REACTIVE LOCOMOTION. 
37 
Hearing a great flutter of wings, and perceiving the caufe, 
I ran for a lighted candle, which I held firfl: at the fldes, 
at about three inches diftance, when no flicker of the 
flame took place; neither did it at any point as I fteadily 
moved the candle towards the rear of the creature, until 
I had it diredtly in line with its body exadtly behind it , 
when the flame, with no premonition whatever, was puffed 
fo fuddenly out as to amaze me. I repeated this experi¬ 
ment feveral times over, and became then fatisfied of what 
I had before furmifed as to the action of the wings of 
flying creatures—viz., that as a firfl effect of wing-adlion, 
where the motion of the wings is at right angles to the 
body, a current of air is produced in the line of the long 
axis of the body; this floats it: the after effedt, by a con¬ 
tinuance of the wing movements, being propulfion , the 
wings then getting a fulcrum upon air of pradtically 
increafed denffty. Later on I became convinced of the 
theory I have herein endeavoured to fet forth,, viz., that 
all the infedts typified in the dragon-fly move through the 
air by indireSl , in place of direSl , adlion : in other words, 
they employ their wings purely in their capacity of fan- 
blowers and not propellers, the only kind of air-locomo¬ 
tion poflible to man • my reafon for this opinion being, 
that a flotation and impulfion (not pro-pulfion) refulting 
purely and Amply from wind-blafts, admits of the appli¬ 
cation of the rotary principle of mechanical power ; fo 
that all we have to do is to contrive an improved fan- 
