nd was burned in the air,
a mass of broken and twisted metal-work falling to the ground. Of the
28 officers and men, including members of the Admiralty Board who were
conducting the official trials, all but one were killed outright, and
the solitary exception was so terribly burned as to survive the fall for
only a few hours.

The accident was remarkable and demonstrated very convincingly that
although Count Zeppelin apparently had made huge strides in aerial
navigation through the passage of years, yet in reality he had made no
progress at all. He committed the identical error that characterised the
effort of Severo Pax ten years previously, and the disaster was directly
attributable to the self-same cause as that which overwhelmed the
Severo airship. The gas, escaping from the balloons housed in the hull,
collected in the confined passage-way communicating with the cars, came
into contact with a naked light, possibly the exhaust from the motors,
and instantly detonated with terrific force, blowing the airship to
fragments and setting fire to all the inflammable materials.

In this airship Zeppelin committed an unpardonable blunder. He had
ignored the factor of "internal safety," and had deliberately flown in
the face of the official rule which had been laid down in France after
the Severo disaster, which absolutely forbade the inclusion of such
confined spaces as Zeppelin had incorporated. This catastrophe coming so
closely as it did upon the preceding disaster to the pride of the German
aerial fleet somewhat shook public confidence in these craft, while
aeronautical authorities of other countries described the Zeppelin more
vehemently than ever as a "mechanical monstrosity" and a "scientific
curiosity."

The Zeppelin has come to be feared in a general manner, but this result
is due rather to stories sedulously circulated, and which may be easily
traced to Teutonic sources. Very few data of a reliable character have
been allowed to filter through official circles. We have been told
somewhat verbosely of what it can accomplish and of its high degree of
efficiency and speed. But can credence be placed in these statements?

When Zeppelin IV made its unexpected descent at Luneville, and was
promptly seized by the French authorities, the German War office evinced
distinct signs of uneasiness. The reason was speedily forth coming. The
captain of the craft which had been captured forgot to destroy his
log and other recor