the best results were obtained when the range of the wing and the speed with which it was urged were so regulated as to produce a perfect reciprocation. Thus, if the range of the wing be great, the speed should also be high, otherwise the air set in motion by the right stroke will not be utilized by the left stroke, and vice versa. If, on the other hand, the range of the wing be small, the speed should also be low, as the short stroke will enable the wing to reciprocate as perfectly as when the stroke is longer and the speed quicker. When the speed attained is high, the angles made by the under surface of the wing with the horizon are diminished; when it is low, the angles are increased. From these remarks it will be evident that the artificial wave wing reciprocates in the same way that the natural wing reciprocates; the reciprocation being most perfect when the wing is vibrating in a given spot, and least perfect when it is travelling at a high horizontal speed.

The Artificial Wing propelled at various degrees of speed during the Down and Up Strokes.-The tendency which the artificial wave wing has to rise again when suddenly and vigorously depressed, explains why the elevator muscles of the wing should be so small when compared with the depressor muscles the latter being something like seven times larger than the former. That the contraction of the elevator muscles is necessary to the elevation of the wing, is abundantly proved by their presence, and that there should be so great a difference between the volume of the elevator and depressor muscles is not to be wondered at, when we remember that the whole weight of the body is to be elevated by the rapid descent of the wings-the descent of the wing being entirely due to the vigorous contraction of the powerful pectoral muscles. If, however, the wing was elevated with as great a force as it was depressed, no advantage would be gained, as the wing, during its ascent (it acts against gravity) would experience a much greater resistance from the air than it did during its descent. The wing is consequently elevated more slowly than it is depressed; the elevator muscles exercising a controlling and restraining influence. By slowing the wing during the up stroke,

the air has an opportunity of reacting on its under surface.

The Artificial Wave Wing as a Propeller. The wave wing makes an admirable propeller if its tip be directed vertically downwards, and the wing lashed from side to side with a sculling figure-of-8 motion, similar to that executed by the tail of the fish. Three wave wings may be made to act in concert, and with a very good result; two of them being made to vibrate figure-of-8 fashion in a more or less horizontal direction with a view to elevating; the third being turned in a downward direction, and made to act vertically for the purpose of propelling.

FIG. 130.- Aërial wave screw, whose blades are slightly twisted (a b, cd; ef, gh), so that those portions nearest the root (dh) make a greater angle with the horizon than those parts nearer the tip (bf). The angle is thus adjusted to the speed attained by the different portions of the screw. The angle admits of further adjustment by means of the steel springs z, s, these exercising a restraining, and to a certain extent a regulating, influence which effectually prevents shock.

It will be at once perceived from this figure that the portions of the screw marked m and n travel at a much lower speed than those portions marked o and p, and these again more slowly than those marked q and r (compare with fig. 56, p. 120). As, however, the angle which a wing or a portion of a wing, as I have pointed out, varies to accommodate itself to the speed attained by the wing, or a portion thereof, it follows, that to make the wave screw mechanically perfect, the angles made by its several portions must be accurately adapted to the travel of its several parts as indicated above. x, Vertical tube for receiving driving shaft. v, w, Sockets in which the roots of the blades of the screw rotate, the degree of rotation being limited by the steel springs z, s. a b, ef, Tapering elastic reeds forming anterior or thick margins of blades of screw. dc, hg, Posterior or thin elastic margins of blades of screw. mn, op, qr, Radii formed by the different portions of the blades of the screw when in operation. The arrows indicate the direction of travel.-Original.

A New Form of Aerial Screw.-If two of the wave wings represented at fig. 122, p. 239, be placed end to end, and united to a vertical portion of tube to form a two-bladed screw, similar to that employed in navigation, a most powerful elastic aërial screw is at once produced, as seen at fig. 130.

This screw, which for the sake of uniformity I denominate the aërial wave screw, possesses advantages for aërial purposes to which no form of rigid screw yet devised can lay claim. The way in which it clings to the air during its revolution, and the degree of buoying power it possesses, are quite astonishing. It is a self-adjusting, self-regulating screw, and as its component parts are flexible and elastic, it accommodates itself to the speed at which it is driven, and gives a uniform buoyancy. The slip, I may add, is nominal in amount. This screw is exceedingly light, and owes its efficacy to its shape and the graduated nature of its blades; the anterior margin of each blade being comparatively rigid, the posterior margin being comparatively flexible and or less elastic. The blades are kites in the same sense that natural wings are kites. They are flown as such when the screw revolves. I find that the aërial wave screw flies best and elevates most when its blades are inclined at a certain upward angle as indicated in the figure (130). The aërial wave screw may have the number of its blades increased by placing the one above the other; and two or more screws may be combined and made to revolve in opposite directions so as to make them reciprocate; the one screw producing the current on which the other rises, as happens in natural wings.

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The Aerial Wave Screw operates also upon Water.-The form of screw just described is adapted in a marked manner for water, if the blades be reduced in size and composed of some elastic substance, which will resist the action of fluids, as gutta-percha, carefully tempered finely graduated steel plates, etc. It bears the same relation to, and produces the same results upon, water, as the tail and fin of the fish. It throws its blades during its action into double figure-of-8 curves, similar in all respects to those produced on the anterior and posterior margins of the natural and artificial flying wing. As the speed attained by the several portions of each blade varies, so the angle at which each part of the blade strikes varies; the angles being always greatest towards the root of the blade and least towards the tip. The angles made by the different portions of the blades are diminished in proportion as the

R

speed, with which the screw is driven, is increased. The screw in this manner is self-adjusting, and extracts a large percentage of propelling power, with very little force and surprisingly little slip.

A similar result is obtained if two finely graduated angularshaped gutta-percha or steel plates be placed end to end and applied to the water (vertically or horizontally matters little), with a slight sculling figure-of-8 motion, analogous to that performed by the tail of the fish, porpoise, or whale. If the thick margin of the plates be directed forwards, and the thin ones backwards, an unusually effective propeller is produced. This form of propeller is likewise very effective in air.

CONCLUDING REMARKS.

FROM the researches and experiments detailed in the present volume, it will be evident that a remarkable analogy exists between walking, swimming, and flying. It will further appear that the movements of the tail of the fish, and of the wing of the insect, bat, and bird can be readily imitated and reproduced. These facts ought to inspire the pioneer in aërial navigation with confidence. The land and water have already been successfully subjugated. The realms. of the air alone are unvanquished. These, however, are so vast and so important as a highway for the nations, that science and civilisation equally demand their occupation. The history of artificial progression indorses the belief that the fields etherean will one day be traversed by a machine designed by human ingenuity, and constructed by human skill. In order to construct a successful flying machine, it is not necessary to reproduce the filmy wing of the insect, the silken pinion of the bat, or the complicated and highly differentiated wing of the bird, where every feather may be said

to have a peculiar function assigned to it; neither is it necessary to reproduce the intricacy of that machinery by which the pinion in the bat, insect, and bird is moved: all that is required is to distinguish the properties, form, extent, and manner of application of the several flying surfaces, a task attempted, however imperfectly executed, in the foregoing pages. When Vivian and Trevithick devised the locomotive, and Symington and Bell the steamboat, they did not seek to reproduce a quadruped or a fish; they simply aimed at producing motion adapted to the land and water, in accordance with natural laws, and in the presence of living models. Their success is to be measured by an involved labyrinth of railway which extends to every part of the civilized world; and by navies whose vessels are despatched without trepidation to navigate the most boisterous seas at the most inclement seasons. The aëronaut has a similar but more difficult task to perform. In attempting to produce a flying-machine he is not necessarily attempting an impossible thing. The countless swarms of flying creatures testify as to the practicability of such an undertaking, and nature supplies him at once with models and materials. If artificial flight were not attainable, the insects, bats, and birds would furnish the only examples of animals whose movements could not be reproduced. History, analogy, observation, and experiment are all opposed to this view. The success of the locomotive and steamboat is an earnest of the success of the flying machine. If the difficulties to be surmounted in its construction are manifold, the triumph and the reward will be correspondingly great. It is impos

sible to over-estimate the boon which would accrue to mankind from such a creation. Of the many mechanical problems before the world at present, perhaps there is none greater than that of aërial navigation. Past failures are not to be regarded as the harbingers of future defeats, for it is only within the last few years that the subject of artificial flight has been taken up in a true scientific spirit. Within a comparatively brief period an enormous mass of valuable data has been collected. As societies for the advancement of aëronautics have been established in Britain, America, France,