Electrical Possibilities

Electrical Possibilities. It is not an extravagant statement to say that never before in the history of the world has there been a scientific discovery about which centered such magnificent dreams as are being built up on certain recently discovered electrical principles. "Among these the foremost place," says the Springfield Republican, must be given to the astounding discoveries of the young Serbian genius, Nikola Tesla, which are so novel and so extraordinary that the most imaginative of inventors are unable to foresee what form their development will take. Just as experimenters were beginning to think that they knew all that could be learned about electricity, and that further improvement must be in the line of more perfect mechanical application, Mr. Tesla shows us the electric fluid under conditions in which it differs from ordinary electricity as much as light differs from heat. A current of 2,000 volts will kill a man in the twinkling of an eye, but this modern wizard lets currents pour through his hands with a potential of 200,000 volts, vibrating 1,000,000 times a second and showering from him in dazzling streams of light. For some time after the experiment ceases his body and clothing emit streams and halos of splintered light.

"Equally astounding, and with more visible usefulness, is Mr. Tesla's discovery that currents of such enormous potential and frequency can be transmitted without the use of wires. A room can be filled with electricity from copper plates in ceiling and floor, so that electric lamps will burn without any connecting wire as soon as they are brought in. In the same way intelligence and power may be trausmitted without a circuit, doing away with the necessity for trolleys, storage batteries and subways. Mr. Edison thinks we shall yet be able to get electricity direct from coal, a discovery compared with which the philosopher's stone is a mere bauble. Then our steamships will need only 'a snug little bin for 250 tons of coal, instead of one for 2,800 tons.' Successful aerial flight, electric cookery, a transatlantic telephone, a real telescope with which one can see around the world by the medium of a wire, the formation of wholesome food products under the potency of electrical affinities — these are some of the things which imaginative inventors foresee.

"When one contemplates such possibilities the prospect of leaving this sphere induces a regret not unlike that of the French nobleman during the reign of terror, 'I don't mind dying,' he said, tranquilly, as he took his last pinch of snuff at the guillotine, 'but, hang it all, I wanted to see how it all comes out.'"