Up in the Clouds | Page 2

flocks. An attempt
was made by them to represent the effigy of Martin Luther, whom the
monks believed to be in league with Satan, under the form of a winged
serpent with a forked tail and hideous claws. Unfortunately Martin's

effigy, when ignited, refused to fly, and, instead of doing what was
required of it, fell against the chimney of a house to which it set fire.
The flames spread furiously in every direction, and were not subdued
until the town was nearly consumed.
In the early part of the sixteenth century a very determined attempt at
flying was made by an Italian who visited Scotland, and was patronised
by James the Fourth. He gained the favour of that monarch by holding
out to him hopes of replenishing his treasury by means of the
"philosopher's stone." The wily Italian managed, by his plausible
address, to obtain a position which replenished, to some degree, his
own empty purse, having been collated by royal favour to the abbacy of
Tungland, in Galloway. Being an ingenious fellow, and somewhat,
apparently, of an enthusiast, he spent some of his leisure time in
fashioning a pair of huge wings of various plumage, with which he
actually undertook to fly through the air from the walls of Stirling
Castle to France! That he believed himself to be capable of doing so
seems probable, from the fact that he actually made the attempt, but fell
to the ground with such violence as to break his leg. He was
sharp-witted, however, for instead of retiring crest-fallen at his failure,
he coolly accounted for the accident by saying, "My wings were
composed of various feathers; among them were the feathers of
dunghill fowls, and they, by a certain sympathy, were attracted to the
dunghill; whereas, had my wings been composed of eagles' feathers
alone, the same sympathy would have attracted them to the region of
the air!"
About a century later a poor monk, whose boldness and enterprise were
more conspicuous than his prudence, attempted a similar feat. He
provided himself with a gigantic pair of wings, constructed on a
principle propounded by the rector of the grammar school of Tubingen,
in 1617, and, leaping from the top of a high tower, fell to the ground,
broke both his legs, and lost his life.
It was long before men came to see and admit that in regard to this they
were attempting to accomplish the impossible.
There can be no doubt that it is absolutely impossible for man to fly by

the simple power of his own muscles, applied to any sort of machinery
whatever. This is not an open question. That man may yet contrive to
raise himself in the air by means of steam or electricity, or some other
motive power, remains to be seen. It does not seem probable, but no
one can say authoritatively that it is impossible. It is demonstrable,
however, that to rise, or even to remain suspended, in the air by means
of machinery impelled by human force alone is a feat which is as much
an impossibility as it is for a man, by the strength of his own legs, to
leap thirty or forty times his own length,--a grasshopper can do that
easily, and a bird can fly easily, but a man cannot, and never will be
able to do so, because his peculiar conformation forbids it.
This was first demonstrated by Borelli, an eminent Italian
mathematician and philosopher, who lived in a fertile age of discovery,
and was thoroughly acquainted with the true principles of mechanics
and pneumatics. He showed, by accurate calculation, the prodigious
force, which in birds must be exerted and maintained by the pectoral
muscles, with which the all-wise Creator has supplied them, and, by
applying the same principles to the structure of the human frame, he
proved how extremely disproportionate was the strength of the
corresponding muscles in man. In fact, the man who should attempt to
fly like a bird would be guilty of greater folly and ignorant presumption
than the little infant who should endeavour to perform the feats of a
gladiator! It is well for man in all things to attain, if possible, to a
knowledge of what certainly lies beyond his powers, for such
knowledge prevents the waste and misdirection of energies, as well as
saving from disappointment and other evil results.
But many of those enthusiasts, who have attempted at various periods
of the world's history to fly, did not fall into the error which we have
attempted to point out. On the contrary, they went intelligently to work;
their only aim being modestly to fly somewhat after the manner of a
bird, but they all failed; nevertheless one philosopher, of modern times,
stoutly continued to assert the opinion that there is