the machine in whichever direction he pleases.... The machine's
flight lasts only three hours, after which the wings gradually close
themselves, when the inventor, perceiving this, goes down gently, so as
to get on his own feet, and then winds up the clockwork and gets himself
ready again upon the wings for the continuation of a new flight. He
himself told us that if by chance one of the wheels came off or if one
of the wings broke, it is certain he would inevitably fall rapidly to
the ground, and, therefore, he does not rise more than the height of a
tree or two, as also he only once put himself in the risk of crossing
the sea, and that was from Calais to Dover, and the same morning he
arrived in London.'

And yet there are still quite a number of people who persist in stating
that Bleriot was the first man to fly across the Channel!

A study of the development of the helicopter principle was published
in France in 1868, when the great French engineer Paucton produced his
Theorie de la Vis d'Archimede. For some inexplicable reason, Paucton
was not satisfied with the term 'helicopter,' but preferred to call it
a 'pterophore,' a name which, so far as can be ascertained, has not been
adopted by any other writer or investigator. Paucton stated that, since
a man is capable of sufficient force to overcome the weight of his own
body, it is only necessary to give him a machine which acts on the air
'with all the force of which it is capable and at its utmost speed,' and
he will then be able to lift himself in the air, just as by the exertion
of all his strength he is able to lift himself in water. 'It would
seem,' says Paucton, 'that in the pterophore, attached vertically to a
carriage, the whole built lightly and carefully assembled, he has
found something that will give him this result in all perfection. In
construction, one would be careful that the machine produced the least
friction possible, and naturally it ought to produce little, as it would
not be at all complicated. The new Daedalus, sitting comfortably in his
carriage, would by means of a crank give to the pterophore a suitable
circular (or revolving) speed. This single pterophore would lift him
vertically, but in order to move horizontally he should be supplied with
a tail in the shape of another pterophore. When he wished to stop for a
little time, valves fixed firmly across the end of the space between
the blades would automatically close the openings through wh