Recently there has been a great deal of discussion in _Engineering_ and other journals regarding the comparative merits of the aeroplane system and the hélicoptère. Some condemn both systems and pin their faith to flapping wings. It has been contended that the screw propeller is extremely wasteful in energy, and that in all Nature neither fish nor bird propels itself by means of a screw. As we do not find a screw in Nature, why then should we employ it in a machine for performing artificial flight?
Why not stick to Nature? In reply to this, I would say that even Nature has her limits, beyond which she cannot go. When a boy was told that everything was possible with God, he asked; "Could God make a two-year old calf in five minutes?" He was told that God certainly could. "But," said the boy, "would the calf be two years old?" It appears to me that there is nothing in Nature which is more efficient, or gets a better grip on the water than a well-made screw propeller, and no doubt there would have been fish with screw propellers, providing that Dame Nature could have made an animal in two pieces. It is very evident that no living creature could be made in two pieces, and two pieces are necessary if one part is stationary and the other revolves; however, the tails and fins very often approximate to the action of the propeller blades; they turn first to the right and then to the left, producing a sculling effect which is practically the same. This argument might also be used against locomotives. In all Nature, we do not find an animal travelling on wheels, but it is quite possible that a locomotive might be made that would walk on legs at the rate of two or three miles an hour. But locomotives with wheels are able to travel at least three times as fast as the fleetest animal with legs, and to continue doing so for many hours at a time, even when attached to a very heavy load. In order to build a flying machine with flapping wings, to exactly imitate birds, a very complicated system of levers, cams, cranks, etc., would have to be employed, and these of themselves would weigh more than the wings would be able to lift. However, it is quite possible to approach very closely to the motion of a bird's wings with no reciprocating or vibrating parts, and without flapping at all.