These difficulties, which, now that they have been overcome, seem difficulties no longer, but which then seemed insuperable, were all connected with the ever-present problem of weight. It would have been easy to make rigid sustaining surfaces which would not bend in the wind; to make fires which would not go out; and easy to overcome all the impediments which seem so trivial in description and were so formidable in practice, were it not that the mandate of absolute necessity forbade this being done by any contrivance which would add to the weight of an already phenomenally light construction. The difficulties of the flight as they were seen in the workshop were multiplied, then, beyond measure by the actual experiments in the field, and the year closed with a most discouraging outlook. 1894 The new year began without any essential improvement in the means already described, though a new launching apparatus had been devised by the writer, which was scarcely so much an apparatus for launching, in the ordinary sense of the word, as one of holding the aerodrome out over the water, and simply letting it drop from a height of about 25 feet, during which fall it was hoped (exact data being unobtainable in advance of experiment) that there would be time for the propellers to give the aerodrome the necessary soaring speed before reaching the water. This device consisted of an inverted tripod, which held the aerodrome comparatively steady by three bearing points, while a cross-bar of wood was added to prevent the wings from swaying before the launch. Previously, the supporting surfaces, wings and tail, had been put on only at the last minute. Now it became possible to keep them on in a gentle breeze for an indefinite time before launching. January 9. The previous day having been spent in practicing the steps preliminary to launching, so as to avoid delay in assembling and mounting the aerodrome, the writer, with Dr. Graham Bell, went to Quantico. The day was calm, and every condition seemed favorable. The aerodrome was dropped fairly, under full steam, and it fell in a nearly horizontal position, but touched the water at a distance of only 50 or 60 feet, evidently before the necessary initial speed [p097] could be impressed on it by its engines. The conclusion should have been that by this method nothing but a practically unsuitable height would suffice to start the aerodrome in a calm, though it might perhaps be done in the face of a considerable breeze. May 25. After a considerable interval of delay, due to the river being closed by ice and other causes, Aerodrome No. 4 was again dropped from the starter under nearly the same conditions as in the trial of January 9, and with a quite similar result, the final conclusion being that this method must be abandoned. It may be added that a vertical rudder was tried on this day.