Tesla and the Electricians

Nikola Tesla’s claims to the discovery of principles and the construction of apparatus by which he can telegraph over long distances without wires have been received with incredulity by some scientists and inventors. Even Mr. Edison is reported to have said that a similar idea had been tried and found to be of no practical value, and that to send a sound wave to England would require 5,000,000 or 6,000,000 horsepower. Frank W. Jones, chief electrical expert of the Postal Telegraph Company, while disclaiming any intention to ridicule Tesla’s claims, says that such results seem to him to border on the impossible.

On the other hand, Mr. Tesla says he cannot believe that Mr. Edison was correctly understood in making the remarks attributed to him, but that for the information of the public he will say that it will be possible to convey a sound wave to England with one-horse power instead of 6,000,000, and he will undertake to do it.

In a case of this kind it seems to us that too much talk on either side is unadvisable. Mr. Tesla is known to be a man of character and honor as well as one of the most brilliant investigators in electrical science of our day. His assurances therefore should be received with respect and all harsh judgment suspended until it is known that he has tried what he has promised to do and failed. But the test of every claim in science is achievement. Instead of promising to do it, let Mr. Tesla do it. That will disarm all incredulity and criticism, just as the operations of Morse and Bell with the telegraph and telephone did.

The idea of telegraphing without wires is not exclusively original with Mr. Tesla or any of the other great electrical experts of the day. It has been a dream of many thinkers and experimenters. Some have merely conceived it as a remote possibility. Others have worked for it, and in a certain sense it has been accomplished. Professor Loomis, as we have previously shown, succeeded in sending electrical messages without wires between mountain peaks. Edison constructed his induction apparatus by means of which it is possible to telegraph from or to moving trains over wires running parallel with the road, but having no direct wire connection with the trains. Marconi, the young Italian electrician, is now engaged in experiments on the coast of Wales and claims to have telegraphed without wires to a neighboring island.

But Tesla asserts that his invention is entirely different from Edison’s or Marconi’s. This it is for him to show, and the attitude of the public towards him should be fair and respectful until he has either succeeded or failed.