Nikola Tesla Books
Books written by or about Nikola Tesla
that one is at the point of not believing his own eyes. At times large portions of the sky assume a deep red almost blood-red color, so intense that superstitious people might will be frightened when first seeing it as by some other altogether unusual manifestation in the heavens. Sometimes, particularly in the forenoon, huge masses of what appears to be snow are seen floating in the air and they are so real and tangible, so sharply defined, that it is difficult to believe them to be composed merely of vapor. The purity and dryness of the atmosphere explains to a degree the sharpness of definition of the boundaries of these formations of mist, but it is quite possible that some other causes as electrification of the particles cooperate in rendering them so compact as they appear to be. Of course, the purer the air, the greater is the difference between the region filled by cloud and that surrounding it as regards the passage of light rays, and the boundaries of the cloud appear sharper and quasi-solid much on this account. The whiteness and purity of these masses of cloud is such that one has the idea that nothing, not even an angel, could come in contact with it without soiling it. Very often when the sun is setting, a considerable portion of the sky above the mountain range presents the sight of an immense furnace with white-hot molten metal. It is absolutely impossible to look at the melting away clouds without being blinded, so vivid is the light. On a few occasions I have seen the mountains covered with a white silvery veil most beautiful to see, an unusual occurrence and caused by a fine mistlike rain in the mountain region. The intensity of the light on these occasions was really wonderful. What was remarked before of the shadows of the moon is, and to a much greater degree, true of those thrown by the sun. They are inkblack and sharply outlined. The shadows on the plain and mountains thrown by the clouds appear like big patches of inking blackness hurrying along the ground. Particularly interesting are shadows thrown across the sky resembling often large dark streamers, or those which under certain conditions are formed and are visible like dark columns extended from the ground to the sky. These shadows seem to be best visible in the middle of the afternoon or a little later when the sun in fairly down and on days when it has been extremely hot and sultry in the forenoon and the clouds are formed quickly and are of greater density than usual.
A very curious phenomenon is the rapid formation and disappearance of the clouds. One can watch them continuously forming and disappearing rapidly and one merely needs to turn away for a few moments when he may see that the aspect has changed, new clouds having replaced those he saw before. On many occasions, just after sunset, I have seen seemingly dense, white clouds appear as by enchantment below the mountain peaks. So quickly did these clouds or mist form that their appearance was much like the projection of an image on the screen. The wonderful beauty of the cloud formations as seen here is, however, enhanced not only by the incredible sharpness of the outlines and vividness of color but also by their accidental arrangement and forms they assume. Not unfrequently one can see clouds resembling all kinds of known objects, this adding much to the enjoyment one finds in observing them. In fact I have scarcely ever watched the clouds here without noting among the shapes resembling some or other familiar object. It is probably owing to the peculiar character of the clouds here that phenomena of this kind may be almost daily observed whereas in other parts they are very rare. Very often I have seen low on the horizon what appeared to be immense fields of ice as a sea frozen in the midst of a storm but so wonderfully real that it would be impossible to give an idea of it by a description however vivid. At other times there appeared ranges of mountains which one could not distinguish from the actual, on the horizon or the wide ocean, with its deep green, or dark blue, or black waters stretching out as far as the eye could reach.
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Tesla: “Method of utilizing effects transmitted through natural media”, U.S. Patent 685 954, Nov. 5, 1901, Appl. Aug. 1, 1899, P-303.
August 1
Extraordinary atmospherics in vicinity of laboratory instigated Tesla to devote some time to phenomena which are the consequence of a clean environment, dry air and low pressure. In such atmosphere sun and moonlight are more intensive than usual, the visibility is better, and even sounds propagate with less damping. The air is highly electrically charged, and according to Tesla that could be among other reasons, one of the reasons for this phenomena. Although the surrounding itself is not considered particularly attractive, Tesla is impressed with clouds, sunrise and sunset. His descriptions of these events are (literally - Editor) extraordinary, although they lack scientific preciseness and a systematical approach. This particularly pertains to descriptions of cloud types, and the description of some clouds' brightness which are brighter than the sun itself. Radiations, transformations of one kind of radiation to another and similar effects are known topics to Tesla and he uses his knowledge for the explanation of the events around him. In his considerations he grasped even the biological aspects of sun rays and atmosphere, and when he mentioned X-rays in connection with sun radiation, he expressed his hope that he will produce such intensity of these rays which will cure tuberculosis!
