" The prophecy may yet be
fulfilled. Franklin remarks that a short while ago 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." Yet in the space of a few months he
has seen the philosopher on his smoke bag, if not the witch on
her broom. He wishes that one of these very ingenious inventors
would immediately devise means of direction for the balloon, a
rudder to steer it; because the malady from which he is suffering
is always increased by a jolting drive in a fourwheeler and he
would gladly avail himself of an easier way of locomotion.
The vision of man on the wing did not, of course, begin .with the
invention of the balloon. Perhaps the dream of flying man came
first to some primitive poet of the Stone Age, as he watched,
fearfully, the gyrations of the winged creatures of the air; even
as in a later age it came to Langley and Maxim, who studied the
wing motions of birds and insects, not in fear but in the light
and confidence of advancing science.
Crudely outlined by some ancient Egyptian sculptor, a winged
human figure broods upon the tomb of Rameses III. In the Hebrew
parable of Genesis winged cherubim guarded the gates of Paradise
against the man and woman who had stifled aspiration with sin.
Pages:
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
215
216
217
218