THE TRIUMPH OF THE AEROPLANE 



flying-machine. While others caviled and doubted, 

 these two modest inventors worked and accomplished ; 

 until presently they were able to put in evidence a 

 mechanism that may perhaps without exaggeration be 

 regarded as the harbinger of a new era of civilization. 



The interest of these two brothers in the fascinating 

 field of air navigation was first excited when, as boys, 

 their father, a clergyman, brought home for their amuse- 

 ment the little toy known to scientists as a *^ h^licopt^re," 

 which, actuated by twisted rubbers that drive tiny 

 paper screws in opposite directions, actually rises and 

 flutters through the air. "A toy so delicate lasted only 

 a short time in the hands of small boys, but its memory 

 was abiding" the inventors themselves have tersely 

 said. So abiding, indeed, that a few years later they 

 began making similar "bats," as they had dubbed the 

 machines. 



Soon they discovered that the larger the machine 

 they made the less it flew, and in pondering this fact 

 they gradually evolved for themselves the theory 

 which is now known as Langley's unyielding mathe- 

 matical law, referred to a few pages back. The pTX)b- 

 lem of human flight had not been considered by them 

 at this time, and it was not until the news of LilienthaPs 

 death startled the world that they entered the field of 

 invention in earnest. Then they began constructing 

 gliding machines, modifications of those of Lilienthal 

 and Chanute, and began making long flights, studying 

 defects and overcoming adverse conditions as they 

 presented themselves. 



By 1901, they had surpassed the performances of all 

 VOL. vn.— 19 [ 289 ] 



