It was said of Benjamin Franklin that when he wished to fly a kite in order to ascertain if lightning could be drawn down from the clouds, he managed to have a boy with him in order to avoid ridicule. It was considered too frivolous in those days for grown-up men to amuse themselves with kites, and a good many besides Benjamin Franklin have feared to face the ridicule that was inevitable if they took up or even discussed the question of artificial flight. Nineteen years ago, when I commenced my own experiments, I was told that my reputation would be greatly injured, that mankind looked upon artificial flight as an _ignis-fatuus_, and that anyone who experimented in that direction was placed in the same category as those who sought to make perpetual-motion machines or to find the philosopher’s stone. Although I had little fear of ridicule, still I kept things as quiet as I could for a considerable time, and I had been working fully six months before anyone ascertained what I was doing. When, however, it became known that I was experimenting with a view of building a flying machine, the public seemed to think that I was making honest and praiseworthy scientific investigations; true, I might not succeed, still it was said that I would accomplish something, and find out some of the laws relating to the subject. No one ridiculed my work except two individuals, and both of these were men whom I had greatly benefited. As is often the case, those whom you find in difficulties and place on their feet seek to do you some injury as compensation for the benefits they have received.