The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1866-04-17
Aerial Navigation.

earth into intimate intercourse, has turned its
speculative eve upward to aerial navigation.
We stem the mighty waters in the teeth of tide
and gale. We speed across half a continent
with a switness beyond that of a flying racer
the panic-stricken deer, drawn by
horse whose breath is never exhausted and
whose limbs never fail. We have enslaved
the lightning, and by its aid hold momentary
converse with friends a thousand miles away,
as they sat with US at the fireside. Still
we are unsatisfled The appetite for mastery
over the elements, like "Queen Gertrude's"
love, grows by what it feeds on" We envy
The eagle soaring "in his pride of place.
and wi rest not until we, too, can hover near
the clouds, and wing our way where our will
lncines
Since eMoNTGoLFIER's first ballooning expert
ment in 1888, considerable advance has been
been made in the science of @ronautics. 1t is
true that the problem of controlling the
course of q balloon as we guide that of a ship
has not yet been solved, although vast
amount OF intellect has been devoted to the
subject. But @ronauts have gained a very
extensive knowledge of the atmospheric cur
rents the influences of altitude upon their
direction, and other facts which will prove of
the highest value to those who are now spend
ing time and ingenuity in endeavoring to
give the world an invention which will enable
man TO traverse the upper ETHEREAL regions
with ease and safety. The repeated ascen-
sions ofsuch skillful men as GREEN, WISE, aud
GoDARD must be productive of very i'm
portant additions to our stock of information
concerning the requisites for this species of
navigation.
vicinity serve to illustrate the progress made
in the science of ballooning. his distin-
guished eronaut, in company with party of
gentlemen, assembled from our city, and after
attaining the height of $4,000 feet, went
southwark as far as the neighborhood of
Chester. Here, having, while at a great
height selected an excellent place for alight-
ing, he caused the balloon to descend, and
hitched it to a tree as if it had been horse.
The President of a railroad company
seeing the aerial voyagers, invited them
to dine with him at his house, few
miles from the spot. The invitation was
accepted, the party re-entered the car of the
balloon, the cord was united, and away the
buoyant vessel went in the direction indi-
Gated by the hospitable President. Here the
party again alighted in safety, the balloon
was hitched as before, handsome repast
discussed, and then the voyagers re-enterng
the car, actually returned to within five
miles of the city! Surely great strides have
been made towards solving the problem of
aerial navigation
1t would be useless to enumerate the ma
chimes that have been devised for controlling
the course of balloon. Our own country
has produced several very ingenious con-
trivaDces, none of which, however, have been
found of much practical value. The main
difficulty is, that the rarefled atmosphere at
any great height above the earth affords no
hold for propelling or steering power, sufi-
cient to determine the course OF a balloon.
Yet this obstacle does not appear to us to be
nsurmountable. By a sl1ilful arrangement OF
sails we all know that ship can make head
way against the wind. This seems wonder
full to the untutored mind, and it is a
striking exemplification of the power of mans
ingenuity in rendering even opposing forces
tributary to his will. Probably the solution
of the problem of aerial navigation will yet
be found by studying the principles which
govern the sailing of ship, especially the
mystery of lacking" The difference between
the atmosphere above and below is simply in
density. The wind currents are the same. A
system Of sails, with skilful "tacking," might
it appears to us, accomplish the much-desired
object
Speculatio is apt to run wild when we turn
ou attention to the uses OF aerial ships,
should the problem of navigating the air be
satisfactorily solved. We have, on the other
hand, heard persons denounce the scheme
as utterly useless, and an idle expenditure of
human ingenuity. These individuals GER
tainly have had all the poetry crushed out of
their nature in their rude contact with the
world to say nothing of having the edge
rubbed off of their common sense. What
more delightful mode of travel can be con-
ceved of than that which the airy ship would
place within our reach ! Who has not longed
to float where the eagle scars and the
sl1ylark loses his song in the cloud, to gain
clearer glimpse sof the pure world of stars,
and to look down upon the beautiful earth
the swelling hills, the emerald fields, the busy
cities and dotting villages, the myriad
streams, and the limitless sea, spreading like
a glorious map, a fresh creation, far beneath
Then for everyday practical use, these swift
couIsers of the air could carry the mails and