HEIGHT RECORDS

Evening Post, Volume XCVIII, Issue 136, 6 December 1919, Page 17

HEIGHT RECORDS

ANCIENT ACHIEVEMENT

ALEXANDER'S LOFTY TRIP

"GRYPHONS' BETTER THAN

ENGINES.

When Roland Rohll's started out recently in his Curtiss Wasp and kept his "stick" shoved hard back until his barograph registered 34,610 feet, or about six and a-half miles, writes E-. S. Loomis, in the New York Times, the world conceded that a new altitude record was set, and that no other human being had ever soared into this region of thin air and arctic cold. "Without disputing the facts in the case, or denying outright Mr. Rolilfs's title to fame, I would like to set down humbly the evidence in behalf of a prior claim—advanced, in fact, move than 2000 years ago. I make no pretence to scientific accuracy, but, like the renowned Dr Cook, desire merely to present the data to the public for determination of the merits of the rival claims.

The earliest record we possess of the fact that Alexander the Great, of Macedon, made an ascent to the skies is found .in a little yellow vellum page in _ the library at Verona. On it are written several stanzas in Latin. These stanzas were written in the ninth century Two ;of them record Alexander's determination to make an ascent in a baske 4 of rushes upborne by gryphons, the great winged and beaked lions not yet extinct in those days; the terror which overtook him in the heavens, his prayer to return, and the founding of a city on the spot where he descended. This brief mention of the exploit, unfortunately, gives us no hint of the meteorological observations made by the King. THE AVIATOR'S OWN STORY However, in the next oentury a certain arch-presbyter of Naples, Leo by name, who would seem by his ecclesiastical standing to have been regarded as a man of judgment and integrity, wrote a book based on information'- gathered 'while mi. an embassy in Constantinople.' -In this lie gives us some striking data. These have the greater value inasmuch as they are found in a letter written by Alexander himself to his mother To quote the aeronaut's own words.:— "I rose to such a height that the earth seemed like a thrashing floor below me. The sea, moreover, seemed to me like a serpent coiled around it." I may add that these interesting data were generally accepted and incorporated in later histories

I have submitted these observations to an eminent astronomer (whose name however I am not permitted to disclose),.and he has calculated that the earth would have the apparent dimensions of a thrashing floor when viewed from a height of 917,654 feet-7 This would set a mark considerably higher than that attained by the gallant efforts of Mr Rohlfs

As to the meteorological conditions which Alexander found prevailing in the regions he visited, there is some conflict among the authorities A certain late Greek version asserts that the extreme cold of the breezes created by the flapping of the monsters' wings was the determining factor which caused Alexandder's descent to earth. This testimony would seem to be in accord with that of Mr Eohlfs. The earlier and more widely spread account, however, maintains that it was the scorching heat of the sun which compelled the conqueror's return. Now, it is hardly to be supposed that these historians would have maintained that heat increased with the .altitude, in the face of easily accessible evidence of mountain climbers that the higher one goes the colder it becomes, unless at that time there were some peculiar condition of the atmosphere or of the sun's rays which science has yet to explain. ONLY ELEVEN YEARS OLD. The fullest, version of this exploit of Alexander's is to be found in a French manuscript of the thirteenth century in : the Bibliotheque Nationale at Paris. Contrary to all the commoner versions, which place this- exploit of the hero after his triumph over King Porus of India; this manuscript assigns the feat to Alexander's eleventh year. We learn from this authoritative source that one September day this spirited youngster went' spurring out to a wood accompanied by a troop oi venerable tutors. Among these wiseacres, who, no doubt, puffed and wheezed in a vain effort to keep in sight of the future tamer of Bucephalus, were some whose names we shall recognise. Homer the poet, Ptolemy the astronomer, and Aristotle the philosopher. We are informed that from them the young Prince learned Greek, Hebrew, Chaldean, and Latin, the nature of the sea and the wind, the course of the stars, the circling of the planets, logic, and rhetoric. To return to our story, when Alexander drew rein at the wood, he called Aristotle to him, saying: "Master, I want to tell you something, and 1 ask you to keep it dark. My father, the King, has two gryphons who are so strong that the smaller of them could carry two men. They are very fond of meat. They shall carry me-up toward the sky so that I may have a look at the world which is going to belong to me some day, and shall know how it feels to be a bird wheu it flies up in the warm air." ARISTOTLE'S PROPER CAUTION. Aristotle very naturally replied "This is a very delightful request I hear! If you do anything so foolish I won't be responsible. If we lose you.we'll not be exactly the happiest men in the world. We shall all be hanged, if I know any thing about it—yes, before the sun goes down, we shall all be hanged, if I have any brains in my head." "Master," the stripling replied, "just leave me alone. I don't like men who scold. Let me do what I like this time, whether it's wise or foolish. I won't stand for any meddling—not for all the gold in the world." At* that he called a, sei"va_t whom he saw standing near, and told him to shut the gryphons up in a cellar, and not to let them have a taste of meat for three days, and then he would see-how they could fly. The servant galloped off,and did as he was told. Alexander himself followed in his tracks soon after, audi set a gang of workmen on the job ofi constructing the machine which he had in his mind. STKERED WITH HENS. First they made a wooden ohair, carefully setting the parte together, and so fitting it with safeguards that lie co-aid not fall out when he was seated in it. Then Alexander had two deerskins brought, and he had them stretched around over the chair,-' so that the sun could not scorch him. A third deerskin ihe had cut in two, and from it he made heavy straps. Next he sent for the two gryphons, had them bound firmly round the body and under the wings by the straps, and then they were attached to the chair. Then he took two long spits, and fixed on them two plucked hens. The spits were fastened so that he could turn them in any direction he chose, rither upward or downward.

All things being ready, he entered the machine, and had himself locked in. Ho showed the meat to the gryphons, and, in order to reach the meat they began beating their wings As they did so they raised the chair, and Alexander in it, from tho ground, but he held tho moat' out of their reach, and though they

soared higher and higher they came no nearer to their objective.

THE KING WAS NOT PLEASED

Those who were looking on had no idea what the young man was up to, but they saw him rapidly departing heavenward, and began to sob and hoy/i with terror. The King heard the noise and asked -what the matter was. The attendants pointed upward, where his son was rapidly vanishing in the direction of the sun. He could not control himself at the sight, but he felt it unbecoming to faint. ' As for the peers and barons, they wrung their hands and tore their hair. Nobody could give any consolation to the boy's poor mothei Tho King at last realised there was one thing that ought to be done; ha had all the inefficient tutors, Homer, Ptolemy, and Aristotle among them, thrown into the dungeons, with the announcement that he would • have them hanged or beheaded on the morrow unless they restored his son before nightfa.ll. No bail would be accepted if Alesa-nder did not come back; they would all hang or be reduced to charcoal. This ho swora by his own imperial majesty. A GOOD LANDING. { Meanwhile ths young rascal was sail- I ing merrily he-venward more swiftly ' than an eagle, and was letting the people at home <lo all tho worrying He was now far out of their sight, and hoped to reach the sky, but the heat of the sun became too much for him a-nd began to, singe the wings of the gryphons. Suddenly they swooped. Whether he liked it or not Alexander had to return. He lowered the baited spits, and held them, so adroitly -where the' beasts could smell the meat that every moment they expected to swallow it. He made- the gryphons descend in a meadow, and let them sit at ease, With great difficulty he extricated himself from the machine, for the heat of the sun had shrunk the leather Then he let the gryphons devour the meat. When they had gorged it they took to bellowing so that the valleys and mountains re-echoed with it. Alexander then started back to the lung. But when his father saw/him it was no case of the fatted calf for the prodigal son. The King began to mock hnn, and asked him how.long he expected to keep up his infantile tricks. But his mother took him to her heart, and went into an ecstasy of joy. And the tutors, too, felt much relieved when the gaoler took them the news along, with their supper DIFFERENCES OF OPINION. Of course, when a story has been told, as this was, from Armenia to Ireland, and from Sweden to Sicily/ there are bound to be discrepancies of detail For instance, the version we have cjuoted says the hero was only eleven years old when his youthful ingenuity took this turn; others assign the exploit to the noddle of his career of conquest. One says two gryphons, another sixteen. One says the machine was made of iron, another, realising that lightness was essential, says that the contrivance was built of wood and leather, while still .others favour, glass. One version says that Alexander returned on account of the heat, another because of the cold, and another becau-e a creature with a human face warned him that he would incur the. severe disapprobation of the Almighty if he pried in this fashion into celestial secrets.

To those whom these variations of detail render sceptical we recommend for what they are worth the arguments of that eminent defender of fairy tales, Chesterton : "That a- story has been told all over the place at some time or other not only does not prove that it never really happened, it does not even faintly indicate or make slightly more probable that it never happened." Again he says: "Tradition may be defined as an extension of the franchise. Tradition means giving -votes to the most obscure of all classes, our ancestors. . . All democrats object 'to men being disqualified by the accident of birth; tradition objects to men being disqualified by the accident of death. Democracy tells us not to neglect a good man's opinion, even if he is our groom; tradition asks us not to neglect a good man's opinion even if he is our father Looking impartially into certain miracles of mediaeval and modern times, I have come to the conclusion that they occurred. All argument against the plain facts is always argument in a circle. If. I say, ' Mediaeval documents attest certain miracles as much as they attest certain battles,' they answer, ' But mediaevals were superstitious.' If I want to know in what they were superstitious, the only ultimate answer is that they believed in miracles. .. . Iceland is impossible because only stupid sailors have seen it; and the sailors are only stupid because they say they have seen Iceland." TO PROVE THE STORY TRUE. It should be added that in addition to the evidence of literary tradition we possess the evidence of what, in the absence of photography, was the uext best substitute. From end to end of Europe we find carvings, mosaics, embroideries, many of them of high antiquity, depicting with striking similarity the celestial journey of Alexander If one happens to attend the movies in the Russian city of Vladimid, which under Soviet regime are given in the Church of St., Demetrius, he may happen to notice Alexander and his gryphoplane carved on the stone of the church. If one is browsing about in the charming old Cathedral town of Wells he, may happen to turn up the seat in one of the choir stalls and find the same scene beautifully carved on the under side. If one is pacing the floor of Otranto Cathedral m Southern Italy his eye may light on the name Alexander and the figure of the King seated between the gryphons, all set in. mosaic. If on one's way to the wirtshaus one passes a little Romanesque portal at Remagen on the Rhine, there again a- manikin, sitting in a bowl suspended from the necks of two winged dachshunds, stares out at him. In the Pamphili Doria | Palace at Rome is a magnificent Flem- ■ ish tapestry depicting in gorgeous col-o-rings' tho deeds of Alexander, and among them the hero's celestial flight is found. He is seated in a magnificent wrought iron cage, to which four fierce gryphons aro chained. He holds up two poles, each, baited with a- leg of mutton. The deity is visible, wreathed in clouds, wringing his hands over Alexander's audacity. NOT AT ALL PROPER The continual recurrence of this scene from Alexander's history in monasteries and churches piques our curiosity What were these stone carvers, mosaic layers, embroiderers, driving at?.' Since everything had a symbolism or a moral in theMiddle Ages, what did Alexander's celestial journey mean? There are quite broad hints in what we have already said to the effect, that Alexander was regarded as having overstepped the proper bounds of intellectual cimosity whou he made his ascension to observe atmospheric conditions and the contours of the.earth. There is little doubt that according to the mediaeval belief God resented very much Alexander's intrusion upon his domain and regarded his exploit as the quintessence of pride. Not only is this view to be found in the books, but the Otranto mosaic places Alexander among the examples of. the vices. . A little carving at Cnrtmel, in Lancashire, depicts Alexander with paws and a diabolical face. Most significant of all is the juxtaposition oi Alexander's ascent with' the. Fall of Adam and Eve on a carved capital at Basel. The meaning of it all then becomes clear. Alexander was a&sociatea with

tho devil as. a- supreme example of pride. Just as -Lucifer said, "I will 'set my throne in the North, I will be like the Most High," so Alexander attempted to encroach on the domain of the Deity. And Alexander's impious attempt to make an altitude record was naturally compared with Lucifer's attempt to seize the throne of God.

It is lucky for Mr. Rohlf that he did not live, in the Middle Ages. If he had escaped burning alive, he would at least have run the risk of being set up as a, close imitation of Satan after he was> dead.. The present, age, though it has many sins -upon its head, can at least flatter itself that it sets no bounds to the acquisition of knowledge. And the Aristotles- and Ptolemies of these days, instead of dampening the youthful aviator's ardour, would be ready if necessary t4 haul the machine out of thehangar themselves.