THE CONQUEST OF TIME AND SPACE 



a strong wind, can attain such speeds as have been 

 suggested. 



Of course, atmospheric pressure affects the automo- 

 bile no less than the bird. In record-breaking speed 

 tests of the automobile, machine and driver are in 

 effect subjected to the influence of a veritable tornado. 

 Theoretically it seems almost incredible that any power 

 could drive a ton of metal against the air at such a speed ; 

 practically we see the feat accomplished. But the 

 automobilist has tales to tell of the power of the wind 

 against his face that are easily credible. Even at ordi- 

 nary speed in a touring-car, as most of us can testify, 

 the wind blows a gale, veritably forcing tears from the 

 eyes of the novice and blowing them back over his ears. 

 To modify the antagonism of the wind, the construc- 

 tors of racing motor cars adopt a model suggested 

 originally by the body of a bird or of a fish, and long 

 since made familiar by the shipbuilder. 



A MIRACULOUS TRANSFORMATION OF ENERGY 



Most of the automobiles, as everybody is aware, are 

 propelled by gasoline engines. This is not their least 

 wonderful feature. To the ordinary observer it seems 

 quite incredible that a little whiff of air mixed with 

 the fumes of a few drops of gasoline should produce 

 a power that can drive pistons with such force as to 

 throw forward what is virtually a bullet weighing more 

 than a ton. 



The power that propels this amazing projectile 

 consisted in the aggregate of a few cubic feet of gas- 



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