The Palatka daily news. (Palatka, Fla.) 1884-1888, 1888-01-08
NUMBER 261.

and acquired the art of balancing his
body IN the water after many failures.
must not expect 10 balance his body in
the air till he has made many attempts
| ties.
Ny idea about the proper plan 10 be
| followed IN attempting flight Ia that the
| power of steady aerial fioatation should
hrst be aimed at. the power OF aerial
propulsion being sought for afterwards
The experiments first made In the ART of
aerial balancing ought 20 be made i'm
| perfect safety, or they can never be ef-
| fecuNely carried out. Now, since a
rapid advance il absolutely essential 30
hoatation, after the buzzard or albatross
style, there must be decided element OF
| danger at the moment when the expert
menter first loses the support of the
ground, unless he is able To preserve his
onward motion unchecked. For he
would practically be i'm the position of a
traveller IN train or carriage suddenly
brought to rest Hence IL would be es-
sential that light wheels should be pro-
yided on which the aeronaut and his APP
purtenances could roll safely onward, IL
las would surely happen in his first at
tenptsl he was unable 10 continue his
advance in the air. With such provis-
ION for safety, suitable widespread
wings with power Of altering their slant
either separately or together, and means
Tor obtaining, at the start, a sufficient
horizontal velocity, | believe that ath-
ietes such AS those who first obtained
mastery over the problem of the bi-
cycle, could very soon learn 10 float, 10
ascend, 10 descend. 10 ride upwards, 10
soar, and so forth. in "A way which would
very decisively Indicate the possibility
OF much fuller mastery over the prob
lem Of flight later ON.
Whenever man attacks the problem Of
hight, seeking real advantage from its
mastery, he will aim at much more than
such mere Hearing power AS the balloon
gives, at moro even than the rapid float
ing motion, with power OF guidance,
which may be obtained by the expert
ments suggested above. There must be-
also a power of energetic propulsion
while still in the air, This might be OBJ
tanned by suitable adjustments OF levers
10 be worked by man in actual fight.
But while ! believe flight to be possible
for the man in this way, / consider the
only lind OF flight which IN likely 10 be
really useful to men To be that of flying
machines, propelled, balanced and di-
rected by some one or other Of the natu-
raj forces man has brought under his
control. That man who has learned TO
traverse the land more swiftly by me-
chanical means than its most active
denizens, and To make the wide seas his
highway by similar devices, should be
unable 10 travel in the air which by nat
ural selection alone has become the home
of creatures descended from reptilian
forms, is 10 me unthinkable
Whenever the power of flight, as dis
tinguished from mere fiotations. has
been obtained. the swiftesti methods OF
travel ever employed by men will be de-
vised. For one of the conditions of safe
and speedy flight is very high velocity.
Swift motion must be secured at the be-
ginning of each journey and maintained
throughout. This will be an advantage.
Another great advantage will DO that
though aerial mechanisms will have 10
be renewed at probably somewhat fire.
Iuent intervals, the aerial roadway will
never need repairing.