The Montgomery advertiser. [volume] (Montgomery, Ala.) 1885-1982, 1907-04-07
WINGS AND FLIGHT
Studies About Them Under the Smithsonian

Institution

Smithsonian Institution has just signed
further grant to enable the continu-
| ance of the work
The fund from which the grants are
made was established In 1891 by
| Thomas George Hodgkins of Setauket.
New York-S200,000. the income from
one-haif of which is devoted to the
| increase and diffusion of more exact
| knowledge in regard to the nature end
properties of atmospheric air In con-
| nectfon with the welfare of men," The
OBJECT of this fund has been interpreted
very broadly
To Discover Secrets.
To discover the secret of the flight
of birds and insects Is a purpose to
which portion of the income Of the
Hodgkins' fund has been devoted. 1t
is an object touching directly upon
human progress. The fund therefore
lends material support to experiments
which may mean the ultimate extention
of mans control over an element
hitherto unconQuered.
The present grant to DR.. Won Londen-
field is for the special purpose, as
Secretary Walcott says, Ito make
thorough and exact investigation of
the organs of flight of the best rep
resentative flyers Of the insect orders.
In this investigation the wings of in
sects are to be considered in relation
to the mechanics of flight as we'll as
from a purely morphological point OF
view" This research follows natur-
ally upon conclusions which DR.. Won
Londenfeld has already reached in
work conducted personally and under
his direction for a number Of years.
Two reports have been published by
the Smithsonian Institution and two
more are now in press to appear as
regular issues of the Smithsonian
miscellaneous collections.
DR.. Won Londenreld's first work
under a Smithsonian grant was per-
formed in 1900. 1t consisted mainly
of general studies into the structure
and functions Of the organs Of flying
creatures. as preparation suitable
for researches into the actual mechan-
les of flight. Since then much of his
time has been taken up in personal
laboratory Investigations of his pupils
in the university at Prague.
The first set of experiments. COM
pleted about three years ago, brought
out some curious facts concerning the
wings of birds in relation to the weight
of their bodies. 1t was established
beyond a doubt that some property OF
air enabled the larger and heavier
birds such as the albatross and eagle
to sustain their weight with compar-
atively much smaller wing surface.
1t was worked out by analogy that,
given the secret of control of motion,
a man weighing two hundred pounds
600 Kilograms could sail through the
air with a sustaining wing surface of
about three square yards (2.7 square
meters.)
Birds Do not FLY Alike.
But when DR.. Won Londenfeld turned
TO consider the actual mechanics of
flight, he was confronted Immediately
by the fact that all birds by no means
fly alike. In fact there could hardly
be established a mean similarity be-
tween all the varieties. From the
great soaring albatross and sea eagle
which may sail for half an hour with
out the CULVER of a feather, to the
whirring sparrow and the buzzing
humming bird, which rely for support
solely upon the rapid movement OF
their wings. there is a long line OF
flyers. These two extremes, the alba
tross and the humming bird. the ex-
perimenter took as types. Insects,
also, he found could be classed in
like manner.
Among both birds and insects, how
ever. the sailors were found not be re-
stricted to the large creatures and the
flappers to the small. On the con-
trary. there were discovered creatures
of all sizes In each group. In the
sailor class the lemon butterfly was
placed beside the stork, and the sill
yer gull beside the dragon fly. The
flapper class embraced flyers from the
bustard and pheasant to the house fly
and the gnat. In this study of flight
method, therefore, the question of size
led to no conclusions
Muscular power was an element to
be considered Dr. Won Londenfeld
was satisfied that the flappers were
gifted with much stronger muscles
than the sailors And merely for
illustrative purposes since he does not
consider the feasibility of attaching
wings to man, he found that although
human being could not Immediately
develop enough muscle to Join the flap
per class. he might well be able, IL he
knew how, to soar at will.
All these conclusions hinged upon
the interesting phenomenon that the
increase in weight to be carried
through the air is not proportional to
the necessary increase in size of the
supporting surface. that is, the larger
bird, the smaller in proportion are the
wings. The results can be explained
only upon the supposition that the re-