CHAPTER 1

While experimenting with his vacuum globes, Tesla observed the linearity of the expelled streams. When projected from small spherical electrodes, these aetheric rays travelled in sharp radii from the center. So infinitesimal were the carriers of this aetheric stream that they were able to reveal the inner atomic lattice of crystalline matter. Small crystals of metal or gemstones produced characteristic point patterns on the surface of the globes. It was apparent that eether particles, the neutral sub-electronic particles that Tesla termed “Radiant Energy”, actually passed through the material which were poised on the electrodes “from the inside out”. That is, they passed through the atomic lattices of those materials and, in so doing, carried information in the stream. What sort of information? Nuclei diffracted these infinitesimals on their rapid journeys up through the electrode nuclei. In doing so, their otherwise uniform density was deformed. That the particles of this Radiant Energy could pass through the atomic lattices at all gave proof that these were neutral particles. For Tesla, thy were the result of extreme bombardments, where matter is absolutely sheared beyond its subatomic conditions. Tesla, along with Dr. Le Bon, adhered to the notion that a smooth transition existed between energy and matter. A whole spectrum of materializations could therefore exist when appropriate bombarding matter was secured. Tesla believed he had found the most powerful agency for such bombardments, an agency released only through the explosive successions of his Transformer.

TELEVISION

Because these streams could carry such detailed information, Tesla began to imagine a means for transmitting visual information. The additional characteristic by which eether streams maintained their strict rectilinear paths in transit, stimulated Tesla to hypothesize that broad eether streams could carry pictorial imagery. Projected from broad plates, and forming densely “parallel” streams, such a system could carry images to any distance.

Potent and penetrating, eetheric rays provided a new kind of light for an equally new kind of communications system. Tesla stated that whole images could be projected through such invisible radiant matter rays. Such a visual exchange system would be as simple as a slide projector, though obviously more potent. In this, Tesla early conceived of a television system which, yet today, remains revolutionary.

Striking in its analogue to the “magick lanterns” of the Victorian Epoch, Tesla produced a design lacking the complex scanning mechanisms which plagued all later picture transmission systems. Invisibly travelling through walls, eetheric streams could be captured and resolved by using special sensitive plates, on which live images could be focussed. Image loaded eetheric streams would be projected from central broadcast stations at impulse rates which would simply pass through all material obstacles. Invisible in their transit through intervening spaces, such whole image transmissions could be received and translated back into visibility through the imposition of special phosphor-coated plates. Images would travel through space as a whole block. These images could be beamed direcdy from source to receiver. Signals would be strong,

requiring no amplification or additional energy supply. Signals would be noise free, the dense astheric continuum being completely different that the harsh electromagnetic continuum. Dark light projection through walls!

Tesla described a means by which several such signals could be superimposed without mutual interference. A simple tuning mechanism in the receiver would select the images desired. Tesla related that such superimposition could accommodate thousands of simultaneous signals, thousands of channels. Whole image transmission of extreme definition, without a scanning mechanism, was made possible by the eetheric stream. It would be years later, in 1917, that Tesla described a modification of this system of whole image television. In a subsequent interview, Tesla described a system by which distant objects could be whole-imaged. His design incorporated all of the components planned for his commercial television system. His modified system was a remote-locating device. Again lacking the complexity of scanning systems and other heavy support components, any ship equipped with his fluorescent screens could “image” a distant ship or submarine by projecting a ray beam through air, fog, rain, or even water. The rays were unstoppable, being reflected whenever they intercepted a metallic hood or hull.

Tesla’s shipborne beamray projector would pulse astheric streams, of very specific intervals, out across a horizontal plane. Tesla stated that this “electric ray”, when encountering any obstacle, would be reflected back to the source point. Here, the otherwise invisible beam would be visually resolved by the same special phosphor-coated plates as planned for the commercial television system. In this announcement, Tesla leaked a secret concerning the essential nature of his aether beamrays. Apparently, through the application of very specific impulses at the source, aether streams could actually be reflected from matter. The Tesla range-locator, a system designed to spot submarines or battleships alike, was simple, potent, failproof, and effective. Here again, Tesla made use of the extreme definition provided through the beamed projection of ultra-infinitesimal “Radiant Energy”. Here again was evidence that neutral Radiant Energy could be made to interact with matter simply by varying the pulsed projection interval. The military was not interested at the time.

AETHER DRIFT

Once initiated and maintained, the space flowing currents from a beamray tube could not be extinguished. Difficult at first to believe, but the aether currents from such devices for a time continued. Tesla found it possible to produce long lasting currents which persisted throughout his laboratory and demonstration spaces. All he needed to do was turn on a beamray tube to stimulate the space flow. Tesla found that the removal of aether currents from a space in which they had been directed, was not easy. No, aether currents were not easily extinguished. Radiant Energy did not behave as all other familiar energy forms. Here were artificial “aether drifts”, a topic which represented a deep mystery. Momentum. The momentum of aether currents was sufficient to maintain their continuous passage through any space for a time. An initiatory period was required to establish the current. .Ether responded to pressure changes. Any strong currents in the aether would gather other energy from the surrounding aetheric atmosphere. Once started, these would continue for an hour or more.