Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1919-01-02
MEASURE HEART
BEATS OF FLOWERS

and hearts. INT, they Suier ana ENJOY
Just lil;e human beings only not quite
so inteligently.
He has opened the door to fairyland,
made 1t real.
Only he doesn't use wand.
He's too modern for that.
In fact, he goes about it much in
the manner of Sherlock Holmes or
a Craig Kennedy.
This means much snooping, lots of
"deducting" and the employment of
many mechanical devices.
First 1t was the snooping that led
him to the conclusion that plant life
is aQuiver with nerves and emotions.
He studied them in hot and in cold in
wet and in dry, in light and in dark
ness.
Then he put two and two together.
AS a result he began his expert
ments.
Now he is able to:
Make plant go to sleep.
Get it intoxicated.
Sober it up.
Dope it with drugs to Unconscious.
ness"
Shock 1t with electricity to the point
of electrocution.
Poison it.
Which is enough to set us all to
thinking.
He has found that flowers shrink
from rough handling, just as child.
a dog or bird might.
He has found that they rejoice in
loving treatment, glow with wholly
visible happiness when tenderly tend
ed
For 20 years Prof. Bose, who is an
East Indian, has ben studying vari-
Gus forms of vibration. For the last
10 years he has devoted his time to
experiments to determine tho sensi.
tiveness of plant life.
His success has been the wonder of
the scientific world.
George Bernard Shaw, who is so
great humanitarian that he is veg
etarian, some time ago witnessed his
experiments.
When he got through Shaw exclaim.
ed:
MY God!"
1t hurt Shaw's feelings to know that
the vegetables he was so fond of really
underwent pain on the way to the
cooks operating table.
1t is with delicate instrument that
Prof. Bose measures the heartbeats
and soul-throbs of the vegetable world.
OF course, electricity plays big
part because of it's speed and ability to
register any changes the subject may
undergo.
The plant is placed on platform.
A cloclswork device operates sliding
piece of glass, upon which the plant
records it's emotions. The glass is
smoked and delicate instrument rests
against it. This instrument operates
on hundredths-of-a-seco basis.
When the plant is shocked it shrinlis.
This leaves its dot-and-dash story on
the plate. When it RECEIVERS the lines
lengthen.
A frog responds to shock in hun
dredth of a second. That is the time
that it takes for the electric current
to jar it's protoplasm through the nerve
centers.
A flower indicates the effect of the
shock in a sixth-hunGredth of a sec.
ond
This is nearly the maximum of SEN
sitiveness.
It's circulation behaves just like that
Of human being. Its invisible heart
leaps, pauses and then futters wildly
when stimulated by the electric spark.
Prof. Bose recently exhibited his
wonders to Secretary of State Bryan.
Flowers were intoxicated by fumes
Of liquor.
They dropped, became limp. lost
their luster. They wavered uncer-
tainly on their stems. Had they been
footloose they would have staggered
AS it was, they behaved in thorough
ly disreputable manner.
Then they fed the flowers grape
juice-at least, that is what the dis.
patches said.
Be that as 1t may. HB yi
One flower was given deadly poison.
1t died. 80
More important. 1t died just like a
human being or an animal.
1t writhed, quivered, shuddered.
1t did everything but scream in Its
agony.
Suddenly It bent its head. The bat
| tie was over.
Lower and lower 1t bent. The leaves
shriveled, curled back.
1t was the relaxation Of body from
which the soul had fed.
And 1t is in this experiment that the
value of what Prof. Bose is doing lies.
Here Is the most important result
from his years of patient labor.
Toxicology is becoming one of the
most vital sciences of modern times.
The tracing Of poisons has become
more difficult as more subtle poisons
are evolved.
| This has been the great Opportunity