Sir Jagadis Chunder Bose

Jagadis Chunder Bose, by Sir Jagadis Chunder Bose

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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: ISO-8859-1
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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."
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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