THE EMl'lKE OF THE AIR. 399 



lu the fartlietst auticjuity the i)robleni is presented to us as liaving 

 been solved by Icarus. What is there absolutely impossible in tliat 

 assertion? With close observation, good sense, and inventive faculty 

 success may be acconiplislicd; Icarus, perhaps, had these marvellous 

 good gifts. - - 



At a later i)eri()d, balloons came with their enormous bulk athwart 

 the question; for eighty years they obscured the way to success. They 

 led men's minds estray into concei)tions without issue, and inventors 

 have all, one after the other, brought ui» against the impossible. 



Balloons. — At the first glance there seems to be a close connection 

 between the power of ascending into the air, and that of progressing 

 through it, and yet half a century's consideration has shown that there 

 is a profound abyss between these two orders of ideas; they ])rove in 

 point of fact to be directly opposed to each other. 



THOUGHTS ON AVIATIOIS. 



1 have already said that iS'ature, provident, infallible, always know- 

 ing far more than the most attentive study can teach us, [>oints out to 

 us the way to imitate her works. 



Let us not seek to be wiser than she: let us in all simplicity follow 

 where she leads; thus shall we arrive at a result easily, without fa- 

 tiguing our brains with that Chinese puzzle, — that mathemaiical com- 

 jioimding of ./• and .// and c, which at thei)resent day invades all ardu- 

 ous (piestions. 



r>y merely ol)S('r\ing witli close attention how the winged tribes jier- 

 fonii their feats, by carefully reflecting upon what wo have seen, and 

 above all, by striving correctly to uiub^stand the iiioilus ojxrandi of 

 what we do see, we are sure not to wander far from the i)ath, which 

 leads to ev(Mitual success. 



Mriho/ls of (H)srrr(iti(ni. — 'fo be really finitfnl, observation must 

 possess several peculiarities and (jualities. in the first place, we 

 must see accurately and then we must understand what we have seen, 

 aiul then again we must apply our ac([uire(l knowledge to the de- 

 tailed investigation of the performances of the great masleis in the 

 art of flighf. 



To see aeeiiralfl\ . il is not only necess;ii> lo haxc good eyes, to know 

 how to keep in the Held of the teieseo[)e a bird going at full speed, but 

 still more, to know what to look at, what it is inipoi'tant to obserNC. 

 I''or instanet', when :in amateur, little aeeustoin<'d to this kind of 

 observation, hears an exi^Tt allirni. peremptorily, that the little black 

 dot just i)ercei>tible in the sky is a male kestrel falcon (Faiicon 

 er<;cerelle), he fancies the expert to be wool gathering, and yet the 

 assertion is quite true. 



(liven the black <lot perceived by the expert, who has actiuircd skill 

 HI such (»bser\ at ions, a kestrel falcon is easih' recognized in the air. 



