11 APRIL 1868, Page 3

There has been a correspondence this week in the Times

on the possibility of flying. Somebody is going to fly somehow, but apparently like a kite, along the nave of the Crystal Palace. " Apteryx" writes to say he cannot do it, because even a bird has to run and thereby get momentum before he can get off; and Mr. J. Santley says the object is to swim, and not to fly. He thinks that with sufficient buoyant power a float might be made which could be driven along a few feet from the ground, which for practical purposes is all that is required. If a man could be raised, say three feet, by small balloons attached to him, he might, one would think, with wide skates on his feet, tread air as swimmers tread water. It would be a very useless thing to do, but still it would draw a crowd.