klin could hardly have failed of
this comparison: "A few Months since the Idea of Witches riding
through the Air upon a broomstick, and that of Philosophers upon a
Bag of Smoke would have appeared equally impossible and ridiculous."

To-day when aircraft are the eyes of the armies in the greatest war
of history, and when it appears that, with the return of peace, the
conquest of the air for the ordinary uses of man will be swiftly
completed, Franklin's good-humoured plea for the fullest
experimentation is worth recalling. And the touch of piety with
which he concludes his argument is a delightful example of the
whimsical fashion in which he often undertook to bolster up a
mundane theory with a reference to things supernatural.

[Illustration: _A French Observation Balloon on Fire._

(C) U. & U.]

I am sorry this Experiment is totally neglected in England, where
mechanic Genius is so strong. I wish I could see the same
Emulation between the two Nations as I see between the two
Parties here. Your Philosophy seems to be too bashful. In this
Country we are not so much afraid of being laught at. If we do a
foolish thing, we are the first to laugh at it ourselves, and are
almost as much pleased with a _Bon Mot_ or a _Chanson_, that
ridicules well the Disappointment of a Project, as we might have
been with its success. It does not seem to me a good reason to
decline prosecuting a new Experiment which apparently increases
the power of Man over Matter, till we can see to what Use that
Power may be applied. When we have learnt to manage it, we may
hope some time or other to find Uses for it, as men have done for
Magnetism and Electricity, of which the first Experiments were
mere Matters of Amusement.

This Experience is by no means a trifling one. It may be attended
with important Consequences that no one can foresee. We should
not suffer Pride to prevent our progress in Science.

Beings of a Rank and Nature far superior to ours have not
disdained to amuse themselves with making and launching Balloons,
otherwise we should never have enjoyed the Light of those
glorious objects that rule our Day & Night, nor have had the
Pleasure of riding round the Sun ourselves upon the Balloon we
now inhabit.

B. FRANKLIN.

The earliest experimenters thought that oars mi