Intrinsically the achievements of November 12th were crude and primitive; but in moral effect they were very important. They marked the inception of public aëroplaning before the professional and lay world alike. There was no patent mechanism to conceal, no secret to withhold from rivals, such as had shrouded the work of more circumspect aviators in Europe and America. If Santos-Dumont was not the first to fly, he was the first aëroplane inventor to give his art to the world, and to inaugurate true public flying in presence of technical men, as he had initiated modern motor ballooning. His liberal enthusiasm and that of his colleagues, both aëroplanists and patrons, quickly made France the world’s foremost theater of aviation, at least for the moment. The contagion would of course spread swiftly, and involve the entire civilized world. Santos-Dumont’s unconventional dash into the air sounded the knell of Lilienthalism. This slow method served to pass time profitably in the nineties, while the gasoline motor was still developing. But with an _Antoinette_ in hand, what live man, particularly what live Frenchman, could tinker long years on the sand hills? Why not mount the craft on little wheels and take a cautious little run; then after some adjustment, make more runs followed by innocuous saltatory flights? This would be so easy, so fascinating, so instructive. How much better than to make two thousand preliminary jumps down the hill slope with the body dangling wildly to keep the balance, then to redesign the entire frame before an engine could be successfully applied! An _Antoinette_ motor, placed on a competently designed Henson aëroplane, would have obviated the whole Lilienthal school. However, they did noble and opportune work, while awaiting the growth of the gasoline engine. This school achieved success by a roundabout method because Henson’s method was not available till the present century, for want of a cheap, light motor. When that appeared Lilienthalism quickly subsided. In other words, Lilienthal’s method was a passing convenience, never a necessity. It could have been employed very profitably in Cayley’s time to develop the art of gliding and soaring; but in the time of Santos-Dumont and his colleagues, flying by Henson’s method would have burst upon the world by reason of its superior value and the allied progress, even if the Lilienthal school had never existed. This is illustrated by the fact that Santos-Dumont succeeded without aid from the sand-hill votaries. PLATE XXII. [Illustration: SANTOS-DUMONT’S BIPLANE. _Photo E. Levick, N. Y._] [Illustration: SANTOS-DUMONT’S _DEMOISELLE_. (Courtesy A. J. Moisant.)]