Compiled by Jan Nicolaas Kind
Jaishree Kannan
Not so long ago Jaishree Kannan who is in charge of the Adyar Library and Research Centre submitted a kind of “mystery-photo” without any backgriound information to me when we were exploring some historical photos of famous persons who might have once visited Adyar and Thomas Alva Edison (February 11, 1847 – October 18, 1931), the world-famous inventor, was one of them. It has now become clear that he never made it to Adyar, but his phonograph certainly did. He was the fourth most prolific inventor in history, holding 1,093 US patents in his name, as well as many patents in the United Kingdom, France, and Germany. He developed many devices that greatly influenced life around the world, including the phonograph, the motion picture camera, and a long-lasting, practical electric light bulb. Thomas Edison died of complications of diabetes on October 18, 1931, in his home, "Glenmont" in Llewellyn Park in West Orange, New Jersey.
EDISONS THEOSOPHICAL INVOLVEMENT
On April 4, 1878, Edison signed a pledge of secrecy [and the next day, April 5, he sent in his signed application for Fellowship in the Theosophical Society, becoming a member in New Jersey.[4] The application was approved on August 27, 1878, placing him as the 162nd person to be admitted to the Society
Olcott wrote of his conversations with the inventor:
On the 5th April, T. A. Edison sent me his signed application for membership. I had had to see him about exhibiting his electrical inventions at the Paris Exposition of that year... Edison and I got to talking about occult forces, and he interested me greatly by the remark that he had done some experimenting in that direction. His aim was to try whether a pendulum, suspended on the wall of his private laboratory, could be made to move by will-force. To test this he had used as conductors, wire of various metals, simple and compound, and tubes containing different fluids, one end of the conductor being applied to his forehead, the other connected with the pendulum. As no results have since been published, I presume that the experiments did not succeed...
Having been acquainted with several noted American inventors, and learnt from them the psychological processes by which they severally got the first ideas of their inventions, I described these to Edison and asked him how his discoveries came to him. He said that often, perhaps while walking on Broadway with an acquaintance, and talking about quite other matters, amid the din and roar of the street, the thought would suddenly flash into his mind that such a desired thing might be accomplished in a certain way. He would hasten home, set to work on the idea, and not give it up until he had either succeeded or found the thing impracticable.
A young Edison with his initial invention (1878)
THE PHOTO
Edison is not in the photo above, but Olcott is definitely the one with the white beard. (and below with a portrait) Comparing the flooring and shelving to known photos, it is certain that this was taken in the original Adyar Library. The bearded man on the left looks a lot like Charles Johnston, who was in India in 1889, but could easily be someone else. (Read about Charles Johnston HERE) Edison never wore a beard, and, as stated earlier, he never came to Adyar. It is not clear who the five Buddhists (three sitting on the floor) in the photo are, maybe Sri Lankans.
Olcott wrote that he bought a phonograph "of the original pattern" in 1878, that made tin-foil recordings and it shown in the photo with Edison above.
The phonograph in the photo looks like one of the 1888 models, so Olcott may have purchased a second phonograph. Here is a photo of the 1888 model, which is much more compact:
There is much unique and historical photo material available in the Adyar Archives, so soon we might have another “mystery-photo” to unravel.
Go to THEOSOPHY WIKI more detailed information, click HERE
Thanks to Janet Kerschner, Pablo Sender and Jaishree Kannan!