Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1894-10-03
MAN MAY VET FLY.
Wonderful Birdiike Machine Constructed
 by Profexsor LiiienthaI,

Wonderful Birdiike Machine Constructed
 by Professor Liiienthai.
 Can man fiyS Learned professors of the sciences of aeronautios agree that he cannot, and formidable commission of experts appointed by the German government to investigate into the pos abilities of aerial navigation have final ly and dooisively and officially said that it is impossible. Still an ingenious and obssrvant German of the name of Otto Iilienthal after long series of expert inents and i'll the face of the decisions of the eminent scientists, has succeeded in proving that clever man can fly, and fly for considerable distances too.
 Professor Lilienthal, like most men who have solved difficult problems, has gone clear away from the principles to which other men have found limitations. When he decided to fly, in other words, he loft the possibilities afforded by the balloon entirely out of his calculations. Balloons, said he. are crude affairs, dan gerous, not to be depended upon, non dirigible and clumsy. There is nothing in nature built upon the principle of the balloon, yet there are things ill na- ture which can fly, and fly much better than the best balloons. Those things are birds. To the birds, then, will go for the model of my flying machine. And to the birds he went.
 From these same birds it was that Professor Lilienthal learned the true principles of aerial navigation, which principles he has succeeded to degree i'll adapting to the uses of man. He first learned that 1t is the concave shape of bird 8 wing that enables it to soar, ris- ing or falling at will without muscular exertion i'll the teeth of high wind. Then he learned that a birds wing bones are constructed similarly to those in mans arm. Knowing these things, he built his flying machine, or, to be more correct. his soaring machine. He made for himself of light but impervi- ous cotton cloth and split willow wands two immense wings B feet from tip to tip, and practicable if not highly or- namental rudder or tail.
 He preserved in their construction as nearly as possible the form of bird 8 wings and tail, increasing the parabolic curve of the birds wings to the exact proportionate degree for his larger ones. These wings and the tail. weighing in all only 30 pounds, are so constructed as to fold up like tho wings of a bat Having completed them, the professor adjusted them to his arms. took run along a hilltop and calmly and eonfi- dently jumped over the side. spread ing his wings as he did so He scared some distance and alighted in safety and comfort. He repeated his experi- ment many, many times, learning how to control his apparatus, how to change direction, how to rise or descend at will. He improved his wings and tail and kept oil praoticing until now he can soar for several hundred yards. rise to a much greater height than he started from and fulfill most of the functions of big bird, save only that of propelline himself in still air and starting his flight from level ground. These tive things man is not strong enough te do, the bird possessing much greater strength for it's size and weight than the I sor Lilienthal lacks in strength he has mado up, i'll ingenuity, for he has now constructed little motor, operated by carbonie acid gas, which, while it adds scarcely anything to the weight of his flying apparatus, is capable of develop ing continuously two horsepower, ol more than enough energy to work the wings. Indeed i'll the first trial the lit. tie motor developed too much strength and broke the wings, putting stop te further experiments for the time.
 If Professor Lilienthal succeeds in perfeeting the great invention, the prac. ticability of which he has already dem. onstrated, and in making aerial navi. gation on the simple principles favored by the birds safe for mankind, he will have achieved notable triumph over the wonderful forces of nature as well as the worlds greatest scientists And he seems very likely to succeed, unless he should grow careless in handling his experimental wings and perchance fall victim to the awful fate which overlook the lamented and legendary Icarus, the first man who attempted to fiy.-Chi. cago Times.