THE LIFE AND WORK 



OF 



SIR JAGADIS C. BOSE 



CHAPTER I 



CHILDHOOD AND EARLY EDUCATION 



' THE boy is father of the man.' Hence the writers of 

 biographies have always sought to learn and tell all they 

 could of the early environment of their subjects ; for these 

 formative influences, and the response of childhood and 

 youth to them, are often seen to throw lights on characters 

 as brought out in later years, and so on their achievements. 

 Thus Auguste Comte as yet the most comprehensive and 

 appreciative of biographers, since most clearly setting before 

 himself and his successors the appreciation of the main 

 contributors to civilisation was wont to quote two lines 

 of de Vigny's : ' What is a great life ? It is a thought of 

 youth wrought out in ripening years/ And as psychology 

 progresses, we are learning more and more fully not only 

 how fundamental is ancestral and parental influence, how 

 influential are early conditions, but also how significant are 

 childish feelings and fancies, dreamings and doings ; how 

 important too are the boy's thoughts and endeavours ; and 

 how deeply determinative those of the adolescent, as he 

 looks onwards towards his life, and makes his choices among 

 its oft-dividing ways. 



Vikrampur is a large area west of Dacca, the capital 

 of Eastern Bengal. It is a region of fair fertility, but even 



