Tesla's Vision

A comparatively new dream appears to be taking a strong hold on the imagination of the scientific world. It is nothing less than the hope that means may yet be found for establishing intelligent communication with the supposed inhabitants of some other planet. Our next neighbor away from the sun Mars is the world commonly chosen as the most feasible subject for these experiments.

Among the eminent scientists who have given much attention to this matter is M. Flammarion, the European astronommer. He has discussed it in an interesting way and proposed that some system of gigantic signaling shall be adopted and practiced with the hope of evoking some response from our Martian neighbors.

But the most sensational utterance from a recognized scientist that has yet been made on this subject is that of Nikola Tesla, the celebrated electrical investigator and inventor. His contribution to the watch night services of the Red Cross was a statement which would be received with amazement if Mr. Tesla in former written and oral declarations had not raised the suspicion that his judgment was a little off its balance. That he has achieved marvelous results from his intense and prolonged researches into electrical conditions and laws cannot be questioned, but such achievements are entirely consistent with and possibly dependent upon an excessively sensitive temperament which, under certain circumstances, may lead its possessor to see visions and dream dreams.

In his watch night contribution Nikola Tesla declares that in some of his experiments he has been noticing disturbances that have had a peculiar effect upon his instruments. "What these disturbances are caused by," he adds, "I am unable to say at present, but I am firmly convinced they are the results of an attempt by some human beings, not of our world, to speak to us by signals. I am certain of some points in connection with these things I have noticed. I am absolutely certain that they are not caused by anything terrestrial. I know, too, that they are not caused by the sun or moon, and hence I am forced to the belief that they came from some other planet."

In further consideration of the matter, Nikola Tesla concludes that no visual signal which we can produce would be adequate, but that as we are now able to send over the surface of the earth electrical impulses, he feels certain that those impulses can be extended until they can be recognized on some of the nearer planets.

All of this seems wilder than the dreams of the ancient alchemists. In the first place it takes for granted what at present cannot be known, the existence of intelligent beings on one or more of the other planets. Next it assumes, what we may consider fairly well established from our experience with the sun, that electric impulses may be transmitted through interstellar or, rather, interplanetary space. But the sun is a battery so immeasurably exceeding any that man can construct that it is not proven that our feeble devices can ever carry their messages so far as the nearest object in space to the earth.

But science has achieved wonderful marvels, and, working in harmony with nature, it may be that not even Tesla'a dream is an impossibility.