388 Flighty Aspirations. [June, 
not sufficient power to revolve a screw capable of giving him 
the necessary speed to leave the ground. Whether if he 
left the ground, and travelled only in the fridtionless air, he 
would under such conditions possess the power to continue 
his flight, remains undetermined. He could only be intro- 
duced into such a position for determining the truth by first 
being flown as a kite, without any screw adtion, and then, 
having attained that position, he could set to work with his 
screw. The question of balance is a most important one 
for consideration. I have known repeated attempts to effect 
the flight of models entirely fail for want of a proper adjust- 
ment of weight. The attainment of that necessary condi- 
tion for success would be not tb** least of the difficulties to 
be encountered by the plane propeller, where he himself is 
the adjustable weight, yet confined to his work at the 
treadle. 
The conclusion is I think inevitable, that another and 
more powerful motor than that of a man is necessary to get 
the initial velocity. I think that it will have occurred to 
the reader of this paper that the screw-blades themselves 
are a source of hindrance to progression ; that whilst al 
else lies along the plane of progression, the screw-blades 
offer a diredt opposition to the air the moment that the 
operator travels by any extraneous aid faster than he can 
revolve the screw. 
Here is unmistakably shown the enormous advantage of 
the wing-movement, where the means, both of support and 
propulsion, lie in the plane of progression, and only edge- 
resistance is offered to the air. The notion of wings, 
however, is nearly always ridiculed. Somehow we are in- 
clined to contemplate them a* we are accustomed to see 
them pourtrayed upon the backs of angels, where the mus- 
cular development is singularly wanting ; and looking at a 
full-grown angel, as depidted by some of our artists, one 
does really doubt his ability to fly. 
Had Sir Wm. Fairbairn such an imbecile in his mind ? 
Possibly, as those who entertain such flighty aspirations 
are supposed to be devoid of common sense, it might be 
supposed that we relied upon these angelic prototypes as 
our authority. Well, I will at once disabuse their minds. 
We objedt to them strongly, not only because the propor- 
tions and malformation are unworthy of the objedt, but 
because they have n’t any tails ! 
That, however, which painfully strikes me as wanting in 
any plane surface used merely as a fixed plane, is the appa- 
rent absence of stability. I should not care to trust myse 
