Show THE PROSPECTS PROSPECT Se FOR FLYING discussion of the la in the way W of man night professor simon lewcomb newcomb Is the au thor of an article in ill the independent on the subject of the outlook for the plying flying machine the outlook Is very gloomy from the professors s stand point he po ants out a number nu aber of dif faculties which he says are only prelim inary ones patent on the surface A more fundamental one still which the wilter feels may piove giove ble is based on a law of nature which we are bound to accept it Is that when we inci case the size of such i machine aitho it changing its model we increase In creise the weight in proportion to the cube of the I 1 near dimensions for por example suppose tha thal an invent oi succeeds as m we e I 1 he may in making a mach ue lie which will go into a match case yet complete in all its parts able to fly aro md ind the room it may carry a button but nothing heavier healier elated by his success he makes one on the same model twice as large in evry demens on the of the firby bich uch are one inch in length he in creasa to tin two 0 inches every part Is twice as long iong twice as blond aud and twice as thick the result Is that his maca mach ne Is eight times is heavy as before but the sustaining surf ice is only four times as great As compared with the smaller machine its ratio of neos nes is reduced one half it may barry two or three buttons bit w 11 II not car ry over four bec because the total we gat lit machine plus buttons can 0 only be quadrupled and if he more than quadruples the weight of the mach ne he must less than quadruple that of ot the load how many of such enlarge ments must he make before h s ma chine will cease to sustain itself be fore it will fall as an inert mass when we seek to make italy it fly through the air Is there any size at which it will be ible to support i t human being 9 we may well hesitate before we answer this question in the affirmative it is of interest to notice that the law 1 Is reversed in the case of a body which Is 1 not supported by the resistance of a fluid in which it is imm immersed ased but floats in it the ship 01 01 balloon for example when we double the I 1 near dimensions of a steamship in all its parts we increase not only her weight but her floating power her carrying capacity and her engine capacity e lit told fold but the res stance which she meets with when passing through the water at a given speed Is only multi plied four times hence the larger we build the steamship the more economo leal ical the application of power necessary to drive it the proportionately dimin ashing resistance which ao 10 the flying machine represents the floating power powe r is in the ship something to be over come thus there Is a complete re versal of the liw lim in its practical application to the two cases the balloon is in the same class with the ship practical difficulties aside the larger it Is built the more ef it will be and the more addan tadeous will be the ratio of the power which Is necessary to drive it and the res stance to be overcome if therefore ne me are ever to have aerial navigation with our present knowledge of natural capabilities it Is to the airship floating in the air rath er than the ming fl ing machine resting on the air to which we are to look in the light of the law which I 1 have laid down the subject while not at all promising se rus worthy of more at than it has recel ed |