James Bell Pettigrew was born in 1834 in Calderbank, Scotland. He grew up and became a professor of anatomy at St. Andrew's University. During his 30+ years there, he wrote a book about animal locomotion. Of course, bipedalism is nice and all. It gives us our hands to type with, knit with and such. But the locomotion that got Pettigrew's attention was the flight of birds and insects. He knew that others had thought about flight and even tried various experiments but that they had decided air couldn't support humans. He wasn't convinced and he said so.
Later, in 1896, a young man in Ohio contracted tuberculosis. It killed many and nearly killed him. He had a very long session of healing and bed rest, which was just about all that medicine at the time could do for his situation. Orville Wright liked to read and stuck in bed, what else? No tv, no smartphone, no email. He read about Otto Lilienthal, a German enthusiastic about flight and gliding.
Photography was just emerging at the time so we have some pictures of Lilienthal using his gliding apparatus. But Pettigrew's writing continued to inspire the bedridden Wright, who eventually recovered.
I looked up Pettigrew, just to learn a little more about a man who inspired an important developer of flight. I was directed to the professor's book on Amazon. I downloaded it.
So, from 1874 to Orville's bedroom to my Kindle to your device!
