"The plant is very human in its virtues and weakness. Plants like animals become exalted, grow tired or despond. An easy green-house life makes them less than themselves, overgrown and flabby, capable of response, till they have become hardened by adversity to a fuller existence. A time comes when after an answer to a supreme shock, there is a sudden end of the plant's power to give any further response. This supreme shock is the shock of death. Even in this crisis there is no immediate change in the placid appearance of the plant. Drooping and withering are events that occur long after death itself. How does the plant then give its last answer? In man at the critical moment a spasm passes through the whole body and similarly in the plant I find a great contractile spasm takes place. This is accompanied by an electrical spasm also. In the script of the Death Recorder the line that up to this time was being drawn, become suddenly reversed and then ends. This is the last answer of the plant.
"These our mute companions, silently growing beside our door, have now told us the tale of their life-tremulousness and their death-spasm in script that is as inarticulate as they. May it not be said that this story has a pathos of its own beyond any that we may have conceived?
"We have now before our mind's eye the whole organism of the perceiving, throbbing and responding plant, a complex unity and not a congeries of unrelated parts. The barriers which separated kindred phenomena in the plant and animal are now thrown down. Thus community throughout the great ocean of life is seen to outweigh apparent dissimilarity Diversity is swallowed up in unity.
"In realising this, is our sense of final mystery of things deepened or lessened? Is our sense of wonder diminished when we realise in the infinite expanse of life that is silent and voiceless the foreshadowings of more wonderful complexities? Is it not rather that science evokes in us a deeper sense of awe? Does not each of her new advances gain for us a step in that stairway of rock which all must climb who desire to look from the mountain tops of the spirit upon the promised land of truth?"
Sir Jagadis then gave a most interesting exposition of his researches with the aid of magic lantern slides.
SENSITIVENESS IN PLANTS
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.