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+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
+
+
+
+
+
+        Transcriber's Notes:
+
+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 [_sic._]
+
+Bold and small cap text has been rendered as all caps in the text
+version.
+
+Reference on 168 to the "The Presidency College Magazine" must be to the
+second issue, as the 25th issue was in 1939 and the events mentioned on
+p. 168 happened in 1915.
+
+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."
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+SIR JAGADIS
+CHUNDER BOSE
+
+
+HIS LIFE AND SPEECHES
+
+
+Price Rs. 2      GANESH & CO.
+
+
+
+
+The Cambridge Press, Madras.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+                                                             Page
+His Life and Career                                             1
+Literature and Science                                         79
+Marvels of Plant Life                                         102
+Plant Autographs--How Plants can record their own story       106
+Invisible Light                                               113
+Lecture on Electric Radiation                                 117
+Plant Response                                                122
+Evidence before the Public Services Commission                126
+Prof. J. C. Bose at Madura                                    143
+Prof. J. C. Bose Entertained--Party at Ram Mohan Library      147
+History of a Discovery                                        154
+A Social Gathering                                            165
+Light Visible and Invisible                                   169
+Hindu University Address                                      172
+The History of a Failure that was Great                       177
+Quest of Truth and Duty                                       187
+The Voice of Life                                             200
+The Praying Palm of Faridpur                                  222
+Visualisation of Growth                                       292
+Sir J. C. Bose at Bombay                                      231
+Unity of Life                                                 235
+The Automatic Writing of the Plant                            243
+Control of Nervous Impulse                                    247
+Marvels of Growth as Revealed by the "Magnetic Crescograph"   254
+The Night-Watch of Nymphaea                                   262
+Wounded Plants                                                267
+
+
+
+
+SIR JAGADIS CHUNDER BOSE
+
+
+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 _then_ 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."[1]
+
+
+HIS FATHER
+
+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 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."[2] 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."[2] 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."[2]
+
+
+HIS EARLY EDUCATION
+
+Little Jagadis received his first lesson in a village _pathsala_. 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. "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."[3] 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."[3]
+
+"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."[3]
+
+"The moral education which we received in our childhood" adds Sir
+Jagadis "was very indirect and came from listening to stories recited by
+the "Kathaks" on various incidents connected with our great epics. Their
+effects on our mind was Very great."[4]
+
+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.[4]
+
+
+HIS COLLEGIATE EDUCATION IN INDIA
+
+After he had developed, in the _pathsala_, 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
+Second Division. "It is the paramount duty of the University" says Sir
+Ashutosh Mookerjea "to discover and develop unusual talent."[5] The
+Calcutta University, by the test of examination which it applied,
+totally failed to _discover_ (not to speak of _developing_) the powers
+of an original mind which was destined to enrich the world by giving
+away the fruits of its experience.
+
+
+HIS STUDY ABROAD
+
+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."[6] 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 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."[7] 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.
+
+
+APPOINTED AS A PROFESSOR
+
+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
+_then_ 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 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.
+
+
+HIS RESEARCHES ON ELECTRIC WAVES
+
+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.
+
+
+DIFFICULTIES OF RESEARCHES
+
+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 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.
+
+As the wave-length of a Hertzian (electric) ray was very large--about 3
+metres[8] 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
+_Nemalite_ (which he 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 (_e.g._ 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.
+
+
+HIS EARLY CONTRIBUTIONS AND THEIR APPRECIATIONS
+
+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
+_Electrician_, the leading journal on Electricity, published in London.
+These 'strikingly original researches' won the 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.
+
+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 Discourse' is regarded as one of
+the highest distinction that can be conferred on a scientific man.
+
+
+HIS FIRST SCIENTIFIC DEPUTATION. (1896-97)
+
+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 _Spectator_ 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, 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:--
+
+"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.
+
+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
+_Physikaliscen Gesellschaft Berlin_, in April 1897.
+
+
+FURTHER RESEARCHES ON ELECTRIC WAVES
+
+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 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.[9] 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.'
+
+
+SELF-RECOVERING "COHERER"
+
+The study of Electric Waves by Dr. J. C. Bose led 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.[10] 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 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 _potassium_ there was an _increase_ of
+resistance after the waves had ceased.[11] 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.
+
+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 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."[12]
+
+
+HIS RESEARCHES TAKE A NEW TURN
+
+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 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."[13] 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.
+
+
+RESPONSE IN LIVING AND NON-LIVING
+
+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
+form and sometimes not; but the disturbance produced by the stimulus
+always exhibits itself in an _electric response_. He next subjected
+plants and animal tissues to various kinds of stimulus and also found
+that they also give an _electric response_. Finding that a universal
+reaction brought together metals, plants and animals under a common law,
+he next proceeded to a study of _modifications in response_, 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 _vital
+force_, but by the working of laws that know no change, acting equally
+and uniformly throughout the organic and inorganic matter."[14]
+
+
+SECOND SCIENTIFIC DEPUTATION, 1900-01
+
+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 generalite de Phenomenes
+Moleculairs produits par l'Ectricite sur la matirie Inorganique et sur
+la matiere 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 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."[15] 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.'
+
+
+OPPOSITION OF THE PHYSIOLOGISTS
+
+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 them. They dogmatically asserted _as physiologists_ 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."[16]
+
+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 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
+_Nature_ "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 Societe de Physique,
+Paris, his paper 'Sur la Response Electrique dans les Metaux, les Tissu
+Animaux et Vegetaux.' 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 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."
+
+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.
+
+
+GOVERNMENT RECOGNITION
+
+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 the Indian Empire, in 1903, in recognition of his valuable
+researches.
+
+
+PLANT LIFE AND ANIMAL LIFE
+
+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.'
+
+
+ALL PLANTS ARE "SENSITIVE"
+
+It was believed that so-called 'sensitive' plants alone exhibited
+excitation by _electric response_. But Dr. Bose, believing in continuity
+of responsive phenomena, used the same experimental devices, with which
+he had already succeeded in obtaining the _electric response_ of
+inorganic substances, to test whether ordinary plants also--meaning
+those usually regarded as 'insensitive'--would or would not exhibit
+excitatory _electrical response_ 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
+_excitatory electric response_--and that response was not confined alone
+to 'sensitive' plants like _Mimosa_.
+
+Dr. Bose then proceeded to investigate whether the responsive effects
+which he had shown to occur in ordinary plants might not be further
+exhibited by means of _visible mechanical response_, 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 _motile
+responses_, 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."[17]
+
+
+'TROPIC' MOVEMENTS
+
+Finding that the plants give, not only _electric_ but _motile_ response
+as well, to stimulus, Dr. Bose proceeded to study the nature of
+responses evoked in plants by the _stimuli of the natural forces_. He
+found that plants respond visibly, by movements, to _environmental
+stimuli_. 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 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."[18]
+
+
+EXTENDED APPLICATION OF MECHANICAL THEORY
+
+With an extended application of his mechanical theory, Dr. Bose has
+gradually removed the veil of obscurity from many a phenomenon in plant
+life. The 'autonomous' movements of plants, for example, which remained
+enveloped in mystery, received a satisfactory solution at his hands.
+
+
+'AUTONOMOUS' MOVEMENTS
+
+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 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.
+
+
+"ASCENT OF SAP" "AND GROWTH"
+
+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.
+
+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 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 _Scientific American_ "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!
+
+
+FUNDAMENTAL IDENTITY OF REACTIONS
+
+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 insensibility in both,
+corresponding to what we call _sleep_. 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."[19]
+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 of ordinary plants. He also showed that the polar effects
+induced by electric currents, both in plants and animals, are identical.
+
+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.'
+
+
+FURTHER DIFFICULTIES
+
+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.'
+
+"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 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."[20]
+
+
+HE BUILT HIS LIFE ON THE ROCK OF FAITH
+
+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 _Sadhak_, he devoted himself to the
+realisation of the great dream of his life. And, for the next ten years,
+the one _tap_, _jap_ and _aradhana_ of his life--the one all-engrossing
+idea of his mind--was how to make the plant give testimony by means of
+its own autograph.
+
+
+PUBLICATION OF "PLANT RESPONSE"
+
+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.
+
+
+ADOPTS A NEW METHOD OF INVESTIGATION
+
+Hitherto Dr. Bose detected the various excitatory effects of plants by
+means of _mechanical response_. 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 _electric
+response_. 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 _electric response_ into the field of
+Animal Physiology with a view to explain responsive phenomena in general
+on the consideration of that fundamental molecular reaction which occurs
+even in inorganic matter.'[21]
+
+
+RESULT OF THE INVESTIGATION
+
+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 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."[22]
+
+
+CLASH WITH CURRENT VIEWS
+
+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 _special differences_. As against this, a
+_continuity_ is shown to exist between them. Thus, nerve was universally
+regarded as typically _non-motile_; 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.
+
+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 _isolated_ 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 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.
+
+
+SENSATION
+
+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--_viz._, 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 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."
+
+
+MEMORY IMAGE AND ITS REVIVAL
+
+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.
+
+Experimenting with a metallic _leaf_, 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 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.
+
+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.
+
+
+DEATH-STRUGGLE AND MEMORY REVIVAL
+
+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 brief
+flash a panoramic succession, of all the memory images latent in the
+organism."[23]
+
+
+"COMPARATIVE ELECTRO-PHYSIOLOGY"
+
+Dr. Bose published the results of these new researches, in 1907, in
+another remarkable volume, which was styled 'The Comparative
+Electro-Physiology.'
+
+
+THIRD SCIENTIFIC DEPUTATION, 1907-08
+
+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 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.
+
+
+FURTHER EXPERIMENTAL EXPLORATION
+
+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 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
+_sadhana_ 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; 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."[24]
+
+
+TRANSMISSION OF EXCITATION IN MIMOSA
+
+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 _electric
+response_ as well as _motile response_. 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.
+
+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
+_current_ 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 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 _outer_ stalk and Haverlandt
+scalded the _outer_ stem, neither the stimulant nor the anaesthetic
+reached the nerves. So he, instead of applying the stimulant or the
+anaesthetic, in the _liquid_ form, to the outer stalk or stem, confined
+the Mimosa, in a little chamber, and subjected it to the influence of
+the _vapour_ 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.
+
+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 produced nervous _paralysis_ in plant, such paralysis being
+afterwards cured by appropriate treatment. "If he had made no other
+discovery," says the Editor of the _Scientific American_ "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."
+
+
+MIMOSA AND MAN
+
+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 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?"[25]
+
+
+ROYAL SOCIETY
+
+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 _now_ 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 of Excitation in Mimosa" found publication in the
+"Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society" in Vol. 204, Series B.
+
+
+HIS FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS
+
+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.
+
+
+HOURS OF SLEEP OF THE PLANT
+
+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.
+
+
+"IRRITABILITY OF PLANTS"
+
+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.
+
+
+FURTHER RECOGNITION
+
+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.
+
+The _intelligentsia_ 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,[26] in the Bengali language, on the
+results of his epoch-making researches.
+
+The Calcutta University next showed its belated recognition, by
+conferring on him the degree of D.Sc. _honoris causa_, in 1912.
+
+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.
+
+
+PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION
+
+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 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."[27] Pressing next for a high level of
+scholarship, in the Indian Educational Service, he wrote:--
+
+     "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 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."[28]
+
+He then dwelt on what should be the aim of Higher Education in India and
+observed as follows:--
+
+     "... 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."[28]
+
+He was called, on the 18th December 1913, and was put to a searching
+examination by the Members 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.
+
+"... 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.... 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 were all serving one greet cause, namely, education."[29]
+
+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."[29]
+
+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...."[29]
+
+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 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."[30]
+
+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 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."[31]
+
+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 L600 and L500 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 L384. In the highest Imperial University the average pay is
+L684. 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 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."[32]
+
+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 European Colleagues, for doing the same
+kind of work."[33]
+
+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."[33]
+
+
+FOURTH SCIENTIFIC DEPUTATION (1914-15)
+
+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 _general conviction_ 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 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.
+
+
+DR. BOSE IN EUROPE
+
+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 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.[34]
+
+
+THE MAIDA VALE LABORATORY
+
+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 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 _Nature_ 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 which will redound still further to the honour of those
+who conduct them, and of India, the country of their birth."[35]
+
+From England Dr. Bose proceeded to the Continent, where his researches
+had already evoked keen interest.
+
+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 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.[36]
+On his way back, he gave a Discourse before the eminent scientific men
+in Paris.
+
+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 Society of Medicine, on the 30th
+October 1914. The Royal Society of Medicine officially addressed the
+Secretary of State for India as follows:--
+
+    "... 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."[37] He also gave an Address before the London Imperial
+    college of Science.
+
+
+DR. BOSE IN AMERICA
+
+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 California" wrote
+Professor Sudhindra Bose M.A., Ph.D., of the Iowa University at that
+time, in the Modern Review.[38] "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"[38].... "The famous
+Smithsonian 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...."[39]
+
+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."
+
+
+WHAT DR. BOSE SAW IN JAPAN
+
+Dr. Bose then came back to India, in June 1915, _via_ 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, "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."[40] "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...."[41]
+
+
+A PATRIOTIC CALL
+
+"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...."[42]
+
+
+BACK TO INDIA
+
+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:--
+
+"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 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.
+
+"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.
+
+"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.
+
+"How can our Nation give out of the fulness of 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....
+
+"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."[43]
+
+
+OUTCOME OF THE SCIENTIFIC MISSION
+
+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
+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."[44] 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,"[44] 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.
+
+
+RETIREMENT FROM GOVERNMENT SERVICE
+
+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, however, "in recognition of his eminent services to Science and
+Presidency College," appointed him _honoris causa_ 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.[45]
+
+
+FURTHER RECOGNITION
+
+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.
+
+
+FEELS THE NECESSITY FOR THE FOUNDATION OF AN INSTITUTE
+
+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 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.[46]
+
+
+THE BOSE INSTITUTE
+
+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 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.
+
+
+THE AIMS OF THE INSTITUTE
+
+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 for the first time to the world the new discoveries
+here made.[47]
+
+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.
+
+
+A GREAT 'SADHAK'
+
+With a true _Sanyasin_ 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 him. In utter disregard of all worldly
+advancement, he continued in his pursuit of knowledge.
+
+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, 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."
+
+    "They who see but one in all the changing manifestations of this
+    universe, unto them belongs Eternal Truth--unto none else, unto none
+    else." [48]
+
+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 matter, but that spirit suffused
+matter in which it was enshrined."[49]
+
+
+EFFECT OF HIS WORK
+
+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."
+
+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!
+
+[Footnote 1: Vide 'History of a Failure that was great'--Modern Review,
+Vol. XXI, p. 221.]
+
+[Footnote 2: Vide 'History of a Failure that was great'--Modern Review.
+Vol. XXI p. 221.]
+
+[Footnote 3: _Vide_ 'History of a failure that was great'--Modern
+Review, Vol. XXI, p 221.]
+
+[Footnote 4: 'History of a Failure that was great'--Modern Review. Vol,
+XXI, p. 221.]
+
+[Footnote 5: Convocation Address, dated 2nd March 1907, delivered by Sir
+Ashutosh Mookerjea.]
+
+[Footnote 6: Vide Evidence of Dr. J. C. Bose before the Public Services
+Commission,--Vol. XX, p. 136.]
+
+[Footnote 7: Address to the Royal Society by its President, Sir Benjamin
+Brodie, 30th November 1859.]
+
+[Footnote 8: 1 metre = 39.4 inches]
+
+[Footnote 9: Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Vol IX, p. 206.]
+
+[Footnote 10: Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Vol. IX, p. 206.]
+
+[Footnote 11: See 'History of a Discovery'--Modern Review, Vol. XVIII,
+p. 693.]
+
+[Footnote 12: See 'Voice of Life'--Modern Review, Vol. XII, p. 590.]
+
+[Footnote 13: Vide 'History of a Discovery'--Modern Review, Vol. XVIII,
+p. 694.]
+
+[Footnote 14: Response in Living and Non-Living, p. 191.]
+
+[Footnote 15: See 'Voice of Life'--Modern Review, Vol. XXII, p. 588.]
+
+[Footnote 16: See 'History of a Discovery'--Modern Review, Vol. XVIII,
+p. 694.]
+
+[Footnote 17: Vide 'Voice of Life'--Modern Review, Vol. XXII, p. 592.]
+
+[Footnote 18: See 'Voice of Life'--Modern Review, Vol. XXII, p. 592.]
+
+[Footnote 19: Vide 'Voice of Life'--Modern Review, Vol. XXII, p. 592.]
+
+[Footnote 20: Vide 'History of a Discovery'--Modern Review, Vol. XVIII,
+p. 694.]
+
+[Footnote 21: Cf. Preface to 'Comparative Electro-Physiology' p. IX.]
+
+[Footnote 22: Vide 'Comparative Electro-Physiology' pp. 732-733.]
+
+[Footnote 23: Vide 'Memory Image and its Revival,' Sir J. C.
+Bose--Modern Review, Vol. XXIV, p. 447.]
+
+[Footnote 24: Sri Sermon on "Prayer" delivered by Keshub Chunder Sen at
+the Prarthana Samaj, Bombay, on March 26, 1868.]
+
+[Footnote 25: See 'Voice of Life'--Modern Review, Vol. XXII, p. 588.]
+
+[Footnote 26: Vide Modern Review Vol. XI, p. 539.]
+
+[Footnote 27: Vide Appendix to the Report of the Royal Commission on the
+Public Services in India, Vol. XX, p. 135-136.]
+
+[Footnote 28: Vide Appendix to the Report of the Royal Commission on the
+Public Services in India, Vol. XX, p. 135.]
+
+[Footnote 29: Vide Appendix to the Report of the Royal Commission on the
+Public Services in India, Vol. XX, p. 136]
+
+[Footnote 30: Vide Appendix to the Report of the Royal Commission on the
+Public Services in India, Vol. XX, p. 137.]
+
+[Footnote 31: Vide Appendix to the Report of the Royal Commission on the
+Public Services in India, Vol. XX, p. 137.]
+
+[Footnote 32: Vide Appendix to the Report of the Royal Commission on the
+Public Services in India, Vol. XX, p. 137.]
+
+[Footnote 33: Vide Appendix to the Report of the Royal Commission on the
+Public Services in India, Vol. XX, p. 139.]
+
+[Footnote 34: Vide Modern Review--Vol. XVI, pp. 16, 118, 120.]
+
+[Footnote 35: Vide Modern Review, Vol. XVI, pp. 120, 121, 126.]
+
+[Footnote 36: Vide Modern Review, Vol. XVII, P. 559.]
+
+[Footnote 37: Vide Modern Review, Vol. XVI, p. 246.]
+
+[Footnote 38: Vide Modern Review, Vol. XVII, p. 559.]
+
+[Footnote 39: Vide Modern Review, Vol. XVIII, p. 1.]
+
+[Footnote 40: Vide Modern Review, Vol. XVIII. p. 214.]
+
+[Footnote 41: Vide Modern Review, Vol. XVIII. p. 215.]
+
+[Footnote 42: Vide Modern Review, Vol. XVIII, p. 215.]
+
+[Footnote 43: Vide Modern Review, Vol. XIX, p. 277.]
+
+[Footnote 44: Vide 'Voice of Life'--Modern Review, Vol. XXII, p. 591.]
+
+[Footnote 45: Presidency College Magazine, Vol. II, p. 335.]
+
+[Footnote 46: Presidency College Magazine, Vol. II, p, 335.]
+
+[Footnote 47: Vide 'Voice of Life'--Modern Review, XXII, p. 590.]
+
+[Footnote 48: Vide 'Voice of Life'--Modern Review Vol XXII, p. 590.]
+
+[Footnote 49: Vide Modern Review, Vol. XXI, p. 343.]
+
+
+
+
+LITERATURE AND SCIENCE
+
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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
+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.
+
+
+POETRY AND SCIENCE
+
+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.
+
+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 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.
+
+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.'
+
+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 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!"
+
+
+INVISIBLE LIGHT.
+
+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 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.
+
+
+UNVOICED LIFE.
+
+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 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.
+
+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 death has overcome life, there is an
+abrupt end of the power to answer at all.
+
+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!
+
+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,--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.
+
+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 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?
+
+
+THE DIARY OF THE PLANT.
+
+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?
+
+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?
+
+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 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.
+
+"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 can be opened, and the seeker
+enter to explore the secrets that have baffled him so long.
+
+
+DIFFICULTIES OF RESEARCH IN INDIA.
+
+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.
+
+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 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.
+
+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.
+
+
+THE PHYTOGRAPH
+
+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 demarcate 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!
+
+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.
+
+With perfect instruments at our disposal, we may 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.
+
+
+THE DETERMINATION OF THE LATENT PERIOD
+
+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 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 _Mimosa_ 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!
+
+
+THE RELATION BETWEEN STIMULUS AND RESPONSE
+
+According to varying circumstances, the same blow will evoke responses
+of different amplitudes. 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 _Mimosa_ 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.
+
+
+SPONTANEOUS PULSATION
+
+In certain tissues, a very curious phenomenon is observed. In man and
+other animals, there are tissues which beat, as we say, spontaneously.
+As 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 pulsations
+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.
+
+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 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.
+
+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.
+
+
+RHYTHMIC PULSATIONS IN DESMODIUM
+
+The existence of such spontaneous movements can easily be demonstrated,
+by means of our Indian _Bon charal_, 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.
+
+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 _vice versa_. 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.
+
+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, 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.
+
+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. _Kamranga_ or _Averrhoa_ 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 exciting cause. These, therefore,
+are not so obviously dependent as the others on the sunshine of the
+world. Our telegraph-plant, _Desmodium_ or _Bon charal_, is an example
+of this.
+
+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 _Kamranga_, with its dependence on outside
+influences, and inevitably ephemeral activity, or those of _Bon charal_,
+with its characteristic of patient long enduring accumulation of forces,
+to find uninterrupted and sustained expression.
+
+
+THE PLANT'S RESPONSE TO THE SHOCK OF DEATH
+
+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 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.
+
+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?
+
+
+
+
+PROF. J. C. BOSE AT MAYAVATI
+
+MARVELS OF PLANT LIFE
+
+
+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.
+
+He began by stating that a stimulus takes a certain time before it gets
+a response. This stimulus may be of different forms, _e.g._, 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.
+
+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.
+
+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 _same_ results are obtained
+each time the experiment is repeated under similar conditions, shows
+that this recording of the response time is a scientific phenomenon.
+
+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 _Bon charal_ or 'forest churl',
+the popular belief being that it dances to the clapping 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.
+
+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, 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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+--_Modern Review_, Vol. XII, pages 314-315.
+
+
+
+
+PLANT AUTOGRAPHS
+
+HOW PLANTS CAN RECORD THEIR OWN STORY
+
+
+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."
+
+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.
+
+Among those present were:--Sir William and Lady Duke, the Maharaja of
+Nashipur, Sir Gurudas 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.
+
+His Excellency, as President, called upon Dr. Bose to deliver his
+lecture.
+
+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
+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?
+
+
+AUTOMATIC RECORDERS
+
+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 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.
+
+
+EFFECT OF FOOD AND DRUGS
+
+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.
+
+
+AUTOMATISM AND GROWTH
+
+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.
+
+
+RESEARCHES AT PRESIDENCY COLLEGE
+
+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 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.
+
+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.
+
+
+FROM PLANT TO ANIMAL LIFE
+
+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 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.
+
+--_Amrita Bazar Patrika_, 20-1-1913.
+
+
+
+
+INVISIBLE LIGHT
+
+
+A most instructive and interesting lecture was delivered on Thursday,
+the 30th January, 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.
+
+The Chairman, in a few well chosen words introduced the lecturer.
+
+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 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 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.
+
+Mr. Gourlay observed that the lecture opened out to himself, as well as
+to other vistas, which they had never dreamt of before.
+
+--_Amrita Bazar Patrika_, 31-1-1913.
+
+
+
+
+PROFESSOR J. C. BOSE AT LAHORE
+
+LECTURE ON ELECTRIC RADIATION
+
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+The lecturer called attention to the fact that knowledge was never the
+exclusive possession of any particular race nor did it ever recognise
+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.
+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.
+
+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 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.
+
+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.
+
+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 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.
+
+As the ether note rose still higher in pitch, they would for a brief
+moment perceive a sensation of 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.
+
+--_Amrita Bazar Patrika_, 24-2-1913.
+
+
+
+
+DR. BOSE IN LAHORE
+
+PLANT RESPONSE
+
+
+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:--
+
+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 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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+In certain animal tissues, a very curious phenomenon 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 "_vice versa_". 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 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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+--_Amrita Bazar Patrika_, 5-3-1913.
+
+
+
+
+EVIDENCE BEFORE THE PUBLIC SERVICES COMMISSION
+
+
+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:
+
+
+WRITTEN STATEMENT RELATING TO THE EDUCATION DEPARTMENT
+
+83, 627 (I) _Method of recruitment._--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
+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.
+
+83, 628 (II) _System of training and probation._--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.
+
+83, 629 (IV) _Conditions of Salary._--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.
+
+83, 630 (VI) _Conditions of pension._--With reference to pension, I
+think it is very unfair that more favourable terms are offered, when the
+pensioner elects to retire in England.
+
+83, 631 (VII) _Such limitations as exist in the employment of
+non-Europeans._--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 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.
+
+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.
+
+83, 632 (VIII) _Relations of the service with the Indian Civil Service
+and with other services._--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.
+
+83, 633 (IX) _Other points._--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 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.
+
+83, 634. _Supplementary Note._--I would like to add a few remarks to
+make the meaning of paragraphs 83, 627 and 83, 631 in my note more
+explicit.
+
+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.
+
+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
+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.
+
+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.
+
+
+DR. J. C. BOSE CALLED AND EXAMINED
+
+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.
+
+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 worked, but he did not
+see why that advantage should not eventually be secured by Indians in
+India under an Indian Lord Rayleigh.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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 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.
+
+83,644. The term "professor", as at present used in India, was
+undoubtedly a comprehensive one, but it was equally comprehensive in the
+West.
+
+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.
+
+83,646. Even in Calcutta he would not make any difference between the
+pay of the Indian and the pay of the European.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+83,657. (Mr. Fisher). The witness 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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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 Service. One was at
+Toronto, another was in New Zealand and the third at Yale university.
+The salaries on the two latter cases were L600 and L500 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 L384. In the highest Imperial University the average pay is
+L684. As soon as Japanese could be found to do the work, even tolerably
+well, the foreigner was dropped."
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+83,670. (Lord Ronaldshay). When an Indian graduate under the witnesses'
+scheme was appointed direct to the higher service in India he would 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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+83,673. All the students coming to his side of the University, were, as
+a rule, keen and anxious to learn; he could not wish for better
+students.
+
+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.
+
+
+
+
+PROF. J. C. BOSE AT MADURA
+
+
+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:--
+
+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.
+
+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 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....
+
+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.
+
+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 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 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?
+
+(_Modern Review, Vol. xviii, p. 22-23_).
+
+
+
+
+DR. J. C. BOSE ENTERTAINED
+
+PARTY AT RAM MOHAN LIBRARY
+
+
+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.
+
+There was a large and influential gathering, and the spacious hall was
+tastefully decorated.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+
+DR. BOSE'S REPLY
+
+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 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 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.
+
+
+RESEARCH LABORATORY FOR INDIA
+
+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 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.
+
+
+ECONOMIC DANGER OF INDIA
+
+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 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.
+
+
+REVIVAL OF INDIAN INDUSTRIES
+
+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 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.
+
+
+A CALL FOR NOBLER PATRIOTISM
+
+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 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.
+
+--_Amrita Bazar Patrika_, 26-7-1915.
+
+
+
+
+HISTORY OF A DISCOVERY
+
+
+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).
+
+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. This is the process which all must follow; there is no
+easier path.
+
+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 _Electrician_ 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.
+
+
+UNIVERSAL SENSITIVENESS OF MATTER
+
+In the course of his investigations Dr. Bose 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. 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.
+
+
+CASTE IN SCIENCE
+
+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 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.
+
+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 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.
+
+
+FURTHER DIFFICULTIES
+
+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 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.
+
+
+LONG DELAYED SUCCESS
+
+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, which had so long remained in
+obscurity, found enthusiastic acceptance.
+
+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.
+
+
+JOURNEY OF INDIAN PLANT ROUND THE WORLD
+
+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 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. Two days after came the
+proclamation of War!
+
+
+OUTCOME OF HIS WORK
+
+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 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.
+
+
+THE INEFFABLE WONDER BEHIND THE VEIL
+
+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 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.
+
+
+A SOCIAL GATHERING
+
+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:--
+
+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 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.
+
+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 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.
+
+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 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.
+
+--_The Presidency College Magazine._ _Vol. II, pages_ 339-341.
+
+
+
+
+LIGHT VISIBLE AND INVISIBLE
+
+
+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).
+
+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 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 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.
+
+--_Pioneer_,--16-1-1916.
+
+
+
+
+HINDU UNIVERSITY ADDRESS
+
+
+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:--
+
+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.
+
+
+STIMULUS WITHIN AND WITHOUT
+
+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.
+
+
+SPECIAL FUNCTION OF A NATION
+
+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.
+
+
+HOW INDIA CAN TEACH
+
+How can our Nation give out of the fulness of 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; 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.
+
+
+HOW TO SECURE THIS STATUS
+
+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.
+
+In any case if India need to make any contribution 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.
+
+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 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.
+
+--_Modern Review, vol. XIX, pages_ 277, 278.
+
+
+
+
+THE HISTORY OF A FAILURE THAT WAS GREAT
+
+
+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:--
+
+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.
+
+This is likewise true of the congeries of life which we call a society
+or a nation. The energy which 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.
+
+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 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.
+
+
+STIMULUS OF CONTACT WITH WESTERN CULTURE
+
+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 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.
+
+
+MATTERS EDUCATIONAL
+
+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 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.
+
+
+THE HISTORY OF A FAILURE THAT WAS GREAT
+
+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. 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 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.
+
+
+LIFE OF ACTION
+
+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 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.
+
+
+INDUSTRIAL EFFORTS
+
+I come now to another period of his life fifty years from now, when he
+foresaw the economic danger 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.
+
+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 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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+
+
+
+QUEST OF TRUTH AND DUTY
+
+
+Sir Jagadis Chandra Bose delivered the following Address, on the 25th
+February 1917, to the students of the Presidency College on receiving
+their _Arghya_ and congratulations on the occasion of his knighthood. It
+was published in the Modern Review for March 1917--Volume XXI, p. 343.
+
+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 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.
+
+
+THE LAW UNIVERSAL
+
+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 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.
+
+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.
+
+
+DUTY TO SELF
+
+As regards duty to self, can there be anything so 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.
+
+
+IDEAL OF KINGSHIP
+
+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:
+
+     "Be with us. We have chosen thee
+     Let all the people wish for thee
+     Stand steadfast and immovable
+     Be like a mountain unremoved
+     And hold thy kingship in thy grasp."
+
+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.
+
+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 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.
+
+
+DUTY TO OUR COUNTRY
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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 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?
+
+
+DEFENCE OF HOMELAND
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+
+MASS RESPONSE
+
+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 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 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, 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.
+
+
+DIFFERENCE OF TEMPERAMENT
+
+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 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!
+
+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.
+
+"In the Prosperity of Our subjects will be our strength, in their
+contentment Our security, in their Gratitude Our best Reward."
+
+That there are increasingly frequent reflexes in our Government to
+popular needs and wishes is happily illustrated at a most opportune
+moment from the statements in the recent _Gazette of India_ 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.
+
+
+MARCH OF WORLD TRAGEDY
+
+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.
+
+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 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.
+
+
+
+
+THE VOICE OF LIFE
+
+
+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.
+
+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 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.
+
+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.
+
+
+FAILURE AND SUCCESS
+
+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 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.
+
+
+LIVING AND NON-LIVING
+
+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
+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.
+
+It is but natural that there should be prejudice, even in science,
+against all innovations; and I was 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.
+
+
+THE TWO IDEALS
+
+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.
+
+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 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.
+
+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 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.
+
+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.
+
+
+ADVANCEMENT AND DIFFUSION OF KNOWLEDGE
+
+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 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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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
+_advancement_ 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.
+
+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 from different parts of the world, within the precincts of
+its ancient seats of learning, at Nalanda and at Taxilla.
+
+
+THE SURGE OF LIFE
+
+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 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.
+
+
+THE OUTLOOK
+
+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.
+
+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
+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.
+
+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, undismayed by difficulties, companioned by the kind
+thoughts of my well-wishers, both far and near.
+
+
+INDIA'S SPECIAL APTITUDES IN CONTRIBUTION TO SCIENCE
+
+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 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 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.
+
+
+PLANT LIFE AND ANIMAL LIFE
+
+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
+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.
+
+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 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.
+
+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.
+
+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 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?
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+The thrill in matter, the throb of life, the pulse of 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?
+
+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.
+
+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 _Amlaki_
+fruit. This was his last possession and anguished cry was that since he
+had nothing more to give, let the half of the _Amlaki_ be accepted as
+his final gift.
+
+Asoka's emblem of the _Amlaki_ 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
+_Amlaki_ 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.
+
+
+
+
+THE PRAYING PALM OF FARIDPUR
+
+
+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:
+
+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.
+
+I first obtained photographs of the two positions which proved the
+phenomenon to be real. The 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.
+
+
+SENSITIVE OR INSENSITIVE?
+
+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
+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.
+
+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 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.
+
+--_Amrita Bazar Patrika_, 7-1-1918.
+
+
+
+
+VISUALISATION OF GROWTH
+
+
+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.
+
+
+LAW VERSUS CAPRICE
+
+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 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.
+
+
+RECORD OF GROWTH
+
+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 war put an end to
+this source of supply. He had then to turn to resources available in
+India.
+
+
+ADVANCE OF AGRICULTURE
+
+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.
+
+
+THE MAGNETIC CRESCOGRAPH
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+The lecturer explained how the effect of a given agent--a chemical
+solution or an electric current--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.
+
+--_Amrita Bazar Patrika_, 19-1-1918.
+
+
+
+
+SIR J. C. BOSE AT BOMBAY.
+
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+
+A FIFTY THOUSAND RUPEES LECTURE.
+
+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 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.
+
+
+PLANTS UNDER ANAESTHETICS
+
+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 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.
+
+
+SOME PHENOMENA OF PLANT LIFE
+
+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.
+
+
+ELECTRICITY AND AGRICULTURE
+
+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.
+
+--_Amrita Bazar Patrika_, 29-1-1918.
+
+
+
+
+UNITY OF LIFE
+
+
+Under the auspices of the Bombay University, Sir Jagadis Chunder 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....
+
+
+HIDDEN HISTORY IN PLANTS LIFE
+
+"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."
+
+Sir J. C. Bose then explained the principle of his epoch-making Resonant
+Recorder which writes 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.
+
+"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.
+
+"These our 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
+story has a pathos of its own beyond any that we may have conceived?
+
+"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.
+
+"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?"
+
+Sir Jagadis then gave a most interesting exposition of his researches
+with the aid of magic lantern slides.
+
+
+SENSITIVENESS IN PLANTS
+
+Referring first of all his discovery of sensitiveness 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.
+
+He next went on to say that all plants were 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.
+
+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 [_sic._, 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.
+
+Proceeding Dr. Bose said that plants were far 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 [_sic._] and could be recorded.
+
+
+"PROTECTING" PLANTS
+
+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 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_2, 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.
+
+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 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.
+
+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.
+
+--_Amrita Bazar Patrika_, 5-2-1918.
+
+
+
+
+THE AUTOMATIC WRITING OF THE PLANT
+
+
+On the 8th February 1918, Sir J. C. Bose delivered the following
+discourse on 'The Automatic Writing of the Plant,' at the Bose
+institute:--
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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 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.
+
+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.
+
+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 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.
+
+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.
+
+--_Amrita Bazar Patrika_, 9-2-1918.
+
+
+
+
+CONTROL OF NERVOUS IMPULSE
+
+
+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.
+
+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 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.
+
+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 possibility? This question
+is plainly fraught with high significance.
+
+
+PROBLEM OF CONTROL OF NERVOUS IMPULSE
+
+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 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.
+
+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 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.
+
+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.
+
+The lecturer has in his previous works demonstrated 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.
+
+
+MAN VICTORIOUS OVER CIRCUMSTANCE
+
+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 his inner
+realm, the jarring notes and the din of the world should no longer
+affect him.
+
+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.
+
+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 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.
+
+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.
+
+--_Amrita Bazar Patrika_, 4-12-1918.
+
+
+
+
+MARVELS OF GROWTH AS REVEALED BY THE "MAGNETIC CRESCOGRAPH"
+
+
+[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.]
+
+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 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 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.
+
+
+THE SLOWNESS OF GROWTH
+
+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.
+
+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 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.
+
+
+THE RECORDING CRESCOGRAPH
+
+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 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.
+
+
+THE MAGNETIC CRESCOGRAPH
+
+Such unlooked for results called for yet higher 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!
+
+
+LIFE IN STATE OF SUSPENSE AND ITS SUBSEQUENT RESOLUTION
+
+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.
+
+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. 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.
+
+--_Amrita Bazar Patrika_, 13-1-1919.
+
+
+
+
+THE NIGHT-WATCH OF NYMPHAEA
+
+
+Sir J. C. Bose gave the following Discourse on the 'Night-Watch of
+Nymphaea,' at the Bose Institute, on the 24th January, 1919.
+
+[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 numerous plants have been
+recording their movements for every hour of the day and night and for
+many days in succession.]
+
+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.
+
+"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 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."
+
+
+THE 'SLEEP' AND 'WAKING' OF JHINGA FLOWER
+
+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:
+
+     "Our day of work is over
+     Like life's span, but an hour!
+     For now behold the gold-starred fields
+     Of opening 'Jhinga' flowers!"
+
+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 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.
+
+
+COMPLEXITY OF THE PROBLEM
+
+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 thegeotropic
+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 change
+found diverse expressions in the movement of plants.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+--_Amrita Bazar Patrika_, 25-1-1919.
+
+
+
+
+WOUNDED PLANTS
+
+
+Sir J. C. Bose delivered the following lecture on the 'Wounded Plants'
+at the Bose Institute, on the 7th February, 1919:--
+
+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 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.
+
+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 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.
+
+
+TEST OF LIVINGNESS
+
+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 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.
+
+
+EFFECT OF WOUND
+
+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 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.
+
+
+PARALYSIS OF SENSIBILITY
+
+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.
+
+--_Amrita Bazar Patrika_, 10-2-1919.
+
+
+
+
+LIFE AND SPEECHES OF EMINENT INDIANS
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+SIR RABINDRANATH TAGORE. His Life, Personality, and Genius, by K. S.
+Ramaswami Sastri, B.A., B.L. with a Foreword by Mr. J. C. Rollo. Price
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