Chapter 2, The Childhood
of Nikola Tesla
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 instanced, 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 I 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 corn-stalks 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
indescribably. 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 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
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 short, 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.
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