. Animal locomotion, or Walking, swimming, and flying, with a dissertation on aëronautics. Animal locomotion; Aeronautics. 220 AERONAUTICS. tainly have a very graphic account of artificial wings in the De Motu Animalium of Borelli, published as far back as 1680, nearly two centuries ago.^ Indeed it will not be too much to affirm, that to this dis- tinguished physiologist and mathematician belongs almost all the knowledge we possessed of artificial wings up till 1865. He was well acquainted with the properties of the wedge, as applied to flight, and he was likewise cognisant of the flexibl
. Animal locomotion, or Walking, swimming, and flying, with a dissertation on aëronautics. Animal locomotion; Aeronautics. 220 AERONAUTICS. tainly have a very graphic account of artificial wings in the De Motu Animalium of Borelli, published as far back as 1680, nearly two centuries ago.^ Indeed it will not be too much to affirm, that to this dis- tinguished physiologist and mathematician belongs almost all the knowledge we possessed of artificial wings up till 1865. He was well acquainted with the properties of the wedge, as applied to flight, and he was likewise cognisant of the flexible and elastic properties of the wing. To him is to be traced the purely mechanical theory of the wing's action. He figured a bird with artificial wings, each wing consisting of a rigid rod in front and flexible feathers behind. I have thought fit to reproduce Borelli's figure both because of its great antiquity, and because it is eminently illustrative of his text.^ The wings (1) cfoe a), are represented as striking vertically downwards {g h). They remarkably accord with those de- scribed by Straus-Durckheim, Girard, and quite recently by Professor Marey.^ Borelli is of opinion that flight results from the application of an inclined plane, which beats the air, and which has a wedge action. He, in fact, endeavours to prove that a bird wedges itself forward upon the air by the perpendicular vibra- ^ Borelli, De Motii Animalium. Sm. 4to, 2 vols. Romje, 1680. ^ De Motu Animalium, Lugduni Batavorum apud Petrum Vander. Anno MDCLXxxv. Tab. XIII. figure 2. (New edition.) ^ llevue des Cours Scientifiques de la France de I'Etranger. Mars 1869. €. Fig. 113.—Borelli's Artificial 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 Pettigrew, James Bell, 1834-1908. New York, D. Appleton & company
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1870, booksubjectaeronau, bookyear1874
