AERIAL LOCOMOTION 439 



a practical and durable flyer that will carry an operator and supplies 

 of fuel for a flight of over 500 miles at a speed of 50 miles an hour." 



In a great conflict like the recent oriental war, one such machine 

 could do more reconnoitering than ^0,000 armed men. For, in a few 

 hours, it could completely survey and snap-shot the enemy's main field 

 of operations, though covering hundreds of square miles. A fleet of 

 such machines, armed with bombs and fire pellets, could devastate the 

 whole of an enemy's border, both towns and villages, unless opposed 

 by other flyers. Possibly, also, a fleet of this kind could protect a 

 nation's seaboard against the attack of battleships, unless the latter were 

 accompanied by an aerial squadron. Therefore, if one great nation 

 keep flyers, all the world-powers must have them. 



But this seems like hunting for trouble with a search light just before 

 daybreak. Whatever be the mission of the flying-machine, I think we 

 may say of it as the English do: "The thing is bound to come, 

 whether we like it or not." "And damned be he who first cries 

 hold !" 



As to Dr. Bell's researches in this interesting and now popular field 

 of inquiry, I would say, first, that every earnest friend of science 

 should be very grateful to him for lending his illustrious name to a 

 much ridiculed pursuit, at a time when it jeopardized one's peace and 

 good name publicly to promote mechanical flight. I well remember 

 with what apprehension Mr. Chanute consented to become chairman 

 of the first international conference on aerial navigation in this country. 

 And we all too well remember the attitude of many people toward 

 Dr. Langley's painstaking and unobtrusive investigations. The Wright 

 brothers, also, experienced hostile treatment in certain quarters before 

 their success was known. Even after the news of their splendid flights 

 of last year had been circulated privately among their friends, we 

 heard many apparently intelligent dogmatists assert that it is not the 

 design of Providence, or of Nature, that a human being should fly; 

 and that, furthermore, the performance is manifestly impossible. 

 This is another illustration of the value of public opinion in matters of 

 technical import. But fortunately, the destinies of science are not 

 dominated wholly by the vote of the majority, nor yet by grand officials, 

 whether legislative or executive, else, I fear we never should have 

 either a science or an art of aerial locomotion. 



Another service for which we may thank Dr. Bell is his having met 



publicly, both by model and by argument, a profound objection of the 



mathematicians, based on that ancient Euclidean theorem connecting 



the surfaces and volumes of similar figures with certain powers of their 



Proc. Wash. Acad. Sci., March, 1907. 



