Nikola Tesla Books
IN SEARCH OF NIKOLA TESLA for example, celebrated its new Edison system with concerts, marches and displays. The 'Grand Talking Machine', 'Edison Moving Picture Machine' and Minescope featuring Dr Eugene Sandow, 'The Modern Hercules' were displayed. The current itself was turned on by Mr Charles Lorenz, the 'oldest living resident' of Anaheim, and the magical day was celebrated by a concert involving recitations and 'whistling solos'. Edison must have realized that whistling solos alone would not be sufficient to win the day against a superior system, so he looked around for another point of attack. It was provided when, ironically, the Edison company installed, under licence, an electric chair in Auburn State Prison in 1890. The world's first all-electric execution proved a messy affair. It did not go unnoticed by the press that 'Tesla current' was used. The inference was obvious: if AC can be used to dispatch dangerous criminals, is it really the thing to have about the home? AC power is hazardous, Edison had said, and far too lethal to bring amongst the women and children. An attack which focused on the safety of Westinghouse's system was a master stroke, for it totally ignored economic and scientific arguments, on which score Edison was bound to lose. How could Westinghouse reply to the accusation that he was endangering the safety of American homes? His position seems not unlike that of the directors of nuclear power associations today, who must deal with charges of radiation hazards and possible nuclear accidents. No matter what they say, they are lost, for the public is suspicious of any attempt to deal with the issues which remotely looks like a 'cover-up' or a minimization of risk. Even if safety arguments look good on paper, can an individual afford to take the risk? Tesla's counterblast in the War of the Currents was even more brilliant than Edison's attack. He made no attempt to answer the arguments or present an analysis of the risks involved. Instead he walked out of his laboratory and onto the stage. Nikola Tesla became a bigger showman than Edison. In lecture halls and exhibitions, Tesla assembled his electrical apparatus and barnstormed for AC current. His displays must have been spectacular, even by today's standards. He produced enormous flashes of lightning across the stage, he activated machines which flashed and cracked and, at the high point of his act, allowed high-voltage electrical current to pass through his body and light a row of electric lamps. 85
