1872.] Natural and Artificial Flight. 37 
loped. We have also seen that man possesses the requisite 
strength to raise himself, could the mechanical means be 
devised. What has been effected by the mechanical means 
already devised? Almost nothing, for so little has been 
done upon principle. The ‘‘Chalon” machine, drawings of 
which were exhibited some time since at the Aéronautical 
Society’s meetings, appeared as one of the best perfected 
schemes,—consisting in elevation primarily by means of 
gas, wings then giving control to the machine. But even in 
this case the relative proportion of surface to weight was 
overlooked ; it would be almost impossible to direct such a 
machine against the wind. It follows, evidently, that if gas 
is to be employed as a means of elevation, when elevation is 
attained some other agency must take the place of gas. 
Perhaps the machine attended with the greatest practical 
success has been that of Mr. Charles Sinclair, who managed 
to raise himself some 15 feet in the air without the assistance 
of a specifically lighter material. His plan consisted in 
fastening to the body of the aéronaut a series of parallel 
aéro-planes, somewhat similar to a set of shelves made of 
light frame-work, covered with canvas, and arranged at 
about 2 or 3 inches from each other. Running against the 
wind with these quasi-wings attached to his body, Mr. Sin- 
clair, in his first experiment, found himself elevated a few 
feet, when one of the planes shifted, and he was violently 
hurled to the ground. ‘The machine mended, with several 
improvements in its constru¢tion, he again essayed to attain 
some slight elevation, and, with a preliminary run of roo feet, 
rose steadily in the air to a height of 15 feet. This experi- 
ment would seem to point to some modification of a boy’s 
kite as a means of elevation. Anyone who has seen a 
Canadian ice-boat has observed how, at the slightest check, 
such as that afforded by a small block of ice, the vessel is 
raised by the force of the wind upon the sails, and carried 
over the impediment. Similarly the boy runs with his kite 
to raise it ; but we must seek some other means of imparting 
the required momentum, probably by the inclined plane for 
that afforded by running. Until some motor is found 
capable of working in a small compass, and with a moderate 
weight of fuel, the idea of flying by the aid of extraneous 
machinery must be given up, and man must trust to his own 
strength. But, despite failures, there can only be offered to 
aéronauts an argument similar to that offered to Watts and 
Stephenson,—‘‘ Man never has flown,’—but we must stop 
short of saying—‘“‘ and he never will.” 
