[August, 
step. It must needs be. The reptile passes life in the midst of 
solid, non-elastic resistances ; the bird lives a divided life, part of 
which is under the dominion of other laws, It copes with fluid 
elastic pressures when it navigates the air, and nature has trans- 
formed the creature to meet the changed conditions of its exist- 
ence. One pair of legs is retained to treat with forces under the 
dominion of laws which operate in the reptile world in common 
with man’s world, where the sea is level, and vertical forces point 
to the center of the earth; where motions are deliberate, impedi- 
ments plenty, clashing activities found on all sides and the area 
of translation confined to two dimensions only. The other pair 
are changed to suit a very different world where the sea isa 
hillside, vertical lines variable, the plane of the horizon perpetually 
_ changing, impediments non-existing, velocities high and the third 
dimension added to the area of translation. ; 
With the organ of flight understood, and the resolving power 
of planes working on air under the law of fluid pressure com- 
prehended, there would seem to be no further impediment to the 
application of the axioms of mechanical science to the problem 
_of air navigation. 
708 Editor’ Table. 
= F ii 2 eligi 
FR eet cee fe nee wees eal 
Fi 
o——— . 
EDITORS’ TABLE. 
EDITORS: A. S. PACKARD AND E. D. COPE. 
Professor Woodrow has been finally condemned by the 
verdict of the highest tribunal of the denomination (Presbyte- 
rian) to which he belongs. This may cause considerable incon- 
venience to the professor, but we believe that it. will do greater 
harm to the body which thus commits itself to a position which 
-is antagonistic to the best light of to-day. It sows a seed which 
must produce unnecessary discord in a useful body of — me 
-which will interfere with its power for good, unless rescinded or 
disavowed. The fact of evolution is too well ascertained to a 
mit such “bulls against the comet” to influence the thought e 
the day, but they make the way of truth more difficult than too 
_ The Rev. Dr. Deems it seems has been looking into me 
ject of evolution, and writes a book the conclusion of. which 1s, — 
that that doctrine is “not proven.” Some things asserted by 
e evolutionists are certainly not proven, and some of thess 
