FLYING AND FLYING-MACHINES. 329 



weight of a machine intended for flight should be as 

 small as may be, due regard being had to strength and 

 completeness. But there is little, I conceive, in the 

 structure of flying creatures, which points to buoyancy 

 as a desirable feature in a flying-machine. 



We come next to a much more important point, 

 namely, extent of supporting surface. "We are to 

 consider the air now, not with regard to its density, 

 the quality which enables a balloon, filled with rarer 

 gas, to float in air, but with reference to its power of 

 resisting downward motion through it; that is, of 

 resisting the effects of gravity. We have to inquire 

 what extent of surface, spread either in the form of 

 wings or as in parachutes, will suffice to support a man 

 or a flying-machine. It is here that the researches 

 recently made seem to bear most significantly upon the 

 question of the possibility of flight. 



The history of the parachute affords some insight 

 into the supporting power of the air some, but not 

 much. The parachute has been commonly suffered to 

 fall from beneath the car of a balloon. Suspended 

 thus, in the lee, so to speak, of the balloon's mass, and 

 with its supporting surface unexpanded, the parachute 

 descends under highly unfavourable conditions. A 

 great velocity of descent is acquired before the 

 parachute is fully expanded, and thus the parachute 

 has to resist a greater down-drawing force than would 

 be the case if the machine were open, and surrounded 

 on all sides by free air, at starting. The consequence 

 is a great and sudden strain upon all parts of the 



