A feather in the air is less subject to gravity and less at the mercy of the elements in any of the aerial machines made or proposed.
Scientists tell us that in our dreams we have returned to us vague impressions of sensations our ancestors experienced. My ego must therefore have once been in the form of a bird. If so, I have lost my wings and the secret of flight.
Be that as it may, I have thought upon flying until I’ve many times flown in my dreams, and the last I distinctly remember to have seen a host of men, flying singly, who were pelting the earth with ready-made plum puddings, one of which, striking me in the eye awakened me, since when I have tried to banish flying, with all its fleeting glory, from my mind.
I sincerely hope that the many who are induced by the tempting baits offered to essay flying in the impossible machines proposed will take warning from the fate of the plum puddings, for they were all smashed up – no, down! – to atoms.
1910: The lot of the motorist in France
You English motorists are spoilt children, who want something to cry for.
Here in one of the chief provincial towns of France I am taxed £15 12s per annum on my 22hp car, and we never pay less than 1s 10d per gallon for our petrol, and frequently more. On a yearly mileage of 10,000, at 20 miles to the gallon, this works out at from £42 to £50 a year, as against about £33 at average English rates.
There are other items quite as important, such as insurance. I pay £18 a year, of which over £9 is for third-party risks and nearly £4 for my chauffeur; the balance being for fire and the right to carry another servant.
Not a penny for accident to the car itself or its occupants other than servants; a policy covering such risks would cost another £20 at the very least. As in France a civil action is almost invariably brought against the owner of a car [after] an accident, insurance against third-party risks is an absolute necessity; and my policy covers damages to the tune of no less than £4000, [which is] by no means an unusual figure for a jury to award, especially if the owner is known to be well off.