Bose

“ The stranger entered, shaking himself like a Newfoundland dog upon the step, and scattering a little shower of drops over his hostess and her nicely swept floor.
"Ah, that looks comfortable after a man has been out for hours in a storm," he said, as he caught sight of the fire; and striding along toward the hearth, followed by Bose, who sniffed suspiciously at his heels, he stationed himself in the arm-chair—Mr. Townsend's arm-chair! ”

“ We are proud of a Bose or a Ray amongst us but I daresay that had we received instruction through the vernacular for the last fifty years we would have had amongst us so many Boses and Rays that their existence would not have been a matter of surprise to us. ”

“ The Boses had a large house in Lucknow and it was nearly always full, as Mrs. Bose was fond of company and they invariably had a number of relatives and friends staying with them. Mr. and Mrs. Bose slept upstairs in a large south room, which opened into another large room alongside of it. The only furniture in their room was their two beds and a table which stood between the beds to hold the cash box and a lantern.
The night of the zemindar's return, his wife could not sleep. ”

“ Bose showed that the three short electric waves have the same property as a beam of light, exhibiting reflections, refraction, even total reflection, through a black crystal, double refraction, polarisation, and rotation of the plane of polarisation. The thinnest film of air was sufficient to produce total reflection of visible light with its extremely short wave lengths. But with the new electric waves which he produced, Dr. Bose showed that the critical thickness of air space determined by the refracting power of the prison and by the wave length of electric oscillations. ”

“ Bose on the after-effects of stimulus has thrown some light on the obscure phenomenon, of 'memory.' It appears that, when there is a mental revival of past experience, the diffuse impulse of the 'will' acts on the sensory surface, which contains the latent impression and re-awakens the image which appears to have faded out. ”

“ Professor Bose in going to deliver his highly interesting lecture first showed how on account of the imperfection of our senses we fail to detect various forces which play around us. We are not only deaf, but practically blind. While we perceive eleven octaves of sound, we can see only a single octave of other vibration which is called light. In order to detect the invisible light a special detector has to be devised. ”

“ Would it not be easily possible to employ some of them in quick laboratory experiments to indicate the influence of various types of fertilizers on plant growth?"
"You are right. Countless uses of Bose instruments will be made by future generations. The scientist seldom knows contemporaneous reward; it is enough to possess the joy of creative service." ”

“ Bose would not have taken a second electrical kiss. Two thin glasses have been broken by the shock of it. It appears to me very extraordinary, that when this phial and nail are in contact with either conducting or non-conducting matter, the strong shock does not follow. I have cemented it to wood, metal, glass, sealing-wax, etc., when I have electrified without any great effect. The human body, therefore, must contribute something to it. This opinion is confirmed by my observing that unless I hold the phial in my hand I cannot fire spirits of wine with it. ”

“ Finding that the plants give, not only electric but motile response as well, to stimulus, Dr. Bose proceeded to study the nature of responses evoked in plants by the stimuli of the natural forces. He found that plants respond visibly, by movements, to environmental stimuli. But the movements induced—'tropic' movements—are extremely diverse. Light, for example, induces sometimes positive curvature, sometimes negative. Gravitation, again, induces one movement in the root, and the opposition in the shoot. ”

“ Sir J. C. Bose then explained the principle of his epoch-making Resonant Recorder which writes [Pg_236] down the perception period of the plant within a thousandth part of a second, and writes down the action of light and warmth and drugs on the plant; the effect of vitiated air, of passing clouds, of excess of food and of drink.
"The plant is very human in its virtues and weakness. Plants like animals become exalted, grow tired or despond. ”

“ The phenomenon has been solved through the crescograph as the activity of living cells. Peristaltic waves issue from a cylindrical tube which extends down a tree and serves as an actual heart! The more deeply we perceive, the more striking becomes the evidence that a uniform plan links every form in manifold nature."
The great scientist pointed to another Bose instrument.
"I will show you experiments on a piece of tin. The life-force in metals responds adversely or beneficially to stimuli. ”

“ Like race of light too, electric waves can be selectively stopped by various substances, which are "electrically" coloured. Water which is a conductor of electricity stops the electric ray; where as liquid air which is a non-conductor is quite transparent to the rays.
Finally Professor Bose explained his discovery of Polarisation of these rays by various crystals. Tourmaline, which was a good polariser for ordinary light, was not so effective. The lecturer discovered that the crystal Nemalite possessed the power of polarising the electric rays in the most perfect manner. ”

“ The most sensitive organ for perception of a stimulus was the human tongue. An average European could by his tongue detect an electrical current as feeble as six micro-amperes, a micro-ampere being a millionth part of a unit of electrical current. Professor Bose found that his Hindu peoples could detect a much feebler current, namely, 1.5 micro-amperes. ”

“ The teacher thought so highly of Ram's intellect that he was taught one subject after another by his indulgent master, and when he grew older, was especially educated and trained for estate work. When his education was finished he was appointed to be confidential clerk and cashier, and gradually grew to know as much of Bose's money affairs as the zemindar did himself. Whenever the rich man went on his estate, Ram went with him. At times of collection, Ram had the office of counting the silver and locking it up in the cash box. ”

“ While the ethereal sea in which we are all immersed is being thus agitated by these multitudinous waves, we shall remain entirely unaffected, for we possess no organs of perception to respond to these waves. As the ether note rises still higher in pitch, we shall for a brief moment perceive a sensation of warmth. As the note still rises higher, our eye will begin to be affected, a red glimmer of light will be the first to make its appearance. From this point the few colours we see are comprised within a single octave of vibration, from about 400 to 800 billions in one second. ”

“ From amongst the innumerable octaves of light, there is only one octave, with power to excite the human eye. In reality, we stand, in the midst of a luminous ocean, almost blind! The little that we can see is nothing, compared to the vastness of [Pg_084] that which we cannot. But it may be said that out of the very imperfection of his senses man has been able, in science, to build for himself a raft of thought by which to make daring adventure on the great seas of the unknown. ”

“ Dr. Bose determined the index of refraction of electric waves for different materials, and eliminated a difficulty which presented itself in Maxwell's theory as to the relation between the index of refraction of light and the di-electric constant of insulators. He also measured the wave lengths of various oscillations. The order to produce short electric oscillations, to detect them and study their optical properties, he had to construct a large number of instruments. It was a hard task to produce very short electric waves which had [Pg_171] enough energy to be detected, but Dr. ”

“ Let his audience imagine a large electric organ provided with an infinite number of stops, each stop giving rise to a particular ether note. Let the lowest stop produce one vibration a second. They should then get a gigantic wave of 186,000 miles long. Let the next stop give rise to two vibrations in a second, and let each succeeding stop produce higher and higher notes. Let them imagine an unseen hand pressing the different stops in rapid succession, producing higher and higher notes. ”

“ The lecturer first described the infinite variations in life reactions in plants. The same external stimulus, he said apparently produces one effect in one plant; and precisely opposite in another. Some leaves move towards light; others are repelled by it. The root bends towards the centre of the earth, the shoot rises above away from it. Numerous other "tropic" movements are caused by [Pg_227] contact, by electricity, by moisture and by invisible radiations. ”

“ These periodic strokes produce waves in the surrounding medium; the aerial waves striking the ear may, under certain conditions, produce the sensation of sound. The necessary condition for audibility is, that the frequency of vibration should lie within certain limits.
As the air is invisible, we cannot see the waves that are produced. Here is a model in which the medium is thrown into visible waves by the action of periodic disturbances. The beaded string representing the medium is connected at its lower end with a revolving electric motor. The rotation of the motor is periodic ”

“ The radiation was found completely absorbed by the book, and there was not the slightest action on the receiver. On holding the book with its edge at right angles to the electric vibration, the electric ray was found copiously transmitted. ”

“ If a person now stands obstructing the light, the assimilation is slowed down and the bell now strikes at longer intervals. When strong sunlight is thrown on the plant, the successive strokes on the bell become greatly quickened. ”

“ An ordinary book would thus serve as a perfect polariser of the electric ray. The vibrations parallel to the pages are completely absorbed, and those at right angles transmitted in a perfectly polarised condition. ”

“ 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. ”

“ D, the paper disc. V, L are the vertical and horizontal slides.
field could be displaced, and the quadrants a, b, c, or d (see fig. 1) placed opposite to the receiver. In all these cases, even with small displacements, very strong action was produced on the receiver.
From experiments carried out in the manner described above, the outline of a dark cross projected in space was distinctly made out.
A disc of wood, with concentric rings, would probably show the effect equally well. ”

“ I seem to hear
Oboe and cymbal in a rhythmic beat
⁠With bass-drum and bassoon; their drear
⁠And droll crescendo louder growing,
⁠Then falling back, like waters ebbing, flowing,—
Back to the silence sweet! ”

“ Bang! bang! went the drum. "Bosco, Bosco, the armless wonder," bang! bang! "bites their heads off and eats their bodies; eats 'em alive, eats 'em alive!" Bang! bang! "Bosco, Bosco!" the drum punctuating each phrase, making a hideous, ear-splitting duet.
"What hellish syncopation!" thought poor Von Barwig mechanically, as he looked at the individual from whom issued the voice that sounded so like the bellowing of a bull. ”

“ Fearing,' said Greatheart, 'was one that played upon the bass. Some say that the bass is the ground of music. The first string that the musician touches is the bass, when he intends to put all in tune. God also plays upon this string first, when He sets the soul in tune for Himself. ”

“ Boswell's marvellous Life has made J.'s bodily appearance, dress, and manners more familiar to posterity than those of any other man—the large, unwieldy form, the face seamed with scrofula, the purblind eyes, the spasmodic movements, the sonorous voice, even the brown suit, metal buttons, black worsted stockings, and bushy wig, the conversation so full of matter, strength, sense, wit, and prejudice, superior in force and sparkle to the sounding, but often wearisome periods of his written style. ”

“ Whether a bass melody be set against upper voices, or upper voices be concerted against one another upon a background of basso continuo, always sound-worlds of characteristic expression-quality work reciprocally upon one another in the infinity of tonal space, supporting, intensifying, raising, illuminating, threatening, overshadowing—a 231music all of interplay, scarcely intelligible save through ideas of contemporary Analysis. ”

“ For one spell, then, the saints keep singing marvellous music in praise of God; for another, they are listening to the music of the heavenly host; for the saints have no other need than to listen to the music that they hear, and to contemplate the radiance that they see, and to sate themselves with the fragrance that there is in that land. The wonderful Lord is face to face with them, in the South-east, [10] and a crystal veil between; to the South is a golden portico, and through it they discern the form and adumbration of the people of Heaven. ”