Criticizing Tesla

ENGLISH SAVANTS THINK LITTLE OF HIS LATEST DISCOVERY — MARCONI’S IDEA.

Special cable to The Express
(From the New York Sun correspondent.)

London, Jan. 5. — The interview with Nikola Tesla in regard to his experiments in Colorado and the possibility of communicating with inhabitants of the planets has aroused widespread interest in England. Two expert criticisms have appeared so far. Signor Marconi declares that he often received mysterious signals until he had perfected his apparatus. He attributes these signals to atmospheric electricity. He considers Tesla’s signals due to local atmospheric disturbances which are especially prevalent at an altitude.

This criticism is obviously open to criticism itself, ignoring, as it does, the intelligent and constant nature of the signals recorded by Tesla’s instrument which removes them from the category of being irregular: “apparently from nowhere.” Moreover, in regard to Marconi, a touch of professional rivalry cannot but be suspected in the implication that Marconi’s apparatus is perfect while Tesla’s is not.

Prof. Fleming of University College shows skepticism of the old conservative school. While admitting the difficulty of saying anything beyond that it is within the ultimate reach of science, he declares that he only works in the realm of fact and fears that Tesla has been led away by his own imaginations.