Note 1 — Chapter VIII · 1888. HELPERS ON THE ROAD, AND HINDERERS.

“While Major Ricarde-Seaver, F.R.S.,1 was in Philadelphia, Keely, by means of a belt and certain appliances which he wore upon his person, moved single-handed, a 500 horse-power vibratory engine from one part of his shop to another. There was not a scratch on the floor, and astounded engineers declared that they could not have moved it without a derrick, the operation of which would have required the removal of the roof of the shop. Of course it is but a step in advance of this to construct a machine which, when polarized with a ‘negative attraction,’ will rise from the earth and move under the influence of an etheric current at the rate of 500 miles an hour, in any given direction. This is, in fact, Keely’s ‘air ship.’