In consequence of this improvement many airships have recently been made which have met with varying success, and many more are at the present moment in process of construction. Among the host of inventors, whose names it would here be impossible even to mention, three stand out from the rest in special prominence--Zeppelin, Santos Dumont, and Stanley Spencer--all three the inventors of airships which have, by actual experience, proved their power of steering a course across the sky. Of these rival airships, by far the largest and most elaborate was that built by the first named, Count Zeppelin, a distinguished veteran soldier of the German army. For many years he had spent his time and fortune in making experiments in aerial navigation, and at length in 1900, having formed a company and collected a large sum of money for the purpose, he produced an enormous airship, which, from its size, has been compared to a man-of-war. In shape Count Zeppelin’s invention resembled a gigantic cigar, 420 feet in length, pointed at both ends. The framework was made of the specially light metal aluminium, covered over with silk, and though from outside it looked all in one piece, within it was divided into seventeen compartments, each holding a separate balloon made of oiled silk and absolutely gas-tight. The object of this was to prevent the tendency the gas has to collect all at one end as the ship forces its way through the air. These balloons were filled with pure hydrogen, the cost of the inflation alone being £500. Beneath was slung a long gangway, 346 feet in length, with two cars, also made of aluminium, attached to it. In these cars were placed two motor-engines of sixteen horse power each, driven by benzine, and working a pair of screw-propellers attached to the balloon. A steering apparatus was placed at each end, and the whole machine, with five passengers, weighed about eleven tons. [Illustration: ZEPPELIN’S AIRSHIP OVER LAKE CONSTANCE.]