Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-10-09

He brought about the present extraor-
binary interest in aeronautics. His expert
ments, beginning a decade ago with a
dirigible balloon and continuing to his
present aeroplane Of today. were the spur
that started hundreds Of experimenters.
The little Brazilian, resident Of Paris fol
so long, and fitting so thoroughly into the
life of the metropolis, has been believed
by many to be a Frenchman. but he is a
South American by birth, and his father
il immensely wealthy.
In fact, the elder Santos-Dumont has or
his own lands some forty miles Of private
railways, which gives an excellent idea OF
what his wealth must be.
SantOs-DumOnt, early interested in me-
chanics, found that the fight Of the air
made an enormous appeal to his magma
ton. He studied the subject in Brazil, un-
til the lack Of more advanced teaching and
of the material to make the kind of bal
loon he had in mind sent him to Paris.
The slender little Brazilian. looking
hardly more than sixteen years old. was
the capital, and his odd appearance and
his exceptional skill In aeronautics at once
piQued public interest. From that time,
now about decade ago, to the present he
has not failed Of attention, for every at
tempt he made to solve one of the last
great problems remaining for man to deal
with.
But the little man, though he might APP
pear immature. quickly proved himself q
student of solid attachments. He had
there learned by actual experience some
basic principles of mechanics. He had
also had the responsibility of actually
operating an engine. He asked no better
holiday.
When he came to his experiments with
airships 1t seemed the most natural thing
in the world for him to run himself the
craft he had built.
1t must be remembered in estimating
what SantOs-Dumont did to stimulate the
study of aeronautics that when he came
there was no such thing as dirigible bal
loon, yet in the decade that has elapsed
the dirigible has become so common thai
no one any longer thinks anything of it.
To sail around under a gas bag and to
be able to- control its movements is
thought to be nothing worthy Of COM
ment. The aeroplane has carried the sci
ence so far ahead that the dfrigible bal
loon Is totally antedated.
But Santos-Dumont was the pioneer In
this field. There Is only one rival to dis
pute it with him, and that is the veteran
Count Won Zeppelin. the German. He was
working on the subject before Santos-Du-
mont, but his experiments got no such
attention as those of the Brazilian. and
value Of the Germans invention. never
theless it was Santos-Dumont who spur
red the public and made aerial navigation
q fad.
The greatest feat that Santos-Dupont
performed was when eight years ago he
sailed one Of his airships around the
Eiffel Tower. This was July Is. 1901. In
its stimulating effect on public interest
this can only Be compared to what Bleriot
did when he took his little aeroplane
across the English channel. Greater
things may have been accomplished In the
line Of aeronautics, but these are the
kind of feats that stay In tho popular
mind, because they convey q definite i'm
PRESTON, something that can be grasped.
Santcs-Dumont In his shirt sleeves and
very high collar with Ills somewhat eff
terminate appearance and soft manner of
speech cut an absolutely unimpressive fig
ure that day at the Longchamps race
track, but his domination Of the SUBJ
jeot could be seen in the way his COM
rades Of the Aero Club gave way to il.lp
easho-tYie0 his -CnotosS experimenteA- with