The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1875-09-04 00:00:00

'HYSICAi.j.:‘tbIICATION.

• • (From Punch.)
It is strongly to be hoped that, as education spreads,
and School-Boards multiply around us, a knowledge of
something 'more than the Three R's•will be gradually
instilled into the smallest of Great Britons. Little
boys • now run the risk of being nabbed by the police,
and even put in prison because they have not studied
the law gravitation. 'ln ignorance no doubt, of the
force which is acquired by the impetus of falling, they
drop brick bats upon trains when passing undsr
bridges and incur thereby the peril of being
tried 'for manslaughter. Unversed in physics,
they project small pebbles with their catapults or
with their tiny fists; and these projectiles, coming
into sudden contact with the window of a railway-car-
riage, pierce the glass, and injure, or, at the least,
affright, the. passengers.
As a preventive to these pastimes, a course of phy-
sical instruction might with wisdom be prescribed;
and a fair notion of the forces of contact or collision
might be fittingly imparted to the minds of little
students, by exposing a small portion of their bodies to
a few blows with a birch, which should beso wielded
as to come into collision with them.

A St. Petersburg telegram states that General Kauf-
inann has reported a victory won by the Russians over the
insurgents of Khokand. The insurgents had invaded the
district of Kuranim, for the purpose of inciting the inhabi-
tants to rebellion, but the principal band of 5,000 men was
defeated, and a second band of 800 was "totally annihilated."
The loss of the Russians was unimportant. General Kauf-
mann is marching with his troops to Chodient, and will
thence enter Khokand.

A FLYING MACHINE.

In the ninth annual report of the Aeronautics.
Society just issued, reference is made to the fatal acci
dent of M. de G-roof, which resulted from his descent
from a balloon in- an apparatus designed and con-
structed by himself for purposes of flight. "AS this
mishap," remarks the rgport, "might be taken as
evidence of the difficulty, if not impossibility, of
accomplishing mechanical flight, a few of the facts
may be recdrded. It eves stated that in a previous
attempt the machine and aeronaut were severed
from the balloon at a considerable altitude, and that
' at his descent he distanced the balloon and reached
the ground several feet in advance. Subsequent
evidence showed this to be an incorrect report. At
the second ascent, when the machine was detached,
the wings were seen to collapse together over head, as
if the muscular force of the legs, to which they were
connected by cords, was not sufficient to keep them ex-
tended, consequently the fall was exceedingly rapid.
The wings measured 37ft. from end to end, so that the
leverage was very great. Had they been prevented
from folding quite back, by means of suitable stops, the
descent might not have proved fatal, though the expe-
riment would have been far from safe for the following
reasons. The area of the wings and tail, as extended
horizontally, was 220 square feet. The weight of the
man and machine was 3501b5. If he could not move
his wings so as to aid his support, the rate of perpen-
dicular descent would be 1,540 ft. per minute, .being
limited to this speed by the resistance of the atmos
phere at 1.61 be. per square foot. 154 ft. per minute is
the velocity acquired at the termination of a descent
from a height of lift., an unsafe distance for any or-
dinary person to fall, but the feat might be performed
by a trained acrobat without damage to himself. It
would appear, therefore, that the arrangement was
badly conceived and carried out, without regard to
data or principles, and that the position taken by the
wings afforded no support. Had they remained ex-
tended horizontally the result would have been dif-
ferent, and the descent gradual like that of a para-
chute."