2 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



him ; but, determined to escape, he made wings of feathers cemented 

 with wax, and, instructing Icarus to fly neither too high nor too low, 

 but to closely follow him, launched himself into the air, and took a 

 bee-line for Greece. The young man, however, was ambitious, and, fly- 

 ing too near the sun, the wax melted, and he perished in the sea — a 

 warning to future generations. 



After Daedalus, we next hear of Archytas of Tarentum in Sicily, 

 a famous geometrician who lived about 400 years b. c. He is credited 

 with a dove made of wood, so contrived, we are told, " as by certain 

 mechanical art and power to fly ; so nicely was it balanced by weights 

 and put in motion by hidden and inclosed air." One is surprised at 

 the amount of talk and speculation that these few words have caused. 

 If the dove were put in motion by inclosed air, then probably it was 

 constructed on the principle of a balloon. If so, then of course the 

 air must have been heated ; or, better, since wood will crack and warp 

 from heat, not unlikely a light gas was used ; and since hydrogen is 

 light, possibly hydrogen ; and if so, how did Archytas prepare it ? 

 Others seriously try to throw ridicule on the whole affair, saying that a 

 wooden dove could not possibly get support in such away — that neces- 

 sarily it would be too large and heavy, and that the material would 

 not stand the strain, and so on. 



For my own part, however, I think that old Lauretus Laurus had 

 the true theory and explanation. He says that "the shells of hen's 

 eggs, if properly filled, and well secured against the penetration of the 

 air, and exposed to the solar rays, will ascend to the sky, and some- 

 times suffer a natural change ; and if the eggs of the larger description 

 of swans, or leather balls, stitched with fine thongs, be filled with 

 niter, the purest sulphur, quicksilver, or kindred materials, which 

 rarefy by their caloric energy ; and if they externally resemble doves 

 they will easily be mistaken for flying animals. 



"If we should desire to give aerial motion to a wooden and pon- 

 derous machine, we must apply fire. Should there be any apprehen- 

 sion of the dove being burned, it can be covered over with some in- 

 combustible coating, and tubes of tin introduced, so that the fire may 

 be kept alight in its bosom without injury to it. . . . To prevent the 

 crackling of flames, and the emission of sparks, the powder may be 

 deprived of force by the mixture of ochre and butter. . . . An artificial 

 throat may be formed to change the crackling of the flames into an 

 imitation of the cooing of a dove. Tubes could have been easily " (and 

 probably were) "constructed to ascend one after the other at conven- 

 ient intervals, so that the bird would apparently be endued with life." 



After Archytas, we hear little or nothing of flying-machines until 

 the middle ages. Then the astrologers and alchemists and witches, in 

 league with the evil-one on the one hand, and the friars and monks 

 helped by good s])irits on the other, did many wonderful things. The 

 competition was strong. To simply fly was a mere bagatelle, a ready 



