The sun., 1909-01-10
FLYING INTERESTS PARIS
THOUSANDS VISIT THE FIRST
AVIATION EXHIBITION.
The wnsht Aeroplane the Centre or At.
tcntiOn-Another link Between Man
and the Apes -Mseteriinck Won't Let
{ "MOnna Wanna" he sung at the Opera.

PARIS, pec. 20 From forty TO fifty
thousand people a day have been visit
ing the first exhibition Of fying machines
ve' held. II Is part OF the Automobile
S,lnn in Pari..
There may be scoffers who think the
IDEA Of an exhibition Of flying machines
is premature. but when the first mot or
cars appeared not so many years ago
other scoifers called them interesting
but not important. Let them remember
that it is only fifteen years since NJ.
Mchelin. whoss business turnover now
cIceeds sl5.0Oo.OO0 year. was lock
smith in a humble way Of business: NJ.
Clement, who now employs 1000 hands,
was an apprentice learning TO put his
first bicycle together and NJ. Darracq
was maker OF iron racks for holding
bottles.
The Wright aeroplane ia the great
s'traCtion OF the show Where is the
lrichteY" Ia one of the first questions
asked, that being as near as French
nan can get to pronounoing Wright.
Four policemen were needed on Christ
mas eve to keep the crowd moving before
The stand.
The majority OF the spectators were
not aware that the machine they were
looking at 10 not the one that holds all
the records Of the air, but the first Wright
machine anufactured in the work.
shops at Dunkirk. The historic aero
plane Of LIE Mans 10 the property OF Lazare
WELLER, who has refused $40. 900 for it.
offered by Henry Deutsch. who wished
to place IL in the Cons,rvatoiie des
Arts-et Meters.
Next to the Wright machine in interest
comes the dirigible balloon Vile de Bor-
deaux. Fully inflated 1t hangs above
the crowd. stretching nearly across the
Grand Palais. The car comes down al
most to the level of the heads of the people
and a staircase Is placed so that the
favored ones who hold tickets can as
cend and walk about the platform of the
car and admire the two Hotchkiss mitrail-
leuses with which it it fitted up. Two
ordinary balloons are on show also fully
inflated.
The place OF honor in the aeroplane
section is given to the Avion. designed
and constructed eleven years ago by
a French engineer named Alder The
sembles a huge bat and is driven by a
steam engine.
IL was built for the War Department
and officers alone were present on the
only two occasions ii was tested. October
IL and IL. 1897. Wright's first fight
with a motor moved machine was on
December IL. 1908. over six years later.
At the second test. despite a strong wind.
VI. Ader succeeded ip flying $50 yards.
hut was unable to steer the machine along
The given course. a circle. II was driven
N at a tangent and in landing was con-
siderably damaged.
The military authorities abandoned
the whole affair. although they had pre-
viously granted the inventor a subsidy
If 500. 900. Utterly discouraged, M. Alder
destroyed his manuscripts and machines
e>cept the Avion. and 80 ended twenty
ycars incessant work and an eIpendi-
lure Of $4,000 OF his own money. The
i7ventor's friends say that an earlier
machine Of his. the Eole. few fifty yards
at the Chateau d'Armainville on October
p 1927.
W. Bleriot, who has invented and manu-
featured eleven flying machines. has
three on show. two. monoplanes and one
hipane. The latter. untried. Is very like
the Wright machine in its outlines.
Robert Esnault- Pelterie clihgs TO the
monoplane. At the end Of each wing
is a small bicycle wheel, and the aero
plane is supported by a single wheel
in the middle. Resting on this middle
wheel and one Of the wing wheels, the
apparatus is started by its propellers.
As the motion quickens the wing leaves
The ground, and when it becomes SUM-
GENTLY rapid the aeroplane flies.
Under the cupola is a tiny aeroplane
huilt by Santos Dumont and called tn
Demoiselle. Il is so small that it looks
like a toy. The stretch Of its wings is
but six and quarter yards. and its total
surface is not ten yards square. The
total weight in working order is only
10 pounds, allowing lio pounds for the
pilot. Santos Dumont does not exceed
that weight.
Farman's machine is on view. also it's
twin brother. Delagrange's There are
models by the score. their makers all
prepared to demonstrate that the prob !
lem OF aviation is definitely solved, and |
thousands OF visitors take an intelligent |
interest in them, visitors OF all ages and
classes. and all go home convinced that |
france is leading the way in a new science
and that no other country could hold q |
similar exhibition.
The bones believed to be the oldest |
human remains in existence which were /
ecently discovered by Father Bouys-
.,nie and Father Bardon at Chapelle- /
aII-Saints in the Correze department |
wore placed in the hands Of Marcellin |
Eoule. professor of paleontology at the .
Museum of Natural History. who has
spent some four months in studying them
and reconstituting the skeleton. Prof.
Boue has written for the Mdtb, an ac-
cI.,nr Of his conclusions.
II i known to-day, he says. that fossil
"nSu in France has passed through two
rncipal phases. First is the phase OF
hot climate; hippopotami. elephants
I'D rhiroceroses Of an African type,
,Acs and monkeys lived with him in the
20 d-t II rich vegetation. Then came
90 phase of cold climate. The tropical
u".-te disappeared and man took refuge
'. D;.ves.
So remains Of bones exist which be-
aged 10 a ma. o: the frat or tropical
4 A-- his tools alone remain. Belonging
20 tla .ccond nhase some fraRmentary