Notes and Comments.

Waimate Daily Advertiser, Volume IV, Issue 162, 6 February 1902, Page 2

Notes and Comments.

TJbo famous Servian, Nicck Tea];, 1 has. been the rnbieetw ITICOLA o'manv articles TESLA h great deal of no::-w ficnsa bes been writfeaffl about him. This is cr.iiaod mainy by bis own offhand msnsor 9]|| speaking end anting. Ho never® denies anything about himself, even || tho most outrageous statements and|| thin has caused many , miscon*|i captions. Tesla was bom in r. town w near Fismo in southsrp Austrian but be calls himself a Servisj:.|| Tho Teslas have been men of mrrkffl in their native province for gen-E| ©rations past. Nicola’s'father vrasffl 0 very learned naan and poet, while his mother was a re-lg markably clever Hungarian womaa.S The boy was originally intendedi| for the Church and the followicglß torn iwv h* vu.aikftd tom . • m

■low bis own inclinations in tha ■nice of a profession, is vouched E : __“Ju3t as ho was leaving ■ool an epidemic of cholera broke ■t and young Tesla had a vary bad 3Back. Tho doctor attending him ftuld hold out no hope of his re■vary, but between his fits of faintiha boy told his father that if ■a latter would allow him to go to ■■technical school and give up the :Ea of his entering the Church, ha ftuld got well. The promise was Bidily given and to the surprise of ■oryone except himself, his recor■y was rapid. Shortly after he Bis allowed to enter the Technical Mhool at Grata.” The story is ■von for what it is worth. At Brats he rose at three in tha mornBg, and did not go to bod till Barly midnight, with the result Bat in ono year ho did the work Bually done in five. For a time Bo accepted work as a draughtsman B the Government railway sorviou But his abilities soon raised him ■hove his employment. To-day ho B recognised as ono of the world’s ■fastest iavector® and Bosla’s opinions on the question of Biot are notable. From his point If view, the slaughter of animals ie Icm nonly wanton and erne!. He, I; an ardent advocate of vegetarianIjjm, and goes so far as to attribute linimal insticocs and appetites, Kyhich are drag weights upon ■mental and moral progress, tc the fcoasamption of animal food. Thus, lone of his prescriptions for human ■progress is a radical reform in the joharftoiee of food. Tesla is best [known as Ihe inventor of the ocean [telephone, and the-improver of the [wireless biography system, but if Ihe realise his a : ms, his work in the [world of scicnco will havo boon [enormous. Among hia vast aims lie the construction of an arm of attack, adaptabh to etthor submarine or aerial warfare, so formidable that its dovobpmont will ultimately make war a moro contest of machines a condition that must ba reached, to his mind, before, permanent peace can ba secured. Zia is striving after the extension of the principle of wireless telegraphy and improvements in tha production of electric light, ft light which will burn without frequent ■renewals as at presaut. Another Una along which he is pursuing investigations is one for the artificial fertilisation of tha toil to greatly iscraase tha output of the sod. Being a young man yet, Tesla is likely to R 33 many o! his groat schemas become accomplished facia.

The famous Monroe Doctrine o' America has,, for a ins number of years. moneoe been looked upon as DOOT2U3. part of tho American constitution, but according to Mr Sydney Brooks, a well-informed Englishman, the doctrine is doomed. Tlio policy outlined in the famous doctrine of President Mouroa is that of America for the Americans. It. states that the United States will not stand idly by and let any European power take possession of any more territory in either North or South America. Mr Brooks asks; —“Do Americans aerionely believe that Europe will be passive for ever under such an edict ? Anyone who lias looked into the bloody and tangled history of South America, and has kept an eye on tho steady stream of immigration into Brazil and Argentina, can imagine at least a score of incidents, any one of which would bring the Monroe Doctrine to a decisive test. Put on one side the implacable loyalty of Americans to Cheir famous policy, and on the other side the congested stale of Europe, which would make expansion a necessity, if it were not all the fashion ; the military spirit of the Continent, which will never show England's compliance with American wishes; tho extraordinary inducements to colonisation offered by South America, and the spirit of revolutionary turbulance that broods over the country from Panama to Patagonia—and one haa a situation which it will take a miracle to preserve intact for another fifty years." According to Mr Brooks, tho Monroe Doctrine is merely s. craze, a kind of universal religion which it would be considered blasphemous to doubt. Tho question has never been debated in America, and the national verdict in its favour has gone by default. Every American, whatever party he may belong to, is primarily a Monroaist. There aro many difficulties in the way of carrying . out the Monroe Doctrine, though as yet the Americans have not found it so. The first ia that it condemns a whole continent to anarchy and backwardness. It practically gives the South American States full leave to act as they like towards European nations, and at the same time it prevents great tracts of splendid country from being utilised by countries that would turn it to account. If the Monroe Doctrine were abolished by consent, the question that would naturally bo asked is— Would the acquisition of South American territory by European States be a danger to the United Slates or not ? No American looks upon the holding of Canada or the West Indies by European Powers as a menace,' and if Germany took a slice of Brazil, or England a slice of Argentina, the United States would not be one whit the worse off. The recent wakening of America to the fact that she needs more troops and more ships is the direct result of the Monroe Doctrine, and from present appearances the first fight 'ttfUT*Uwitia <J*rwany oyer the

question of the ownership of Brazil.