Abstract
THE sudden development of the art of flying which has come upon the world during the last few years may be classed as one of the most extraordinary events in the world's history. We have had far-reaching inventions introduced before, such as the railway, the telegraph, the telephone, the motor-car, and many others, but all these have gradually developed, have sprung from small beginnings, and often it seemed doubtful whether they would ever develop into utility of real importance. With the flying machine it is different. True it is that the advent of such an apparatus has been foreseen, not merely for some years, but for centuries. The inception is very old. Like the sailor's story to his incredulous grandmother of the flying-fish, so a hundred years ago no one would have been dumbfounded if one had prophesied that men would fly, although one would have been accused of talking nonsense had one foretold that we could talk along a wire hundreds of miles long, see bullets embedded in the lungs, or be able to reproduce a song sung by one departed. We dare not at present hazard a guess as to what the flying-machine may eventually develop into. There are still those who think it will never be much more than a curiosity, but there are others who believe it will soon become our usual mode of travel, and that railways, steamboats, and motor-cars will have to take quite a back place in comparison.
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Recent Progress in Aëronautics . Nature 86, 229–231 (1911). https://doi.org/10.1038/086229a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/086229a0