Some of Tesla's Experiments Simplified - Commentary

[33904.] — I was rather surprised to read under the above heading that Mr. Rossi had discovered the "novelty" of a vacuum tube being lighted by a Rhumkorff coil, without actually being connected with it. Why, 21 years ago, Edison pointed this out, and attributed it to "etheric force." But every one of M. Tesla's experiments can be performed with ease by anyone possessing a 20in. plate Wimshurst machine. Rings of wire may be made to glow, vacuum tubes can be lit up at a distance, sheets of glass to give coruscation, and finally be perforated; and this without the use of rapidly alternating currents, as I previously pointed out in the "E. M." for May 10, 1892.

S. Bottone.