The Other Bose and Poisons

Indians consider Subash Chandra Bose to be Hero whose actions brought India its independence. However, they think that his sudden disappearance was not an accident. Besides they believe that vested interests conspired to take him out of the lime light. Another Bose who lived decades earlier may also have met a similar fate. Sadly, far fewer people remember this other Bose. Jagadeesh Chandra Bose was a brilliant scientist. He was the first to invent a wireless communication equipment. Marconi used his inventions a few years later and got a Nobel prize for it. Even less recognized is JC Bose’s pioneering work in the field of Poisons.

Jagadeesh Chandra Bose was the first to quantitatively demonstrate the impact of poison on living cells and also on metals. He showed that metals can experience a shock when poison touches them.  Generally, metals are good conductors of electricity. Besides, during the time of JC Bose, measuring techniques were available to understand the conductivity level of metals. JC Bose decided to measure changes in this conductivity in a metal when poison touched its surface. To him, the structure of atoms in a metal like copper was a sign of intelligence. He postulated that this intelligence can react to the toxicity in a Poison.

The Alloys of Siddhars

The Siddhas of South India were way ahead of anyone else in documenting the effect of poisons on metal alloys. They categorized poisons into sixty four classes. Half of these are associated with the fire energy. Some of these are minerals and chemicals which are easily found in nature. Others are toxic herbs. They studied the formation of alloys in a toxic environment. Siddhars found the conditions under which better quality alloys can be made. They created powerful alloys which would not corrode by using different poisons while creating an alloy.

My books about Siddhar Agasthiyar – link