d in 1906.
The Parseval kite balloon was adopted or imitated by all other
nations during the war. The Parseval airship was as good an airship,
of the non-rigid type, as had ever been built; it was supplanted,
later on, by the rigid type, because an airship's lift depends on
its size, and very large airships could not be built without a rigid
framework. The society for airship development bought up Major von
Parseval's plans, and began to construct Parseval airships. The
statutes of the society forbade it to sell ships for profit, so an
allied company was formed, the Luftfahrzeugbau-Gesellschaft, with
works at Bitterfeld, and a subsidiary company, the L.V.G., or
Luftverkehrs-Gesellschaft, to exploit Parseval airships for
passenger-carrying, with its headquarters at Berlin and sheds at
Johannisthal. Two passenger-carrying ships were built, the
_Stollwerk_ in 1910, and the _Charlotte_ in 1912. The Parseval
ships, perhaps because, being non-rigid, they were held to be
inferior to the Zeppelins, were freely sold to foreign powers--one
to the Austrian army in 1909, one to the Russian and one to the
Turkish army in 1910, one to the Japanese army in 1912, another to
the Russian and two to the Italian army in 1913; last of all, in the
same year, one to the British Admiralty. Some eighteen Parseval
airships were built and launched between 1909 and 1913. The third
great airship-building company in Germany was the Schuette-Lanz
Company, with its factory in Mannheim. It was named from Heinrich
Lanz, the founder of machine works near Mannheim, who supplied the
money, and Professor Schuette, of the Technical University, Danzig,
who supplied the skill. Its rigid airships were made of wood; they
were built from 1912 onwards expressly for the uses of the army and
navy, and they played a great part in the war.

Those who were responsible for the development of the airship in Germany
took the people into partnership, and devoted themselves largely to
passenger-carrying. The airship became popular; and the officers and men
who worked it were practised in navigation all the year round. The
people, for their part, regarded the Zeppelin with the enthusiasm of
patriotic fervour. France had taken the lead and had shown the way with
the dirigible, but Germany, by recruiting the people for the cause, soon
out-distanced her. The passenger ships served as training-ships for
crews, and, if occasion should arise, were readily convertible to
warlike