The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-12-29
FRIDAY. DECEMBER ss. .oos.
ANOTHER ENTHUSIAST.

The imitators. or wSuld-be imita- tors of that ancient crank. Daedalus. we have always with us But few days can 20 by without our reading that somebody has solved the problem of aerial navigation. That they mostly fan to accomplish what they promise is natural. perhaps. because of the con- ditions always at work against them. but the failure of one doesn't seem to deter others. If anything f. stimulates them. because each new advcnturer feels that he can avoid the mistakes of others and thus gain greater re- nown for himself
 One of the latest to come to the front Is John P. Holland. who has achieved some reputation in connection with submarine navigation. He is as en- thusiastic as any of them. perhaps more 50. and is rather more definite than some of the others. He declares that within twelve months the people gen. srally will be flying in the air. and it will be q most popular method of loco- motion because it will be perfect ly safa."
 If Mir. Hollands conclusions or de- elarations are correct his assertion cer- tainiy is. because if such travel is dem pnstratea to be perfectly safe there can be no doubt that it will be popular. but there's the rub. There have been so many assurances of safe flying that we need several grains of salt to enable us to swallow his differences. We have heard 50 many promises of safe and sure methods of sailing through the air that any If us may be pardoned for feeling suspicious.
 MT Holland tells us that the sinp- lest mode of locomotion Is soaring in the air. and it can be done with the least effort" He expresses surprise that everybody is net flying to-day, and yet he discounts his own credibil- ity by the admission that he has not done any flying himself. If 1t is so easy the natural inquiry will be why he has not proven it by actual experi- nent. Yet he goes on and tells us that his apparatus will not weigh more than twenty-five pounds. and the whole cost will not exceed ten dollars. This looks like getting down to hard pan. but fails to be convincing.
 It is evident that this enthusiast bases at least a portion of his confi- dance on the ease of bird flight, and yet he appears not to notice the incon-
 deductions. It is not
 re so formed as to en-
 eight in proportion to @s'@a .Ht. ones and feathers are ..-. with air, but it must -g -eti hat when a bird is fly ar c- has nothing but its -s1 ~e.. carry. Lightly and st e.. cted. and with no ex- ry, 1t is not surprising that they can fly without apparent muscular strain, or that they can sus- tain themselves in the air without ef- Tort.
 It is widely different with a human being A man has vastly more weight ln proportion to his muscular power than a bird has. If he attempts to use artificial wings he has not the birds proportionate strength to operate them. At rough estimate we should say that a man would require at least five Hines as much muscular power, in pro- portion to size, to operate artificial wings that bird requires to operate natural ones. Then, if he uses some kind of apparatus to sustain him that pontrivRnce must overcome not only It's own weight but that of the man also. and has not yet been successfully accomplished. In short, we refuse to take stock in Hollands aerial opti- mism. It is mostly wind.