NO LIMITS

Evening Post, Volume CV, Issue 123, 26 May 1928, Page 20

NO LIMITS

TO MAN'S SPEED IN TJ3AVEL-. LING. There has always been a definite impression in the public mind that speed 'is restricted by human limitations. Apart from inter-planetary effects, about which very little- is known, there is no reason why human beings should "not travel at ten times tho. speed of any, kuoYv vehicles (writes Professor A. M.Low 'iii the London "Daily 'Mail"). Three hundred miles an hour in the air has been accomplished, 200 mile* an. hour on tend is now becoming almost commonplace. lii 1880 20 miles an hour was considered dangerous"for cycles, and as far back as 1834 George Stevenson prophesied that the rate of any machine was limited to 40 miles an hour. There is no limit. The suggestion that speed will kill' is as out of date as the famous medical expression of opinion 80 years ago that 60 miles an. hour might 'be fatal to the heart's action. Speed is so relative that without its accompanying sensation's it is virtually unnoticeable. The rapid-development of engines, of electrical methods of transmission, and the economical use of fuel are all leading to a decreasing weight and an increase of speed in our travelling vehicles. When we remain in constant touch ! with home* and offices throughout our i tour* all over the world at speeds j -which will render it possible to pay ■j -week-end " visits to India, wo shall lose the fear of bodily translation, and only I look for more comfort or news means of j thought transmission in order that out , dwindling bodies can bo saved from all [exertion; In motor-cars it is not only fiigh Ipeed that causos danger, it is the • I immense forces produced by changing j.the direction of motion of a relatively fk'eavy body. In airplanes wo may j Jtr«v«l so fast that the heating effect >$t- the air becomeß important.- Even :\>-day it ia necessary to get rid of the 'electrical charges npon the silk skin of airships produced by the rush of wind. Who knowe but that these Very forces •■ may hot eventually be turned to usejfol account until we regard this world las a mere landing-ground in the path of travel so vast as to be beyond conception World-wide travel is not an accomplished fact, it is only beginning. iHow interesting it will bo when the ;inhabitants of Central Africa,- tako. j week-end excursion's to Hyde .Park on ; Sunday; morning, or when tho neccsJsary power,is transmitted over half a. ' continent from centralised coalmines.