DISCOVERY AND INVENTION 



655 



be an every-day thing to go from place to 

 place through the air. Perhaps some of 

 you may find a field of occupation in 

 bringing this about. 



fXYING ACROSS THE) ATLANTIC 



Even today we have startling proposi- 

 tions to do things that are apparently im- 

 possible. A man proposes to try this 

 summer to fly across the Atlantic Ocean 

 in a heavier-than-air flying machine. The 

 strange thing about the matter is that ex- 

 perts who have examined into the possi- 

 bilities find that he really has a fighting 

 chance. 



You see the distance is less than 2,000 

 miles from Newfoundland to Ireland. 

 This means that if you could go at 100 

 miles an hour you would cross the At- 

 lantic in 20 hours — less than a day. Just 

 think of that. Well, we have flying ma- 

 chines that go at a greater speed than 

 that. We already have machines that 

 could cross the ocean if their engines can 

 keep going for 20 hours. 



Of course, these are exceptional ma- 

 chines ; but even the ordinary machines 

 of today make 50 miles an hour with 

 ease. Now, a flying machine flies faster 

 as you go higher up, because the rarer air 

 offers less resistance to the motion, while 

 the propeller gives the same push with 

 the same power, whatever the elevation. 

 As you get into rarer air the propeller 

 simply spins round faster. 



A 50-mile-an-hour machine flying two 

 miles high in the air — and we have ma- 

 chines that have gone twice as high as 



that — will fly much faster than 50 miles 

 an hour. 



Then at an elevation of two miles high 

 in the air there is a constant wind blow- 

 ing in the general direction of Europe 

 having a velocity anywhere from 25 to 

 50 miles an hour. 



As the net result of all these things, 

 there can be little doubt that any ordi- 

 nary machine that is able to support it- 

 self in the air at an elevation of two miles 

 high will attain a speed of at least 100 

 miles an hour in the direction of Europe, 

 and that means going from America to 

 Europe in a single day. 



Calculation shows that, taking all these 

 circumstances into consideration, our 

 best machines should be able to cross the 

 Atlantic in 13 hours. I hardly dare to 

 say it aloud for publication. It is suffi- 

 ciently startling to know that it is not 

 only possible, but probable, that the pas- 

 sage may be made in a single day. But 

 if, as I imagine, it can be done in 13 

 hours, you may take an early breakfast 

 in Newfoundland and a late dinner in 

 Ireland the same night. 



Now, I will not take up any more of 

 your time. My idea has been to point 

 out to you how great discoveries and in- 

 ventions have originated from very little 

 things, and to impress upon your minds 

 the importance of observing closely every 

 little thing you come across and of rea- 

 soning upon it. 



Indeed, as Smiles very happily puts it, 

 "The close observation of little things is 

 the secret of success in business, in art, 

 in science, and in every pursuit in life." 



OUR GUARDIANS ON THE DEEP 



By William Joseph Showalter 



IN A very general way the people of the sea in ships, the Coast and Geodetic 

 the United States know that there is Survey stands between them and the 

 a government bureau in Washington perils of the deep, by furnishing the sail- 

 called "The United States Coast and Geo- ing directions that preserve those ships 

 detic Survey." Yet little indeed do they from harm. Do they live on lots that 

 appreciate its many activities — activities have been surveyed and on streets that 

 which touch them, even though they are have been laid out by a civil engineer, 

 unconscious of the contact, almost every the Survey has contributed to the accu- 

 hour of every day of their lives. racy of the work. Do they drink water 

 Do they or their friends go down to from city water mains, the fundamental 



