Among the admirable traits of the father of sailing flight must be mentioned his scientific liberality and _esprit de corps_. Though he patented his invention he did not conceal, or withhold, his discoveries when he could publish them properly. These discoveries were made at a great sacrifice of time and means, and must have appeared to him valuable trade secrets; yet he published all his scientific data, his theories, and observations; he encouraged his confrères in various countries to witness and emulate his experiments, to share intimately his laboriously developed knowledge of aviation, to join hands with him in hastening the advent of practical flight. Such is the _esprit de corps_ which has ever prevailed among truly scientific men, as distinguished from the mercenary and commercial; such are the unselfish investigators whom the world delights to honor, both for their genius and for their liberal contributions to the common and permanent possessions of humanity. Before his death Lilienthal had the pleasure of knowing that competent disciples were emulating him in doctrine and practice. One of the earliest and cleverest of these was Percy S. Pilcher, Assistant Lecturer in Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering at the University of Glasgow. In the summer of 1895 he built the glider shown in Plate XVI. This, like Lilienthal’s, was a double-tailed monoplane arched fore and aft; but, better than his for manual control, it was straight from tip to tip, like the designs of Henson, Penaud, and other predecessors. This improvement was introduced to prevent side gusts from rocking the craft so readily as they do the V-shaped gliders. His best sailer, the _Hawk_, shown in the figure, had wings curved one in twenty, about one third from their front edge.[28] Sometimes he sailed downhill; again he was towed or launched, like a kite, by means of a cord, running through five-fold multiplying gear, and drawn by running boys, or a horse. In both cases he controlled the machine to his own satisfaction, making in 1897 smooth downhill glides of 700 feet length, from an elevation of 70 feet.[29] He had also visited Lilienthal, but only after achieving success at home.