The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1900-02-27
MEN MAY YET FLY.
IL Is Only Question of Money TO Make
the Wings Go.

Lord Ray leigh delivered an irtore ting
lecture on flight before q large audience
at the Royal institution, Albenarls street t.
Lord Rsylsigh, at the outset, described
Gne various kinda Of aeroplane invent =
to illustrate the action of dying, declari.
that one Of the simplest of thes was tbs
Malay kite, which was without tail.
The best kite, however. was that Invented
by MIR. Hargravs, in AustTalia-a CURL
ous-looking affair, more RESEMBLING a
skeleton box partially covered with calico
than al ordinary kite. 1t was a very
stable machine in the air, however, de-
pending on side yanes, which when the
kites got little out Of the wind, tended
to bring 1t back again. Some fifteen
years ago the kits had bean Ye-sDf0roed
by Mr.. Archibald for meteorological pur-
poses-that WAS to say TOR the sending
up Of thermometers and the like, and,
still lstsr, Major Baden-Powell (oheers).
who had recently made himself famous
by bis grand defense OF Mafeking, had
done excellent work In connection with
the use of the kite for military purposes.
He had succeeded In raising a man from
the ground by means OF a kite, and had
shown that Kites could be made uss of
for accommodating purposes Then
Messrs Roche and Marvin, in America,
had flow kites to very great heights. as
demonstrated BY self recording instru-
ments.
The esssntial question In connection
with the kite was the action OF tbs wind
on the aeroplane, but It was diff srent
rith tina HVtnu marhtna wbiah unliEa
the kite, was free and unattached TO tbs
ground. Some birds maintained them
selves In the air by vigorous Tapping
Of the winss. pigeon, for instance,
worked exceedingly hard to raise ITSELF
from the grorUd TO the tCp OF building,
and might very often be seen to be ex-
nsustsd. And that WAS not extrsordin-
AIRY, because the bird rose at suoh a pace
that sven II the difficulty of finding
suppors 10 tbs air did not exist at all the
rate at which it RAISED IT'S weight was
rate OF doing work in PROPORTION to Its
size that land animals Conld not emulate
In addition to that, there was the dbl
Guilty OF getting the proper point OF snp-
port In toe air. This kind of dight
therefore. was only possible to small
birds.
ms big soaring or sailing flight birds
we're able to maintain themselves in tire
air for O considerable time with littls or
no Tapping OF the wings. or muscular
,ffor6, and the question was, How could
that be doneY Scientific people had besn
divided into two clzsses-naturalists had
been unabls TO appreciate the mechanical
difficulty, and mechanics had said that
bird could no NOR maintain itself In
the air when the air WAS moving In
perfectly uniform, horizontal manner
than 1t could IL the air was perfectly at
rest. II bird was sesn to maintain
itself In the air for any length Of time,
they must take IL that the wind wss not
moving uniformly horizontally-a certain
deduction from facts.
But there might be vertical compon-
emit OF the wind. 1t might be blowing
90 ldition of all. Birds took adva ntage
Of the relative motion of the different
parss of the air they encountered. Birds
| ike the albstros took advantage OF the
gUstiDess of the wind. Not only was
there pressure underneath the wing OF
the bird, but there Was suction on the
upper surface. IL a man raised himseK
in the air and he was not to fall, some
thing must fall instead OF him-that was
20 say, there must be downward cur
| rent OF air caused by q screw and the
question was what must be the size of the
screw and the work to be done IN order
that the man might be supported. MIR.
Wenham had considered the matter care
fully, and had decided that 10 was Inn
possible Tor a man, by his own muscular
power, TO support himself by means Oh
screw. bird had an advantage over
man In point Of size, and the wings q
man would require, II he were to tiy with
them, would have TO be absur1ly large.
In ths same way, the size or screw
wonh have 70 be out of proportion to
any thing that could be managed. ~.
MI. Maxim had said that the diticulty
was to be- got overt bat IL was only
question of money-and he (Lord
| fSayleieh) was inclined to agree with
him. But, even when the problem OF
| hlaht was solved. flight would not be
safe form Of looomoticn for Q lady going
| TO London for q days shopping. 1t Was
diffioulb to ses how .alishting could he
made safe, there being always danger
Of getting gnsts.of vino near .ne sro Giss
Guilty, but had added that his maobine
was for military plrpossa and, uniortn-
nately, no means had even bean disoov-
cred By which war could be made perfecs
ly safe. daughter. |-Londop Standard