The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1904-04-03
?. SANTOS-DUMONT
Des c-ibss- His. Trips Aloft

~ very boldly from the nimbut
- of youthful fancies wher
one reads My Airships," by
a. Santos Dumont. 1t il
n Tar cry from Darius fatal descent
from the roof OF the barn to San
4. s-Dunfonts leisurely meanderings
down the :Champs Elysees in his
little "runabouL" All Of which goes to
pros.e that. the world is growing wiser
amt. that the word impossible" will De
dropped from the twentieth century
dictionary.
my AirshiDs' is certainly a book
unique in tile publications of the year
and OF ali the years since the Babylon
ians wrote their books. on bricks for
tisat matter. 1t is the first account OF
an earnest struggle with the problems
OF. aerial navigation, the only struggle
(which has been fruitful Of any marked
degree Of. success. The intrepid little
Brazilian enthusiast has advanced the
science Of aeronautics beyond the
stages Of Droblematic success by him.
self winning success in It. He has
proved that man can direct his flight
IN the air.. His patient endeavors have
q Of the fact that hereafter not only the
earth. and the waters under the earth,
3 but the space about the earth are 10
5e the theaters Of mans activities. MOI
at all surprising is it then that ths
first personal account Of his achieve
inents by the man who is. the chief
pioneer in this. new and, fascinating
science should be THE book of absorb
ing interest to-day.
N. Santos-Dumont says that the frs!
ouickening impulses toward the solu-
ton of the great crux. Of modern
science came TO hrs youthful imagina
tion with the creation of the toy fire
balloons which he sent up from his
fathers coffee plantation in Brazil. Pc
the Imaginative child there came also
the magic touch Of Jules Verne's weird
rcmances. filling his mind with such a
yearniEg for an attempt at balloOning
that. when he made his first trip II
Paris at the age Of is he was only de-
tered from closing with a professional
ba lloonist Tor trip. into the clouds by
the .exorbitsnce of the toll exacted-
s249. with all risks on the passenger S
'head-ieven too steep a price for the son
OF a wealthy coffee grower. 1t was not
until 1897 that the enthusiastic young
fellow found. his first opportunity to sc
bslleoning. Within a year he owned q
balloon and was studying the plans for
his first dirigible balloon, the Santos
p7dmont no: l."
Before continuing the narrative deal
ing with the. construction and trials OF
his many sirships. the author devotes
"a chapter to the. complex conditions OF
currents. temperature and density in
the. atmosphere which have to be
studied mshutely by the would-be air
ship Captain before he may dare a trial.
Before attempting to direct an air
Ship: says Santos-Dumont, at is
necessary TO have learned IN an ordi-
nary balloon the conditions OF the at
. uosphersc. medium, to have become &C
euainted with the caprices Of the wind
and TO have gone; thoroughly into the
dificUlties;-of the ballast problem from
the triple point OF view OF starting, Of
equilibrium in the air and Of. landing
at the end OF the trip"
All OF these. delicate problems Santos
Dumont studied from his balloon and
then came the more complicated ques-
tons involving the directing of a dirig-
ible balloon. Weight: in balloon envel-
ope, IN cordage and IN motor. the
equalization Of ballast, the correction
OF the instability OF the gas volume: the
Choice OF q motive power which would
insure the maximum. energy with the
minimum E-eight.these were the puz-
zles which Santos Dumont had to solve
before No. T. tool1-its initial flight.
After the details Of his first successful
ascension. Santos-Dumont narrates in
a sprfghtly fashion kis succeeding
cycle Of breadth escapes and fiat
tering successes. At one time he Is
falling in lakes, ct another he drops
into tfe Iight-shaft OF a hotel: now he
scars at will about the EfffeI tower,
winning the Deutsch prize. now he has
a Countess politely send his lunch up
a tree TO him, Sitting In his stranded
airship. The very facts Of his MARIA
tive are fascinating; the simple. almost
naive manner Of their telling makes the
book. doubly interesting. Imagine
Swimming: over the blue Mediterranean
like q gull, or dropping of in front of
your own door to get q package OF
cigarettes you had forgotten in your
morning flight over the roofs Of Paris!
This book must stir the imagination of
q coal HEAVIER.
Us Santos Dumont afraid when he ia
aloft2"-that is the natural question OF
the uninttiated. He answers it: while
in the air I have no time for fear. ]
have always kept a. cool head. Alone
in the airship / am always busy, for
there is more than enough work for one
man. Like the captain OF the yacht,
must not let go the rudder for an in
slant"
(The Century Company, New York;
illustrated by photographs; price,
> 81 400