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POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



George L. 0. Davidson, an English engineer, a year or two ago 

 designed a bird-like machine, to be built of steel, and to sail along 

 with spread wings, on the principle of a Lilienthal soaring apparatus, 

 but I have never learned that the machine got beyond the stage of 

 being represented in drawings. 



This article would not be complete without a reference to Prof. 

 S. P. Langley's aerodome, shown in Fig. 15. It has, however, been 

 described so fully that it is only necessary to refer to it here. 



Fig. 1 ). ' The Avion. 



Fig. 15. Langley's Aerodome. 



The conclusion may be fairly drawn from these brief descriptions 

 of experiments in aerial navigation, that the aerodrome is supplanting 

 the balloon, but that it can not as yet be used alone successfully. All 

 the flying machines that depend solely upon a motive power and 

 supporting planes are unable to carry any large supply of fuel, and 

 descend after a short flight. The balloon can remain in the air a long 

 time, but it is unwieldy. The practical inference is that some combina- 

 tion of the balloon and the aeroplane is necessary to produce a ma- 

 chine that will be of commercial use in aerial navigation. 



