" The accomplishment of raising
oneself in the air, however, had no actual professors in
antiquity, and the discovery of Montgolfier seems to have come
into the world, so to speak, spontaneously. By this it is to be
understood that, unlike Copernicus and Columbus, Montgolfier
could not read in history of any similar discovery, containing
the germ of his own feat. At least, we have no proof that the
ancient nations practiced the art of aerial navigation to any
extent whatever. The attempts which we are about to cite do not
strictly belong to the history of aerostatics.
Classic mythology tells us of Daedalus, who, escaping with his
son Icarus from the anger of Minos, in the Isle of Crete, saved
himself from the immediate evil by the aid of wings, which he
made for himself and his son, and by means of which they were
enabled to fly in the air. The wings, it appears, were soldered
with wax, and Icarus, flying too high, was struck by a ray of the
sun, which melted the wax. The youth fell into the sea, which
from him derived its name of Icarian. It is possible that this
fable only symbolisms the introduction of sails in navigation.
Coming down through ancient history, we note a certain Archytas,
of Tarentum, who, in the fourth century B.
Pages:
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34