GREAT INDIAN SCIENTIST.

Evening Star, Issue 22817, 27 November 1937, Page 16

GREAT INDIAN SCIENTIST.

Of Sir Jagadis Chandra Bose, tho first Hindu scientist to attain a world-wide reputation and the first Indian to be knighted for scientific work, it has been said “ he exhales a spirit of sheer beauty, especially when he talks.” As a matter of fact, tho very nature of Bose’s assiduous investigations points to a character of rare inspirational depth and beauty. He loved plants and trees. He recognised them as being living organisms that breathed and possessed hearts and that lived and died. He appeared to feel with them and feel for them. He was their champion at all times. Now that Sir Jagadis himself has passed on, the average person will perhaps learn more about his work than he ever knew before, as the announcement of the great Indian’s death and tho host of tributes to his memory which are sure to be paid by fellow-scientists jvili probably

arouse more public interest in his discoveries than was evinced during his lifetime. Unfortunately it was ever thus. The men who toil in partial obscurity, no matter how significant may be their ultimate findings, do not command the limelight to the same extent as the lesser personalities whose calling may be based on dictatorial and political lines, or who form a habit of making centuries at cricket. It is interesting to recall what Sir Jagadis has said about one of his own. researches. “ Hitherto we have regarded trees and plants as not akin to us because they are the voiceless of the world, but I will show you that they are sensible creatures in that they really exist and can answer your questions. When it receives a shock the leaf of the mimosa drops, and we have invented an apparatus by means of which this answer can be converted into intelligible script. We began by attaching the dropping leaf to a lever, seeking to get the response actually written on paper, but the resistance of movement over paper was too great, so the lever was set to vibrate at one thousand times a second, and a musical note was sounded. Now we could measure the effect on the lever to a thousandth part of a heart-beat. Our hearing ranges through no fewer than eleven octaves, but our sight through only one octave of light. Anything that does not range between red and violet we cannot see. Yet the plant actually sees the ultra-violet and even those ether waves that bring to us wireless concerts. It is not unlikely that plants have a sixth sense. In certain of my experiments I have noticed that while a plant was recording a throbbing the pulsing was affected by the approach of certain people, but became normal again when they went away. Generally a plant took twelve minutes to recover from a blow.” This will prove the extreme delicacy of Bose’s work.

The parallel lie draws between man and metals is also little short of marvellous. For instance, he claims that metals react like man to doses of opium and that they can be killed by poison. In one of his experiments a piece of metal in a healthy condition -was taken and tested; the galvanometer showed that it was in full vigour. Then it was treated with a dose of oxalic acid, a strong poison. At once there was a spasmodic flutter and then the galvanometer signals grew more and more feeble until they almost ceased. A powerful antidote was applied, and slowly the metal began to recover and record again. It is investigations such as these that rank Sir Jagadis as one of the most original of scientific explorers, for he was the first to prove that the three kingdoms of matter—the animal, the vegetable, and the mineral—were one in essence.