all these respects his +experience had been wide and varied. He had both been an +undergraduate and a graduate of the Calcutta University with +vivid realization of an Indian student's aspirations; he had then +become a student of conservative Cambridge and democratic London. +And during his frequent visits to Europe and America he had +become acquainted with the inner working of the chief +universities of the world. Finally he had the unique privilege of +being connected with the Presidency College for thirty-one years, +from which no temptation could sever him. He had the deepest +sense of the sacred vocation of the teacher. They may well be +proud of a consecrated life—consecrated to what? To the +guidance of young lives, to the making of men, to the shaping and +determining of souls in the dawn of their existence, with their +dreams yet to be realised.</p> +<p class="indent">Education in the West and in the East showed +how different customs and ways might yet express a common ideal. +In India the teacher was, like the head of a family, reverenced +by his pupils so deeply as to show itself by touching the feet of +their master. This in no servile act if we come to think of it; +since it is the expression of the pupils' desire for his master's +blessings, called down from heaven in an almost religious +communion of souls. This consecration <span class= +'pagenum'><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[Pg_167]</a></span>is +renewed every day, calling forth patient foresight of the +teacher. As the father shows no special favour, but lets his love +and compassion go out to the weakest, so it is with the Indian +teacher and his pupil. There is the relation something very +human, something very ennobling. He would say it was essentially +human rather than distinctively Eastern. For do we not find +something very like it in Mediaeval Europe? There too before the +coming of the modern era with its lack of leisure and its +adherence to system and machinery, there was a bond as sacred +between the master and his pupils. Luther used to salute his +class every morning with lifted hat, "I bow to you, great men of +the future, famous administrators yet to be, men of learning, men +of character who will take on themselves the burden of the +world." Such is the prophetic vision given to the greatest of +teachers. The modern teacher from England will set before him an +ideal not less exalted—regarding his pupils as his +comrades, he as an Englishman will instill into them +greater virility and a greater public spirit. This will be his +special contribution to the forming of our Indian youths.</p> +<p class="indent">Turning to the Indian students he could say +that it was his good fortune never to have had the harmonious relation between teacher and pupils in +any way ruffled during his long connection with them <span class= +'pagenum'><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[Pg_168]</a></span>for +more than three decades. The real secret of success was in trying +at times to see things from the student's point of view and to +cultivate a sense of humour enabling him to enjoy the splendid +self-assurance of youth with a feeling not unmixed with envy. In +essential matters, however, one could not wish to meet a better +type or one more quickly susceptible to finer appeals to right +conduct and duty as Indian students. Their faults are rather of +omission than of commission, since in his experience he formed +that the moment they realised their teachers to be their friends, +they responded instantly and did not flinch from any test, +however severe, that could be laid on them.</p> +<p class="indent">—<i>The Presidency College Magazine.</i> +<i>Vol. II, pages</i> 339-341.</p> +<p style= +"text-align: center; font-weight: 600; font-size: 1.25em; margin-top: 3.0em"> +LIGHT <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_169" id= +"Page_169">[Pg_169]</a></span>VISIBLE AND INVISIBLE</p> +<p class="indent">On the 14th January 1916, Dr. J. C. Bose +delivered a public lecture, on Light Visible and Invisible, at +the third Indian Science Congress held at Lucknow, before a +crowded audience which included the Lieutenant-Governor (Sir +James Meston).</p> +<p class="indent">Dr. Bose, in course of his lecture, spoke of +the imperfection of our senses. Our ear, for example, fails to +respond to all sounds. There are many sounds to which we are +deaf. This was because our ear was tuned to answer to the narrow +range of eleven octaves of sound vibrations. He showed a +remarkable experiment of an artificial ear which remained +irresponsive to various sounds, but when a particular note, to +which it was tuned, was sounded even at the distant end of the +hall, this ear picked it up and responded violently. As there +were sounds audible and inaudible, so there were lights visible +and invisible. The imperfection of our eye as a detector of ether +vibrations was, however, far more serious. The eye could detect +ether vibrations lying within a single octave—between 400 +to 800 billion vibrations per second. Comparatively slow +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_170" id= +"Page_170">[Pg_170]</a></span>vibrations of ether did not affect +our eye and the disturbances they give rise to well-known as +electric waves. The electric waves, predicted by Maxwell, were +discovered by Hertz. These waves were about +three metres long. They were about ten million times larger than +the beams of visible light. Dr. Bose showed that the three short +electric waves have the same property as a beam of light, +exhibiting reflections, refraction, even total reflection, +through a black crystal, double refraction, polarisation, and +rotation of the plane of polarisation. The thinnest film of air +was sufficient to produce total reflection of visible light with +its extremely short wave lengths. But with the new electric waves +which he produced, Dr. Bose showed that the critical thickness of +air space determined by the refracting power of the prison and by +the wave length of electric oscillations. Dr. Bose determined the +index of refraction of electric waves for different materials, +and eliminated a difficulty which presented itself in Maxwell's +theory as to the relation between the index of refraction of +light and the di-electric constant of +insulators. He also measured the wave lengths of various +oscillations. The order to produce short electric oscillations, +to detect them and study their optical properties, he had to +construct a large number of instruments. It was a hard task to +produce very short electric waves which had <span class= +'pagenum'><a name="Page_171" id= +"Page_171">[Pg_171]</a></span>enough energy to be detected, but +Dr. Bose overcame this difficulty by constructing radiators or +oscillators of his own type, which emitted the shortest waves +with sufficient energy. As a receiver he used a sensitive +metallic coherer, which in itself led to new and important +discoveries. When electric waves fall on a loose contact between +two pieces of metals, the resistance of the contact changes and a +current passes through the contact indicating the existence of +electrical oscillations. Dr. Bose discovered the surprising fact +that with potassium metal the resistance of the contact increases +under the action of electric waves and that this contact exhibits +an automatic recovery. He found further that the change of the +metallic contact resistance when acted upon by electric waves, is +a function of the atomic weight. These phenomena led to a new +theory of metallic coherers. Before these discoveries it was +assumed that the particles of the two metallic pieces in contact +are, as it were, fused together, so that the resistance +decreases. But the increasing resistance appearing for some +elements, led to the theory that the electric forces in the waves +produced a peculiar molecular action or a re-arrangement of the +molecules, which may either increase or decrease the contact +resistance.</p> +<p class="indent">—<i>Pioneer</i>,—16-1-1916.</p> +<p style= +"text-align: center; font-weight: 600; font-size: 1.25em; margin-top: 3.0em"> +HINDU <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_172" id= +"Page_172">[Pg_172]</a></span>UNIVERSITY ADDRESS</p> +<p class="indent">The foundation of the Hindu University was laid +by Lord Hardinge on the 4th February 1916. "Many striking +addresses were delivered on the occasion. Professor J.C. Bose in +his masterly address went to the root of the matter and pointed +in an inspiring manner what should be done to make the Hindu +University worthy of its name. He deprecated a repetition of the +Universities of the West." He said:—</p> +<p class="indent">In tracing the characteristic phenomenon of +life from simple beginnings in that vast region which may be +called unvoiced, as exemplified in the world of plants, to its +highest expression in the animal kingdom, one is repeatedly +struck by the one dominant fact that in order to maintain an +organism at the height of its efficiency something more than a +mechanical perfection of its structure is necessary. Every living +organism, in order to maintain its life and growth, must be in +free communion with all the forces of the Universe about it.</p> +<p style= +"text-align: center; font-weight: 600; font-size: 1.0em; margin-top: 2.0em"> +STIMULUS <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_173" id= +"Page_173">[Pg_173]</a></span>WITHIN AND WITHOUT</p> +<p class="indent">Further, it must not only constantly receive +stimulus from without, but must also give out something from +within, and the healthy life of the organism will depend on these +two fold activities of inflow and outflow. When there is any +interference with these activities, then morbid symptoms appear, +which ultimately must end in disaster and death. This is equally +true of the intellectual life of a Nation. When through narrow +conceit a Nation regards itself self-sufficient and cuts itself +from the stimulus of the outside world, then intellectual decay +must inevitably follow.</p> +<p style= +"text-align: center; font-weight: 600; font-size: 1.0em; margin-top: 2.0em"> +SPECIAL FUNCTION OF A NATION</p> +<p class="indent">So far as regards the receptive function. Then +there is another function in the intellectual life of a Nation, +that of spontaneous outflow, that giving out of its life by which +the world is enriched. When the Nation has lost this power, when +it merely receives, but cannot give out, then its healthy life is +over, and it sinks into a degenerate existence which is purely +parasitic.</p> +<p style= +"text-align: center; font-weight: 600; font-size: 1.0em; margin-top: 2.0em"> +HOW INDIA CAN TEACH</p> +<p class="indent">How can our Nation give out of the fulness of +the life that is in it, and how can a new Indian <span class= +'pagenum'><a name="Page_174" id= +"Page_174">[Pg_174]</a></span>University help in the realisation +of this object? It is clear that its power of directing and +inspiring will depend on its world status. This can be secured to +it by no artificial means, nor by any strength in the past; and +what is the weakness that has been paralysing her activities for +the accomplishment of any great scientific work? There must be +two different elements, and these must be evenly balanced. Any +excess of either will injure it.</p> +<p style= +"text-align: center; font-weight: 600; font-size: 1.0em; margin-top: 2.0em"> +HOW TO SECURE THIS STATUS</p> +<p class="indent">This world status can only be won by the +intrinsic value of the great contributions to be made by its own +Indian scholars for the advancement of the world's knowledge. To +be organic and vital our new University must stand primarily for +self-expression, and for winning for India a place she has lost. +Knowledge is never the exclusive possession of any particular +race, nor does it recognise geographical limitations. The whole +world is interdependent, and a constant stream of thought had +been carried out throughout the ages enriching the common +heritage of mankind. Although science was neither of the East nor +of the West but international, certain aspects of it gained +richness by reason of their place of origin.</p> +<p class="indent">In any case if India need to make any +contribution <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_175" id= +"Page_175">[Pg_175]</a></span>to the world it should be as great +as the hope they cherished for her. Let them not talk of the +glories of the past till they have secured for her, her true +place among the intellectual nations of the world. Let them find +out how she had fallen from her high estate and ruthlessly put an +end to all that self satisfied and little-minded vanity which had +been the cause of their fatal weakness. What was it that stood in +her way? Was her mind paralysed by weak superstitious fears? That +was not so; for her great thinkers, the Rishis, always stood for +freedom of intellect and while Galileo was imprisoned and Bruno +burnt for their opinions, they boldly declared that even the +Vedas were to be rejected if they did not conform to truth. They +urged in favour of persistent efforts for the discovery of +physical causes yet unknown, since to them nothing was +extra-physical but merely mysterious because of a hitherto +unascertained cause. Were they afraid that the march of knowledge +was dangerous to true faith? Not so. For their knowledge and +religion were one.</p> +<p class="indent">These are the hopes that animate us. For there +is something in the Hindu culture which is possessed of +extraordinary latent strength by which it has resisted the +ravages of time and the destructive changes which have swept over +the earth. And indeed a capacity to endure through infinite +transformations <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_176" id= +"Page_176">[Pg_176]</a></span>must be innate in that mighty +civilisation which has seen the intellectual culture of the Nile +Valley, of Assyria and of Babylon war and wane and disappear and +which to-day gazes on the future with the same invincible faith +with which it met the past.</p> +<p class="indent">—<i>Modern Review, vol. XIX, pages</i> +277, 278.</p> +<p style= +"text-align: center; font-weight: 600; font-size: 1.25em; margin-top: 3.0em"> +THE <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_177" id= +"Page_177">[Pg_177]</a></span>HISTORY OF A FAILURE THAT WAS +GREAT</p> +<p class="indent">At the invitation of the President and the +committee of the Faridpore Industrial Exhibition, Dr. J. C. Bose +gave a lecture on the life of his father, the late Babu Bhugwan +Chunder Bose, who founded the Exhibition at Faridpore, where he +was the sub-divisional officer, 50 years ago. It was published in +the Modern Review for February 1917—volume xxi, p. 221. In +course of his address, said Dr. Bose:—</p> +<p class="indent">It is the obvious, the insistent, the blatant +that often blinds us to the essential. And in solving the mystery +that underlies life, the enlightenment +will come not by the study of the complex man, but through the +simpler plant. It is the unsuspected forces, hidden to the eyes +of men,—the forces imprisoned in the soil and the stimuli +of alternating flash of light and the gloomings of darkness these +and many others will be found to maintain the ceaseless activity +which we know as the fulness of throbbing life.</p> +<p class="indent">This is likewise true of the congeries of life +which we call a society or a nation. The energy which +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_178" id= +"Page_178">[Pg_178]</a></span>moves this great mass in ceaseless +effort to realise some common aspiration, often has its origin in +the unknown solitudes of a village life. And thus the history of +some efforts, not forgotten, which emanated from Faridpore, may +be found not unconnected with which India is now meeting her +problems to-day. How did these problems first dawn in the minds +of some men who forecast themselves by half a century? How fared +their hopes, how did their dreams become buried in oblivion? +Where lies the secret of that potency which makes certain efforts +apparently doomed to failure, rise renewed from beneath the +smouldering ashes? Are these dead failures, so utterly unrelated +to some great success that we may acclaim to day? When we look +deeper we shall find that this is not so, that as inevitable as +in the sequence of cause and effect, so unrelenting must be the +sequence of failure and success. We shall find that the failure +must be the antecedent power to lie dormant for the long +subsequent dynamic expression in what we call success. It is then +and then only that we shall begin to question ourselves which is +the greater of the two, a noble failure or a vulgar success.</p> +<p class="indent">As a concrete example, I shall relate the +history of a noble failure which had its setting in this little +corner of the earth. And if some of the audience thought that the +speaker has been blessed with life <span class='pagenum'><a name= +"Page_179" id="Page_179">[Pg_179]</a></span>that has been +unusually fruitful, they will soon realise that the power and +strength that nerved me to meet the shocks of life were in +reality derived at this very place, where I witnessed the +struggle which overpowered a far greater life.</p> +<p style= +"text-align: center; font-weight: 600; font-size: 1.0em; margin-top: 2.0em"> +STIMULUS OF CONTACT WITH WESTERN CULTURE</p> +<p class="indent">An impulse from outside reacts on +impressionable bodies in two different ways, depending on whether +the recipient is inert or fully alive. The inert is fashioned +after the pattern of the impression made on it, and this in +infinite repetition of one mechanical stamp. But when an organism +is fully alive, the answering reaction is often of an altogether +different character to the impinging stimulus. The outside shocks +stir up the organism to answer feebly or to utmost in ways as +multitudinous and varied as life itself. So the first impetus of +Western education impressed itself on some in a dead monotony of +imitation of things Western; while in others it awakened all that +was greatest in the national memory. It is the release of some +giant force which lay for long time dormant. My father was one of +the earliest to receive the impetus characteristic of the modern +epoch as derived from the West. And in his case it came to pass +that the stimulus evoked the latent potentialities of his race +for evolving <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_180" id= +"Page_180">[Pg_180]</a></span>modes of expression demanded by the +period of transition in which he was placed. They found +expression in great constructive work, in the restoration of +quiet amidst disorder, in the earliest +effort to spread education both among men and women, in questions +of social welfare, in industrial efforts, in the establishment of +people's Bank and in the foundation of industrial and technical +schools. And behind all these efforts lay a burning love for his +country and its nobler traditions.</p> +<p style= +"text-align: center; font-weight: 600; font-size: 1.0em; margin-top: 2.0em"> +MATTERS EDUCATIONAL</p> +<p class="indent">In educational matters he had very definite +ideas which is now becoming more fully appreciated. English +schools were at that time not only regarded as the only efficient +medium for instruction. While my father's subordinates sent their +children to the English schools intended for gentle folks, I was +sent to the vernacular school where my comrades were hardy sons +of toilers and of others who, it is now the fashion to regard, +were belonging to the depressed classes. From these who tilled +the ground and made the land blossom with green verdure and +ripening corn, and the sons of the fisher folk, who told stories +of the strange creatures that frequented the unknown depths of +mighty rivers and stagnant pools, I first derived the lesson of +that which constitutes true manhood. From them too I drew my love +of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_181" id= +"Page_181">[Pg_181]</a></span>nature. When I came home +accompanied by my comrades I found my mother waiting for us. She +was an orthodox Hindu, yet the "untouchableness" of some of my +school fellows did not produce any misgivings in her. She +welcomed and fed all these as her own children; for it is only +true of the mother heart to go out and enfold in her protecting +care all those who needed succour and a mother's affection. I now +realise the object of my being sent at the most plastic period of +my life to the vernacular school, where I was to learn my own +language, to think my own thoughts and to receive the heritage of +our national culture through the medium of our own literature. I +was thus to consider myself one with the people and never to +place myself in an equivocal position of assumed superiority. +This I realised more particularly when later I wished to go to +Europe and to compete for the Indian Civil Service, his refusal +as regards that particular career was absolute. I was to rule +nobody but myself, I was to be a scholar not an +administrator.</p> +<p style= +"text-align: center; font-weight: 600; font-size: 1.0em; margin-top: 2.0em"> +THE HISTORY OF A FAILURE THAT WAS GREAT</p> +<p class="indent">There has been some complaint that the +experiment of meeting out cut and dried moral texts as a part of +school routine has not proved to be so effective as was expected +by their promulgators. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_182" +id="Page_182">[Pg_182]</a></span>The moral education which we +received in our childhood was very indirect and came from +listening to stories recited by the 'Kathas' on various incidents +connected with our great epics. Their effect on our minds was +very great; this may be because our racial memory makes us more +prone to respond to certain ideals that have been impressed on +the consciousness of the nation. These early appeals to our +emotions have remained persistent; the only difference is that +which was there as a narrative of incidents more or less +historical, is now realised as eternally true, being an allegory +of the unending struggle of the human soul in its choice between +what is material and that other something which transcends it. +The only pictures now in my study are a few frescoes done for me +by Abanindra Nath Tagore and Nanda Lal Bose. The first fresco +represents Her, who is the Sustainer of the Universe. She stands +pedestalled on the lotus of our heart. The world was at peace; +but a change has come. And She under whose Veil of Compassion we +had been protected so long, suddenly flings us to the world of +conflict. Our great epic, the Mahabharata, deals with this great +conflict, and the few frescoes delineate some of the fundamental +incidents. The coming of the discord is signalled by the rattle +of dice, thrown by Yudhisthira, the pawn at stake, being the +crown. Two hostile arrays are set in <span class= +'pagenum'><a name="Page_183" id= +"Page_183">[Pg_183]</a></span>motion, mighty Kaurava armaments +meeting in shock of battle the Pandava host with Arjuna as the +leader, and Krishna as his Divine Charioteer. At the supreme +moment Arjuna had flung down his earthly weapon, Gandiva. It was +then that the eternal conflict between matter and spirit was +decided. The next panel shows the outward or the material aspect +of victory. Behind a foreground of waving flags is seen the +battle field of Kurukshetra with procession of white-clad +mourning women seen by fitful lights of funeral pyres. In the +last panel is seen Yudhisthira renouncing the fruits of his +victory setting out on his last journey. In front of him lies the +vast and sombre plain and mountain peaks, faintly visible by +gleams of unearthly light, unlocalised but playing here and +there. His wife and his brothers had fallen behind and dropped +one by one. There is to be no human companion in his last +journey. The only thing that stood by him and from which he had +never been really separated is Dharma or the Spirit of +Righteousness.</p> +<p style= +"text-align: center; font-weight: 600; font-size: 1.0em; margin-top: 2.0em"> +LIFE OF ACTION</p> +<p class="indent">Faridpur at that time enjoyed a notoriety of +being the stronghold of desperate characters, dacoits by land and +water. My father had captured single-handed one of the principal +leaders, whom he sentenced to a long term of imprisonment. After +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_184" id= +"Page_184">[Pg_184]</a></span>release he came to my father and +demanded some occupation, since the particular vocation in which +he had specialised was now rendered impossible. My father took +the unusual course to employ him as my special attendant to carry +me, a child of four, on his back to the distant village school. +No nurse could be tenderer than this ex-leader of lawless men, +whose profession had been to deal out wounds and deaths. He had +accepted a life of peace but he could not altogether wipe out his +old memories. He used to fill my infant mind with the stories of +his bold adventures, the numerous fights in which he had taken +part, the death of his companions and his hair-breadth escapes. +Numerous were the decorations he bore. The most conspicuous was +an ugly mark on his breast left by an arrow and a hole on the +thigh caused by a spear thrust. The trust imposed on this +marauder proved to be not altogether ill placed for once in a +river journey we were pursued by several long boats filled with +armed dacoits. When these boats came too near for us to effect an +escape the erstwhile dacoit leader, my attendant, stood up and +gave a peculiar cry, which was evidently understood. For the +pursuing boats vanished at the signal.</p> +<p style= +"text-align: center; font-weight: 600; font-size: 1.0em; margin-top: 2.0em"> +INDUSTRIAL EFFORTS</p> +<p class="indent">I come now to another period of his life fifty +years from now, when he foresaw the economic danger <span class= +'pagenum'><a name="Page_185" id= +"Page_185">[Pg_185]</a></span>that threatened his country. This +Agricultural and Industrial Exhibition was one of the first means +he thought of to avert the threatened danger. Here also he +attempted to bring together other activities. Evening +entertainments were given by the performances of "Jatras," which +have been the expression of our national drama and which have +constantly enriched our Bengali literature by the contributions +of village bards and composers. There were athletic tournaments +also and display of physical strength and endurance. He also +established here the people's Bank, which is now in a most +flourishing condition. He established industrial and technical +schools, and it was there that the inventive bend of my mind +received its first impetus. I remember the deep impression made +on my mind by the form of worship rendered by the artisans to +Viswakarma God in his aspect as the Great Artificer: His hand it +was that was moulding the whole creation; and it seemed that we +were the instruments in his hand, through whom he intended to +fashion some Great Design.</p> +<p class="indent">In practical agriculture my father was among +Indians one of the first to start a tea industry in Assam, now +regarded as one of the most flourishing. He gave practically +everything in the starting of some Weaving Mills. He stood by +this and many other efforts in industrial developments. The +success of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_186" id= +"Page_186">[Pg_186]</a></span>which I spoke did not come till +long after—too late for him to see it. He had come before +the country was ready, and it happened to him as it must happen +to all pioneers. Every one of his efforts failed and the crash +came. And a great burden fell on us which was only lifted by our +united effects just before his work here was over.</p> +<p class="indent">A failure? Yes but not ignoble or altogether +futile. Since it was through the witnessing of this struggle that +the son learned to look on success or failure as one, to realise +that some defeat was greater than victory. And if my life in any +way proved to be fruitful, then that came through the realisation +of this lesson.</p> +<p class="indent">To me his life had been one of blessing and +daily thanksgiving. Nevertheless every one had said that he +wrecked his life which was meant for far greater things. Few +realise that out of the skeletons of myriad lives have been built +vast continents. And it is on the wreck of a life like his and of +many such lives there will be built the Greater India yet to be. +We do not know why it should be so, but we do know that the Earth +Mother is hungry for sacrifice.</p> +<p style= +"text-align: center; font-weight: 600; font-size: 1.25em; margin-top: 3.0em"> +QUEST <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_187" id= +"Page_187">[Pg_187]</a></span>OF TRUTH AND DUTY</p> +<p class="indent">Sir Jagadis Chandra Bose delivered the +following Address, on the 25th February 1917, to the students of +the Presidency College on receiving their <i>Arghya</i> and +congratulations on the occasion of his knighthood. It was +published in the Modern Review for March 1917—Volume XXI, +p. 343.</p> +<p class="indent">In your congratulations for the recent honour, +you have overlooked a still greater that came to me a year ago, +when I was gazetted as your perpetual professor, so that the tie +which binds me to you is never to be severed. Thirty-two years +ago I sought to be your teacher. For the trust that you imposed +on me could I do anything less than place before you the highest +that I knew? I never appealed to your weaknesses but your +strength. I never set before you that was easy but used all the +compulsion for the choice of the most difficult. And perhaps as a +reward for these years of effort I find all over India those who +have been my pupils occupying positions of the highest trust and +responsibility in different walks of life. I do not merely count +those who have won fame and success but I also claim <span class= +'pagenum'><a name="Page_188" id= +"Page_188">[Pg_188]</a></span>many others who have taken up the +burden of life manfully and whose life of purity and +unselfishness has brought gleams of joy in suffering lives.</p> +<p style= +"text-align: center; font-weight: 600; font-size: 1.0em; margin-top: 2.0em"> +THE LAW UNIVERSAL</p> +<p class="indent">Through science I was able to teach you how the +seeming veils the real; how though the garish lights dazzle and +blind us, there are lights invisible, which glow persistently +after the brief flare burns out. One came to realise how all +matter was one, how unified all life was. In the various +expressions of life even in the realm of thought the same +Universal law prevails. There was no such thing as brute matter, +but that spirit suffused matter in which it was enshrined. One +also realised dimly a mysterious Cyclic Law of Change, seen not +merely in inorganic matter but also in organised life and its +highest manifestations. One saw how inertness passes into the +climax of activity and how that climax is perilously near its +antithetic decline. This basic change puzzles us by its seeming +caprice not merely in our physical instruments but also in the +cycle of individual life and death and in the great cycle of the +life and death of nations. We fail to see things in their +totality and we erect barriers that keep kindreds apart. Even +science which attempts to rise above common limitations, has not +escaped the doom which limited vision imposes. We have +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_189" id= +"Page_189">[Pg_189]</a></span>caste in science as in religion and +in politics, which divides one into conflicting many. The law of +Cyclic change follows us relentlessly even in the realm of +thought. When we have raised ourselves to the highest pinnacle, +through some oversight we fall over the precipice. Men have +offered their lives for the establishment of truth. A climax is +reached after which the custodians of knowledge themselves bar +further advance. Men who have fought for liberty impose on +themselves and on others the bond of slavery. Through centuries +have men striven to erect a mighty edifice in which Humanity +might be enshrined; through want of vigilance the structure +crumbled into dust. Many cycles must yet be run and defeats must +yet be borne before man will establish a destiny which is above +change.</p> +<p class="indent">And through science I was able to teach you to +seek for truth and help to discover it yourself. This attitude of +detachment may possess some advantage in the proper understanding +of your duties. You will have, besides, the heritage of great +ideals that have been handed down to you. The question which you +have to decide is duty to yourself, to the king and to your +country. I shall speak to you of the ideals which we cherish +about these duties.</p> +<p style= +"text-align: center; font-weight: 600; font-size: 1.0em; margin-top: 2.0em"> +DUTY TO SELF</p> +<p class="indent">As regards duty to self, can there be anything +so <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_190" id= +"Page_190">[Pg_190]</a></span>inclusive as being true to your +manhood? Stand upright and do not be either cringing or vulgarly +self-assertive. Be righteous. Let your words and deeds +correspond. Lead no double life. Proclaim what you think +right.</p> +<p style= +"text-align: center; font-weight: 600; font-size: 1.0em; margin-top: 2.0em"> +IDEAL OF KINGSHIP</p> +<p class="indent">The Indian ideal of kingship will be clear to +you if I recite the invocation with which we crowned our kings +from the Vedic Times:</p> +<p class="blockquot">"Be with us. We have chosen thee<br /> +Let all the people wish for thee<br /> +Stand steadfast and immovable<br /> +Be like a mountain unremoved<br /> +And hold thy kingship in thy grasp."</p> +<p class="indent">We have chosen thee, our prayers have +consecrated thee, for all the wishes of the people went with +thee. Thou art to stand as mountain unremoved, for thy throne is +planted secure on the hearts of thy people. Stand steadfast then, +for we have endowed thee with power irresistible. Fall therefore +not away; but let thy sceptre be held firmly in thy grasp.</p> +<p class="indent">Which is more potent, Matter or Spirit? Is the +power with which the people endow their king identical with the +power of wealth with which we enrich him by paying him his Royal +dues? We make him irresistible not by wealth but by <span class= +'pagenum'><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[Pg_191]</a></span>the +strength of our lives, the strength of our mind, may, we have to +pay him more according to our ancient Lawgivers, in as much as +the eighth part of our deeds and virtues, and the merit we have +ourselves acquired. We can only make him irresistible by the +strength of our lives, the strength of our minds, and the +strength that comes out of righteousness.</p> +<p style= +"text-align: center; font-weight: 600; font-size: 1.0em; margin-top: 2.0em"> +DUTY TO OUR COUNTRY</p> +<p class="indent">And lastly, what are our duties to our country? +These are essentially to win honour for it and also win for it +security and peace. As regards winning honour for our country, it +is true that while India has offered from the earliest times +welcome and hospitality to all peoples and nationalities her +children have been subjected to intolerable humiliations in other +countries even under the flag of our king.</p> +<p class="indent">There can be no question of the fundamental +duty of every Indian to stand up and uphold the honour of his +country and strove for the removal of wrong.</p> +<p class="indent">The general task of redressing wrong is not a +problem of India alone, but one in which the righteous men are +interested the world over. For wrong cries for redress +everywhere, in the clashings interests of the rich and poor, +between capital and labour, between those who hold the power and +those from whom it has been withheld,—in a word in the +struggle of the Disinherited.</p> +<p class="indent"><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_192" id= +"Page_192">[Pg_192]</a></span>When any man is rendered unable to +uphold his manhood and self-respect and woman are deprived of the +chivalrous protection and consideration of men and subjected to +degradation, the general level of manhood or womanhood in the +world is lowered. It then becomes an outrage to humanity and a +challenge to all men to safeguard the sacredness of our common +human nature.</p> +<p class="indent">What is the machinery which sets a going a +world movement for the redress of wrong? For this I need not cite +instances from the history of other countries but take one which +is known to you and in which the living actors are still among +us. In the midst of the degradation of his countrymen in South +Africa, there stood up a man himself nurtured in luxury, to take +up the burden of the disinherited. His wife too stood by him, a +lady of gentle birth. We all know who that man is—he is +Gandhi,—and what humiliations and suffering he went +through. Do you think he suffered in vain and that his voice +remained unheard? It was not so, for in the great vortex of +passion for Justice, there were caught others—men like +Polak and Andrews. Are they your countrymen? Not in the narrow +sense of the word but truly in a larger sense, that these who +choose to bear and suffer belong to one clan the clan from which +Kshatriya Chivalry is recruited. The removal of suffering and of +the cause of suffering is <span class='pagenum'><a name= +"Page_193" id="Page_193">[Pg_193]</a></span>the Dharma of the +strong Kshatriya. The earth is the wide and universal theatre of +man's woeful pageant. The question is who is to suffer more than +his share. Is the burden to fall on the weak or the strong? Is it +to be under hopeless compulsion or of voluntary acceptance?</p> +<p style= +"text-align: center; font-weight: 600; font-size: 1.0em; margin-top: 2.0em"> +DEFENCE OF HOMELAND</p> +<p class="indent">In your services for your country there is no +higher at the present moment than to ensure for her security and +peace. We have so long enjoyed the security of peace without +being called upon to maintain it. But this is no longer so.</p> +<p class="indent">At no time within the recent history of India +has there been so quick a readjustment and appreciation as +regards proper understanding of the aspiration of the Indian +people. This has been due to what India has been able to offer +not merely in the regions of thought but also in the fields of +battle.</p> +<p style= +"text-align: center; font-weight: 600; font-size: 1.0em; margin-top: 2.0em"> +MASS RESPONSE</p> +<p class="indent">And remember that when the world is in +conflagration, this corner which has hitherto escaped it, will +not evade the peril which threatens it. The march of disaster +will then be terribly rapid. You have soon to prepare yourself +against any hostile sides. You can only withstand it if the whole +people realise the imminent danger. You can by your <span class= +'pagenum'><a name="Page_194" id= +"Page_194">[Pg_194]</a></span>thought and by your action awaken +and influence the multitude. Do not have any misgivings about the +want of long previous preparations. Have you not already seen how +mind triumphs over matter and have not some of you with only a +few months' preparation stood fearless at your post in +Mesopotamia and won recognition by your calm collectedness and +true heroism? They may say that you are but a small handful, what +of the vast illiterate millions? Illiterate in what sense? Have +not the ballads of these illiterates rendered into English by our +Poet touched profoundly the hearts of the very elect of the West? +Have not the stories of their common life appealed to the common +kinship of humanity? If you still have some doubts about the +power of the multitude to respond instantly to the call of duty, +I shall relate an incident which came within my own personal +experience. I had gone on a scientific expedition to the borders +of the Himalayan terrai of Kumaun; a narrow ravine was between me +and the plateau on the other side. Terror prevailed among the +villagers on the other side of the ravine; for a tigress had come +down from the forest. And numerous had been the toll in human +lives exacted. Petitions had been sent up to the Government and +questions had been asked in Parliament. A reward of Rs. 500 had +been offered. Various captains in the army with battery of guns +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_195" id= +"Page_195">[Pg_195]</a></span>came many a time, but the reward +remained unclaimed. The murderess of the forest would come out +even in broad day-light and leisurely take her victims from away +their companions. Nothing could circumvent her demoniac cunning. +When all hopes had nearly vanished, the villagers went to Kaloo +Singh, who possessed an old matchlock. At the special sanction of +the Magistrate he was allowed to buy a quantity of gunpowder; the +bullets he himself made by melting bits of lead. With his +primitive weapon with the entreaties of his villagers ringing in +his ears Kaloo Singh started on his perilous journey. At midday I +was startled by the groanings of some animals in pain. The +tigress had sprung among a herd of buffalo and with successive strokes of its mighty paws had +killed two buffaloes and left them in the field. Kaloo Singh +waited there for the return of the tigress to the kill. There was +not a tree near by; only there was a low bush behind which he lay +crouched. After hours of waiting as the sun was going down he was +taken aback by the sudden apparition of the tigress which stood +within six feet of him. His limbs had become half paralysed from +cold and his crouching position. Trying to raise his gun he could +take no aim as his arm was shaking with involuntary fear. Kaloo +Singh explained to me afterwards how he succeeded in shaking off +his mortal terror. "I quietly said to myself, <span class= +'pagenum'><a name="Page_196" id= +"Page_196">[Pg_196]</a></span>Kaloo Singh, Kaloo Singh, who sent +you here? Did not the villagers put their trust on you! I could +then no longer lie in hiding, and I stood up and something +strange and invigorating crept up strength into my +body. All the trembling went and I became as hard as steel. The +tigress had seen me and with eyes blazing crouched for the spring +lashing its tail. Only six feet lay between. She sprang and my +gun also went off at the same time and she missed her aim and +fell dead close to me." That was how a common villager went off +to meet death at the call of something for which he could give no +name and the mother and wife of Kaloo Singh had also bidden him +go. There are millions of Kaloo Singhs with mother and sisters +and wife to send them forth. And you too have many loved ones who +would themselves bid you arm for the defence of your homes.</p> +<p style= +"text-align: center; font-weight: 600; font-size: 1.0em; margin-top: 2.0em"> +DIFFERENCE OF TEMPERAMENT</p> +<p class="indent">The issue is clear, and immediate action is +imperative. But action is delayed by misunderstanding arising out +of temperamental differences between the Governing Class and the +People. Curiously enough the respective responsive +characteristics of the Anglo Saxon and the Indians are paralleled by the two types of responses seen in +all living matter. In the one type the response is slow but +proportionate to the stimulus that excites it. The response +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_197" id= +"Page_197">[Pg_197]</a></span>grows with the strength of external +force. In the other it is quite different—here it is an +all-or-none principle. It either responds to +the utmost or nothing at all. This is also illustrated in the +different racial characteristics. The Anglo Saxon has even by his +rights by struggle, step by step. The insignificant little has, +by accumulation, became large, and which has been gained, has +been gained for all time. But in the Indian the ideal and the +emotional are the only effective stimulus. The ideal of his King +is Rama, who renounced his kingdom and even his beloved for an +idea. One day a king and another day a bare-footed wanderer in +the forest! Who cares? All or nothing!</p> +<p class="indent">The concessions made by a modern form of +Government safeguarded by necessary limitations may appear almost +as grudging gifts. The Indian wants something which comes with +unhesitating frankness and warmth and strikes his ideality and +imagination. But ancient and modern kingship are sometimes at one +in direct and spontaneous pronouncement of the royal sympathy. +Such was the Proclamation of Queen Victoria which stirred to its +depths the popular heart.</p> +<p class="indent">"In the Prosperity of Our subjects will be our +strength, in their contentment Our security, in their Gratitude +Our best Reward."</p> +<p class="indent">That there are increasingly frequent reflexes +in <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_198" id= +"Page_198">[Pg_198]</a></span>our Government to popular needs and +wishes is happily illustrated at a most opportune moment from the +statements in the recent <i>Gazette of India</i> and cables +received from London. In the former we find that the Viceroy and +his council had recommended the abolition of the system of +indentured labour. In the telegram from London Mr. Chamberlain +states that the Viceroy has informed him that Indians will be +eligible for commissions in the New Defence of India Army.</p> +<p style= +"text-align: center; font-weight: 600; font-size: 1.0em; margin-top: 2.0em"> +MARCH OF WORLD TRAGEDY</p> +<p class="indent">In the meantime the Embodiment of World Tragedy +is marching with giant strides. Brief will be his hesitation +whether he will choose to step first to the East or to the West. +Already across the Atlantic, they are preparing for the dreaded +visitation. In the farthest East they have long been prepared. We +alone are not ready. Pity for our helplessness will not stay the +impending disaster, rather provoke it. When that comes, as +assuredly it will unless we are prepared to resist, havoc will be +let loose and horrors perpetrated before which the imagination +quails back in dismay.</p> +<p class="indent">I have tried to lay before you as +dispassionately as I could the issues involved. But some of you +may cry out and say, we can not live in cold scientific and +philosophic abstractions. Emotion is more <span class= +'pagenum'><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[Pg_199]</a></span>to +us than pure reasoning. We cannot stay in this indecision which +is paralysing our wills and crushing the soul out of us. The +world is offering their best and behold them marching to be +immolated so that by the supreme offering of death they might win +safety and honor for their motherland. There is no time for +wavering. We too will throw in our lot with those who are +fighting. They say that by our lives we shall win for our +birth-land an honoured place in their federation. We +shall trust them. We shall stand by their side and fight for our +home and homeland. And let Providence shape the Issue.</p> +<p style= +"text-align: center; font-weight: 600; font-size: 1.25em; margin-top: 3.0em"> +THE <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_200" id= +"Page_200">[Pg_200]</a></span>VOICE OF LIFE</p> +<p class="indent">The following is the Inaugural Address +delivered by Sir J. C. Bose, on the 30th November 1917, in +dedicating the Bose Institute to the Nation.</p> +<p class="indent">I dedicate to-day this Institute—not +merely a Laboratory but a Temple. The power of physical methods +applies for the establishment of that truth which can be realised +directly through our senses, or through the vast expansion of the +perceptive range by means of artificially created organs. We +still gather the tremulous message when the note of the audible +reaches the unheard. When human sight fails, we continue to +explore the region of the invisible. The little that we can see +is as nothing compared to the vastness of that which we cannot. +Out of the very imperfection of his senses man has built himself +a raft of thought by which he makes daring adventures on the +great seas of the Unknown. But there are other truths which will +remain beyond even the supersensitive methods known to science. +For these we require faith, tested not in a few years but by an +entire life. And a temple is erected as a fit memorial for the +establishment of that truth for which faith was needed. The +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_201" id= +"Page_201">[Pg_201]</a></span>personal, yet general, truth and +faith whose establishment this Institute commemorates is this: +that when one dedicates himself wholly for a great object, the +closed doors shall open, and the seemingly impossible will become +possible for him.</p> +<p class="indent">Thirty-two years ago I chose teaching of +science as my vocation. It was held that by its very peculiar +constitution, the Indian mind would always turn away from the +study of Nature to metaphysical speculations. Even had the +capacity for inquiry and accurate observation been assumed +present, there were no opportunities for their employment; there +were no well-equipped laboratories nor skilled mechanicians. This +was all too true. It is for man not to quarrel with circumstances +but bravely accept them; and we belong to that race and dynasty +who had accomplished great things with simple means.</p> +<p style= +"text-align: center; font-weight: 600; font-size: 1.0em; margin-top: 2.0em"> +FAILURE AND SUCCESS</p> +<p class="indent">This day twenty-three years ago, I resolved +that as far as the whole-hearted devotion and faith of one man +counted, that would not be wanting and within six months it came +about that some of the most difficult problems connected with +Electric Waves found their solution in my Laboratory and received +high appreciation from Lord Kelvin, Lord Rayleigh and other +leading physicists. The Royal Society <span class= +'pagenum'><a name="Page_202" id= +"Page_202">[Pg_202]</a></span>honoured me by publishing my +discoveries and offering, of their own accord, an appropriation +from the special Parliamentary Grant for the advancement of +knowledge. That day the closed gates suddenly opened and I hoped +that the torch that was then lighted would continue to burn +brighter, and brighter. But man's faith and hope require repeated +testing. For five years after this, the progress was interrupted; +yet when the most generous and wide appreciation of my work had +reached almost the highest point there came a sudden and +unexpected change.</p> +<p style= +"text-align: center; font-weight: 600; font-size: 1.0em; margin-top: 2.0em"> +LIVING AND NON-LIVING</p> +<p class="indent">In the pursuit of my investigations I was +unconsciously led into the border region of physics and +physiology and was amazed to find boundary lines vanishing and +points of contact emerge between the realms of the Living and +Non-living. Inorganic matter was found anything but inert; it +also was a thrill under the action of multitudinous forces that +played on it. A universal reaction seemed to bring together +metal, plant and animal under a common law. They all exhibited +essentially the same phenomena of fatigue and depression, +together with possibilities of recovery and of exaltation, yet +also that of permanent irresponsiveness which is associated with +death. I was filled with awe at this stupendous <span class= +'pagenum'><a name="Page_203" id= +"Page_203">[Pg_203]</a></span>generalisation; and it was with +great hope that I announced my results before the Royal +Society,—results demonstrated by experiments. But the +physiologists present advised me, after my address, to confine +myself to physical investigations in which my success had been +assured, rather than encroach on their preserve. I had thus +unwittingly strayed into the domain of a new and unfamiliar caste +system and so offended its etiquette. An unconscious theological +bias was also present which confounds ignorance with faith. It is +forgotten that He, who surrounded us with this ever-evolving +mystery of creation, the ineffable wonder that lies hidden in the +microcosm of the dust particle, enclosing within the intricacies +of its atomic form all the mystery of the cosmos, has also +implanted in us the desire to question and understand. To the +theological bias was added the misgivings about the inherent bent +of the Indian mind towards mysticism and unchecked imagination. +But in India this burning imagination which can extort new order +out of a mass of apparently contradictory facts, is also held in +check by the habit of meditation. It is this restraint which +confers the power to hold the mind in pursuit of truth, in +infinite patience, to wait, and reconsider, to experimentally +test and repeatedly verify.</p> +<p class="indent">It is but natural that there should be +prejudice, even in science, against all innovations; and I was +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_204" id= +"Page_204">[Pg_204]</a></span>prepared to wait till the first +incredulity could be overcome by further cumulative evidence. +Unfortunately there were other incidents and misrepresentations +which it was impossible to remove from this insulating distance. Thus no conditions could have +been more desperately hopeless than those which confronted me for +the next twelve years. It is necessary to make this brief +reference to this period of my life; for one who would devote +himself to the search of truth must realise that for him there +awaits no easy life, but one of unending struggle. It is for him +to cast his life as an offering, regarding gain and loss, success +and failure, as one. Yet in my case this long persisting gloom +was suddenly lifted. My scientific deputation in 1914, from the +Government of India, gave the opportunity of giving +demonstrations of my discoveries before the leading scientific +societies of the world. This led to the acceptance of my theories +and results, and the recognition of the importance of the Indian +contribution to the advancement of the world's science. My own +experience told me how heavy, sometimes even crushing, are the +difficulties which confront an inquirer here in India; yet it +made me stronger in my determination, that I shall make the path +of those who are to follow me less arduous, and that India, is +never to relinquish what has been won for her after years of +struggle.</p> +<p style= +"text-align: center; font-weight: 600; font-size: 1.0em; margin-top: 2.0em"> +THE <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_205" id= +"Page_205">[Pg_205]</a></span>TWO IDEALS</p> +<p class="indent">What is it that India is to win and maintain? +Can anything small or circumscribed ever satisfy the mind of +India? Has her own history and the teaching of the past prepared +her for some temporary and quite subordinate gain? There are at +this moment two complementary and not antagonistic ideals before +the country. India is drawn into the vortex of international +competition. She has to become efficient in every +way,—through spread of education, through performance of +civic duties and responsibilities, through activities both +industrial and commercial. Neglect of these essentials of +national duty will imperil her very existence; and sufficient +stimulus for these will be found in success and satisfaction of +personal ambition.</p> +<p class="indent">But these alone do not ensure the life of a +nation. Such material activities have brought in the West their +fruit, in accession of power and wealth. There has been a +feverish rush even in the realm of science, for exploiting +applications of knowledge, not so often for saving as for +destruction. In the absence of some power of restraint, +civilisation is trembling in an unstable poise on the brink of +ruin. Some complementary ideal there must be to save man from +that mad rush which must end in disaster. He has followed the +lure and excitement of some insatiable ambition, never pausing +for a moment to think of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_206" +id="Page_206">[Pg_206]</a></span>the ultimate object for which +success was to serve as a temporary incentive. He forgot that far +more potent than competition was mutual help and co-operation in +the scheme of life. And in this country through milleniums, there +always have been some who, beyond the immediate and absorbing +prize of the hour, sought for the realisation of the highest +ideal of life—not through passive renunciation, but through +active struggle. The weakling who has refused the conflict, +having acquired nothing has nothing to renounce. He alone who has +striven and won, can enrich the world by giving away the fruits +of his victorious experience. In India such examples of constant +realisation of ideals through work have resulted in the formation +of a continuous living tradition. And by her latent power of +rejuvenescence she has readjusted herself through infinite +transformations. Thus while the soul of Babylon and the Nile +Valley have transmigrated, ours still remains vital and with +capacity of absorbing what time has brought, and making it one +with itself.</p> +<p class="indent">The ideal of giving, of enriching, in fine, of +self-renunciation in response to the highest call of humanity is +the other and complementary ideal. The motive power for this is +not to be found in personal ambition but in the effacement of all +littlenesses, and uprooting of that ignorance which regards +anything as gain which is to be purchased <span class= +'pagenum'><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[Pg_207]</a></span>at +others' loss. This I know, that no vision of truth can come +except in the absence of all sources of distraction, and when the +mind has reached the point of rest.</p> +<p class="indent">Public life, and the various professions will +be the appropriate spheres of activity for many aspiring young +men. But for my disciples, I call on those very few, who, +realising inner call, will devote their whole life with +strengthened character and determined purpose to take part in +that infinite struggle to win knowledge for its own sake and see +truth face to face.</p> +<p style= +"text-align: center; font-weight: 600; font-size: 1.0em; margin-top: 2.0em"> +ADVANCEMENT AND DIFFUSION OF KNOWLEDGE</p> +<p class="indent">The work already carried out in my laboratory +on the response of matter, and the unexpected revelations in +plant life, foreshadowing the wonders of the highest animal life, +have opened out very extended regions of inquiry in Physics, in +physiology in Medicine, in Agriculture and even in Psychology. +Problems, hitherto regarded as insoluble, have now been brought +within the sphere of experimental investigation. These inquiries +are obviously more extensive than those customary either among +physicists or physiologists, since demanding interests and +aptitudes hitherto more or less divided between them. In the +study of Nature, there is a <span class='pagenum'><a name= +"Page_208" id="Page_208">[Pg_208]</a></span>necessity of the dual +view point, this alternating yet rhythmically unified interaction +of biological thought with physical studies, and physical thought +with biological studies. The future worker with his freshened +grasp of physics, his fuller conception of the inorganic world, +as indeed thrilling with "the promise and potency of life" will +redouble his former energies of work and thought. Thus he will be +in a position to win now the old knowledge with finer sieves, to research it +with new enthusiasm and subtler instruments. And thus with +thought and toil and time he may hope to bring fresher views into +the old problems. His handling of these will be at once more +vital and more kinetic, more comprehensive and unified.</p> +<p class="indent">The farther and fuller investigation of the +many and ever-opening problems of the nascent science which +includes both Life and Non-Life are among the main purposes of +the Institute I am opening to-day; in these fields I am already +fortunate in having a devoted band of disciples, whom I have been +training for the last ten years. Their number is very limited, +but means may perhaps be forthcoming in the future to increase +them. An enlarging field of young ability may thus be available, +from which will emerge, with time and labour, individual +originality of research, productive invention and some day even +creative genius.</p> +<p class="indent"><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_209" id= +"Page_209">[Pg_209]</a></span>But high success is not to be +obtained without corresponding experimental exactitude, and this +is needed to-day more than ever, and to-morrow yet more again. +Hence the long battery of supersensitive instruments and +apparatus, designed here, which stand before in their cases in +our entrance hall. They will tell you of the protracted struggle +to get behind the deceptive seeming into the reality that +remained unseen;—of the continuous toil and persistence and +of ingenuity called forth for overcoming human limitations. In +these directions through the ever-increasing ingenuity of device +for advancing science, I see at no distant future an advance of +skill and of invention among our workers; and if this skill be +assured, practical applications will not fail to follow in many +fields of human activity.</p> +<p class="indent">The advance of science is the principal object +of this Institute and also the diffusion of knowledge. We are +here in the largest of all the many chambers of this House of +Knowledge—its Lecture Room. In adding this feature, and on +a scale hitherto unprecedented in a Research Institute, I have +sought permanently to associate the advancement of knowledge with +the widest possible civic and public diffusion of it; and this +without any academic limitations, henceforth to all races and +languages, to both men and women alike, and for all time +coming.</p> +<p class="indent"><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_210" id= +"Page_210">[Pg_210]</a></span>The lectures given here will not be +mere repetitions of second-hand knowledge. They will announce to +an audience of some fifteen hundred people, the new discoveries +made here, which will be demonstrated for the first time before +the public. We shall thus maintain continuously the highest aim +of a great Seat of Learning by taking active part in the +<i>advancement</i> and diffusion of knowledge. Through the +regular publication of the Transactions of the Institute, these +Indian contributions will reach the whole world. The discoveries +made will thus become public property. No patents will ever be +taken. The spirit of our national culture demands that we should +for ever be free from the desecration of utilising knowledge for +personal gain. Besides the regular staff there will be a selected +number of scholars, who by their work have shown special +aptitude, and who would devote their whole life to the pursuit of +research. They will require personal training and their number +must necessarily be limited. But it is not the quantity but +quality that is of essential importance.</p> +<p class="indent">It is my further wish, that as far as the +limited accommodation would permit, the facilities of this +Institute should be available to workers from all countries. In +this I am attempting to carry out the traditions of my country, +which so far back as twenty-five centuries ago, welcomed all +scholars <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_211" id= +"Page_211">[Pg_211]</a></span>from different parts of the world, +within the precincts of its ancient seats of learning, at Nalanda +and at Taxilla.</p> +<p style= +"text-align: center; font-weight: 600; font-size: 1.0em; margin-top: 2.0em"> +THE SURGE OF LIFE</p> +<p class="indent">With this widened outlook, we shall not only +maintain the highest traditions of the past but also serve the +world in nobler ways. We shall be at one with it in feeling the +common surgings of life, the common love for the good, the true +and the beautiful. In this Institute, this Study and Garden of +Life, the claim of art has not been forgotten, for the artist has +been working with us, from foundation to pinnacle, and from floor +to ceiling of this very Hall. And beyond that arch the Laboratory +merges imperceptibly into the garden, which is the true +laboratory for the study of Life. There the creepers, the plants +and the trees are played upon by their natural +environments,—sunlight and wind, and the chill at midnight +under the vault of starry space. There are other surroundings +also, where they will be subjected to chromatic action of +different lights, to invisible rays, to electrified ground or +thunder-charged atmosphere. Everywhere they will transcribe in +their own script the history of their experience. From this lofty +point of observation, sheltered by the trees, the student will +watch this panorama of life. Isolated from all distractions, he +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_212" id= +"Page_212">[Pg_212]</a></span>will learn to attune himself with +Nature; the obscuring veil will be lifted and he will gradually +come to see how community throughout the great ocean of life +outweighs apparent dissimilarity. Out of discord he will realise +the great harmony.</p> +<p style= +"text-align: center; font-weight: 600; font-size: 1.0em; margin-top: 2.0em"> +THE OUTLOOK</p> +<p class="indent">These are the dreams that wove a network round +my wakeful life for many years past. The outlook is endless, for +the goal is at infinity. The realisation cannot be through one +life or one fortune but through the co-operation of many lives +and many fortunes. The possibility of a fuller expansion will +depend on very large endowments. But a beginning must be made, +and this is the genesis of the foundation of this Institute. I +came with nothing and shall return as I came; if something is +accomplished in the interval, that would indeed be a privilege. +What I have I will offer, and one who had shared with me the +struggles and hardships that had to be faced, has wished to +bequeath all that is hers for the same object. In all my +struggling efforts I have not been altogether solitary while the +world doubted, there had been a few, now in the City of Silence, +who never wavered in their trust.</p> +<p class="indent">Till a few weeks ago it seemed that I shall +have to look to the future for securing the necessary expansion +of scope and for permanence of the <span class='pagenum'><a name= +"Page_213" id="Page_213">[Pg_213]</a></span>Institute. But +response is being awakened in answer to the need. The Government +have most generously intimated their desire to sanction grants +towards placing the Institute on a permanent basis the extent of +which will be proportionate to the public interest in this +national undertaking. Out of many who would feel an interest in +securing adequate Endowment, the very first donations have come +from two of the merchant princes of Bombay, to whom I had been +personally unknown.</p> +<p class="indent">A note that touched me deeply came from some +girl students of the Western Province, enclosing their little +contribution "for the service of our common motherland." It is only the instinctive +mother-heart that can truly realise the bond that draws together +the nurselings of the common homeland. +There can be no real misgiving for the future when at the +country's call man offers the strength of his life and woman her +active devotion, she most of all, who has the greater insight and +larger faith because of the life of austerity and +self-abnegation. Even a solitary wayfarer in the Himalayas has +remembered to send me message of cheer and good hope. What is it +that has bridged over the distance and blotted out all +differences? That I will come gradually to know; till then it +will remain enshrined as a feeling. And I go forward to my +appointed task, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_214" id= +"Page_214">[Pg_214]</a></span>undismayed by difficulties, +companioned by the kind thoughts of my well-wishers, both far and +near.</p> +<p style= +"text-align: center; font-weight: 600; font-size: 1.0em; margin-top: 2.0em"> +INDIA'S SPECIAL APTITUDES IN CONTRIBUTION TO SCIENCE</p> +<p class="indent">The excessive specialisation of modern science +in the West has led to the danger of losing sight of the +fundamental fact that there can be but one truth, one science +which includes all the branches of knowledge. How chaotic appear +the happenings in Nature? Is nature a Cosmos! in which the human +mind is some day to realise the uniform march of sequence, order +and law? India through her habit of mind is peculiarly fitted to +realise the idea of unity, and to see in the phenomenal world an +orderly universe. This trend of thought led me unconsciously to +the dividing frontiers of different sciences and shaped the +course of my work in its constant alternations between the +theoretical and the practical, from the investigation of the +inorganic world to that of organised life and its multifarious +activities of growth, of movement, and even of sensation. On +looking over a hundred and fifty different lines of +investigations carried on during the last twenty-three years, I +now discover in them a natural sequence. The study of Electric +Waves led to the devising of methods for the production of the +shortest electric waves known and these bridged <span class= +'pagenum'><a name="Page_215" id= +"Page_215">[Pg_215]</a></span>over the gulf between visible and +invisible light; from this followed accurate investigation on the +optical properties of invisible waves, the determination of the +refractive powers of various opaque substances, the discovery of +effect of air film on total reflection and the polarising +properties of strained rocks and of electric tourmalines. The +invention of a new type of self-recovering electric receiver made +of galena was the fore-runner of application of crystal detectors +for extending the range of wireless signals. In physical +chemistry the detection of molecular change in matter under +electric stimulation, led to a new theory of photographic action. +The fruitful theory of stereochemistry was strengthened by the +production of two kinds of artificial molecules, which like the +two kinds of sugar, rotated the polarised electric wave either to +the right or to the left. Again the 'fatigue' of my receivers led +to the discovery of universal sensitiveness inherent in matter as +shown by its electric response. It was next possible to study +this response in its modification under changing environment, of +which its exaltation under stimulants and its abolition under +poisons are among the most astonishing outward manifestations. +And as a single example of the many applications of this fruitful +discovery, the characteristics of an artificial retina gave a +clue to the unexpected discovery <span class='pagenum'><a name= +"Page_216" id="Page_216">[Pg_216]</a></span>of "binocular +alternation of vision" in man;—each eye thus supplements +its fellow by turns, instead of acting as a continuously yoked +pair, as hitherto believed.</p> +<p style= +"text-align: center; font-weight: 600; font-size: 1.0em; margin-top: 2.0em"> +PLANT LIFE AND ANIMAL LIFE</p> +<p class="indent">In natural sequence to the investigations of +the response in 'inorganic' matter, has followed a prolonged +study of the activities of plant-life as compared with the +corresponding functioning of animal life. But since plants for +the most part seem motionless and passive, and are indeed limited +in their range of movement, special apparatus of extreme delicacy +had to be invented, which should magnify the tremor of excitation +and also measure the perception period of a plant to a thousandth +part of a second. Ultra-microscopic movements were measured and +recorded; the length measured being often smaller than a fraction +of a single wave-length of light. The secret of plant life was +thus for the first time revealed by the autographs of the plant +itself. This evidence of the plant's own script removed the +long-standing error which divided the +vegetable world into sensitive and insensitive. The remarkable +performance of the Praying Palm Tree of Faridpore, which bows, as +if to prostrate itself, every evening, is only one of the latest +instances which show that the supposed insensibility of plants +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_217" id= +"Page_217">[Pg_217]</a></span>and still more of rigid tree is to +be ascribed to wrong theory and defective observation. My +investigations show that all plants, even the trees, are fully +alive to changes of environment; they respond visibly to all +stimuli, even to the slight fluctuations of light caused by a +drifting cloud. This series of investigations has completely +established the fundamental identity of life-reactions in plant +and animal, as seen in a similar periodic insensibility in both, +corresponding to what we call sleep; as seen in the death-spasm, +which takes place in the plant as in the animal. This unity in +organic life is also exhibited in that +spontaneous pulsation which in the animal is heart-beat; it +appears in the identical effects of stimulants, anaesthetics and +of poisons in vegetable and animal tissues. This physiological +identity in the effect of drugs is regarded by leading physicians +as of great significance in the scientific advance of Medicine; +since here we have a means of testing the effect of drugs under +conditions far simpler than those presented by the patient far +subtler too, as well as more humane than those of experiments on +animals.</p> +<p class="indent">Growth of plants and its variations under +different treatment is instantly recorded by my Crescograph. +Authorities expect this method of investigation will advance +practical agriculture; since for the first time we are able to +analyse and study separately the <span class='pagenum'><a name= +"Page_218" id="Page_218">[Pg_218]</a></span>conditions which +modify the rate of growth. Experiments which would have taken +months and their results vitiated by unknown changes, can now be +carried out in a few minutes.</p> +<p class="indent">Returning to pure science, no phenomena in +plant life are so extremely varied or have yet been more +incapable of generalisation than the "tropic" movements, such as +the twining of tendrils, the heliotropic movements of some +towards and of others away from light, and the opposite geotropic +movements of the root and shoot, in the direction of gravitation +or away from it. My latest investigations recently communicated +to the Royal Society have established a single fundamental +reaction which underlies all these effects so extremely +diverse.</p> +<p class="indent">Finally, I may say a word of that other new and +unexpected chapter which is opening out from my demonstration of +nervous impulse in plants. The speed with which the nervous +impulse courses through the plant has been determined; its +nervous excitability and the variation of that excitability have +likewise been measured. The nervous impulse in plant and in man +is found exalted or inhibited under identical conditions. We may +even follow this parallelism in what may seem extreme cases. A +plant carefully protected under glass from outside shocks, looks +sleek and flourishing; but its higher nervous function is then +found to <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_219" id= +"Page_219">[Pg_219]</a></span>be atrophied. But when a succession +of blows is rained on this effect and bloated specimen, the +shocks themselves create nervous channels and arouse anew the +deteriorated nature. And is it not shocks of adversity, and not +cotton-wool protection, that evolve true manhood?</p> +<p class="indent">A question long perplexing physiologists and +psychologists alike is that concerned with the great mystery that +underlies memory. But now through certain experiments I have +carried out, it is possible to trace "memory impressions" +backwards even in inorganic matter, such latent impressions being +capable of subsequent revival. Again the tone of our sensation is +determined by the intensity of nervous excitation that reaches +the central perceiving organ. It would theoretically be possible +to change the tone or quality of our sensation, if means could be +discovered by which the nervous impulse would become modified +during transit. Investigation on nervous impulse in plants has +led to the discovery of a controlling method, which was found +equally effective in regard to the nervous impulse in animal.</p> +<p class="indent">Thus the lines of physics, of physiology and of +psychology converge and meet. And here will assemble those who +would seek oneness amidst the manifold. Here it is that the +genius of India should find its true blossoming.</p> +<p class="indent">The thrill in matter, the throb of life, the +pulse of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_220" id= +"Page_220">[Pg_220]</a></span>growth, the impulse coursing +through the nerve and the resulting sensations, how diverse are +these and yet how unified! How strange it is that the tremor of +excitation in nervous matter should not merely be transmitted but +transmuted and reflected like the image on a mirror, from a +different plane of life, in sensation and in affection, in +thought and in emotion. Of these which is more real, the material +body or the image which is independent of it? Which of these is +undecaying, and which of these is beyond the reach of death?</p> +<p class="indent">It was a woman in the Vedic times, who when +asked to take her choice of the wealth that would be hers for the +asking, inquired whether that would win for her deathlessness. +What would she do with it, if it did not raise her above death? +This has always been the cry of the soul of India, not for +addition of material bondage, but to work out through struggle +her self-chosen destiny and win immortality. Many a nation had +risen in the past and won the empire of the world. A few buried +fragments are all that remain as memorials of the great dynasties +that wielded the temporal power. There is, however, another +element which find its incarnation in matter, yet transcends its +transmutation and apparent destruction: that is the burning flame +born of thought which has been handed down through fleeting +generations.</p> +<p class="indent"><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_221" id= +"Page_221">[Pg_221]</a></span>Not in matter, but in thought, not +in possessions or even in attainments but in ideals, are to be +found the seed of immortality. Not through material acquisition +but in generous diffusion of ideas and ideals can the true empire +of humanity be established. Thus to Asoka to whom belonged this +vast empire, bounded by the inviolate seas, after he had tried to +ransom the world by giving away to the utmost, there came a time +when he had nothing more to give, except one half of an +<i>Amlaki</i> fruit. This was his last possession and anguished +cry was that since he had nothing more to give, let the half of +the <i>Amlaki</i> be accepted as his final gift.</p> +<p class="indent">Asoka's emblem of the <i>Amlaki</i> will be +seen on the cornices of the Institute, and towering above all is +the symbol of the thunderbolt. It was the Rishi Dadhichi, the +pure and blameless, who offered his life that the divine weapon, +the thunderbolt, might be fashioned out of his bones to smite +evil and exalt righteousness. It is but half of the <i>Amlaki</i> +that we can offer now. But the past shall be reborn in a yet +nobler future. We stand here to-day and resume work to-morrow so +that by the efforts of our lives and our unshaken faith in the +future we may all help to build the greater India yet to be.</p> +<p style= +"text-align: center; font-weight: 600; font-size: 1.25em; margin-top: 3.0em"> +THE <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_222" id= +"Page_222">[Pg_222]</a></span>PRAYING PALM OF FARIDPUR</p> +<p class="indent">Under the presidency of Lord Ronaldshay Sir J. +C. Bose delivered a lecture on Friday the 4th January 1918, at +the "Bose Institute" on 'The Praying Palm-tree.' He said:</p> +<p class="indent">Perhaps no phenomenon is so remarkable and +shrouded with greater mystery as the performances of a particular +palm tree near Faridpore. In the evening while the temple bells +ring calling upon people to prayer, this tree bows down as if +prostrate itself. It erects its head again in the morning, and +this process is repeated every day during the year. This +extraordinary phenomenon has been regarded as miraculous, and +pilgrims have been attracted in great numbers. It is alleged that +offerings made to the tree, that is to say to the custodian of +the tree, have been the means effecting marvellous cures. It is +not necessary to pronounce any opinion on the subject; these +cures may be taken as effective as other faith cures now so +fashionable in the West.</p> +<p class="indent">I first obtained photographs of the two +positions which proved the phenomenon to be real. The +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_223" id= +"Page_223">[Pg_223]</a></span>next thing was to devise special +apparatus to record continuously the movement of the tree day and +night. But difficulties were encountered in getting the consent +of the proprietor to attach foreign instruments to the sacred +tree. His misgivings were however removed when it was explained +that the instruments were pure Swadeshi, being made in my +Laboratory. The records of the Palm Tree showed that it fell with +the rise of temperature, and rose with the fall. Records obtained +with other trees brought out the extraordinary and unsuspected +fact that all trees are moving—such movements being in +response to changes in their environment.</p> +<p style= +"text-align: center; font-weight: 600; font-size: 1.0em; margin-top: 2.0em"> +SENSITIVE OR INSENSITIVE?</p> +<p class="indent">That not a "Mimosa" alone, but all plants are +sensitive was demonstrated by some striking experiments. A spiral +tendril, under electric shock was shown +to writhe imitating the contortions of a tortured worm. In +ordinary plants, all sides being equally sensitive contraction +takes place on all directions with resulting neutral effect. +Another striking experiment was to show how ordinary plants could +be made sensitive by the mere process of amputation of the +balancing half? Further experiments were shown demonstrating the +effects of light, of warmth and other stimuli on the plant. +Warmth worked antagonistically to light. The <span class= +'pagenum'><a name="Page_224" id= +"Page_224">[Pg_224]</a></span>numerous permutations brought about +by two changing variations were shown by a mechanical hand, which +traced most complicated curves. In actual life the number of +changing factors are very numerous, hence the intricacy involved +in the manifestations of life.</p> +<p class="indent">The experiments that have been shown will help +the audience to realise in some measure that the world we live in +is not a theatre of caprice or chance, but that an all pervading +law holds and regulates its destiny. We have seen that the vast +expanse of life which is unvoiced, seemingly, so impassive, is +instinct with sensibility. Thus the whole of the vegetable world, +including rigid trees perceive the changes in their environment +and respond to them by unmistakable signals. They thrill under +light and become depressed by darkness; the warmth of summer and +frost of winter, drought and rain, these and +many other happenings leave a subtle impression on the life of +the plant. By invention of apparatus of extreme delicacy, it is +possible to make the plant itself write down the history of its +own experience in a hieroglyphic which it is possible to +decipher. From these pages, taken from the diary of the plant, it +will perhaps be possible some day to get an insight into the +great mystery that surrounds life itself. For I shall in the +course of lectures given here show how the life of plants is +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_225" id= +"Page_225">[Pg_225]</a></span>a mere reflection of our own. I +shall show how shocks and wounds affect them as they affect +animals; how a common death-throb marks the crisis when life +passes into death. The exuberance of life, on the other hand, +will be shown by pulsing throbs of animal's heart and spontaneous +beat in vegetal tissues. Another aspect of this exuberance will +be shown in the imperceptible growth of plants. My recently +invented Crescograph, to be exhibited at my lecture a fortnight +hence, will magnify growth a million-fold and record ultra +microscopic movements, smaller than a single wave length of +light. By this apparatus growth will be instantaneously recorded +and conditions which foster or inhibit growth discriminated. I +shall demonstrate my discovery of the nervous system in plants, +and show how shocks from without pass within, and how this +nervous impulse modified during transit. It will further be shown +how various stimulants, anesthetics +and poison induce effects which are identical in man and in +plant. It will be obvious how these studies will open new fields +of inquiry in different branches of science; in Physiology and Psychology; in Medicine and in +Agriculture.</p> +<p class="indent">—<i>Amrita Bazar Patrika</i>, +7-1-1918.</p> +<p style= +"text-align: center; font-weight: 600; font-size: 1.25em; margin-top: 3.0em"> +VISUALISATION <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_226" id= +"Page_226">[Pg_226]</a></span>OF GROWTH</p> +<p class="indent">Sir J. C. Bose delivered on the 18th January +1918, at the Bose Institute, the second of the series of +discourses on revelations of plant life. This time the audience +had the opportunity of witnessing the working of Bose's newly +perfected Crescograph which is undoubtedly one of the marvels in +modern Science. For this apparatus gives a visual demonstration +of movements which are far beyond the highest powers of +microscope. The invisible internal workings of life are thus for +the first time revealed to man.</p> +<p style= +"text-align: center; font-weight: 600; font-size: 1.0em; margin-top: 2.0em"> +LAW VERSUS CAPRICE</p> +<p class="indent">The lecturer first described the infinite +variations in life reactions in plants. The same external +stimulus, he said apparently produces one effect in one plant; +and precisely opposite in another. Some leaves move towards light; others are repelled by it. The root +bends towards the centre of the earth, the shoot rises above away +from it. Numerous other "tropic" movements are caused by +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_227" id= +"Page_227">[Pg_227]</a></span>contact, by electricity, by +moisture and by invisible radiations. These effects appear so +extremely diverse and capricious that some of the leading +physiologists were forced to come to the conclusion that there +was no law guiding such movement, but that the plant decides for +itself what should be the effect of external conditions on +it.</p> +<p style= +"text-align: center; font-weight: 600; font-size: 1.0em; margin-top: 2.0em"> +RECORD OF GROWTH</p> +<p class="indent">Most of these tropic movements are brought +about by changes induced in growth by the action of different +forces. But growth is so excessively slow that slight changes +induced in it is impossible of detection. The proverbially slow +paced snail moves two thousand times faster than the growing +point of a plant. Hence to visualise growth and its changes, +apparatus has to be invented which would magnify growth something +like a million times. If such a thing were possible the pace of +the snail would be quickened to the speed of a rifle bullet. The +difficulties in connection with the devising and construction of +apparatus with this extraordinary power appeared at first an +impossibility. The Jewels for the fittings of the apparatus could +not be found fine enough. The lecturer had to discard ordinary +jewels for diamonds, such bearings being only made in Germany. +But the outbreak of the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_228" +id="Page_228">[Pg_228]</a></span>war put an end to this source of +supply. He had then to turn to resources available in India.</p> +<p style= +"text-align: center; font-weight: 600; font-size: 1.0em; margin-top: 2.0em"> +ADVANCE OF AGRICULTURE</p> +<p class="indent">The invention of method for immediate record of +growth and its variations under various conditions is one of +immense practical importance. Experiments on gigantic scales are +in progress all over the world for this purpose. At Rothamstead, +this work has been going on for more than half a century. The +great Department of Agriculture in Mashington spends millions +every year on such experiments, there being a thousand men +employed in research. Recently many experiments have been +undertaken on the effect of electricity on growth. The results +obtained have been mostly contradictory. For real advance in +agriculture we must first discover the laws of growth. Ordinary +experiments on growth are of little value because they take weeks +for detecting changes of growth which might have been brought +about by charges in the environment. The only satisfactory method +is to devise an apparatus which would make the plant itself +record the rate of its growth, and the changes induced by food or +treatment in the course of less than a minute, during which short +time it is possible to maintain external conditions constant.</p> +<p style= +"text-align: center; font-weight: 600; font-size: 1.0em; margin-top: 2.0em"> +THE <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_229" id= +"Page_229">[Pg_229]</a></span>MAGNETIC CRESCOGRAPH</p> +<p class="indent">All the difficulties connected with the +devising of apparatus has been completely removed by the +lecturer's successful invention of his new magnetic crescograph +in which practically unlimited magnification is obtained without +the difficulties arising from the unavoidable friction of +bearings. Magnetic forces are so exactly balanced that a +disturbance in the balance caused by slightest movements such as +that of growth is magnified ten millions of times. The +application of this new principle will be of great importance in +various investigations in Physics.</p> +<p class="indent">Sir J. C. Bose next demonstrated some +marvellous results obtained with his apparatus. A seedling which +on account of the Winter season appeared stationary jotted down +by taps on a moving plate, the rate of its growth. The +application of a chemical instantly arrested this growth, but an +antidote timely applied, not only removed the torpor but enhanced +the growth at an enormous rate. The life of the plant became +pliant at the will of the experimenter, and nothing appeared more +marvellous than the realisation that man has the power to pierce +the veil that shrouds the mystery that had hitherto baffled +him.</p> +<p class="indent">The lecturer explained how the effect of a +given agent—a chemical solution or an electric +current—<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_230" id= +"Page_230">[Pg_230]</a></span>is profoundly modified by the dose +a given intensity, producing one effect and a different intensity +giving rise to an effect diametrically opposite. This is the +reason of the inexplicable anomalies which have baffled many +investigators. Numerous are the forces which act on growth some +helping, others retarding, the effects being further modified by +the strength and duration of application. These factors that +determine growth are each to be studied in detail, and the laws +of effect of each to be discovered. There can be no real advance +in scientific agriculture until this is done.</p> +<p class="indent">—<i>Amrita Bazar Patrika</i>, +19-1-1918.</p> +<p style= +"text-align: center; font-weight: 600; font-size: 1.25em; margin-top: 3.0em"> +SIR <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_231" id= +"Page_231">[Pg_231]</a></span>J. C. BOSE AT BOMBAY.</p> +<p class="indent">There was a brilliant gathering at the Royal +Opera House on Tuesday the 22nd January 1918, when Sir Jagadis +Bose gave a deeply interesting lecture on +the history of the inception of his Institute in Calcutta and its +aims together with an exposition of his scientific researches +illustrated by lantern slides. The theatre was full long before +the lecture commenced and several prominent people were present +the bulk of the audience consisting of Indians.</p> +<p class="indent">Mr. Tilak in introducing the distinguished +lecturer to the audience referred to Professor Bose's lasting +services not only to the Indian nation but to the whole world. +These references to Dr. Bose and his work elicited frequent +applause from the large audience.</p> +<p style= +"text-align: center; font-weight: 600; font-size: 1.0em; margin-top: 2.0em"> +A FIFTY THOUSAND RUPEES LECTURE.</p> +<p class="indent">Sir Jagadis, who was accorded a most +enthusiastic ovation on rising to address the gathering, +acknowledged his gratitude to the public of Bombay who proved +their appreciation of his work by their <span class= +'pagenum'><a name="Page_232" id= +"Page_232">[Pg_232]</a></span>presence there that evening, and +the fact that they had subscribed Rs. 50,000 for the occasion. He +then gave a brief explanatory account of the nature and scope of +his work, which he had planned and carried out alone for many +years amidst many and varied difficulties. He gave an exposition +by the aid of one of the delicate instruments of his own +invention of how plants respond to various sounds and tunes and +the beautiful colour display which was observed in this +connection appeared as though he were a magician with a wand.</p> +<p style= +"text-align: center; font-weight: 600; font-size: 1.0em; margin-top: 2.0em"> +PLANTS UNDER ANAESTHETICS</p> +<p class="indent">The Doctor explained the meaning and +significance of the thunderbolt which +has been adopted as the symbol of the institution. He explained +also the special uses to which the various parts of the buildings +would be put. The fact was brought out that the entire building +and grounds had been designed to suit the special needs of the +Institute and care had been taken to make it as far as possible +self contained. An interesting feature of the garden close to +that portion which forms the residence of Sir Jagadis was the +open platform perched above two trees, transplanted under +anaesthetic conditions. A variety of apparatus is +displayed under these trees and the platform is intended for +observation or meditation or both. Dr. Bose here explained +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_233" id= +"Page_233">[Pg_233]</a></span>how trees when transplanted +frequently died under the shock of the operation just as human +being sometimes died, not from an operation but from the shock +caused thereby. Similarly he had discovered and proved that trees +could, like human beings, go through severe operations and +survive the shock, if placed under the influence of an +anaesthetic.</p> +<p style= +"text-align: center; font-weight: 600; font-size: 1.0em; margin-top: 2.0em"> +SOME PHENOMENA OF PLANT LIFE</p> +<p class="indent">The Professor explained next other experiments +which he had performed on plants and whose results had exhibited +the close parallel which plant life bears to human life. With the +aid of another delicate instrument he showed how the growth of +plants can be influenced by drugs and the demonstration on the +screen of the manner in which the slow growth of a plant can be +thus expedited was one of extraordinary interest. One was able to +see the flame of life moving up the screen and recording at +intervals the stages of growth, a lengthening of the intervals +between each recorded glow illustrating the acceleration of +growth as soon as the drug was applied. The instruments necessary +to record this phenomenon are of extraordinary delicacy, and +barely survived the strain of the journey from Calcutta.</p> +<p style= +"text-align: center; font-weight: 600; font-size: 1.0em; margin-top: 2.0em"> +ELECTRICITY <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_234" id= +"Page_234">[Pg_234]</a></span>AND AGRICULTURE</p> +<p class="indent">The last experiment was in regard to the effect +of electricity on plant life. He referred particularly to the +fact that it was his aim to discover the law of growth and +atrophy among plants. Such a discovery had a great bearing on the +future of agriculture and would revolutionise world thought. +Electricity, he explained and illustrated, would promote or +retard the growth of life by reaction. In England and other +countries electricity had been applied to agriculture but without +exact knowledge of its varying effect on plant life. He then +showed by another apparatus of extreme delicacy that electricity +might retard and even repel as well as promote the growth of +plant life. But if the law of growth and decay could be +ascertained, it was possible to regulate the control of life +under most varied conditions.</p> +<p class="indent">—<i>Amrita Bazar Patrika</i>, +29-1-1918.</p> +<p style= +"text-align: center; font-weight: 600; font-size: 1.25em; margin-top: 3.0em"> +UNITY <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_235" id= +"Page_235">[Pg_235]</a></span>OF LIFE</p> +<p class="indent">Under the auspices of the Bombay University, +Sir Jagadis Chundar Bose delivered on +Thursday, the 31st January 1918, a lecture on the "Unity of +Life." It was illustrated by lantern slides and an instructive +exposition was given of some of his unique discoveries in the +realm of Plant Life....</p> +<p style= +"text-align: center; font-weight: 600; font-size: 1.0em; margin-top: 2.0em"> +HIDDEN HISTORY IN PLANTS LIFE</p> +<p class="indent">"The subject of my address to-night is the +'Unity of Life.' Under a placid exterior there is a hidden +history on the life of the plant. Is it possible to make the +plants write down their own autographs and thus reveal their +history? In order to succeed in this we have first to discover +some compulsive force which will make the plant give an answering +signal, secondly, we have to invent some instrument of extreme +delicacy for the automatic conversion of these signals into an +intelligent script; and last of all, we have ourselves to learn +the nature of the hieroglyphics."</p> +<p class="indent">Sir J. C. Bose then explained the principle of +his epoch-making Resonant Recorder which +writes <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_236" id= +"Page_236">[Pg_236]</a></span>down the perception period of the +plant within a thousandth part of a second, and writes down the +action of light and warmth and drugs on the plant; the effect of +vitiated air, of passing clouds, of excess of food and of +drink.</p> +<p class="indent">"The plant is very human in its virtues and +weakness. Plants like animals become exalted, grow tired or +despond. An easy green-house life makes them less than +themselves, overgrown and flabby, capable of response, till they +have become hardened by adversity to a fuller existence. A time +comes when after an answer to a supreme shock, there is a sudden +end of the plant's power to give any further response. This +supreme shock is the shock of death. Even in this crisis there is +no immediate change in the placid appearance of the plant. +Drooping and withering are events that occur long after death +itself. How does the plant then give its last answer? In man at +the critical moment a spasm passes through the whole body and +similarly in the plant I find a great contractile spasm takes +place. This is accompanied by an electrical spasm also. In the +script of the Death Recorder the line that up to this time was +being drawn, become suddenly reversed and then ends. This is the +last answer of the plant.</p> +<p class="indent">"These our mute companions, silently growing +beside our door, have now told us the tale of their <span class= +'pagenum'><a name="Page_237" id= +"Page_237">[Pg_237]</a></span>life-tremulousness and their +death-spasm in script that is as inarticulate as they. May it not +be said that this story has a pathos of its own beyond any that +we may have conceived?</p> +<p class="indent">"We have now before our mind's eye the whole +organism of the perceiving, throbbing and responding plant, a +complex unity and not a congeries of unrelated parts. The +barriers which separated kindred phenomena in the plant and +animal are now thrown down. Thus community throughout the great +ocean of life is seen to outweigh apparent dissimilarity +Diversity is swallowed up in unity.</p> +<p class="indent">"In realising this, is our sense of final +mystery of things deepened or lessened? Is our sense of wonder +diminished when we realise in the infinite expanse of life that +is silent and voiceless the foreshadowings of more wonderful +complexities? Is it not rather that science evokes in us a deeper +sense of awe? Does not each of her new advances gain for us a +step in that stairway of rock which all must climb who desire to +look from the mountain tops of the spirit upon the promised land +of truth?"</p> +<p class="indent">Sir Jagadis then gave a most interesting +exposition of his researches with the aid of magic lantern +slides.</p> +<p style= +"text-align: center; font-weight: 600; font-size: 1.0em; margin-top: 2.0em"> +SENSITIVENESS IN PLANTS</p> +<p class="indent">Referring first of all his discovery of +sensitiveness <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_238" id= +"Page_238">[Pg_238]</a></span>in plants, he said that in that +respect they were akin to the human system. He illustrated this +truth by a demonstration of the reaction that takes place in the +frog when a shock is communicated and side by side presenting the +reaction that is similarly effected in the plant. "Plants have a +nervous system like our own," he said, and with the aid of an +enlarged illustration of the mimosa he showed the changes that +took place when the plant was disturbed. Turning to plant +autograph, he spoke of the Resonant Recorder, a special apparatus +which he has invented to prove how even plants are tuned to +environment. Certain tunes had no effect on plants, he said, +while others had and he asked them specially to observe the +beautiful and variegated colour formation produced by their +response to tunes. He gave an interesting experiment on this +point, and both Lord and Lady Willingdon tried it. There was a +great outburst of cheering, which was renewed each time the +effect was produced, and it was noticed that the cheering, which +was vociferous had its own effect. It had taken him a long time, +he said, to produce and perfect the complete apparatus to +determine the latent mimosa and by the aid of that apparatus, he +was able to record the movement of the plant to one thousandth of +a second.</p> +<p class="indent">He next went on to say that all plants were +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_239" id= +"Page_239">[Pg_239]</a></span>endowed like ourselves, but at +first the news was received with great scepticism. He did not +despair, however, of success and was continuously engaged in +discovering, in collecting fresh evidence. Thanks to the action +of the Government of India in sending him on a world tour, he got +at last the opportunity to prove before the scientific societies +of the world, the truth of his discoveries. An illustration of +the Mimosa which has accompanied him in his world tour was +screened.</p> +<p class="indent">The next illustration was to show how long +plants took to feel shock and what time they took to recover. +Like the great human system plants were subject to periodic +conscianimal [<i>sic.</i>, consciousness?] had their periods of +sleep and awakening. The extra water pressure produced during +sunset had nothing to do with true sleep. Plants, too, were +subject to exaltation and depression and at certain hours of the +day they were fully conscious and active while at other hours +they were dormant and lazy. He showed by means of a chart that +they were fast asleep between 6 and 9 in the morning and his +humorous remark that in that respect they had taken a leaf from +our modern society ladies provoked a great deal of laughter. A +series of records were then shown to illustrate the various +degrees of plant consciousness, which were deeply appreciated by +the audience.</p> +<p class="indent">Proceeding Dr. Bose said that plants were far +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_240" id= +"Page_240">[Pg_240]</a></span>more conscious of nature than human +beings and described his experience how plants were sensitive +even to passing clouds, which produced on them a depressing +effect. He spoke of the difference between thin and wiry grown +plants and those that were stout and robust. In that respect they +resembled again human beings and thin and wiry grown plants were +far more susceptible of excitement than the others. They, too, +needed rest and without it, they were flabby and depressed. A +cartoon from the London "Punch" entitled "A successful Trial" was +screened to the merriment of the audience, in which the Professor +was humorously depicted by that journal, after his exposition +before the Royal Institute in London. He gave an illustration of +the "Praying Palm of Faridpur" and the changes it exhibited to +environment. All plants displayed similar power and these changes +were no longer inscrutable. They had been brought within the +realm of scrutability [<i>sic.</i>] and could be recorded.</p> +<p style= +"text-align: center; font-weight: 600; font-size: 1.0em; margin-top: 2.0em"> +"PROTECTING" PLANTS</p> +<p class="indent">It was a mistake to suppose that when +"protected" plants would thrive better. Mothers had a tendency to +keep their children away from contact with the outside world with +a view to "protect" them. He had placed a plant under a glass +case and the effect of it was he had a gloated and effete +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_241" id= +"Page_241">[Pg_241]</a></span>specimen, flabby-looking in appearance and weary under +adversity, they recovered sooner and their growth was healthy +just as it evolved true manhood in men. It had been commonly +believed that carbonic acid gas was conducive to plant growth. +That was a great mistake. In sunshine, plants readily absorbed +it; but it was no more true that plants thrived on CO<sub>2</sub>, than did +human beings. He illustrated the effect of carbonic acid gas as +well as oxygen. The latter was as much necessary for plants to +thrive on as it was for them. Another illustration exhibited the +effect of alcohol on plants and he declared amidst laughter that +alcohol produced the same alternate maudlin depression and +exaltation on plants that is to be observed on the human system. +He said that this experiment had tickled the Americans a great +deal and referred to a conversation he had with Mr. Bryan, who +was a teetotaller, regarding alcohol +given to plants. Some American papers had given characteristic +headlines to introduce his lecture on the effect of stimulus to +plants.</p> +<p class="indent">Another plant Desmodium which has accompanied +him in his world tour was filmed on the screen. He spoke, next, +of the apparatus which he had invented to record plant pulsation +and the struggle they exhibited between life and death. Poisons +had as much effect on plants as on men, and they <span class= +'pagenum'><a name="Page_242" id= +"Page_242">[Pg_242]</a></span>could be revived by applying +antidotes, this was illustrated by another chart. Another point +of interest dealt with by him was the effect of warm water on +plants, and he gave an exposition of his discovery to show that +plants died when placed in 60 degree (centigrade) warm water. He +referred to the stupendous phenomenon of invisible writing by +means of which the plant recorded its own evolution.</p> +<p class="indent">The lecture was listened to with profound +interest and lasted for an hour. Mr. Setalvad proposed a hearty +vote of thanks to the Chancellor for presiding at the meeting. +Lord Willingdon, in acknowledging it, said that the vote of +thanks was due to Sir Jagadis rather than to himself. As he had +anticipated in the beginning, the lecture had proved absorbingly +interesting and he was afraid Sir Jagadis's discoveries might be +positively alarming when he next visited Bombay. He hoped that +they would accord Sir Jagadis a hearty vote of thanks with "true +Bombay cordiality." After a few suitable remarks by Sir Jagadis +the meeting terminated.</p> +<p class="indent">—<i>Amrita Bazar Patrika</i>, +5-2-1918.</p> +<p style= +"text-align: center; font-weight: 600; font-size: 1.25em; margin-top: 3.0em"> +THE <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_243" id= +"Page_243">[Pg_243]</a></span>AUTOMATIC WRITING OF THE PLANT</p> +<p class="indent">On the 8th February 1918, Sir J. C. Bose +delivered the following discourse on 'The Automatic Writing of +the Plant,' at the Bose institute:—</p> +<p class="indent">Sir J. C. Bose spoke of two different ways of +gaining knowledge, the lesser way is by dwelling on +superficial differences, the mental attitude which makes some say +'Thank God I am not like others:' The other way is to realise an +essential unity in spite of deceptive appearance to the contrary. +He had recently been on a visit to the western Presidency, he +went there as a stranger, but he has come back with a pang at +parting from kindreds. Never in his life did he realise so +vividly as now the great unity that drew together all who +regarded India as their home and place of work. They were bound +to each other by mutual ties of dependence. He had for many years +been engaged in discovering community in physical manifestations +of life. Now he has realised an abiding unity in the highest +manifestations of human life, in community of thoughts and +ideals.</p> +<p class="indent"><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_244" id= +"Page_244">[Pg_244]</a></span>In the wide expanse of life itself +few things would appear so strikingly different as the life +activities in plants and in animals. But if in spite of the +seeming differences, it could be proved that these life +activities are fundamentally similar, this would undoubtedly +constitute a scientific generalisation of very great importance. +It would then follow that the complex mechanism of the animal +machine, that baffled us so long, need not remain inscrutable for +all time, for the intricate problems of animal physiology would +then naturally find their solution in the study of corresponding +problems under simpler conditions of vegetative life. That would +mean an enormous advance in the science of physiology, of +agriculture, of medicine, and even of psychology.</p> +<p class="indent">How then are we to know what unseen changes +take place within the plant? The only conceivable way would be, +if that were possible, to detect and measure the actual response +of the organism to a definite testing blow. When an animal +receives an external shock it may answer in various ways; If it +has voice, by a cry, if dumb, by the movement of its limbs. The +external shock is the stimulus, the answer of the organism is the +response. If we can make it give some tangible response to a +questioning shock, then we can judge the condition of the plant +by the extent of the answer. In an excitable condition the +feeblest stimulus will evoke an extraordinarily <span class= +'pagenum'><a name="Page_245" id= +"Page_245">[Pg_245]</a></span>large response, in a depressed +state even a strong stimulus evokes only a feeble response, and +lastly, when death has overcome life, there is an abrupt end of +the power to answer at all.</p> +<p class="indent">Prof. Bose then explained the principle and +action of his apparatus by which the plant attached to it is +automatically excited by successive stimuli which are absolutely +constant. In answer to this the plant makes its own responsive +records, goes through its own period of recovery, and embarks on +the same cycle over again without assistance from the observer at +any point. In this way the effect of changed external conditions +is seen recorded in the script made by the plant itself.</p> +<p class="indent">It has been thought that plants like mimosa +alone were sensitive. But Sir J. C. Bose's apparatus demonstrated +the unsuspected fact that every plant and every organ of every +plant answered to a shock by a contractile spasm, as by an animal +muscle. If perception of feeble stimulus be taken as a measure of +ascent in the scale of life then the superiority of man must be +established on a foundation more secure than sensibility. The +most sensitive organ by which we can detect electric current is +our tongue. An average European can perceive a current as feeble +as six micro-amperes, a micro-ampere being a millionth part of +the electric unit. Possibly the tongue of a Celt is more +excitable, and I have <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_246" +id="Page_246">[Pg_246]</a></span>no doubt that my countrymen can +easily boast the Celt in this particular test. But the plant +mimosa is ten times more excitable than the tongue of an advocate +in this province.</p> +<p class="indent">Professor Bose then showed how identical were +the effects of light, warmth and various drugs on the plant and +animal. These experiments bring the plant much nearer than we +ever thought. We find that it is not a mere +mass of vegetative growth, but that its every fibre is instinct +with sensibility. We are able to record the throbbings of its +pulsating life, and find these wax and wane according to the life +conditions of the plant, and cease in the death of the organism. +In these and many other ways the life reactions in plant and man +are alike, and thus through the experience of the plant, it may +be possible to alleviate the sufferings of man.</p> +<p class="indent">—<i>Amrita Bazar Patrika</i>, +9-2-1918.</p> +<p style= +"text-align: center; font-weight: 600; font-size: 1.25em; margin-top: 3.0em"> +CONTROL <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_247" id= +"Page_247">[Pg_247]</a></span>OF NERVOUS IMPULSE</p> +<p class="indent">At the first anniversary meeting of the Bose +institute, held on the 30th November 1918, Sir J. C. Bose gave +the following discourse on his recent discoveries relating to the +question of control of nervous impulse, under the Presidency of +His Excellency Lord Ronaldshay, Governor of Bengal.</p> +<p class="indent">It is one of the greatest of all mysteries how +we are put in connection with the external world: how blows from +without are felt within. Our organs of sensation are like so many +antennae radiating in various directions +and picking up messages of many kinds. All +of these, when analysed to their utmost, consist of shock effects +on different chords. An extremely feeble stimulus is below the +limit of perception, a moderate stimulus transmits excitation, +which is perceived as sensation of not an unpleasant character, +but the tone of sensation becomes painful when the excitation is +very intense. Our sensation is thus coloured by the intensity of +the nervous excitation that reaches the central organ. We are +subject to human limitations, through the imperfection of our +senses on the one hand, and <span class='pagenum'><a name= +"Page_248" id="Page_248">[Pg_248]</a></span>over-sensibility on +the other. There are happenings which elude us because the +impinging stimulus is too feeble to waken our senses; the +external shock, on the other hand, may be so intense as to fill +our life with pain.</p> +<p class="indent">Since we have no direct power over the shocks +which come to us from the outside world, is it possible to +control the nervous impulse so that it should be exalted in one +case, and inhibited or obliterated in the other? Does advance of +science hold any such</p> +possibility? This question is plainly fraught with high +significance. +<p style= +"text-align: center; font-weight: 600; font-size: 1.0em; margin-top: 2.0em"> +PROBLEM OF CONTROL OF NERVOUS IMPULSE</p> +<p class="indent">Before proceeding further it will be necessary +first to obtain a clear idea of the function of a nervous tissue +and its characteristics; secondly the manner, in which the +nervous impulse is propagated; and lastly, we have to discover +some compulsive force by which the impulse may be intensified or +inhibited during transit. The nerve circuit may be liked to an +electric circuit, and invisible impulse bringing about response +in the indicator, be it the brain or the galvanometer. +In the electric circuit the +conducting power of the metallic wire is constant, and the +intensity of the electric impulse depends on the intensity of the +electric force applied. If the conducting power of <span class= +'pagenum'><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[Pg_249]</a></span>the +nerve were constant then the intensity of the nervous impulse and +its resulting sensation would depend inevitably on the intensity +of the shock from outside which starts the impulse. In that case +the possibility of the modification of our sensation would be an +impossibility. But there may be a likelihood that the power of +conduction possessed by a nerve is not constant but capable of +change. Should this surmise prove to be correct then we arrive at +the momentous conclusion that sensation itself is modifiable, +whatever the external stimulus. For the modification of nervous +impulse there remains only one alternative; namely, some power to +render the vehicle a very much better conductor or a +non-conductor according to particular requirements. We require +the nervous path to the supra-conducting to have the impulse due +to feeble stimulus brought to sensory prominence. When the external blow is too violent we would block +the painful impulse by rendering the nerve a non-conductor.</p> +<p class="indent">Under narcotic the nerve becomes paralysed and +we can by its use save ourselves from pain. But such heroic +measures are to be resorted to in extreme cases, as when we are +under the surgeon's knife. In actual life we are confronted with +unpleasantness without notice. A telephone subscriber has an +evident advantage, for he can switch <span class= +'pagenum'><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[Pg_250]</a></span>off +the connection when the message begins to be unpleasant. +Statesmen or politicians have been known to cultivate convenient +deafness; but that is a mere pretence. The unpleasant things +heard, would still continue to rankle. It is not every one that +has the courage of Mr. Herbert Spencer who openly resorted to his +ear plugs whenever his visitor became tedious.</p> +<p class="indent">The lecturer then explained that the +propagation of nervous impulse is a phenomenon of transmission of +molecular disturbance. It occurred to him that the transmission +could be controlled if he succeeded in discovering a compulsive +force which would confer on the conducting particles two opposite +molecular dispositions, one of which would exalt and the other +resist the impulse. His experiments were first conducted with the +primitive type of nerve which he had previously discovered in +plants. In full confirmation of his theory, he succeeded in +conferring on the nervous tissue two opposite dispositions. Under +favourable disposition the nerve is rendered supra-conducting; +subliminal stimulus now becomes fully perceived. Under the +opposite molecular disposition the violent impulse due to +excessive stimulus becomes weakened or arrested during transit, +and the plant remains quite unaffected by the external shock.</p> +<p class="indent">The lecturer has in his previous works +demonstrated <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_251" id= +"Page_251">[Pg_251]</a></span>the unity of life-reactions in the +plant and animal. A climax is now reached when by the application +of identical treatment he is able to confer alternately on the +same animal nerve, supra-conducting or non-conducting property at +will. Under a particular molecular disposition the experimental +frog perceived and responded to stimulus which had hitherto been +below its threshold of perception. Under the opposite disposition +violent tetanic spasm caused by the irritant salt applied to the +nerve became at once quelled. The normal property of the nerve +was at once restored on the withdrawal of the predisposing +force.</p> +<p style= +"text-align: center; font-weight: 600; font-size: 1.0em; margin-top: 2.0em"> +MAN VICTORIOUS OVER CIRCUMSTANCE</p> +<p class="indent">Thus by the control of molecular disposition of +the conducting nerve, nervous impulse, and the resulting +sensation may become profoundly modified. The external is not so +overwhelmingly dominant, and man is not to be merely passive in +the hands of destiny. There is a latent power which would raise +him above the terrors of his inimical surroundings. It remains +with him that the channels through which the outside world reach +him should, at his command be widened or become closed. It may +thus be possible for him to catch those indistinct messages that +had hitherto eluded him or he may withdraw within himself, so +that in <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_252" id= +"Page_252">[Pg_252]</a></span>his inner realm, the jarring notes +and the din of the world should no longer affect him.</p> +<p class="indent">The whole audience heard the discourse with +spell bound interest. The Indian Scientist came to that +realisation by experiments at which the Indian Jogis of yore +arrived by intuition. Following an absolutely original line +inventing his own apparatus of the most simple yet subtle +delicacy and having constructed them by the hands of Indian +artisans, working without collaborators and with the smallest +modicum of recognition by his fellow scientists, he has pursued +his investigation to a result which has been a revelation to the +whole world. Dr. Bose has proved that man and plant are one body +and life in their physiology, in their vital habits and nervous +responses. He has clearly demonstrated that nervous life in the +plant responds to the same stimuli as in human beings. He has +established between animal and plant a unity of incipient mind. +The plant not only lives and dies, wakes and sleeps but it makes +the responses which in animal would be pleasure and pain.</p> +<p class="indent">Dr. Bose has made a great step towards the +unification of knowledge. A bridge has been built between man and +inert matter. Even if we take Dr. Bose's experiments with metals +in conjunctions with his experiments on plants, we may hold it to +be practically proved for the thinker that Life in <span class= +'pagenum'><a name="Page_253" id= +"Page_253">[Pg_253]</a></span>various degrees of manifestation +and organisation is omnipresent in Matter and is no foreign +introduction or accidental development, but was always that to be +evolved.</p> +<p class="indent">The ancient thinkers knew well that life and +mind exist everywhere in essence and vary only by the degree and +manner of their emergencies and functionings. All is in all and +it is out of complete involution that the complete evolution +progressively appears. It is only appropriate that for a +descendant of the race of ancient thinkers who formulated that +knowledge, should be reserved the privilege of initiating one of +the most important among the many discoveries by which +experimental science is confirming the wisdom of his +forefathers.</p> +<p class="indent">—<i>Amrita Bazar Patrika</i>, +4-12-1918.</p> +<p style= +"text-align: center; font-weight: 600; font-size: 1.25em; margin-top: 3.0em"> +MARVELS <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_254" id= +"Page_254">[Pg_254]</a></span>OF GROWTH AS REVEALED BY THE +"MAGNETIC CRESCOGRAPH"</p> +<p class="indent">[Sir J. C. Bose has recently invented the +"Magnetic" crescograph. It is a supersensitive instrument and the +very high magnification obtained by it surpasses all existing +appliances. By this instrument, phenomena hitherto beyond the +reach of investigation can now be studied with great precision. +It shows ultra-microscopic changes +inducted in a growing organism even by a puff of smoke or a +gentle breeze, by a passing cloud or fleeting brightness. This +super magnifier was exhibited for the first time by Sir J. C. +Bose before an appreciative gathering 10-1-1919. A number of lady +students, professors, lawyers, doctors and several eminent +personages gathered to hear the great Indian scientist.]</p> +<p class="indent">In his Discourse on the above subject on +Friday, Sir J. C. Bose illustrated how the limitations imposed on +the advance of science by the imperfection of our senses, may +stimulate the invention of supersensitive apparatus which +reveals to us the existence of phenomena hitherto unknown. Thus +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_255" id= +"Page_255">[Pg_255]</a></span>the invention of the microscope from a simple lens magnifying 3 or 4 +times into progress up to 1500 diameters has +given birth to new sciences. But still higher magnification is +demanded in unravelling the mystery of +movements associated with the simplest type of life as seen in +plants. Greatest potentiality in life is often latent; the +gigantic banian tree grows out of a thing which is smaller than +the mustard seed. Within the seed-coat the dormant life remains +in safety, protected from dangers outside. The seeds may thus be +subjected without harm to cold so intense as will freeze mercury +into solid and air into liquid. Winds and hurricanes scatter the +seed of life and the cocoa-nut rides the +tumultuous waves till anchored safe in an island yet to be +inhabited. In due season there begins a series of most +astonishing transformations; the latent life wakens, and the +seedling begins to grow. The root turns downwards and the shoot +upwards. Underground, the root winds its way round stones and +obstacles towards moist places. Above ground the stem bends as if +in search of light. Tendrils twine about a support. These visible +movements are striking enough, but within the unruffled exterior +of the plant body there are others, energetic and incessant, +which escape our scrutiny. The bending of a growing organ towards +or away from stimulus must be due to unequal growth on +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_256" id= +"Page_256">[Pg_256]</a></span>two sides of the organ, a +retardation of growth on the proximal or acceleration on the +distant sides. Various theories have been advanced which have +proved inadequate. For the identical stimulus of gravity produces +one kind of curvature in the root and the very opposite in the +shoot. The possibility of direct experimental investigation has +been frustrated by the excessive slow rate of growth rendering +accurate measurement impossible.</p> +<p style= +"text-align: center; font-weight: 600; font-size: 1.0em; margin-top: 2.0em"> +THE SLOWNESS OF GROWTH</p> +<p class="indent">The movement of growth is two thousand times +less rapid than the place of the proverbially slow-footed snail. +Taking the average annual growth in height of a tree to be 5 ft., +it will take a tree a thousand years to cover a distance of a +mile. We take a piece of 2 ft. in the course of half a second, +during the interval plant grows through a length of 1,100,000 +part of an inch or half the length of a wave of light. For +investigation on the effect of external conditions on growth we +have to measure even a fraction of that excessively small +length.</p> +<p class="indent">The peasant has eagerly watched the growth of +his plants on which his own life and the world's depend and, even +realised something of its vicissitudes, so the vegetable +physiologist has here one of the many problems of his science. +The invention of growth-measuring instruments has thus been one +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_257" id= +"Page_257">[Pg_257]</a></span>of his main endeavours. He has +hitherto succeeded by the use of levers with unequal arms to +obtain a magnification of about 20 times, and even then it takes +many hours for growth to become perceptible; owing to the +practical impossibility of maintaining the external conditions +constant for so many hours, the results of measurement +of growth become vitiated. It is +therefore necessary to produce a magnification so high that +growth should become measurable in less than a minute. The first +improvement effected by the lecturer, now some fourteen years +ago, was his Optical Lever, which at once raised the +magnification from 20 to 1000 times, an advance which at the time +seemed to many incredible, but it is at length coming into use in +advanced laboratories in Europe.</p> +<p style= +"text-align: center; font-weight: 600; font-size: 1.0em; margin-top: 2.0em"> +THE RECORDING CRESCOGRAPH</p> +<p class="indent">A new apparatus devised by the lecturer, the +Recording Crescograph, is described in the Transactions of the +Royal Society, and of the Bose Institute. By a compound system of +levers the magnification is raised to 10,000 but this is not +without great technical difficulties, which cost five years of +efforts to overcome. Thus the levers require to be extremely +light; this was secured by the use of an alloy of aluminium used +in the construction of Zeppelins: this combines lightness with +rigidity. Another difficulty almost unsuperable +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_258" id= +"Page_258">[Pg_258]</a></span>arises from the friction at the +bearings of the fulcrum, the best watch jewels made of ruby were +employed, but the supply was cut off from Germany by the war. +This proved a blessing in disguise, for it forced the lecturer to +devise a new principle of suspension using local material. This +was found in practice to be far superior to jewel bearings, which +became clogged by invisible dust particles present in the air. +With this Recording Crescograph many phenomena of extreme +interest have been discovered. The plant itself not only recorded +its normal rate of growth but the slightest change induced in it +by the action of different forces. So delicate was the apparatus +that it analysed growth into a series of pulses, a sudden +shooting out followed by a partial recoil. It showed how the +growth of the plant was retarded by a mere +touch, and the time it took the plant to recover from the effect +of contact, and all these in course of a few seconds. The effect +of different food on growth, the effect of different drugs, or +living capacity these and many more became revealed by the +automatic record made by the plant. This has opened out fresh and +more exact method of medical inquiry, and of practical +agriculture.</p> +<p style= +"text-align: center; font-weight: 600; font-size: 1.0em; margin-top: 2.0em"> +THE MAGNETIC CRESCOGRAPH</p> +<p class="indent">Such unlooked for results called for yet higher +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_259" id= +"Page_259">[Pg_259]</a></span>magnification, and at first it +seemed that further multiplying lever might be added to the +previous system. But this failed on account of added mass and +friction; and some altogether new solution had therefore to be +sought. Material contact having proved unworkable the ideal +weightless and frictionless linking was obtained by introducing a +new magnetic contrivance, and this with the surprising potency of +magnification from 5 to 100 million times. The mind cannot grasp +the meaning of this stupendous magnification; how then could we +translate it in terms which may be understood? Let us take once +more our slow-footed snail, a magnification of ten million times +would convert its speed to something for which there is no +parallel even in modern gunnery practice. The 15 inch cannon of +the "Queen Elizabeth" has a muzzle velocity of 2360 ft. per +second or 8-1/2 million feet per hour. But the speed of the snail +when magnified ten million times would render it 200 million ft. +per hour or 24 times faster than the fastest cannon shot. We may +next turn to the cosmic movement for a parallel: A point in +equator whirls round at the rate of 1037 miles per hour. But a +snail with the magnified speed would beat the earth by going +round 40 times during the period the earth makes but one +revolution!</p> +<p style= +"text-align: center; font-weight: 600; font-size: 1.0em; margin-top: 2.0em"> +LIFE <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_260" id= +"Page_260">[Pg_260]</a></span>IN STATE OF SUSPENSE AND ITS +SUBSEQUENT RESOLUTION</p> +<p class="indent">With the experiments carried with the Magnetic +Crescograph life becomes subservient to the will of the +experimenter. The rate of growth is indicated by the speed with +which a spot of indicating light moves across the scale. The +actual rate of growth is fifty thousandth part of an inch per +second; this under magnification is seen by the indicating spot +of light to move at the rate of 36 inches per second: this is the +normal rate. The plant is made to imbibe soda water and the +growth becomes suddenly exalted some ten times; but a puff of +tobacco smoke instantly retards the rate. To induce further +retardation a depressing drug is next applied. The growth +gradually comes to a stop and the quiescent of the spot of light +shows life in a state of suspense. The plant is now hovering in +an unstable poise between life and death, a slight tilt one way, +and life gets interlocked in the +rigidity of death. But the antidote is applied just in time, the +torpor and suspense is over, and life renews her activity once +more with the fullest vigour.</p> +<p class="indent">It is true that man is but poorly provided for +his voyage of discovery in seas unknown, he can hear little and +see less. A single octave of light circumscribes his vision; even +of the visible the size of the ripple of light imposes an +impassable barrier. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_261" id= +"Page_261">[Pg_261]</a></span>But he has not been deterred by his +limitations but has on the contrary been spurred on its greater +efforts in his explanation of the invisible. The mysterious +movements of life are not to remain for him inscrutable and +indecipherable for all times: but his untiring and single-minded +pursuit will someday reveal to him the secret that lies behind +the manifestations of life.</p> +<p class="indent">—<i>Amrita Bazar Patrika</i>, +13-1-1919.</p> +<p style= +"text-align: center; font-weight: 600; font-size: 1.25em; margin-top: 3.0em"> +THE <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_262" id= +"Page_262">[Pg_262]</a></span>NIGHT-WATCH OF NYMPHAEA</p> +<p class="indent">Sir J. C. Bose gave the following Discourse on +the 'Night-Watch of Nymphaea,' at the Bose Institute, on the 24th +January, 1919.</p> +<p class="indent">[Sir J. C. Bose's discourse delivered at the +Bose Institute, on the 24th January, 1919, dealt with the +mysterious phenomenon of recurrent opening and closure of +flowers. Some of them open in the morning and close in the +evening; others do exactly the opposite opening at night and +closing during the day. These various effects have been described +as the 'waking' and 'sleep' movements of plants. The subject had +attracted the attention of plant physiologists for more than half +a century. After summarising the various results lost in his +recent work says that no satisfactory explanation of the sleep +movements of plants has yet been forthcoming and that the true +theory can only be established after new and exhaustive research. +This investigation has been in progress at Sir J. C. Bose's +laboratory for the last five years; and special automatic +recorders have been invented by means of which <span class= +'pagenum'><a name="Page_263" id= +"Page_263">[Pg_263]</a></span>numerous plants have been recording +their movements for every hour of the day and night and for many +days in succession.]</p> +<p class="indent">In course of his discourse the lecturer said +"The poets have forestalled the men of science. Why does the +water-lily 'Kumud or Nymphaea' keep awake all night long and +close her petals during the day? Because the water-lily is the +lover of the Moon and like the human soul expanding at the touch +of the beloved, the lily opens out her heart at the touch of the +moon beam, and keeps watch all night long; she shrinks affrighted +by the rude touch of the Sun, and closes her petals during the +day. The outer floral leaves of the lily are green, and in the +day time the closed flowers are hardly distinguishable from the +broad green leaves which float on the water. The scene is +transformed in the evening as if by magic, and myriads of +glistening white flowers cover the dark water.</p> +<p class="indent">"The recurrent daily phenomenon has not only +been observed by the poets, but an explanation offered for it. It +is the moonlight then that causes the opening of the lily, and +the sunlight the movement of closure. Had the poet taken out a +lantern in a dark night; he would have noticed that the lily +opened at night in total absence of the moon; but a poet is not +expected to carry a lantern and peep out in the dark; that +inordinate curiosity is characteristic <span class= +'pagenum'><a name="Page_264" id= +"Page_264">[Pg_264]</a></span>only of the man of science. Again +the lily does not close with the appearance of the sun; for the +flower often remains awake up to eleven in the forenoon. A French +dictionary maker saw Cuvier, the Zoologist about the definition +of the crab as 'a little red fish which walks backwards.' +'Admirable,' said Cuvier. 'But the crab is not necessarily +little, nor is it red till boiled; it is not a fish, and it +cannot walk backwards. But with these exceptions your definition +is perfect.' And so also with the poet's description of the +movement of the lily, which does not open to moonlight, nor yet +close to the sun."</p> +<p style= +"text-align: center; font-weight: 600; font-size: 1.0em; margin-top: 2.0em"> +THE 'SLEEP' AND 'WAKING' OF JHINGA FLOWER</p> +<p class="indent">The waking and sleeping of the water lily is by +no means an isolated instance. My attention was first drawn to +another remarkable floral display by the folk song which begins +with:</p> +<p class="blockquot">"Our day of work is over<br /> +Like life's span, but an hour!<br /> +For now behold the gold-started fields<br /> +Of opening 'Jhinga' flowers!"</p> +<p class="indent">Since then I witness every afternoon a glorious +transformation in my experimental garden at Sijbaria on the +Ganges. The gardener has planted a large field with Jhinga (Luffa +acutangula). The <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_265" id= +"Page_265">[Pg_265]</a></span>flowers when closed at day time are +very inconspicuous, the lowest whorl of the sepals being dull +green: in my afternoon walk I can hardly recognise the old +familiar field, which is now covered with masses of flower in +their golden glory. Here also the flowers remain open throughout +the night; but they close early in the morning and the fairy +field of cloth of gold vanishes suddenly.</p> +<p style= +"text-align: center; font-weight: 600; font-size: 1.0em; margin-top: 2.0em"> +COMPLEXITY OF THE PROBLEM</p> +<p class="indent">The revolutions made by the plant-scripts led +to the discovery of certain new and unsuspected reactions in the +life of plants, notably the influence of variation of temperature +in modifying the geotropic curvature. +There are at least ten variables, which by their joint effects +give rise to over a thousand variations in the resulting movement +of plants. The effect of each of these different factors has been +isolated and a new theory propounded which offers a complete +explanation of the so called sleep movements. The life reactions +of plants to the various stimuli of the environment was most +strikingly illustrated by means of supersensitive Magnetic +Crescograph. The plant was shown to perceive the shock of light, +to which it made an answering signal, so also to the action of +warmth and cold. And it was explained how the various +combinations of effects induced by environmental <span class= +'pagenum'><a name="Page_266" id= +"Page_266">[Pg_266]</a></span>change found diverse expressions in +the movement of plants.</p> +<p class="indent">The scientific explanations offered for the +opening and closing of the water lily is that the flower is +closed under sunlight and that the +opening takes place under darkness. But Prof. Bose has been able +to keep the lily awake even in day time by placing it in a cool +place. Simultaneous record of the movement of the flower and the +thermograph of daily variation of temperature proved conclusively +that a rapid fall of temperature in the evening brought about the +opening of the flower, at first slowly then rapidly, and by 10 +p.m. the flower was fully expanded. About 6 a.m. in the morning +there is a rise of temperature, and the reverse movement of +closure sets in. The flower continues to close very rapidly the +sleep movement of closure is complete by about 10 a.m.</p> +<p class="indent">It will be seen how different flowers through +their sensitiveness to heat and cold execute movements of "sleep" +or of "waking." Some of them have the healthy habit of normal +humanity to sleep at night and keep awake at day-time. Others +turn night into day, and make up for their long night watch +by sleeping it off at the +day-time.</p> +—<i>Amrita Bazar Patrika</i>, 25-1-1919. +<p style= +"text-align: center; font-weight: 600; font-size: 1.25em; margin-top: 3.0em"> +WOUNDED <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_267" id= +"Page_267">[Pg_267]</a></span>PLANTS</p> +<p class="indent">Sir J. C. Bose delivered the following lecture +on the 'Wounded Plants' at the Bose Institute, on the 7th +February, 1919:—</p> +<p class="indent">It is a little over four years now that the +Embodiment of World Tragedy stalked over Western Europe. The fair +field of France and the bright sky was under a pall of +battle-smoke. Our sight could not penetrate through the dense +gloom, and the mortal cry of the wounded and dying, drowned by +hoarse roar of a thousand did not reach our ear. But from the +time the Sikh and the Pathan, the Gurkha and the Bengali, the +Mahratta and the Rajput flung themselves in front of battle from +that day our perception has become intensified. The distant cry +of those whose life-blood has crimsoned the white field of snow, +has found reverberating echo in our heart. What is that subtle +bond by which all distances are bridged over, and by which an +individual life becomes merged in larger life? Sympathy is that +bond by which we come to realise the unity of all life. Before us +are spread multitudinous plants, silent and seemingly impassive. +They too <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_268" id= +"Page_268">[Pg_268]</a></span>like us are actors in the Cosmic +drama of life, like us the play thing of destiny. In their +checkered life, light and darkness, the warmth of summer and +frost of winter, drought and rain, the gentle breeze and whirling +tornadoes, life and death alternate. Various shocks impinge on +them, but no cry is raised in answer. I shall nevertheless try to +decipher some chapters of their life history.</p> +<p class="indent">When a man receives a blow or shock of any +kind, his answering cry makes us realise that he is hurt, but a +mute makes no outcry. How do we realise his sufferings? We know +it by his agonised look by the convulsive movement of his limbs, +and through fellow-feeling realise his pain. When a frog is +struck it does not cry, but its limbs show convulsive movement. +But from this it does not follow that the frog is not hurt, for +some would urge that there is a great gap between us and lower +animals. One who feels for the humblest of His creatures alone +knows whether the frog is hurt or not. Human sympathy always +aspires: it is sometimes extended to equals, hardly ever to +inferiors. And so it happens that many would doubt, whether the +lowly and the depressed possess the fine sense of the exalted to +feel the same joy and sorrow, and to resent social tyranny. When +human attitude is so finely discriminative as regards different +grades of his own species, it might be <span class= +'pagenum'><a name="Page_269" id= +"Page_269">[Pg_269]</a></span>extravagant to believe that the +frog could have any consciousness of pain. A concession might +however be made that the frog perceives a shock to which it +responds by convulsive movements. It is as well that we should be +careful about the use of terms for an eminent biologist insisted +that animals never felt any pain: when an oyster is swallowed +alive, it did not, according to him, feel any pain but rather a +sensation of grateful warmth at contact with the alimentary +tract. The question will remain undecided for no one has as yet +returned from the gastric cavity of the tiger to expatiate on the +exquisite sensation.</p> +<p style= +"text-align: center; font-weight: 600; font-size: 1.0em; margin-top: 2.0em"> +TEST OF LIVINGNESS</p> +<p class="indent">Responsive movements being a test of life, we +shall try to construct a scale with which the height of +livingness may be measured. What is the difference between the +living and the dead? The living answers to a shock from without; +the most lively gives the most energetic, the torpid or dying the +feeblest, and the dead no answer at all. Thus life may be tested +by shocks from without, the size of the answer being the gauge of +vitality. The answer of the strong will be violent and almost +explosive in its intensity, while the weakling will barely protest. The responsive movements may be +recorded by suitable apparatus. The successive responses to +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_270" id= +"Page_270">[Pg_270]</a></span>similar shocks will remain uniform, +if the living tissue remained always the same. But the living +organism is always in a state of change for environment is always +building us anew, and we are changing everyday of our life. We +are thus subject to change, some day we are in a state of high +exuberance, and other time in a state of lowest depression: we +pass through numerous phases between the two extremes. Not merely +does the present modify, but there is also the subtle impress of +memory of the past. The sum total of all these characterise one +individual from another. How is the hidden to be made manifest? +To test the genuineness of a coin, we strike it and the +sound response betrays the true from the false. The genuine rings +true and the other gives a false note. In this way perhaps the +inner history of different lives may be revealed by shocks and +the resulting response.</p> +<p style= +"text-align: center; font-weight: 600; font-size: 1.0em; margin-top: 2.0em"> +EFFECT OF WOUND</p> +<p class="indent">There are three separate investigations that +have been carried out on the effect of wound on plants: The first +is the shock effect of wound on growth: this generally speaking +retards or arrests growth. In the second series of investigations +the change of spontaneous pulsation of the leaflet of the +Telegraph plant was recorded. Death begins to spread from the cut +end of the leaflet, and reaches the throbbing <span class= +'pagenum'><a name="Page_271" id= +"Page_271">[Pg_271]</a></span>tissue which becomes permanently +stilled on cessation of life. Experiments are in progress of +arrest their march of death, and the cut leaflet which died in 24 +hours has now been kept alive for more than a week.</p> +<p style= +"text-align: center; font-weight: 600; font-size: 1.0em; margin-top: 2.0em"> +PARALYSIS OF SENSIBILITY</p> +<p class="indent">Another series of investigations were carried +out on the paralysing effect of severe wound. A leaf of Mimosa +was cut off from the plant, and the subsequent histories of the +wounded plant and the detached leaf are curiously different. The +cutting of one of its leaves had caused a great shock to the +parent plant, and an intense excitation spreads over to the +distant organs. All the leaves remained depressed and +irresponsive for several hours. From this state of paralysed +sensibility, the plant gradually recovers and the leaves begin to +show returning sensitiveness. The detached leaf, when placed in a +nourishing solution soon recovers, and holds up its head with an +attitude indicative of defiance, and the responses it gives are +energetic. This lasts for twenty four hours, after which a +curious change creeps in the vigour of its responses begins +rapidly to wane. The leaf hitherto erect, falls over; death had +at last asserted its mastery.</p> +<p class="indent">—<i>Amrita Bazar Patrika</i>, +10-2-1919.</p> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_v" id= +"Page_v">[pg_v]</a></span> +<h2>LIFE AND SPEECHES OF EMINENT INDIANS</h2> +<hr align="center" width="100%" size="10" style= +"background-color: #c0c0c0;" /> +<p class="indent"><b>The Hon. Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya</b>. +His Life and Speeches. (Second edition, revised and enlarged). +700 pages. Price Rs. 3.</p> +<p class="indent"><b>Lokamanya B. G. Tilak</b>. An exhaustive and +up to date collection of all the soul stirring speeches of the +apostle of Home Rule with a valuable appreciation by Babu +Aurobinda Ghose. Second edition, revised and enlarged. Price Rs. +2.</p> +<p class="indent"><b>Mahatma Gandhi</b>. His Life, Writings and +Speeches with a foreword by Mrs. Sarojini Naidu. (Enlarged and up +to date edition). Over 450 pages. Tastefully bound with an index. +Price Rs. 2.</p> +<p class="indent"><b>Mohomed Ali Jinnah</b>. With a Foreword by +the Rajah of Mahmudabad. Over 320 pp. Attractively bound with a +portrait and an index. Price Rs. 2.</p> +<p class="indent"><b>Babu Surendranath Banerjee</b>. An +exhaustive collection of all the speeches of Babu Surendranath +Banerjee delivered in England. Price As. 8.</p> +<p class="indent"><b>India for Indians</b>. A collection of the +speeches delivered by Mr. C. R. Das on Home Rule for India with +an Introduction by Babu Motilal Ghose. Second Edition, revised +and enlarged. Price As. 12.</p> +<p class="indent"><b>Sir Rabindranath Tagore</b>. His Life, +Personality, and Genius, by K. S. Ramaswami Sastri, <span style= +"font-variant: small-caps;">b.a., b.l.</span> with a Foreword by +Mr. J. C. Rollo. Price Rs. 3.</p> +<p class="indent"><b>J. N. Tata</b>. His Life and Life Work. By +Sir D. E. Wacha. 3rd edition. Price Re. 1.</p> +<hr align="center" width="100%" size="10" style= +"background-color: #c0c0c0;" /> +<h3>GANESH & CO., PUBLISHERS, MADRAS.</h3> +<br /> +<br /> +<hr align="center" width="100%" size="10" style= +"background-color: #c0c0c0;" /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_vi" id= +"Page_vi">[pg_vi]</a></span> +<p style= +"text-align: center; font-weight: 900; font-size: 1.6em">JUST +PUBLISHED</p> +<p style= +"text-align: center; font-weight: 600; font-size: 2.6em">The New +Economic Menace<br /> +to India</p> +<p style= +"text-align: center; font-weight: 600; font-size: 1.5em">BY</p> +<p style= +"text-align: center; font-weight: 600; font-size: 2.2em">BABU +BIPIN CHANDRA PAL</p> +<p style= +"text-align: center; font-weight: 600; font-size: 1.5em">PRICE +RS. 2.</p> +<hr align="center" width="100%" size="10" style= +"background-color: #c0c0c0;" /> + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Sir Jagadis Chunder Bose, by +Sir Jagadis Chunder Bose + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SIR JAGADIS CHUNDER BOSE *** + +***** This file should be named 22085-h.htm or 22085-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/2/0/8/22085/ + +Produced by Bryan Ness and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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