ventitious aids. Undismayed by human limitations they had
struggled in spite of many a failure. In their inquiry after truth they
regarded nothing as too laborious, nothing too insignificant, nothing
too painful. This is the process which all must follow; there is no
easier path.

The lecturer's research on the properties of Electric Waves was begun
just twenty-one years ago. In this he was greatly encouraged by the
appreciation shown by the Royal Society, which not only published his
researches, but also offered a Parliamentary grant for the continuance
of his work. The greatest difficulty lay in the construction of a
receiver to detect invisible ether disturbances. For this a most
laborious investigation had to be undertaken to find the action of
electric radiation on all kinds of matter. As a result of this long and
very patient work a new type of receiver was invented, so perfect in its
action that the _Electrician_ suggested its use in ships and
electro-magnetic high houses for the communication and transmission of
danger signals at sea through space. This was in 1895, several years in
advance of the present wireless system. Practical application of the
result of Dr. Bose's investigations appear so important that Great
Britain and the United States granted him patents for his invention of a
certain crystal receiver which proved to be the most sensitive detector
of wireless signals.

UNIVERSAL SENSITIVENESS OF MATTER

In the course of his investigations Dr. Bose found that the uncertainty
of the early type of his receiver was brought on by fatigue, and that
the curve of fatigue of his instrument closely resembled the fatigue
curve of animal muscle. He was soon able to remove the 'tiredness' of
his receiver by application of suitable stimulants; application of
certain poisons, on the other hand, permanently abolished its
sensitiveness. Dr. Bose was thus amazed at the discovery that inorganic
matter was anything but inert, but that its particles were a thrill
under the action of multitudinous forces that were playing on it. The
lecturer was at this time constrained to choose whether to go on with
the practical applications of his work, the success of which appeared to
be assured, or to throw himself into a vortex of conflict for the
establishment of some truth the glimmerings of which he was then but
dimly beginning to perceive. It is very curious that the human mind is
sometimes so constituted that it rejects li