The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1896-06-14
A CHAT WITH TESLA.
The Inventor Gives His Views on
Work, sleep, Recreation, Mar
riage and the Failure Existence.

Copyright. 1896. S. S. Mcclure Com
pany)
One night at about IL o'clock I found
Mr.. Tesla in the cafe, seated at, his
usual table, looking tired and haggard.
He greeted me with the kindly smile
and strong grasp of the hand that are
natural to him, but I saw by the pallor
of his face and the troubled look in
mis- dark eyes that something had gone
wrong.
A SHOCK. OF THREE AND A HALF
MILLION VOLTS.
! am afraid he said, you won't
find me q pleasant companion tonight.
The fact is l was almost killed to-
day"
1nis he said in quite a matter-of-fact
tone, which did not prevent me from
showing the concern felt
Yes, he continued, Il got a shock
OF about three and half million volts
from one OF my machines. The spark
Jumped three feet through the air and
struck me here on the right shoulder.
TELL you 1t made me feel dizzy. If
my assistant had not turned off the
current instantly it might have been
me enc OF me. AS it was, / have TO
snow Tor II a queer mark on my right
breast, where the current struck in
ana a burned heel in one of my socks
where IL left my body. OF course, the
volume OF current was exceedingly
small, otherwise it must have been
iataL lou know three and a half mil
hon volts is no joke, however small the
volume
A great difficulty. and at the same
time delight in talking with Tesla,
Is the utter inability one feels TO under
stand what he is saying, or lift ones
ser 10 the plane on which he is think
ing What ordinary person could Crap
pie with the idea of three and a half
million volts or the electric contriv-
ances necessary to produce it? | knew
perfectly well that 10000 volts is the
potential considered absolutely fatal in
The current used for execution. and yet
here was a man. perhaps the greatest
electrician of his time, calmly describ-
ing his sensations in receiving the
shock OF a current more than $50 times
as strong. 1t was plainly hopeless to
attempt any understanding Of this
anomaly, so l asked about something
easier
IL should have thought the spark
from such current would have jumped
farther than three feet" L venrured.
so 1t would, if had wanted it to-
/ have frequently had sparks from my
high tension machines jump the width
or length OF my laboratory, say thirty
or forty feet Indeed. there is no limit
TO their length, although you can't see
them except for the first yard or so, the
flash is so quick. It is just like light
ming. The fact is, there would be no
particular difficulty in initiating light
ming with sparks, say d mile long, if
anyone chose TO pay for the necessary
apparatus. Yes, L am quite sure 1
could make a spark q mile long, and L
don't know that it would cost so much
either"
L asked Mr.. Tesla if he had had
many accidents with electricity during
all the years he has been experiment
ing with t.
No" he said, II have had very few
accidents. don't suppose 1 average
more than one in a year, and no one
has ever been killed by one of my ma
chimes. l always build my apparatus
so that whatever happens il cannot
kill any one. The burning of my
laboratory two years ago was the most
serious accident / have ever had. No
one knows what L lost by that"
JOYS AND SORROWS OF THE IN
VENTOR.
He shook his head and passed his
large hand across his brow in regret
full "Reminiscences.
You see" he went on, that is one
of the sad things in an inventors life.
SO many IDEAS go chasing through his
brain that he can only seize few of
them as they fly, and of these he can
only find the time and strength to
bring a few TO perfection. And it hap
pens many times that another inven-
tor who has conceived the same ideas
anticipates him in carrying out one of
them. All, L tell you, that makes a
fellows heart ache. When my labora-
tary was burned there was destroyed
with it apparatus 1 had devised for
Aqdifyins air by new method; 1 was