Another point to be considered is that the bird operates by the
application of a kind of force which is peculiar to the animal
creation, and no approach to which has ever been made in any
mechanism. This force is that which gives rise to muscular action,
of which the necessary condition is the direct action of a nervous
system. We cannot have muscles or nerves for our flying-machine.
We have to replace them by such crude and clumsy adjuncts as
steam-engines and electric batteries. It may certainly seem
singular if man is never to discover any combination of substances
which, under the influence of some such agency as an electric
current, shall expand and contract like a muscle. But, if he is
ever to do so, the time is still in the future. We do not see the
dawn of the age in which such a result will be brought forth.
Another consideration of a general character may be introduced. As
a rule it is the unexpected that happens in invention as well as
discovery. There are many problems which have fascinated mankind
ever since civilization began which we have made little or no
advance in solving. The only satisfaction we can feel in our
treatment of the great geometrical problems of antiquity is that
we have shown their solution to be impossible.
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