THE CONQUEST OF TIME AND SPACE 



strated still more conclusively that erstwhile earth- 

 bound man had really learned to fly. His longest 

 flight lasted for two hours, twenty minutes, and twenty- 

 three seconds; while by flying over captive balloons 

 at an altitude of three hundred and sixty feet, he 

 demonstrated that the mere matter of altitude offered 

 no obstacle. 



From this time forward the number of aeronauts in- 

 creased day by day, and new records were made in 

 bewildering confusion. Only a few of the more spectac- 

 ular of these need be referred to. On July ig, 1909, 

 Hubert Latham attempted a flight across the English 

 Channel, but his motor failed him and his machine 

 plunged into the water, from which, however, he was 

 rescued, having suffered no injury. On July 25th, 

 Louis Bleriot made a similar attempt with better re- 

 sults. Starting from the cliffs near Calais he made the 

 passage without mishap and landed near Dover. 



There was of course no particular difficulty involved 

 in the flight across the Channel ; but its obvious dangers, 

 together with the suggestion as to the new possibilities 

 of the use of the airship in war time, — the virtual 

 elimination of that all-important barrier of water that 

 had proved so effective against England's foes in the 

 past, — gave to Bleriot 's flight a popular interest not 

 exceeded by any preceding achievement even of the 

 Wright brothers. We may add that Bleriot's feat was 

 presently duplicated by another Frenchman, Count 

 Jacques de Lesseps by name, who crossed the Chan- 

 nel in an aeroplane in May, 19 10; and excelled by the 

 Hon. Charles S. Rolls, an Englishman, who on June 



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