THE LANGLEY AERODROME. 199 



Alexander Graham Bell was the only witness. His contemporary 

 statement may be found in the Comptes Rendus of the French Insti- 

 tute, CXXII, May 26, 1896. 



A similar statement by him in the pages of Nature, May 28, 1896, 

 vol. 54, is as follows: 



Through the courtesy of Mr. S. P. Langley, Secretary of the Smithsonian Institu- 

 tion, I have had on various occasions the privilege of witnessing his experiments 

 with aerodromes, and especially the remarkable success attained by him in experi- 

 ments made on the Potomac River on Wednesday, May 6, which led me to urge him 

 to make public some of these results. 



I had the pleasure of witnessing the successful flight of some of these aerodromes 

 more than a year ago, but Professor Langley' s reluctance to make the results public 

 at that time prevented me from asking him, as I have done since, to let me give an 

 account of what I saw. 



On the date named two ascensions were made by the aerodrome, or so-called "fly- 

 ing machine," which I will not describe here further than to say that it appeared to 

 me to be built almost entirely of metal and driven by a steam engine, which I have 

 understood was carrying fuel and a water supply for a very brief period, and which 

 was of extraordinary lightness. 



The absolute weight of the aerodrome, including that of the engine and all appur- 

 tenances, was, as I was told, about 25 pounds, and the distance from tip to tip of the 

 supporting surfaces was, as I observed, about 12 or 14 feet. 



The method of propulsion was by aerial screw propellers, and there was no gas or 

 other aid for lifting it in the air except its own internal energy. 



On the occasion referred to the aerodrome at a given signal started from a plat- 

 form about 20 feet above the water and rose at first directly in the face of the wind, 

 moving at all times with remarkable steadiness, and subsequently swinging around 

 in large curves of perhaps a hundred yards in diameter, and continually ascending 

 until its steam was exhausted, when, at a lapse of about a minute and a half and at 

 a height which I judged to be between 80 and 100 feet in the air, the wheels ceased 

 turning, and the machine, deprived of the aid of its propellers, to my surprise did 

 not fall, but settled down so softly and gently that it touched the water without the 

 least shock, and was in fact immediately ready for another trial. 



In the second trial, which followed directly, it repeated in nearly every respect the 

 actions of the first, except that the direction of its course was different. It ascended 

 again in the face of the wind, afterwards moving steadily and continually in large 

 curves accompanied with a rising motion and a lateral advance. Its motion was, in 

 fact, so steady that I think a glass of water on its surface would have remained 

 unspilled. When the steam gave out again it repeated for a second time the expe- 

 rience of the first trial when the steam had ceased, and settled gently and easily down. 

 What height it reached at this trial I can not say, as I was not so favorably placed as 

 in the first, but I had occasion to notice that this time its course took it over a wooded 

 promontory, and I was relieved of some apprehension in seeing that it was already 

 so high as to pass the tree tops by 20 or 30 feet. It reached the water one minute 

 and thirty-one seconds from the time it started, at a measured distance of over 900 

 feet from the point at which it rose. 



This, however, was by no means the length of its flight. I estimated from the 

 diameter of the curve described, from the number of turns of the propellers, as given 

 by the automatic coimter, after due allowance for slip, and from other measures, that 

 the actual length of flight on each occasion was slightly over 3,000 feet. It is at least 

 safe to say that each exceeded half an English mile. 



From the time and distance it will be noticed that the velocity was between 20 and 

 25 miles an hour, in a course which was constantly taking it "up hill." I may add 



