One queer notion he had was to work out everything by three or the
power of three. He was now sent to an aunt at Cartstatt, Croatia, to
finish his studies in what is known as the Higher Real School. It was
there that, coming from the rural fastnesses, he saw a steam engine
for the first time with a pleasure that he remembers to this day. At
Cartstatt he was so diligent as to compress the four years' course
into three, and graduated in 1873. Returning home during an epidemic
of cholera, he was stricken down by the disease and suffered so
seriously from the consequences that his studies were interrupted for
fully two years. But the time was not wasted, for he had become
passionately fond of experimenting, and as much as his means and
leisure permitted devoted his energies to electrical study and
investigation. Up to this period it had been his father's intention to
make a priest of him, and the idea hung over the young physicist like
a very sword of Damocles. Finally he prevailed upon his worthy but
reluctant sire to send him to Gratz in Austria to finish his studies
at the Polytechnic School, and to prepare for work as professor of
mathematics and physics. At Gratz he saw and operated a Gramme machine
for the first time, and was so struck with the objections to the use
of commutators and brushes that he made up his mind there and then to
remedy that defect in dynamo-electric machines. In the second year of
his course he abandoned the intention of becoming a teacher and took
up the engineering curriculum. After three years of absence he
returned home, sadly, to see his father die; but, having resolved to
settle down in Austria, and recognizing the value of linguistic
acquirements, he went to Prague and then to Buda-Pesth with the view
of mastering the languages he deemed necessary. Up to this time he had
never realized the enormous sacrifices that his parents had made in
promoting his education, but he now began to feel the pinch and to
grow unfamiliar with the image of Francis Joseph I. There was
considerable lag between his dispatches and the corresponding
remittance from home; and when the mathematical expression for the
value of the lag assumed the shape of an eight laid flat on its back,
Mr. Tesla became a very fair example of high thinking and plain
living, but he made up his mind to the struggle and determined to go
through depending solely on his own resources. Not desiring the fame
of a faster, he cast about for a livelihood, and through the help of
friends he secured a berth as assistant in the engineering department
of the government telegraphs. The salary was five dollars a week. This
brought him into direct contact with practical electrical work and
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