THE BOSE INSTITUTE 243 



underlie that research and those theories equally well in India 

 and in Europe. In this no less than in other fields of knowledge 

 India has her special contributions to make. Sir J. C. Bose's 

 work has shown that through her meditative habit of mind 

 she is peculiarly fitted to realise the idea of unity and to see 

 in the phenomenal world an orderly universe, and this habit 

 confers the power to hold the mind in pursuit of truth in infinite 

 patience. 



The Athenceum wrote : 



The foundation of an Institute for research in pure science 

 is an event in the history of India. The publication of the 

 Transactions, the firstfruits of its activity, shows that it is an 

 event also in the history of science. 



We may now describe the Institute with its great 

 scheme of continuing the researches of its founder, and 

 of carrying on his large conceptions of the investigation of 

 the processes of life with the help of all the resources and 

 refinements of the physical sciences. 



The building stands conveniently central for the intel- 

 lectual activities and for the public of Calcutta. The 

 building is of striking and dignified design, constructed of 

 fine greyish purple sandstone, in Indian style of the pre- 

 Mahommedan period, with symbolic ornament and details 

 throughout. In front is a small garden, appropriately of 

 sensitive plants, in which are a fountain and pool, and a 

 sun-dial and an electrically controlled clock-dial for mutual 

 comparison. A distinctive sign of the Institute and its 

 work is a large double tracing, being automatically made 

 in two parallel curves before the eyes of the observer. 

 One of these curves records the result of the essential 

 changes of the atmospheric environments temperature, 

 light, etc. while the other summarises the responses of 

 a large tree to those changing conditions for every minute 

 of the twenty- four hours. This autograph of the tree 

 gives striking and vivid demonstration that all plants, 

 including even rigid trees, are fully sensitive to the changes 

 around them. Even the passage of a drifting cloud 



