9/29/29 (Sunday) Brooklyn Eagle Magazine article:
INDIA'S FIRST NATIVE INVENTOR
Sunkar A. Bisey, Hindu Scientist, Developed Malaria Remedy
Which Cured Him
By Fletcher Pratt
Sunkar A. Bisey is a variant.
German professors of immense erudition write works in
twenty volumes with quotations from classical authors and
many mathematical formulae to prove that the future of
civilization depends upon such people as he. A variant
(take it on our word or that of the German professors) is a
man for whose remarkable ability nothing in his ancestry or
associations accounts; an Abraham Lincoln brought up in the
backwoods who becomes a great lawyer and statesman in spite
of poverty and lack of educational facilities; an Edgar Allan
Poe brought up in the military atmosphere of West Point, who
becomes the greatest poet of the age.
Bisey's case is not less remarkable than these. Born in
Bombay the son of a high-caste Hindu district judge, of a
race which has for ages considered manual labor menial and
mechanics unworthy the thought of a serious man, of a family
so bound by tradition that its head refused him all pecuniary
aid unless he took up the traditional career of a bureaucrat,
he became - a great inventor!
The Orient has never before produced a great inventor. One
might expect that an inventor would some day rise from the
mechanical and ingenious race of Japan, the progressive Turks
or the skilled Burmese architects, but that India should
produce an inventor and that he should come from the old
Hindu aristocracy is as amazing as it would be for an Eskimo
to establish a reputation as an abstract mathematician.
Bisey, however, was always of a mechanical and inventive turn
of mind. At fifteen and while still in school he shocked
and delighted his family by making with his own hands an
ingenious device for producing water-gas to light the house.
(It is important to realize that such work should have been
done by servants according to a pattern brought out from
England.) A copy of the Scientific American fell into his
hands about this time and fed the growing flame of his
scientific curiosity. He subscribed to it, and today he is
able to say: "I owe everything to the mechanical education
I received from that American magazine. I simply had no
facilities for studying what I wanted to in Bombay. My
family was opposed to it, and there were no technical
schools. I had to learn everything for myself and from this
magazine."
His father was bitterly opposed to this course. Why couldn't
the boy settle down to a government job for the rest of his
life, as a good boy should? The boy took the government job
(a minor clerkship) but with no strings attached. He refused
to ask his father for money, lived on his own income and
openly avowed his intention of going in for mechanics at the
first opportunity. It was due to this independent spirit
that he was never able to go to college. His father tempted
him with money and position - Bisey refused both and went on
studying the Scientific American.
One night, on the way home from work, he dropped in at the
public library in Bombay. A new magazine had just come
in from England - the Inventors' Review and Scientific
Record. In it was offered a prize for the best machine for
automatically weighing and delivering from a hopper small
quantities of bulk powdered substances, such as sugar, flour,
coffee, etc. A nice idea, thought Bisey, and I'd like to
try it; but the time is short. The distance of India from
England placed the closing of the competition at so early a
date that if he were to submit anything it would have to be
mailed by the next morning. As he walked home from the
library the idea suddenly struck him of how it could be
accomplished. "I wonder," he thought again, and then - "no,
it's no use. My idea is probably no good anyway, and they
wouldn't consider a plan from an unknown Hindu boy."
But the idea stuck in his mind, tormenting him. He couldn't
sleep - and finally, at three o'clock in the morning, he
crawled out of bed and began to make a rough sketch of his
machine. At seven o'clock in the morning he mailed it, with
a note saying that if they thought well enough of the idea
he would send detailed drawings. Several months later he
received a courteous note from the editor of the magazine
asking for the detailed drawings.
He sent them. By this time the machine was complete in his
mind - with its big hopper above into which two hundred or
more pounds of sugar could be poured; with a wheel one set
at the right point to make it deliver one pound (or more
or less); with a lever that one pressed, whereupon the
intelligent machine delivered one pound of sugar, correctly
weighed and neatly wrapped. It won the prize - which was
the more remarkable since eighteen inventors, some of them of
more than passing note, had entered the competition. And his
machine was so good that in addition to the 25 Pound Sterling
prize he received a 7 Pound Sterling bonus.
The news made an immense sensation in Bombay. Dr. Yone
Noguchi was as yet unheard of, and it was the first time
any Oriental had accomplished anything in the sciences. A
committee of Hindu leaders, including the sheriff of Bombay,
the chief justice of the province and others, was formed.
They waited on this unknown Hindu boy, these great
dignitaries, and begged him to resign his government post
and go to England, there to study science and make inventions
to raise the name and fame of the Hindu race from the low
estate in which it was held there. A national fund was
established to finance him.
And so in May, 1899, he sailed for England to take up his new
work and new life.
The first problem that came to his attention was that of the
typecasting machine. The machines then used would cast about
150 types a minute. A faster machine was desired. Bisey
undertook the problem and his first effort was a machine that
by casting several types at once would produce 1,200 types
a minute. The heads of the famous Caslon type foundry
looked over his drawing and dared him to prove the process
practicable. Their laboratory men had been working on that
very problem for many years, with no success whatever. Bisey
accepted the challenge, got financial backing, and began to
build a model. While he was building it, another idea struck
him and he changed the model in the making. When the heads
of the Caslon factory came for the demonstration he showed
them, amid dropping jaws of amazement, a machine that would
cast 3,000 types a minute.
This was good, but the machine, thanks to its enormous
output, was suitable only for type-founders. A London
typefounder, in the friendliest spirit, told him what he
should have done was to produce a machine that printers
could use. "Very well, I'll do it," said Bisey, and set to
work.
He came out with the marvelous Universal type casting machine
- a machine that will cast any size or style of type, and so
simple that it has only 250 operating parts against the 1,500
in the older type of machine; a machine, moreover, which
eliminates the changing of molds necessary to all other
machines.
Then, at the height of his achievement, fate dealt him a
couple of nasty digs. Sir Tata, the Hindu millionaire who
had been backing his inventions, died; and England went
to war. He was no longer able to obtain workmen for his
factory, and the printers and type-founders were no longer
interested in new equipment. What could he do?
What he did do was to come to America and start all over
again. And he started in an entirely new field. On a visit
to Southern France he had contracted malaria. When he
returned to England he still had it - of the chronic,
relapsing type. His condition became more and more serious,
and as it did so, the news went to India. Now in India Bisey
was by this time a famous man, and the whole peninsula was
concerned over his condition. The ordinary European remedies
of quinine didn't seem to do him any good. His life was
despaired of, and a Hindu doctor, hoping to save the life of
India's first and greatest inventor, sent on a few doses of
a Burmese preparation, made from seaweed, that had proved
useful in treating chronic malaria there.
Bisey tried it. The effect was electrical. He began to
improve at once and in a month was a well man. "This gave me
the idea," he says, "that God had preserved my life to be of
some use to the world and I determined that the use must be
to give to the world the preparation the Hindu doctor had
sent to me." It was about this time that he came to America,
and his first work was to analyze the medicine that had been
sent to him. The analysts could not make it out. He sent
for the formula, and when the Hindu doctor had parted with
it, with some reluctance, began to work its possibilities on
a commercial scale.
Now up to this time Bisey knew nothing of chemistry. He had
to teach himself the whole science as he went along. But he
persisted and, after some time had passed, produced the
compound now known as Beslin or atomic iodine. When he had
completed it it proved a specific not merely for chronic
malaria but for dozens of diseases and infections. Today
it is used in over nine hundred hospitals by the gallon, and
without any exaggeration may be said to have saved the lives
of thousands, even as Bisey's own was saved by it.
So there he is today, with his Beslin, his type-casting
machines, and his many minor inventions - a pleasant-faced
man with hair just turning gray, a home in Mt. Vernon, and
an office in New York; in fact, a modern American business
man and inventor. He has two sons and a daughter in his
American home, and his chief amusement, aside from the
inventions which are at once his life work and greatest
interest, is studying the Yogi philosophy.
3/21/30 He obtained a Life Reading - See
1734-3.
Correspondence under
1734-3 mentions his interest in
the product called Atomidine, promotion of it, etc.
9/19/30 He obtained a Physical Reading -
1734-4.
5/19/31 He referred his sister-in-law, Mrs. [
1733] for a
reading.
5/29/31 [
1734]'s letter to EC:
Mr. Edgar Cayce,
The Association of National Investigators, Inc.,
Virginia Beach, Va.
My dear Judge:
I was very sorry that when you were last in town I was not
able to give you the glad hand and to encourage you in your
recent difficulties but it is never too late to mend.
I have been in touch with [
257] and at his suggestion I am
enclosing a list of questions [In re Atomidine?] which I
would appreciate if you could arrange to have answered at
your earliest convenience. These questions cover a subject
that I am deeply interested in and for the time being I am
at a loss to find a way out of the situation I am in, and it
goes without saying that if you would be the means of leading
me into the light that I would always feel under obligations
to you.
I am enclosing a small check which I trust you will accept as
a slight contribution to your work.
With kindest regards,
Sincerely yours, [
1734]
6/05/31 EC's letter to [
1734]:
Mr. [
1734]
New York City
Dear Mr. [
1734]
I have yours of the 29th, and I certainly appreciate your
interest. You were among those I had hoped to see while in
New York. I trust that you and your family are enjoying the
very best of health.
For a few days I have been "under the weather", which
has naturally produced a piling up of requests. Then the
organization meeting being scheduled for this week interferes
with our carrying on as fast as we would like, but I am
putting your application on the list and will get to it
just as soon as possible. I hope this will be satisfactory.
I wish that you might be with us for our meeting tomorrow,
and that we might interest you sufficiently in the
organization for you to be a part of it. I'm sure your
counsel and advice would be good for everyone connected with
it. We are hoping to see this organization builded on the
proper basis, not dependent upon others save as to the help
or good that we may give or lend to others.
Thanking you for your interest and for your contribution
toward our work, and with kindest personal regards, I am
Sincerely, [EC:GD]
P.S. We will write you next week in regard to an
appointment.
6/25/31 GD's letter to [
1734]:
Mr. [
1734]
New York City
Dear Mr. [
1734]
You will be surprised to get this letter from me, but I hope
you will not think me too bold in addressing you as I do. It
is because I feel that you are interested in Mr. Cayce and
his welfare that I am writing this personal letter, which has
no connection whatever with the Work or the New Association.
I have written a letter similar to this to Mrs. [
2541], Mrs.
[
903], and a few other friends in New York whom I feel might
be interested [See
254-57 Reports].
It seems to me that the time has come to DO something.
It's all well and good to form the new organization for the
carrying on of the work, and to have committee meetings about
this, that, or the other, but I feel that Mr. Cayce and his
family should have first consideration. He certainly cannot
give his best to this work as long as he is troubled by all
the petty and detail worries such as house rent, etc. As
you no doubt know, I have been with Mr. Cayce now for almost
eight years, and I feel like one of the family. Still, I am
in a position to suggest this when the family is not, and I
don't want Mr. Cayce or any of his family to know about it.
A letter came a few days ago from Mr. [
900], DEMANDING
that we be out of this house by the first of July; not even
offering to rent it, and I can remember the time when they
offered Mr. Cayce the house OR the money. He chose the
house, but because they apparently wanted to hold it over him
as a wedge (or felt they could) they never gave him actual
title to it. The only trouble with Mr. Cayce is that his
heart is too big. This is the very worst time of the year
to make a move in Virginia Beach. Rents go sky-high for the
summer; nevertheless, Mr. Cayce wants to move - he doesn't
feel that he could stay here under the circumstances, and I
don't blame him. To fight it out with them would be putting
the material value of this house above the whole work, or
this whole life's purpose - which is to serve humanity.
Necessarily, he will have to locate and rent a place of some
kind for the summer, no matter what the cost. The whole
thing seems wrong to me - in fact, I KNOW it is wrong,
because I know that he has bought and paid for this house
with his very life's blood, not once but several times. That
can't be helped now. What I want to do is to plan for the
future. If Mr. Cayce and his family can't come out and ask
his friends to give him a house, I can! Here is my plan:
It will take approximately ten thousand dollars to buy a
suitable lot, or to make a substantial down-payment on a
desirable house in Virginia Beach. I am starting a fund
among Mr. Cayce's friends, and the friends of the work,
to raise that amount. Although I have only written a few
letters, already I have a reply from one with a pledge of
$500, and the promise to help raise the rest. This campaign
is to be without Mr. Cayce's knowledge, and when the
fund reaches that amount it will be presented to him as a
GIFT (without any strings tied to it) from those who have
contributed, and he can select a lot and build a house, or
make the down-payment on one already built - whichever he
likes. I am sure he has enough friends who are desirous of
helping them, that at least by the fall we should be able
to present the ten thousand dollars to him. Would you
be interested in helping to raise this money? I am very
ignorant about such things, as I have never attempted to
raise any amount of money; still, I have always felt that
money could be procured for the better carrying on of this
work if gone about properly. It is my idea to appeal to
the leaders of various groups in different portions of
the country, who have been and are interested in the work.
If you are in accord with this channel, have you any
suggestions to make as to how would be the best way for us to
go about it? I mean, if you can think of any better way than
putting the plan before the people in this manner, won't you
say so?
Hoping that you will understand the spirit in which I have
written this letter, and that you will consider it in the
light of what YOU think is best for Mr. Cayce, the Work,
and all concerned, I am
Sincerely, [signed] Gladys Davis
7/07/31 GD's letter to [
1734]:
Dear Mr. [
1734]
There is to be the first Board Meeting of our New
Organization at Virginia Beach this coming Saturday. Mr.
Cayce says that if you are coming down, and can be here
Monday afternoon, he can get your reading then. As
you know, it is much better to be present for such a
character of reading.
We have been awfully busy getting moved. Hence the delay in
your appointment. You will find us at 105th Street and the
Ocean Front [GD's note
12/18/63: Now 67th & Ocean Front].
Hoping to see you over the week-end, and with kindest regards
from all, I am
Sincerely, [signed] Gladys Davis
7/09/31 [
1734]'s letter to GD:
Miss Gladys Davis,
c/o Mr. Edgar Cayce,
105th St. & Ocean Front,
Virginia Beach, Va.
Dear Miss Davis:
I have been delayed in answering your letter of June 25th,
having just returned from a short trip. I am sorry I will
not be able to cooperate in this undertaking as I have
obligated myself in so many directions for the present time
that I cannot take on any more. I feel sure though that
through your new organization, Mr. Cayce will find himself in
much happier surroundings and will be enabled to accomplish
much more than he has heretofore.
I will be unable to be present at the first board meeting
of your new organization to be held on the 11th, having make
other arrangements for that week-end. I trust, however,
that Mr. Cayce will be able to take care of my reading on the
Monday afternoon following, as I am extremely hopeful that
same may be very beneficial to me.
Yours sincerely, [
1734]
8/01/31 EC's letter to [
1734]:
Mr. [
1734]
New York City
My dear Mr. [
1734]
This will introduce to you Mr. A. C. Preston, who is business
manager for our new organization [A.R.E.].
There have been a number of things that I would have liked
to have taken up with you at length. No doubt you will be
able to talk with Mr. Preston regarding these in a more
satisfactory manner than we have thus far had an opportunity
to do. I have reference to the formulas or specifics that
have been given through the readings, that would be practical
to put on the market. If you are interested in any way, I
would be glad for you to take these matters up with Mr.
Preston. If you feel that you could in any way interest
yourself in the new organization, aside from these, it will
certainly be appreciated by me.
Sincerely, [EC:GD]
8/10/31 [
1734]'s letter to EC:
Mr. Edgar Cayce,
105th St. & Ocean Front
Virginia Beach, Va.
Dear Mr. Cayce:
In further reference to my letter of May 29th, will you
kindly advise me when I may expect a reading on the subject
contained therein.
Yours sincerely, [
1734]
8/12/31 EC's letter to [
1734]:
Mr. [
1734]
New York, N.Y.
Dear Mr. [
1734]
I had expected to be in New York, so as to arrange for you
to hear your reading. All such information can be made much
more valuable by the individual seeking it being present.
As circumstances are set at present, it's impossible for us
to get this in this week. It may be possible to get it next
week. If so, I will let you know the exact day - for if you
cannot be present, you know that it will be necessary for us
to know WHERE you are at the time of appointment.
Trusting I may see you in the near future, and that you don't
feel we are trying to get out of something - but wishing for
the very best for you, and with kindest personal regards,
I am
Sincerely, [EC:GD]
9/05/31 EC's letter to [
1734]:
Mr. [
1734]
New York City
Dear Mr. [
1734]
I presume you feel like we have been putting you off a long,
long time. We are making your appointment for the morning of
Thursday, the 10th, between 11:00 and 12:00 o'clock Eastern
Standard Time. If there are other questions than those we
already have in hand, that you would like to have asked at
that time, I would certainly be glad for you to make note
of them. We will also have to know the exact address or
location at which you will be at the time set.
When I was in New York I met Dr. Bisey [Sunker A. Bisey,
DS.C., Hindese scientist, discoverer of Atomidine]. No doubt
he has told you about our conversation. I suggested to him,
and I think it would be well for you, that he or both of you
be present at the reading. I certainly believe it would be
more satisfactory, and would enable you to ask some questions
in a more UNDERSTANDABLE way and manner; for there are often
times, as you no doubt know, when the information is such
that it SUGGESTS questions that you could ask at that very
moment.
Hoping this appointment is satisfactory, and with kindest
personal regards, I am
Sincerely, [EC:GD]
9/08/31 [
1734]'s letter to EC:
Mr. Edgar Cayce,
105th St. & Ocean Front,
Virginia Beach, Va.
Dear Mr. Cayce:
I have your letter of Sept. 5th and expect to be in Cleveland
this coming Thursday but in my place I will arrange to have
Dr. Bisey go to Virginia Beach, in order to be present at the
reading and ask whatever questions he thinks proper at the
moment.
With kindest regards,
Sincerely yours, [
1734]
If Dr. Bisey cannot come down there in time for Thursday, he
will advise you just when he will arrive.
9/10/31 See
358-1 in re Atomidine.
9/11/31 See
358-2 in re Atomidine.
9/16/31 EC's letter to [
1734]:
Mr. [
1734]
New York City
Dear Mr. [
1734]
Dr. Bisey was here, and you no doubt have all the facts
concerning the information [
358-1] gotten, and no doubt have
formed your own opinions and determinations about same. We
certainly are in hopes that it will be helpful in working out
matters in the way that will be for the most good for the
most number of people. After all, it's to the public - to
the individuals - you must carry the preparation, for they
are the ones to be helped.
We will be glad to be of any further help possible, in making
these tests.
Hoping to see you sometime in the near future, and trusting
you will let us hear from you - with all good wishes to you
and yours, I am
Ever the same, [EC:GD]
9/24/31 HLC's letter in re A.U. University:
The [
1734] Foundation,
Mr. [
1734], President,
New York City
Dear Mr. [
1734]
As librarian of Atlantic University, I wish to interest you
in assisting us in our campaign to increase the facilities of
our library. The University, as you know, has opened its
second fall term with almost 200 students.
Our collection, with only a year behind us, is naturally very
small and we are weak in almost every field. Might it not
be possible that part of the funds of your Foundation be
employed in providing a collection of a general nature or
in some specific field, which would be known as the "...
Collection"!
Our library is destined to become not only one of the
greatest in this section, but also the most unique of its
kind in all the world in its collections in the fields of
some of the more advanced sciences in which I know you are
interested.
Anything that you may do to help us will be greatly
appreciated.
Sincerely yours, [HLC]
HLC:MD
9/28/31 See
257-74, Par. 39-A--43-A in re Atomidine and
Ipsab, Mr. [
1734].
10/30/31 Mr. [
1734] and Dr. Bisey were present for
1734-5 in
re Atomidine and Mr. [
1734]'s other interests.
Edgar Cayce Readings © 1971, 1993, 1994, 1995 by the Edgar Cayce Foundation