3/22/1885 - "It has been impossible for me to write, my right hand and arm were so severely strained, but I have not been idle. I have had time for reflection, and I have been setting up a key to explain vibratory rotation. I have also a plan for a device to be attached to the Liberator as an indicator to show when the neutral centre is free from its intensification while operating. In this way the dangerous influences will be avoided which present themselves on the extension of the vibratory waves that operate the gun. All the introductory details of the present engine are as perfect as is possible for the first lead. It is in the form of a sphere, about thirty inches in diameter and weight 800 lbs. Yesterday saw the pure, positive action of my new Liberator. Mr. Collier and his brother George were present, and witnessed thirty expulsions, made by myself; after which I had them produce the vapor, by imitating my manipulations; which they were unable to do with the old generator. They were very much delighted. To say that the last three weeks have been trying ones, is using very mild language to express what I have suffered from accidents, disappointments, etc., etc. I have been frozen in at my workshop; and all things seemed to go wrong; but my present success are as an anchor, which I thank God for, who, in His bountiful goodness, has carried me into a port of safety over tempestuous seas."
Under various dates, Keely wrote: "Unbounded success has crowned my new departure. I am now preparing new features that are necessary as adjuncts to denote the true condition, as regards safety in my different vibratory operations." "Without the aid sent me from on high there would have been nothing left of the discovery mechanically; nor would there now be a single foothold on which hope could rest for a completion of the Keely Motor enterprise." "I had an accident to one of my registers this morning. It burst with a tremendous report, shaking things up in a lively way, but no other damage was done beyond that to the register."
"The draughts are nearly completed for the compound vibratory engine, and next week the work will be commenced and pushed forward with all possible speed. This is the machine for continuous operation. The Liberator is as perfect as is possible; and, if the outside adjuncts are in proper sympathy, my struggles will soon be at an end." "All things are verging into a condition of perfection through the aid that I have received, but for which the science of vibratory etheric force would, as far as my researches are concerned, have been lost to the world. I feel that the world is waiting for this force; that this advance in science is necessary to keep the proper equilibrium in our age of progress."
"There are moments in which I feel that I can measure the very stars, which shine like Edens in planetary space; fit abodes for beings who have made it the study of their lives on earth to create peace and happiness for all around them. Is nature a mystery? No, God is in nature. I do not believe in the line, 'God moves in a mysterious way His wonders to perform.' In my estimation. He moves in a very plain and simple way, if we will open our hearts to the understanding of His way. To the man who cannot appreciate the workings of nature, chemically and otherwise, God's ways may appear mysterious; but when he comes to know nature's works he will find simplicity itself in its highest order of expression.
"Could I have one wish, as to science, gratified, I would ask to live long enough to be able to appreciate even but one etheric variation in planetary evolution. It might take fifty thousand years to attain this knowledge, but what is that period of time when compared with the cycles that have passed away since this earth existed? Yes, in one sense, 'God does move in a mysterious way His wonders to perform.' "
"The whirlpool of science has indeed engulfed me in its fascinating vortex."
5/20/1885 - "Yesterday was a day of trials and disappointments. It seemed as if nothing would work right. After laboring six hours to set my safety process, the first operation of the Liberator tore the caps all to pieces. I replaced them by a set of duplicates and set the Liberator down to the low octaves, when everything worked to a charm. Night was approaching and I left the workshop to get something to eat, returning about eight o'clock to re-conduct experiments, in order to discover if possible the cause of the sudden and most unexpected intensification. I followed up with great care the progressive lines until I reached the tenth octave and then liberated a score of times, yet no variation on liberator. Next, I made an attachment to my safety arrangement, and also to my strongest resonator to experiment on vibratory rotation with my shell; when, within two minutes, it attained a frightful velocity: then I suddenly retracted to the negative, bringing the velocity down from about 1500 per minute to 150. The operation was magnificent, lasting sixty-four minutes, when a second intensification took place, demolishing two safety-shells and one vibratory indicator. I was perfectly dumbfounded, and unable to account for such a phenomenon. It was then near midnight, but I had made up my mind not to discontinue until I had solved the mystery. After an hour's reflection, I set up new positions on the resonating wave plates in the forty resonating circuit on the base of liberator; and got a result which for purity of uniformity surpassed all experiments that I have ever made. I believe I have now struck the root of this difficulty, and that I shall be able to master it; and obtain continuity of action with perfect rotation."
6/1/1885 - "I am in a perfect sea of mental and physical strain intensified in anticipation of the near approach of final and complete success, and bombarded from all points of the compass by demands and inquiries; yet, in my researches, months pass as minutes. The immense mental and physical strain of the past few weeks, the struggles and disappointments have almost broken me up. Until the reaction took place, which followed my success, I could never have conceived the possibility of my becoming so reduced in strength as I am now. My labors in the future will be of a much milder character; but, before I again commence them, I must have a few days more of recuperation. I was so absorbed in my researches that I forgot my duty to myself, as regards the requirements of health, and I am now paying the penalty. It has been misery to me to have absorbed so much more time and capital than I anticipated; and without the heaven-sent aid which I have received the would have lost sight of me for ever."
"In view of the unjust comments in certain journals, I intend to withdraw entirely from all contact with newspaper men, to give no more exhibitions after the one which closes the series, and to devote all my time and energies to bringing my models into a patentable conditions. It is said that the New York reporters intended to denounce me before witnessing my last experiments. Certainly utter ignorance of my philosophy was displayed in their articles, but they were like the viper biting on the file, and only hurt themselves: for men who possess but a moderate degree of scientific knowledge have denounced them in turn as the most ignorant men they had ever come in contact with. They stated that I started with a power estimated at over one million pounds pressure to the square inch on the head of my liberator, a sheer absurdity. The rock I am standing on can no more be moved by a whirlwind of such attacks than the atmospheric disturbance of equilibrium emanating from a butterfly's wing in motion could blow down the rock of Gibraltar. I enclose a newspaper cutting: it was written by an engineer who has interested himself sufficiently in my work to be able to thoroughly understand my position."
7/15/1885 - "My researches teach me that electricity is but a certain condensed form of atomic vibration, a form showing only the introductory features which precede the etheric vibratory condition. It is a modulated force so conditioned, in its more modest flows, as to be susceptible of benefit to all organisms. Though destructive to a great degree in its explosive positions, it is the medium by which the whole system of organic nature is permeated beneficially; transfusing certain forms of inert matter with life-giving principles. It is to a certain degree and effluence of divinity; but only as the branch is to the tree. We have to go far beyond this condition to reach the pure etheric one, or the body of the tree. The Vibratory Etheric tree has many branches, and electricity is but one of them. Though it is a medium by which the operations of vital forces are performed, it cannot in my opinion be considered the soul of matter."
"My safety arrangements (governors and indicators) for liberating are not working well; but I am laboring to attain perfection on these devices, and I hope soon to have them all right."
"I have extraordinary powers, it is true, and I must use them to the best advantage; for I know they are the gift of the Almighty, who will, I feel sure, carry me to the end of the work which He has given me to accomplish."
"I am positive that this year will terminate my struggles. My work is all progressing satisfactorily, and I am pushing everything forward as rapidly as possible."
8/5/1885 - "I have met with an accident to the Liberator. I was experimenting on the third order of intensification, when the rotation on the circuit was thrown down in the compound resonating chamber, which, by the instantaneous multiplication of the volume induced thereby, caused an explosion bursting the metal casing which enclosed the forty resonators, completely dismantling the Liberator. The shock took my senses from me for a few moments, but I was not even scratched this time. A part of the wall was torn away, and resonators and vibrators were thrown all over the room. The neighborhood was quite lively for a time, but I quieted all fears by telling the frightened ones that I was only experimenting. I allowed everything to remain until Dr. Woods and Mr. Collier had seen the effect of the explosion."
12/17/1885 - "The setting up of the circles for computing the different lines of etheric chords, in setting the vibratory conditions for continuity, requires close study. I feel convinced that a perfect solution of my difficulties will follow when this part of the work has been completed; and that, before many weeks have passed, a revelation will be unfolded that will startle the world; a revelation, so simple in its character, that the physicists will stand aghast, and perhaps feel humiliated by the nature of their efforts in the past to solve certain problems. . . . I find my chief trouble in chording up the masses of the different parts composing the negative centres. The negative centre is included in the one-third volume of shell or sphere, starting from the neutral axis or point of suspension. This point of suspension only becomes perfect when the rotation is established on the sphere. One hundred revolutions per minute is all the velocity required to neutralize the gravity of the central third with the velocity of the vibratory circuit at one hundred thousand per second. Taking all matters into considerations associated with the mechanical part of the enterprise, the month of January ought to find all completed, ready for sympathetic graduation. But I fear to be too sanguine when I remember the loss of time and the interferences from exhibitions to which I have been subjected in the past. I feel more and more the great importance of devoting all my energies to the great task that Divine Power has ordained me to perform."
