HARVARD I.

The aeroplane constructed by the Harvard Aeronautical Society is to undergo the test of its success or failure during the present week. For the past two months the machine has been under construction and has finally been completed in the face of almost insurmountable obstacles. The limited nature of the society's resources has proved a most serious restraint upon the constructors. The entire cost has been made to come well below $300, an astonishingly small sum in comparison with the prices demanded by the companies regularly engaged in the manufacture of aeroplanes. Financial embarrassment caused one of the firms engaged in preparing the wooden members to give up the work, and this resulted in additional expense and delay to the Aeronautical Society.

In spite of these drawbacks a biplane has been produced which compares favorably in workmanship with many successful machines. It has the unique features of being the lightest biplane ever constructed and of having no rear planes. The ingenious combination for controlling up-and-down direction and maintaining transverse stability by means of a single pair of anterior planes is a feature of great possibilities which has never before been embodied in a full sized aeroplane. In the progress of the science of aviation, the "Harvard I" will pray its part by demonstrating the practicability of the new ideas embodied in it. The men who have been actively engaged in the work of construction deserve high praise for their industry and perseverance.