Experiments with Alternate Currents of High Potential and High Frequency | Page 3

inventor of this rotary field motor, for
although anticipated in dates by Ferraris, he could not have known
about Ferraris' work as it had not been published. Professor Ferraris
stated himself, with becoming modesty, that he did not think Tesla
could have known of his (Ferraris') experiments at that time, and adds
that he thinks Tesla was an independent and original inventor of this
principle. With such an acknowledgment from Ferraris there can be
little doubt about Tesla's originality in this matter.
Mr. Tesla's work in this field was wonderfully timely, and its worth
was promptly appreciated in various quarters. The Tesla patents were
acquired by the Westinghouse Electric Company, who undertook to
develop his motor and to apply it to work of different kinds. Its use in
mining, and its employment in printing, ventilation, etc., was described
and illustrated in The Electrical World some years ago. The immense
stimulus that the announcement of Mr. Tesla's work gave to the study
of alternating current motors would, in itself, be enough to stamp him
as a leader.
Mr. Tesla is only 35 years of age. He is tall and spare with a clean-cut,
thin, refined face, and eyes that recall all the stories one has read of
keenness of vision and phenomenal ability to see through things. He is
an omnivorous reader, who never forgets; and he possesses the peculiar
facility in languages that enables the least educated native of eastern
Europe to talk and write in at least half a dozen tongues. A more
congenial companion cannot be desired for the hours when one "pours
out heart affluence in discursive talk," and when the conversation,
dealing at first with things near at hand and next to us, reaches out and
rises to the greater questions of life, duty and destiny.
In the year 1890 he severed his connection with the Westinghouse

Company, since which time he has devoted himself entirely to the
study of alternating currents of high frequencies and very high
potentials, with which study he is at present engaged. No comment is
necessary on his interesting achievements in this field; the famous
London lecture published in this volume is a proof in itself. His first
lecture on his researches in this new branch of electricity, which he
may be said to have created, was delivered before the American
Institute of Electrical Engineers on May 20, 1891, and remains one of
the most interesting papers read before that society. It will be found
reprinted in full in The Electrical World, July 11, 1891. Its publication
excited such interest abroad that he received numerous requests from
English and French electrical engineers and scientists to repeat it in
those countries, the result of which has been the interesting lecture
published in this volume.
The present lecture presupposes a knowledge of the former, but it may
be read and understood by any one even though he has not read the
earlier one. It forms a sort of continuation of the latter, and includes
chiefly the results of his researches since that time.

EXPERIMENTS WITH ALTERNATE CURRENTS OF HIGH
POTENTIAL AND HIGH FREQUENCY
I cannot find words to express how deeply I feel the honor of
addressing some of the foremost thinkers of the present time, and so
many able scientific men, engineers and electricians, of the country
greatest in scientific achievements.
The results which I have the honor to present before such a gathering I
cannot call my own. There are among you not a few who can lay better
claim than myself on any feature of merit which this work may contain.
I need not mention many names which are world-known--names of
those among you who are recognized as the leaders in this enchanting
science; but one, at least, I must mention--a name which could not be
omitted in a demonstration of this kind. It is a name associated with the
most beautiful invention ever made: it is Crookes!

When I was at college, a good time ago, I read, in a translation (for then
I was not familiar with your magnificent language), the description of
his experiments on radiant matter. I read it only once in my life--that
time--yet every detail about that charming work I can remember this
day. Few are the books, let me say, which can make such an impression
upon the mind of a student.
But if, on the present occasion, I mention this name as one of many
your institution can boast of, it is because I have more than one reason
to do so. For what I have to tell you and to show you this evening
concerns, in a large measure, that same vague world which Professor
Crookes has so ably explored; and, more than this, when I trace back
the mental process which