Reflections.

Progress, Volume IV, Issue 2, 1 December 1908, Page 52

Reflections.

After the end of that last flight, it seemed as if the Dirigible must disappear from history. The only idea at first was to save the old Count fiom loss. But in Germany balloons and patriotism are convertible terms. While Englishmen wept over the Count, comparing him to Tantalus, and gushing over his torment, the Fatheiland gave five million marks in a few weeks, for a little book of history and a postage stamp with his very striking likeness. Thus it is clear that all the loss has been recouped, and a good deal more is in hand than ever was before. It is from this book that we have taken our illustrations. The first is the Count 's portrait, the second shows the first experiments with an aerial propeller, in which that novel machine drove the boat at a great pace through the water, another shows the airship being towed out for the start of her last voyage, another gives the view from her deck of the Ehine valley, and the three last are plans of the anchorage where the ZeppeMn bal'oons have been built and exercised, and of the famous last flight of No. IV. The whole story is told in this volume, trom the inception of the first idea to the day of the disaster; and the beginning of the swift rebound and remarkable progress towards rehabitation is given in plain Teutonic prose, bright throughout with national pride. Moreover, it is full of pictures. Veiy cary in the story is the picture of the first trial of the aerial screw piopeller, which astounded all hands by driving the boat of the experiment faster than any sail had ever sent her thiough the water. Every stage f o lows of the strange, eventful Zeppelin history. In the centre, as it weie, is the ancestiaJ home of the Count, the scene of the evening labours of his life, which have produced the German lead in ballooning. Hard by is a picture of his little daughter, standing with the o!d man, ready to embaik in the balloon's "Gondola" — a touching picture, which makes the Fatherland weep. The Fatherland itself lies spread out throughout the Ehine Valley showing the famous "Falls'' and all its storied cities. Finally are the ruins of No. IV. — a great book and most touching.