some carts which had been placed near the track--the root cause of this
accident, however, was given as deficient equilibrium.

Whatever the sceptics may say, there is reason for belief in the
accomplishment of actual flight by Ader with his first machine in the
fact that, after the inevitable official delay of some months, the
French War Ministry granted funds for further experiment. Ader named
his second machine, which he began to build in May, 1892, the 'Avion,'
and--an honour which he well deserve--that name remains in French
aeronautics as descriptive of the power-driven aeroplane up to this day.

This second machine, however, was not a success, and it was not until
1897 that the second 'Avion,' which was the third power-driven aeroplane
of Ader's construction, was ready for trial. This was fitted with
two steam motors of twenty horse-power each, driving two four-bladed
propellers; the wings warped automatically: that is to say, if it
were necessary to raise the trailing edge of one wing on the turn,
the trailing edge of the opposite wing was also lowered by the same
movement; an under-carriage was also fitted, the machine running on
three small wheels, and levers controlled by the feet of the aviator
actuated the movement of the tail planes.

On October the 12th, 1897, the first trials of this 'Avion' were made
in the presence of General Mensier, who admitted that the machine made
several hops above the ground, but did not consider the performance as
one of actual flight. The result was so encouraging, in spite of the
partial failure, that, two days later, General Mensier, accompanied by
General Grillon, a certain Lieutenant Binet, and two civilians named
respectively Sarrau and Leaute, attended for the purpose of giving the
machine an official trial, over which the great controversy regarding
Ader's success or otherwise may be said to have arisen.

We will take first Ader's own statement as set out in a very competent
account of his work published in Paris in 1910. Here are Ader's own
words: 'After some turns of the propellers, and after travelling a few
metres, we started off at a lively pace; the pressure-gauge registered
about seven atmospheres; almost immediately the vibrations of the rear
wheel ceased; a little later we only experienced those of the front
wheels at intervals. 'Unhappily, the wind became suddenly strong, and
we had some difficulty in keeping the "Avion" on the white line. We
increased the