CHAPTER X 



THE POWER OF FLIGHT 



With the exception of insects, of which there 

 are very ancient traces, the power of flight 

 seems first to have developed in the Reptihan 

 Order, though there it has since lapsed. Then 

 winged birds appeared on the earth, and now 

 each of the remaining great Natural Divisions : 

 viz., Aves, Pisces and Mammalia, have flpng 

 representatives. Had the power of flight not 

 so developed, it is possible that man, who takes 

 his cue from nature, might never have dis- 

 covered the fact that a body can be supported 

 and moved in an element lighter than itself. 

 Though man has always had the true model, it 

 was long before he succeeded in imitating, in 

 some degree, the flight of a bird — ^amazing 

 result of natural evolution. 



The aeroplane, a wonderful contrivance of 

 man's skill and ingenuity, would seem the 

 nearest approach to natural flight he is ever 

 likely to achieve ; for though modified and 

 improved, it must always remain what it is, 



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