The morning times., 1896-04-12

his machine is planned to actually CON-
bat Maxim's idea. He considers that
locomotive might he made to walk on
legs like q horse, If no more speed than
a horses speed we're expected OF 1t. He
asks for eater speed than that of
a bird al = cfore. wings will propel
the machine as fast as he expects it
to go.
TAKING A FORT.
1.-The object OF the professors air-ship
is utility in the war. This, really, is the
object of the introduction of the Lodge
bin in the Senate. With so much smoke
rising from the countries of the world
there may be d spark coming to the sur
face at any time. In the conflagration
the United States would be sure to take
part either directly or on the defensive.
Nv Whatever her warlke policy might be,
, or her policy for peace, 1t would be i'm
portant that she should he thoroughly
posted upon the operations Of the rest
of the world and what more useful than
flying shp that could rise in the air,
sight troubles, telegraph them to land by
wires, or by use of signals. and stay aloft
until the globe was pretty well looked
But this particular air-ship has another
use, and that is part of the secret of It's
construction.
In the middle of the ship, which is
shaped like q high whale there lies large
light cavern. This Is weighted heavily with
all kinds of ammunition. In the bottom
ana sides of the cavern are port holes
through which great guns can be fired upon
fortfications below
The actual plan of the machine is to
rise from ship in mid ocean, if fortress
is to be attacked. and to sail toward IL.
When near enough to fire the guns could
be levelled ut the fortress with design either
to shatter or terrify the soldiers away.
Once abandoned, the signal could be given
for our warships to approach. Their work
of beating back the enemy and effecting a
landing would be much simplfied.
This plan Of taking q fortress, theo-
retically, is much more approved by soldiers
than the one of taking it with warships.
And for this reason:
Suppose the fortress stands upon the
most prominent point of rocky or uneven
coast occupied entirely by another country.
Let us for argument suppose ii We're de-
sired to capture Quebec. Our warships
could of course approach it and fire upon
the nearest fort But suppose they cap
tured il, would they not then be badly Off?
The walls of the fort would have been shat
tered by the firing, and the first acts OF the
soldiers would have to be to throw up
fortifications to protect themselves from
attack in a hostile country.
with the air-shp the fort could be taken
without shattering a wall. The warsllip
towering overhead and sending down an oc-
caSional volley would terrify the men. They
would see the folly of firing up in The
air, and would abandon the fort, nd the
man-ofwar could approach and land her
regiment. There would be less destruC-
ton, and less loss OF life, thousand fold,
than by forcibe landing, with the ships
advancing step.
RISE FROM A LEVEL.
This is very fine theory, and the
professor with the big air-ship model says
he has made it practicable. His machine
has overcome three of the greatest diff
culties of the air-ship.
First, il mounts from a level surface.
This is a feat hitherto almost unaCcom-
plished. One Of the greatest aeronauticaI
societies of America limits its prizes TO
such machines as can start not over 100
feet higher than the place of alighting
This is to prevent the starting from =
tower aud gradually descending ,e
ground. as so many machines can no W do.
''The way this difficulty is overcome