Graham guardian., 1911-10-20

~ HE navigation Of the airi How
the very idea Of It thrillsl To
rise above the earth and Cit
from city to city and from con-
tinant to continent To travel
free and untrammeled az do the birds!
This has been the dream OF mankind
for ages.
Impossible OF accomplishment DO
not be too sure. Tremendous strides
toward this splendid. this allurins
goal have been made within the past
three years. Already have daring
men Of the air pierced tho blue vault
Of heaven to astonishing attitudes. al
ready have they dashed from metrop'
oils to metropolis with speed rival
ing the fastest express train. already
have they !eaped over mountain
ranges and crossed bodies Of water
which separate. nations II the prog
ress IL to be a. great during the next
three years. then. indeed. win narvels
have been accomplished beyond any
thing OF which today We permit our.
selves to dream.
Much depends upon the attitude and
activity Of those daring and ingenious
men who already have elevated the
science Of aviation from the purely
experimental and speculative to some
thing at least approaching the prac-
teal II their talents and the talents
OF such scientific men as now are or
hereafter may be attracted to the
problem Of aerial flight are devoted
to the making OF aviation more nearly
safe and therefore more useful.
rather than toward OUTGOING the mar
velous records already made In alti.
tude. distance. speed and duration.
then will the world be the gamer and
travel and commerce be helped
through thia new means Of communi-
cation.
Safety! That is now the thing to be
aimed at Not till full measure OF
1t Is reached can the conquest OF the
air really be claimed or aviation be
lifted from the spectacular to the
unitarian.
Considering what has already been
accomplished In aerial navigation, IL
It too much to say that even greater
discoveries will be made and applied
IN the near future? Where shall We
place the limit upon an age which
has produced a machine that talks
and sings. which propels loaded cara
up and down hill by means or an in
visible fuid. which takes photographs
through solid substances. which has
instant communication by wire be-
tween the most widely separated con-
tinents, which has made conversation
possible between New York and
Chicago and which thinks nothing OF
sending wireless messages from land
to vessels hundreds Of miles away at
sea? After all. Is a. certain and safe
passenger and freight service through
the air more improbable to our near
future than was the automobile and
the electric express train to the future
Of the man Of the ox-cart and the
pole propelled fia,boat?
The Drifting Balloon.
The balloon is the elder brother
of the aeroplane and les discovery was
the cause of fully as great sensation.
Compared. however. with the later air
craft. It is very simple and Its possi-
bilities are limited
To Stephen and Joseph Montgolfier
belong the distinction Of making the
first balloon. They were papermakers
Of Annonay. France. and they expert.
mented for years before they succeed
ed In causing silk bag to rise to the
ceiling of their workshop. The first
men to make q balloon ascension were
Pilatre des Rosters and the Marquis
d'Arlandes They went up from Parts
on November 81. 1883 and remained
aloft 25 minutes. A week later Profes-
sor Charles made an ascent, his bal
loon being provided with basket or
car, valve, barometer and sand
ballast. Thus within year from
the time when the Montgolflers discov-
cred that a bag filled with hot air
would ascend, balloon had been con-
structed and Quilted almost as com
pletely as any Of It's successors in the
1873 years since then.
Blanchard, an Englishman. and DR..
Jeffries, an American. crossed the
English channel In balloon In 1855.
A man named Garnerin made the first
parachute descent from balloon In
1897. In 1894. during the French Rev
olution, balloons we're used for OBJ
serving the enemy. and nearly 100
years later, during the siege OF Paris.
many persons escaped from the be-
leaguered city In balloons.
The nrst extremely long distance