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.