Excerpt from The Conquest of the Air: Aeronautics Aviation, History: Theory: Practice If one also recalls the fact that it was in the course of this same year, 1909, that the two most remarkable voyages were accomplished by dirigible balloons, which have definitely asserted the possibility of their practical application, one will understand that the highway of the atmosphere is now open, and that the Conquest of the Air has become an accomplished fact. The moment is therefore Opportune to explain how this conquest has been effected, to describe the principles of the construction and control of aerial vessels, dirigible balloons, or aviation apparatus; that is my reason for writing this book. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.