INSECT OR REACTIVE-PASSIVE LOCOMOTION. 71 
in organizing living creatures for our planet, has provided, 
not for locomotion alone, but for all the needs of the 
creature, its mode of locomotion has therefore reference to 
conditions that do not fall within the fcope of our in¬ 
quiries. The objection confequently cannot properly be 
urged. 
But my purpofe is to neither anticipate objections nor 
anfwer them. Neither am I careful as to refults. The 
objeCt of this book is to introduce to the notice of my 
fellow-men a theory that may poflibly lead to the refult 
the world has wifhed and waited for fo long. At one 
time, and not very long ago either, I had hoped to do 
fomething more than write-out theories. I had even gone 
fo far as to conftruCt the fanning-wheel I have fpoken 
of. But the field is too great for any one man. Aerial 
navigation demands earneft work from many heads and 
many hands, and the befh inventive talent of mankind 
will all be needed for its accomplifhment. 
Should the theory I have attempted to unfold in thefe 
pages aid in any manner towards the accomplifhment of 
the great purpofe, I fhall feel amply repaid, and without 
other reward reft contented in the fatisfaCtion of a 
Duty Performed. 
