Footnotes[1]Vide 'History of a Failure that was great'—Modern Review, Vol. XXI, p. 221.[2]Vide 'History of a Failure that was great'—Modern Review. Vol. XXI p. 221.[3]Vide'History of a failure that was great'—Modern Review, Vol. XXI, p 221.[4]'History of a Failure that was great'—Modern Review. Vol, XXI, p. 221.[5]Convocation Address, dated 2nd March 1907, delivered by Sir Ashutosh Mookerjea.[6]Vide Evidence of Dr. J. C. Bose before the Public Services Commission,—Vol. XX, p. 136.[7]Address to the Royal Society by its President, Sir Benjamin Brodie, 30th November 1859.[8]1 metre = 39.4 inches.[9]Encyclopædia Britannica, 11th Edition, Vol IX, p. 206.[10]Encyclopædia Britannica, 11th Edition, Vol. IX, p. 206.[11]See 'History of a Discovery'—Modern Review, Vol. XVIII, p. 693.[12]See 'Voice of Life'—Modern Review, Vol. XII, p. 590.[13]Vide 'History of a Discovery'—Modern Review, Vol. XVIII, p. 694.[14]Response in Living and Non-Living, p. 191.[15]See 'Voice of Life'—Modern Review, Vol. XXII, p. 588.[16]See 'History of a Discovery'—Modern Review, Vol. XVIII, p. 694.[17]Vide 'Voice of Life'—Modern Review, Vol. XXII, p. 592.[18]See 'Voice of Life'—Modern Review, Vol. XXII, p. 592.[19]Vide 'Voice of Life'—Modern Review, Vol. XXII, p. 592.[20]Vide 'History of a Discovery'—Modern Review, Vol. XVIII, p. 694.[21]Cf. Preface to 'Comparative Electro-Physiology' p. IX.[22]Vide 'Comparative Electro-Physiology' pp. 732-733.[23]Vide 'Memory Image and its Revival,' Sir J. C. Bose—Modern Review, Vol. XXIV, p. 447.[24]Sri Sermon on "Prayer" delivered by Keshub Chunder Sen at the Prarthana Samaj, Bombay, on March 26, 1868.[25]See 'Voice of Life'—Modern Review, Vol. XXII, p. 588.[26]Vide Modern Review Vol. XI, p. 539.[27]Vide Appendix to the Report of the Royal Commission on the Public Services in India, Vol. XX, p. 135-136.[28]Vide Appendix to the Report of the Royal Commission on the Public Services in India, Vol. XX, p. 135.[29]Vide Appendix to the Report of the Royal Commission on the Public Services in India, Vol. XX, p. 136[30]Vide Appendix to the Report of the Royal Commission on the Public Services in India, Vol. XX, p. 137.[31]Vide Appendix to the Report of the Royal Commission on the Public Services in India, Vol. XX, p. 137.[32]Vide Appendix to the Report of the Royal Commission on the Public Services in India, Vol. XX, p. 137.[33]Vide Appendix to the Report of the Royal Commission on the Public Services in India, Vol. XX, p. 139.[34]Vide Modern Review—Vol. XVI, pp. 16, 118, 120.[35]Vide Modern Review, Vol. XVI, pp. 120, 121, 126.[36]Vide Modern Review, Vol. XVII, P. 559.[37]Vide Modern Review, Vol. XVI, p. 246.[38]Vide Modern Review, Vol. XVII, p. 559.[39]Vide Modern Review, Vol. XVIII, p. 1.[40]Vide Modern Review, Vol. XVIII. p. 214.[41]Vide Modern Review, Vol. XVIII. p. 215.[42]Vide Modern Review, Vol. XVIII, p. 215.[43]Vide Modern Review, Vol. XIX, p. 277.[44]Vide 'Voice of Life'—Modern Review, Vol. XXII, p. 591.[45]Presidency College Magazine, Vol. II, p. 335.[46]Presidency College Magazine, Vol. II, p, 335.[47]Vide 'Voice of Life'—Modern Review, XXII, p. 590.[48]Vide 'Voice of Life'—Modern Review Vol XXII, p. 590.[49]Vide Modern Review, Vol. XXI, p. 343.
Footnotes
[1]Vide 'History of a Failure that was great'—Modern Review, Vol. XXI, p. 221.
[2]Vide 'History of a Failure that was great'—Modern Review. Vol. XXI p. 221.
[3]Vide'History of a failure that was great'—Modern Review, Vol. XXI, p 221.
[4]'History of a Failure that was great'—Modern Review. Vol, XXI, p. 221.
[5]Convocation Address, dated 2nd March 1907, delivered by Sir Ashutosh Mookerjea.
[6]Vide Evidence of Dr. J. C. Bose before the Public Services Commission,—Vol. XX, p. 136.
[7]Address to the Royal Society by its President, Sir Benjamin Brodie, 30th November 1859.
[8]1 metre = 39.4 inches.
[9]Encyclopædia Britannica, 11th Edition, Vol IX, p. 206.
[10]Encyclopædia Britannica, 11th Edition, Vol. IX, p. 206.
[11]See 'History of a Discovery'—Modern Review, Vol. XVIII, p. 693.
[12]See 'Voice of Life'—Modern Review, Vol. XII, p. 590.
[13]Vide 'History of a Discovery'—Modern Review, Vol. XVIII, p. 694.
[14]Response in Living and Non-Living, p. 191.
[15]See 'Voice of Life'—Modern Review, Vol. XXII, p. 588.
[16]See 'History of a Discovery'—Modern Review, Vol. XVIII, p. 694.
[17]Vide 'Voice of Life'—Modern Review, Vol. XXII, p. 592.
[18]See 'Voice of Life'—Modern Review, Vol. XXII, p. 592.
[19]Vide 'Voice of Life'—Modern Review, Vol. XXII, p. 592.
[20]Vide 'History of a Discovery'—Modern Review, Vol. XVIII, p. 694.
[21]Cf. Preface to 'Comparative Electro-Physiology' p. IX.
[22]Vide 'Comparative Electro-Physiology' pp. 732-733.
[23]Vide 'Memory Image and its Revival,' Sir J. C. Bose—Modern Review, Vol. XXIV, p. 447.
[24]Sri Sermon on "Prayer" delivered by Keshub Chunder Sen at the Prarthana Samaj, Bombay, on March 26, 1868.
[25]See 'Voice of Life'—Modern Review, Vol. XXII, p. 588.
[26]Vide Modern Review Vol. XI, p. 539.
[27]Vide Appendix to the Report of the Royal Commission on the Public Services in India, Vol. XX, p. 135-136.
[28]Vide Appendix to the Report of the Royal Commission on the Public Services in India, Vol. XX, p. 135.
[29]Vide Appendix to the Report of the Royal Commission on the Public Services in India, Vol. XX, p. 136
[30]Vide Appendix to the Report of the Royal Commission on the Public Services in India, Vol. XX, p. 137.
[31]Vide Appendix to the Report of the Royal Commission on the Public Services in India, Vol. XX, p. 137.
[32]Vide Appendix to the Report of the Royal Commission on the Public Services in India, Vol. XX, p. 137.
[33]Vide Appendix to the Report of the Royal Commission on the Public Services in India, Vol. XX, p. 139.
[34]Vide Modern Review—Vol. XVI, pp. 16, 118, 120.
[35]Vide Modern Review, Vol. XVI, pp. 120, 121, 126.
[36]Vide Modern Review, Vol. XVII, P. 559.
[37]Vide Modern Review, Vol. XVI, p. 246.
[38]Vide Modern Review, Vol. XVII, p. 559.
[39]Vide Modern Review, Vol. XVIII, p. 1.
[40]Vide Modern Review, Vol. XVIII. p. 214.
[41]Vide Modern Review, Vol. XVIII. p. 215.
[42]Vide Modern Review, Vol. XVIII, p. 215.
[43]Vide Modern Review, Vol. XIX, p. 277.
[44]Vide 'Voice of Life'—Modern Review, Vol. XXII, p. 591.
[45]Presidency College Magazine, Vol. II, p. 335.
[46]Presidency College Magazine, Vol. II, p, 335.
[47]Vide 'Voice of Life'—Modern Review, XXII, p. 590.
[48]Vide 'Voice of Life'—Modern Review Vol XXII, p. 590.
[49]Vide Modern Review, Vol. XXI, p. 343.
LITERATUREAND 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 alongwith 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. Butthis 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 ismaking 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 ofthat 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 penetratingof 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, whendeath 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 haveto 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, andby 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 gatecan 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 beundergone. 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.
THEPHYTOGRAPH
I was speaking of the need of various delicate instruments—phytographs, as I shall call them—for the automatic record of the plant's responses. What was, ten years ago, a mere aspiration, has now after so many years of effort, become actual fact. It is unnecessary to tell here of many a fruitless and despairing attempt. Nor shall I trouble you with any account of intricate mechanism. I need only say that with the aid of different types of apparatus, it is now possible for all the responsive activities of the plant to be written down. For instance, we can make an instantaneous record of the growth and its variations, moment by moment. Scripts can be obtained of its spontaneous movement. And a recording arm will demorcate the line of life from that of death. The extreme delicacy of one of these instruments will be understood, when it is said that it measures and records a time-interval so short as one-thousandth part of a second!
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 mayproceed 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 muchshortened. 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 takesMimosaabout 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 takesMimosaten 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. Aslong as life lasts, so long does the heart continue to pulsate. There is no effect without a cause. How then was it that these pulstations [became spontaneous? To this query, no fully satisfactory answer has been forthcoming. We find, however, that similar spontaneous movements are also observable in plant tissues, and by their investigation the secret of automatism in the animal may perhaps be unravelled.
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, theheart 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 IndianBon 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 andvice 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.KamrangaorAverrhoais 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 immediatelyexciting cause. These, therefore, are not so obviously dependent as the others on the sunshine of the world. Our telegraph-plant,DesmodiumorBon 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 ofKamranga, with its dependence on outside influences, and inevitably ephemeral activity, or those ofBon 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 immediatechange 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 thesameresults 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 isBon charalor 'forest churl', the popular belief being that it dances to the clappingof 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.
PLANTAUTOGRAPHS
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 GurudasBannerjee, 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 thosesignatures. 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 pointfrom 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.
AUTOMATISMAND 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. Thedelicate 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 plantworld, 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.
INVISIBLELIGHT
A most instructive and interesting lecture was delivered on Thursday, the 30th Jaunuary, 1913, at the Calcutta University Institute Hall, by Dr. J. C. Bose, on the above subject. It was illustrated with experiments and in spite of the technical nature of the subject, the manner of treatment made the discourse extremely palatable and easy of apprehension to the lay understanding and intelligence. The truths of science could seldom be exposed so light-heartedly and in language leavened with balmy humour. The lecture was very largely attended by ladies and gentlemen, European and Indian, representing the light and leading of the city. The chair was taken by Mr. W. R. Gourlay. Amongst those present we noticed the Hon. Mr. Ramsay McDonald, Mr. Justice Harington, Mr. Justice Chaudhuri, Hon'ble Mr. Gokhale, Hon'ble Mr. Lyon, Hon'ble Mr. D. N. Sarvadhikari, Sir Gurudas Banerji, Hon'ble Mr. Apcar and Dr. Chuni Lal Bose Rai Bahadur.
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 quantitativemeasurements. 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 exhibitselective 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.
PROFESSORJ. 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 geograpahical geographical limitations. The whole world was interdependent, and a constant interchange of thought had been carried on throughout the ages enriching the common heritage of mankind. Hellenistic Greeks and Eastern Aryans had met here in Taxila to exchange the best each had to offer.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 explainedthe 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 thelimitation 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 ofwarmth. 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 evena 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 phenomenonwas 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 thefact 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.
EVIDENCEBEFORE 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 aresufficiently 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.