Part 13

83,669. At the Presidency College the facilities for scientific work were now greater than in many institutions in England. India was now becoming a great country for Biological research. Again, the Physical and Chemical Laboratories at the Presidency College were finer than many in England. If young men of science in England thought they obtained better opportunities in pursuing their subjects in New Zealand and Toronto than in India, the India office ought to remove that impression at once.

83,670. (Lord Ronaldshay). When an Indian graduate under the witnesses' scheme was appointed direct to the higher service in India he would not compel him to go to England for a period of training. The person who would be appointed in India directly from the Indian Universities would have to have previously served with distinction in subordinate positions; a visit to Europe would be an advantage but not absolutely necessary.

83,671. (Mr. Biss). The cost of living in Calcutta to an Indian Professor or Lecturer would all depend as the style in which he lived. In each service there is always a standard of living to which every member is expected to conform. An Indian Professor had to go to Europe from time to time to keep himself in touch with the developments of his subject. An Indian officer had to support a large number of relations. The question of a man's private expenses should not be raised in fixing his pay. One might as well inquire whether the candidate for admission to the service was a bachelor or married, or as to how many children he had. He had known Europeans who had led a simple life, and had been all the better for it.

83,672. He could not understand why men went to Japan and Canada instead of coming to India on better terms. It was a mystery to him. He thought it was either sheer ignorance or the spread of the commercial spirit.

83,673. All the students coming to his side of the University, were, as a rule, keen and anxious to learn; he could not wish for better students.

83,674. (Mr. Gupta). He desired one service, because he thought it was most degrading that certain men, although they were doing the same work, should be classed in a Provincial Service, while others should be classed in an Imperial Service. The prospect of the members of the Provincial Service were not at all what they ought to be, and that was the reason why the best men were not attracted to it.

PROF. J. C. BOSE AT MADURA

On his way back to Calcutta from the Fourth Scientific Deputation to the West, Prof. J. C. Bose visited Madura, 14th June 1915. The Tamil Sangam presented him with an address. In reply Dr. Bose made an important speech, in course of which he said:--

I am no longer a representative of Bengal nor have I come to a strange place, but as an Indian addressing the mighty India and her people. When we realise that unity of our destiny then a great future opens out for us.

It may be we may theorise and attribute to the plants all the characteristics of the animals; but that will be merely theory: there will be no proof. There are certain classes of people who think that plants are utterly unlike animals and some hold that they are like animals. The mere theory is absolutely worthless in order to find out the truth. We have to find by investigation, by means of researches, by means of proofs, that one is identical with the other. We have not only to drop all theory but we have to make the plant itself write down the answers to the questions that we have to put to them. That was the great problem,--how to make the plant itself answer and write down answers to the question....

If the plants are acted on by various medicines and drugs like ourselves, then we can create an agent or a spokesman on which we can carry out all future investigations on the action of drugs. Then there is opened out a great vista for the scientific study of medicine. And let me tell you medicine is not yet an exact science. It is merely a phase of tradition. We have not been able to make medicine scientific. Now by the data of the influence of drugs on the fundamental basis of life, as is seen in the plant, we shall be able to make the science of medicine purely scientific.

In travelling all over the world, which I have done several times, I was struck by two great characteristics of different nations. One characteristic of certain nations is living for the future. All the modern nations are striving to win force and power from nature. There is another class of men who live on the glory of the past. Now, what is to be the future of our nation? Are we to live only on the glory of the past and die off from the face of the earth, to show that we are worthy descendants of the glorious past and to show by our work, by our intellect and by our service that we are not a decadent nation? We have still a great and mighty future before us, a future that will justify our ancestry. In talking about ancestry, do we ever realise that the only way in which we can do honour to our past is not to boast of what our ancestors have done but to carry out in the future something as great, if not greater than they. Are we to be a living nation, to be proud of our ancestry and to try to win renown by continuous achievements? These mighty monuments that I see around me tell us what has been done till very recent times. I have travelled over some of the greatest ruins of the Universities of India. I have been to the ruins of the University of Taxilla in the farthest corner of India which attracted the people of the west and the east. I had been to the ruins of Nalanda, a University which invited all the west to gain knowledge under its intellectual fostering. I had been all there and seen them. I have come here also and want to visit Conjeevaram. But are you to foster the dead honours or to try to bring back your University in India and drag once more from the rest of the world people who would come down and derive knowledge from India? It is in that way and that way alone we can win our self-respect and make our life and the life of the nation worthy. The present era is the era of temples of learning. In order to erect temples of learning we require all the offerings of our mighty people. We want to erect temples and "viharas" which are so indispensable to the study of nature and her secrets. It is a problem which appeals to every thoughtful Indian. It is by the effort of the people and by their generosity that all these mighty temples arose; and now are we to worship the dead stones or are we to erect living temples so that the knowledge that has been made in India shall be perpetuated in India? I received requests from the different Universities in America and Germany to allow students from those countries to come and learn the science that has been initiated in India. Now, is this knowledge to pass beyond our boundaries to that again in future time we may have to go to the west to get back this knowledge or are we to keep this flame of learning burning all the time?

(Modern Review, Vol. xviii, p. 22-23).

DR. J. C. BOSE ENTERTAINED

PARTY AT RAM MOHAN LIBRARY

On Saturday, 24th July, 1915, the members of the Ram Mohan Library and Reading room received Dr. J. C. Bose, the President of the Library in a right royal fashion, on his return to India from his Scientific Deputation to the West.

There was a large and influential gathering, and the spacious hall was tastefully decorated.

Dr. J. C. Bose arrived at 6:15 p.m. and was received at the gate by Mr. D. N. Pal, Secretary. Dr. Bose then went round the hall accompanied by the members of the Executive Committee while the Bharati Musical Association played excellent Jaltaranga Orchestra.

Babu Bhupendra Nath Bose, Vice-President of the Library, made a brilliant speech welcoming Dr. Bose and detailing the great services done to the country by him.

DR. BOSE'S REPLY

Dr. Bose in reply expressed his thanks for the great interest shown in different parts of this country in the success of his work. This was the fourth occasion on which he had been deputed to the West by the Government of India on a scientific mission, and the success that has attended his visit to foreign countries has exceeded all his expectations. In Vienna, in Paris, in Oxford, Cambridge and London, in Harvard, Washington, Chicago and Columbia, in Tokio and in many other places his work has uniformly been received with high appreciation. In spite of the fact that his researches called into question some of the existing theories, his results have notwithstanding received the fullest acceptance. This was due to a great extent to the convincing character of the demonstration afforded by the very delicate instruments he had been able to invent and which worked under extremely difficult tests with extraordinary perfection. Even the most critical savants in Vienna felt themselves constrained to make a most generous admission. In these new investigations on the border land between physics and physiology, they held that Europe has been left behind by India, to which country they would now have to come for inspiration. It has also been fully recognised that science will derive benefit when the synthetic intellectual methods of the East co-operate with the severe analytical methods of the West. These opinions have also been fully endorsed in other centres of learning and Dr. Bose had received applications from distinguished Universities in Europe and America for admission of foreign post graduate scholars to be trained in his Laboratory in the new scientific methods that have been initiated in India.

RESEARCH LABORATORY FOR INDIA

This recognition that the advance of human knowledge will be incomplete without India's special contributions, must be a source of great inspiration for future workers in India. His countrymen had the keen imagination which could extort truth out of a mass of disconnected facts and the habit of meditation without allowing the mind to dissipate itself. Inspired by his visits to the ancient Universities, at Taxila, at Nalanda and at Conjevaram, Dr. Bose had the strongest confidence that India would soon see a revival of those glorious traditions. There will soon rise a Temple of Learning where the teacher cut off from worldly distractions would go on with his ceaseless pursuit after truth, and dying, hand on his work to his disciples. Nothing would seem laborious in his inquiry; never is he to lose sight of his quest, never is he to let it go obscured by any terrestrial temptation. For he is the Sanyasin spirit, and India is the only country where so far from there being a conflict between science and religion. Knowledge is regarded as religion itself. Such a misuse of science as is now unfortunately in evidence in the West would be impossible here. Had the conquest of air been achieved in India, her very first impulse would be to offer worship at every temple for such a manifestation of the divinity in man.

ECONOMIC DANGER OF INDIA

One of the most interesting events in his tour round the world was his stay in Japan, where he had ample opportunity of becoming acquainted with the efforts of the people and their aspirations towards a great future. No one can help being filled with admiration for what they have achieved. In materialistic efficiency, which in a mechanical era is regarded as an index of civilisation, they have even surpassed their German teachers. A few decades ago they had no foreign shipping and no manufacture. But within an incredibly short time their magnificent lines of steamers have proved so formidable a competitor that the great American line in the Pacific will soon be compelled to stop their sailings. Their industries again, through the wise help of the State and other adventitious aids are capturing foreign markets. But far more admirable is their foresight to save their country from any embroilment with other nations with whom they want to live in peace. And they realise any predominant interest of a foreign country in their trade or manufacture is sure to lead to misunderstanding and friction. Actuated by this idea they have practically excluded all foreign manufactured articles by prohibitive tariffs.

REVIVAL OF INDIAN INDUSTRIES

Is our country slow to realise the danger that threatens her by the capture of her market and the total destruction of her industries? Does she not realise that it is helpless passivity that directly provokes aggression? Has not the recent happenings in China served as an object lesson? There is, therefore, no time to be lost and the utmost effort is demanded of the Government and the people for the revival of our own industries. The various attempts that have hitherto been made have not been as successful as the necessity of the case demands. The efforts of the Government and of the people have hitherto been spasmodic and often worked at cross purposes. The Government should have an advisory body of Indian members. There should be some modification of rules as regards selection of Industrial scholars. Before being sent out to foreign countries they should be made to study the conditions of manufacture in this country and its difficulties. For a particular industry there should be a co-ordinated group of three scholars, two for the industrial and one for the commercial side. Difficulties would arise in adapting foreign knowledge to Indian conditions. This can only be overcome by the devoted labour of men of originality, who have been trained in our future Research Laboratory. The Government could also materially help (i) by offering facilities for the supply of raw materials (ii) by offering expert advice (iii) by starting experimental industries. He had reason to think that the Government is full alive to the crucial importance of the subject and is determined to take every step necessary. In this matter the aims of the people and the Government are one. In facing a common danger and in co-operation there must arise mutual respect and understanding. And perhaps through the very catastrophe that is threatening the world there may grow up in India a realisation of community of interest and solidarity as between Government and people.

A CALL FOR NOBLER PATRIOTISM