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.