The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1896-12-13

launch It off into the air. The launch
ing apparatus which we used on No
yenlber 20 was built on the top of q
house boat, and the work of arranging
the table was no small one. AS stood
upon 1t and examined its construction
Mr.. Langley said:
1t don't seem to be much, but It is
the result of five years Of experiments. I"
STUDIES OF FLYING BIRDS.
I here asked Mr.. Langley what first
attracted his attention to aerial navi-
cation.
Il can't tell when was not inter-
ested in it," he replied. IT used to
watch the birds flying when I was a
boy and to wonder what kept them up.
| afterward heard the theory that they
possessed great muscular power You
know some scientific men have stated
their belief that the muscular strength
OF birds must be enormously greater in
proportion than that of men. But this
1T seemed to me could not be true. I
could not believe what some French
mathematician calculated, namely,
that an eagle must be nearly as strong
as man. 1t finally occurred to me that
there must be something in the con-
dition Of the air which the soaring
birds instinctively understood, but
which we do not. This idea / held for
tinutng to be wonder to me. 1t is
curious how an idea Of that kind sticks
to you. 3 | seldom saw bird flying that
did not think Of it, and even lately /
have watched them for hours trying
to understand how they could move
about through the air. rising and fall
ing, soaring up and sailing down with
out any motion Of the WINGS
But Mr.. Langley l thought that
birds used a great deal Of strength to
fly. They can't fly without moving
their wings, can they?"
THE soaring birds cam" replied Mr..
Langley, land they do fly long dis
tances with apparently very little exer-
ton. Darwin once watched the South
American condors, which, you know,
are immense birds, for hours. He says
they assembled and descended, scared
and cireled about, with scarcely the
movement of feather. He could not
detect a single flap of their wings.
II remember, continued Mr.. Lang
ley, "how I stood one cold November
day on the Aqueduct bridge that cross
ses. the Potomac river above Georgetown
and watched a turkey buzza.rd which
was lazily soaring. round and round
watching something in the river below.
The wind was blowing a gale. 1t was
going at the rate of at least thirty-five
miles an hour, still the bird moved
about with the greatest ease, keeping
generally on one level, but swaying q
little as. it went round and round. 1t
was not more than sixty feet above me.
I could see it perfectly and could not
note the Tapping Of wing, though
I watched it for q long time. stayed,
in fact, until I got so cold that I had
to leave"
-LANGLEY'S FIRST EXPERIMENT.
Then you early saw that there was
something wrong in our theories as to
the wind, Mr.. Langley?"
YES was the reply, IT have always
felt so, and I remember we'll when /
began to experiment to see If my sup
position was correct 1t was after a
meeting Of a scientific association, in
which some one stated that an mani
mate thing could, under certain circum-
stances, be made to move in the air
against the wind by the power of the
opposing wind itself. He claimed that
he had made experiments proving this
fact, and he stated as an evidence of
the truth Of his theory that he had
seen birds not only come close to the
earth and hang stationary in the air,
but even advance against the wind and
ascend in the air without Tapping their
wings. He was laughed at, but it is
now conceded that what he claimed Is
not theoretically impossible. l. myself,
did not believe he was right at the
time, but 1t set me thinking. My old
interest in the subject revived and I
began at once to make experiments.
wanted to know the actual facts as to
the power needed for fight, and how 1t
was possible that bodies heavier than
the air they displaced could keep them
selves In the air without falling. I did
discover that there was no doubt but