3»4 
F lighty A spirations . 
June, 
capacity as would dwarf any attached apparatus, and it is 
quite certain that if the apparatus had any power over the 
balloon it would not be exerted to propel it, but to drag it at 
the stern. u 
So the earnest workers and students are a very small mi- 
nority. Por want of guidance and the dissemination ol 
fundamental farts, the result of experiment, many have been 
working in the dark, and doubtless, encouraged by the 
general ignorance, many pompous announcements have been 
made during the present century which have raised false 
hopes, and the reaction has had a most injurious effetf; upon 
the study of Aerology with a view to the sustentation oi 
heavy bodies. The fadt is that a triumph over the difficul- 
ties of aerial transport presents to the mind which can grasp 
the future such an Aladdin-lamp romance that the individual 
is inclined at once to self depreciation, and to say that “not 
for me is such a fate in store.” 
Some such effedt has operated to produce apathy as is 
recorded by Stewart in his “ History of the Early Days of 
the Steam-Engine,” as follows “ Every miscarriage thus 
added to the obstacles which at all times impeded the mtro- 
dudtion of improvements, and the abortive attempts ol 
ignorant and designing men were urged as reasons for disre- 
garding the inventions of more honourable and mentorious 
individuals.” ... ^ . 
I cannot leave the subjedt of plane propulsion without 
reference to a late attempt by Mr. Lenfield, of Winchester, 
whose design was suspended from the skylight of the large 
room at the Society of Arts, at a general meeting ol the 
Aeronautical Society of Great Britain, in 1879. 1 his formid- 
able-looking affair was 40 feet long by 18 feet wide, attached 
to a framework upon four wheels, the whole rising about 
it- feet : 300 feet of canvas was stretched upon an upper 
frame, and below this, and upon the wheel-supported plat- 
form, the operator stood with his feet upon treadles, by 
which he worked two fan-blades, 9 ft. 6 ins. x 2 ft. 9 ms., 
in front ol the apparatus. By this he obtained about 
seventy-five revolutions a minute, which enabled him, upon 
a macadamised road, to attain a speed of about 12 miles an 
hour totally insufficient, however, to enable him to obtain 
any fulcrum upon the air, for its weight including himseli 
was 304 lbs. Nor was a subsequent attempt down an 
incline, by which he gained a speed of about 20 miles an 
hour, any more suggestive of aerial support. _ 
In order to give some idea of the solid support which a 
body of air is calculated to afford to any surface passing 
