PKACTICAL EXPERIMENTS IN SOAKING.* 



By Otto Lilienthal. 



My own experiments in Hying were begnn with great caution. The 

 first attempts were made from a grass plot in my own garden upon 

 whicL, at a height of 1 meter from tlie ground, I had erected a spring- 

 board, from which the leap with my sailing apparatus gave me an 

 oblique descent through the air. After several hundred of these leaps 

 I gradually increased tlie height of my board to 2i meters, and from 

 that elevation I could safely and without danger cross the entire grass 

 plot. I then went to a hilly section, where leaps from gradually 

 increased elevations added to my skill and suggested many improve- 

 ments to my apparatus. The readers of Prometheus have already been 

 informed of the selection of a piece of ground which enabled me to 

 extend my flights over a distance of several hundred meters. The 

 remainder of the summer since my last publication (in Nos. 204 and 

 205 of this journal) ha-s sufficed to bring these experiments to a termi- 

 nation and to dispose of some important questions as to the possible 

 results. 



Indulging in subtile inquiries and theorizing does not promote our 

 knowledge of flying, nor can the simple observation of natural flight, 

 as useful as it may be, transform men into flying beings, although it 

 may give us hints pointing towards the accomplishmentof our purpose. 

 We see buzzards rise skyward without any motion of their wings; we 

 observe how the storks intermingle in the flock with outspread wings 

 and in beautiful spirals; we see, high up in the air, the piratical falcon 

 in ({uest of booty remain stationary in the wind for minutes at a time. 

 We recognize every spot on his brownish plumage, but we do not per- 

 ceive the least exertion of his wings to maintain his stationary position, 

 and this small bird of prey is not in the least concerned at our pres- 

 ence. He reciprocates the protection secured for him since Brehm and 

 other naturalists have pointed out his usefulness by undisturbedly pre- 

 cipitating himself to the grass before our eyes, and, seizing a grass- 

 hopper, we again see him meters above our heads without having 

 detected the least flapping of his wings during the entire performance. 



Translated from Promeiheiis, No. 220, 1893, vol. \-. 



195 



