# Collected Physical Papers

COLLECTED PHYSICAL PAPERS
BY THE SAME AUTHOR :
BY PROF. PATRICK GEDDES :
Messrs. LONGMANS, GREEN AND CO. :
london, new york, toronto, bombay, calcutta and madras. :
BOSE INSTITUTE TRANSACTIONS, 1927
COLLECTED PHYSICAL PAPERS
OF
SIR JAGADIS CHUNDER BOSE, M.A., D.Sc., LL.D., F.R.S., C.S.I., C.I.E., FOUNDER AND DIRECTOR, BOSE RESEARCH INSTITUTE, CALCUTTA
WITH 123 ILLUSTRATIONS
LONGMANS, GREEN AND CO. LONDON, NEW YORK, TORONTO, BOMBAY, CALCUTTA AND MADRAS
FOREWORD
THIS book contains a collection of the papers on Physical subjects written by Sir Jagadis Bose. A considerable number of these were written some thirty years ago, shortly after the publication of Hertz's experiments on Electric Waves when the study of the properties of electric waves was being pursued with great vigour. This study was facilitated by the method introduced by Bose, of generating electrical waves of shorter wave length than those in general use. By this method he obtained important results on coherence, polarization, double refraction and rotation of the plane of polarization which are described in the papers collected in this volume. In addition to the purely physical papers there are others which describe the beginnings of Sir Jagadis' application of physical methods to the study of living matter, a subject to which most of his work in recent years has been devoted. The papers make very agreeable reading for the author is never dull. Another aspect of these papers is that they mark the dawn of the revival in India, of interest in researches in Physical Science; this which has been so marked a feature of the last thirty years is very largely due to the work and influence of Sir Jagadis Bose.
J. J. Thomson.
Irmily Lodge, Cambridge; August 16, 1926.
PREFACE
A COLLECTION of papers mainly physical, dating from the year 1895, is published in the present volume. The first object of my inquiry was the optical properties of Electric Waves, brought down to within a few octaves of visible light. In the course of my investigations I was led to the discovery of electric response of non-living matter, such as metals, an account of which was published in 1900 by the International Congress of Science, Paris. The response, like that of living matter, was shown to exhibit fatigue under continuous stimulation, enhancement under chemical stimulants, and permanent abolition under poisons. These results indicated that the response of the more complex and unstable living matter is ultimately the expression of physico-chemical reactions.
My subsequent investigations were directed towards the establishment of the generalisation of the essential unity of physiological mechanism in plant and animal life. The reaction of living tissues, is greatly complicated by the combined effects induced by the fluctuating changes of the environment. This accounts for the complexity of life-movements, which are by no means capricious but are capable of rational explanation by the discovery of the combined action of different factors, the individual reactions to which are unknown to us. The external conditions can be maintained constant for only a short time during which the effect of variation of an individual factor has to be determined. This necessitates special devices for exceptionally high ​magnification of responsive movements, which otherwise would have been quite imperceptible. The latent period and the velocity of reaction had also to be determined with great accuracy, as also the energy of the incident stimulus.
The difficulties encountered were overcome by the successful employment of various physical methods of high sensibility and accuracy, which will be found of much service in solving not only physiological but physical problems also. A short account of some of these devices, with illustrative examples of their application, will be found towards the end of this book. The High Magnification Crescograph instantly records the imperceptible growth, and the variation induced in it under chemical or electrical stimulation. The Magnetic Crescograph records movements beyond the highest powers of the microscope, the magnification produced being about 50 million times. The Resonant Recorder inscribes time as short as a thousandth part of a second, and enables the most accurate determination of the latent or perception period of the plant and the velocity of transmission of excitation. The Photosynthetic Recorder automatically imprints on a moving drum, the rate of carbon-assimilation by plants. The Magnetic Radiometer enables relative measurement of energy of every ray of the solar spectrum. In conjunction with a special Calorimeter, a very accurate determination has been made of the efficiency of the chlorophyll-apparatus of green plants in storage of solar energy.
J. C. Bose.
Bose Institute, Calcutta; January, 1927.
CONTENTS
I
ON POLARISATION OF ELECTRIC RAYS BY DOUBLE-REFRACTING CRYSTALS
page
(Asiatic Soc. Bengal—May 1895.)
II
ON A NEW ELECTRO-POLARISCOPE
(The Electrician Dec. 1895.)
III
ON DOUBLE REFRACTION OF THE ELECTRIC RAY BY A STRAINED DIELECTRIC
(The Electrician December 1895.)
IV
ON THE DETERMINATION OF THE INDEX OF REFRACTION OF SULPHUR FOR THE ELECTRIC RAY
(Proc. Roy. Soc. October 1895.)
V
INDEX OF REFRACTION OF GLASS FOR THE ELECTRIC RAY
(Proc. Roy. Soc. November 1897.)
VI
ON THE INFLUENCE OF THICKNESS OF AIR-SPACE ON TOTAL REFLECTION OF ELECTRIC RADIATION
(Proc. Roy. Soc. November 1897.)
VII
A SIMPLE AND ACCURATE METHOD OF DETERMINATION OF THE INDEX OF REFRACTION FOR LIGHT
(Unpublished Paper. November 1895.)
VIII
ON THE SELECTIVE CONDUCTIVITY EXHIBITED BY CERTAIN POLARISING SUBSTANCES
(Proc. Roy. Soc. January 1897.)
IX
ELECTRO-MAGNETIC RADIATION AND THE POLARISATION OF THE ELECTRIC RAY
X
THE ROTATION OF PLANE OF POLARISATION OF ELECTRIC WAVES BY A TWISTED STRUCTURE
XI
THE PRODUCTION OF A "DARK CROSS" IN THE FIELD OF ELECTRO-MAGNETIC RADIATION
(Proc. Roy. Soc. March, 1898.)
XII
ON A SELF-RECOVERING COHERER AND THE STUDY OF COHERING ACTION OF DIFFERENT METALS
XIII
ON ELECTRIC TOUCH AND THE MOLECULAR CHANGES PRODUCED IN MATTER BY ELECTRIC WAVES
(Proc. Roy. Soc. February, 1900.)
XIV
ON THE CONTINUITY OF EFFECT OF LIGHT AND ELECTRIC RADIATION ON MATTER
XV
ON THE SIMILARITIES BETWEEN RADIATION AND MECHANICAL STRAINS
(Proc. Roy. Soc. June, 1901.)
XVI
ON THE STRAIN THEORY OF PHOTOGRAPHIC ACTION
(Proc. Roy. Soc. June, 1901.)
XVII
ON THE CHANGE OF CONDUCTIVITY OF METALLIC PARTICLES UNDER CYCLIC ELECTROMOTIVE VARIATION
(Brit. Asso. Glasgow, 1901.)
XVIII
ON THE SIMILARITY OF EFFECT OF ELECTRICAL STIMULUS ON INORGANIC AND LIVING SUBSTANCES
(Congress of Science, Paris, 1900.)
XIX
THE RESPONSE OF INORGANIC MATTER TO MECHANICAL AND ELECTRICAL STIMULUS
(Friday Evening Discourse, Roy. Inst. 1901.)
XX
ELECTROMOTIVE WAVE ACCOMPANYING MECHANICAL DISTURBANCE IN METALS IN CONTACT WITH ELECTROLYTE
(Proc. Roy. Soc. May 1902.)
XXI
ELECTRIC RESPONSE IN ORDINARY PLANTS UNDER MECHANICAL STIMULATION
(Journal Linnean Society, 1902.)
XXII
THE QUADRANT METHOD OF RESPONSE TO STIMULUS OF LIGHT
(Life Movements in Plants, 1923.)
XXIII
ON A VEGETABLE PHOTO-ELECTRIC CELL
(Life Movements in Plants, 1923.)
XXIV
THE PHOTOSYNTHETIC RECORDER
(Physiology of Photosynthesis, 1925.)
XXV
THE SELF-RECORDING RADIOGRAPH
(Life Movements in Plants, 1923.)
XXVI
THE HIGH MAGNIFICATION CRESCOGRAPH
(Proc. Roy. Soc. October 1917.)
XXVII
THE MAGNETIC CRESCOGRAPH AND THE MAGNETIC RADIOMETER
(Physiology of Photosynthesis 1925.)
XXVIII
THE RESONANT RECORDER
(Phil. Trans. 1912; Irritability of Plants 1913.)
XXIX
ILLUSTRATIONS.
This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published before January 1, 1929.
The longest-living author of this work died in 1937, so this work is in the public domain in countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 86 years or less. This work may be in the public domain in countries and areas with longer native copyright terms that apply the rule of the shorter term to foreign works.
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