378 Flying Machines. 



bird's length of wing is ont of the question, as we have no 

 means of constructing a mechanism equally strong and light, 

 and of similar proportions in length and breadth to the weight 

 that has to be carried. The possible solution of the problem 

 is thus explained. " Having remarked how thin a stratum of 

 air is displaced beneath the wings of a bird in rapid flight, if 

 follows, that in order to obtain the necessary length of plane for 

 supporting heavy weights, the surfaces may be superposed, or 

 placed in parallel rows, with an interval between them. A 

 dozen pelicans may fly one above another without mutual impe- 

 diment, as if framed together ; and it is thus shown how two 

 hundred weights may be supported in a transverse distance of 

 only ten feet."" 



Can any mechanism, either moved by man, or by inorganic 

 motive power, be constructed to operate successfully on the 

 principles thus explained ? After carefully reading Mr. Wen- 

 ham's paper, few scientific men would venture to pronounce 

 the solution of the problem impossible, and we have reason to 

 believe it has materially modified the opinions previously enter- 

 tained by some of our best mechanicians and physicists. The 

 paper is full of close reasoning, and differs entirely from the 

 illogical speculations often put forth by enthusiastic projectors, 

 who set to work according to methods that inevitably lead to 

 failure. 



From certain experiments described by Mr. Wenham, the 

 nature of the difficulties to be overcome, and the kind of possi- 

 bility that may be convertible into actuality, are made clearer 

 than they were before, and many facts discovered of late years in 

 reference to the action of screws as substitutes for paddles in 

 steam navigation, and in relation to the flight of various shaped 

 projectiles, may come in aid of the aeronautist. 



It is remarkable that previous to the invention of balloons, 

 flying machines were pet schemes with many philosophers. 

 The gas balloon especially threw them intc the shade, but the 

 investigations of the infant Aeronautical Society operate in the 

 reverse direction, and tend to create a belief that if aerial navi- 

 gation is ever to assume practical importance, it must be through 

 the agency of some mechanism more manageable and less liable 

 to derangement than an enormous bag filled with a* material 

 that has the greatest possible aptitude for escaping through the 

 minutest pores. 



