514 The Air Road [March 28, 



and Orville Wright, of America, after studying a book written by 

 Otto Lihenthal, made an aeroplane, driven by one of their own 

 engines, which acted efficiently, and they attained the proud position 

 of being the first to accomphsh protracted flight over great distances. 



The aeronaut of the day has a duty of gratitude to the Lilienthals 

 and to the Wrights for their brilliant achievements as pioneers of 

 aviation. The first complete knowledge of the essential condition of 

 flying was made by Lilienthal ; the first practical flight, in accordance 

 with this condition, by the Wrights. Their work and patience led to 

 the efficiency of to-day. 



[In the course of his Discourse the Lecturer referred to the work 

 of Dumont, Sir George Cayley, Henson, Phillips, Wenham, Sir Hiram 

 Maxim, Ader, Professor Langley, Charles Rolls, Bleriot and Hawker.] 



The Road of the Air is the medium in which all the work of the 

 inventors has to show its efficiency, for in mechanical flight it is the 

 air which, while it makes flight possible, yet gives rise by its vagaries 

 to the many difficulties to be encountered. Thus the effort to 

 accomplish flight through the air safely has necessarily led to a closer 

 study of the densities, the temperatures, the humidities and the 

 motions of the " invisible road " than had hitherto been made. 



There can be no doubt that the Air Road has passed from the 

 region of the imaginative to the region of the practical. Much that 

 was deemed impossible has been accomplished, and there is promise 

 of greater things in the immediate future. 



[J. H.A.M.] 



