Sir Jagadis Bose was the first eminent Indian, outside politics,
that I made acquaintance with, and an extraordinary person he was. When I met him first he was in an early stage of his long fight for recognition by the Royal Society, a fight that occupied him for close upon twenty years. Not a few of his friends took the view that the British scientific world was hostile to him on account of his race, but I do not think that Bose agreed with them. To me he always seemed convinced that the main obstacle was the conservatism of the specialist. Thirty years ago his researches in plant response and nerve structure were startling in their novelty ; they made nothing of the barrier between physics and biology, and Bose had a few powerful enemies. He was indefatigable, unbeatable ; and on the platform irresistible, as audiences throughout the world had reason to know. I never knew an Indian so successful as he in getting what he wanted out of the Government. His family belonged to the Brahmo Samaj, that small liberated Hindu community of Bengal which has been so extraordinarily prolific in genius during the past century.
* * * *
Previous page
