Drs. K. S. Cole and H. J. Curtis reported having discovered that the
long single cells of the fresh-water plant nitella, used frequently
in goldfish bowls, are virtually identical with those of single
nerve fibers. Furthermore, they found that nitella fibers, on being
excited, propagate electrical waves that are similar in every way,
except velocity, to those of the nerve fibers in animals and man.
The electrical nerve impulses in the plant were found to be much
slower than those in animals. This discovery was therefore seized
upon by the Columbia workers as a means for taking slow motion
pictures of the passage of the electrical impulses in nerves.
The nitella plant thus may become a sort of Rosetta stone for
deciphering the closely guarded secrets close to the very borderland
of mind and matter.
The poet Rabindranath Tagore was a stalwart friend of India's
idealistic scientist. To him, the sweet Bengali singer addressed
the following lines: {FN8-6}
O Hermit, call thou in the authentic words
Of that old hymn called SAMA; "Rise! Awake!"
Call to the man who boasts his SHASTRIC lore
From vain pedantic wranglings profitless,
Call to that foolish braggart to come forth
Out on the face of nature, this broad earth,
Send forth this call unto thy scholar band;
Together round thy sacrifice of fire
Let them all gather. So may our India,
Our ancient land unto herself return
O once again return to steadfast work,
To duty and devotion, to her trance
Of earnest meditation; let her sit
Once more unruffled, greedless, strifeless, pure,
O once again upon her lofty seat
And platform, teacher of all lands.
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