a stop and the
quiescent of the spot of light shows life in a state of suspense. The
plant is now hovering in an unstable poise between life and death, a
slight tilt one way, and life gets interlocked in the rigidity of death.
But the antidote is applied just in time, the torpor and suspense is
over, and life renews her activity once more with the fullest vigour.

It is true that man is but poorly provided for his voyage of discovery
in seas unknown, he can hear little and see less. A single octave of
light circumscribes his vision; even of the visible the size of the
ripple of light imposes an impassable barrier. But he has not been
deterred by his limitations but has on the contrary been spurred on its
greater efforts in his explanation of the invisible. The mysterious
movements of life are not to remain for him inscrutable and
indecipherable for all times: but his untiring and single-minded pursuit
will someday reveal to him the secret that lies behind the
manifestations of life.

--_Amrita Bazar Patrika_, 13-1-1919.

THE NIGHT-WATCH OF NYMPHAEA

Sir J. C. Bose gave the following Discourse on the 'Night-Watch of
Nymphaea,' at the Bose Institute, on the 24th January, 1919.

[Sir J. C. Bose's discourse delivered at the Bose Institute, on the 24th
January, 1919, dealt with the mysterious phenomenon of recurrent opening
and closure of flowers. Some of them open in the morning and close in
the evening; others do exactly the opposite opening at night and closing
during the day. These various effects have been described as the
'waking' and 'sleep' movements of plants. The subject had attracted the
attention of plant physiologists for more than half a century. After
summarising the various results lost in his recent work says that no
satisfactory explanation of the sleep movements of plants has yet been
forthcoming and that the true theory can only be established after new
and exhaustive research. This investigation has been in progress at Sir
J. C. Bose's laboratory for the last five years; and special automatic
recorders have been invented by means of which numerous plants have been
recording their movements for every hour of the day and night and for
many days in succession.]

In course of his discourse the lecturer said "The poets have forestalled
the men of science. Why does the water-lily 'Kumud or Nymphaea' keep
awake all night long and close her petals during the day? Because the
water-lily is the love