Chicago, December 2, 1900
I have your letter of 1st inst. You are right in your computation, and the equivalent square feet of your framing is 3.25 sq. ft. I will make my paper read that you have reduced the aggregate head resistances about one half, and speak of you as "Wright Brothers," or "W. Wright and Bro." as you may prefer.
I tested the Lilienthal coefficients with models, and found them to agree closely. He experimented also with surfaces arched 1/40 and 1/25 and found them to produce greater drift than the 1/12 arches covered by his table. It is to this I attribute your greater drift. The size of the surface would make no difference, as the lift must be equal to the weight, and the only reduction would be in the speed of relative wind required.
I doubt whether the man endwise can be figured as exposing only 1/2 sq. foot, even if round-shouldered. I should call him 1 sq. ft.