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“ For my first series of investigation undertaken more than twenty years ago, I invented an apparatus for the automatic record of the rate of suction by the plant. I was then able to show that so far from poison having no effect on the movement of sap, it caused a quick and permanent arrest of the ascent, the propulsion of sap being therefore due to the activity of living cells. Though a very definite and conclusive demonstration was given, yet the conservatism of science was so great that it had little effect on those committed to the old theory. ”

“ When I commenced my investigations a third of a century ago, I heard every one saying that experimental skill was wanting in our workers and that the people lacked the power of invention and construction. And it was only after years of persistent efforts that I have been able to prove that there is no difficulty so great as cannot be overcome by the power of will; that when one dedicates oneself wholly for any great object, then the closed doors shall open and the impossible become fully attainable. ”

“ Overwhelming are the new results that are being accumulated every day, but we cannot stop to reap the fruit which must be left for others. The stress and burden are to be for those only who have started on the great adventure into the region of the Unknown.
For the economic welfare of a vast continent like India, there must always be the two complementary activities, industry and agriculture. Both depend on applications of science, which is capable of very great advance. ”

“ Although science is neither of the East nor of the West, but international in its universality, yet India by her habit of mind and inherited gifts handed down from generation to generation, is specially fitted to make great contributions in furtherance of knowledge. ”

“ The mysterious workings of life continually baffle the inquirer, for numerous are the difficulties which confront him. The generally accepted view is that the mechanism of life is widely different in the animal and in the plant. The animal responds to a shock by a rapid twitching movement; ordinary plants are regarded as insensitive to a succession of blows. The animal has a pulsating heart, the plant being supposed to possess no such throbbing organ. ”

“ Speculation, often most grotesque, has taken the place of ascertainable facts blocking all advance of knowledge. The new instruments by their automatic records are now for the first time, revealing the inner mechanism of life, and many regions of inquiry have been opened out, which had at one time been regarded as beyond the scope of experimental exploration. ”

“ It is proved by the throbbing pulsation in the plant which in the animal is the heart-beat; by the violent spasm that occurs in the plant at the supreme crisis of death. Surprising also are the identical effect of drugs, of stimulants and poisons on the two types of life, this being regarded by leading physicians as of great importance in advancing the Science of Medicine. By researches on growth rendered possible by the invention of the High Magnification Crescograph, the Laws of Growth are being established, a knowledge of which is essential for any real advance in Practical Agriculture. ”

“ The weakling who has refused to take part in the conflict, having acquired nothing, has nothing to give or renounce. He alone, who has striven and won, can enrich the world by giving away the fruits of his victorious experience. ”

“ When a dead plant is attached to the apparatus, the indicating beam of light remains quiescent, the heart-beat of the “plant having been stilled in death. But the imperceptible heart-beat of the living plant is outwardly manifested by alternate swings of the beam of light. The frequency varies in different plants from fifteen to five beats per minute. A depressing agent causes diminished sap-pressure as seen in the sudden rush of the light beam to the left, the down-stroke of the individual beat being relatively large. ”

“ Such supersensitive apparatus is however of no avail unless one can make use of it after having gained complete control of the adjusting hand. For any imperceptible tremor of the finger becomes enormously magnified by the highly sensitive apparatus. The power of the mind in controlling the body is beyond anything that has been conceived: and the results achieved are even more wonderful than the illusions of magic.
The conditions for any great discovery are, then, a great imaginative faculty and power of introspection, the faculties of invention and of great experimental dexterity. ”

“ As regards construction of apparatus by Indian mechanicians, it seemed to me that the race, which by the subtle dexterity of their hands wrought wonders in the past, could not altogether be extinct. It was only necessary for me to take my craftsmen into my confidence and fire them with enthusiasm and to hold before them the marvel to be achieved. ”

“ For this three factors are important: a clear inner vision, great experimental dexterity and power of invention of supersensitive instruments by which alone the realm of the invisible could be successfully explored.
India’s GiftIndia’s Gift Nothing can be more vulgar or more untrue than the ignorant assertion that the world owes its progress of knowledge to any particular race. The whole world is inter-dependent, and a constant stream of thought has throughout ages enriched the common heritage of mankind. ”

“ The slightest movement of the leaf up or down, can thus be easily magnified some five thousand times. Here is a plant from which supply of water has been withheld; the leaf is drooping and the indicating spot of light shows a rapid fall. We will now make its pumping mechanism active by making the plant imbibe water containing ether which, in small doses, is a stimulant. Observe how magical the effect is; the down-movement of the spot of light is reversed into a rapid up-movement. ”

“ The invention of the galena receiver in my laboratory also solved the difficulty of long distance transmission. All this was regarded at the time as a mere scientific curiosity.
All the efforts of the Institute are concentrated on the establishment of the great generalisation that all life is one and that an identical mechanism is operative in both animal and plant tissues. This is demonstrated by a similar motile mechanism, and by the discovery of a very highly differentiated nervous system in the plant. ”

“ A stimulating agent causes, on the other hand, a rush of the beam of light in the opposite direction, the up-stroke being more pronounced than the down-stroke. The unseen waxings and wanings of life are thus, for the first time, revealed by the moving trail of light. ”

“ While all activity is paralysed by dissensions, foreign nations, not over-friendly to Indian interests, are pursuing their policy of exploitation and consolidation of their claims on India’s resources. The peaceful penetration will inevitably lead to forceful occupation and division of India into different spheres of influence. There lies India’s great peril. ”

“ The burning Indian imagination which can extort new order out of a mass of apparently contradictory facts, can also be held in check by the habit of concentration: it is this restraint which confers the power to hold the mind in pursuit of truth in infinite patience. ”

“ InventionsInventions This great productivity is to a great extent due to the successful invention, at the Institute, of instruments of such extraordinary sensitiveness that considerable incredulity was at first entertained about their performance. The exhibition of the instruments at various scientific centres in the West has, however, removed all and it has now been recognised that India’s specific contributions would greatly advance different branches of knowledge. The phenomena of life are ultimately due to the reactions of individual cells, and are therefore infra-perceptible ”

“ The pulse is beating at the rate of about 72 per minute or say once in a second. The frequency of the beat is not always constant but fluctuates under excitation or depression.
The normal blood-pressure and its induced changes can also be recorded by elaborate contrivances. The record thrown on the screen shows the change in the blood pressure by alternate stimulation and partial inhibition of the activity of the heart-pump. Under normal conditions the up and down-strokes of each constituent pulse are equal. During increasing
Record of falling and rising blood pressure. ”

“ The extension and utilisation of knowledge in the service of man is the true function of a centre of learning. We need not be discouraged by temporary aberrations of man, but we should be inspired by the nobility of his aspirations. ”

“ In other parts of the world, it is not doctrinaires but the best intellect of the country—leaders of science, as well as leading men of business—who are called upon to devise means for increasing the wealth of the country. ”

“ I am sure that the country would willingly meet the necessary large expenditure, provided that the money is spent here for benefiting and enriching India, and in opening out wider spheres of activity for her children. There is also a large field for enterprise, where Indians and Englishmen would, as partners, find opportunities for co-operation and higher appreciation of each other. ”

“ For great inventions, a clear inner vision is also essential. When microscopic vision fails, we have still to follow the invisible, for the little that we can see is as nothing compared to the vastness we cannot. ”

“ An attempt to feel the pulse of the plant would, by the very nature of the case, appear to be hopeless. If the plant propelled the sap by periodic pulsations of the active cells, the amount of expansion and contraction of each pulse would be beyond even the highest powers of the microscope to detect. The active cells are moreover buried in the interior of the plant ”

“ After the brief passage of the pulse-wave, the stem would revert to its original diameter, till the next pulse re-inflates it once more. A stimulant would make the heart-pump work more energetically, either by making the length of the stroke larger or the frequency quicker. The sap-pressure would then increase, as would be evidenced by the greater inflation of the stem. ”

“ The artificial earthquake produced by the passage of motor-vans is however introducing increasing difficulty in the use of supersensitive instruments. Occasional respite for obtaining satisfactory record is obtained when there is a lull in the traffic I have sometimes been compelled to carry the instruments to my Mayapuri Research Station at Darjeeling, situated at a height of 7000 feet. The Laboratory built on a substratum of solid rock affords sufficient protection against all mechanical disturbance. ”

“ The ideals and methods pursued in my Institute are by no means utopian; their practicality is fully attested by the unusually large number of investigations that have been brought to successful conclusion in the course of the last few years. ”

“ She nevertheless maintains her own army and navy, has her system of universal education, and the most up-to-date University. Poverty is practically unknown. The miracle is accomplished through science by utilising to the utmost all the available resources of the country. ”

“ The apparatus giving a magnification of fifty thousand times is quite effective in giving an immediate record of effects of stimulants on the active cells, a sudden rise of the curve demonstrating the resulting increase of sap-pressure. Depressing agents, on the other hand, produce a fall of the curve showing a diminution of pressure. ”