Maboh 17, 1911] 



SCIENCE 



417 



and the Mississippi Eiver bridge at Fort 

 Madison. 



In 1889 Mr. Chanute removed his office to 

 Chicago, where he engaged in promoting the 

 preservation of timber against decay, by chem- 

 ical methods. 



Mr. Chanute became a member of the 

 American Society of Civil Engineers, Febru- 

 ary 19, 1868, and has contributed a goodly 

 number of papers to its Transactions. In 

 1891 he was president of that society; in 1901 

 he was president of the Western Society of 

 Civil Engineers, and was honorary member 

 of similar societies in England, France and 

 Chile. 



In October, 1891, there appeared in The 

 Railroad and Engineering Journal, of New 

 York, the first of a series of articles on " Prog- 

 ress in Flying Machines," written by Mr. 

 Chanute. The series was extended in the next 

 two or three years, and in 1894 was published 

 in book form under the above title. It is a 

 volume of over three hundred pages and it 

 tells both of failure and progress. The author, 

 bringing all of his resources as a skilled engi- 

 neer to bear upon the unsuccessful experi- 

 ments, analyzed all of the more important 

 work done by scores of men and tried to point 

 out, as much as might be, the causes of failure. 

 In the preface to the book it is stated that 

 one of the writer's objects in preparing the 

 papers was "to satisfy himself whether, with 

 our present knowledge and appliances, men 

 might reasonably hope to fly through the air." 

 He said that in his opinion " this question 

 can be answered in the affirmative." It meant 

 much to the believers in the possibility of 

 mechanical flight to have the endorsement of 

 an engineer of the highest standing given to a 

 discredited line of research. 



In 1892 Dr. A. F. Zahm, of Notre Dame 

 (Ind.) University, now of Washington, D. C, 

 proposed the holding of an International Con- 

 ference on Aerial Navigation in connection 

 with the World's Congress Auxiliary of the 

 World's Columbian Exposition of 1893. 



In this Dr. Zahm was heartily seconded by 

 Mr. Chanute, who was made chairman of the 

 committee, Dr. Zahm being chosen secretary. 

 The officers of the World's Congress Auxiliary, 



of which Mr. C. C. Bonney was president, gave 

 cordial cooperation to the plan. 



The conference formed a division of the 

 General Engineering Congress and took place 

 in the Memorial Art Palace, in Chicago, 

 August 1, 2, 3 and 4, 1903. It was the first 

 aeronautical congress held in America, and 

 the third international one. 



Mr. Chanute presided over the session on 

 the opening day, the topic for the day being 

 " Scientific Principles." In opening the con- 

 ference he said: 



It is well to recognize from the beginning that 

 we have met here for a conference upon an un- 

 usual subject; one in which commercial success 

 is not yet to be discerned, and in which the gen- 

 eral public, not knowing of the progress really 

 accomplished, has little interest and still less 

 confidence. 



The paragraph just quoted well shows the 

 status of interest in aerial navigation in 1893. 

 Though peculiarly conservative Mr. Chanute 

 expressed his conviction that dirigible balloons 

 would presently attain a speed of twenty-five 

 miles an hour, an estimate which is fully 

 justified by subsequent events. He likewise 

 maintained the practicability of achieving 

 mechanical flight by gradual evolution, util- 

 izing the results of the accumulated labors of 

 many scientific contributors. He indicated 

 the chief component problems already solved 

 and awaiting solution. " The equipoise," 

 said he, " is, in my own judgment, one of the 

 most important problems yet to be solved in 

 aviation." 



The papers read at and contributed to the 

 conference fill a volume of more than four 

 hundred pages. The attendance averaged 

 about one hundred at each session, com- 

 prising the most prominent men in the engi- 

 neering profession. 



In the summer of 1896 Mr. Chanute began 

 his now well-known experiments on the sand 

 dunes with man-carrying gliders. These were 

 continued in the following year. The ac- 

 counts of this very important part of his 

 work have been fully given in various maga- 

 zines and pamphlets. 



Beginning with the glider of the form which 

 had been used by the German, Lilienthal, two 



