scrap metal and the satisfaction of knowing that Lana's theory
could never be translated into practice.

Robert Hooke is less conspicuous than either Borelli or Lana;
his work, which came into the middle of the seventeenth century,
consisted of various experiments with regard to flight, from
which emerged 'a Module, which by the help of Springs and Wings,
raised and sustained itself in the air.' This must be reckoned
as the first model flying machine which actually flew, except
for da Vinci's helicopters; Hooke's model appears to have been
of the flapping-wing type--he attempted to copy the motion of
birds, but found from study and experiment that human muscles
were not sufficient to the task of lifting the human body. For
that reason, he says, 'I applied my mind to contrive a way to
make artificial muscles,' but in this he was, as he expresses
it, 'frustrated of my expectations.' Hooke's claim to fame
rests mainly on his successful model; the rest of his work is of
too scrappy a nature to rank as a serious contribution to the
study of flight.

Contemporary with Hooke was one Allard, who, in France,
undertook to emulate the Saracen of Constantinople to a certain
extent. Allard was a tight-rope dancer who either did or was
said to have done short gliding flights--the matter is open to
question--and finally stated that he would, at St Germains, fly
from the terrace in the king's presence. He made the attempt,
but merely fell, as did the Saracen some centuries before,
causing himself serious injury. Allard cannot be regarded as a
contributor to the development of aeronautics in any way, and is
only mentioned as typical of the way in which, up to the time of