To ask Doctor Tesla to tell us the whole story of this invention would be to ask him to tell us in detail the whole history of his life work--and that would take several volumes, for he is one of those men who have worked incessantly, day and night, sacrificing himself and overcoming his natural desire for leisure and amusement. It all started, Tesla explains, when he was a very small boy. He was troubled at that time with a strange habit. Whenever any one would mention a thing to him, a vision of the object immediately would come before his eyes. He declares that this was very troublesome, and that as he grew older he tried to overcome it, thinking it some strange malady. With an effort he learned how to banish the images by putting them from his mind. On inquiring into the cause of the visions, the young scientist's penetrating brain brought him to the conclusion that every time he saw a vision, some time previous he had seen something to remind him of the object. The tracing back of the cause of his vision so frequently caused it to become a mental habit, and he declares that for many years he has done it automatically, and that he has been able to trace the cause of nearly every impression, even including his dreams. Reflecting on these things, as a mature scientist, Tesla came to the conclusion that he was an automaton, responding automatically to impressions registered on his senses from the outside. "Why couldn't I make a mechanical automaton that would represent me in every way, except thought?" he asked himself. The answer to the question which came only after years of study and experiment was the art of "telautomatics," which Tesla declares can be developed just as soon as the wireless transmission of power is an accomplished fact. In the course of his research into the realm of high tension currents Tesla reached the stage where it was no longer safe nor convenient to experiment in the centres of population. Moreover, he desired to make a study of the action of lightning. Colorado, with its vast stretches of uninhabited plains and mountains, offered an ideal place for his laboratory, particularly because the high, dry climate of that state brings forth some of the worst electrical storms seen in the United States. Consequently, in the spring of 1899, Tesla built an experiment station on the plateau that extends from the front range of the Rocky Mountains to Colorado Springs, and began the experiments through which the secret with which he hopes to revolutionize the communication and transportation systems of the world, was revealed to him.