cover the whole range of science, and this he seems to have done
very thoroughly. There survives an immense work of his entitled,
Magisterium Naturae et Artis, which embraces the whole field of
scientific knowledge as that was developed in the period in
which Lana lived. In an earlier work of his, published in
Brescia in 1670, appears his famous treatise on the aerial ship,
a problem which Lana worked out with thoroughness. He was
unable to make practical experiments, and thus failed to
perceive the one insuperable drawback to his project--of which
more anon.

Only extracts from the translation of Lana's work can be given
here, but sufficient can be given to show fully the means by
which he designed to achieve the conquest of the air. He begins
by mention of the celebrated pigeon of Archytas the Philosopher,
and advances one or two theories with regard to the way in which
this mechanical bird was constructed, and then he recites,
apparently with full belief in it, the fable of Regiomontanus
and the eagle that he is said to have constructed to accompany
Charles V. on his entry into Nuremberg. In fact, Lana starts
his work with a study of the pioneers of mechanical flying up to
his own time, and then outlines his own devices for the
construction of mechanical birds before proceeding to detail the
construction of the aerial ship. Concerning primary experiments
for this he says:--

'I will, first of all, presuppose that air has weight owing to
the vapours and halations which ascend from the earth and seas
to a height of many miles and surround the whole of our
terraqueous globe; and this fact will not be denied by