Lab
Library
Journal
Shop
Sign in
to keep
Share image
1
128
Wonderful Balloon Ascents; Or, The Conquest of the Skies
·
Fulgence Marion
9
conducted
on
the
principle
of
the
inclined
plane.
He
descended
in
an
oblique
course,
using
the
resistance
of
the
air
as
a
support.
His
robe,
very
long
and
very
large,
and
of
which
the
flaps
were
extended
on
an
osier
frame,
preserved
him
from
suddenly
falling.
The
inclined
plane
probably
suggested
to
Milton
the
flight
of
the
angel
Uriel,
in
“Paradise
Lost,”
who
descended
in
the
morning
from
heaven
to
earth
upon
a
ray
of
the
sun,
and
ascended
in
the
evening
from
earth
to
heaven
by
the
same
means.
But
we
cannot
quote
here
the
fancies
of
pure
imagination,
and
we
will
not
speak
of
Medeus
the
magician,
of
the
enchantress
Armida,
of
the
witches
of
the
Brocken,
of
the
hippogriff
of
Zephyrus
with
the
rosy
wings,
or
of
the
diabolical
inventions
of
the
middle
ages,
for
many
of
which
the
stake
was
the
only
reward.
Roger
Bacon,
in
the
thirteenth
century,
inaugurated
a
more
scientific
era.
In
his
“Treaty
of
the
Admirable
Power
of
Art
and
Nature,”
he
puts
forth
the
idea
that
it
is
possible
“to
make
flying-machines
in
which
the
man,
being
seated
or
suspended
in
the
middle,
might
turn
some
winch
or
crank,
which
would
put
in
motion
a
suit
of
wings
made
to
strike
the
air
like
those
of
a
bird.”
In
the
same
treatise
he
sketches
a
flying-machine,
to
which
that
of
Blanchard,
who
lived
in
the
eighteenth
century,
bears
a
certain
resemblance.
The
monk,
Roger
Bacon,
was
worthy
of
entering
the
temple
of
fame
before
his
great
namesake
the
Lord
Chancellor,
who
in
the
seventeenth
century
inaugurated
the
era
of
experimental
science.
Jean
Baptiste
Dante,
a
mathematician
of
Perugia,
who
lived
in
the
latter
part
of
the
fifteenth
century,
constructed
artificial
wings,
by
means
of
which,
when
applied
to
thin
bodies,
men
might
raise
themselves
off
the
ground
into
the
air.
It
is
recorded
that
on
many
occasions
he
experimented
with
his
wings
on
the
Lake
Thrasymenus.
These
experiments,
however,
had
a
sad
end.
At
a
fete,
given
for
the
celebration
of
the
marriage
of
Bartholomew
d’Alvani,
Dante,
who
must
not
be
confounded
with
the
poet,
whose
flights
were
of
quite
another
kind--offered
to
exhibit
the
wonder
of
his
wings
to
the
people
of
Perugia.
He
managed
to
raise
himself
to
a
great
height,
and
flew
above
the
Marker
Marker
Fine marker
White-out
Fine white-out
Circle
Paint
Unmarker
Hand
Scalpel
Dice
Sieve
Purify
Undo
Redo
Start over
