Died

supposed of poison, in 1159. de Fonvieville, and Gaston Tis sandier, 1867-69, In July, 1859, Mr. John _ Wise, the American aeronaut with Mr. John La Mountain and two others made a_remarkable journey from St. Louis, Mo., to Henderson in Jefferson Co., N. Y., a distance of 1,150 m., in 19 h. 50 m., or at an average speed of nearly a mile a minute Since the beginning of the 20th cent. this has been exceeded only by Count de la Vaulx’s flight of 1,200 m. from Paris to Ru ia. Regular balloon corps are attached to the armies of leading nations, and in their interests numereus attempts have been made to construct dirigible balloons. Gaston and Albert Ti endier achieved some succe in 1884, but the first notable dirigible flight was that of Col. Renard on Apr. 9, 1884, when, in a cigar-shaped balloon, with a powerful motor and a front screw, he left Chalais-Meudon, and returned to his starting point in 23 minutes after describing an oblong course of five miles. Since then aerial navigation has developed along the lines of dirigible balloons and motor aeroplanes. Notable succe es in dirigible balloons ’.ve been achieved since 1900, chiefly by Santos-Dumont Vaulx of Paris, Count Almerigo of Italy, etc.; but although perfect control has been attained in a wind varying from 9 to 11 miles an hour, bulk, fragility, structural weakne , unreliablene , and inability to carry heavy loads have to be overcome before practical value is ensured. Besides Santos-Dumont’s = other dirigible balloons, “La Patrie,” built for the French government by M. Lebaudy, made a succe ful flight of more than 80 miles in 1906. Another powerful airship is the dirigible balloon designed by Louis Godard for the Well man Polar Expedition in 1907. Improvements also haye made the pear-shaped balloon much lighter than formerly, in proportion to the area of surface, while increasing its safety, and succe has been attained in arresting the balloon’s progre over water by means of floating anchors. These improvements have done much to promote the sport of ballooning and aero-clubs exist in the principal countries, allied for the purpose of international contests. In 1906 the international race for the James Gordon Bennett Cup began at Paris Sept. 30, and ended in England the next day. The winners were Lieut. Frank P. Lahm, United States, member of the Aero-Club of America, 1st; Alfredo Von miller, Italy, 2d; Count France, 3d. Among interesting attempts to solve | the problem of aviation or flight with apparatus heavier than air, towards the close of the 19th century, were those of Otto Lilienthal of Germany, of Hiram S. Maxim, inventor of the Maxim gun, and of Prof. S. Langley of the Smithsonian Institution. Lilienthal’s apparatus consisted of a system of light and extended aeroplanes attached to his person, with which he could make soaring flights against the wind from the summit of a hill, the greatest horizontal distance pa ed being about 1,000 ft. His experiments were ended by a fatal fall from his machine, Aug. 11, 1896. Maxim’s air-ship (see FLYING MACHINE) consists of a system of superposed aeroplanes, mounted on a car driven by a steam engine.