The Grangeville globe. [volume] (Grangeville, Idaho) 1907-1922, 1915-03-11
My We CAN'T FL Y
Re Reason Man Is Unable to Rise
In the Air Like a Bird.
] LACKS THE BREAsTBoN e.

Il. the Bird II is Very Massive snd
oeveIoped Like the Keel of a Yacht,
md Therein Lies the Secret Of It's
Enormous Wing Power.
Man has always longed to ny like a
ma and all the ancient attempts at
6frht were based upon the tapping of
irfngs attached to human arms.
rhese efforts were given up long ago
vrhen IT was realized that man vas
I'LL and could not be strong enough to
e.Istain himself In the air by the use of
hih arms. A man can only just lift
hlnself with his arms-chinning the
har. for example-but he finds hims elf
pretty heavy after he has done il
raw times.
The reason why no man will ever be
able to fly with self moved wings is
that his breastbone is not big enou gh.
Abird's breastbone has along its mid
III a deep keel, from which spring the
e1aormous muscles that draw down the
wings when tapping or hold them lie vel
men soaring. the muscles. In other
words, that support the entire weight
IL the bird.
The most powerful f1iers have the
aoepest breastbones. Look at the skel;
efon of an albatross. a condor or a
humming bird in museum and you
VII notice that the keel OF its breast.
hone projects like the keel Of a racing
y1cht-
You can see this keel. only much
mailer in proportion to the size Of the
01rd, on the carcass of any chicken or
furkey after the meat has been re-
moved. and the tender white flesh rom
tie breast is nothing but the muscles
nth which the bird few when alive
You notice that even on a chicken.
which is one Of the weakest of fiers.
tits flesh forms the greater part of the
body. On a humming bird there is lit
fIe else but this mass Of flying muscle.
ID other words. the humming bird is
nothing but tiny flying machine
An albatross has vast spread OF
Wings. and its small body Is little else
BOT a pair Of powerful pectoral mus
lies. These are attached by tendons
"a the bone called the humerus. which
81 the counterpart of the upper arm
hone of man. They spread out like a
Did fan and are fastened to the
breastbone with its deep keel. to the
tlavicles, or "wishbone." and to the
IBIS.
A mans breastbone has no keel. His
Apmerus, or upper arm bone, is hinged
ID the clavicle. or collarbone. and
boulder blade His pectoral muscles
" hich move the arm forward. and del
Did muscles. which lift it. are attach
u to it by strong tendons and spread
unlike over his upper chest. being in
&rted In the ribs and collarbone
These are the muscles that do the
&ame work for man as the pectdral
muscles do for a bird. These are the
muscles on which he would have to
ely If he were to fasten wings to his
rms and try to fly.
Compare these muscles with those Of
- albatross and you will see how in
adequate they are Though an alba
ross weighs only few pounds. it has
Hectoral muscles that are actually lar
fer than those OF the most powerful
4thlete.
In order to have muscles powerful
dough to lift his weight in the air by
tapping wings a mans breastbone
Tould have to develop a keel like. a
Hrd's and his collar bone would have
be changed to giant "wishbone-"
Some writer on aviation has calcu-
ated that this keel and "wishbone"
could have to project at least six feet
order to furnish attachment for the
necessary muscles, for man In proper
ION to his size is far heavier than an
albatross This bird has small and
cry light legs. whereas mans legs are
7plid and heavy. The albatross' long
Ping bones are hollow tubes.
This makes It plain why experiment.
fs In flying long ago gave up the idea
self moved wings and flight like
pat OF bird.-San Francisco Chroni
lie.