Miss Margaret Tait and her other two brothers were born and brought up in Central College House. Her ‘ Memoirs of Bangalore’ reveals that Central College was not only a prime educational institution, but performed other functions as well. In short, it was a great centre of learning, Anubhava Mantapa or Temple of Knowledge.
In addition to his responsibility of running the Institution, Dr. Cook persuaded the Mysore Government to set up an Observatory with many outlying sub-stations and acted as the director of Meteorology in Mysore for 16 years. The Observatory in Bangalore started as a second class observatory in 1891, becoming first class one in 1894 when a continuous record could be made with the photographic recording of the reading of the instruments. In several respects, this observatory was the best equipped In India. Fourteen volumes of observations, and fourteen volumes of records of rainfall from over 200 stations in the Mysore Province, as well as two volumes containing the Hourly Records and Means of the Weather Elements for 12 years from 1895 to 1906 were published. Dr. Cook’s daughter, with neat handwriting, copied out and corrected the proof of all these volumes for her father! Dr. Cook had a special liking towards Statistics. He personally tabled annually the race and religions of all his students.
Another major project taken up by Dr. Cook at Central College was the installation of X-ray instrument. He had read in 1896 of the great new discovery of Rontgen rays. By September 16 of that year itself he obtained four X-ray tubes from Harvey and Peak and constructed an apparatus. The first successful slides were made on January 1, 1897. He was continually experimenting thereafter as to what would or would not appear on the plate. A public demonstration of the X-ray was held in the College Hall on November 27, 1897 which was visited by several medical men, following which several patients were brought as it had the only readily available X-ray apparatus. During the demonstration a cat was shut into the box, and when the box was X-rayed, the viewers saw the animal’s bone as it crouched within. ‘So, not only were Mrs. and Miss Cook’s hands and feet continually X-rayed but the family pussy was also pressed into service!’ writes Margaret Tait.
Around 1898, there was an outbreak of Plague. To prevent the widespread of the disease, all sorts of fumigation and disinfection methods were used until infected clothing and other property was burnt as a desperate attempt to stamp it out. These measures were not always understood or appreciated. Principal Dr. Cook came up with the manufacture of electrolyzed salt water at the Central College, which was used with efficacy in Bangalore. However, Dr. Marsh, Special Plague Officer, Bombay was unimpressed. So, a 27-page pamphlet on “ ‘Hermite Solution as a Plague Disinfectant; a report on the Electrolysis of Salt Water at the Central College, Bangalore, from 18th November 1898 to 21st April 1899 for Plague Disinfection in Bangalore ” was published at the request of the Principal Medical Officer, Mysore.
During 1890 and 1914 Central College was also responsible for Bangalore to gain reputation for good Cricket. Prof. J.G Tait formed and maintained an excellent cricket team, though there were also very good regimental teams like 7th Hussars. Once he had walked all the way for a cricket match, and having played all day, walked back in the evening. Noble Laureate Sir Ronald Ross says that Prof. Tait walked for 70 miles at a stretch in the neighborhood of Bangalore. For his students he was a great walker, In fact, C .Rajagopalachari, who later became India’s first Indian Governor General was a student of Central college. Referring to Prof.Tait’s amazing walking abilities, he had said, “…..We could never imagine a man who could walk like that…. we never imagined a Professor of English who could manage things and behave as he did. In many ways, he was a remarkable person. He caught the boys fancy somehow…” Though he loved cricket, Prof. Tait gave equal importance and encouraged other sports like Foot Ball, Hockey and Tennis as well.
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In addition to academic and non-academic events of Central College, Miss Margaret Tait also gives a vivid picture of many other significant happenings during her time in Bangalore. Surprisingly, in the last para of her Memoir, she writes ‘…The old Bangalore died on 28th July, 1920, when our R.A.F biplanes arrived to form the nucleus of the new air defense in India. They roared over the City and Cantonment, bringing everyone out of doors to gaze up at the monsters, and one knew then, that things would never return to their old pattern.’
The inauguration of Mysore University in 1916 opened a new era in the educational evolution of the Central College, and gained the proud dignity of being the University college of Science. This was the landmark contribution to the state by one of the oldest and the greatest students of the college, Sir M. Visvesvaraiah.
After Prof.Tait the subsequent principals Dr. E P Metcalfe, Prof. F.R Sell, Prof. E. G McAlpine not only carried forward the rich tradition set by their predecessors, but also strived hard to set further high standards for the college, including setting up of new departments for Science.
It is also very interesting to see that in spite of discouragement prevailed at that time on college education for women, many young ladies studied in Central College. Some lady students, both past and present, clad in their traditional attire are seen in a group photo with their principal Prof E .G McAlpine.
To be continued…
