Aerial Navigation; containing a description of a proposed flying
machine, on a new principle. By Daedalus Britannicus. London, 1847, 8vo.
In 1842-43 a Mr. Henson[24] had proposed what he called an aeronaut
steam-engine, and a Bill was brought in to incorporate an "Aerial Transit
Company." The present plan is altogether different, the moving power being
the explosion of mixed hydrogen and air. Nothing came of it--not even a
Bill. What the final destiny of the balloon may be no one knows: it may
reasonably be suspected that difficulties will at last be overcome.
Darwin,[25] in his "Botanic Garden" (1781), has the following prophecy:
"Soon shall thy arm, unconquered Steam! afar
Drag the slow barge, or drive the rapid car;
Or, on wide-waving wings expanded, bear
The flying chariot through the fields of air."
Darwin's contemporaries, no doubt, smiled pity on the poor man. It is worth
note that the two true prophecies have been fulfilled in a sense different
from that of the predictions. Darwin was thinking of the suggestion of
Jonathan Hulls,[26] when he spoke of dragging the slow barge: it is only
very recently that the steam-tug has been employed on the canals. The car
was to be driven, not drawn, and on the common roads. Perhaps, the flying
chariot will {9} be something of a character which we cannot imagine, even
with the two prophecies and their fulfilments to help us.[27]