Art: The Heart of Santos-Dumont

A piece of sculpture holding a preserved human heart was a new feature of Rio de Janeiro last week. The heart thus honored was that of Brazil's pioneer aviator, Alberto Santos-Dumont, who at Bagatelle, France in 1906 was the first man to fly a heavier-than-air machine in public demonstration (two years before the Wright brothers).*The memorial, in Rio de Janeiro's Aeronautic Museum, was a 10-inch, gold-plated sphere, supported by a winged, kneeling figure in wood. Suspended within the sphere was a crystal ball containing preserving fluid in which floated the cold, now colorless heart of Santos-Dumont.

Small, swarthy, daring Santos-Dumont committed suicide...