Electricity (Editorial on Nikola Tesla's Recent Address in Buffalo)

Electricity. TESLA. Elec. Rev., Jan. 27. — A reprint in full of his recent address at Buffalo; it is very general in character. He discusses the features of human intellectual progress in recent times, which chiefly interest the scientific man, the thinker and the reasoner; he refers to the influence of the artist; electricity has been one of the most potent factors in the elevating features which characterize modern intellectual development; he refers to the merging together of the various sciences or departments of research and the connection between different forces and phenomena; only a brief reference is made to high-frequency currents; the electric transmission of power is considered to be the most important industrial application. In referring to the direct production of electricity from carbon in a battery, he states that he does not think it will be as much of an advance as some seem to believe; he favors the mechanical generation and considers the probability of replacing the present generators by batteries as a very remote one; he has confidence in the development of a light storage battery involving the use of chemicals manufactured by cheap water power, such as some carbide or oxygen-hydrogen cell; he refers to means for obtaining energy from stores which are forever inexhaustible without combustion or waste of any material, stating that he has had the matter under consideration for a number of years, and believing the problem will ultimately be solved; he thinks the realization of the idea is not far off; he refers to the possibility of the operation of engines on any point of the earth “by the energy of the medium” (presumably a misprint); but he adds that under the theoretically best conditions such a method of obtaining power cannot equal in economy and simplicity the conversion of the energy of running water into electrical energy; he has devised means for using for transmission E. M. Fs. much higher than practical with ordinary apparatus; he believes he will succeed in transmitting power without the employment of any connecting wire.