The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1896-06-11
TESLA'S VIEWS.
Tells What He Thinks About CON-
monplace Things.
Also About the Manufacture Of Lightning
In Streaks Mile Long.


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 1 saw by the pallor of his
face and the dark eyes that something
had gone wrong.
81 am afraid" he said, "you wont find
me pleasant companion tonight. The
fact is was almost killed today.
"Yes, he continued, 81 got a shock OF
about three and q 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 II made me feel dizzy. IL my
assistant had not turned off the current
instantly ii might have been the end OF
me. As II was i have to show Tor IL
queer mark on my right breast, where
the current struck in and burned heel
in one OF my socks where Ii left my body.
OF course, the volume of current was ex-
ceedingly small, otherwise 1t must have
been fatal. You know that three and
halt million volts Is no joke, however
small the volume"
A great difficulty, and at the same time
delight in talking with Tesla is the ut
ter inability one feels TO understand what
he ID saying, or lift ones self to the plain
on which he is thinking. What ordinary
person could grapple with the idea OF
three and a half million volts or the cleo
trio contrivances necessary TO produce IL?
/ knew perfectly we'll that 20. 600 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 describing
his sensations in receiving the shock OF
current more than loo times Hs strong. IT
was plainly hopeless TO attempt any un-
derstanding OF this anomoIy, so L asked
about something easier.
81 should have thought that the spark
from such a current would jump further
than three feet, ventured.
$50 IT would. IL had wanted 1t to. i
have frequently had sparks from my
hlg extensions machines jump the width
or length of my labratory, say 30 or 40
feet. Indeed there is no limit to their
length, although you can't see them ex-
cept for the first yard or so, the fash is so
quick. 1t Is Just like lightning. The
fact is, there woud be no particular diff
Guilty in initiating lightning with sparks,
say mile long, IL any one choose TO pay
for,the necessary apparatus. Yes, / am
quite sure l could make spark a mile
long, and don't know that it would
cost SO much ether"
l asked Mr.. Tesla IL he had had many
accidents with electricity during ell the
years be has been experimenting with it.
NO." he said, 81 have had very few
accidents. l don't suppose / average
more than one in a year, and no one has
ever been killed by one of my machines.
lalways build my apparatus SO that what
ever happens il cannot kill any one. 4 he
burning of my laboratory two years ago
was the most serious accident i ever had.
No one knows hat / Lost by that
lie shook his head and passed his large
hand across his brow IN regretful remin-
iscence.
"You see, he went on, "that is one OF
the sao things in an inventors life. So
many ideas 60 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 few to
perfection. And it happens many times
that another inventor who has conceived
the same ideas anticipates him in carry
ing out one OF them. All, tell you, that
makes fellows heart eche. When my
laboratory was burned, there was de-
stroyed with 1t apparatus l had devised
Tor ljquifying air by new method; /
was on the eve OF success, and in the
months OF delay that epsued German
scientist solved tho problem. Just as
was about to solve IL, and left me only
the memory of what i might have done
i was SO blue and discouraged in those
days that l don't believe 1 could have
borne up. but for the regular electric
treatment which ! administered to N.Y.
self. You see, electricity puts into the
tired body just what it most needs-life,
force, nerve force. It's great doctor,
can tell you, perhaps the greatest of all
i asked Mr.. Tesla IL he often fell into
these periocs Of depression.
perhaps not often but now and then.
Every man of artistic temperament has
relapses from the great entnusiasms that
buoy MIN up and sweep him forward. In
the main, my life is very happy. happier
ihan any lie can conceive of. hen |
was student i knew what II was to sit
at the gsming table forty-eight hours at
the stretch. l thought that an intense
emotion, the fascination of play, and |
believe many people regard II as the
strongest emotion; bat / can tell you that
for many years all the sllurements OF the
game would have seemed tame and in
sipid to me compared with the tremen-
dous, overmastering excitement of my
life in the laboratory. i do not thin K
there Is any thrill that can 20 through
the human heart like that felt by the in
ventor as he sees some creation of his
brain unfolding to success as he watches
some crucial experiment prove that
through months OF waiting and hoping
he has been IN the right. Such emotions
make a man forget food, sleep, friends,
love, everything"
''Do you believe in marriage, Mr.. Tes-
Ia, for persons OF artistic temperament?''
"for an artist, yes; for musician,
yes; for writer, yes; but for an inven-
tor, no. The fret three must gain inspi-
ration from womans' influence and be
led by tteir love to finer achievement.
But an inventor has so intense a nature
with so much in II of wild, passionate
quality that In giving himself TO wo-
men he might love he would give every
thing, and so take every thing from his
chosen fieid. 40 not think you can
nan'e many great invent ions that have
been made 10y married men," lie paused
a moment and then added, with a shade
of paihos in his toDe, "Its n pity, too.
for sometimes we feel so lonely.
III amount OF work MIR. Issls does in
day, does every day, is simply pro-
digiors. Ii j. literally true that his II fe
is passed In continuous labor i'm the bal