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
