At that time it was found impossible to steer such a machine. But on December 30, 1907, Mr. Henry Farman succeeded at last in Paris in describing a complete circle in the air, covering a distance of more than half a mile, without once touching the ground. In July 1908 Mr. Farman remained in the air twenty minutes, covering a distance of eleven miles. This speed was afterwards increased to sixty miles an hour. Meanwhile Mr. Wilbur Wright had gone to France, and he soon eclipsed all the French records. On September 16, 1908, he flew a distance of a mile and a half with a passenger on board, and on September 21 he remained in the air one hour and a half, covering a distance of fifty-six miles. He remained in the air after darkness had set in, and it was strange to see his machine fly about like some gigantic night-bird. On the last day of 1908, Mr. Wright accomplished a flight lasting two hours twenty-three minutes, and covered a distance of nearly seventy-eight miles. This has since been exceeded both as regards distance and duration, and there seems every prospect that flights lasting several hours will soon be of common occurrence. On July 25, 1909, M. Louis Blériot, a French engineer, performed the great feat of crossing the English Channel from Calais to Dover in thirty-three minutes, in an aeroplane of his own construction. For ten minutes of the flight he was entirely out of sight of land. Civilisation has now arrived at a new stage of immense importance. For the first time in its long history mankind has entered into full possession of the realm of air. We have now a new road which needs no repairing, and extends all round the globe. Our race enters on a new era, and nobody can say what great changes and improvements in our daily life are yet in store for us. _Printed by_ R. & R. Clark, Limited, _Edinburgh_. A CLASS BOOK OF PHYSICS BY Professor E. A. GREGORY AND H. E. HADLEY, B.Sc. Globe 8vo. 4s. 6d. Parts I., II., and III. =Fundamental Measurements, Hydrostatics and Mechanics, Heat=. 2s. Parts III., IV., V. =Heat, Light, and Sound=. 2s. Parts IV. and V. =Light and Sound=. 1s. 6d. Parts VI., VII., and VIII. =Magnetism, Static Electricity, Voltaic Electricity=. 1s. 6d. EDUCATIONAL NEWS.--“In this book of 487 pages is given a concise, lucid, and well-arranged outline of the subjects of Mechanics and Hydrostatics, Heat, Light, Sound, Magnetism, and Electricity. Many excellent exercises, numerical and otherwise, add to the value of the book. It should be added that the volume is well illustrated and well printed, and that it has a full and therefore useful index.”