FLIGHT AND FLYING MACHINES. 507 
Mr. Pilcher has recently constructed a larger machine with which he 
proposes to practice in calm weather, and he is hoping to get a small 
petroleum motor attached in order to try and drive himself along. He 
says that for an 11 stone man no soaring machine should weigh more 
than 60 lbs., because it fags one out too soon, and the strain brought 
on is too severe. Many people seem to think, he says, that a machine 
can be fully tried in a few hours; as a matter of fact it is only after 
having handled a machine for several long days for hours ata time that 
one begins to understand it at all. 
To sum up, the question now before us is, shall we fly? Mr. Maxim 
has shown that the problem is quite different to what it was in the 
earlier parts of the century ; that we can get sufficient motive power 
in proportion to weight to lift a man into the air, and as he has been 
successful in this respect with a large machine it follows, from what I 
said in the early part of my lecture, that a small machine would require 
to have less horse-power in proportion to its weight for purposes of 
flight. On the other hand Herr Lilienthal and Mr. Pilcher have shewn 
that a small machine can be controlled in the air, and that we can, to a 
certain extent, learn to balance ourselves in the air. What we want 
now is something half way between these extremes. We want Mr. 
Maxim to cut down his machine to a moderate size sufficiently small 
to be controllable; and we want Lilienthal and Pilcher and other 
experimenters in their direction to learn to control a machine sufficiently 
large to carry a moderate sized motor. Will Maxim and Lilienthal, 
coming from opposite directions, meet in the middle? If they do so, 
if their combined efforts result in the production of a machine whereby 
a man can rise from the ground, fly over a wall 10 feet high and land 
safely the other side, then the problem of artificial flight will be solved 
(applause). 
Our only other question is, what will be the uses of flight? It is 
obvious that in times of peace a flying machine could be used for many 
purposes. It may be doubted whether it would supersede railway 
travelling or other existing means of transport for carrying a large 
number of passengers or heavy goods from place to place, but for 
carrying light loads from place to place at high speeds, such as im- 
portant despatches, a flying machine would be of the greatest value— 
it might even be found useful for carrying mails from one country to 
another. Moreover, if a machine could be driven through the air at 
high speed with sufficient fuel to last for a considerable number of 
hours, it would enable Arctic explorers to fly over the north pole and 
back even if they did not land there. 
But there is another purpose which even now would be easy of ac- 
complishment. If Lilienthal’s machine were to come into general use 
they would afford a very healthy form of exercise. When ladies have 
lost that enthusiasm for bicycling, which comes of its novelty, and 
when golf has ceased to be the latest fashion, many of our golf links 
will be found excellent places for Lilienthal’s practice and the exercise 
will straighten many a back that has got bent double from cycling. 
Our next question is: what use will these machines be put to in time 
of war? Of course Mr, Maxim wants to construct a machine that 
