CHAPTER X 



IRRITABILITY OF PLANTS 



As in the world of matter, so also in the world of thought, 

 there is an inertia which retards movement and change ; 

 and this is especially the case in the adoption of new 

 methods of scientific inquiry. Bose's ' Plant Response ' and 

 ' Comparative Electro-Physiology ' (1906-7) gave detailed 

 descriptions of his methods, but want of opportunity of 

 following the practical demonstration stood in the way of 

 their wider adoption. In spite of this drawback, various 

 workers in different parts of the world followed closely 

 Bose's work, and employed his method with success. The 

 Optical Lever has been used in certain physiological 

 investigations in the Cambridge Laboratory ; van der 

 Wolk of Utrecht has followed with success Bose's lines 

 of investigation ; while his electro-physiological investiga- 

 tions have been incorporated in a course of advanced work 

 under Professor Harper at Columbia University, New York. 



In response to a widely expressed desire that workers 

 in the West should become acquainted first-hand with the 

 practical working of his methods, the Government sent 

 Bose in 1907, on his third scientific deputation, to England 

 and America. After a short stay in England he visited 

 the United States, and lectured before highly appreciative 

 audiences in the different American Universities. 



On his return to India Bose concentrated his attention on 

 the invention of a complete set of apparatus by which the 

 experimental plant would be automatically excited at definite 



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