380 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XLIX. No. 1268 



called to an editorial article with the above 

 caption, in the American Journal of Mining, 

 April 25, 1868, Vol. V., p. 264, which later 

 became the well-known Engineering and Min- 

 ing Journal. A comparison of what is accom- 

 plished now with the scientific view of that 

 day, a little over fifty years ago, may prove 

 interesting to the readers of Science. 

 In part, the article states : 



Inventors have puzzled their minds for ages to 

 compass the problem of air navigation by machines 

 or by flying men; and but little advance has been 

 made. ... It would of course be absurd to af- 

 firm that anything could not be. done, in this age 

 of the world; but while this feat may be accom- 

 plished to an extent "enough to say so," we are 

 incredulous of any practical benefit of the thing 

 to man. . . . The force which a man is able to 

 es^end in rapid ascension of heights, even with 

 the firm earth under his feet, is very small; and 

 we have never seen any principle elucidated which 

 was able by apparatus to increase his power or 

 lessen his gravity in proportion to it. 



The balloon remains; but that, if used, presents 

 such a surface to the atmosphere that it can not 

 be accurately guided without, by means of steam- 

 boilers or other weighty machinery, storing up 

 power for propulsion, in a manner of itself too 

 cumbrous and heavy for successful navigation. 



So that, whether it is for his own personal flight 

 through the air or the management of a great at- 

 mospheric ship, man seems to be hemmed in on 

 every side by almost insuperable natural difScul- 

 ties. And besides, even were all this' obviated, 

 •who would run the risk of accidents at a great 

 height above the earth, beyond the reach of help — 

 but not of gravitation? It is an interesting prob- 

 lem, and may result in pretty scientific toys; but 

 far real helpfulness to humanity we see but little in 

 Aeronautics. 



Taking the vast change that has been 

 worked out in the life time of many of ns, 

 does it not afford encouragement to our young 

 people to endeavor to solve the many problems 

 lying before them, ere the next fifty years 

 shall pass 1 



M. E. Wadsworth, 



JDean Emeritus 

 School of Mines, 



TjNrVEESITT OP PlTTSBUKGH 



KEEPING STEP 



To THE Editor of Science : Sound travels 

 about 1,060 feet per second at 0° C, or 265 feet 

 in one fourth second. The soldier next the 

 drummer steps with the drumbeat, the soldier 

 265 feet in the rear is one fourth second late 

 and has his foot in the air when the foot of 

 the front man is on the ground. This is be- 

 cause they march at 120 steps per minute (2 

 steps per second), which gives one half a step 

 in one fourth second. Hence the soldier who 

 hears the signal one fourth second late will 

 fall one half step behind. I have seen this in 

 columns turning into Victoria Street from 

 "Westminster Cathedral, at Lancaster Gate or 

 HoUoway Road, on Salisbury Plain, etc. 



When tired out or on rough roads soldiers 

 left to themselves do not keep step; but it is 

 a remarkable fact that the only time they keep 

 perfect step is when they are without sound 

 ■signals. If the drum begins they lose perfect 

 step at once and the feet are seen to strike the 

 ground in receding waves as the sound passes 

 down the line. If the drum stops, the men in 

 two or three seconds get into perfect step again, 

 and go with a sway and swing absent at other 

 times. The Ereneh term it rapport or esprit 

 du corps. Is there a mutual subconseioiis force 

 passing between the men? In a short brochure 

 of experiments in such matters to be found at 

 public libraries I have suggested an explana- 

 tion. Is it the right one? I should be glad to 

 hear from American observers of the phe- 

 nomena. Walter Moore Coleman, 

 Fellow of the Physical Society of London 



Harston, Cambridge, England 



QUOTATIONS 



THE ORGANIZATION OF RESEARCH IN 

 GREAT BRITAIN 



In a paper on the state organization of re- 

 search, read at a recent meeting of the Royal 

 Society of Arts, Sir Erank Heath, K.C.B., 

 Secretary of the Department of Scientific and 

 Industrial Research, succeeded in compressing 

 into a few pages a lucid amount of the work 

 of his department. His characterization of 

 research in general is, so far as it goes, ex- 

 cellent, and ought to be taken to heart by the 



