Animal Locomotion; or, walking, swimming, and flying: With a dissertation on aëronauticsPettigrew, James Bell
Science
Animal Locomotion; or, walking, swimming, and flying: With a dissertation on aëronautics
Pettigrew, James Bell
Aeronautics; Animal locomotion
The wing of the penguin and auk propels both when it is
elevated and depressed. It acts very much after the manner of a screw;
and this, as I shall endeavour to show, holds true likewise of the wing
adapted for aërial flight.
[56] The guillemots in diving do not use their feet; so that they
literally fly under the water. Their wings for this purpose are
reduced to the smallest possible dimensions consistent with flight.
The loons, on the other hand, while they employ their feet, rarely,
if ever, use their wings. The subaqueous progression of the grebe
resembles that of the frog.--Cuvier’s Animal Kingdom, Lond. 1840,
pp. 252, 253.
[57] In the swimming of the crocodile, turtle, triton, and frog, the
concave surfaces of the feet of the anterior extremities are likewise
turned backwards.
[58] The effective stroke is also delivered during flexion in the
shrimp, prawn, and lobster.
_Difference between Subaquatic and Aërial Flight._--The difference
between subaquatic flight or diving, and flight proper, may be briefly
stated. In aërial flight, the most effective stroke is delivered
_downwards_ and _forwards_ by the under, concave, or biting surface
of the wing which is turned in this direction; the less effective
stroke being delivered in an upward and forward direction by the upper,
convex, or non-biting surface of the wing. In subaquatic flight, on
the contrary, the most effective stroke is delivered _downwards_ and
_backwards_, the least effective one upwards and forwards. In aërial
flight the long axis of the body of the bird and the short axis of the
wings are inclined slightly upwards, and make a _forward_ angle with
the horizon. In subaquatic flight the long axis of the body of the
bird, and the short axis of the wings are inclined slightly downwards
and make a _backward_ angle with the surface of the water. The wing
acts more or less efficiently in every direction, as the tail of the
fish does. The difference noted in the direction of the down stroke
in flying and diving, is rendered imperative by the fact that a bird
which flies in the air is heavier than the medium it navigates, and
must be supported by the wings; whereas a bird which flies under the
water or dives, is lighter than the water, and must force itself into
it to prevent its being buoyed up to the surface. However paradoxical
it may seem, _weight_ is necessary to aërial flight, and _levity_ to
subaquatic flight. A bird destined to fly above the water is provided
with travelling surfaces, so fashioned and so applied (they strike
_from above_, _downwards_ and _forwards_), that if it was lighter than
the air, they would carry it off into space without the possibility of
a return; in other words, the action of the wings would carry the bird
obliquely upwards, and render it quite incapable of flying either in a
horizontal or downward direction. In the same way, if a bird destined
to fly under the water (auk and penguin) was not lighter than the
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive