We have tamed the hydra, and he is called the steamer; we have tamed the dragon, and he is called the locomotive; we are on the point of taming the griffin, we have him already, and he is called the balloon. The day when this Promethean work shall be finished, and when man shall have definitely harnessed to his will the triple chimera of the ancients, he will be the master of the water, the fire, and the air.
—Victor Hugo, 1862