The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1900-10-05

ness the sensational spectacle. AS the
Marquis was stepping into the car King
Louis spoke with some concern OF the
dangers that might attend the expert
ment.
Sire" answered the Marquis. an Of
ficer who had been waiting for oft
promised but long deferred promotion,
"sire, Your Majesty's Minister OF War
has made me so many promises in the
air, and has suffered me to build so
many castles in the same place, that l
am going up to take look at BOTH
The balloon scared to a height of about
five hundred feet and, passing over the
Invalides and the Ecole Militaire. descend
ed beyond the Boulevard, about nine
thousand yards from the place OF ascent,
having been between twenty and twenty
five minutes in the air. 1t may be added
that the Marquis received his promotion
with a graceful compliment from the
King
"You," said the King. "have raised
yourself higher than 1 can ever elevate
you"
During the next eighteen months more
ascensions took place in different parts
of France, and without an accident But
on June Is, 1855, an appalling catastrophe
led to a radical change IN the science of
aeronautics. Pilatre de Rozier conceived
the idea of crossing the channel between
France and England. For this purpose
he started with companion named Ro-
main from Boulogne in a car attached
to two balloons. One was filled with
hydrogen gas. the other with heated air.
At the height of some two thousand
feet the fire supplying the latter with
hot air communicated itself to the canvas
Instantly the whole contrivance was in
blaze and the unhappy aeronauts were
dashed to pieces. This melancholy af-
fair led TO one good result, the recog
milton that hydrogen gas was far safer
than heated air.
Among the most remarkable ascensions
of the last century may be noticed that
of the two Englishmen, Blanchard and
Jefries, who crossed over from Dover
to Calais on January T. 17S5, six months
before the Rozier disaster tx months
later the first woman who ever ventured
into balloon, Nine. Rainier, fell out
of the car and was killed. 1t is rather
a sad comment upon the gallantry of the
French that the accident was seized upon
as an occasion for continuous hilarity by
the Partisan wags. Thus the frontis-
piece to comic work on balloons pub
lished in 17S5, is a picture of a woman
falling out Of an aerial car while her
husband smokes his pipe and calmly
watches her go.
An accompanying poem began as fol-
lows:
Je cours, madame,
Mener ma femme
Sc promener en- balloon.
Monsieur, pourquoi?
Eth. ehi ma fol
C'est commode un balloon!
Which may be roughly Englished;
Upon my life,
I'll take my wife
A ride In a balloon.
And pray. sir, why?
Eth! madam, aye!
fine thing a ballooni
So much for the beginning of aeronaut-
les. They promised we'll But their bril-
liant promise has not yet met with full
fllment Steam and electricity have con-
quered space and time on land and sea,
Balloons preceded either steam or cleo
tricity. Yet we have not yet solved the
problem of navigating the air. A steam
ship sets out from a given point and
reaches a given point. A locomotive
does the same
A balloon is an unmanageable quantity.
Nevertheless, it would appear that be-
fore tho pf he
some real progress may have been made
toward attaining the present unattaIn-
able.
It will not come in the way Of flying
machines. Despite the efforts of Lang
ley. of Lillenthal, and of Maxim, the fly
ing machine is not a possibility of the
present.
Science has repeatedly declared that a
practical flying machine is impossible
Here is a summary of the scientific ar
guments. A bird is an incompatible
mode of flying machine. And yet this
machine perfected through infinite ages
by a ruthless process of natural selec-
ton, reaches its limit of weight at about
fifty pounds. 1t is probable that the os-
trich had the power of fight in ages
gone by, but when its environment be-
came such that it did not need its wings
to escape from enemies, or when il be-
gan to grow larger from any favoring
circumstances, it used It's wings less and
less. so that now it is entirely incapable
of fight. 1t is assumed that the condor.
weighing fifty pounds, and with a spread
of wings Of fourteen feet, is very near
the limit of weight beyond which it is
impossible for an animal to fly
No machine that theingenuity of man
can devise can be so effective for the
same weight of machine. fuel and direct
ing brain as a sparrow or a condor. It
is in the directing brain that the natural
machinepossesses its most prodigious adj
vantage over any possible artificial ma
chine. The flying animal is its own engi-
neer. The flying machine must carry an
engineer. The directing engineer. the
brain, in the former is perhaps an ounce,
In the latter the directing engineer must
weigh on an average one hundred and
fifty pounds. The limit of the flying an
imal is fifty pounds. The smallest pos
sible weight of a flying machine with its
necessary fuel and engineer, even with
out greight or passengers, could not be
less than three hundred pounds.
From these facts the conclusion seems
ii be irresistible that t true flying ma
chine, self-raising, self-sustaining. self
propelling, is physically impossible.
Humanity must perforce return to the
balloon. Here there are numerous posi-
blities. Assuming the existence Of
comparatively light body. supplied with
machinery which can drive propellers az
an exceedingly high rate Of speed, and
WRAPPED IN KERNELS.
Blessings Bound Up i'm the Listle Par
tieles Of Grape-Nuts.