I shall dwell briefly on these extraordinary experiences, on
account of their possible interest to students of psychology and
physiology and also because this period of agony was of the greatest
consequence on my mental development and subsequent labors. But it is
indispensable to first relate the circumstances and conditions which
preceded them and in which might be found their partial explanation.
From childhood I was compelled to concentrate attention upon myself.
This caused me much suffering, but to my present view, it was a blessing
in disguise for it has taught me to appreciate the inestimable value of
introspection in the preservation of life, as well as a means of
achievement. The pressure of occupation and the incessant stream of
impressions pouring into our consciousness through all the gateways of
knowledge make modern existence hazardous in many ways. Most persons are
so absorbed in the contemplation of the outside world that they are
wholly oblivious to what is passing on within themselves. The premature
death of millions is primarily traceable to this cause. Even among those
who exercise care, it is a common mistake to avoid imaginary, and ignore
the real dangers. And what is true of an individual also applies, more
or less, to a people as a whole.
Abstinence was not always to my liking, but I find ample reward in
the agreeable experiences I am now making. Just in the hope of
converting some to my precepts and convictions I will recall one or two.
A short time ago I was returning to my hotel. It was a bitter cold
night, the ground slippery, and no taxi to be had. Half a block behind
me followed another man, evidently as anxious as myself to get under
cover. Suddenly my legs went up in the air. At the same instant there
was a flash in my brain. The nerves responded, the muscles contracted. I
swung 180 degrees and landed on my hands. I resumed my walk as though
nothing had happened when the stranger caught up with me. "How old are
you?" he asked, surveying me critically.
"Oh, about fifty-nine," I replied, "What of it?"
"Well," said he, "I have seen a cat do this but never a man." About a
month ago I wanted to order new eye glasses and went to an oculist who
put me through the usual tests. He looked at me incredulously as I read
off with ease the smallest print at considerable distance. But when I
told him I was past sixty he gasped in astonishment. Friends of mine
often remark that my suits fit me like gloves but they do not know that
all my clothing is made to measurements which were taken nearly fifteen
years ago and never changed. During this same period my weight has not
varied one pound. In this connection I may tell a funny story.
One evening, in the winter of 1885, Mr. Edison, Edward H. Johnson,
the President of the Edison Illuminating Company, Mr. Batchellor,
Manager of the works, and myself, entered a little place opposite 65
Firth Avenue, where the offices of the company were located. Someone
suggested guessing weights and I was induced to step on a scale. Edison
felt me all over and said: "Tesla weighs 152 lbs. to an ounce," and he
guessed it exactly. Stripped I weighed 142 pounds, and that is still my
weight. I whispered to Mr. Johnson; "How is it possible that Edison
could guess my weight so closely?"
"Well," he said, lowering his voice. "I will tell you confidentially,
but you must not say anything. He was employed for a long time in a
Chicago slaughter-house where he weighed thousands of hogs every day.
That's why."
My friend, the Hon. Chauncey M. Dupew, tells of an Englishman on whom
he sprung one of his original anecdotes and who listened with a puzzled
expression, but a year later, laughed out loud. I will frankly confess
it took me longer than that to appreciate Johnson's joke. Now, my
well-being is simply the result of a careful and measured mode of living
and perhaps the most astonishing thing is that three times in my youth I
was rendered by illness a hopeless physical wreck and given up by
physicians. More than this, through ignorance and
lightheartedness, I got into all sorts of difficulties, dangers and
scrapes from which I extricated myself as by enchantment. I was almost
drowned, entombed, lost and frozen. I had hair-breadth escapes from mad
dogs, hogs, and other wild animals. I passed through dreadful diseases
and met with all kinds of odd mishaps and that I am whole and hearty
today seems like a miracle. But as I recall these incidents to my mind I
feel convinced that my preservation was not altogether accidental, but
was indeed the work of divine power. An inventor's endeavor is
essentially life saving. Whether he harnesses forces, improves devices,
or provides new comforts and conveniences, he is adding to the safety of
our existence. He is also better qualified than the average individual
to protect himself in peril, for he is observant and resourceful. If I
had no other evidence that I was, in a measure, possessed of such
qualities, I would find it in these personal experiences. The reader
will be able to judge for himself if I mention one or two instances.
On one occasion, when about fourteen years old, I wanted to scare
some friends who were bathing with me. My plan was to dive under a long
floating structure and slip out quietly at the other end. Swimming and
diving came to me as naturally as to a duck and I was confident that I
could perform the feat. Accordingly I plunged into the water and, when
out of view, turned around and proceeded rapidly towards the opposite
side. Thinking that I was safely beyond the structure, I rose to the
surface but to my dismay struck a beam. Of course, I quickly dived and
forged ahead with rapid strokes until my breath was beginning to give
out. Rising for the second time, my head came again in contact with a
beam. Now I was becoming desperate. However, summoning all my energy, I
made a third frantic attempt but the result was the same. The torture of
suppressed breathing was getting unendurable, my brain was reeling and I
felt myself sinking. At that moment, when my situation seemed absolutely
hopeless, I experienced one of those flashes of light and the structure
above me appeared before my vision. I either discerned or guessed that
there was a little space between the surface of the water and the boards
resting on the beams and, with consciousness nearly gone, I floated up,
pressed my mouth close to the planks and managed to inhale a little air,
unfortunately mingled with a spray of water which nearly choked me.
Several times I repeated this procedure as in a dream until my heart,
which was racing at a terrible rate, quieted down, and I gained
composure. After that I made a number of unsuccessful dives, having
completely lost the sense of direction, but finally succeeded in getting
out of the trap when my friends had already given me up and were fishing
for my body. That bathing season was spoiled for me through recklessness
but I soon forgot the lesson and only two years later I fell into a
worse predicament.
There was a large flour mill with a dam across the river near the
city where I was studying at the time. As a rule the height of the water
was only two or three inches above the dam and to swim to it was a sport
not very dangerous in which I often indulged. One day I went alone to
the river to enjoy myself as usual. When I was a short distance from the
masonry, however, I was horrified to observe that the water had risen
and was carrying me along swiftly. I tried to get away but it was too
late. Luckily, though, I saved myself from being swept over by taking
hold of the wall with both hands. The pressure against my chest was
great and I was barely able to keep my head above the surface. Not a
soul was in sight and my voice was lost in the roar of the fall. Slowly
and gradually I became exhausted and unable to withstand the strain
longer. Just as I was about to let go, to be dashed against the rocks
below, I saw in a flash of light a familiar diagram illustrating the
hydraulic principle that the pressure of a fluid in motion is
proportionate to the area exposed and automatically I turned on my left
side. As if by magic, the pressure was reduced and I found it
comparatively easy in that position to resist the force of the stream.
But the danger still confronted me. I knew that sooner or later I would
be carried down, as it was not possible for any help to reach me in
time, even if I had attracted attention. I am ambidextrous now, but then
I was left-handed and had comparatively little strength in my right arm.
For this reason I did not dare to turn on the other side to rest and
nothing remained but to slowly push my body along the dam. I had to get
away from the mill towards which my face was turned, as the current
there was much swifter and deeper. It was a long and painful ordeal and
I came near to failing at its very end, for I was confronted with a
depression in the masonry. I managed to get over with the last ounce of
my strength and fell in a swoon when I reached the bank, where I was
found. I had torn virtually all the skin from my left side and it took
several weeks before the fever had subsided and I was well. These are
only two of many instances, but they may be sufficient to show that had
it not been for the inventor's instinct, I would not have lived to tell
the tale.
Interested people have often asked me how and when I began to invent.
This I can only answer from my present recollection in the light of
which, the first attempt I recall was rather ambitious for it involved
the invention of an apparatus and a method. In the former it was
anticipated, but the later was original. It happened in this way. One of
my playmates had come into the possession of a hook and fishing tackle
which created quite an excitement in the village, and the next morning
all started out to catch frogs. I was left alone and deserted owing to a
quarrel with this boy. I had never seen a real hook and pictured it as
something wonderful, endowed with peculiar qualities, and was despairing
not to be one of the party. Urged by necessity, I somehow got hold of a
piece of soft iron wire, hammered the end to a sharp point between two
stones, bent it into shape, and fastened it to a strong string. I then
cut a rod, gathered some bait, and went down to the brook where there
were frogs in abundance. But I could not catch any and was almost
discouraged when it occurred to me dangle the empty hook in front of a
frog sitting on a stump. At first he collapsed but by and by his eyes
bulged out and became bloodshot, he swelled to twice his normal size and
made a vicious snap at the hook. Immediately I pulled him up. I tried
the same thing again and again and the method proved infallible. When my
comrades, who in spite of their fine outfit had caught nothing, came to
me, they were green with envy. For a long time I kept my secret and
enjoyed the monopoly but finally yielded to the spirit of Christmas.
Every boy could then do the same and the following summer brought
disaster to the frogs.
In my next attempt, I seem to have acted under the first instinctive
impulse which later dominated me - to harness the energies of nature to
the service of man. I did this through the medium of May bugs, or June
bugs as they are called in America, which were a veritable pest in that
country and sometimes broke the branches of trees by the sheer weight of
their bodies. The bushes were black with them. I would attach as many as
four of them to a cross-piece, rotably arranged on a thin spindle, and
transmit the motion of the same to a large disc and so derive
considerable "power." These creatures were remarkably efficient, for
once they were started, they had no sense to stop and continued whirling
for hours and hours and the hotter it was, the harder they worked. All
went well until a strange boy came to the place. He was the son of a
retired officer in the Austrian army. That urchin ate May bugs alive and
enjoyed them as though they were the finest blue point oysters. That
disgusting sight terminated my endeavors in this promising field and I
have never since been able to touch a May bug or any other insect for
that matter.
After that, I believe, I undertook to take apart and assemble the
clocks of my grandfather. In the former operation I was always
successful, but often failed in the latter. So it came that he brought
my work to a sudden halt in a manner not too delicate and it took thirty
years before I tackled another clockwork again.
Shortly thereafter, I went into the manufacture of a kind of pop-gun
which comprised a hollow tube, a piston, and two plugs of hemp. When
firing the gun, the piston was pressed against the stomach and the tube
was pushed back quickly with both hands. the air between the plugs was
compressed and raised to a high temperature and one of them was expelled
with a loud report. The art consisted in selecting a tube of the proper
taper from the hollow stalks which were found in our garden. I did very
well with that gun, but my activities interfered with the window panes
in our house and met with painful discouragement.
If I remember rightly, I then took to carving swords from pieces of
furniture which I could conveniently obtain. At that time I was under
the sway of the Serbian national poetry and full of admiration for the
feats of the heroes. I used to spend hours in mowing down my enemies in
the form of cornstalks which ruined the crops and netted me several
spankings from my mother. Moreover, these were not of the formal kind
but the genuine article.
I had all this and more behind me before I was six years old and had
passed through one year of elementary school in the village of Smiljan
where my family lived. At this juncture we moved to the little city of
Gospic nearby. This change of residence was like a calamity to me. It
almost broke my heart to part from our pigeons, chickens and sheep, and
our magnificent flock of geese which used to rise to the clouds in the
morning and return from the feeding grounds at sundown in battle
formation, so perfect that it would have put a squadron of the best
aviators of the present day to shame. In our new house I was but a
prisoner, watching the strange people I saw through my window blinds. My
bashfulness was such that I would rather have faced a roaring lion than
one of the city dudes who strolled about. But my hardest trial came on
Sunday when I had to dress up and attend the service. There I met with
an accident, the mere thought of which made my blood curdle like sour
milk for years afterwards. It was my second adventure in a church. Not
long before, I was entombed for a night in an old chapel on an
inaccessible mountain which was visited only once a year. It was an
awful experience, but this one was worse.
There was a wealthy lady in town, a good but pompous woman, who used
to come to the church gorgeously painted up and attired with an enormous
train and attendants. One Sunday I had just finished ringing the bell in
the belfry and rushed downstairs, when this grand dame was sweeping out
and I jumped on her train. It tore off with a ripping noise which
sounded like a salvo of musketry fired by raw recruits. My father was
livid with rage. He gave me a gentle slap on the cheek, the only
corporal punishment he ever administered to me, but I almost feel it
now. The embarrassment and confusion that followed are indescribable. I
was practically ostracized until something else happened which redeemed
me in the estimation of the community.
An enterprising young merchant had organized a fire department. A new
fire engine was purchased, uniforms provided and the men drilled for
service and parade. The engine was beautifully painted red and black.
One afternoon, the official trial was prepared for and the machine was
transported to the river. The entire population turned out to witness
the great spectacle. When all the speeches and ceremonies were
concluded, the command was given to pump, but not a drop of water came
from the nozzle. The professors and experts tried in vain to locate the
trouble. The fizzle was complete when I arrived at the scene. My
knowledge of the mechanism was nil and I knew next to nothing of air
pressure, but instinctively I felt for the suction hose in the water and
found that it had collapsed. When I waded in the river and opened it up,
the water rushed forth and not a few Sunday clothes were spoiled.
Archimedes running naked through the streets of Syracuse and shouting
Eureka at the top of his voice did not make a greater impression than
myself. I was carried on the shoulders and was hero of the day.
Upon settling in the city I began a four years course in the
so-called Normal School preparatory to my studies at the College or
Real-Gymnasium. During this period my boyish efforts and exploits as
well as troubles, continued.
Among other things, I attained the unique distinction of champion
crow catcher in the country. My method of procedure was extremely
simple. I would go into the forest, hide in the bushes, and imitate the
call of the birds. Usually I would get several answers and in a short
while a crow would flutter down into the shrubbery near me. After that,
all I needed to do was to throw a piece of cardboard to detract its
attention, jump up and grab it before it could extricate itself from the
undergrowth. In this way I would capture as many as I desired. But on
one occasion something occurred which made me respect them. I had caught
a fine pair of birds and was returning home with a friend. When we left
the forest, thousands of crows had gathered making a frightful racket.
In a few minutes they rose in pursuit and soon enveloped us. The fun
lasted until all of a sudden I received a blow on the back of my head
which knocked me down. Then they attacked me viciously. I was compelled
to release the two birds and was glad to join my friend who had taken
refuge in a cave.
In the school room there were a few mechanical models which
interested me and turned my attention to water turbines. I constructed
many of these and found great pleasure in operating them. How
extraordinary was my life an incident may illustrate. My uncle had no
use for this kind of pastime and more than once rebuked me. I was
fascinated by a description of Niagara Falls I had perused, and pictured
in my imagination a big wheel run by the falls. I told my uncle that I
would go to America and carry out this scheme. Thirty years later I was
able to see my ideas carried out at Niagara and marveled at the
unfathomable mystery of the mind.
I made all kinds of other contrivances and contraptions but among
those, the arbalests I produced were the best. My arrows, when shot,
disappeared from sight and at close range traversed a plank of pine one
inch thick. Through the continuous tightening of the bows I developed a
skin on my stomach much like that of a crocodile and I am often
wondering whether it is due to this exercise that I am able even now to
digest cobble-stones! Nor can I pass in silence my performances with the
sling which would have enabled me to give a stunning exhibit at the
Hippodrome. And now I will tell of one of my feats with this unique
implement of war which will strain to the utmost the credulity of the
reader.
I was practicing while walking with my uncle along the river. The sun
was setting, the trout were playful and from time to time one would
shoot up into the air, its glistening body sharply defined against
a projecting rock beyond. Of course any boy might have hit a fish
under these propitious conditions but I undertook a much more difficult
task and I foretold to my uncle, to the minutest detail, what I intended
doing. I was to hurl a stone to meet the fish, press its body against
the rock, and cut it in two. It was no sooner said than done. My uncle
looked at me almost scared out of his wits and exclaimed "Vade
retra Satanae!" and it was a few days before he spoke to me again.
Other records, however great, will be eclipsed but I feel that I could
peacefully rest on my laurels for a thousand years.
Chapter III - Magnetic Field
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