the stroke of a bird’s wing in flying

The standard-bearer in battle is in the center of the front line so the following troops know where to go; unfortunately, it also shows the enemy where to shoot.

She is a fine old lady, handsome, stately, wonderfully neat, and has such a back and such a stomacher that if her stays should turn out when she dies to have been a broad old-fashioned family fire-grate, nobody who knows her would have cause to be surprised.

The 'lost dimension' is a dromospherical space defined by acceleration and deceleration.