Tesla's Latest - Interplanetary Communication and Artificial Sunshine

The New Century has already been enriched by two Tesla "discoveries," one of which he announces as his "first gift to the New Century." Several weeks ago he announced through the newspapers that certain electrical disturbances that had come under his observation were, he felt convinced, of planetary origin, which statement was followed up a few days later with another that he had discovered a means which rendered communication with Mars or any other planet not only possible, but easily practicable. Unfortunately for the credence of his claim, he added in a letter to the New York Sun some details which contradict all established ideas concerning the transmission of electric radiant energy, though the proposed means of communication with another planet purports to be based upon these same ideas.

The second and more recent announcement is that as the result of continuous effort since his first experimental demonstrations of years ago, he has at last perfected a means of producing "artificial sunshine," the new light being more economical and vastly superior to present forms of artificial illumination. In a letter to the Sun the following details are given: "The lamps are glass tubes which may be bent in any ornamental way. I most generally use a rectangular spiral, containing about twenty or twenty-five feet of tubing making some twelve to fourteen convolutions. The total illuminating surface of a lamp is from 300 to 400 sq. ins. The ends of the spiral tube are covered with a metallic coating and provided with hooks for hanging the lamp on the terminals of the source of oscillations. The tube contains gases rarefied to a certain degree, determined in the course of long experimentation as being conducive to the best results." In this instance also Mr. Tesla has been very fortunate in departing from his custom by giving details, for the "gift to the New Century" appears to be merely the vacuum tube light, known now for almost two centuries. The description does not indicate any advance in principle over Hawksbee's work of 1709, nor any advance otherwise over the work of Geissler fifty years ago, or that of D. McFarlan Moore in recent years.

At one time the frequent announcements by Tesla of revolutionary discoveries were a real source of harm to the electrical industry through giving rise to fears in the minds of investors that the current status of the electrical industry is insecure. The lay public appears, however, to have finally become surfeited with promises followed by no fulfillment, and the more recent announcements of Tesla have been received by the newspaper press with few exceptions — mostly of the "yellow" variety — in a changed spirit. Instead of serious consideration being given to his claims, he is rapidly becoming a subject for the irreverent mirth of the newspaper paragrapher, one of whom comments as follows: "Mr. Tesla is thus on the very eve of a discovery even more remarkable than the many others on whose eve he has been so often and so long. It may be asserted confidently that if any one on earth can understand Mars it is Tesla; and conversely, that if any one can understand Tesla, it must be an inhabitant of Mars." To quote sorrowfully an English electrical contemporary: "It is pitiable to see the engineer who invented the polyphase system of power transmission and who has done such valuable original work for other departments of electrical engineering, so fond of the cheap notoriety to be gained by sensational paragraphs in daily papers."