REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 7 



at that time prevented me from asking him, as I have done since, to let me give an 

 account of what I saw. 



On the date named, two ascensions were made by the aerodrome, or so-called 

 " flying machine," which I will not describe hero further than to say that it appeared 

 to me to 1)0 built almost entirely of metal, and driven by a steam engine which I 

 have understood was carrying fuel and a water supply for a very brief period, and 

 which was of extraordinary lightness. 



The absolute weight of the aerodrome, including that of the engine and all appur- 

 tenances, was, as I was told, about 25 pounds, and the distance, from tip to tip, of 

 the supporting surfaces was, as I observed, about 12 or 14 feet. 



The method of propulsion Avas by aerial screw propellers, and there was no gas or 

 other aid for lilting it in the air except its own internal energy. 



On the occasion referred to, the aerodrome, at a given signal, started from a plat- 

 form about 20 feet above the water, and rose at first directly in the face of the wind, 

 moving at all times with remarkable steadiness, and subsequently swinging around 

 in large curves of, perhaps, a hundred yards in diameter, and continually ascending 

 until its steam was exhausted, when, at a lapse of about a minute and a half, and at 

 a height which I judged to be between 80 and 100 feet in the air, the wheels ceased 

 turning, and the machine, deprived of the aid of its propellers, to my surprise did 

 not fall, but settled down so softly and gently that it touched the water without the 

 least shock, and was in fact immediately ready for another trial. 



In the second trial, which followed directly, it repeated in nearly every respect the 

 actions of the first, except that the direction of its course was different. It ascended 

 again in the face of the wind, afterwards moving steadily and continually in large 

 curves accompanied with a rising motion and a lateral advance. Its motion was, in 

 fact, so steady that I think a glass of water on its surface would have remained 

 nnspilled. When the steam gave out again, it repeated for a second time the expe- 

 rience of the first trial when the steam had ceased, and settled gently and easily 

 down. What height it reached at this trial I can not say, as I was not so favorably 

 placed as in the first; but I had occasion to notice that this time its course took it 

 over a wooded promontory, and I was relieved of some apprehension in seeing that 

 it was already so high as to pass the tree tops by 20 or 30 feet. It reached the water 

 one minute and thirty-one seconds from the time it started, at a measured distance 

 of over 900 feet from the point at which it rose. 



Tli is, however, was by no means the length of its flight. I estimated from the 

 diameter of the curve described, from the number of turns of the propellers as given 

 by the automatic counter, after due allowance for slip, and from other measures, that 

 the actual length of flight on each occasion was slightly over 3,000 feet. It is at least 

 sate to say that each exceeded half an English mile. 



From the time and distance it will be noticed that the velocity was between 20 and 

 25 miles an hour, in a course which was constantly taking it "up hill." I may add 

 that on a previous occasion I have seen a far higher velocity attained by the same 

 aerodrome when its course was horizontal. 



I have no desire to euter into detail further than I have done, but I can not but 



add that it, seems to me that no one who was present on this interesting occasion 



could have failed to recognize that the practicability of mechanical flight had been 



demonstrated. 



Alexander Graham Bell. 



I do not know bow far interest in this work may bias my judgment, 

 but it appears to me that in these things, whose final accomplishment 

 lias come under the charge of the Smithsonian Institution, it has made 

 a contribution to the utilities of the world which will be memorable. 



The results of Trot'. E. W. Morley's investigations on the density of 

 oxygen and hydrogen, referred to at length in my last report, have been 



