"Vivian, Charles E - History of Aeronautics" - читать интересную книгу автора (Vivian Charles E)

caveman had left records, these would without doubt have showed
that he, too, dreamed this dream. His main aim, probably, was
self-preservation; when the dinosaur looked round the corner,
the prehistoric bird got out of the way in his usual manner, and
prehistoric man─аsuch of him as succeeded in getting out of the
way after his fashion--naturally envied the bird, and concluded
that as lord of creation in a doubtful sort of way he ought to
have equal facilities. He may have tried, like Simon the
Magician, and other early experimenters, to improvise those
facilities; assuming that he did, there is the groundwork of
much of the older legend with regard to men who flew, since,
when history began, legends would be fashioned out of attempts
and even the desire to fly, these being compounded of some small
ingredient of truth and much exaggeration and addition.

In a study of the first beginnings of the art, it is worth while
to mention even the earliest of the legends and traditions, for
they show the trend of men's minds and the constancy of this
dream that has become reality in the twentieth century. In one
of the oldest records of the world, the Indian classic
Mahabarata, it is stated that 'Krishna's enemies sought the aid
of the demons, who built an aerial chariot with sides of iron
and clad with wings. The chariot was driven through the sky till
it stood over Dwarakha, where Krishna's followers dwelt, and
from there it hurled down upon the city missiles that destroyed
everything on which they fell.' Here is pure fable, not legend,
but still a curious forecast of twentieth century bombs from a
rigid dirigible. It is to be noted in this case, as in many,
that the power to fly was an attribute of evil, not of good--it
was the demons who built the chariot, even as at Friedrichshavn.
Mediaeval legend in nearly every cas,attributes flight to the
aid of evil powers, and incites well-disposed people to stick to
the solid earth--though, curiously enough, the pioneers of
medieval times were very largely of priestly type, as witness
the monk of Malmesbury.

The legends of the dawn of history, however, distribute the
power of flight with less of prejudice. Egyptian sculpture gives
the figure of winged men; the British Museum has made the winged
Assyrian bulls familiar to many, and both the cuneiform records
of Assyria and the hieroglyphs of Egypt record flights that in
reality were never made. The desire fathered the story then,
and until Clement Ader either hopped with his Avion, as is
persisted by his critics, or flew, as is claimed by his friends.

While the origin of many legends is questionable, that of others
is easy enough to trace, though not to prove. Among the
credulous the significance of the name of a people of Asia
Minor, the Capnobates, 'those who travel by smoke,' gave rise to
the assertion that Montgolfier was not first in the field--or