ow the influences acted; and he
replied that in most cases they formed a sort of mental picture, which
would be mentally seen and understood by a person sufficiently endowed
with the necessary knowledge; but if he were not so endowed, or not
receptive of new ideas, then he would learn nothing from the influences.

Thus a mental picture of some new and unknown piece of machinery would
mean nothing to an unmechanical mind, or even to a mechanical mind which
was not endowed also with the inventive faculty. In other cases only
thoughts in the abstract could be sent, and these were more likely to
remain unassimilated than the mental pictures, as a very high order of
intellect was required to receive such thoughts.

I then informed him that our greatest and most daring electrician,
Nicola Tesla, was firmly convinced that he had discovered planetary
disturbances of an electrical nature which had reached our world. This
occurred as far back as the year 1899; and, in the course of later
scientific investigations, he found that the disturbances could not have
come from the sun, the moon, or Venus. Further study has, he says, quite
satisfied him that they must have emanated from Mars.

I added that Tesla was at work perfecting an apparatus which he was
convinced would be the means of putting him into communication with
other planets, by means of a wireless transmitter. This, he states, will
produce vibrations of enormous power, and he has devised a means of
producing oscillations of the most tremendous intensity. He states that
he has actually passed a current round the earth which attained many
millions of horse-power, and feels assured that he has already succeeded
in producing electrical disturbances on Mars by the aid of this current.
"Those disturbances," he adds, "are much more powerful than anything
which could be obtained by means of light reflectors, no matter how
large such reflectors might be, or how wide an area they might be made
to cover."

At the same time I pointed out that these are Tesla's own statements,
and not mere second-hand reports or newspaper inventions!

Merna said that this information was really very gratifying, and gave
him the greatest satisfaction; for it showed that the Martians'
endeavours to communicate with us would ultimately be successful,
because there was at least one man upon the earth capable of devising
the necessary apparatus for receiving and transmitting such
communications. He fu