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Reception

Published in 1926, the book "The Nervous Mechanism of Plants" by Jagadish Chandra Bose was revolutionary as he was one of the first plant biologists to be recognised for his research on the nervous system of plants. He had already achieved recognition for his endeavours in physics where he studied optical properties of radio waves, but transitioned into plant physiology. At the time, his discoveries were extremely progressive and not compatible with contemporary ideas, sparking much dispute, skepticism and criticism from the public. They believed that his attempts to interlink the idea of electromagnetism and living plants were antagonistic at best. The Western paradigm at the time was deeply rooted in the belief that cognition was only present in animals and not plants, which led to much of this skepticism as Bose attempted to prove the opposite. In India, the colonial education system did not value scientific studies. In 1835, Macaulay proposed the government funding should go to studies in the liberal arts and not science. This also contributed towards the lack of recognition toward the book at the time. For the next few decades after publication, little research in the field was done in order to investigate Bose's findings until after the 1950s. In time, these discoveries were gradually accepted by other plant physiologists and researchers across the globe. After publication, Bose's views on plant mechanics gained support from numerous Nobel Laureates such as Huxley, Shaw and Einstein. Racism during the 1920s also impacted how Bose's work was accepted by the public. Bose was a physics professor at the Presidency College in Calcutta. Getting this job in order to further his botanical studies in order to write the book was a challenge as he needed to be appointed by Lord Ripon who believed that Indians were not capable of studying science. Racism was also prominent in his job as he only received one third of the salary of an Englishman occupying the same position. Due to this, many people were skeptical about his credibility and therefore did not accept his ideas. The opposition of Bose and many of his ideas had more to do with prejudice against his ethnic group and racism rather than the actual scientific content, yet it still influenced the reception of the book in a negative manner as people refused to consider his discoveries. After his transition to plant electrophysiology, The Royal Society would not publish his papers which resulted in his work not being acknowledged more widely.

Bose's death, in 1937, left the topic of electrical signalling in plants as a topic of little interest to scientists at the time. Only in 1973, the book "The Secret Life of Plants" was published by Peter Tompkins and Christopher Bird which included a chapter describing research done by Bose in a positive manner. This resparked the subject in the plant neurobiology community. Bose's work inspired many of his students who all transitioned into scientists in physics or biology with allowed the further development of the subject that is still studied today.

During Bose's lifetime, he was often criticised for his work, especially regarding plant physiology. These controversies were published in "The Time," an influential newspaper in Britain at the time and following that, a committee was appointed in order to examine his work. Tests were carried out by Sir William Bragg (part of the Fellowship of the Royal Society) in the late 1920s, and he reported that "[the] Magnetic Crescograph correctly recorded the response of plants at a magnification of ten million time." Following that, there was a shift in perspective from the idea that plants mainly used chemical signals to a viewpoint that plants also utilise electrical signals. Numerous plant physiologists "warmly welcomed the scientific advance" and Bose's book discredited the preconceptions about the inadequacies of Indians to perform scientific research which consequently allowed the public to start accepting his theories.

The book is becoming globally accepted and numerous of Bose's concepts are being used in literature and education to highlight and examine nervous activity in plants such as memory, intelligence and cognition. Plant neurobiology is a discipline in its infancy, but Bose has laid the foundations in electromagnetism and biophysics. "The Nervous Mechanism of Plants," can be found in university libraries around the world such as the Maastricht University Library, as part of the Special Collections which hold books of historical relevance.