THE HIGHWAY OF THE FUTURE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 11553, 17 January 1901, Page 3

THE HIGHWAY OF THE FUTURE.

A PROPHECY FOR THE NEW. ' CENTURY. [BY THE HEV. JOHN M. BACON, IN THE*. ;'■../ LONDON DAILT MAIL.] Were I invited to venture on any particular prophecy as to some: new advance in ..me- , chanical arts destined to be made during the • coming century, I should be inclined to predict, with a great deal of confidence, the ■ development of a practical' mode of aerial travel. ■■ ■ ■ ■; ■'■• I should not point to any one of the de- '. vices' already tried, or proposed ito be tried, for propelling airships against;: contrary : ■ winds, and say, "this, or something like this, will be the aerial motor-car of the future." : t _ Still lees should : I feel -justified in suggesting: that, any theoretical, method of steering any form of balloon lias a hope of bo* ■ ing successfully practised. - lam weary of receiving letters from the in- ': ventors of, flying machines . designed 'on ;: : brand-new principles. I Jam saddened j by. the immense amount of mechanical ingenuity i and labour expended on models of complicated aeroplanes and the; like which figure in •' technical journals and which are displayed at scientific soirees. •"

The flying machines do not fly the.; beau- : tiful models only buzz and flap when they are wound up. There! were machines and , models of a very similar type when the century now expiring began. Again, when an actual airship, the outcome of many years' thought, the product of a fine fortune sunkin experiments, is put to a positive test," it —— Well, we have need to go into details. " l For all that, I am firmly convinced that a practicable navigation of the air will at; no ; distant date be an accomplished faot— complished by the adoption of rational -prin ciplos. The innumerable inventors of flying machines, whom nothing will discourage,; generally inform me that they have gone ; to nature for their models, and so far they have done well. In the end, the navigation of the air will be accomplished by appealing to nature, only in another way. For some thousands of years men trusted to the wind alone to convey them across the ocean, and in this way they accomplished great things. The same winds of heaven,' rightly used, will eventually convey men with at least equal certainty across ', the sky where men themselves shall list. THE WAY THE ORANGES WENT. For the accomplishment of some marine engineering work, a friend of mine was employed to map out with minute accuracy the various drifts and eddies of wa/te:;' that raced over the shoals of a particular part of the - estuary of the Thames. ; It was no trivial' task which he had thus imposed upon him, and,. proceeding; to the scene of operation with no very definite idea 1 of the best initial stop to be taken, he passed an'orange women with a huge basket piled with oranges. He stopped and i? promptly . purchased the old woman's entire stock-in-trade, basket and all, and in the end he practically determined the drifts of the stream simply by noting which way the oranges went, when thrown into' the water. It was, to all intents and purposes, by following out the same idea that, by. the generous "co-operation of the Daily.Mail, I was lately led to discover air-ourents, otherwise wholly hidden from human ken, which enabled my colleagues and ; myself to pilot our.'■ aerial craft in a desired direction across the-, breadth of Salisbury Plain .on'an interesting occasion. ~--,-;• ■;' '■'■".:',-■.: r; ; ;'" v '•■,,■::;■ The day was so calm that no one but an expert would have known the chances of the journey, but the result was an unqualified success. i; ; Our ambition was to travel within ■'';■ signalling distance of the military encampment on the plain, and we so tacked our ship as actually to pass within but a short distance of two of the camp's and directly over the other three. :

The floating parachutes which wo dismissed ' all along _ our , route, and which, owing to/ many falling on the open plain, have only recently been gathered in, show that even at a very moderate height wo had air-cur-rents which would have enabled»us to reach any point of the country from Andover, in the S.S.W., to Devizes, in the W. by S., and all at 20 miles an hour. : Those who went down to the sea in ships 100 years ago could not have made a bettor record.. A BETTER MODE OP COMING DOWN;; •

But I think I hear readers exclaim that a better way of coming to earth will be needed before the balloon will become 8 popular mode" of conveyance; and this with reason. .

[ It was but a few days ago that a paragraph appeared in the Daily Mail describing I how a balloon got blown into an oak tree, j from which the occupants of the car alighted J with some difficulty. :It : ; is,' unnecessary: to specify who those occupants ,'■ were, nor is there need to mention ' that each ? member of the party could have "told of yet more ■:, [ awkward landings than that one. -Undoubtedly the ideal descent from a' balloon should i j be as easy and as graceful as that from a bicycle, and, should involve no considerations having respect to •: telegraph wires, barbed fences, or chimney pots. Well and good. A little patience is all that will be required. Time was, and not long ago either, whet the \ ordinary tall bike [ was a risky vehicle on any but good roads, [ and none but reckless cyclists cared to rids I downhill on a wheel of 70 odd inches. .'. Now ■_ I a lady can ride her " safety" anywhere with I perfect security. , Here the application of a little mechanical ingenuity has made the en-: tire difference. The needful advance in the case of the balloon will > presently ,00' made •; I by the chemist. ■• j _ The liquefaction of gases is yet in. its infancy- We '■ have but to conceive some - light gas capable of being readily " generated.;'; and again condensed, so that the balloon, on '. reaching earth, can ;be immediately deflated : and brought to rest, and .. aerostation -will ; become as sure and pleasant a method of travelling from place; to place as is putting ■': to sea in a ship and making a distant harbour. ".■ ■--. ' :■■- ■ '' AND ONE FAR PLEASANTER. For the matter of that, it will be far pleasanter. There : will be . none of the mal de mer; there will be no terrors of heavy f seas; there will bo no rolling idecks andyr j closed portholes. The very ' nature of the case presupposes a following wind, and; of such a wind the aeronaut - knows absolutely ■; nothing, oven though it blow a hurricane.; ; And he has. at the same time, immunity ! from other discomforts. ~ "With him the sun is ever shining. The thermometer may go down to freezing while he remains sitting in comfort in only : : sum-: mer attire. The ideal realm in nature has always been the air. Where the eagle soars. :".:- Where the skylark sings. As boys we loved to fly our kites in the sky. Later we sought the upper air by climbing the >;■ mountain ■:. , side. The breezes there were more invigor- ; . ating. The lungs breathed .freer' and -the >;, pulse grew strong. The world looked: fairer y from above. ■ Nowhere .else, :so it seemed, jv could there be experienced the like exhilara- - tion -of spirits. And yet there can. _ Let the aeronaut say. The /'- same ; broad ; view; ?; the same lightness of heart; the same purest air. The . main difference in the two cases:. being that the mountaineer only reaches; his goal after a hard day's climb. The balloonist reaches the same region in the first half-hour and without fatigue. ■'•' ,' WHERE THE AERIAL HIGHWAY V i WILL LEAD. A hundred years ago the exploration of j: the air was expected to reveal many secrets to the world of science, : and observers were ;■, sent up to carry out a;programme which today sounds somewhat quaintly. ,' They were to investigate magnetic force; the power of,, the solar rays; the faintness of the colours of the prism; and all about electric matter, ,; and so forth.To-day; the function Vof the- ; balloon is to supply a look-out station in time of war. and to;'aid in ihe study of meteorology and kindred sciences. , A hundred years ■ hence it. will have accomplished fresh ; triumphs. Even' inaccessible quarter of the . globe.;, will have been ,■ explored by balloons; fairly sailed over With favouring winds; and in those days England shall be mistress of the air as well as of the > waves. :'. '■ '■■■ : ■'■•' ■■ '■;■' '■■'■■ ■ :■-