An instrument invented by Thomas EDISON in 1878 to detect minute changes in temperature, up to 1/500,000th of a degree. The Mahatma KOOT HOOMI had a high regard for the potentials of the invention. When it is attached to a large telescope, says the Mahatma, it can measure not only the heat of the remotest visible stars, but the invisible radiations from celestial objects that are otherwise undetectable, such as planets. In areas which appear blank to the largest telescope, Edison believed that the tasimeter could detect the presence of non-luminous objects, including stars too distant for telescopes to see. The tasimeter, he stated, “is affected by a wider range of etheric undulations than the eye can take cognizance of.” The Mahatma Koot Hoomi also predicted that science “will hear sounds from certain planets before she sees them” (ML, p. 325). This prediction, made in 1882, has been fulfilled by the invention of the radio telescope, although its use has been for detecting stars such as quasars rather than planets.

V.H.C.

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