Powell, of the Scots Guards, experimented with a compounded frame tail-kite, spreading five hundred or more feet of canvas capable of sustaining a man suspended in a wicker observatory pendent from the kite in moderate breezes. Instead of sending up a man or men, however, and relying only on their eyes and powers of memory, it is evident that a camera may be sent aloft with much less trouble. A camera has a pervasive vision, its impression is of everything within its view, its memory is infallible and it needs no quiz A Bird's-eye View of Boston. Taken from a balloon by J. W. Black, in 1862. Prob. ably the first aerial photograph taken in America. From the original negative now in the possession of Professor John Trowbridge of Harvard. shown the entire practicability and usefulness of such work. When developed and printed the finished picture may be examined in its minutest details by the commanding officer in his tent or quarters, and the information acquired is his and his alone, without fiction or forgetfulness. M. Batut sent up a tail-kite in France in 1884 to which was securely attached a projecting skeleton platform on which a camera was placed, directed downward from the plane of the kite in flight. The shutter of the camera was sprung by zing except with a magnifying glass. Re- a slow match. Pictures taken by him cent examples of kite photographs have from inconsiderable heights were clear Country and Small Town in the Jura, from a height of 4,100 feet. General View of Paris Around the Arc de Triomphe. ranged with ferrules to be disjointed like a In the same year, Mr. Archibald, in England, is reported to have taken several photographs from a small camera suspended, lens downward, from one of his trains of tail-kites. One picture which the writer has seen is a view vertically over a courtyard wherein is a fountain basin with surrounding shrubbery. Mr. Eddy began forehand the best routes over unknown mountain ranges and through yet untracked jungles, and by this means make accurate detailed maps of wide districts that now must remain largely terra incognita? An aerial photograph would supply an accurate perspective with exact details, which could be enlarged or reduced at will. No objection need be made that the carrying of a number of kites by an expedition would be out of the question on account of the space they would occupy, for by the use of the folding parakite, which may be rolled as compactly as an umbrella and carried in a tin case, the matter is as simple as possible. In a conversation with Professor S. P. Langley, of the Smithsonian Institution, in From a negative by the author, size 6% x 8%. The view includes the part of New York lying between Eighth and Sixteenth Streets and from University Place westward to the Hudson River. 1894, he impressed upon me the expediency of attaining an altitude of 10,000 feet by means of my parakites, in order to make them practically serviceable for meteorological experiments. On December 15, 1894, an altitude of 7,946.2 feet was attained from the belfry of the tower of the Judson Memorial, Washington Square, New York City, by the flight of the parakite "Grace," pilot of a train of twelve. There are many things to be considered in the successful employment of a train of kites or parakites for the sending aloft of a camera, and among those that at once present themselves are safety, ease of manipu lation from below, and the varying conditions of wind. By repeated flights I have obtained accurate measures of the lifting power of all my kites under different wind An Eight-foot Parakite. pressures, and it is therefore an easy matter to know just how many and of what size they must be for any particular condition. Various methods of attaching the camera to the kite have been tried. The following, I have found, yield the most satisfactory results Primarily I had a gaff made which would project to leeward from below the parakite cable widening at its leeward end into a platform, upon which can be secured the camera, the axis of which is at the same angle the gaff holds with the landscape beneath. The proper declination is given by adjustable guys which suspend the leeward or outer end of the gaff beneath the cable of the train of parakites. Simply suspending the camera by cordage will not do, for a fulcrum must be had about which the pull requisite for snapping the shutter can be exerted. Time fuses and clock movements for operating the shutter place beyond the control of the op erator the best moment to Camera dealers and makers with whom I consulted about the best form of camera for my pur poses thought that to produce the desired. 61⁄2 x 81⁄2 inch pictures would require a box weighing from seven to eight pounds. I decided to construct my own cameras, and, having procured plate-hold ers of suitable size, I proceeded to build withdrawing the kites. 14 gaff and other details, weighs as follows: lbs. ozs. 3 1Ο 4 5 I 4 3 afford a steadier support. My latest camera, of the same capacity as the above, is made of eight united layers of heavy buff 7 wrapping paper, formed on a mold. The camera is held pendent from the trolley I by aluminum telescoped tubing, by which the lens may be turned in any direction. The trolley is also of aluminum. This camera loaded with two 61⁄2 × 81⁄2 glass plates, with all accessories, weighs just three pounds. The illustration [p. 625] shows it in the air ready to be snapped. The view over New York City was taken by this apparatus, flown from the roof of the New York University, Washington Square [p. 622]. 15 By the use of the trolley the camera Reel and Spools of Twine of Various Sizes. The lens used in both cameras was made by Alvan G. Clark. Its details are : rapid rectilinear angle, fifty-five degrees; symmetrical wide angle, ninety five degrees; ize, 61⁄2 × 81⁄2 inches; diameter, 11⁄2 inch; back focus, 103% inches; equivalent focus, 11 inches. I The spool on the reel contains 1,250 feet of long staple Irish flax twine, tested to a breaking strain of one hundred pounds. One revolution of the large gear wheel winds three feet of twine. The triplex shutter, with rotary diaphragm, in which aluminum was used as far as practicable and serviceable, was made specially for the |