pulled down.

Monsieur Nadar, at the conclusion of a courteous letter in reply to this
claim, gives his intentions and opinions on the subject pretty clearly
as follows:--

"In fine, and that there may be no possible mistake on the part of any
one regarding what I am attempting, I desire to find the necessary
resources for the constitution of a society, which shall be the centre
of all hitherto isolated and therefore lost attempts to solve a question
so profound, so vast, so complex that it does not seem to belong to a
single individual to achieve it. I have my system, which I believe to
be good, since it is mine; but I shall aid with all the strength of my
will, and with all the energy of my perseverance, every system which
shall be proved to be better than mine. The question to me is not at
all who may have determined the great problem; it is that the solution
may be found at last. The fruit is ripe; I long to see it plucked, no
matter by whom; and this is the sole cause of the agitation which I have
endeavoured to call forth, and which I am now pursuing."

A man who takes up a subject with such hearty enthusiasm, and in such a
liberal spirit, is, we hold, entitled to the utmost respect. As we
have, however, done our best to lay his case before the public, we feel
entitled to express with all humility some of the doubts which have been
suggested to our own mind while meditating on the subject.

No doubt the theory propounded is correct, and, as carried into practice
with models, the aerial locomotive has been a great success. No doubt
also it is pleasant to contemplate the possibility of traversing space
like a bird, a meteor, or a comet, and the absolute impossibility of
"getting off the rails;" but what, we would ask, would be the result of
a hitch--ever so small--in the working of the steam-engine or of the
spring motor?

If a railway engine breaks down, there are all sorts of chances of
escape open to the traveller. The engine may not quit the rails, or it
may bound off alone, snap the coupling chains and leave the carriages to
run until they come to a gradual standstill; or, the concussion may be
so modified that no serious injury may result; or, should it come to the
worst, the traveller may be among the fortunate number who make
"miraculous escapes." But if a crank of an aerial machine should snap
while it is careering through space, or even a screw get loose and cause
a momentary stoppage of the m