FLYING AND FLYING-MACHINES. $2$ 



the man ; the balloonist must take a supply of ballast ; 

 and other like considerations have to be attended to, 

 all of which render it necessary that the balloon should 

 be larger than we have hitherto supposed. Apart, how- 

 ever, from all such considerations, we find the very 

 least proportion between the size of the balloon in- 

 tended to carry one person, and the size of the human 

 body, to be about as one thousand to one. Buoyant 

 vessels constructed on such a scale must needs present 

 an enormous surface ; and therefore, not only must 

 they strongly resist all attempts made to propel them 

 in any direction, but the lightest wind must have more 

 effect upon them than any efforts made by those they 

 carry. As for any power which should avail to propel 

 a balloon against a strong wind, the idea seems too 

 chimerical to be entertained. Until men can see their 

 way to propelling a buoyant body (one thousand times 

 larger than the weight it supports), at the rate of 

 fifteen or twenty miles an hour through calm air, they 

 cannot expect even to resist the action of a steady 

 breeze on a balloon, far less to travel against the wind. 

 But even if it were possible to conceive of any con- 

 trivance by which a balloon could be propelled rapidly 

 through calm air, yet the mere motion of the balloon, 

 at such a rate, would sway the balloon from its proper 

 position, and probably cause its destruction. A power 

 which could propel the car of a balloon through calm 

 air at the rate of twenty miles an hour, would cause 

 precisely the same effect on the balloon itself, as though 

 the car were fixed, while a heavy wind was blowing 



