{"product_id":"2940014053594","title":"The Trial Trip of the Flying Cloud","description":"I hastily computed the distance by an air-line, and placed the speed\u003cbr\u003eof the craft at some thirty miles an hour. That seemed reasonable\u003cbr\u003eenough. Indeed, the whole statement cohered marvellously well; all the\u003cbr\u003eparts harmonized with each other and looked plausible, even\u003cbr\u003ereasonable, as I have said, except the grand fact itself, which was\u003cbr\u003etoo momentous for belief. But why should it not be true? What new\u003cbr\u003eachievement of the human mind ought to startle one in this nineteenth\u003cbr\u003ecentury, after having witnessed the wonders of steam and electro-\u003cbr\u003emagnetism? I determined to sift the matter, but immediately remembered\u003cbr\u003ethat all the knowledge I had of it had been imparted to me in the\u003cbr\u003estrictest confidence. The ingenious inventors, as was clearly their\u003cbr\u003eright, had reserved it to themselves to choose the time and way of\u003cbr\u003emaking their invention public, when it was to break on the world, some\u003cbr\u003efine morning, like the discovery of a second moon performing its orbit\u003cbr\u003eround the earth. I sunk into a brown study.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn the evening, Mr. Bonflon called again, as he had promised. He\u003cbr\u003ebrought with him a large roll of plans and drawings, for the purpose\u003cbr\u003eof illustrating more clearly the principles and method of construction\u003cbr\u003eand operation of his aerial ship. They were projected on a large\u003cbr\u003escale, and the workmanship was superb. Months of hard labor by a\u003cbr\u003efinished draughtsman must have been devoted to their execution. \"And\u003cbr\u003ewhat an additional outlay of time and brains,\" thought I, \"must have\u003cbr\u003ebeen required, to devise the scheme and construct the machine itself,\u003cbr\u003eso as to elevate the ingenious ideal into an absolute working\u003cbr\u003ereality!\" These drawings, Mr. Bonflon informed me, were duplicates of\u003cbr\u003eothers which had been privately deposited in the Patent-Office at\u003cbr\u003eWashington.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe one which chiefly attracted my attention was that which\u003cbr\u003erepresented the monster steamer complete, with all its appendages and\u003cbr\u003ecomplement of passengers, in its majestic flight through the air.\u003cbr\u003eBelow it were the drifting clouds. Its course lay quite above the\u003cbr\u003estorms and hurricanes and conflicting wind-currents which vex the\u003cbr\u003elower strata of the atmosphere, where it comes in contact with the\u003cbr\u003eearth's uneven surface, and is kept in motion by the contractions and\u003cbr\u003eexpansions of alternate cold and heat, and is broken and set whirling\u003cbr\u003eby the forests and gorges and mountain-tops among which it is\u003cbr\u003ecompelled to force its way. Above all this, Mr. Bonflon assured me, as\u003cbr\u003eaeronauts report, there is ever a smooth, quiet atmospheric sea.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"But how is life to be sustained for any considerable time in that\u003cbr\u003erarefied medium?\" inquired I, \"when it is asserted that even in\u003cbr\u003eascending high mountains, the texture of the soft parts of the human\u003cbr\u003ebody becomes so loose and flabby from diminished atmospheric pressure\u003cbr\u003eas to cause one, so to speak, to sweat blood,--which oozes perceptibly\u003cbr\u003efrom the mouth and nose and eyes, and even from under the finger-\u003cbr\u003enails?\"","brand":"WDS Publishing","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47152738205936,"sku":"2940014053594","price":2.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940014053594_p0.jpg?v=1763599863","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940014053594","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}