Ioo 
downward, with the idea of economizing 
gas and ballast. Later the balloonist 
added to his vessel a screw propeller, 
worked generally by some light form of 
motor. 
There are two systems in aerial naviga- 
tion, both having much the same goal in 
view, which have been tested in recent 
years. One system is that of aerostation, 
or the use of apparatus lighter than the air 
it displaces; the other aviation, or the use 
of apparatus heavier than the air it dis- 
places. One school uses the balloon as a 
vehicle, and thus in the abstract takes 
pattern from the flying insects; the other 
uses the aeroplane, and so copies directly 
from the soaring birds. 
Count Zeppelin probably made the first 
really crucial test of the dirigible balloon. 
He constructed an airship, cigar-shaped, 
of mammoth size, measuring ‘upward of 
400 feet in length, and subdivided into 
numerous compartments with the object 
of preventing the gas collecting at either of 
the ends. Steering apparatus was placed 
both fore and aft, and power was obtained 
from two motor engines driving propellers 
at a thousand revolutions a minute. In 
the first trial the huge vessel showed little 

RECREATION 
capacity for battling with the wind, but on a 
day of comparative calm it remained aloft 
for a period of twenty minutes, during which 
time it proved perfectly manageable, making 
a graceful journey out and home, and 
returning close to its point of departure. 
At the present time ballooning as a 
pastime is coming rapidly to be regarded 
as an exhilarating and fascinating sport. 
Owing largely to avoidable accidents this 
favor a few years ago would not have been 
deemed wise or even possible. But in 
reality ballooning is not as dangerous or 
hazardous as the world at large had been 
led to believe. Balloon clubs are a common 
thing in Europe now and the enthusiasm 
for the sport is fast spreading all over the 
world. 
But to-day it is the aeroplane that has 
the call when it comes to considering the 
successful outcome of aerial navigation. 
The principle of the aeroplane has long 
been recognized as the most hopeful on 
which to construct a practical flying 
machine. Henson in 1842 made quite a 
furore by designing a large machine with 
outstretched wings to be propelled by two 
large screws driven by a steam engine. It 
came to nothing, however, and although 

A CLOSE VIEW OF A DIRIGIBLE BALLOON IN FLIGHT 
‘This is Captain Baldwin’s “ Angelus,” 
with Knabenshue at the tiller; photograph made at the World’s Fair in St. Louis, at 
the time of Knabenshue’s début as America’s most skillful navigator of the air. 
