those constructed by him in conjunction with Henson, remain in
this country in the Victoria and Albert Museum.

John Stringfellow died on December 13th, 1883. His place in the
history of aeronautics is at least equal to that of Cayley, and
it may be said that he laid the foundation of such work as was
subsequently accomplished by Maxim, Langley, and their fellows.
It was the coming of the internal combustion engine that
rendered flight practicable, and had this prime mover been
available in John Stringfellow's day the Wright brothers'
achievement might have been antedated by half a century.



V. WENHAM, LE BRIS, AND SOME OTHERS

There are few outstanding events in the development of
aeronautics between Stringfellow's final achievement and the
work of such men as Lilienthal, Pilcher, Montgomery, and their
kind; in spite of this, the later middle decades of the
nineteenth century witnessed a considerable amount of spade work
both in England and in France, the two countries which led in
the way in aeronautical development until Lilienthal gave honour
to Germany, and Langley and Montgomery paved the way for the
Wright Brothers in America.

Two abortive attempts characterised the sixties of last century
in France. As regards the first of these, it was carried out by
three men, Nadar, Ponton d'Amecourt, and De la Landelle, who
conceived the idea of a full-sized helicopter machine.