The Secret of 
Flying. 
(228) THE BIRD WORLD. 
grow, and also help you. A short walk 
with systematic deep breathing is much 
better than a long walk; you will finish 
much stronger and fresher than you 
started. 
Nature has centuries ago provided for 
the successful navigation of the air. 
Man has seen from time immemorial, as 
he does to-day, the birds of all kinds 
flying, some swifter and stronger than 
others. Birds that swim as well as fly 
are not so swift as birds that don’t swim. 
Some may say that it is because they are 
heavier birds, but then some birds that 
cannot swim are much heavier than those 
that can. As in most things our obser¬ 
vations must be confined to the ways of 
Nature. First of all we must ascertain 
the action of the wing on the air, and 
what help a bird gets from the air with 
the wings. 
Imitate Birds. 
We get a wing and carefully examine 
it. If recently taken from a bird the 
plumage is smooth and looks polished. 
We pull a feather out and the quill end 
looks oily, and contains a kind of oil. 
We must ascertain what effect has this 
oil on the air. We find a bird in a. 
weak and exhausted condition, or ill, 
and unable to fly. If we take a feather 
from the wing the quill shows little or 
no oil in it, the blood of the bird is 
poor and deficient in oil, clearly proving 
that this oil is supplied from the blood. 
The Peculiar Action of Oil. 
We want to know the peculiar action 
of this oil on the air, and we start ex¬ 
perimenting with oils, take a few kinds, 
and pour the same quantity of each on 
to the floor from the same height. Some 
oils take longer to descend than others, 
and some fall with less force. The 
splash mark is less than that of those 
that descend quicker, although the oil 
is of the same thickness. Water de¬ 
scends quicker and with more force than 
oil, thus showing that oil has some effect 
on the air and gravitation. 
The oil is pumped into the quills of 
the bird from the blood, and makes the 
quills , as light as the air. Fresh quill 
feathers weigh lighter than old ones, so 
the oil in them must be lighter than air, 
and has some unseen effect on the air. 
We must ascertain what are the proper¬ 
ties of that oil as it comes in contact 
with the air after being filtered through 
the quills and feathers. 
What it does is this: the warm oil 
coming in contact with the air makes the 
air go thicker and more solid, and the 
oil floats as it floats on water. So a 
healthy bird gets the same assistance 
from the air as the swimmer gets from 
the water. The more oil a swimmer has 
on his skin, either natural or artificial, 
the more help he gets and the easier he 
swims. The more oil a bird has on its 
feathers the better it flies. 
Ideas Proved.. 
The author has proved all his state¬ 
ments, and has fled a very considerable 
distance with artificial wings, charged 
with oil of the same properties as that 
in the blood of a bird. The same 
wings, although beautifully made and 
in detail an exact copy of a bird’s, with¬ 
out the oil give little or no effect, and 
are quite incapable of lifting but very 
small weight besides their own. 
Fully charged with oil (as of birds), 
the effect on the air is most powerful, 
the wing resisting the air almost as 
though it became frozen and solid be¬ 
neath it. The properties, of course, are 
the author’s secret; also the construction 
of the wings. 
In the interests of science he is giving 
the result of his study and gratifying 
experiments on the subject, knowing full 
well that others may be soon experiment¬ 
ing. But even if they should be lucky 
enough to obtain the like result, he has 
some years start, and by the time their 
labours are in the experimental stage he 
will have marked his notch on the 
records by solving the mystery of the air 
and how to fly in it. 
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