Even the fables of the ancients abound with stories about flying: that of Dedalus and his son Icarius, will occur to every reader. And the representations of the POETS, and the allusions in HOLY WRIT equally prove how natural and dear to the mind of man is the idea of possessing "wings like a dove." But it is safe enough to assert, that hitherto, all attempts at _navigating_ the air have been failures. Floating through the atmosphere in a balloon, at the mercy not only of every _wind_ but of every _breath_ of air, is in no adequate sense aerial navigation. And I do not hesitate to say, that balloons are absolutely incapable of being directed. All the analogies by which inventors have been encouraged in their expectations are false, the rudders of ships and the tails of birds are no exceptions. They will never be able to guide balloons as sailors do ships, by a rudder, because ships do not float suspended in the water as balloons float in the air; nor do birds _float_ through the air in any sense. They are not bouyant--lighter than the element in which they move, but immensely heavier; besides they do not guide themselves wholly by their tails. We may depend upon it, if we ever succeed in navigating the air, it will be by a strict adherence to the principles upon which birds fly, and a close imitation of the means which they employ to effect that object. It is true, that in respect to the means to be employed, animals designed by the Creator for flight, have greatly the advantage of us, but what natural deficiencies will not human ingenuity supply, and what obstacles will not human skill overcome? It has already triumphed over much greater than any that Nature has interposed between man and the pleasures of aerial communication. We have to a great extent, mastered the mysterious elements of nature. We have conquered the thunderbolt and learned to write with the burning fluid out of which it is forged. We have converted the boundless ocean into a vast highway, traversed for our use and on our errands, by the swift agent, and by great ships driven against wind and tide by the mighty power of steam. And yet a single generation ago, we knew nothing of all this, Our grand-sires would have given these achievements a prominent place in the list of impossible things. But, do you say, "the Creator never intended us to fly--_therefore_, it is impossible." For what did the Creator give us skill and boundless perseverance? Was it designed that we should _swim_, more than that we should furnish ourselves with wings and mount up as eagles? "We sink like lead in the mighty waters," we only fall a little faster through the air. Still, I grant that the problem of aerial navigation will only be solved when the principles of flight are clearly understood, and we recognize precisely what are the obstacles which prevent us from flying by artificial means.