. The bird. Birds. 86 THE WING. rendering itself light or heavy at its will, of admitting more or less of air into its expressly constructed reservoirs. Would it otow light, it ^^^^ inflates its dimension, while dimin- ^g ishing its relative weight; by this ^M means it spontaneously ascends in ^ a medium heavier than itself. To T^ descend or drop, it contracts itself, grows thin and small ; cutting through the air which supported and raised it in its former heavy condition. Here lay the error, the cause of man's fatal ignorance. He assumed that the bird was a ship, not a balloon. He imitated t
. The bird. Birds. 86 THE WING. rendering itself light or heavy at its will, of admitting more or less of air into its expressly constructed reservoirs. Would it otow light, it ^^^^ inflates its dimension, while dimin- ^g ishing its relative weight; by this ^M means it spontaneously ascends in ^ a medium heavier than itself. To T^ descend or drop, it contracts itself, grows thin and small ; cutting through the air which supported and raised it in its former heavy condition. Here lay the error, the cause of man's fatal ignorance. He assumed that the bird was a ship, not a balloon. He imitated the wing only; but the wing, however skilfully imitated, if not conjoined with this internal force, is but a certain means of destruction. But this faculty, this rapid inhal- ation or expulsion of air, of swim- ming with a ballast variable at plea- sure, whence does it proceed ? From an unique, unheard-of power of re- spiration. The man who should in- hale a similar quantity of air at once would be suffocated. The bird's lung, elastic and powerful, quaffs it, grows full of it, grows intoxicated with vigour and delight, pours it abundantly into its bones, into its aerial cells. Each aspiration is re- newed second after second with tre- mendous rapidity. The blood, ceaselessly vivified wdth fresh Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - coloration and appearance of these illustrations may not perfectly resemble the original Michelet, Jules, 1798-1874; Giacomelli, Hector, 1822-1904. London ; New York : T. Nelson
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Keywords: ., bookauthormich, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1860, booksubjectbirds
