he Zeppelin airship,
particularly in its military aspect, that all other developments in
this field have sunk into insignificance so far as the general public is
concerned. The Zeppelin dirigible has come to be generally regarded as
the one and only form of practical lighter-than-air type of aircraft.
Moreover, the name has been driven home with such effect that it is
regarded as the generic term for all German airships.

These are grievous fallacies. The Zeppelin is merely one of a variety of
types, even in Germany, although at the moment it probably ranks as
the solitary survivor of the rigid system of construction. At one time,
owing to the earnestness with which the advantages of this form of
design were discussed, and in view of the fact that the Zeppelin
certainly appeared to triumph when all other designs failed, Great
Britain was tempted to embrace the rigid form of construction. The
building of an immense vessel of this class was actively supported
and it was aptly christened the "May-fly." Opponents of the movement
tempered their emphatic condemnatory criticism so far as to remark that
it MAY FLY, but as events proved it never did. The colossal craft
broke its back before it ever ventured into the air, and this solitary
experience proving so disastrous, the rigid form of construction was
abandoned once and for all. The venture was not in vain; it brought home
to the British authorities more convincingly than anything else that
the Zeppelin was a mechanical monstrosity. The French never even
contemplated the construction of such a craft at that time, estimating
it at its true value, and the British failure certainly served to
support French antagonism to the idea. Subsequently, however, an attempt
at rigid construction was made in France with the "Spiess" airship,
mainly as a concession to public clamour.

Even in Germany itself the defects of the Zeppelin were recognised and
a decided effort to eliminate them was made by Professor Schutte in
co-operation with a manufacturer of Mannheim named Lanz. The joint
product of their ambitions, the Schutte-Lanz, is declared to be superior
to the Zeppelin, but so far it has failed to justify any of the claims
of its designers. This vessel, which also favours the colossal, is
likewise of the rigid type, but realising the inherent dangers accruing
from the employment of metal for the framework, its constructors have
used wood, reinforced and strengthened where necessary b