FLIGHT AND FLYING MACHINES. 509 
Chinese or Tartar legend of the bronze horse which Milton had in his mind when 
he spoke of 
“ Him that left half told 
The story of Cambuscan bold. 
* % % * * 
And of the wondrous horse of brass, 
On which the Tartar King did ride.” 
and Rasselas, Prince of Abyssinia, Dr. Johnson tells us, found a skilful mechanic 
in the happy valley, who, having constructed a sailing chariot, was encouraged to 
go on and turned the chariot into a flying machine. But viewed by the careful 
calculating eye of modern science all these traditional stories of flying machines 
must appear chimerical. The word chimerical itself suggests some one else’s 
attempts at a flying machine, of which Mr.,Maxim, with all the modern appliances 
of his own unrivalled skill at his disposal, even Mr. Maxim now confesses the 
problem is far more difficult than he had ever anticipated. 
I think Dr, Bryan would prefer to hear the opinions of the artillery talent in 
the room rather than my remarks on the feasibility of flying machines and their 
military application to what, in the words of Pope, I may call “ The light militia 
of the lower sky.” 
Mr. Horranps—Mr. Chairman, ladies and gentlemen, Dr. Bryan has kindly 
given me the opportunity of making a remark or two, and I may say that I have 
experimented with models for the last twelve years and I have always employed 
compressed air as the motive power. I am quite in sympathy with Mr. Davidson 
as to discarding balloons entirely, but not as to discarding the motor; at any rate 
in our present state of science, [ quite think that the motor is almost absolutely 
necessary. 
REPLY. 
Dr. Bryan—I thought Mr. Davidson’s point was not that he was going to dis- 
card the motor, but that he was going to discard the screw propeller. 
Mr. Davipson—Hear, hear. 
Dr. Bryan—I am sorry that he did not tell us what he was going to substitute 
for that screw propeller. If it was flapping wings it seems to me that the great 
difficulty would be to get the wings sufficiently strong. If he can succeed in 
securing sufficient rigidity with flapping wings and at the same time to make them 
flap, I am quite in sympathy with him; and if he can suggest any other means of 
propulsion which would improve on screw propellers, I am quite in sympathy 
with him. I only bring forward the screw propellers as the most natural means 
and as the best known means of mechanical propulsion in a fluid medium, and 
one which is worthy of a fair trial at anyrate. 
There is one other point that I ought to mention, namely, that I have to give 
my most sincere thanks to the very many friends who have helped me with the pre- 
paration of this lecture; in fact I have received so much kind assistance that I 
find in a certain sense it is not my lecture at all. Mr. Maxim has kindly lent a 
large number of the slides you have seen ; and just before the lecture, Mr. Pilcher, 
of Glasgow, kindly volunteered to lend those excellent slides both of his and of 
Lilienthal’s experiments which you have seen; Mr. Bennett, of Oxford, (who went 
all the way to Germany to buy a Lilienthal machine and now has it in his boat- 
house on the Thames) has given me most valuable help; and among other 
friends I am much indebted to Mr. Dunell of Chiswick, for kindly putting me in the 
way of getting much valuable information, and I can only say how grateful I am 
