The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-03-14

Y ONDON, March 13.-Siently and per sstenely MT. Wilbur Wright has Az been pursuing his experiments, and bringing the aeroplane out of the experi- mental stage into the practical at Le Mans in France. And now, almost before we can turn around, flying is a fact and probably the most important fact of this century, You might as well try to fly," has too long been a proverb to illustrate impossibilities, and that, like many another adage. will have to go, and flying will I believe, in the near future be as possible as sailing.
 MT. Wright stands in the forefront Of inventors. Hsi systematic and steady work has arrived at a more complete so- lutlon of the problem than any other.
 Miss Wright, who has been staying with her brother at Pau, gives her im- pressions of her aeroplane flight. "I had no fear she said, 'but was so excited that I let my gloves fall as we started. The feling as my brother let go the pulley. and we ran along the rail- was exactly like going up in a shaft Once in .he air, however, l was astonishsd at the sense of complete tranquility I ex- pefienced. Although We were moving at 42 miles an hour, we seemed to glide along as though we were 90 feet from the ground as could easily recognize the people below, but I afterwards found that we were co feet My brother, to show the ease with which he can manaenvre his machine, made several sharp turns but .elt no i'll effects, and was disap- pointed at the shortness of the trip, and astcnlshed tc learn that it had not lasted more than seven minutes"
 One of the strange sensations ia the aeroplane must be the deafening noises of the machinery. for the engines work like guns. having at present no silencers, but this is rIcbably a defect that will be eventually overcome.
 One cannot help wondering and dream ing as to what the aeroplane will mean for civilization Will 1t be that the huge fleets and mighty Dreadnoughts which are now being prepared will be of little avail because the fleets of airships can sail overhead and survey distant coun- tries, without the cumbersome maneuver- ing of entering ports and sieging towns? Will 1t mean that war will be more dread ful, that the heavens will be scenes of vast battles and terrible engagements, or will it mean that, with these wider powers of reaching other lands, the heart of na- tions will be united and war shall event. ually cease in civilized countries? Who can tell? But that flying has been achieved and is one of the great fac tors of our day none can deny.
 Sir George Darwin has been giving an extraordinarily interesting lectupe on the influence of tides on men, and has stated that the recent experiment of Professor Hecker in Berlin went toward showing that the earth moved up and down twice day perhaps three or four inches, like the waters of the ocean. His observa- tions from a barometer show that the the ory is likely to be correct, and that when the barometer is high we are four inches nearer the middle of the earth.
 In very early times, he stated, the moon and the earth were one body and at that time the evolutions of the earth showed a far greater velocity than at present, and the smaller body, the moon. was sent away by tidal friction. The thought might be fanciful. but 1t had been suggested that the Pacific ocean