otor, it is abundantly evident that escape
from total and swift destruction would be "miraculous" indeed, for the
whole affair would come to the ground like a thunderbolt, and "leave not
a wrack behind!"

Probably it might be answered in reply that a parachute attached to the
machine, or the inclined planes acting as a parachute, would moderate
the descent. Well, there may be _something_ in that; nevertheless,
parachutes have not yet proved themselves to be very trustworthy,--and
we are constrained to reiterate the fact, that while an accident causing
the break-down of the motive power of a steamboat or a railway carriage
does not necessarily involve fatal consequences, an accident which
should stop the motive power in an aerial locomotive would _almost_ to a
certainty, result in a grand smash, which would involve machine and
passengers in one inconceivable whirl of chaotic destruction.

Whether this machine shall ever be successfully completed or not, it is
evident that it still engages the earnest attention of men, as we gather
from the following paragraph recently published in the _San Francisco
Bulletin_:--

"At a meeting of the Aerial Navigation Company, held on Friday, July 24,
1869, in San Francisco, it was voted to raise the necessary funds to
construct an improved avitor of large size. The opinion of the
engineers of the company was unanimous as to success so far, and the
feasibility and success of the projected flying-ship. It will be about
150 feet in length, 20 to 40 feet diameter of the gasometer, with
propelling blades on each side of the centre, describing a radius of
about 16 feet. The propellers are shaped like a steamship's, with two
blades, each very light. They will be driven by a steam-engine of
five-horse power, weighing, with boiler connections and water, 430
pounds weight. The planes on each side for floating the machine will be
about twenty feet wide at the centre of the machine, and made in
sections, so that they can be depressed or elevated at pleasure with the
rudder or tail. The gasometer will be made in sections, so that in the
event of accident to one section, the remainder will be sufficient for
all practical purposes; indeed, it is claimed that the ship can fly
through the air with such speed that the sustaining power of the planes
alone will be sufficient to maintain the avitor in mid-air. The
gasometer will be made, probably, of thin muslin or silk, saturated with
gutta-perc