6 A WONDERER UNDER SEA 



nance of our thoughts and vocabulary is quite apparent, 

 and I hastily offer "stratum" or "zone" as a substitute 

 for "field of activity." 



With all its amazing and intensive evolution, the con- 

 crete intellectual returns from aviation are most super- 

 ficial. The atmosphere itself is transparent, we already 

 knew its properties from experience with birds, kites, and 

 hurricanes, while lofty mountains have taught us its thin- 

 ning and chilling with increase of altitude. The results 

 of aviation are almost wholly of repercussent value, mak- 

 ing for increase in the surface veneer of terrestrial knowl- 

 edge and exploration, giving us bird's-eye views and 

 enabling us to go from here to there more rapidly. Its 

 prime value lies in map making and other vertically- 

 viewed studies of physical geography, while the supreme 

 contribution should be the golden hours and days which 

 it wrests from Time and places in our hands as sheer gifts 

 to our span of earthly life. So far, however, I have seen 

 little of the splendor of creative use to which these might 

 be devoted. I once circled the entire planet from west to 

 east and gained a day, and childishly thought to save this 

 for some unusual purpose, something for which otherwise 

 I might never have time or opportunity. But the added 

 day seems long ago to have been frittered away in the 

 myriad reasonless occupations of modern civilization. 



I once felt that I had overcome a host of mental ob- 

 structions and fears when I dared the reputed dangers 

 of tropical jungles, savages, and wild creatures, and found 



