nor skilled mechanicians. This was all too
true. It is for man not to quarrel with circumstances but bravely accept
them; and we belong to that race and dynasty who had accomplished great
things with simple means.

FAILURE AND SUCCESS

This day twenty-three years ago, I resolved that as far as the
whole-hearted devotion and faith of one man counted, that would not be
wanting and within six months it came about that some of the most
difficult problems connected with Electric Waves found their solution in
my Laboratory and received high appreciation from Lord Kelvin, Lord
Rayleigh and other leading physicists. The Royal Society honoured me by
publishing my discoveries and offering, of their own accord, an
appropriation from the special Parliamentary Grant for the advancement
of knowledge. That day the closed gates suddenly opened and I hoped that
the torch that was then lighted would continue to burn brighter, and
brighter. But man's faith and hope require repeated testing. For five
years after this, the progress was interrupted; yet when the most
generous and wide appreciation of my work had reached almost the highest
point there came a sudden and unexpected change.

LIVING AND NON-LIVING

In the pursuit of my investigations I was unconsciously led into the
border region of physics and physiology and was amazed to find boundary
lines vanishing and points of contact emerge between the realms of the
Living and Non-living. Inorganic matter was found anything but inert; it
also was a thrill under the action of multitudinous forces that played
on it. A universal reaction seemed to bring together metal, plant and
animal under a common law. They all exhibited essentially the same
phenomena of fatigue and depression, together with possibilities of
recovery and of exaltation, yet also that of permanent irresponsiveness
which is associated with death. I was filled with awe at this stupendous
generalisation; and it was with great hope that I announced my results
before the Royal Society,--results demonstrated by experiments. But the
physiologists present advised me, after my address, to confine myself to
physical investigations in which my success had been assured, rather
than encroach on their preserve. I had thus unwittingly strayed into the
domain of a new and unfamiliar caste system and so offended its
etiquette. An unconscious theological bias was also present which
confounds ignorance with faith. It is forgotten that