The Teslian - Vol. I, No. 9 Page 4

When Tesla operated the transmitter with undamped waves, the oscillator being silent (no streamers), a horse at perhaps a half mile away would be frightened and gallop away when the switch was thrown. When damped waves were employed roaring was so strong it could be heard 10 miles away. Despite precautions such as cotton in the ears, one would get a sensation in the head as if something was bursting. As Tesla described it, the peculiar sensation was almost as positive as touch. If one imagines himself looking at a cartridge just about to explode he will get an idea of the sensation produced.

Tesla stated he had never seen lightning fire-balls, but determined mode of their formation and produced them artificially. In the highly resonant transformer secondary comprising the magnifying transmitter, the entire energy accumulated in the excited circuit, instead of requiring a quarter period for transformation from static to kinetic, could spend itself in less time, at hundreds of thousands of horsepower. Thus, for example, Tesla produced artificial fire-balls by suddenly causing the impressed oscillations to be more rapid than free ones of the secondary. This shifted the point of maximum electrical pressure below the elevated terminal capacity, and a ball of fire would leap great distances.

Significant concerning these spectacular localized effects is that spontaneous release of 100,000 horsepower of electrical energy literally shook the world — it "electrified the earth!"