Newcomb's paper

["Inge H. A. Pettersen" <ingep@ONLINE.NO>]

William Beaty wrote:

> A famous example is Dr. Simon Newcomb's paper (around 1905?) which showed
> that flying machines could not be built using any known material or power
> source.  Newcomb "disproved" flying machines in the same way that any
> modern skeptic would.  However, by offering incontrovertable evidence, the
> Wright Brothers demonstrated that Newcomb's debunking of the claims of
> those flying-machine inventors was flawed.  This illustrates that no
> disproof based upon theory and reasoning alone is 100% trustworthy.  Dr.
> Newcomb was a world-famous astronomer at the time, so even the stature of
> the skeptic does not guarantee that their reasoning is sound.

Do you (or anyone else on the list) have a reference to this paper of
Newcomb ?