Nikola Tesla Books
to have developed his discoveries. The world would be far richer today if the thousand auxiliary bodies and the funds he needed had been available. But practical men, so called, could not understand him, nor could they spare the time to try to find out how to work with him. There were some exceptions, however. Among them was the elder J. Pierpont Morgan, who had an enlightened view concerning Tesla's genius and extended a co-operative hand to him.
When it was said above that discoveries "appeared" to Tesla in finished form, the words mean just that. He had a phenomenal two- way vision. Most persons possess only a one-way vision. The average person can see an object and then store in his mind memories of it and ideas concerning it. With Tesla the reverse was also true. When ideas developed in his mind they projected themselves as if through the optical channels so that he saw a definite concrete image.
Many great scientists receive such inspiration, but few admit it. Dr. Irving Langmuir, Nobel Prize winner and famous scientist in the General Electric Laboratories, has stated that he frequently has worked to an impasse on scientific problems, only to have the solution come like a flash under conditions which had nothing to do with his work. Says Dr. Langmuir:
In almost every scientific problem which I have succeeded in solving, even after those that have taken days or months of work, the final solution has come to my mind in a fraction of a second by a process which is not consciously one of reasoning. Such intuitive ideas are often wrong. The good must be weeded out from the bad - sometimes by common sense or judgment - other times by reasoning. The power of the human mind is far more remarkable than one ordinarily thinks. We can often size up a situation, or judge the character of a man by the expression of his face or by his acts in a way that would be quite impossible to describe in words.
People differ greatly in their ability to reach correct conclusions by such methods. Our numerous superstitions and the present popularity of astrology prove how often our minds make blunders. Since we have to live with our minds, we should train them, develop them, censor them - but let us not restrict them by trying to regulate our lives solely by science or by reason.
The human mind has unlimited possibilities for use and develop- ment which will be discovered when big enough minds tackle the
