d by myself,
using, principally, my feet as a motive power, which I repeatedly
tried with various and _constantly increasing_ degrees of
success.

Now I am satisfied that my system is right. It is my sober conviction
that the time to realize the dream and hope of ages has come.
Startling as the announcement may be, I propose not only to make short
excursions through the air myself, but to teach others to do the same.

Yet, knowing perfectly the obstacles in the way of flight, and knowing
equally well how to overcome them, I am yet well aware that I must
perfect my knowledge by practice before entire success can be
achieved.

This is only reasonable.

How was it with the swimmer; how was it with the agile and dexterous
skater; how with the acrobat, and what but practice has just enabled
WESTON to walk one hundred and twelve miles in twenty-four hours, and
four hundred miles in five days?

For want of a better name, I will call the machine upon which I am to
practice, the "Instructor." It is simple, but it gives the learner
just what he wants--an endless series of _inclined planes_.

It will prevent accidents, and until the student has mastered the
mechanical movements necessary to flight, will supplement his efforts
by partially balancing his weight.

It consists of a beam fifty feet long, poised and attached by a
universal joint to the top of a form post, say twenty feet or more in
height. Upon one end of this beam the practitioner stands, arrayed in
his wings. A movable weight at the other end completes the apparatus;
and yet this simple machine, will form the entering wedge to aerial
navigation.

And now methinks I see you smile, but, my unbelieving friends, let me
remind you that COPERNICUS, and GALILEO, and FRANKLIN, and FULTON,
and MORSE,--all better men than your humble servant, were laughed at
before me.

_Their_ work is done. Their monuments stand in all lands, and yet
_one_ of this band of truly great and worthy names still lives,
and to him I am indebted for many kind and encouraging words.

It is little besides this that I ask of _you_. The stock which
you are solicited to take in this enterprise is small. But enable me
by your patronage to devote myself for a time wholly to my project.
See to it, that I do not fail for want of support. Buy my little
pamphlet at its insignificant cost, ask your friends to do so; and
should any of you wish to contribute anything more to this cause,
which I have