September 4, 1896.] 



SCIENCE. 



303 



Notes on the Determination of Phosphorus in Steel and 



Cast Iron {25m.). Geo. Auchy, 

 The Development of Smokeless Powder {10m.). C. E. 



MUNEOE. 



The afternoons were spent in visiting the 

 several manufactories in the city and vicin- 

 ity. After transacting the necessary busi- 

 ness the session adjourned. The winter 

 meeting will be held at Troy, N. Y. 



LILIENTHAL, THE AVIATOR. 



The death of Otto Lilienthal, the avia- 

 tor, and the fatal accidents which have 

 been so common of late among balloonists, 

 are likely to check somewhat the work of 

 experimentation in aerial navigation; but it 

 is not probable that it will put a stop to re- 

 search in this seductive though dangerous 

 field. ]N'ecessarily involving experiment at 

 the speed of a railway train, and at consider- 

 able heights above the ground, aviation is 

 especially hazardous. Herr Lilienthal, 

 whose death is reported to have occurred 

 August 11th, through the breaking down of 

 his apparatus when at the full height of 

 his flight from the hill at Ehinow, is per- 

 haps the greatest loss that the cause of 

 aviation could at this time experience. 



He was the most successful and one of 

 the most enthusiastic of all the many in- 

 ventors who have entered upon this field of 

 work. He was in the prime of his life, 

 forty-seven years of age, and had already 

 accomplished enough to convince himself 

 and many careful observers of the possi- 

 bility of artificial flight, once the motor 

 could be found to supplement his apparatus 

 of support. He was a steam-engine builder, 

 and familiar with the available motors, and 

 was confident that only patience, persever- 

 ance and skilful engineering were required 

 to insure complete success. A firm be- 

 liever in aviation, as distinguished from 

 ballooning, he had accomplished so much 

 in the construction of the apparatus of 

 flight, and had succeeded so far in actual. 



soaring flight that his confidence seemed 

 well justified. 



The machine employed was a system of 

 aeroplanes forming wings and a tail; the 

 wings being given a certain curvature, al- 

 ways observed in the wings of birds and 

 which Lilienthal found to be essential to 

 best eflect. The material was 'balloon 

 muslin,' impregnated with collodion to 

 make it impervious to air, and stretched 

 upon frames of split osier, and fitted with 

 great care and skill. He was, at the time 

 of his death, experimenting upon carbonic 

 acid and other motors. The weight of his 

 apparatus was from 33 to 55 pounds, as 

 lately constructed (15 to 25 kilos); its 

 area of supporting surface, 10 to 20 square 

 meters. The spread of wing was usually 

 about 23 feet (7 meters). With this ma- 

 chine, Lilienthal insisted that the art of 

 flying might be acquired, or at least that of 

 soaring flight, as readily as that of riding a 

 bicycle. He made thousands of flights 

 without serious accident, and was confi- 

 dent that comparatively little danger was 

 to be anticipated if the method were cau- 

 tiously learned. His experience indicated, 

 he considered, that the exercise is on a par 

 in this respect with bicycling, for though 

 the latter sport gives rise to daily, and 

 sometimes fatal, accidents, it is rightly 

 commended and encouraged. His experi- 

 ments confirmed, as he has stated, the de- 

 ductions of Langley relative to the ' in- 

 ternal work of the air.' 



Lilienthal was a frequent contributor to 



the German technical journals, and wrote a 



small work detailing his experiments and 



the methods of construction and operation 



of his machines.* Expecting to secure 



some pecuniary advantage, in time, from 



his inventions, he patented them in this 



country as well as in Europe. 



^ ^, E. H. Thueston. 



Cornell University. 



*Der Vogelflug als Grundlage der Fliegekunst, 

 Berlin, 1889. 



