Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1884-08-30
A New Flying Machine.

The report Of NJ. lIerve MangOn to the French
academy describing successful attempt TO nav
gate the air. certainly. if the facts are stated
records q memorable event. A later dispatch
states that the machine which was the subject
Of experiment at Meuden is cigar-shaped. with
a steering apparatus and that the force is de-
rived from series ofelcctrc accumulators. NJ.
MangOn asserts that this machine moved easily
in obedience to the helm against the wind. and
was successfully turned round and brought
back to the place of starting.
If this is correct the new flying machine has
accomplished more than any of its innumerable
predecessors, though it by no means follows
that irs inventor has solved the hard problem OF
aerial navigation. No doubt the false analogy
between water and air navigation has greatly
retarded progress in this line. Really there is
no analogy, or but little, between the two. The
ship floats on one fluid and is propelled by an
other. The flying machine is immersed wholly
in the fluid it is Ito navigate. The difference
arising from dealing in the one case with an
elastic and in the other with an inelastc fluid
also has much to do with the difficulties that
have been encountered. No better model than
that of the bird can probably be found, but we
do not know enough about the motion of the
birds wing as yet to master the problem Light
ness and power are the deSiderata and it is
very hard to bring them together as they are
combined in the slender hollow but strong
frame and bones of the bird. 1t is. however.
sesSes many advantages over steam. and it NAV
be predicted with safety that if aerial naviga-
ton ever is attained it will be through the aid
of that force.
1t appears that the Meudon machine can only
run for four hours. 1t is therefore only toy at
present. and it remains uncertain apparently
whether machine capable of carrying sufficient
stored electricity for a reasonable voyage could
be made to work. Nor can single experiment.
perhaps made under exceptionally favorable
q gynn do fl,. of
the steering afflrmatively. Flotation and direc-
ton are equally involved in aeronautics. vet
they are constantly claShing. To obtain suffi-
Gent Notation superficial area is required
which renders the task of direction doubly diff
cult. The cigar-shaped balloon has been tried
before. moreover, and not successfully. The
physical difficulties Of the problem in fact are
so great that it will need prolonged experiment
under the most various atmospheric conditions
to demonstrate its successful solution. even if
what is now alleged should prove to be in no
respect exaggerated or over-estirated.
The Causes of Fires.
From the Fir Preventer
Themeans OF preventing fires may be suggested
by glance at some of the causes from which
they originate. Cotton waste or other mate
rails fer spontaneous combustion thrown into q
by-corner ashes recklessy knocked from pipe
or cigar; the stump of a burning match thrown
into cOmbustibe materials; a stove OVerheated:
ldiIip CitreleSsly DfOken pot Oh VafnSn lett to
boil over; furnace room neglected. plumbers
fire uncared for; matches heedlessly dropped in
to straw or shavings. or given to children or
lett Tor rats or mice to drag between floor and
ceiling; Clothes near stove or gas jet; a wooden
ash receiver: a defective fue; broken lantern,
these are some of the starting points of con-
hagrations that devour whole villages, and eat
out the heart of cities If these simple causes
were not allowed to exist, their terrible effects
would not follow. Colonel Simonds. proprie-
tor of the American House in Greenfield, Mas
sachusetts, recently related an incident In his
own experience. which aptly illustrates this
point: At eleven o'clock one night he swept
the litter from the smoking room in his hotel
out through the back door on to q heap of
kindling stuff in the wood roOm and prepared
to retire for the night. Five minutes afterward
ne returned to the spot and found the shavings
and wood on fire. The force of his broom had
lighted match that had been dropped into the
dirt he had swept out. He said that il he had
not had occasion to return to his wood room
the hotel would have been burnt and he should
have thought it the work of al incendiary. as
there was no fire kept in that part of the build
ing, and he saw, himself. that all was right
just before retiring. The colonel also stated
that he one day threw cigar which he could
not make burn, and believed was entirely out
among some papers; and half an hour after
ward ne found the papers in q roaring blaze.
mus 1t is that men SOW the seeds Of cOnflagra-
lions when they least think of it. All should
be more careful What we need is the habit of
keeping matches. and all other possible sources
of combustion where they cannot be the means
of destination