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■would be too great for satisfactory results, while any other shape 

 than that of a balloon, would add too seriously to the weight 

 for the matter to be worthy of consideration. It is found that 

 birds are about four liundred times heavier than the air they 

 displace, and if a fish were as heavy as platinum, it would be 

 light in comparison with the bird in the air. The fish is able 

 to make itself heavier or lighter, to a certain extent, and this is 

 a quality that is absent from the balloon. At present, the power 

 of ascending or descending cannot be obtained without loss of 

 either ballast or gas, neither of which can be replaced. 



The lecturer described the requisites of flight to be weight, 

 surface, and force. He argued that if man coiild construct the 

 necessary surface of strength sufficient to insure safety, he ought 

 to be able to add, by the aid of engine power, sufficient velocity 

 to obtain support on the atmosphere. There is no difficulty in 

 imitating the flight of birds, as the mechanical action of the 

 wing is not complicated. 



Mr. Brearey looked forward with much hope to this question 

 of bird-like flight, and considered that it was not so much power 

 that was wanted, as a right application of it. After demonstra- 

 ting the propelling action of a vertical screw, he went on to 

 remark that there seemed to him a lack of the appearance of 

 safety in any of the plans hitherto proposed in which gas was 

 dispensed with. He had turned his attention to the parachute, 

 and had invented what he termed a " Wave Action Aerial," which 

 could carry a considerable weight in proportion to its surface. 

 He exhibited this apparatus to the audience ; it had a loose and 

 rather extensive surface, and its flight exhibited a wave action 

 similar to the movement of a skate in the water. 



The lecture was illustrated by experiments with models of 

 various forms and dimensions, illustrating flight by projection, 

 by gravity, by screw action, and by wing action. The want of 

 space considerably interfered with the experiments, but the models 

 flew a sufficient distance to show the lecturer's intention, and 

 their flight excited a good deal of interest. 



