But these sensations have been only illusions. To actually leave the earth and wander at will in aerial space--this has been, scarcely a hope, perhaps rarely even a distinct dream. From the days of Dædalus and Icarus, of Oriental flying horses and magic carpets, down to "Darius Green and his flying machine," free flight and frenzy were not far apart. We were learnedly told, only a few years since, that sustention by heavier-than-air machines was impossible without the discovery, first, of some new matter or some new force. It is now (1911) only eight years since Wilbur Wright at Kitty Hawk, with the aid of the new (?) matter--aluminum--and the "new" force--the gasoline engine--in three successive flights proved that a man could travel through the air and safely descend, in a machine weighing many times as much as the air it displaced. It is only five years since two designers--Surcouf and Lebaudy--built dirigible balloons approximating present forms, the _Ville de Paris_ and _La Patrie_. It is only now that we average people may confidently contemplate the prospect of an aerial voyage for ourselves before we die. A contemplation not without its shudder, perhaps; but yet not altogether more daring than that of our grandsires who first rode on steel rails behind a steam locomotive. The Dangers of Aviation We are very sure to be informed of the fact when an aviator is killed. Comparatively little stir is made nowadays over an automobile fatality, and the ordinary railroad accident receives bare mention. For instruction and warning, accidents to air craft cannot be given too much publicity; but if we wish any accurate conception of the danger we must pay regard to factors of proportion. There are perhaps a thousand aeroplanes and about sixty dirigible balloons in the world. About 500 men--amateurs and professionals--are continuously engaged in aviation. The Aero Club of France has issued in that country nearly 300 licenses. In the United States, licenses are held by about thirty individuals. We can form no intelligent estimate as to the number of unlicensed amateurs of all ages who are constantly experimenting with gliders at more or less peril to life and limb. A French authority has ascertained the death rate among air-men to have been--to date--about 6%. This is equivalent to about one life for 4000 miles of flight: but we must remember that accidents will vary rather with the number of ascents and descents than with the mileage. Four thousand miles in 100 flights would be much less perilous, under present conditions, than 4000 miles in 1000 flights. [Illustration: THE AVIATOR]