Jasper County Democrat, Volume 4, Number 44, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 8 February 1902 — An Airship Prophecy. [ARTICLE]

An Airship Prophecy.

A correspondent of the Westminster Gazette calls attention to an Eighteenth Century prophecy of the airship. It occurs in the verses of Erasmus Darwin —that distinguished grandfather of a more distinguished grandson. The passage is in “The Botanic Garden,” published in 1791, when the possibilities of steam were becoming recognized, and It seems to contain the first suggestion of a steamdriven airship. That the author contemplated warlike as well as peaceful uses for such a contrivance is evident from the lines themselves: Soon shall thy arm, unconquered steam afar Drag the slow barge, or drive the rapid car; Or, on wide-waving wings expanded bear Thy flying chariot through the fields of air. Fair crews triumphant, leaning from above. Shall wave their fluttering ’kerchiefs as they move; Or warrior bands akjrm the- gaping crowd. And armies shrink beneath the shad owy cloud.