The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1914-05-10

~ thus far encountered of men
whose centenaries. bicentenaries
~ i.f.,rtcnarics are to be observed in
ioI4 t,,s he find n place. Yet born
,hr.o .cr'uries ago, he returned again
nj ara.n to the belief that man would
20, find a way to conquer the air with
nv.n. chariot: he limited at the future
wonder II the telephone; foresaw the
.pt,u.'..c. described the submarine
,esscs uf the future; invented a uni.
.ers.t language generations before Vola-
mix an. Esperanto were dreamed Of.
+, would he a difficult task to name q
half dozen other men who have specu-
lated more wisely about the future; yet
,he mention Of his name means nothing
TO nlncty-ninc men out Of a hundred.
Like Leonardo da Nincl and Roger
bacon. wilkins was one of those rare
men who are centuries ahead Of their
age ole was a man ahead Of his time"
Is often the kindly euphuism applied to
cratic incompetence. but there was
nothing of the charlatan in John Will
kns. \ century ago he could not have
been celebrated excep; as a theologian
and educator who strayed into hare
Trained speculatons. OF not many men
can It he truly said that two centuries
after their birth scientific achievements
have still failed to overtake their vis-
ions
|iNa ~ ~ q .nt 70 hny ~
the mos, attractive mechanical inven-
ton In the mind Of the speculative theo-
Logan. Youth Is apparent In his first
book. The Discovery Of World in the
Moone," IN which he strovc to prove
that the moon might be Inhabited. AS
private chaplain to noblemen, he was
already pointing out the way to reach
heaven. but as though this We're not
enough. he also shows how possible It
is for men in some future age to fly to
the moon.
tbs idea. which vas not mentioned
in the first edition Of his work, Is de-
scrbed IN detail in an added chapter to
a subsequent edition which Is entitled
That It's possible for some of our Pos
terl;y to find out a Convey ance to this
ether World and II there be Inhabl-
,ants there. to have Commerce with
them The hab!tual conservatism of
Gercym"r j never manifested in Will
, h.ns rs We now wonder at the Blind
ness q our Ancestors" he writes, "who
were not able TO discern such things as
seem plain and obvious unto us; so will
our postoriiy admire our Ignorance IN
as porspcuous Matters
Science was in its infancy c.5 years
ago. when Wilkins wrote Of flying to
the moon. yet his sentences in this
early book sound almost as though
they might have been written in the
y year before the Wrights made their
first memorable flight. After discuss
Ing the possibility os flying by attach
Ing wings To the body or Harvesting
the great roc which was then believed
to inhah., Madagascar he proceeds.
"or II neither Of these Ways will serve
Yet I do seriously, and upon good
Grounds affirm 1t possible to make a
, Fiy!ng-Char!ot; in which a man may
sit, and give such a Motion unto it, as
shall convey him through the Air. And
this perhaps might Ice made large
enough % carry divers Men at the same
time w.;A Food for their Niaticum, and
Commodities for Traff.ck. 1t is not the
tlgness 4 anything in this kind. that
y j. 4 IT,.
Faculty he answerable thereto We see
rrea, ship swlms as well as a small
Cork, and an Eagle flies in the Air as
Wei as "a little Gnat."
lie returns u the subject in his
treatise entitled Mercury" his third
scientific work. But amongst all other
possible Conyeyances," he says, "thro'
me Ar, Imagination itself cannot con-
'e'Ne any one more useful, than the In
NrhuoA Of flying Chariot, which
y nave mentioned elsewhere. Since by
'H4> means Man may have as free q
IaS'aee as Bird. which is not him
""ied, either by the highest Walls, or
me deepest Rivers and Trenches OF
'1" most watchful Centinels."
| Ana IN his last book upon a scientific
SnH-'rt Mathematical Magick," he de-
woes three chapters 10 this fascina tins
subject He describes the mechanic
Toys II the ancients which flew consid
cradle distances and reasons that "it
Will clearly follow, that it is possible also
Tor Man to fly himself" He urges
al oi MS readers who are interested In
SGehDr 10 make experiments along this
"he Tor he says that there Is no Other
invention that could prove of greater