Flying Animals and Flying Machines

Abstract

UNTIL quite recently human flight was considered by the mass of mankind as so impracticable that “I can no more do that than fly” was a phrase used to denote something not to be accomplished. It is no wonder, then, that the fact that several people (probably some dozens at the present moment) have actually flown should appeal to the popular imagination, and the appeal is especially strong in such a case as M. Blériot's flight over the English Channel, although there is nothing really more formidable in a flight over water than over land. It may be of some interest to show briefly how it is that what was formerly looked on as a typical impossibility has now become a matter of everyday occurrence.