nerves transmit messages between the brain and other parts of the
body, tiny electrical impulses are being generated. These impulses
have been measured by delicate galvanometers and magnified millions
of times by modern amplifying apparatus. Until now no satisfactory
method had been found to study the passages of the impulses along
the nerve fibers in living animals or man because of the great
speed with which these impulses travel.

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