If, therefore, we are ever to have aerial navigation with our
present knowledge of natural capabilities, it is to the airship
floating in the air, rather than the flying-machine resting on the
air, to which we are to look. In the light of the law which I have
laid down, the subject, while not at all promising, seems worthy
of more attention than it has received. It is not at all unlikely
that if a skilful and experienced naval constructor, aided by an
able corps of assistants, should design an airship of a diameter
of not less than two hundred feet, and a length at least four or
five times as great, constructed, possibly, of a textile substance
impervious to gas and borne by a light framework, but, more
likely, of exceedingly thin plates of steel carried by a frame
fitted to secure the greatest combination of strength and
lightness, he might find the result to be, ideally at least, a
ship which would be driven through the air by a steam-engine with
a velocity far exceeding that of the fleetest Atlantic liner. Then
would come the practical problem of realizing the ship by
overcoming the mechanical difficulties involved in the
construction of such a huge and light framework. I would not be at
all surprised if the result of the exact calculation necessary to
determine the question should lead to an affirmative conclusion,
but I am quite unable to judge whether steel could be rolled into
parts of the size and form required in the mechanism.
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