At the age of ten I entered the
Real gymnasium which was a new and fairly well
equipped institution. In the department of
physics were various models of
classical scientific apparatus, electrical
and mechanical. The demonstrations
and experiments performed from time to time
by the instructors fascinated me and
were undoubtedly a powerful incentive to
invention. I was also passionately fond
of mathematical studies and often won the
professor's praise for rapid
calculation. This was due to my acquired
facility of visualizing the figures and
performing the operation, not in the usual
intuitive manner, but as in actual
life. Up to a certain degree of complexity
it was absolutely the same to me
whether I wrote the symbols on the board or
conjured them before my mental
vision. But freehand drawing, to which many
hours of the course were devoted,
was an annoyance I could not endure. This
was rather remarkable as most of the
members of the family excelled in it.
Perhaps my aversion was simply due to the
predilection I found in undisturbed
thought. Had it not been for a few
exceptionally stupid boys, who could not do
anything at all, my record would
have been the worst.
It was a serious handicap as under
the then existing educational regime drawing
being obligatory, this deficiency
threatened to spoil my whole career and my
father had considerable trouble in
rail-roading me from one class to another.
In the second year at that
institution I became obsessed with the idea of
producing continuous motion through steady
air pressure. The pump incident, of
which I have been told, had set afire my
youthful imagination and impressed me
with the boundless possibilities of a
vacuum. I grew frantic in my desire to
harness this inexhaustible energy but for a
long time I was groping in the dark.
Finally, however, my endeavors crystallized
in an invention which was to enable
me to achieve what no other mortal ever
attempted. Imagine a cylinder freely
rotatable on two bearings and partly
surrounded by a rectangular trough which
fits it perfectly. The open side of the
trough is enclosed by a partition so
that the cylindrical segment within the
enclosure divides the latter into two
compartments entirely separated from each
other by air-tight sliding joints. One
of these compartments being sealed and once
for all exhausted, the other
remaining open, a perpetual rotation of the
cylinder would result. At least, so
I thought.
A wooden model was constructed and
fitted with infinite care and when I applied
the pump on one side and actual observed
that there was a tendency to turning, I
was delirious with joy. Mechanical flight
was the one thing I wanted to
accomplish although still under the
discouraging recollection of a bad fall I
sustained by jumping with an umbrella from
the top of a building. Every day I
used to transport myself through the air to
distant regions but could not
understand just how I managed to do it. Now
I had something concrete, a flying
machine with nothing more than a rotating
shaft, flapping wings, and; - a vacuum
of unlimited power! From that time on I
made my daily aerial excursions in a
vehicle of comfort and luxury as might have
befitted King Solomon. It took years
before I understood that the atmospheric
pressure acted at right angles to the
surface of the cylinder and that the slight
rotary effort I observed was due to
a leak! Though this knowledge came
gradually it gave me a painful shock.
I had hardly completed my course
at the Real Gymnasium when I was prostrated
with a dangerous illness or rather, a score
of them, and my condition became so
desperate that I was given up by
physicians. During this period I was permitted
to read constantly, obtaining books from
the Public Library which had been
neglected and entrusted to me for
classification of the works and preparation of
catalogues.
One day I was handed a few volumes
of new literature unlike anything I had ever
read before and so captivating as to make
me utterly forget me hopeless state.
They were the earlier works of Mark Twain
and to them might have been due the
miraculous recovery which followed.
Twenty-five years later, when I met Mr.
Clements and we formed a friendship between
us, I told him of the experience and
was amazed to see that great man of
laughter burst into tears...
My studies were continued at the
higher Real Gymnasium in Carlstadt, Croatia,
where one of my aunts resided. She was a
distinguished lady, the wife of a
Colonel who was an old war-horse having
participated in many battles, I can
never forget the three years I passed at
their home. No fortress in time of war
was under a more rigid discipline. I was
fed like a canary bird. All the meals
were of the highest quality and deliciously
prepared, but short in quantity by a
thousand percent. The slices of ham cut by
my aunt were like tissue paper. When
the Colonel would put something substantial
on my plate she would snatch it away
and say excitedly to him; "Be careful. Niko
is very delicate."
I had a voracious appetite and
suffered like Tantalus.
But I lived in an atmosphere of
refinement and artistic taste quite unusual for
those times and conditions. The land was
low and marshy and malaria fever never
left me while there despite the enormous
amounts of quinine I consumed.
Occasionally the river would rise and drive
an army of rats into the buildings,
devouring everything, even to the bundles
of fierce paprika. These pests were to
me a welcome diversion. I thinned their
ranks by all sorts of means, which won
me the unenviable distinction of
rat-catcher in the community. At last, however,
my course was completed, the misery ended,
and I obtained the certificate of
maturity which brought me to the
cross-roads.
During all those years my parents
never wavered in their resolve to make me
embrace the clergy, the mere thought of
which filled me with dread. I had become
intensely interested in electricity under
the stimulating influence of my
Professor of Physics, who was an ingenious
man and often demonstrated the
principles by apparatus of his own
invention. Among these I recall a device in
the shape of a freely rotatable bulb, with
tinfoil coating, which was made to
spin rapidly when connected to a static
machine. It is impossible for me to
convey an adequate idea of the intensity of
feeling I experienced in witnessing
his exhibitions of these mysterious
phenomena. Every impression produced a
thousand echoes in my mind. I wanted to
know more of this wonderful force; I
longed for experiment and investigation and
resigned myself to the inevitable
with aching heart. Just as I was making
ready for the long journey home I
received word that my father wished me to
go on a shooting expedition. It was a
strange request as he had been always
strenuously opposed to this kind of sport.
But a few days later I learned that the
cholera was raging in that district and,
taking advantage of an opportunity, I
returned to Gospic in disregard to my
parent's wishes. It is incredible how
absolutely ignorant people were as to the
causes of this scourge which visited the
country in intervals of fifteen to
twenty years. They thought that the deadly
agents were transmitted through the
air and filled it with pungent odors and
smoke. In the meantime they drank
infested water and died in heaps. I
contracted the dreadful disease on the very
day of my arrival and although surviving
the crisis, I was confined to bed for
nine months with scarcely any ability to
move. My energy was completely
exhausted and for the second time I found
myself at Death's door.
In one of the sinking spells which
was thought to be the last, my father rushed
into the room. I still see his pallid face
as he tried to cheer me in tones
belying his assurance. "Perhaps," I said,
"I may get well if you will let me
study engineering." "You will go to the
best technical institution in the
world," he solemnly replied, and I knew
that he meant it. A heavy weight was
lifted from my mind but the relief would
have come too late had it not been for
a marvelous cure brought through a bitter
decoction of a peculiar bean. I came
to life like Lazarus to the utter amazement
of everybody.
My father insisted that I spend a
year in healthful physical outdoor exercise to
which I reluctantly consented. For most of
this term I roamed in the mountains,
loaded with a hunter's outfit and a bundle
of books, and this contact with
nature made me stronger in body as well as
in mind. I thought and planned, and
conceived many ideas almost as a rule
delusive. The vision was clear enough but
the knowledge of principles was very
limited.
In one of my invention I proposed
to convey letters and packages across the
seas, through a submarine tube, in
spherical containers of sufficient strength
to resist the hydraulic pressure. The
pumping plant, intended to force the water
through the tube, was accurately figured
and designed and all other particulars
carefully worked out. Only one trifling
detail, of no consequence, was lightly
dismissed. I assumed an arbitrary velocity
of the water and, what is more, took
pleasure in making it high, thus arriving
at a stupendous performance supported
by faultless calculations. Subsequent
reflections, however, on the resistance of
pipes to fluid flow induced me to make this
invention public property.
Another one of my projects was to
construct a ring around the equator which
would, of course, float freely and could be
arrested in its spinning motion by
reactionary forces, thus enabling travel at
a rate of about one thousand miles
an hour, impracticable by rail. The reader
will smile. The plan was difficult of
execution, I will admit, but not nearly so
bad as that of a well known New York
professor, who wanted to pump the air from
the torrid to temperate zones,
entirely forgetful of the fact that the
Lord had provided a gigantic machine for
this purpose.
Still another scheme, far more
important and attractive, was to derive power
from the rotational energy of terrestrial
bodies. I had discovered that objects
on the earth's surface owing to the diurnal
rotation of the globe, are carried
by the same alternately in and against the
direction of translatory movement.
From this results a great change in
momentum which could be utilized in the
simplest imaginable manner to furnish
motive effort in any habitable region of
the world. I cannot find words to describe
my disappointment when later I
realized that I was in the predicament of
Archimedes, who vainly sought for a
fixed point in the
universe.
At the termination of my vacation
I was sent to the Poly-Technic School in
Gratz, Styria (Austria), which my father
had chosen as one of the oldest and
best reputed institutions. That was the
moment I had eagerly awaited and I began
my studies under good auspices and firmly
resolved to succeed. My previous
training was above average, due to my
father's teaching and opportunities
afforded. I had acquired the knowledge of a
number of languages and waded
through the books of several libraries,
picking up information more or less
useful. Then again, for the first time, I
could choose my subjects as I liked,
and free-hand drawing was to bother me no
more.
I had made up my mind to give my
parents a surprise, and during the whole first
year I regularly started my work at three
o'clock in the morning and continued
until eleven at night, no Sundays or
holidays excepted. As most of my fellow-
students took things easily, naturally I
eclipsed all records. In the course of
the year I passed through nine exams and
the professors thought I deserved more
than the highest qualifications. Armed with
their flattering certificated, I
went home for a short rest, expecting
triumph, and was mortified when my father
made light of these hard-won
honors.
That almost killed my ambition;
but later, after he had died, I was pained to
find a package of letters which the
professors had written to him to the effect
that unless he took me away from the
Institution I would be killed through
overwork. Thereafter I devoted myself
chiefly to physics, mechanics and
mathematical studies, spending the hours of
leisure in the libraries.
I had a veritable mania for
finishing whatever I began, which often got me into
difficulties. On one occasion I started to
read the works of Voltaire, when I
learned, to my dismay that there were close
to one hundred large volumes in
small print which that monster had written
while drinking seventy-two cups of
black coffee per diem. It had to be done,
but when I laid aside that last book I
was very glad, and said, "Never
more!"
My first year's showing had won me
the appreciation and friendship of several
professors. Among these, Professor Rogner,
who was teaching arithmetical
subjects and geometry; Professor Poeschl,
who held the chair of theoretical and
experimental physics, and Dr. Alle, who
taught integral calculus and specialized
in differential equations. This scientist
was the most brilliant lecturer to
whom I ever listened. He took a special
interest in my progress and would
frequently remain for an hour or two in the
lecture room, giving me problems to
solve, in which I delighted. To him I
explained a flying machine I had
conceived, not an illusory invention, but
one based on sound, scientific
principles, which has become realizable
through my turbine and will soon be
given to the world. Both Professors Rogner
and Poeschl were curious men. The
former had peculiar ways of expressing
himself and whenever he did so, there was
a riot, followed by a long embarrassing
pause. Professor Poeschl was a
methodical and thoroughly grounded German.
He had enormous feet, and hands like
the paws of a bear, but all of his
experiments were skillfully performed with
clock-like precision and without a miss. It
was in the second year of my studies
that we received a Gramoe Dyname from
Paris, having the horseshoe form of a
laminated field magnet, and a wire wound
armature with a commutator. It was
connected up and various effects of the
currents were shown. While Professor
Poeschl was making demonstrations, running
the machine was a motor, the brushes
gave trouble, sparking badly, and I
observed that it might be possible to
operate a motor without these appliances.
But he declared that it could not be
done and did me the honor of delivering a
lecture on the subject, at the
conclusion he remarked, Mr. Tesla may
accomplish great things, but he certainly
will never do this. It would be equivalent
to converting a steadily pulling
force, like that of gravity into a rotary
effort. It is a perpetual motion
scheme, an impossible idea. But instinct is
something which transcends
knowledge. We have, undoubtedly, certain finer fibers that enable us
to perceive
truths
when logical deduction, or any other willful effort of the brain,
is
futile.
For a time I wavered, impressed by
the professors authority, but soon became
convinced I was right and undertook the
task with all the fire and boundless
confidence of my youth. I started by first
picturing in my mind a direct-current
machine, running it and following the
changing flow of the currents in the
armature. Then I would imagine an
alternator and investigate the progresses
taking place in a similar manner. Next I
would visualize systems comprising
motors and generators and operate them in
various ways.
The images I saw were to me
perfectly real and tangible. All my remaining term
in Gratz was passed in intense but
fruitless efforts of this kind, and I almost
came to the conclusion that the problem was
insolvable.
In 1880 I went to Prague, Bohemia,
carrying out my fathers wish to complete my
education at the University there. It was
in that city that I made a decided
advance, which consisted in detaching the
commutator from the machine and
studying the phenomena in this new aspect,
but still without result. In the year
following there was a sudden change in my
views of life.
I realized that my parents had
been making too great sacrifices on my account
and resolved to relieve them of the burden.
The wave of the American telephone
had just reached the European continent and
the system was to be installed in
Budapest, Hungary. It appeared an ideal
opportunity, all the more as a friend of
our family was at the head of the
enterprise.
It was here that I suffered the
complete breakdown of the nerves to which I have
referred. What I experienced during the
period of the illness surpasses all
belief. My sight and hearing were always
extraordinary. I could clearly discern
objects in the distance when others saw no
trace of them. Several times in my
boyhood I saved the houses of our neighbors
from fire by hearing the faint
crackling sounds which did not disturb
their sleep, and calling for help. In
1899, when I was past forty and carrying on
my experiments in Colorado, I could
hear very distinctly thunderclaps at a
distance of 550 miles. My ear was thus
over thirteen times more sensitive, yet at
that time I was, so to speak, stone
deaf in comparison with the acuteness of my
hearing while under the nervous
strain.
In Budapest I could hear the
ticking of a watch with three rooms between me and
the time-piece. A fly alighting on a table
in the room would cause a dull thud
in my ear. A carriage passing at a distance
of a few miles fairly shook my whole
body. The whistle of a locomotive twenty or
thirty miles away made the bench or
chair on which I sat, vibrate so strongly
that the pain was unbearable. The
ground under my feet trembled continuously.
I had to support my bed on rubber
cushions to get any rest at all. The
roaring noises from near and far often
produced the effect of spoken words which
would have frightened me had I not
been able to resolve them into their
accumulated components. The sun rays, when
periodically intercepted, would cause blows
of such force on my brain that they
would stun me. I had to summon all my will
power to pass under a bridge or other
structure, as I experienced the crushing
pressure on the skull. In the dark I
had the sense of a bat, and could detect
the presence of an object at a distance
of twelve feet by a peculiar creepy
sensation on the forehead. My pulse varied
from a few to two hundred and sixty beats
and all the tissues of my body with
twitchings and tremors, which was perhaps
hardest to bear. A renowned physician
who have me daily large doses of Bromide of
Potassium, pronounced my malady
unique and incurable.
It is my eternal regret that I was
not under the observation of experts in
physiology and psychology at that time. I
clung desperately to life, but never
expected to recover. Can anyone believe
that so hopeless a physical wreck could
ever be transformed into a man of
astonishing strength and tenacity; able to
work thirty-eight years almost without a
day's interruption, and find himself
still strong and fresh in body and mind?
Such is my case. A powerful desire to
live and to continue the work and the
assistance of a devoted friend, an
athlete, accomplished the wonder. My health
returned and with it the vigor of
mind.
In attacking the problem again, I
almost regretted that the struggle was soon to
end. I had so much energy to spare. When I
understood the task, it was not with
a resolve such as men often make. With me
it was a sacred vow, a question of
life and death. I knew that I would perish
if I failed. Now I felt that the
battle was won. Back in the deep recesses
of the brain was the solution, but I
could net yet give it outward
expression.
One afternoon, which is ever
present in my recollection, I was enjoying a walk
with my friend in the City Park and
reciting poetry. At that age, I knew entire
books by heart, word for word. One of these
was Goethes "Faust." The sun was
just setting and reminded me of the
glorious passage, "Sie ruckt und weicht, der
Tag ist uberlebt, Dort eilt sie hin und
fordert neues Leben. Oh, da kein Flugel
mich vom Boden hebt Ihr nach und immer nach
zu streben! Ein schšner Traum
indessen sie entweicht, Ach, au des Geistes
FlŸgein wird so leicht Kein
korperlicher Flugel sich gesellen!" As I uttered these inspiring words
the idea
came like
a flash of lightening and in an instant the truth was revealed. I
drew
with a stick
on the sand, the diagram shown six years later in my address
before
the American
Institute of Electrical Engineers, and my companion understood
them
perfectly. The
images I saw were wonderfully sharp and clear and had the
solidity of metal and stone, so
much so that I told him, "See my motor here;
watch me reverse it." I cannot begin to
describe my emotions. Pygmalion seeing
his statue come to life could not have been
more deeply moved. A thousand
secrets of nature which I might have
stumbled upon accidentally, I would have
given for that one which I had wrested from
her against all odds and at the
peril of my
existence...
