THE PROGEESS OF SCIENCE. 



95 



exploited in the newspapers. One of 

 the subjects that has attracted partic- 

 ular attention recently is the aerodrome 

 of Dr. S. P. Langley, secretary of the 

 Smithsonian Institution. The some- 

 what sensational character of the at- 

 tempt to fly and the secrecy with 

 which the proceedings are surrounded 

 have naturally excited public cviriosity, 

 and the newspapers have found the 

 failure of the machines a good oppor- 

 tunity for jokes, so that we read of 

 ' airships as submarines ' and the like. 

 Dr. Langley has carried forward im- 

 portant researches in aerodynamics, 

 and has done more than any one else 

 toward constructing an aeroplane that 

 would fly. After numerous experi- 

 ments and failures a machine was 

 launched in 1896 that stayed in the 

 air from one to two minutes. We 

 reproduce from the ' Report ' of the 

 Smithsonian Institution for 1900, two 

 pictures of this aerodrome, one an 

 imaginary sketch, the other from a 

 photograph taken by Dr. A. Graham 

 Bell. The total length was about 16 

 feet and the width between the wings 

 about 12 feet. The weight was about 

 30 pounds, of which one fourth was 

 represented by the machinery, the en- 

 gines, which could supply one to one 

 and a half horse-power, weighing 26 



r 



sonian Institution for 1900, and to 

 this our readers may refer. It ap- 

 pears to us that Dr. Langley takes 

 rather too little credit for his work on 

 aerodynamics and rather too much 



The Aerodrome as it might appear in 

 THE Air. 



ounces, and the boiler about 5 pounds. 

 Dr. Langley has not published a 

 scientific account of his work, but con- 

 tributed a popular article to McGlure's 

 Magazine for June, 1897, which he 

 reprinted in the ' Report ' of the Smith- 



The Aerodrome. Ready for Launching. 



for the practical success of his flying 

 machine. Hundreds of patents for 

 aeroplanes had been taken previously, 

 and toys had been constructed that 

 would fly. The Langley aerodrome 

 was not steered, nor tried in a breeze, 

 nor able to carry any weight, nor kept 

 in the air as long as two minutes. 

 This record has of course been much 

 surpassed by dirigible balloons and 

 perhaps by artificial flight. Aero- 

 planes can doubtless be made to fly; 

 as Lord Rayleigh, quoting Mr. Maxim, 

 has said, 'it is mainly a question of 

 some time and much money.' Aero- 

 planes will probably be used for mili- 

 tary jjurposes and for adventure, but 

 not for the ordinary uses of transpor- 

 tation and commerce. Dr. Langley 

 seems to claim too much when he 

 writes in a popular magazine that he 

 has demonstrated the practicability of 

 mechanical flight and that ' the great 

 universal highway overhead is now 

 soon to be opened ' ; that aerodromes 

 ' may be built to remain days in the 



