it had to be accompanied by practice. Some years later Wilbur Wright expressed this view in a lecture before the Western Society of Engineers, in the graphic language which he knew so well how to command. "Now there are two ways of learning to ride a fractious horse: one is to get on him and learn by actual practice how each motion and trick may be best met; the other is to sit on a fence and watch the beast awhile, and then retire to the house and at leisure figure out the best way of overcoming his jumps and kicks. The latter system is the safer, but the former, on the whole, turns out the larger proportion of good riders. It is very much the same in learning to ride a flying machine. If you are looking for perfect safety, you will do well to sit on a fence and watch the birds, but if you really wish to learn, you must mount a machine and become acquainted with its tricks by actual trial." Accordingly the brothers set to work on practical experimentation.

At this time in the field of aviation, there were two schools of thought. The first, represented by such famous men as Professor Langley of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, and Sir Hiram Maxim, the inventor of the Maxim gun, who thought the proper method of attack was to experiment with powered airplanes. The second, represented by Lilienthal, a German, Mouillard, a Frenchman, and Chanute, an Amer

ican, placed their reliance on the study of gliding and the soaring flight of birds. The Wrights' sympathies were with the latter school, partly from impatience at the wasteful extravagance of mounting delicate and costly machinery on wings which no one knew how to manage, and partly, no doubt, from the extraordinary harm and enthusiasm with which the apostles of soaring flight set forth the beauties of sailing through the air on fixed wings, deriving the motive power from the wind itself.

For several years accordingly, they built kites and gliders and conducted outdoor experiments to test the data and theories of Lilienthal and the other authorities. But in attacking the problem they showed a genius and originality which started them on the path to success, and enabled them to succeed where all others had failed.

While mankind has only been flying for a little over twenty years, the fundamental principles and control of the airplane seem almost as natural and simple to us as those of an oar driven boat. The wings or planes move forward at an angle to the wind, and receive by this motion an upward sustaining force or lift which counteracts the force of gravity. The lift of the wing is transmitted by trussing, not unlike the trussing of a bridge, to the fuselage of the body of the airplane, which contains the pilot and passengers, the

engine, the fuel tanks and instruments. Since the air opposes the forward motion of the wings and of the rest of the airplane, setting up resistance or drag, the airplane must be pulled through the air by the propeller. This is like a giant corkscrew screwing its way through air and pulling the rest of the airplane behind it. The great airscrew needs power to turn it and hence there must be an engine, driven by gasolene and exactly similar in principle to the automobile engine, to turn the air screw shaft. If the pilot wishes to steer his machine to the right, he must turn the vertical rudder at the tail of the airplane so that the wind strikes it from the right, and the front end of the airplane heads to the right, accordingly. If he wishes to roll his machine so that the right wing is lowered, he increases the lift on the left wing by turning down the left aileron, and therefore presenting the left surface more to the wind, while simultaneously raising the right aileron. If he wants to nose his machine down, he depresses the elevator at the tail end of the ship, so that the air strikes it violently from underneath. All this seems perfectly clear to anyone who has seen a modern airplane at close quarters or handled its controls if only on the ground. A little imagination is sufficient to picture the whole process of control, and any healthy young man can learn straightforward flying in five to ten hours-though

1900, this discouragement of the public was at its height. Nor did scientists think very much better of the prospect of aerial navigation. Langley died of a broken heart, derided by his fellow scientists, and just two months before the first powered flight at Kitty Hawk, Prof. Simon Newcomb, perhaps the most eminent astronomer of the day, writing in the Independ ent, said: "The example of the bird does not prove that man can fly. There are many problems which have fascinated mankind, since civilization began, which we have made little or no advance in solving. May not our mechanicians be ultimately forced to admit that aerial flight is one of that great class of problems with which man can never cope, and give up all attempts to grapple with it? Imagine the proud possessor of the aeroplane darting through the air at a speed of several hundred feet per second! It is the speed alone that sustains him. How is he ever going to stop?"

The young Wrights showed their true greatness of soul by courageous disregard of common opinion. Nor did they find much encouragement locally. It is true that they were their own masters in their cycle shop, with equipment, however simple, ready at hand for their experiments. Katherine Wright, their sister, was always sympathetic and highly confident of her brothers' success. But their neighbors smiled and less

considerate townsfolk tapped their foreheads. Why such quiet and promising young mechanics should waste their earnings and indeed the brothers always experimented with their own hard earned money, on a chimerical venture was beyond their comprehension. Their father, Bishop Wright, laughed at them sometimes. In fact, the Bishop came home one day with a newspaper which told of the death of one young man experimenting with a glider, and said: "You can see what comes to people for trying those things, boys." Immediately after-this was in 1899-the boys went forth and fashioned all sorts of new gliders. But in reality the Wrights' father was a man of intellectual interests who encouraged them in scientific pursuits, even when these were entirely without pecuniary possibilities.

Perhaps it was largely this disapproving attitude of their associates and friends which led Wilbur and Orville to seek the most secluded spot they could find, far from any human habitation, where they could continue their experiments undisturbed. But there were far more practical reasons likewise. By 1900, their studies and experiments had progressed so far that they thought it time to try out man carrying gliders. It seemed to them at the time that the reason why the problem had remained so long unsolved was that no one had been able to obtain any adequate