The Topeka state journal., 1903-05-26
BELLS WORK.
Said Two Years Ago Balloon Prin.
ciple Was Wrong for Flying.

ciple Was Wrong for Flying.
When Alexander Graham Bell asserts
that he has accomplished any certain
thing the scientific world accepts. his
statements without question.
Prof. Bell has been investigating and
experimenting in the matter of aerial
navigation since 1898 employing himself
thus during the greater part of his sum-
mer vacations spent at his country home
at Cape Breton. Nova Scotia. AS long
ago as the fall of 1900, Prof. Bell ex-
planned to correspondent for the
World the theories upon which he was
working with respect TO aerial naviga-
ton; theories that according to his
statement of yesterday, have been
proved correct.
Prof Bell then said that aerial navi-
cation would mark an epoch in the his
tory of the worlds progress, just as did
the steam locomotive and the steam
propeller, modestly refraining from ref
erence to his own epoch-making inven-
ton, the telephone.
Then, al now, Prof Bell was opposed
to the airship experiment that had for
its principle a dirigible balloon a ma
chine lighter than air, asserting that
IAN airship constructed on balloon prin-
ciples is bound to be a failure so far as
any practical results are concerned"
Any mechanical body lighter than
air" said he, is bound to be at the
mercy of the wind. and is therefore un-
reliable. The birds and every other
form OF nNlnS lnlQg ltldI mes are HedA-
ier than air. and therefore have perfect
control over their movements. So must
the airship be built
THE kite principle will figure large
ly in the successful airship. The pres
sure of wind against surface must be
made use Of What is kite but q
tethered airship2 My chief difficulty
is to restrain myself from building "A
machine. It is a great temptation but
all of the failures in the airshiD busi-
,I~ Of
ing on immature and untested ideas Of
what is needed. A step in the right di
rection is the kite balloon"
In his investigation of the aerial pro
blem Professor Bell has worked in con-
nection with Professor Langley of the
Smithsonian Institution. regarded as
the foremost authority in this country,
if not in the world. on all forms of air
machines. balloons and kites
Professor Bell invented the telephone
27 wears ago. and has since made many
additional inventions of telephone ae-
cessories He has also invented sim
ple method of condensing fog into va
ter in bottles by an apparatus fastened
to the side Of fshermen's dories. de-
signed for the Newfoundland fishing
banks. and by which the lives Of many
fishermen cut off from their vessels BY
fog have been saved.
prof Bells career presents one OF the
most remarka Bile Monte Cris5o ro-
rnanees Of quick fortune making Just
before he made known his invention of
the telephone he was teacher, on 2
small stipend. in a school for the deaf
and dumb in Boston
Within a few years from that mern-
ora HE announcement his check was
good for millions, and at Washington.
q CITY to which he had gone with worn
clothing and an empty pocket, als
home was a mansion. Then, TOO ne mai
Jumped By one leap to the head of the
scientists of the country. and was a
millionaire philanthropist, spendtng
money lavishly for the betterment Ct
deaf rnutee-
His beautiful wife, accounted one OF
fhe most attractive women in Wash
ineton is a deaf mute. taught by him
self in earlier days.-New York World.