468 FLY 
Flying. @d 6 feathers, Jong and light, and in general tapering 
at: those of: insects consist, (in some, of a thin 
pd cent Cam substance, covered with scales, which 
fall off ina powder, or of a reticulated frame, or of thick 
horny plates con) with the thinnest membranes. 
Bat all these varieties perform ana functions, in 
enabling the animals to accomplish theif aérial navi, 
tions. Nevertheless, their mode\of ction, is pot alike, 
and great specific gravity"is overcome by the rapidity 
of percussion on the air." ‘Thus, the broad wings of the 
butterfly, slightly exerted, sustain it as if floating above, 
while the wings of the humble bee are in the quickest 
raotion daring its flight. There is also'a considerable va- 
riety in the structure of birds, ‘and in their powers of 
flying. Some, as the kite, the eagle, and the swallow, rise 
to an incredible height, while in,’ the ostrich, 
and the emu, are incapable of elevating themselves from 
the earth. The penguin is provided only with short fea- 
thered stumps ; the ontrich has wings which are never 
ed but to assist it in rurining ; and the texture 
of the whole — of the emu plainly evinces, that 
it is not formed for flight. ‘It is not a covering of fea- 
thers, therefore, that imparts the faculty of aérial trans- 
portation ; nor is it essential that wings should be com- 
posed of light substances. poe ns 
Mankind have considered it possible’ to attain this 
faculty by the aid of artificial wings ; and have always 
resorted to them, in history and fiction, as the primary 
mode of rising aloft in the air. It is an idea that has 
been equally indulged by the ancients and the moderns. 
Dedalus thought to effect his escape from Crete, by the 
close iniitation of nature, as pictured by Ovid. 
Fistula disparit 
Tum lino medias, et cevis alligat imag 
Atque ita compositas parvo curvamine flectit 
Ut veras imitentur aves. ‘Meramonrn. lib. 8. 
But the ancierits went farther than ‘the mere concep- 
tion of such efforts} for we are told that they constructed 
machines in the figure of animals, which could actually 
fly. At the same time it must be acknowl] , that this 
is rather reported from tradition, than described by spec- 
tators, asthe wooden pi of Archytas, which is alluded 
to by Aulus Gellius, in these words, “Sed id quod Archy- 
tam Pythagoreum commentum esse atque fecisse traditur : 
, arash ms erry pobipro has videri 
dat hana rique nobilium Gracorum et Favorinus 
us memoriarum_ velerum (eo ogy affir~ 
ips i e. ligno ab 
account is less specific than could be desired of so. sin= 
gular a contrivance ; and, although it has been imita- 
ted by the moderns, there is the same defective expla. 
nation, After Charles V. resi oe, va various 
expedients were invented to amuse his leisure hours : 
Sot tea Seay ame oe cco 
ySrtin red fo epc 
fly, which having left his hand, flew about, and.at 
length, as if weary, returned to its master, -me- 
chanics have been content with representing the me~ 
ING. 
tions of birds on the earth, but not in flight ; though ee ; 
this is less difficult than may be supposed, 
Bishop Wilkins considers, “ that there are four se- 
veral ways beet this fyi in 2% geteniey 
may be atternpted, two em 
cae things, and two of them by our own strength. 
L. By —_ or angels; 2. By the of fowls; 3. By 
wings fastened immediately to the botly; 4. By a flying 
chariot/” The first he rejects as not being founded on 
nataral and artificial grounds, and the we have 
seen realised in the modern invention of balloons ; the 
second has se wht ne tried, though the extreme 
docility of animals mi it apparent! ‘be an encourage. 
ae the third has excited : notice, and 
the ingenious have endeavoured to reduce it to prac- 
tice. “5 wey 7 iy Se 
The chief and principal obstacle has ‘been found in 
that law of nature, whereby bodies of greater 
gravity than the fluids wherein they are immersed sink 
in them ; but this proposition is liable to modification, 
partly resulting from i of the body and the 
motion of the fluid. observers cannot fail to 
have remarked, that towards autumn the dandelion, a 
common » is covered with a do substance, 
Pals tr prota Uae tf gute Ixeale & ee Nighy 
falls to the , but ina e, it rises hi 
peckrtect eh ef mtaih in the air, until 
it ‘from our sight. 25 minute inspec 
tion, this substance is vered to represent a para- 
chute in miniature; the head, is feathery, and at the 
Oh at cae i 
vi e atmosphere. The 
One we see floating around us, is of considerable 
specific gravity; and it is sin, ‘ that it is not those 
birds eae erty ose bins it, nor those of a 
least specific gravity, that > greatest distances. 
the feathery Ganecaee could be put in motion while 
the air is at rest; or if an analogous machine, very light, 
could strike the surrounding atmosphere by any means 
that could be devised, its rise and progressive motion 
would be certain. sasefl Yeu I 
Weread of attempts at artificial flying in various coun- 
tries and at different et but we sod left without 
information respecting the means em : it has been 
conjectured, > stores that most of ne performances 
resembled the descent of ‘mountebanks on ropes, from 
lofty places, secured by a or traveller, while 
the agitation of) wi _ to their shoulders 
broke the force. of fall. Such was the exploit 
of an ese who, at the carder haga teed 
VL d ed a ; compared to a i ’s cable 
stretched from the ents of St Paul's steeple 
to the ground, running on his breast as if it had been 
an arrow out of a bow.” Of the like description were 
the exhibitions, of a juggler on: a rope stretched from’ 
pg gear age an Edinburg’ 
ed w the cross in 1598. | But these feats of address 
had frequently a fatal termination ; as’ that of ‘another 
from the battlements of St Paul's in the 
4 
of Mary; and as -at Shrew: in the year 
1739, where one, who was no mount, having 
successfully performed several tricks on ‘a ‘rope 
a Tope ex- 
tended from the of St Mary’s: Seen oggdhe 
daient tnadinthe river, whe aenirind ie Was 
dashed to pieces by the fall: nett: poos. ret 
of old, exhibited in-these i 3° elsewhere, 
chigea ath repented alineldan Gouaaselayte divinities pro 
vided with wings, flying to meet soverei rinces on 
their triumphal entry into cities; bat dhe thode in-whidh 
this was accomplished ismot‘deseribed) 4 
h, and fasten" 
