irit which dictated the manifesto of aerial
locomotion to the founder of the association which we are about to
describe. M. Babinet, speaking on this subject before the French
Polytechnic Association, said: "It is absurd to talk of guiding
balloons. How will you set about it? How is it possible that a
balloon--say, for instance, like the Flesselles, whose diameter measures
120 feet--can resist and manoeuvre against opposing winds or currents
of air? It would require a power equal to 400 horses for the sails of a
ship to struggle on equal terms with the wind. Suppose an impossibility,
namely, that a balloon could carry with it a force equal to 400
horse-power; this result would be of little use, for under the immense
weight the fragile covering of the balloon would instantly collapse. If
all the horses of a regiment were harnessed to the car of a balloon by
means of a long rope, the result would be that the balloon would fly
into shivers, being too fragile to withstand these two opposing forces.
Man must seek to raise himself in the air by another mode of operation
altogether, if he wish to guide himself at the same time. Some time
ago I bought a play thing, very much in vogue at that time, called a
Stropheor. This toy was composed of a small rotating screw propeller,
which revolved on its own support when the piece of string wound round
it was pulled sharply. The screw was rather heavy, weighing nearly a
quarter of a pound, and the wings were of tin, very broad and thick.
This machine, however, was rather too eccentric for parlour use, for its
flight was so violent that it was continually breaking the pier glass,
if there was one in the room; and, failing this, it next attacked the
windows. The ascending force of this machine is so great that I have
seen one of them fly over Antwerp Cathedral, which is one of the highest
edifices in the world. The air from underneath the machine is exhausted
by the action of the screw, which, passing under the wings, causes a
vacuum, while the air above it replenishes and fills this void, and
under the influence of these two causes the apparatus mounts from the
earth. But the problem is not solved by means of this plaything, whose
motive power is exterior to it. Messrs. Nadar, Ponton, D'Amecourt, and
De la Landelle teach us better than this, although the wings of their
different models are entirely unworthy of men who desire to demonstrate
a truth to short-lived mortals. We have only arri