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+The Project Gutenberg Etext of Wonderful Balloon Ascents; or the
+Conquest of the Skies:  from the French of F. (Fulgence) Marion
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+Wonderful Balloon Ascents: or, the Conquest of the Skies.
+
+From the French of F. (Fulgence) Marion
+
+May, 1997  [Etext #899]
+
+
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+
+Wonderful Balloon Ascents: or, the Conquest of the Skies
+
+
+
+A History of Balloons and Balloon Voyages.
+
+from the French of F. Marion
+
+1870
+
+
+
+PREFACE
+
+"Let posterity know, and knowing be astonished, that on the
+fifteenth day of September, 1784, Vincent Lunardi of Lucca, in
+Tuscany, the first aerial traveller in Britain, mounting from the
+Artillery Ground in London, and traversing the regions of the air
+for two hours and fifteen minutes, on this spot revisited the
+earth.  In this rude monument for ages be recorded this wondrous
+enterprise successfully achieved by the powers of chemistry and
+the fortitude of man, this improvement in science which the great
+Author of all Knowledge, patronising by his Providence the
+inventions of mankind, hath graciously permitted, to their
+benefit and his own eternal glory."
+
+The stone upon which the above inscription was carved, stands, or
+stood recently, near Collier's End, in the parish of Standon,
+Hertfordshire; and it will possibly afford the English reader a
+more accurate idea of the feelings with which the world hailed
+the discovery of the balloon than any incident or illustration
+drawn from the annals of a foreign country.
+
+The work which we now introduce to our readers does not
+exaggerate the case when it declares that no discovery of modern
+times has aroused so large an amount of enthusiasm, has excited
+so many hopes, has appeared to the human race to open up so many
+vistas of enterprise and research, as that for which we are
+mainly indebted to the Brothers Montgolfier.  The discovery or
+the invention of the balloon, however, was one of those efforts
+of genius and enterprise which have no infancy.  It had reached
+its full growth when it burst upon the world, and the ninety
+years which have since elapsed have witnessed no development of
+the original idea. The balloon of to-day--the balloon in which
+Coxwell and Glaisher have made their perilous trips into the
+remote regions of the air--is in almost every respect the same as
+the balloon with which "the physician Charles," following in the
+footsteps of the Montgolfiers, astonished Paris in 1783. There
+are few more tantalising stories in the annals of invention than
+this.  So much had been accomplished when Roziers made his first
+aerial voyage above the astonished capital of France that all the
+rest seemed easy.  The new highway appeared to have been thrown
+open to the world, and the dullest imagination saw the air
+thronged with colossal chariots, bearing travellers in perfect
+safety, and with more than the speed of the eagle, from city to
+city, from country to country, reckless of all the obstacles--the
+seas, and rivers, and mountains--which Nature might have placed
+in the path of the wayfarer.  But from that moment to the present
+the prospect which was thus opened up has remained a vision and
+nothing more.  There are--as those who visited the Crystal Palace
+two years ago have reason to know--not a few men who still
+believe in the practicability of journeying by air. But, with
+hardly an exception, those few have abandoned all idea of
+utilising the balloon for this purpose.  The graceful "machine"
+which astonished the world at its birth remains to this day as
+beautiful, and as useless for the purposes of travel, as in the
+first hour of its history.  The day may come when some one more
+fortunate than the Montgolfiers may earn the Duke of Sutherland's
+offered reward by a successful flight from the Mall to the top of
+Stafford House; but when this comes to pass the balloon will have
+no share in the honour of the achievement.  Not the less,
+however, is the story of this wonderful invention worthy of being
+recorded. It deserves a place in the history of human
+enterprise--if for nothing else--because of the daring courage
+which it has in so many cases brought to light.  From the days of
+Roziers down to those of Coxwell, our aeronauts have fearlessly
+tempted dangers not less terrible than those which face the
+soldier as he enters the imminent deadly breach; and, as one of
+the chapters in this volume mournfully proves, not a few of their
+number have paid the penalty of their rash courage with their
+lives.  All the more is it to be regretted that so little
+practical good has resulted from their labours and their
+sacrifices; and that so many of those who have perished in
+balloon voyages have done so whilst serving to better end than
+the amusement of a holiday crowd.  There is, however, another
+aspect which makes at least the earlier history of the balloon
+well worth preserving.  This is the influence which the invention
+had upon the generation which witnessed it.   As these pages
+show, the people of Europe seem to have been absolutely
+intoxicated by the success of the Montgolfiers' discovery.  There
+is something bitterly suggestive in our knowledge of this fact. 
+Whilst pensions and honours and popular applause were being
+showered upon the inventors of the balloon, Watt was labouring
+unnoticed at his improvements of the steam-engine--a very prosaic
+affair compared with the gilded globe which Montgolfier had
+caused to rise from earth amidst the acclamations of a hundred
+thousand spectators, but one which had before it a somewhat
+different history to that of the more startling invention. 
+England, when it remembers the story of the steam-engine, has
+little need to grudge France the honour of discovering the
+balloon.  After all, however, Great Britain had its share in that
+discovery.  The early observations of Francis Bacon and Bishop
+Wilkins paved the way for the later achievement, whilst it was
+our own Cavendish who discovered that hydrogen gas was lighter
+than air; and Dr. Black of Edinburgh, who first employed that gas
+to raise a globe in which it was contained from the earth.  The
+Scotch professor, we are told, thought that the discovery which
+he made when he sent his little tissue-paper balloon from his
+lecture-table to the ceiling of his classroom, was of no use
+except as affording the means of making an interesting
+experiment.  Possibly our readers, after they have perused this
+volume, may think that Dr Black was not after all so far wrong as
+people once imagined.  Be this as it may, however, in these pages
+is the history of the balloon, and of the most memorable balloon
+voyages, and we comprehend the story to our readers not the less
+cordially that it comes from the land where the balloon had its
+birth.
+
+London, January, 1870.
+
+
+
+BALLOONS AND AIR JOURNEYS.
+
+PART I. THE CONQUEST OF THE SKIES.--1783.
+
+Chapter I.  Introduction.
+
+The title of our introduction to aeronautics may appear ambitious
+to astronomers, and to those who know that the infinite space we
+call the heavens is for ever inaccessible to travellers from the
+earth; but it was not so considered by those who witnessed the
+ardent enthusiasm evoked at the ascension of the first balloon.
+No discovery, in the whole range of history, has elicited an
+equal degree of applause and admiration--never has the genius of
+man won a triumph which at first blush seemed more glorious.  The
+mathematical and physical sciences had in aeronautics achieved
+apparently their greatest honours, and inaugurated a new era in
+the progress of knowledge.  After having subjected the earth to
+their power; after having made the waves of the sea stoop in
+submission under the keels of their ships; after having caught
+the lightning of heaven and made it subservient to the ordinary
+purposes of life, the genius of man undertook to conquer the
+regions of the air.  Imagination, intoxicated with past
+successes, could descry no limit to human power; the gates of the
+infinite seemed to be swinging back before man's advancing step,
+and the last was believed to be the greatest of his achievements.
+
+In order to comprehend the frenzy of the enthusiasm which the
+first aeronautic triumphs called forth, it is necessary to recall
+the appearance of Montgolfier at Versailles, on the 19th of
+September, 1783, before Louis XVI, or of the earliest aeronauts
+at the Tuileries.  Paris hailed the first of these men with the
+greatest acclaim, "and then, as now," says a French writer, "the
+voice of Paris gave the cue to France, and France to the world!"
+Nobles and artisans, scientific men and badauds, great and small,
+were moved with one universal impulse.  In the streets the
+praises of the balloon were sung; in the libraries models of it
+abounded; and in the salons the one universal topic was the great
+"machine." In anticipation, the poet delighted himself with
+bird's-eye views of the scenery of strange countries; the
+prisoner mused on what might be a new way of escape; the
+physicist visited the laboratory in which the lightning and the
+meteors were manufactured; the geometrician beheld the plans of
+cities and the outlines of  kingdoms; the general discovered the
+position of the enemy or rained shells on the besieged town; the
+police beheld a new mode in which to carry on the secret service;
+Hope heralded a new conquest from the domain of nature, and the
+historian registered a new chapter in the annals of human
+knowledge.
+
+"Scientific discoveries in general," says Arago, "even those from
+which men expect the most advantage, like those of the compass
+and the steam-engine, were greeted at first with contempt, or at
+the best with indifference.  Political events, and the fortunes
+of armies monopolised almost entirely the attention of the
+people. But to this rule there are two exceptions--the
+discoveries of America and of aerostatics, the advents of
+Columbus and of Montgolfier."  It is not here our duty to inquire
+how it happened that the discoveries made by these two personages
+are classed together.  Air-travelling may be as unproductive of
+actual good to society as filling the belly with the east wind"
+is to the body, while every one knows something of the extent to
+which the discovery of Columbus has influenced the character, the
+civilisation, the destinies, in short, of the human race.  We are
+speaking at present of the known and well-attested fact, that the
+discovery of America and the discovery of the method of
+traversing space by means of balloons--however they may differ in
+respect of results to man--rank equally in this, that of all
+other discoveries these two have attracted the greatest amount of
+attention, and given, in their respective eras, the greatest
+impulse to popular feeling.  Let the reader recall the marks of
+enthusiasm which the discovery of the islands on the east coast
+of America excited in Andalusia, in Catalonia, in Aragon and
+Castile--let him read the narrative of the honours paid by town
+and village, not only to the hero of the enterprise, but even to
+his commonest sailors, and then let him search the records of the
+epoch for the degree of sensation produced by the discovery of
+aeronautics in France, which stands in the same relationship to
+this event as that in which Spain stands to the other.  The
+processions of Seville and Barcelona are the exact prototypes of
+the fetes of Lyons and Paris.  In France, in 1783, as in Spain
+two centuries previously, the popular imagination was so greatly
+excited by the deeds performed, that it began to believe in
+possibilities of the most unlikely description.  In Spain, the
+conquestadores and their followers believed that in a few days
+after they had landed on American soil, they would have gathered
+as much gold and precious stones, as were then possessed by the
+richest European Sovereigns. In France, each one following his
+own notions, made out for himself special benefits to flow from
+the discovery of balloons.  Every discovery then appeared to be
+only the precursor of other and greater discoveries, and nothing
+after that time seemed to be impossible to him who attempted the
+conquest of the atmosphere. This idea clothed itself in every
+form. The young embraced it with enthusiasm, the old made it the
+subject of endless regrets. When one of the first aeronautic
+ascents was made, the old Marechal Villeroi, an octogenarian and
+an invalid, was conducted to one of the windows of the Tuileries,
+almost by force, for he did not believe in balloons.  The
+balloon, meanwhile, detached itself from its moorings; the
+physician Charles, seated in the car, gaily saluted the public,
+and was then majestically launched into space in his air-boat;
+and at once the old Marechal, beholding this, passed suddenly
+from unbelief to perfect faith in aerostatics and in the capacity
+of the human mind, fell on his knees, and, with his eyes bathed
+in tears, moaned out pitifully the words, "Yes, it is fixed! It
+is certain!  They will find out the secret of avoiding death; but
+it will be after I am gone!"
+
+If we recall the impressions which the first air-journeys made,
+we shall find that, among people of enthusiastic temperament, it
+was believed that it was not merely the blue sky above us, not
+merely the terrestrial atmosphere, but the vast spaces through
+which the worlds move, that were to become the domain of man--the
+sea of the balloon.  The moon, the mysterious dwelling-place of
+men unknown, would no longer be an inaccessible place.  Space no
+longer contained regions which man could not cross!  Indeed,
+certain expeditions attempted the crossing of the heavens, and
+brought back news of the moon.  The planets that revolve round
+the sun, the far-flying comets, the most distant stars--these
+formed the field which from that time was to lie open to the
+investigations of man.
+
+This enthusiasm one can well enough understand.  There is in the
+simple fact of an aerial ascent something so bold and so
+astonishing, that the human spirit cannot fail to be profoundly
+stirred by it. And if this is the feeling of men at the present
+day, when, after having been witnesses of ascents for the last
+eighty years, they see men confiding themselves in a swinging car
+into the immensities of space, what must have been the
+astonishment of those who, for the first time since the
+commencement of the world, beheld one of their fellow-creatures
+rolling in space, without any other assurance of safety than what
+his still dim perception of the laws of nature gave him?
+
+Why should we be obliged here to state that the great discovery
+that stirred the spirits of men from the one end of Europe to the
+other, and gave rise to hopes of such vast discoveries, should
+have failed in realising the expectations which seemed so clearly
+justified by the first experiments?  It is now eighty-six years
+since the first aerial journey astonished the world, and yet, in
+1870, we are but little more advanced in the science than we were
+in 1783.  Our age is the most renowned for its discoveries of any
+that the world has seen.  Man is borne over the surface of the
+earth by steam; he is as familiar as the fish with the liquid
+element; he transmits his words instantaneously from London to
+New York; he draws pictures without pencil or brush, and has made
+the sun his slave.  The air alone remains to him unsubdued.  The
+proper management of balloons has not yet been discovered.  More
+than that, it appears that balloons are unmanageable, and it is
+to air-vessels, constructed more nearly upon the model of birds,
+that we must go to find out the secret of aerial navigation.  At
+present, as in former times, we are at the mercy of
+balloons--globes lighter than the air, and therefore the sport
+and the prey of tempests and currents.  And aeronauts, instead of
+showing themselves now as the benefactors of mankind, exhibit
+themselves mainly to gratify a frivolous curiosity, or to crown
+with eclat a public fete.
+
+
+
+Chapter II.  Attempts in Ancient Times to Fly in the Air.
+
+Before contemplating the sudden conquest of the aerial kingdom,
+as accomplished and proclaimed at the end of the last century, it
+is at once curious and instructive to cast a glance backward, and
+to examine, by the glimmering of ancient traditions, the attempts
+which have been made or imagined by man to enfranchise himself
+from the attraction of the earth
+
+The greater number of the arts and sciences can be traced along a
+chronological ladder of great length: some, indeed, lose
+themselves in the night of time."  The accomplishment of raising
+oneself in the air, however, had no actual professors in
+antiquity, and the discovery of Montgolfier seems to have come
+into the world, so to speak, spontaneously.  By this it is to be
+understood that, unlike Copernicus and Columbus, Montgolfier
+could not read in history of any similar discovery, containing
+the germ of his own feat.  At least, we have no proof that the
+ancient nations practiced the art of aerial navigation to any
+extent whatever.  The attempts which we are about to cite do not
+strictly belong to the history of aerostatics.
+
+Classic mythology tells us of Daedalus, who, escaping with his
+son Icarus from the anger of Minos, in the Isle of Crete, saved
+himself from the immediate evil by the aid of wings, which he
+made for himself and his son, and by means of which they were
+enabled to fly in the air.  The wings, it appears, were soldered
+with wax, and Icarus, flying too high, was struck by a ray of the
+sun, which melted the wax.  The youth fell into the sea, which
+from him derived its name of Icarian.  It is possible that this
+fable only symbolisms the introduction of sails in navigation.
+
+Coming down through ancient history, we note a certain Archytas,
+of Tarentum, who, in the fourth century B. C., is said to have
+launched into the air the first "flying stag," and who, according
+to the Greek writers, "made a pigeon of wood, which flew, but
+which could not raise itself again after having fallen."  Its
+flight, it is said, "was accomplished by means of a mechanical
+contrivance, by the vibrations of which it was sustained in the
+air."
+
+In the year 66 A.D., in the time of Nero, Simon, the
+magician--who called himself "the mechanician"--made certain
+experiments at Rome of flying at a certain height.  In the eyes
+of the early Christians this power was attributed to the devil,
+and St. Peter, the namesake of this flying man, is said to have
+prayed fervently while Simon was amusing himself in space.  It
+was possibly in answer to his prayers that the magician failed in
+his flight, fell upon the Forum, and broke his neck on the spot.
+
+From the summit of the tower of the hippodrome at Constantinople,
+a certain Saracen met the same fate as Simon, in the reign of the
+Emperor Comnenus.  His experiments were conducted on the
+principle of the inclined plane.  He descended in an oblique
+course, using the resistance of the air as a support.  His robe,
+very long and very large, and of which the flaps were extended on
+an osier frame, preserved him from suddenly falling.
+
+The inclined plane probably suggested to Milton the flight of the
+angel Uriel, in "Paradise Lost," who descended in the morning
+from heaven to earth upon a ray of the sun, and ascended in the
+evening from earth to heaven by the same means.  But we cannot
+quote here the fancies of pure imagination, and we will not speak
+of Medeus the magician, of the enchantress Armida, of the witches
+of the Brocken, of the hippogriff of Zephyrus with the rosy
+wings, or of the diabolical inventions of the middle ages, for
+many of which the stake was the only reward.
+
+Roger Bacon, in the thirteenth century, inaugurated a more
+scientific era.  In his "Treaty of the Admirable Power of Art and
+Nature," he puts forth the idea that it is possible "to make
+flying-machines in which the man, being seated or suspended in
+the middle, might turn some winch or crank, which would put in
+motion a suit of wings made to strike the air like those of a
+bird."  In the same treatise he sketches a flying-machine, to
+which that of Blanchard, who lived in the eighteenth century,
+bears a certain resemblance.  The monk, Roger Bacon, was worthy
+of entering the temple of fame before his great namesake the Lord
+Chancellor, who in the seventeenth century inaugurated the era of
+experimental science.
+
+Jean Baptiste Dante, a mathematician of Perugia, who lived in the
+latter part of the fifteenth century, constructed artificial
+wings, by means of which, when applied to thin bodies, men might
+raise themselves off the ground into the air.  It is recorded
+that on many occasions he experimented with his wings on the Lake
+Thrasymenus.  These experiments, however, had a sad end.  At a
+fete, given for the celebration of the marriage of Bartholomew
+d'Alvani, Dante, who must not be confounded with the poet, whose
+flights were of quite another kind--offered to exhibit the wonder
+of his wings to the people of Perugia.  He managed to raise
+himself to a great height, and flew above the square; but the
+iron with which he moved one of his wings having been bent, he
+fell upon the church of the Virgin, and broke his thigh.
+
+A similar accident befell a learned English Benedictine Oliver of
+Malmesbury.  This ecclesiastic was considered gifted with the
+power of foretelling events; but, like other similarly
+circumstanced, he does not seem to have beer able to divine the
+fate which awaited himself.  He constructed wings after the model
+of those which according to Ovid, Daedalus made use of.  These he
+attached to his arms and his feet, and, thus furnished, he threw
+himself from the height of a tower.  But the wings bore him up
+for little more than a distance of 120 paces. He fell at the foot
+of the tower, broke his legs, and from that moment led a
+languishing life.  He consoled himself, however, in his
+misfortune by saying that his attempt must certainly have
+succeeded had he only provided himself with a tail.
+
+Before going further, let us take notice that the seventeenth
+century is, par excellence, the century distinguished for
+narratives of imaginary travels.  It was then that astronomy
+opened up its world of marvels.  The knowledge of observers was
+vastly increased, and from that time it became possible to
+distinguish the surface of the moon and of other celestial
+bodies. Thus a new world, as it were, was revealed for human
+thought and speculation.  We learned that our globe was not, as
+we had supposed, the centre of the universe.  It was assigned its
+place far from that centre, and was known to be no more than a
+mere atom, lost amid an incalculable number of other globes.  The
+revelations of the telescope proved that those who formerly were
+considered wise actually knew nothing.  Quickly following these
+discoveries, extraordinary narratives of excursions through space
+began to be given to the world.
+
+Those scientific romances were simply wild exaggerations, based
+upon the thinnest foundation of scientific facts.  In order,
+however, to describe a journey among the stars, it was necessary
+to invent some mode of locomotion in these distant regions.  In
+former times Lucian had been content with a ship which ascended
+to the rising moon upon a waterspout; but it was now necessary to
+improve upon this very primitive mode, as people began to know
+something more of the forces of nature.  One of the first of
+these travellers in imagination to the moon in modern times was
+Godwin (1638), and his plan was more ingenious than that of
+Lucian.  He trained a great number of the wild swans of St.
+Helena to fly constantly upward toward a white object, and,
+having succeeded in thus training them, one fine night he threw
+himself off the Peak of Teneriffe, poised upon a piece of board,
+which was borne upward to the white moon by a great team of the
+gigantic swans. At the end of twelve days he arrived, according
+to his story, at his destination.  A little later another writer
+of this peculiar kind of fiction, Wilkins, an Englishman,
+professed to have made the same ascent, borne up by an eagle. 
+Alexandre Dumas, who recently wrote a short romance upon the same
+subject, only made a translation of an English work by that
+author.  Wilkins' work is entitled, "The Discovery of a New
+World."  One chapter of the book bears the title, "That 'tis
+possible for some of our posterity to find out a conveyance to
+this other world; and, if there be inhabitants there, to have
+commerce with them."  It is thus that the right reverend
+philosopher reasons:--
+
+"If it be here inquired what means there may be conjectured for
+our ascending beyond the sphere of the earth's mathematical
+vigour, I answer.--1. 'Tis not possible that a man may be able to
+fly by the application of wings to his own body, as angels are
+pictured, as Mercury and Daedalus are feigned, and as hath been
+attempted by divers, particularly by a Turk in Constantinople, a
+Busbequius relates.  2. If there be such a great duck in
+Madagascar as Marcus Polus, the Venetian, mentions, the feathers
+of whose wings are twelve feet long, which can scoop up a horse
+and his rider, or an elephant, as our kites do a mouse; why,
+then, 'Tis but teaching one of these to carry a man, and he may
+ride up thither, as Ganymede does upon an eagle.  3. Or if
+neither of these ways will serve yet I do seriously, and upon
+good grounds, affirm it is possible to make a flying chariot, in
+which a man may sit and give such a motion to it as shall convey
+him through the air. And this, perhaps, might be made large
+enough to carry divers men at the same time, together with food
+for their viaticum, and commodities for traffic.  It is not the
+bigness of anything in this kind that can hinder its motion if
+the motive faculty be answerable "hereunto.  We see that; great
+ship swims as well as a small cork, and an eagle flies in the air
+as well as a little gnat.  This engine may be contrived from the
+same principles by which Archytas made a wooden dove, and
+Regiomontanus a wooden eagle.  I conceive it were no difficult
+matter (if a man had leisure) to show more particularly the means
+of composing it. The perfecting of such an invention would be of
+such excellent use that it were enough, not only to make a man
+famous but the age wherein he lives.  For, besides the strange
+discoveries that it might occasion in this other world, it would
+be also of inconceivable advantage for travelling, above any
+other conveyance that is now in use.  So that, notwithstanding
+all these seeming impossibilities, it is likely enough that there
+may be a means invented of journeying to the moon; and how happy
+shall they be that are first successful in this attempt!"
+
+Afterwards comes Cyrano of Bergerac, who promulgates five
+different means of flying in the air.  First, by means of phials
+filled with dew, which would attract and cause to mount up.
+Secondly, by a great bird made of wood, the wings of which should
+be kept in motion.  Thirdly, by rockets, which, going off
+successively, would drive up the balloon by the force of
+projection.  Fourthly, by an octahedron of glass, heated by the
+sun, and of which the lower part should be allowed to penetrate
+the dense cold air, which, pressing up against the rarefied hot
+air, would raise the balloon.  Fifthly, by a car of iron and a
+ball of magnetised iron, which the aeronaut would keep throwing
+up in the air, and which would attract and draw up the balloon.
+The wiseacre who invented these modes of flying in the air seems,
+some would say, to have been more in want of very strict
+confinement on the earth than of the freedom of the skies.
+
+In 1670 Francis Lana constructed the flying-machine shown on the
+next page.  The specific lightness of heated air and of hydrogen
+gas not having yet been discovered, his only idea for making his
+globes rise was to take all the air out of them. But even
+supposing that the globes were thus rendered light enough to
+rise, they must inevitably have collapsed under the atmospheric
+pressure.
+
+As for the idea of making use of a sail to direct the balloon, as
+one directs a vessel, that also was a delusion; for the whole
+machine, globes and sails, being freely thrown into the air,
+would infallibly follow the direction of the wind, whatever that
+might be.  When a ship lies in the sea, and its sails are
+inflated with the wind, we must remember that there are two
+forces in operation--the active force of the wind and the passive
+force of the resistance of the water; and in working these forces
+the one against the other, the sailor can turn within a point of
+any direction he pleases.  But when we are subjected wholly to a
+single force, and have no point of support by the use of which to
+turn that force to our own purposes, as is the case with the
+aeronaut, we are entirely at the mercy of that force, and must
+obey it.
+
+After the flying-machine of Lana there was constructed by Galien
+(who, like the former, was an ecclesiastic) an air-boat, less
+chimerical in its form, looked at in view of the conditions of
+aerial navigation, but much more singular.  Galien describes his
+air-boat, in 1755, in his little work entitled, "The Art of
+Sailing in the Air."  His project was a most extraordinary one,
+and its boldness is only equalled by the seriousness of the
+narrative. According to him, the atmosphere is divided into two
+horizontal layers, the upper of which is much lighter than the
+lower.  "But," says Galien, "a ship keeps its place in the water
+because it is full of air, and air is much lighter than water. 
+Suppose, then, that there was the same difference of weight
+between the upper and the lower layer of air as there is between
+the lower stratum and water; and suppose, also, a boat which
+rested upon the lower layer of air, with its bulk in the lighter
+upper layer--like a ship which has its keel in the water but its
+bulk in the air--the same thing would happen with the air-ship as
+with the water-ship--it would float in the denser layer of air."
+
+Galien adds that in the region of hail there was in the air a
+separation into two layers, the weights of which respectively are
+as 1 to 2. "Then," says he, "in placing an air-boat in the region
+of hail, with its sides rising eighty-three fathoms into the
+upper region, which is much more light, one could sail
+perfectly."
+
+But how to get this enormous air-boat up to the region of hail?
+This is a minor detail, respecting which Galien is not clear.
+
+From the labours of Lana and Galien, with their impossible flying
+machines, the inventor of the balloon could derive no benefit
+whatever; nor is his fame to be in the least diminished because
+many had laboured in the same field before him. Nor can the story
+of the ovoador, or flying man, a legend very confused, and of
+which there are many versions, have given to Montgolfier any
+valuable hints.  It appears that a certain Laurent de Guzman, a
+monk of Rio Janeiro, performed at Lisbon before the king, John
+V., raising himself in a balloon to a considerable height.  Other
+versions of the story give a different date, and assign the
+pretended ascent to 1709.  The above engraving, extracted from
+the "Bibliotheque de la Rue de Richelieu," is an exact copy of
+Guzman's supposed balloon.
+
+In 1678 a mechanician of Salle, in Maine, named Besnier invented
+a flying-machine.  The machine consisted of four great wings, or
+paddles, mounted at the extremities of levers, which rested on
+the shoulders of the man who guided it, and who could move them
+alternately by means ,of his hands and feet.  The following
+description of the machine is given in the Journal de Paris by an
+eye-witness:
+
+"The 'wings' are oblong frames, covered with taffeta, and
+attached to the ends of two rods, adjusted on the shoulders The
+wings work up and down.  Those in front are worked by the hands;
+those behind by the feet, which are connected with the ends of
+the rods by strings.  The movements were such that when the right
+hand made the right wing descend in front, the left foot made the
+left wing descend behind; and in like manner the left hand in
+front and the right foot behind acted together simultaneously.
+This diagonal action appeared very well contrived; it was the
+action of most quadrupeds as well as of man when walking; but the
+contrivance, like others of the same kind, failed in not being
+fitted with gearing to enable the air traveller to proceed in any
+other direction than that in which the wind blew him. The
+inventor first flew down from a stool, then from a table,
+afterwards from a window, and finally from a garret, from which
+he passed above the houses in the neighbourhood, and then,
+moderating the working of his machine, he descended slowly to the
+earth."
+
+Tradition records that under Louis XIV. a certain rope-dancer,
+named Alard, announced that on a certain day he would perform the
+feat of flying in the air.  We have no description of his wings.
+It is recorded, however, that he set out on his adventurous
+flight; but he had not calculated all the necessities of the
+case, and, falling to the ground, he was dangerously hurt.
+
+Leonardo da Vinci might have known the art of flying in the air,
+and might even have practiced it.  A statement to this effect, at
+least, is found in several historians.  We have, however,  no
+direct proof of the fact.
+
+The Abbe Deforges, of Etampes, announced in the journals in 1772
+that he would perform the great feat.  On the appointed day
+multitudes of the curious flocked to Etampes.  The abbe's machine
+was a sort of gondola, seven feet long and about two feet deep.
+Gondola conductor, and baggage weighed in all 213 pounds.  The
+pious man believed that he had provided against everything.
+Neither tempest nor rain should mar his flight, and there was no
+chance of his being upset; whilst the machine, he had decided,
+was to go at the rate of thirty leagues an hour.
+
+The great day came, and the abbe, entering his air-boat amidst
+the applause of the spectators, began to work the wings with
+which it was provided with great rapidity.  "But," says one who
+witnessed the feat, "the more he worked, the more his machine
+cleaved to the earth, as if it were part and parcel of it."
+
+Retif de la Bretonne, in his work upon this subject, gives the
+accompanying picture of a flying man, furnished with very
+artistically designed wings, fitting exactly to the shoulders,
+and carrying a basket of provisions, suspended from his waist;
+and the frontispiece of the "Philosophic sans Pretention" is a
+view of a flying-machine.  In the midst of a frame of light wood
+sits the operator, steadying himself with one hand, and with the
+other fuming a cremaillere, which appears to give a very quick
+rotatory movement to two glass globes revolving upon a vertical
+axis.  The friction of the globes is supposed to develop
+electricity to which his power of ascending is ascribed.
+
+To wings, however, aerial adventurers mostly adhered.  The
+Marquis de Racqueville flew from a window of his hotel, on the
+banks of the Seine, and fell into a boat full of washerwomen on
+the river. All these unfortunate attempts were lampooned,
+burlesqued on the stage, and pursued with the mockery of the
+public.
+
+Up to this time, therefore, the efforts of man to conquer the air
+had miscarried.  They were conducted on a wrong principle, the
+machinery employed being heavier than the air itself But, even
+before the time of Montgolfier, the principles of aerostation
+began to be recognised, though nothing was actually done in the
+way of acting upon them. Thus, in 1767, Professor Black, of
+Edinburgh, announced in his class that a vessel, filled with
+hydrogen, would rise naturally in the air; but he never made the
+experiment, regarding the fact as capable of being employed only
+for amusement.  Finally, Cavallo, in 1782, communicated to the
+Royal Society of London the experiments he had made, and which
+consisted in filling soap-bubbles with hydrogen.  The bubbles
+rose in the atmosphere, the gas which filled them being lighter
+than air.
+
+
+
+Chapter III.  The Theory of Balloons.
+
+A certain proposition in physics, known as the "Principle of
+Archimedes," runs to the following effect:--"Every body plunged
+into a liquid loses a portion of its weight equal to the weight
+of the fluid which it displaces."  Everybody has verified this
+principle, and knows that objects are much lighter in water than
+out of it; a body plunged into water being acted upon by two
+forces--its own weight, which tends to sink it, and resistance
+from below, which tends to bear it up.  But this principle
+applies to gas as well as to liquids--to air as well as to water. 
+When we weigh a body in the air, we do not find its absolute
+weight, but that weight minus the weight of the air which the
+body  displaces. In order to know the exact weight of an object,
+it would be necessary to weigh it in a vacuum.
+
+If an object thrown into the air is heavier than the air which it
+displaces, it descends, and falls upon the earth; if it is of
+equal weight, it floats without rising or falling; if it is
+lighter, it rises until it comes to a stratum of air of less
+weight or density than itself.  We all know, of course, that the
+higher you rise from the earth the density of the air diminishes.
+The stratum of air that lies upon the surface of the earth is the
+heaviest, because it supports the pressure of all the other
+strata that lie above.  Thus the lightest strata are the highest.
+
+The principle of the construction of balloons is, therefore, in
+perfect harmony with physical laws.  Balloons are simply globes,
+made of a light, air-tight material, filled with hot air or
+hydrogen gas which rise in the air because (they are lighter than
+the air they displace.
+
+The application of this principle appeared so simple, that at the
+time when the news of the invention of the balloon was spread
+abroad the astronomer Lalande wrote--"At this news we all cry,
+'This must be! Why did we not think of it before?'"  It had been
+thought of before, as we have seen in the last chapter, but it is
+often long after an idea is conceived that it is practically
+realised.
+
+The first balloon, Montgolfier's, was simply filled with hot air;
+and it was because Montgolfier exclusively made use of hot air
+that balloons so filled were named Montgolfiers.  Of course we
+see at a glance that hot air is lighter than cold air, because it
+has become expanded and occupies more space--that is to say, a
+volume of hot air contains actually less air than a volume of the
+same size of air that has not been heated.  The difference
+between the weight of the hot air and the cold which it displaced
+was greater than the weight of tire covering of the balloon.
+Therefore the balloon mounted.
+
+And, seeing that air diminishes in density the higher we ascend,
+the balloon can rise only to that stratum of air of the same
+density as the air it contains.  As the warm air cools it gently
+descends.  Again, as the atmosphere is always moving in currents
+more or less strong, the balloon follows the direction of the
+current of the stratum of air in which it finds itself.
+
+Thus we see how simply the ascent of Montgolfiers, and their
+motions, are explained.  It is the same with gas-balloons.  A
+balloon, filled with hydrogen gas, displaces an equal volume of
+atmospheric air; but as the gas is much lighter than the air, it
+is pushed up by a force equal to the difference of the density of
+air and hydrogen gas.  The balloon then rises in the atmosphere
+to where it reaches layers of air of a density exactly equal to
+its own, and when it gets there it remains poised in its place. 
+In order that it may descend, it is necessary to let out a
+portion of the hydrogen gas, and admit an equal quantity of
+atmospheric air; and the balloon does not come to the ground till
+all, or nearly all, the gas has been expelled and common air
+taken in.  Balloons inflated with hydrogen gas are almost the
+only ones in use at the present day.  Scarcely ever is a
+Montgolfier sent up.  There are aeronauts, however, who prefer a
+journey in a Montgolfier to one in a gas-balloon.  The air
+voyager in this description of balloon had formerly many
+difficulties to contend with.  The quantity of combustible
+material which he was bound to carry with him; the very little
+difference that there is between the density of heated and of
+cold air; the necessity of feeding the fire, and watching it
+without a moment's cessation, as it hangs in the rechaud over the
+middle of the car, rendered this sort of air travelling subject
+to many dangers and difficulties.  Recently, M. Eugene Godard has
+obviated a portion of this difficulty by fitting a chimney, like
+that which is found of such incalculable service in the case of
+the Davy lamp.  It is principally on account of this improvement
+that the Montgolfiere has risen so highly in popular esteem.
+
+Generally it is not pure hydrogen that is made use of in the
+inflation of balloons.  Aeronauts content themselves with the gas
+which we burn in our streets and houses, and thus it suffices, in
+inflating the balloon, to obtain from the nearest gas-works the
+quantity of gas necessary, and to lead it, by means of a pipe or
+tube, from the gasometer to the mouth or neck of the machine.
+
+The balloon is made of long strips of silk, sewn together, and
+rendered air-tight by means of a coating of caoutchouc.  A valve
+is fitted to the top, and by means of it the aeronaut can descend
+to the earth at will, by allowing some quantity of the gas to
+escape.  The car in which he sits is suspended to the balloon by
+a network, which covers the whole structure.  Sacks of sand are
+carried in this car as ballast, so that, when descending, if the
+aeronaut sees that he is likely to be precipitated into the sea
+or into a lake, he throws over the sand, and his air-carriage,
+being thus lightened, mounts again and travels away to a more
+desirable resting-place.  The idea of the valve, as well as that
+of the sand ballast, is due to the physician Charles.  They
+enable the aeronaut to ascend or descend with facility.  When he
+wishes to mount, he throws over his ballast; when he wants to
+come down, he lets the gas escape by the valve at the roof of the
+balloon. This valve is worked by means of a spring, having a long
+rope attached to it, which hangs down through the neck to the
+car, where the aeronaut sits.
+
+The operation of inflating a balloon with pure hydrogen is
+represented in the engraving on the next page.
+
+Shavings of iron and zinc, water, and sulphuric acid, occupy a
+number of casks, which communicate, by means of tubes, with a
+central cask, which is open at the bottom, and is plunged in a
+copper full of water.  The gas is produced by the action of the
+water and the sulphuric acid upon the zinc and the iron this is
+hydrogen mixed with sulphuric acid.  In passing through the
+central copper, or vat, full of water, the gas throws off all
+impurities, and comes, unalloyed with any other matter, into the
+balloon by a long tube, leading from the central vats.  In order
+to facilitate the entrance of the gas into the balloon two long
+poles are erected.  These are furnished with pulleys, through
+which a rope, attached also to a ring at the top of the balloon,
+passes.  By means of this contrivance the balloon can be at once
+lightly raised from the ground, and the gas tubes easily joined
+to it.  When it is half full it is no longer necessary to suspend
+the balloon; on the contrary, it has to be secured, lest it
+should fly off.  A number of men hold it back by ropes; but as
+the force of ascension is every moment increasing, the work of
+restraining the balloon is most difficult and exciting.  At
+length, all preparations being complete, the car is suspended,
+the aeronaut takes his seat, the words "Let go all!" are shouted,
+and away goes the silken globe into space.
+
+The balloon is never entirely filled, for the atmospheric
+pressure diminishing as it ascends, allows the hydrogen gas to
+dilate, in virtue of its expansive force, and, unless there is
+space for this expansion, the balloon is sure to explode in the
+air.
+
+An ordinary balloon, with a lifting power sufficient to carry up
+three persons, with necessary ballast and materiel, is about
+fifty feet high, thirty-five feet in diameter' and 2,250 cubic
+feet in capacity.  Of such a balloon, the accessories--the skin,
+the network, the car--would weigh about 335 lbs.
+
+To find out the height at which he has arrived, the aeronaut
+consults his barometer.  We know that it is the pressure of the
+air upon the cup of the barometer that raises the mercury in the
+tube.  The heavier the air is, the higher is the barometer.  At
+the level of the sea the column of mercury stands at 32 inches;
+at 3,250 feet--the air being at this elevation lighter--the
+mercury stands at 28 inches; at 6,500 feet above sea level it
+stands at 25 inches; at 10,000 feet it falls to 22 inches; at
+20,000 feet to 15 inches.  These, however, are merely the
+theoretic results, and are subject to some slight variation,
+according to locality, &c.
+
+Sometimes the aeronaut makes his descent by means of the
+parachute, a separate and distinct contrivance.  If, from any
+cause, it appears impracticable to effect a descent from the
+balloon itself, the parachute may be of the greatest service to
+the voyager at the present day it is chiefly used to astonish the
+public, by showing them the spectacle of a man who, from a great
+elevation in the air, precipitates himself into space, not to
+escape dangers which threaten him in his balloon, but simply to
+exhibit his courage and skill.  Nevertheless, parachutes are
+often of great actual use, and aeronauts frequently attach them
+to their balloons as a precautionary measure before setting out
+on an aerial excursion.
+
+The shape of a parachute, shown on the previous page, very much
+resembles that of the well-known all serviceable umbrella.  The
+strips of silk of which it is formed are sewn together, and are
+bound at the top around a circular piece of wood.  A number of
+cords, stretching away from this piece of wood, support the car
+in which the aeronaut is carried.  At the summit is contrived an
+opening, which permits the air compressed by the rapidity of the
+descent to escape without causing damage to the parachute from
+the stress to which it is subjected.
+
+The rapidity of the descent is arrested by the large surface
+which the parachute presents to the air.  When the aeronaut
+wishes to descend by the parachute, all that is required is,
+after he has slipped down from the car of the balloon to that of
+the parachute, to loosen the rope which binds the latter to the
+former, which is done by means of a pulley.  In an instant the
+aeronaut is launched into space with a rapidity in comparison
+with which the wild flights of the balloon are but gentle
+oscillations.  But in a few moments, the air rushing into the
+folds of the parachute, forces them open like an umbrella, and
+immediately, owing to the wide surface which this contrivance
+presents to the atmosphere, the violence of the descent is
+arrested, and the aeronaut falls gently to the ground, without
+receiving too rude a shock.
+
+The virtues of the parachute were first tried upon animals. 
+Thus, Blanchard allowed his dog to fall in one from a height of
+6,500 feet.  A gust of wind caught the falling parachute, and
+swept it away up above the clouds.  Afterwards, the aeronaut in
+his balloon fell in with the dog in the parachute, both of them
+high up in the cloudy reaches of the sky, and the poor animal
+manifested by his barking his joy at seeing his master.  A new
+current separated the aerial voyagers, but the parachute, with
+its canine passenger, reached the ground safely a short time
+after Blanchard had landed from his balloon.
+
+Experience has proved that, in the case of a descending
+parachute, if the rapidity of the descent is doubled the
+resistance of the air is quadrupled; if the rapidity is triple
+the resistance is increased ninefold; or, to speak in language of
+science, the resistance of the air is increased by the square of
+the swiftness of the body in motion.  This resistance increases
+in proportion as the parachute spreads, and thus the uniformity
+of its fall is established a minute after it has been disengaged
+from the balloon. We can, therefore, check the descent of a body
+by giving it a surface capable of distension by the action of the
+air.
+
+Garnerin, in the year 1802, conceived the bold design of letting
+himself fall from a height of 1,200 feet, and he accomplished the
+exploit before the Parisians.  When he had reached the height he
+had fixed beforehand, he cut the rope which connected the
+parachute with the balloon.  At first the fall was terribly
+rapid; but as soon as the parachute spread out the rapidity was
+considerably diminished.  The machine made, however, enormous
+oscillations. The air, gathering end compressed under it, would
+sometimes escape by one side sometimes by the other, thus shaking
+and whirling the parachute about with a violence which, however
+great, had happily no unfortunate effect.
+
+The origin of the parachute is more remote than is generally
+supposed, as there was a figure of one which appeared among a
+collection of machines at Venice, in 1617.
+
+Another species of parachute, less perfect, to be sure; than that
+of Garnerin, but still a practical machine, was described 189
+years before the great aeronaut's feat at Paris.  We read in the
+narrative of the ambassador of Louis XIV at Siam, at the end of
+the seventeenth century, the following passage--"A mountebank at
+the court of the King of Siam climbed to the top of a high
+bamboo-tree, and threw himself into the air without any other
+support than two parasols. Thus equipped, he abandoned himself to
+the winds, which carried him, as by chance, sometimes to the
+earth, sometimes on trees or houses, and sometimes into the
+river, without any harm happening to him."
+
+Is not this the idea of our parachutes?
+
+
+
+Chapter IV.  First Public Trial of the Balloon.
+
+(Montgolfier's Balloon Annonay, 5th of June of 1783.)
+
+We are accustomed to rank the brothers Joseph and Etienne
+Montgolfier as equally distinguished in the field of science. 
+The reason for thus associating these two names seems to have
+been the fraternal friendship which subsisted in an extraordinary
+degree in the Montgolfier family, rather than any equality of
+claim which they had to the notice of posterity.  After special
+investigation, we find that Joseph Montgolfier was very superior
+to his brother, and that it is to him principally, if not
+exclusively, that we owe the invention of aerostation. 
+Nevertheless, we shall not insist upon this fact; and seeing that
+a sacred amity always cemented a perfect union in the Montgolfier
+family, we will regard that union as unbroken in any sense, and
+will not insinuate that the brother of Montgolfier was
+undeserving of the honoured rank which in his lifetime he held.
+
+In 1783, the sons of Pierre Montgolfier, a rich papermaker at
+Annonay department of Ardeche, were already in the prime of life, 
+and it is related of them that their principal occupation was
+experimenting in the physical sciences.  Joseph Montgolfier,
+after being convinced by a number of minor experiments made in
+1782 and 1783, that a heat of 180 degrees rarefied the air and
+made it occupy a space of TWICE the extent it occupied before
+being heated--or, in other words, that this degree of heat
+diminished the weight of air by one half--began to speculate on
+what might be the shape and the material of a structure which
+being filled with air thus heated, would be able to raise itself
+from the earth in spite of the weight of its own covering.
+
+His first balloon was a small parallelopiped in very thin
+taffeta, containing less than seventy-eight cubic inches of air. 
+He made it rise to the roof of his apartment in November,
+1782--at Avignon, where he then happened to be.  Having returned
+some little time after to Annonay,
+
+Joseph and his brother performed the same experiment , together
+in the open air with perfect success.  Certain, then, of the new
+principle, they made a balloon of considerable size, containing
+upwards of sixty-five feet of heated air.
+
+This machine likewise rose, tore away the cords by which it was
+at first held down, and mounting in the air to the height of from
+two to three hundred feet, fell upon the neighbouring hills after
+a considerable flight.  The brothers Montgolfier then made a very
+large and strong balloon, with which they wished to bring their
+discovery before the public.
+
+The appointed day was the 5th of June, 1783 and the nobility of
+the vicinity were invited to be present at the experiment. 
+Faujas de Saint Fond, author of "La Description des Experiences
+de la Machine Aerostatique," published the same year, gives the
+following account of it:--
+
+"What," says Saint Fond, "was the general astonishment when the
+inventors of the machine announced that immediately it should be
+full of gas, which they had the means of producing at will by the
+most simple process, it would raise itself to the clouds.  It
+must be granted that, in spite of the confidence in the ingenuity
+and experience of the Montgolfiers, this feat seemed so
+incredible to those who came to witness it, that the persons who
+knew most about it--who were, at the same time, the most
+favourably predisposed in its favour--doubted of its success.
+
+"At last the brothers Montgolfier commenced their work.  They
+first of all began to make the smoke necessary for their
+experiment. The machine--which at first seemed only a covering of
+cloth, lined with paper, a sort of sack thirty-five feet
+high--became inflated, and grew large even under the eyes of the
+spectator, took consistence, assumed a beautiful form, stretched
+itself on all sides, and struggled to escape.  Meanwhile, strong
+arms were holding it down until the signal was given, when it
+loosened itself, and with a rush rose to the height of 1,000
+fathoms in less than ten minutes."  It then described a
+horizontal line of 7,200 feet, and as it had lost a considerable
+amount of gas, it began to descend quietly.  It reached the
+ground in safety; and this first attempt, crowned with such
+decisive success, secured for ever to the brothers Montgolfier
+the glory of one of the most astonishing discoveries.
+
+"When we reflect for a moment upon the numberless difficulties
+which such a bold attempt entailed, upon the bitter criticism to
+which it would have exposed its projectors had it failed through
+any accident, and upon the sums that must have been spent in
+carrying it out, we cannot withhold the highest admiration for
+the men who conceived the idea and carried it out to such a
+successful issue."
+
+Etienne Montgolfier has left us a description of this first
+balloon. "The aerostatic machine," he says, "was constructed of
+cloth lined with paper, fastened together on a network of strings
+fixed to the cloth.  It was spherical; its circumference was 110
+feet, and a wooden frame sixteen feet square held it fixed at the
+bottom.  Its contents were about 22,000 cubic feet, and it
+accordingly displaced a volume of air weighing 1,980 1bs.  The
+weight of the gas was nearly half the weight of the air, for it
+weighed 990 lbs., and the machine itself, with the frame, weighed
+500: it was, therefore, impelled upwards with the force of 490
+lbs.  Two men sufficed to raise it and to fill it with gas, but
+it took eight to hold it down till the signal was given.  The
+different pieces of the covering were fastened together with
+buttons and button-holes.  It remained ten minutes in the air,
+but the loss of gas by the button-holes, and by other
+imperfections, did not permit it to continue longer. The wind at
+the moment of the ascent was from the north.  The machine came
+down so lightly that no part of it was broken."
+
+
+
+Chapter V.  Second Experiment.
+
+(Charles's Balloon, Paris, Champ de Mars, 27th of August, 1783.)
+
+The indescribable enthusiasm caused by the ascent of the first
+balloon at Annonay, spread in all directions, and excited the
+wondering curiosity of the savants of the capital.  An official
+report had been prepared, and sent to the Academy of Sciences in
+Paris, and the result was that the Academy named a commission of
+inquiry.  But fame, more rapid than scientific commissions, and
+more enthusiastic than academies, had, at a single flight, passed
+from Annonay to Paris, and kindled the anxious ardour of the
+lovers of science in that city.  The great desire was to rival
+Montgolfier, , although neither the report nor the letters from
+Annonay had made mention of the kind of gas used by that
+experimenter to inflate his balloon.  By one of the frequent
+coincidences in the history of the sciences, hydrogen gas had
+been discovered six years previously by the great English
+physician Cavendish, and it had hardly even been tested in the
+laboratories of the chemists when it all at once became famous. 
+A young man well versed in physics, Professor Charles, assisted
+by two practical men, the brothers Robert, threw himself ardently
+into the investigation of the modes of inflating balloons with
+this gas, which was then called INFLAMMABLE AIR.  Guessing that
+it was much lighter than that which Montgolfier had been obliged
+to make use of in his third-rate provincial town, Charles leagued
+himself with his two assistants to constrict a balloon of
+taffeta, twelve feet in diameter, covered with india-rubber, and
+to inflate it with hydrogen.
+
+The thing thus arranged, a subscription was opened.  The
+projected experiment having been talked of a]l over Paris, every
+one was struck with the idea, and subscriptions poured in.  Even
+the most illustrious names are to be found in the list, which may
+be called the first national subscription in France.  Nothing had
+been written of the forthcoming event in any public paper, yet
+all Paris seemed to flock to contribute to the curious
+experiment.
+
+The inflation with hydrogen was effected in a very curious
+manner. As much as 1,125 lbs. of iron and 560 lbs. of sulphuric
+acid were found necessary to inflate a balloon which had scarcely
+a lifting power of 22 lbs., and the process of filling took no
+less than four hours.  At length, however, at the end of the
+fourth hour, the balloon, composed of strips of silk, coated with
+varnish, floated, two-thirds full, from the workshop of the
+brothers Robert.
+
+On the morning of the 26th of August, the day before the ascent
+was to be made, the balloon was visited at daybreak, and found to
+be in a promising state.  At two o'clock on the following morning
+its constructors began to make preparations to transport it to
+the Champ de Mars, from which place it was to be let loose.
+Skilled workmen were employed in its removal, and every
+precaution was taken that the gas with which it was charged
+should not be allowed to escape.  In the meantime the excitement
+of the people about this wonderful structure was rising to the
+highest pitch. The wagon on which it was placed for removal was
+surrounded on all sides by eager multitudes, and the
+night-patrols, both of horse and foot, which were set to guard
+the avenues leading to where it lay, were quite unable to stem
+the tide of human beings that poured along to get a glimpse of
+it.
+
+The conveyance of the balloon to the Champ de Mars was a most
+singular spectacle.  A vanguard, with lighted torches, preceded
+it; it was surrounded by special attendants, and was followed by
+detachments of night-patrols on foot and mounted.  The size and
+shape of this structure, which was escorted with such pomp and
+precaution--the silence that prevailed--the unearthly hour, all
+helped to give an air of mystery to the proceedings.  At last,
+having passed through the principal thoroughfares, it arrived at
+the Champ de Mars, where it was placed in an enclosure prepared
+for its reception.
+
+When the dawn came, and the balloon had been fixed in its place
+by cords, attached around its middle and fixed to iron rings
+planted in the earth, the final process of inflation began.
+
+The Champ de Mars was guarded by troops, and the avenues were
+also guarded on all sides.  As the day wore on an immense crowd
+covered the open space, and every advantageous spot in the
+neighborhood was crowded with people.  At five o'clock the report
+of a cannon announced to the multitudes, and to scientific men
+who were posted on elevations to make observations of the great
+event, that the grand moment had come.  The cords were withdrawn,
+and, to the vast delight and wonder of the crowd assembled, the
+balloon shot up with such rapidity that in two minutes it had
+ascended 488 fathoms.  At this height it was lost in a cloud for
+an instant, and, reappearing, rose to a great height, and was
+again lost in higher clouds.  The ascent was a splendid success. 
+The rain that fell damped neither the balloon nor the ardor of
+the spectators.
+
+This balloon was 12 feet in diameter, 38 feet in circumference,
+and had a capacity of 943 cubic feet.  The weight of the
+materials  of which it was constructed was 25 lbs., and the force
+of ascension was that of 35 lbs.
+
+The fall of the balloon was caused by the expansion and
+consequent explosion of the hydrogen gas.  This event took place
+some distance out in the country, close to a number of peasants,
+whose terror at the sight and the sound of this strange monster
+from the skies was beyond description.  The people assembled, and
+two monks having told them that the burst balloon was the hide of
+a monstrous animal, they immediately began to assail it
+vigorously with stones, flails, and pitchforks.  The cure of the
+parish was obliged to walk up to the balloon to reassure his
+terrified flock.  They finally attached the burst envelope to a
+horse's tail, and dragged it far across the fields.
+
+Many drawings and engravings of the period represent the peasants
+armed with pitchforks, flails, and scythes, assailing it, a dog
+snapping at it, a garde-champetre firing at it, a fat priest
+preaching at it, and a troop of young people throwing stones at
+the unfortunate machine.
+
+The news of this fiasco came to Paris, but too late.  When search
+was made for the covering, scarcely a fragment could be found.
+
+A somewhat humorous result of all this was the issue of a
+communication from government to the people, entitled, "Warning
+to the People on kidnapping Air-balloons." This document, duly
+signed and approved of, describes the ascents at Annonay and at
+Paris, explains the nature and the causes of the phenomena, and
+warns the people not to be alarmed when they see something like a
+"black moon" in the sky, nor to give way to fear, as the seeming
+monster is nothing more than a bag of silk filled with gas.
+
+This first ascent in Paris was an important event.  Every one,
+from the smallest to the greatest, was deeply interested in it,
+while to the man of science it was one of the most exciting of
+incidents.  For the purpose of observing the altitude to which
+the balloon rose, and the course it took, Le Gentil was on the
+observatory, Prevost was on one of the towers of Notre Dame,
+Jeaurat was on La Place Louis XV., and d'Agelet was on the Champ
+de Mars.  It was only Lalande that frowned as he witnessed the
+success of the experiment.  He had predicted the year before that
+air-navigation was impossible.
+
+
+
+Chapter VI.  Third Experiment.
+
+(Montgolfier's Balloon, Paris, Faubourg St. Antoine.)
+
+As we have seen, the triumph of aerostation was sudden and
+complete. The young Montgolfier had arrived in Paris prior to the
+experiment of the 27th of August, and was present as a simple
+spectator on that occasion.  immediately afterwards he set to
+work upon a balloon, which was to be made use of when the Academy
+should investigate the phenomenon at Versailles in presence of
+the king, Louis XVI.
+
+It was at this time (September, 1783) that those small balloons,
+made of gold-beaters' skin, which are used as children's toys to
+the present day, were first made.  The whole of Paris amused
+itself with them, repeating in little the phenomenon of the great
+ascent. The sky of the capital found itself all at once traversed
+by a multitude of small rosy clouds, formed by the hand of man.
+
+Faujas de Saint Fond says that at first an attempt was made to
+construct balloons of fine, light paper; but this material being
+permeable, and the gas being inflammable, balloons thus made did
+not succeed.  It was necessary to seek a material less porous,
+and, if possible, still lighter.
+
+The Journal de Paris, of the 11th of September, 1783, informed
+the public that the Baron de Beaumanoir, "who cultivated the
+sciences and the fine arts with as much success as zeal," would
+send up a balloon eighteen inches in diameter.  At noon of the
+same day he made this experiment in presence of a numerous
+assembly in the garden in front of the Hotel de Surgeres..  The
+little balloon mounted freely, but was held in, like a kite, by
+means of a silk thread.  In the course of the same afternoon, the
+baron took down the balloon and filled it anew with hydrogen, and
+then let it off.  The spectators had the pleasure of seeing it
+rise to a great height, and pass away in the direction of
+Neuilly, and it is said to have been found at a distance of
+several leagues, by peasants.
+
+However trifling this experiment may appear at first sight, it
+added a new fact to the science of aerostation.  The material
+employed by the baron was lighter and better than paper.  It was
+what is called gold-beaters' skin.  This skin is simply the
+interior lining of the large bowel of the ox.  It is carefully
+prepared, is relieved of the fat, stringy and uneven parts, is
+dried, and is afterwards softened.  Little balloons of this
+material came to be the fashion, and they are still frequently
+seen.
+
+At the same time, Montgolfier was busy constructing, at the
+request of the Academy of Sciences, a balloon seventy feet high
+and forty in diameter, with which it was proposed to repeat the
+experiment of Annonay.  He took up his quarters in the
+magnificent gardens of  his friend Reveillon, proprietor of the
+royal manufactory of stained paper in the Faubourg St. Antoine. 
+The new balloon was of a very singular shape: the upper part
+represented a prism, twenty-four feet high the top was a pyramid
+of the same height; the lower part was a truncated cone, twenty
+feet in depth.  It was made of packing-cloth, lined with good
+paper, both inside and out.
+
+The gossipping and prolix Faujas de Saint Fond thus describes
+this machine:--"It was painted blue, represented a sort of tent,
+and was richly ornamented with gold Its height was seventy feet;
+its weight 1,000 lbs.; the air which it displaced was 4,500 lbs.
+in volume, and the vapor with which it was filled was half the
+weight of ordinary air.  The approach of the equinox having
+brought rain, all the conditions under which this balloon was
+constructed and exhibited were unfavourable.  The structure was
+so large that it was impossible to get it together and stitch it,
+except in the open air--in the garden, in fact, where Montgolfier
+commenced its construction.  It was a great labour to turn and
+fold this heavy covering, while the liability of the thick paper
+to crack was an additional difficulty.  Not less than twenty men
+were required to move it, and they were obliged to use all their
+skill, and every precaution, not to destroy it.  No balloon had
+ever given so much trouble.  On the 11th of September the weather
+improved, and the balloon was entirely completed and prepared for
+the first experiment. In the evening the attempt was made.  It
+was with admiration that the beholders saw the beautiful machine
+filling itself in the short space of nine minutes, swelling out
+on all sides and showing the full symmetry of its artistic form.
+It was firmly held in hand, or it would have risen to a great
+height.  On the following day the actual ascent was to take
+place, and the commissioners of the Academy of Sciences were
+invited to be present.  In the morning thick clouds covered the
+horizon, and a tempest was expected; but as there was an ardent
+desire that the ascent should take place without delay, and as
+all the gearing was in order, it was resolved to proceed.
+
+"Fifty pounds of dry straw were fired in parcels under the
+balloon, and upon the fire were thrown at intervals several
+pounds of wool. This fuel produced in ten minutes such a volume
+of smoke that the huge balloon was speedily filled.  It rose,
+with a weight of 500 lbs. holding it down, to some height above
+the ground, and had the ropes by which it was attached to the
+ground been cut, it would have mounted to a great height. 
+Meantime the storm broke, rain descended, and the wind blew with
+great force.  The most likely means of saving the balloon was to
+let it fly but as it was to ascend again on another occasion, at
+Versailles, the greatest efforts were made to bring it down, and
+these, together with the damage caused by the storm, eventually
+rent it into numberless fragments and tatters.  It withstood the
+storm for twenty-four hours; then, however, the paper came
+peeling off, and this beautiful structure was a wreck."
+
+
+
+Chapter VII.  Fourth Experiment.
+
+(Versailles, 19th September, 1783, in presence of Louis of  XVI.)
+
+Of course another balloon was wanted for the fete at Versailles.
+The king had demanded an ascent for the 19th, a week after the
+disaster at the Faubourg St. Antoine.  Already the possibility of
+a man going up with the balloon was discussed, and people
+indulged in visions of splendid aerial trips; but the king would
+not hear of the proposal.  Balloons were novelties, not offering
+sufficient security, and he was unwilling that any of his
+subjects should risk their lives in attempting the unknown.  He
+consented, however, to a proposal that animals might be sent up
+in the first instance, by way of experiment, suspended in an
+osier cage attached to the neck of the balloon.
+
+Montgolfier at once began a new balloon.  A few days only were at
+his disposal; but, assisted by friends, he worked with such
+ardour and success that he was able, on the date appointed, to
+produce a magnificent spherical balloon, much stronger than the
+former, constructed of good strong cotton cloth, and painted in
+distemper.
+
+It is proper here to remark that the first balloons were much
+more elegant in appearance than those afterwards made.  The
+coloured prints and engravings of the period enable us to form an
+opinion of the splendour of their ornamentation and the beauty of
+their design.  Sometimes the figures painted upon them
+represented scenes from the heathen mythology, and sometimes
+historical scenes; while rich embroideries, royal insignia, and
+gaily-coloured draperies added much to the general effect.  The
+Versailles balloon was painted blue, with ornaments of gold, and
+it presented the form of a richly decorated tent.  It was
+fifty-seven feet in height, and sixty-seven in diameter.
+
+It was first tried at Paris, and succeeded perfectly.  On the
+morning of the 19th it was carried to Versailles, where due
+preparation had been made for its reception In the great court of
+the castle a sort of theatre had been temporarily erected with a
+scaffolding, covered throughout with tapestry In the middle was
+an opening more than fifteen feet in diameter, in which was
+spread a banquet for those who had constructed the balloon.  A
+numerous guard formed a double cordon around the structure.  A
+raised platform was used for the fire by means of which the
+balloon was to be inflated; a covered funnel or chimney of strong
+cloth, painted, was suspended over the fire-place, and received
+the hot smoke as it arose.  Through this funnel the heated air
+ascended straight up into the balloon.
+
+At six in the morning, the road from Paris to Versailles was
+covered with carriages.  Crowds came from all parts, and at noon
+the avenues, the square of the castle, the windows, and even the
+roofs of the houses, were crowded with spectators.  The noblest,
+the most illustrious, and most learned men in France were
+present, and the splendour of the scene was complete when their
+majesties and the royal family entered within the enclosure, and
+went forward to inspect the balloon, and to make themselves
+familiar with the preparations for the ascent.
+
+In a short time the fire was lit, the funnel extended over it,
+and the smoke rose inside, while the balloon, unfolding,
+gradually swelled to its full size, and then, drawing after it
+the cage, in which a sheep and some pigeons were enclosed, rose
+majestically into the air.  Without interreruption, it ascended
+to a vast height, where, inclining toward the north, it seemed to
+remain stationary for a few seconds, showing all the beauty of
+its form, and then, as though possessed of life, it descended
+gently upon the wood of Vaucresson, 10,200 feet from the point of
+its departure. Its highest elevation, as estimated by the
+astronomers Le Gentil and M. Jeaurat, Jeaurat, was about 1,700
+feet.
+
+
+
+Chapter VIII.  Men and Balloons.
+
+It is not natural that the human mind should stop upon the way to
+the solution of a problem, especially when it seems to be on the
+point of arriving at a satisfactory conclusion to its labours.
+The osier cage of Versailles very soon transformed itself into a
+car, bearing human passengers, and the age of the "Thousand and
+One Nights" was expected to come back again.  It was resolved to
+continue experiments, with the direct object of finding out
+whether it was impossible or desperately dangerous for man to
+travel in balloons.  Montgolfier returned from Versailles, and
+constructed a new machine in the gardens of the Faubourg St.
+Antoine.  It was completed on the 10th of October Its form was
+oval, its height 70 feet, its diameter 46 feet and its capacity
+60,ooo cubic feet.  The upper part, embroidered with
+fleurs-de-lis, was further ornamented with the twelve signs of
+the zodiac, worked in gold.  The middle part bore the monogram of
+the king, alternating with figures of the sun, while the lower
+part was garnished with masks, garlands, and spread eagles.  A
+circular gallery made of osiers and festooned with draperies and
+other ornaments, was attached by a set of cords to the bottom of
+the structure.  The gallery was three feet wide, and was
+protected by a parapet over three feet in height.  It did not in
+any way interfere with the opening at the neck of the balloon,
+under which was suspended a grating of iron wire upon which the
+occupants of the gallery, who were to be provided with dried
+straw and wool, could in a few minutes kindle a fire and create
+fresh smoke, when that in the balloon began to be exhausted.  The
+machine weighed, in  all, 1,600 lbs. The public had previously
+been warned, in the Journal de Paris de Paris, that the
+approaching  experiments  were to be of a strictly scientific
+character; and as they  would be only interesting to savants,
+they would not afford  amusement for the merely curious. This
+announcement was necessary, to abate in some degree the
+excitement of the people until some satisfactory results should
+be obtained; it was also necessary for those engaged in the work,
+whose firmness of nerve might have suffered from the enthusiastic
+cries of excited spectators.  On Wednesday, the 15th of October,
+Pilatre des Roziers, who had on other occasions given proofs of
+his intelligence  and courage in performing dangerous feats, and
+who had already signalised himself in connection with balloons,
+offered to go up in the new machine.  His offer was accepted; the
+balloon was inflated; stout ropes, more than eighty feet long,
+were attached to it, and it rose from the ground to the  height
+to which this tackle allowed it.  At this elevation it remained
+four minutes twenty-five seconds; and it is not surprising to
+hear that Roziers suffered no inconvenience from the ascent. 
+What was really the interesting thing in this experiment was,
+that it showed how a balloon would fall when the hot air became
+exhausted, this being the point which caused the greatest amount
+of disquietude among men of science.  In this instance the
+balloon fell gently; its form distended  at the same time, and,
+after touching the ground, it rose again a foot or two, when its
+human passenger had jumped out.
+
+On Friday, the 17th of October, this experiment was repeated, 
+and the excitement of the public on this occasion was unbounded.
+"All the world" came to see.  Roziers was again lifted up in the
+balloon, to the height of eighty feet; but so strong was the
+wind, and the strain on the ropes was so great, that the balloon
+was somewhat unsteady, and the exhibition was not on the whole
+such a splendid success as that of the preceding Wednesday.
+
+On Sunday, Montgolfier chose a fine day for the following
+ascents:--"First Ascent:  On the 19th of October, 1783, at
+half-past four, in presence of two thousand spectators, 'the
+machine' was filled with gas in five minutes, and Roziers, being
+placed in the gallery with a counterbalancing weight of 110 lbs.
+in the other side of the gallery, was carried up to the height of
+200 feet.  The machine remained six minutes at this elevation
+without any fire in the grating.  Second Ascent:  The machine
+carried Roziers and the counterbalancing weight--fire being in
+the grating--to the height of 700 feet.  At this height it
+remained stationary eight and a half minutes As it was drawn
+back, a wind from the east bore it against a tuft of very tall
+trees in a neighbouring garden, where it got entangled, without,
+however, losing its equilibrium. The gas was renewed by Roziers,
+and the balloon again rising, extricated itself from among the
+branches, and soared majestically into the air, followed by the
+acclamations of the public.  This second ascent was very
+instructive, for it had been often asserted that if ever a
+balloon fell upon a forest it would be destroyed, and would place
+those who travelled in it in the greatest peril. This experiment
+proved that the balloon does not FALL it DESCENDS; that it does
+not overturn; that it does not destroy itself on trees; that it
+neither causes death, nor even damage, to its passengers; that,
+on the contrary, the latter, by making new gas, give it the power
+of detaching itself from the trees; and that it can resume its
+course after such an event.  The intrepid Roziers gave in this
+ascent a further proof of the facility he had in descending and
+ascending at will.  When the machine had risen to the height of
+200 feet it began to descend lightly, and just before it came to
+the earth the aeronaut very cleverly and quickly threw on more
+fuel and produced more smoke, at which the balloon, to the
+astonishment of every one, suddenly soared away again to its
+former elevation.  Third Ascent:  The balloon rose again with
+Roziers, accompanied this time by another aeronaut, Gerond de
+Villette; and as the cords had been lengthened, the adventurers
+were carried up to the height of 324 feet.  At this elevation the
+balloon rested in perfect equilibrium for nine minutes.  It was
+the first time that human beings had ever been carried to an
+equal elevation, and the spectators were astonished to find that
+they could remain there without danger and without alarm.  The
+balloon had a superb effect at this elevation; it looked down
+upon the whole town, and was seen from all the suburbs.  Its size
+seemed hardly diminished in the least, though the men themselves
+were barely visible.  By the aid of glasses, Roziers could be
+seen calmly and industriously making new gas.  When the balloon
+descended the two men declared that they had not experienced the
+slightest inconvenience from the elevation. They received the
+universal applause which their zeal and courage so well deserved. 
+The Marquis d'Arlandes, a major of infantry, afterwards went up
+with Roziers, and this latter experiment was as successful as the
+former."
+
+Some days after these experiments the conductors of the Journal
+de Paris who described them, received a letter from Montgolfier,
+and also one from Gerond de Villette.  The latter only is of
+interest here.  Gerond de Villette says: "I found myself in the
+space of a quarter of a minute raised 400 feet above the surface
+of the earth. Here we remained six minutes.  My first employment
+was to watch with admiration my intelligent companion.  His
+intelligence, his courage and agility in attending to the fire,
+enchanted me. Turning round, I could behold the Boulevards, from
+the gate of St. Antoine to that of St. Martin, all covered with
+people, who seemed to me a flat band of flowers of various
+colours.  Glancing at the distance, I beheld the summit of
+Montmartre, which seemed to me much below our level.  I could
+easily distinguish Neuilly, St. Cloud, Sevres, Issy, Ivry,
+Charenton, and Choisy.  At once I was convinced that this
+machine, though a somewhat expensive one, might be very useful in
+war to enable one to discover the position of the enemy, his
+manoeuvres, and his marches; and to announce  these by signals to
+one's own army.  1 believe that at sea it is equally possible to
+make use of this machine.  These prove the usefulness of the
+balloon, which time will perfect for us.  All that I regret is
+that I did not provide myself with a telescope."
+
+
+
+Chapter IX.  The First Aerial Voyage--Roziers and Arlandes.
+
+These experiments had only one aim--the application of
+Montgolfier's discovery to aerial navigation.  The knowledge
+gained in the Faubourg St. Antoine having led to the most
+favourable conclusions, it was resolved that a first aerial
+voyage should be attempted.
+
+"If," says Linguet, "there existed an autograph journal, written
+by Columbus, descriptive of his first great voyage with what
+jealous care it would be preserved, with what confidence it would
+be quoted! We should delight to follow the candid account which
+he gave of his thoughts, his hopes, his fears; of the complaints
+of his followers, of his attempts to calm them, and, finally, of
+his joy in the moment which, ratifying his word and justifying
+his boldness, declared him the discoverer of a new world All
+these details have been transmitted to us, but by stranger hands;
+and, however interesting they may be, one cannot help feeling
+that this circumstance makes them lose part of their value."
+
+The narrative of the first aerial voyage, written by one of the
+two first aeronauts, exists, and we are in a position to place it
+before our readers.  Such an enterprise certainly demanded great
+courage in him who was the first to dare to confide himself to
+the unknown currents of the atmosphere It threatened him with
+dangers, perhaps with death by a fill, by fire, by cold, or by
+straying into the mysterious cloud-land.  Two men opposed the
+first attempt.  Montgolfier temporised, the king forbade it, or
+rather only gave his permission on the condition that two
+condemned criminals should be placed in the balloon! "What!"
+cried Roziers, in indignation at the king's proposal, "allow two
+vile criminals to have the first glory of rising into the sky!
+No, no; that will never do!" Roziers conjured, supplicated,
+agitated in a hundred ways for permission to try the first
+voyage.  He moved the town and the court; he addressed himself to
+those who were most in favour at Versailles; he pleaded with the
+Duchess de Polignac, who was all-powerful with the king.  She
+warmly supported his cause before Louis.  Roziers dispatched the
+Marquis d'Arlandes, who had been up with him, to the king. 
+Arlandes asserted that there was no danger, and, as proof of his
+conviction, he offered himself to accompany Roziers.  Solicited
+on all sides, Louis at last yielded.
+
+The gardens of La Muette, near Paris, were fixed upon as the spot
+from which this aerial expedition should start.  The Dauphin and
+his suite were present on the occasion.  It was on the 21st of
+October, 1783,at one o'clock p.m., that Roziers and Irelands took
+their leave of the earth for the first time.  The following is
+Arlandes' narrative of the expedition, given in the form of a
+letter, addressed by the marquis to Faujas de Saint Fond:--"You
+wish, my dear Faujas, and I consent most willingly to your
+desires, that, owing to the number of questions continually
+addressed to me, and for other reasons, I should gratify public
+curiosity and fix public opinion upon the subject of our aerial
+voyage.
+
+"I wish to describe as well as I can the first journey which men
+have attempted through an element which, prior to the discovery
+of MM. Montgolfier, seemed so little fitted to support them.
+
+"We went up on the 21st of October, 1783, at near two o'clock, M.
+Roziers on the west side of the balloon, I on the east.  The wind
+was nearly north-west.  The machine, say the public, rose with
+majesty; but really the position of the balloon altered so that
+M. Roziers was in the advance of our position, I in the rear.
+
+"I was surprised at the silence and the absence of movement which
+our departure caused among the spectators, and believed them to
+be astonished and perhaps awed at the strange spectacle; they
+might well have reassured themselves I was still gazing, when M.
+Roziers cried to me--
+
+"'You are doing nothing, and the balloon is scarcely rising a
+fathom.'
+
+"'Pardon me,' I answered, as I placed a bundle of straw upon the
+fire and slightly stirred it.  Then I turned quickly, but already
+we had passed out of sight of La Muette.  Astonished, I cast a
+glance towards the river.  I perceived the confluence of the
+Oise. And naming the principal bends of the river by the places
+nearest them, I cried, 'Passy, St. Germain, St. Denis, Sevres!'
+
+"'If you look at the river in that fashion you will be likely to
+bathe in it soon,' cried Roziers.  'Some fire, my dear friend,
+some fire!'
+
+"We travelled on; but instead of crossing the river, as our
+direction seemed to indicate, we bore towards the Invalides, then
+returned upon the principal bed of the river, and travelled to
+above the barrier of La Conference, thus dodging about the river,
+but not crossing it.
+
+"'That river is very difficult to cross,' I remarked to my
+companion.
+
+"'So it seems,' he answered; 'but you are doing nothing I suppose
+it is because you are braver than 1, and don't fear a tumble.'
+
+"I stirred the fire, I seized a truss of straw with my fork;  I
+raised it and threw it in the midst of the flames.  An instant
+afterwards I felt myself lifted as it were into the heavens.
+
+"'For once we move,' said I.
+
+"'Yes, we move,' answered my companion.
+
+"At the same instant I heard from the top of the balloon a sound
+which made me believe that it had burst.  I watched, yet I saw
+nothing.  My companion had gone into the interior, no doubt to
+make some observations.  As my eyes were fixed on the top of the
+machine I experienced a shock, and it was the only one I had yet
+felt.  The direction of the movement was from above downwards I
+then said--
+
+"'What are you doing?   Are you having a dance to yourself?'
+
+"'I'm not moving.'
+
+"'So much the better.  It is only a new current which I hope will
+carry us from the river,'  I answered.
+
+"I turned to see where we were, and found we were between the
+Ecole Militaire and the Invalides.
+
+"'We are getting on.' said Roziers.
+
+"'Yes, we are travelling.'
+
+"'Let us work, let us work,' said he.
+
+"I now heard another report in the machine, which I believed was
+produced by the cracking of a cord.  This new intimation made me
+carefully examine the inside of our habitation.  I saw that the
+part that was turned towards the south was full of holes, of
+which some were of a considerable size.
+
+"'It must descend,' I then cried.
+
+"'Why?'
+
+"'Look!' I said.  At the same time I took my sponge and quietly
+extinguished the little fire that was burning some of the holes
+within my reach; but at the same moment I perceived that the
+bottom of the cloth was coming away from the circle which
+surrounded it.
+
+"'We must descend,' I repeated to my companion.
+
+"He looked below.
+
+"'We are upon Paris,' he said.
+
+"'It does not matter,' I answered 'Only look! Is there no danger? 
+Are you holding on well?'
+
+"'Yes.'
+
+"I examined from my side, and saw that we had nothing to fear.  I
+then tried with my sponge the ropes which were within my reach. 
+All of them held firm. Only two of the cords had broken.
+
+"I then said, 'We can cross Paris.'
+
+"During this operation we were rapidly getting down to the roofs.
+We made more fire, and rose again with the greatest ease. I
+looked down, and it seemed to me we were going towards the towers
+of St. Sulpice; but, on rising, a new current made us quit this
+direction and bear more to the south.  I looked to the left, and
+beheld a wood, which I believed to be that of Luxembourg.  We
+were traversing the boulevard, and I cried all at once--
+
+"'Get to ground!'
+
+"But the intrepid Roziers, who never lost his head, and who
+judged more surely than I, prevented me from attempting to
+descend.  I then threw a bundle of straw on the fire.  We rose
+again, and another current bore us to were now close to the
+ground, between two mills.  As soon to the left.  We as we came
+near the earth I raised myself over the gallery, and leaning
+there with my two hands, I felt the balloon pressing softly
+against my head.  I pushed it back, and leaped down to the
+ground.  Looking round and expecting to see the balloon still
+distended, I was astonished to find it quite empty and flattened. 
+On looking for Roziers I saw him in his shirt-sleeves creeping
+out from under the mass of canvas that had fallen over him. 
+Before attempting to descend he had put off his coat and placed
+it in the basket.  After a deal of trouble we were at last all
+right.
+
+"As Roziers was without a coat I besought him to go to the
+nearest house.  On his way thither he encountered the Duke of
+Chartres, who had followed us, as we saw, very closely, for I had
+had the honour of conversing with him the moment before we set
+out."
+
+The following report of this first aerial voyage was drawn up by
+scientific observers, among other signatures to it being that of
+Benjamin Franklin.
+
+"Today 21st of October, 1783, at the Chateau de la Muette, an
+experiment was made with the aerostatic machine of M.
+Montgolfier. The sky was clouded in many parts, clear in
+others--the wind north-west.  At mid-day a signal was given,
+which announced that the balloon was being filled.  Soon after,
+in spite of the wind, it was inflated in all its parts, and the
+ascent was made.  The Marquis d'Arlandes and M. Pilatre des
+Roziers were in the gallery.  The first intention was to raise
+the machine and pull it back with ropes, to test it, to find out
+the exact weight which it could carry, and to see if everything
+was properly arranged before the actual ascent was attempted. 
+But the machine, driven by the wind, far from rising vertically,
+was directed upon one of the walks of a garden, and the cords
+which held it shook with so much force that several rents were
+made in the balloon.  The machine, being brought back to its
+place, was repaired in less than two hours.  Being again
+inflated, it rose once more, bearing the same persons, and when
+it had risen to the height of 250 feet, the intrepid voyagers,
+bowing their heads, saluted the spectators. One could not resist
+a feeling of mingled fear and admiration. Soon the aeronauts were
+lost to view, but the balloon itself, displaying its very
+beautiful shape, mounted to the height of 3,000 feet, and still
+remained visible.  The voyagers, satisfied with their experience,
+and not wishing to make a longer course, agreed to descend, but,
+perceiving that the wind was driving them upon the houses of the
+Rue de Sevres, preserved their self-possession, renewed the hot
+air, rose anew and continued their course till they had passed
+Paris.
+
+"They then descended tranquilly in the country, beyond the new
+boulevard, without having experienced the slightest
+inconvenience, having still the greater part of their fuel
+untouched.  They could, had they desired, have cleared a distance
+three times as great as that which they traversed.  Their flight
+was nearly 30,000 feet, and the time it occupied was from twenty
+to twenty-five minutes.  This machine was 70 feet high, 46 feet
+in diameter, and had a capacity of 60,000 cubic feet."
+
+It is reported that Franklin, more illustrious in his humility
+than the most brilliant among the lords of the court, when
+consulted respecting the possible use of balloons, answered
+simply, "C'est l'enfant qui vient de naitre?"
+
+
+
+Chapter X.  The Second Arial Voyage.
+
+(1st December 1783.--Charles and Robert at the Tuileries.)
+
+The first ascent of Roziers and Arlandes was a feat of hardihood
+almost unique.  The men's courage was, so to speak, their only
+guarantee.  Thanks to the balloon, however, they accomplished one
+of the most extraordinary enterprises ever achieved by our race.
+
+On the day after the experiment of the Champ de Mars (27th of 
+August), Professor Charles--who had already acquired celebrity at
+the Louvre, by his scientific collection and by his rank as  an
+official instructor--and the Brothers Robert, mechanicians, were
+engaged in the construction of a balloon, to be inflated  with
+hydrogen gas, and destined to carry a car and one or two
+passengers.  For this ascent Charles may be said to have created
+all at once the art of aerostation as now practiced, for he
+brought it at one bound to such perfection that since his day
+scarcely any advance has been made upon his arrangements.  His
+simple yet complete invention was that of the valve which gives
+escape to the hydrogen gas, and thus renders the descent of the
+balloon gentle  and gradual; the car that carries the travellers;
+the ballast of sand, by which the ascent is regulated and the
+fall is moderated; the coating of caoutchouc, by means of which
+the material of the balloon is rendered airtight and prevents
+loss of gas; and, finally, the use of the barometer, which marks
+at every instant, by the elevation or the depression of the
+mercury, the position in which the aeronaut finds himself in the
+atmosphere.  Charles created all the contrivances, or, in other
+words, all the ingenious precautions which make up the art of
+aerostation.
+
+On the 26th of November, the balloon, fitted with its network,
+and having the car attached to it, was sent away from the hall of
+the Tuileries, where it had been exhibited.  The ascent was fixed
+for the 1st of December, 1783, a memorable day for the Parisians.
+
+At noon upon that day, the subscribers, who had paid four louis
+for their seats, took their places within the enclosure outside
+the circle, in which stood the casks employed for making the gas.
+The humbler subscribers, at three francs a-head, occupied the
+rest of the garden.  The number of spectators, as we read
+underneath the numerous coloured prints which represent this
+spectacle, was 600,000; but though, without doubt, the gardens of
+the Tuileries are very large, it is probable this figure is a
+considerable overstatement, for this number would have been
+three-fourths of the whole population of Paris.
+
+The roofs and windows of the houses were crowded, whilst the Pont
+Royal and the square of Louis XV. were covered by an immense
+multitude.  About mid-day a rumour was spread to the effect that
+the king forbade the ascent.  Charles ran to the Chief Minister
+of State, and plainly told him that his life was the king's, but
+his honour was his own: his word was pledged to the country and
+he would ascend.  Taking this high ground, the bold professor
+gained an unwilling permission to carry out his undertaking.
+
+A little afterwards the sound of cannon was heard.  This was the
+signal which announced the last arrangements and thus dissipated
+all doubt as to the rising of the balloon, There had during the
+day been considerable disturbance among the crowd, between the
+partisans of Charles and Montgolfier; each party extolled its
+hero, and did everything possible to detract from the merits of
+the rival inventor.  But whatever ill-feeling might have existed
+was swept away by Professor Charles with a compliment.  When he
+was ready to ascend, he walked up to Montgolfier, and, with the
+true instinct of French politeness, presented him with a little
+balloon, saying at the same time--
+
+"It is for you, monsieur, to show us the way to the skies."
+
+The exquisite taste and delicacy of this incident touched the
+bystanders as with an electric shock, and the place at once rang
+out with the most genuine and hearty applause The little balloon
+thrown up by Montgolfier sped away to the north-east, its
+beautiful emerald colour showing to fine effect in the sun.
+
+From this point let us follow the narrative of Professor Charles
+himself.
+
+"The balloon," he says, "which escaped from the hands of M.
+Montgolfier, rose into the air, and seemed to carry with it the
+testimony of friendship and regard between that gentleman and
+myself, while acclamations followed it.  Meanwhile, we hastily
+prepared for departure.  The stormy weather did not permit us to
+have at our command all the arrangements which we had
+contemplated the previous evening; to do so would have detained
+us too long upon the earth.  After the balloon and the car were
+in equilibrium, we threw over 19 lbs. of ballast, and we rose in
+the midst of silence, arising from the emotion and surprise felt
+on all sides.
+
+"Nothing will ever equal that moment of joyous excitement which
+filled my whole being when I felt myself flying away from the
+earth.  It was not mere pleasure; it was perfect bliss.  Escaped
+from the frightful torments of persecution and of calumny, I felt
+that I was answering all in rising above all.
+
+"To this sentiment succeeded one more lively still--the
+admiration of the majestic spectacle that spread itself out
+before us.  On whatever side we looked, all was glorious; a
+cloudless sky above, a most delicious view around.  'Oh, my
+friend,' said I to M. Robert, 'how great is our good fortune!  I
+care not what may be the condition of the earth; it is the sky
+that is for me now.  What serenity! what a ravishing scene! 
+Would that I could bring here the last of our detractors, and say
+to the wretch, Behold what you would have lost had you arrested
+the progress of science.'
+
+"Whilst we were rising with a progressively increasing speed, we
+waved our bannerets in token of our cheerfulness, and in order to
+give confidence to those below who took an interest in our fate.
+M. Robert made an inventory of our stores; our friends had
+stocked our commissariat as for a long voyage--champagne and
+other wines, garments of fur and other articles of clothing.
+
+"'Good,' I said; 'throw that out of the window.' He took a
+blanket and launched it into the air, through which it floated
+down slowly, and fell upon the dome of l'Assomption.
+
+"When the barometer had fallen 26 inches, we ceased to ascend. We
+were up at an elevation of 1,800 feet.  This was the height to
+which I had promised myself to ascend; and, in fact, from this
+moment to the time when we disappeared from the eyes of our
+friends, we always kept a horizontal course, the barometer
+registering 26 inches to 26 inches 8 lines.
+
+"We required to throw over ballast in proportion as the almost
+insensible escape of the hydrogen gas caused us to descend, in
+order to remain as nearly as possible at the same elevation.  If
+circumstances had permitted us to measure the amount of ballast
+we threw over, our course would have been almost absolutely
+horizontal.
+
+"After remaining for a few moments stationary, our car I changed
+its course, and we were carried on at the will of the wind.  Soon
+we passed the Seine, between St. Ouen and Asnieres.  We traversed
+the river a second time, leaving Argenteuil upon the left.  We
+passed Sannois, Franconville, Eau-Bonne, St. Leu-Taverny,
+Villiers, and finally, Nesles.  This was about twenty-seven miles
+from Paris, and we had I reached this distance in two hours,
+although there was so little wind that the air scarcely stirred.
+
+"During the whole course of this delightful voyage, not the
+slightest apprehension for our fate or that of our machine
+entered my head for a moment.  The globe did not suffer any
+alteration beyond the successive changes of dilatation and
+compression, which enabled us to mount and descend at will.  The
+thermometer was, during more than an hour, between ten and twelve
+degrees above zero; this being to some extent accounted for by
+the fact that the interior of the car was warmed by the rays of
+the sun.
+
+"At the end of fifty-six minutes, we heard the report of the
+cannon which informed us that we had, at that moment, disappeared
+from view at Paris.  We rejoiced that we had escaped, as we were
+no longer obliged to observe a horizontal course, and to regulate
+the balloon for that purpose.
+
+"We gave ourselves up to the contemplation of the views which the
+immense stretch of country beneath us presented.  From that time,
+though we had no opportunity of conversing with the inhabitants,
+we saw them running after us from all parts; we heard their
+cries, their exclamations of solicitude, and knew their alarm and
+admiration.
+
+"We cried, 'Vive le Roi!' and the people responded.  We heard,
+very distinctly--'My good friends, have you no fear?  Are you not
+sick?  How beautiful it is!  Heaven preserve you!  Adieu, my
+friends.'
+
+"I was touched to tears by this tender and true interest which
+our appearance had called forth.
+
+"We continued to wave our flags without cessation, and we
+perceived that these signals greatly increased the cheerfulness
+and calmed the solicitude of the people below.  Often we
+descended sufficiently low to hear what they shouted to us.  They
+asked us where we came from, and at what hour we had started.
+
+"We threw over successively frock-coats, muffs, and habits. 
+Sailing on above the Ile d'Adam, after having admired the
+splendid view, we made signals with our flags, and demanded news
+of the Prince of Conti.  One cried up to us, in a very powerful
+voice, that he was at Paris, and that he was ill.  We regretted
+missing such an opportunity of paying our respects, for we could
+have descended into the prince's gardens, if we had wished, but
+we preferred to pursue our course, and we re-ascended.  Finally,
+we arrived at the plain of Nesles.
+
+"We saw from the distance groups of peasants, who ran on before
+us across the fields.  'Let us go,' I said, and we descended
+towards a vast meadow.
+
+"Some shrubs and trees stood round its border.  Our car advanced
+majestically in a long inclined plane.  On arriving near the
+trees, I feared that their branches might damage the car, so I
+threw over two pounds of ballast, and we rose again.  We ran
+along more than 120 feet, at a distance of one or two feet from
+the ground, and had the appearance of travelling in a sledge. 
+The peasants ran after us without being able to catch us, like
+children pursuing a butterfly in the fields.
+
+"Finally, we stopped, and were instantly surrounded.  Nothing
+could equal the simple and tender regard of the country people,
+their admiration, and their lively emotion.
+
+"I called at once for the cures and the magistrates.  They came
+round me on all sides: there was quite a fete on the spot.  I
+prepared a short report, which the cures and the syndics signed.
+Then arrived a company of horsemen at a gallop.  These were the
+Duke of Chartres, the Duke of Fitzjames, and M. Farrer.  By a
+very singular chance, we had come down close by the hunting-lodge
+of the latter.  He leaped from his horse and threw himself into
+my arms, crying, 'Monsieur Charles, I was first!'
+
+"Charles adds that they were covered with the caresses of the
+prince, who embraced both of them.  He briefly narrated to the
+Duke of Chartres some incidents of the voyage.
+
+"'But this is not all, monseigneur.  I am going away again,'
+added Charles.
+
+"'What! Going away!' exclaimed the duke.
+
+"'Monseigneur, you will see.  When do you wish me to come back
+again?'  I said.
+
+"'In half an hour.'
+
+"'Very well: be it so.  In half an hour I shall be with you
+again.'
+
+"M. Robert descended from the car, and I was alone in the
+balloon.
+
+"I said to the duke, 'Monseigneur, I go.'  I said to the peasants
+who held down the balloon, 'My friends, go away, all of you, from
+the car at the moment I give the signal.' I then rose like a
+bird, and in ten minutes I was more than 3,000 feet above the
+ground.  I no longer perceived terrestrial objects; I only saw
+the great masses of nature.
+
+"In going away, Charles had taken his precautions against the
+possible explosion of the balloon, and made himself ready to make
+certain observations.  In order to observe the barometer and the
+thermometer, placed at different extremities of the car, without
+endangering the equilibrium, he sat down in the middle, a watch
+and paper in his left hand, a pen and the cord of the
+safety-valve in his right.
+
+"I waited for what should happen," continues he.  "The balloon,
+which was quite flabby and soft when I ascended, was now taut,
+and fully distended.  Soon the hydrogen gas began to escape in
+considerable quantities by the neck of the balloon, and then,
+from time to time, I pulled open the valve to give it two issues
+at once; and I continued thus to mount upwards, all the time
+losing the inflammable air, which, rushing past me from the neck
+of the balloon, felt like a warm cloud.
+
+"I passed in ten minutes from the temperature of spring to that
+of winter; the cold was keen and dry, but not insupportable.  I
+examined all my sensations calmly; _I_ COULD  HEAR MYSELF LIVE,
+so to speak, and I am certain that at first I experienced nothing
+disagreeable in this sudden passage from one temperature to
+another.
+
+"When the barometer ceased to move I noted very exactly eighteen
+inches ten lines.  This observation is perfectly accurate The
+mercury did not suffer any sensible movement.
+
+"At the end of some minutes the cold caught my fingers; I could
+hardly hold the pen, but I no longer had need to do so.  I was
+stationary, or rather moved only in a horizontal direction.
+
+"I raised myself in the middle of the car, and abandoned myself
+to the spectacle before me.  At my departure from the meadow the
+sun had sunk to the people of the valleys; soon he shone for me
+alone, and came again to pour his rays upon the balloon and the
+car.  I was the only creature in the horizon in sunshine--all the
+rest of nature was in shade.  Ere long, however, the sun
+disappeared, and thus I had the pleasure of seeing him set twice
+in the same day.  I contemplated for some moments the mists and
+vapours that rose from the valley and the rivers The clouds
+seemed to come forth from the earth, and to accumulate the one
+upon the other.  Their colour was a monotonous grey--a natural
+effect, for there was no light save that of the moon.
+
+"I observed that I had tacked round twice, and I felt currents
+which called me to my senses.  I found with surprise the effect
+of the wind, and saw the cloth of my flag: extended horizontally.
+
+"In the midst of the inexpressible pleasure of this state of
+ecstatic contemplation, I was recalled to myself by a most
+extraordinary pain which I felt in the interior of the ears and
+in the maxillary glands.  This I attributed to the dilation of
+the air contained in the cellular tissue of the organ as much as
+to the cold outside.  I was in my vest, with my head uncovered. 
+I immediately covered my head with a bonnet of wool which was at
+my feet, but the pain only disappeared with my descent to the
+ground.
+
+"It was now seven or eight minutes since I had arrived at this
+elevation, and I now commenced to descend.  I remembered the
+promise I had made to the Duke of Chartres, to return in half an
+hour.  I quickened my descent by opening the valve from time to
+time.  Soon the balloon, empty now to one half, presented the
+appearance of a hemisphere.
+
+"Arrived at twenty-three fathoms from the earth, I suddenly threw
+over two or three pounds of ballast, which arrested my descent,
+and which I had carefully kept for this purpose.  I then slowly
+descended upon the ground, which I had, so to speak, chosen."
+
+Such is the narrative of the second aerial voyage.  After such a
+memorable ascent one is astonished to learn that Professor
+Charles never repeated his experiment.  It has been said that, in
+descending from his car, he had vowed that he would never again
+expose himself to such perils, so strong had been the alarm he
+felt when the peasants ceasing to hold him down he shot up into
+the sky with the rapidity of an arrow.  But after him a thousand
+others have followed the daring example he set.  With this ascent
+the memorable year 1783 closed, and the seed which had been sown
+soon began to be productive.
+
+
+
+PART II.
+
+The History of Aerostation from the Year 1783.
+
+Chapter I.  The Open Route--Travels and Travellers--Great
+Increase in the Number of Air Voyages--Lyons, Ascent of "Le
+Flesselles--Milan, Ascent of Adriani--Flight of a Balloon from
+London--Lost Balloons in the Chief Towns of Europe
+
+From the year 1783, in which aerostation had its birth, and in
+which it was carried to a degree of perfection, beside which the
+progress of aeronauts in our days seems small, a new route was
+opened up for travellers.  The science of Montgolfier, the
+practical art of Professor Charles, and the courage of Roziers,
+subdued the scepticism of those who had not yet given in their
+adhesion to the possible value of the great discovery, and
+throughout the whole of France a feverish degree of enthusiasm in
+the art manifested itself Aerial excursions now became quite
+fashionable.  Let it be understood that we do not here refer to
+ascents in fixed balloons, that is, in balloons which were
+attached to the earth by means of ropes more or less long.
+
+M. Biot narrates that, in his young days, when aeronautic ascents
+were less known than they are in these times, there was in the
+plain of Grenelle, at the mill of Javelle, an establishment where
+balloons were constantly maintained for the accommodation of
+amateurs of both sexes who wished to make ascents in what were
+called "ballons captifs," or balloons anchored, so to speak, to
+the earth by means of long ropes They were for a considerable
+time the rage of fashionable society, and it is not recorded that
+any accidents resulted from the practice.  Of course it may be
+easily understood with these safe balloons the adventurous
+aeronauts never ascended to any great height.  The reader will
+find this subject treated under the chapter of military
+aerostation.
+
+We are at present specially engaged with the narrative of the
+first attempts in aerostation--the first experiments in the new
+discovery.  We have followed with interest the exciting details
+of the first adventurous ascents, in which the genius of man
+first essayed the unexplored paths of the heavens.  Yet a
+continued record of aerial voyages would not be of the same
+interest.  The results of subsequent expeditions, and the
+impressions of subsequent aeronauts are the same as those already
+described, or differ from them only in minor points.  No
+important advance is recorded in the art.  We shall therefore
+endeavour not to confine ourselves to the narrative of a dry and
+monotonous chronology, but to select from the number of ascents
+that have taken place within the last eighty years, only those
+whose special character renders them worthy of more detailed and
+severe investigation.
+
+In order to give an idea of the rapid multiplication of
+aeronautic experiments, it will suffice to state that the only
+aeronauts of 1783 are Roziers, the Marquis d'Arlandes, Professor
+Charles, his collaborateur the younger Robert, and a carpenter,
+named Wilcox, who made ascents at Philadelphia and London.
+
+A number of balloons were remarkable for the beauty and elegance
+which we have already spoken of.  Among the most beautiful we may
+mention the "Flesselles" balloon and Bagnolet's balloon.
+
+Of the ascents which immediately succeeded those that have been
+treated in the first part of our volume, and which are the most
+memorable in the early annals of aerostation, that of the I7th of
+January, 1784, is remarkable.  It took place at Lyons.  Seven
+persons went into the car on this occasion--Joseph Montgolfier,
+Roziers, the Comte de Laurencin, the Comte de Dampierre, the
+Prince Charles de Ligne, the Comte de Laporte d'Anglifort, and
+Fontaine, who threw himself into the car when it had already
+begun to move.
+
+A most minute account of this experiment is given in a letter of
+Mathon de la Cour, director of the Academy of Sciences at
+Lyons:--"After the experiments of the Champ de Mars and
+Versailles had become known," he says, "the citizens of this town
+proposed to repeat them" and a subscription was opened for this
+purpose.  On the arrival of the elder Montgolfier, about the end
+of September, M. de Flesselles, our director, always zealous in
+promoting whatever might be for the welfare of the province and
+the advancement of science and art, persuaded him to organise the
+subscription.  The aim of the experiment proposed by Montgolfier
+was not the ascent of any human being in the balloon.  The
+prospectus only announced that a balloon of a much larger size
+than any that had been made would ascend--that it would rise to
+several thousand feet, and that, including the animals that it
+was proposed it should carry, it would weigh 8,000 lbs.  The
+subscription was fixed at L12, and the number of subscribers was
+360."
+
+It was on these conditions that Montgolfier commenced his balloon
+of 126 feet high and 100 feet in diameter, made of a double
+envelope of cotton cloth, with a lining of paper between.  A
+strength and consistency was given to the structure by means of
+ribbons and cords.
+
+The work was nearly finished when Roziers went up in his
+fire-balloon from La Muette.  Immediately the Comte de Laurencin
+pressed Montgolfier to allow him to go up in the new machine.
+Montgolfier was only too glad of the opportunity--refused up to
+this time by the king--of going up himself.  From thirty to forty
+people made application to go with the aeronauts; and on the 26th
+of December, 1678, Roziers, the Comte de Dampierre, and the Comte
+de Laporte, arrived in Lyons with the same intention.  Prince
+Charles also arrived; and as his father had taken one hundred
+subscriptions, his claim to go up could not be refused.
+
+But while the public papers were full of ascents at Avignon,
+Marseilles, and Paris, it is impossible to describe the vexation
+of Roziers, when he discovered that Montgolfier's new balloon was
+not intended to carry passengers, and had not been, from the
+first, constructed with that view.  He suggested a number of
+alterations, which Montgolfier adopted at once.
+
+On the 7th of January, 1784, all the pieces of which the balloon
+was composed were carried out to the field called Les Brotteaux,
+outside the town, from which the ascent was to be made.  This
+event was announced to take place on the 10th and at five o'clock
+on the morning of that day; but unexpected delays occurred, and
+in the necessary operations the covering was torn in many places.
+
+On the 15th the balloon was inflated in seventeen minutes, and
+the gallery was attached in an hour--the fire from which the
+heated air was obtained requiring to be fed at the rate of 5 lbs.
+of alder-wood per minute; but the preparations had occupied so
+much time, that it was found, when everything was complete, that
+the afternoon was too far advanced for the ascent to be made.
+This machine was destined to suffer from endless misfortunes.  It
+took fire while being inflated, and, several days afterwards, it
+was damaged by snow and rain.  Put nothing discouraged Roziers
+and his companions.  Places had been arranged in the gallery for
+six persons.  After the balloon was at last inflated, Prince
+Charles and the Comes de Laurencin, Dampierre, and Laporte threw
+themselves into the gallery.  They were all armed, and were
+determined not to quit their places to whoever might come. 
+Roziers, who wished at the last to enjoy a high ascent, proposed
+to reduce the number to three, and to draw lots for the purpose. 
+But the gentlemen would not descend.  The debate became animated. 
+The four voyagers cried to cut the ropes.  The director of the
+Academy, to whom application was made in this emergency, admiring
+the resolution and the courage of the four gentlemen, wished to
+satisfy them in their desire.  Accordingly the ropes were cut;
+but at that moment M. Montgolfier and Roziers threw themselves
+into the gallery.  At the same time a certain M. Fontaine, who
+had had much to do in the construction of the machine, threw
+himself in, although it had not previously been arranged that he
+should be of the party.  His boldness in jumping in was pardoned,
+on the ground of his services and his zeal.
+
+In going away the machine turned to the south-west, and bent a
+little.  A rope which dragged along the ground seemed to retard
+its ascent; but some intelligent person having cut this with a
+hatchet, it began to right itself and ascend.  At a certain
+height it turned to the north east.  The wind was feeble, and the
+progress was slow, but the imposing effect was indescribable. 
+The immense machine rose into the air as by some effect of magic. 
+Nearly 100,000 spectators were present, and they were greatly
+excited at the view.  They clapped their hands and stretched
+their arms towards the sky; women fainted away, or (for some
+reasons best known to themselves) found relief for their
+excitement in tears; while the men, uttering cries of joy, waved
+their handkerchiefs, and threw their hats into the air.
+
+The form of the machine was that of a globe, rising from a
+reversed and truncated cone, to which the gallery was attached. 
+The upper part was white, the lower part grey; and the cone was
+composed of strips of stuff of different colours.  On the sides
+of the balloon were two paintings, one of which represented
+History, the other Fame.  The flag bore the arms of the director
+of the Academy, and above it were inscribed the words "Le
+Flesselles."
+
+The voyagers observed that they did not consume a fourth of the
+quantity of combustibles after they had risen into the air, which
+they consumed when attached to the earth.  They were in the
+gayest humour, and they calculated that the fuel they had would
+keep them floating till late in the evening.  Unfortunately,
+however, after throwing more wood on the fire, in order to get up
+to a greater altitude, it was discovered that a rent had been
+made in the covering, caused by the fire by which the balloon had
+been damaged two or three days previously.  The rent was four
+feet in length; and as the heated air escaped very rapidly by it,
+the balloon fell, after having sailed above the earth for barely
+fifteen minutes.
+
+The descent only occupied two or three minutes, and yet the shock
+was supportable.  It was observed that as soon as the machine had
+touched the earth all the cloth became unfolded in a few seconds,
+which seemed to confirm the opinion of Montgolfier, who believed
+that electricity had much to do in the ascent of balloons.  The
+voyagers were got out of the balloon without accident, and were
+greeted with the most enthusiastic applause.
+
+On the day of the ascent, the opera of "Iphigenia in Aulis" was
+given, and the theatre was thronged by a vast assemblage,
+attracted thither in the hope of seeing the illustrious
+experimentalists.  The curtain had risen when M. and Madame de
+Flesselles entered their box, accompanied by Montgolfier and
+Roziers.  At sight of them the enthusiasm of the house rose to
+fever pitch.  The other voyagers also entered, and were greeted
+with the same demonstrations. Cries arose from the pit to begin
+the opera again, in honour of the visitors.  The curtain then
+fell, and when it again rose, after a few moments, the actor who
+filled the role of Agamemnon advanced with crowns, which he
+handed to Madame de Flesselles, who distributed them to the
+aeronauts.  Roziers placed the crown that had been given to him
+upon Montgolfier's head.
+
+When the actress who played the part of Clytemnestra, sung the
+passage beginning--
+
+"I love to see these flattering honours paid,"
+
+the audience at once applied her song to the circumstances, and
+re-demanded it, which request the actress complied with,
+addressing herself to the box in which the distinguished visitors
+sat.  The demonstrations of admiration were continued after the
+opera was over; and during the whole of the night the gentlemen
+of the balloon ascent were serenaded.
+
+Two days afterwards, Roziers having appeared at a ball, received
+further proofs of admiration and honours; and when, on the 22nd
+of January, he departed for Dijon on his return to Paris, he was
+accompanied as in a triumph by a numerous cavalcade of the most
+distinguished young men of the city.
+
+There was, however, at Paris, much discontent with the ascent of
+"Le Flesselles;" and the Journal de Paris de Paris, which notices
+so enthusiastically the other ascents of that epoch, speaks
+slightingly of that at Lyons.
+
+The next great ascent took place at Milan, on the 25th of
+February, 1784, under the direction of the Chevalier Paul
+Andriani, who had a balloon constructed by the Brothers Gerli, at
+his own expense. We read that this balloon was 66 feet in
+diameter, and that the envelope was composed of cloth, lined in
+the interior with fine paper.
+
+The balloon was not in all respects constructed like that which
+rose at Lyons.  The grating which supported the fire that kept up
+the supply of hot air was placed at the mouth of the opening.  It
+was made of copper, was six feet in diameter, and was secured by
+a number of transverse beams of wood.  M. Andriani thought it
+best to place his fire--contrary to general usage--a little way
+above the mouth of the opening, and he found out that the
+activity of the fire was in proportion with that of the air which
+entered and fed it.
+
+In place of making use of a gallery like that employed by
+Montgolfier, as much to manage the fire as to carry the traveller
+and the fuel, he substituted a wide basket, suspended by cords to
+the edge of the opening of the balloon, at such a distance that
+fuel could be thrown on with the hand without being
+inconvenienced by the heat.
+
+Everything being in readiness, the machine was carried to
+Moncuco, the splendid domain of Andriani, where the first
+experiments were made; for this gentlemen knew that as the
+populace are impatient, they are also often un-reasonable, and
+jump to the hastiest and most inconsiderate conclusion when, in
+witnessing scientific experiments, any of the arrangements happen
+to be imperfect, and the results in any respect prove
+unsuccessful.
+
+Andriani did not deceive himself, for, sure enough, his first
+attempt did not come up to expectation.  The reasons for this
+failure were the too great quantity of air which the fire drew
+in, and the unsuitable character of the fuel used.
+
+On the 25th of February, 1784, a second attempt was made.  The
+fire was lighted under the machine, at first with dry birch-wood. 
+and afterwards with a bituminous composition, ingeniously
+concocted by one of the Brothers Gerli.  In less than four
+minutes the balloon was completely inflated, and the men employed
+to hold it down with ropes perceived that it was on the point of
+rising. The aeronauts then gave the order to let go.  Scarcely
+was the balloon let off, when it gently rose a short distance,
+and then flew in a horizontal direction towards a palace in the
+neighbourhood. In order that the structure should not be
+destroyed on the walls and the roof of the palace, the voyagers
+heaped on the fuel, and the spectators, who had gathered together
+from the surrounding villages, then saw this strange vessel of
+the air rising with rapidity to a surprising height.  Such a
+phenomenon was so astonishing, that those who beheld it could
+hardly believe their own eyes; and when the balloon disappeared
+from view, the delight they had manifested was dashed with fear
+for the fate of the bold aeronauts.  The latter, seeing that the
+balloon was driving through the air towards a range of rocky
+hills in the neighbourhood, and perceiving, on the other hand,
+that their stock of combustibles was nearly exhausted, judged it
+prudent to descend.  They diminished their fire, and came
+gradually down, warning the multitude below of their intention by
+means of a speaking-trumpet.
+
+In the course of the descent the balloon alighted upon a large
+tree, to the great peril of the travellers; but as soon as the
+fire was increased it again mounted and got clear from the
+branches while the people below, grasping the cords that were
+hung out to them, guided the machine to the spot which the
+voyagers indicated. To descend to terra firma was then a
+comparatively easy matter, and it was safely accomplished.  The
+fire, which in the case of the French balloons had dried,
+calcined, and almost consumed the upper part of the balloon, had
+no evil effect upon that of Andriani, which came down looking as
+fresh as if it had never been used.
+
+The new idea had now passed the frontiers of France, in which it
+was originally conceived, and among the other nations, as at
+first in France, the power of the inflated balloon came to be
+tested everywhere by the construction of small toy globes.
+
+It was just about five months after the first experiment at
+Annonay--viz., on the 25th of November, 1783--that the first
+balloon ascended in London.  We are informed, in the History of
+Aerostation by Tiberius Cavallo, that an Italian, Count
+Zambeccari, who was staying in the English capital, made a
+balloon of silk, covered with a varnish of oil.  Its diameter was
+ten feet, and its weight eleven pounds.  It was gilded for the
+double purpose of enhancing its appearance and preventing the
+escape of air.  After having been exposed to public inspection
+for several days, it was filled three parts full of hydrogen gas,
+a tin bottle was suspended from it, containing an address to
+whoever might find it when it should fall, and it was let off
+from the Artillery Ground, in presence of a vast assembly.
+
+On the 11th of December, 1783, a little balloon, made of
+gold-beaters' skin, was let off publicly at Turin.  This was an
+experiment similar to that which had been tried at Paris in
+September.  The balloon was seen to penetrate the clouds, then to
+mount still higher, and finally to disappear entirely in five
+minutes fifty-four seconds from the time when it was set free.
+
+It was natural, after the experiments made long before with
+electric paper kites, to employ the balloon in the investigation
+of the electric conditions of the atmosphere.  The first to use
+it for this purpose was the Abbe Berthelon de Montpellier.  He
+sent up a number of balloons, to which he had attached pieces of
+metal, long and narrow, and terminating in a cylinder of glass,
+or other substance suitable for the purpose of isolation, and he
+obtained sufficient electricity by these means to demonstrate the
+phenomena of attraction and repulsion, as well as electric
+sparks.
+
+Cavallo mentions an accident which took place in England about
+this time, and which served as a warning to all who had to do
+with balloons filled with hydrogen gas.  A balloon thus inflated
+had been sent up at Hopton, near Matlock, and was found by two
+men near Cheadle, in Staffordshire.  These ingenious persons
+carried it within doors, and having wished to fully inflate
+it--half the gas having by this time escaped--they applied a pair
+of bellows to its mouth.  By this means they only forced out the
+volume of the hydrogen gas that was left; and this gas, coming in
+contact with a candle that had been placed too near, exploded.
+The report was louder than that of a cannon, and so powerful was
+the shock that the men were thrown down, the glass blown out of
+the windows, and the house otherwise damaged.  The men suffered
+severely, their hair, beards, and eyebrows being completely burnt
+away, and their faces severely scorched.
+
+At Grenoble, in Dauphine, De Baron let off a balloon on the 13th
+of January, 1784.  It rose, and at first took a northern
+direction; but, having encountered a current of air, it was
+carried away in a south-easterly direction, and after flying a
+distance of three-quarters of a mile, it fell, having traversed
+this distance in fifteen minutes.
+
+A society, under the presidency of the Abbe de Mably, having
+constructed a balloon thirty-seven feet high and twenty feet in
+diameter, sent it off from the court of the Castle of Pisancon,
+near Romano, on the same day, the 13th of February.  At first it
+was carried to the south by a strong north wind, but after it had
+risen to 1,000 feet above the surface, its course was changed
+towards the north.  It was calculated that, in less than five
+minutes, this balloon rose to the height of 6,000 feet.
+
+On the 16th of the same month the Count d'Albon threw off from
+his gardens at Franconville a balloon inflated with gas, and made
+of silk, rendered air-tight by a solution of gum-arabic.  It was
+oblong, and measured twenty-five feet in height, and seventeen
+feet in diameter.  To this balloon a cage, containing two
+guinea-pigs and a rabbit, was suspended.  The cords were cut, and
+the inflated globe rose to an enormous height with the greatest
+rapidity.  Five days afterwards it was found at the distance of
+eighteen miles, and it is remarkable that, in spite of the cold
+of the season, and particularly of the elevated region through
+which the balloon had been passing, the animals were not only
+living, but in good condition.
+
+On the 3rd of February, 1784, the Marquis de Bullion sent up a
+paper balloon, of about fifteen feet in diameter.  A flat sponge,
+about a foot square, placed in a tin dish and drenched with a
+pint of spirits of wine, was the only apparatus made use of to
+create a supply of heated air.  It rose at Paris, and three hours
+afterwards it was found near Basville, about thirty miles from
+the capital.
+
+On the 15th of the same month Cellard de Chastelais sent up a
+paper balloon.  Heated air was supplied on this occasion by a
+paper roll, enclosing a sponge, and soaked in oil, spirits of
+wine, and grease.  A cage, which contained a cat, was attached to
+this air globe.  In thirty-five minutes it had mounted so high
+that it looked but like the smallest star, and in two hours it
+had flown a distance of forty-six miles from the place where it
+was thrown off.  The cat was dead, but it was not discovered from
+what cause.
+
+The first balloon that traversed the English channel was sent off
+at Sandwich, in Kent, on the 22nd of February, 1784.  It was five
+feet in diameter, and was inflated with hydrogen gas.  It rose
+rapidly, and was carried toward France by a north-west wind.  Two
+hours and a half after it had been let off it was found in a
+field about nine miles from Lille.  The balloon carried a letter,
+instructing the finder of the balloon to communicate with William
+Boys, Esq., Sandwich, and to state where and at what time it was
+found.  This request was complied with.
+
+On the 19th of February a similar balloon, five feet in diameter,
+was sent up from Queen's College, Oxford.  It was spherical, and
+was made of Persian silk, coated with varnish.  It was the first
+balloon sent up from that city.
+
+De Saussure makes mention, in a letter dated from Geneva, the
+26th of March, 1784, of certain experiments made in that town
+with the electricity of the atmosphere by means of fixed
+balloons--i.e., balloons attached to the earth by ropes, which
+gave forth sparks and positive electricity.
+
+Mention is also made of a certain M. Argand, of Geneva, who had
+the honour of making balloon experiments at Windsor in the
+presence of King George III., Queen Charlotte, and the royal
+family.  About this time (1784) balloons became "the fashion,"
+and frequent instances occur of their being raised by day and
+night, by means of spirit-lamps, to the great delight of
+multitudes of spectators.
+
+A letter from Watt to Dr. Lind, of Windsor, dated from
+Birmingham, 25th December, 1784, narrates an experiment made the
+summer preceding with a balloon inflated Wit]l hydrogen.  The
+balloon was made of fine paper covered with a varnish of oil and
+filled two-thirds with hydrogen gas, and one-third common air. 
+To the neck of the balloon was attached a sort of squib two feet
+long, the fuse of which was ignited when the balloon was
+inflated.  The night was calm and dark, and a great multitude was
+assembled to witness the ascent, which was accomplished with a
+success that gave delight to all; for, at the end of six minutes
+the fuse communicated with the squib, and the explosion was like
+the sound of thunder.  The men who saw it from a distance, but
+were not present at its ascent, took it for a meteor.  "Our
+intention," says Watt, "was, if possible, to discover whether the
+reverberating sound of thunder was due to echoes or to successive
+explosions. The sound occasioned by the detonation of the
+hydrogen gas of the balloon in this experiment, does not enable
+us to form a definite judgment; all that we can do is to refer to
+those who were near the balloon, and-who affirm that the sound
+was like that of thunder."
+
+
+
+Chapter II.  Experiments and Studies--Blanchard at Paris--Guyton
+de Morveau at Dijon.
+
+The most popular name in aerostation during the Revolution and
+the Consulate in France is, without doubt, that of Blanchard.  We
+have already referred to him in the chapter which treats of
+experiments made prior to the discovery of Montgolfier, and we
+now have to speak of his famous ascent from the Champ de Mars, on
+the 2nd of March 1784, and of the ascents which followed.
+
+We have seen that he constructed a sort of flying boat, a machine
+furnished with oars and rigging, with which he managed to sustain
+himself some moments in the air at the height of eighty feet.
+This curious machine was exhibited in 1782 in the gardens of the
+great hotel of the Rue Taranne.  But a little time afterwards
+Montgolfier's discoveries quite altered the conditions under
+which the aerostatic art was to be pursued.  It had no sooner
+become known than it became public property.  The idea was too
+simple in its grandeur, and was of too easy a kind not to call up
+a host of imitators.  Of these Blanchard was one of the first;
+but this mechanician was anxious to incorporate his own invention
+with that of Montgolfier, and he arranged that on the 2nd of
+March, 1784, he should make an ascent in what he still called his
+"flying vessel," which he furnished with four wings.
+
+Blanchard and his companion, Pesch, a Benedictine priest, were
+prevented from going up in the balloon, as represented in our
+illustration, which was drawn before the event it was intended to
+commemorate.  A certain Dupont de Chambon persisted in
+accompanying the voyagers.  Pushed back by them, he drew his
+sword, leaped into the car or boat, wounded Blanchard, cut the
+rigging, and broke the oars or wings.  The aeronaut was
+consequently compelled to have his machine partly re-fitted in
+great haste, and in the course of a few hours he made the ascent
+alone in the usual way.  Blanchard should have known the
+uselessness of oars, though he did not abandon their employment
+in subsequent ascents.  The Brothers Montgolfier had dreamed of
+the employment of oars as a means of guidance, but had ultimately
+rejected the idea.  Joseph wrote to his brother Etienne, about
+the end of the year 1783:
+
+"For my sake, my good friend, reflect; calculate well before you
+employ oars.  Oars must either be great or small; if great, they
+will be heavy; if small, it will be necessary to move them with
+great rapidity.  I know no sufficient means of guidance, except
+in the knowledge of the different currents of air, of which it is
+necessary to make a study; and these are generally regulated by
+the elevation." The two brothers often recurred to this idea.
+
+The pictures of the first ascent of Blanchard from the Champ de
+Mars on the 2nd of March, 1784, in the presence of a vast
+multitude, show us the oars and the mechanism of his
+flying-machine fitted to a balloon.  The design which we here
+give seems to us deserving of being considered only as one of the
+caricatures of the time, especially when we look at the personage
+dressed in the fool's head-gear, who sits behind and accompanies
+the triumphant ascent of the aeronaut with music.
+
+It was not with this apparatus that Blanchard effected his
+ascent, for we have seen that the gearing of his vessel was
+broken by the infuriated Dupont de Chambon.  Yet the aeronaut
+pretends to have been, to some extent, assisted by his mechanical
+contrivances. The following is his narrative:--
+
+"I rose to a certain height over Plassy, and perceiving Villette,
+which I did not despair of reaching in spite of the misfortune
+that had happened to me, I attached a rope of my rigging to my
+leg, not being able to make use of my left hand, which I had
+wrapped in my handkerchief on account of the sword-wound it had
+received.  I fixed up a piece of cloth, and thus made a sort of
+sail with which I hugged the wind.  But the rays of the sun had
+so heated and rarefied the inflammable air that soon I forgot my
+rigging in thinking of the terrible danger that threatened me."
+
+Going on to narrate the dangers that beset him, Blanchard
+describes a number of most extraordinary experiences, which would
+be better worthy of a place here if they were more like the
+truth.  His curious narrative is thus brought to a close:--
+
+"Escaped from these impetuous and contrary winds, during which I
+had felt a great degree of cold, I mounted perpendicularly.  The
+cold became excessive.  Being hungry I ate a morsel of cake.  I
+wished to drink, but in searching the car nothing was to be seen
+but the debris of bottles and glasses, which my assailant had
+left behind him when we were about to depart.  Afterwards all was
+so calm that nothing could be seen or heard.  The silence became
+appalling, and to add to my alarm I began to lose consciousness.
+I now wished to take snuff, but found I had left my box behind
+me.  I changed my seat many times; I went from prow to stern, but
+the drowsiness only ceased to assail me when I was struck by two
+furious winds, which compressed my balloon to such an extent that
+its size became sensibly diminished to the eye.  I was not sorry
+when I began to descend rapidly upon the river, which at first
+seemed to me a white thread, afterwards a ribbon, and then a
+piece of cloth.  As I followed the course of the river, the fear
+that I should have to descend into it, made me agitate the oars
+very rapidly.  I believe that it is to these movements that I owe
+my being able to cross the river transversely, and get above dry
+land.  When I saw myself upon the plain of Billancourt, I
+recognised the bridge of Sevres, and the road to Versailles.  I
+was then about as high as the towers above the plain, and I could
+hear the words and the cries of joy of the people who were
+following me below.  At length I came to a plain about 200 feet
+in extent.  The people then assisted me and brought my vessel to
+anchor.  Immediately I was surrounded by gentlemen and foot
+passengers who had run together from all parts."
+
+This voyage lasted one hour and a quarter.  The most important
+incident of it was that the balloon was very nearly burst by the
+expansion of the hydrogen gas.  No balloon, as we have already
+seen, should be entirely inflated at the beginning of a journey.
+Blanchard had a narrow escape from being the victim of his
+ignorance of physics, and it is a wonder he was not left to the
+mercy of fate in a burst balloon, at several thousand feet above
+the earth.
+
+Biot, the savant, who had watched the experiment, declared that
+Blanchard did not stir himself, and that the variations of his
+course are alone to be attributed to the currents of air that he
+encountered.  As he had inscribed upon his flags, his balloons,
+and his entrance tickets, from which he realised a considerable
+sum, the ambitious legend, Sic itur ad astra, the following
+epigram was produced respecting him:--
+
+From the Field of Mars he took his flight:
+In a field close by he tumbled;
+But our money having taken
+He smiled though sadly shaken,
+As Sic itur ad astra he mumbled.
+
+What is most important to examine in each of the great aerial
+voyages that have been made, is the special character which
+distinguishes them from average experiments.  All our great
+voyages are rendered special and particular by the ideas of the
+men who undertook them, and the aims which they severally meant
+to achieve by them.  The early ascents of Montgolfier had for
+their aim the establishment of the fact that any body lighter
+than the volume of air which it displaces will rise in the
+atmosphere; those of Roziers were undertaken to prove that man
+can apply this principle for the purpose of making actual aerial
+voyages; those of Robertson, Gay-Lussac, &c., were undertaken for
+the purpose of ascertaining certain meteorological phenomena;
+those of Conte Coutelle applied aerostation to military uses.  A
+considerable number were made with the view of organising a
+system of aerial navigation analogous to that of the sea-steerage
+in a certain direction by means of oars or sails--in a word, to
+investigate the possibility of sailing through the air to any
+point fixed upon.  It was with this object that the experiments
+at Dijon took place, and these were the most serious attempts
+down to our times that have been made to steer balloons.
+
+At the middle of the globe of the balloon were placed four oars,
+two sails, and a helm and these were under the management of the
+voyagers, who sat in the car and worked them by means of ropes.
+The car was also furnished with oars.  The report of Guyton de
+Morveau to the Academy at Dijon informs us that these different
+paraphernalia were not altogether useless.  The following
+extracts are from this report:--
+
+"The very strong wind which arose immediately before our
+departure, had driven us down to tee ground many times, making us
+fear for the safety of our oars, &c., when we resolved to throw
+over as much ballast as would enable us to rise against the wind. 
+The ballast, including from 70 to 80 lbs.  of provisions, was
+thrown over, and then we rose so rapidly that all the objects
+around were instantly passed and were very soon lost to view. 
+The swelling form of our balloon told us that the gas inside had
+expanded under the heat of the sun and the lessening density of
+the surrounding air.  We opened the two valves, but even this
+outlet was insufficient, and we had to cut a hole about seven or
+eight inches long in the lower part of the balloon, through which
+the gas might escape.  At five minutes past five we passed above
+a village which we did not know, and here we let fall a bag
+filled with bran, and carrying with it a flag and a written
+message to the effect that we were all well, and that the
+barometer was recording 20 inches 9 lines, and the thermometer
+one degree and a half below zero."
+
+Very keen cold attacked the ears, but this was the only
+inconvenience experienced, until the voyagers were lost in a sea
+of clouds that shut them out from the view of the earth.  The sun
+at length began to descend, and they then perceived, by a
+slackening in the lower part of the balloon, that it was time for
+them to think of returning to the earth.  Judging from the
+compass that they were not far from the town of Auxonne, they
+resolved to use all their endeavours to reach that place.  The
+sailing appliances had been considerably damaged by the rough
+weather at starting.  The rigging being disarranged, one of the
+oars had got broken, another had become entangled in the rigging,
+so that there remained only two of the four oars, and these,
+being on the same side, were absolutely useless during the
+greatest part of the voyage.  The adventurers, however, assert
+that they made them work from eight to nine minutes with the
+greatest ease, making use of them to tack to the south-east.
+
+"We hoped then to be able to descend near where we judged Auxonne
+to be," the writer continues, "but we lost much gas by the
+opening in the balloon, and descended more rapidly than we
+expected or wished.  We looked to our small stock of ballast with
+anxiety, but there was no need of it, and we came very softly
+down upon a slope."
+
+When the aeronauts arrived at Magny-les-Auxonne, the inhabitants
+gazed upon them in terror, and two men and three women fell down
+on their knees before them.
+
+Here is an extract from the report of the experiment of the 12th
+of June, the principal object of which was the attempt to
+discover the means of steering in a certain direction:--
+
+"M. de Verley and myself mounted in the balloon," says Guyton de
+Morveau, "at seven o'clock.  We rose rapidly and in an almost
+perpendicular direction.  The fall of the mercury in the
+barometer was scarcely perceptible when the dilation of the
+hydrogen gas in the balloon had become considerable.  The globe
+swelled out, and a light vapour around the mouth announced to us
+that the gas was commencing to escape by the safety-valve.  We
+assisted its escape by pulling the valve-string.
+
+"Having reduced the dilation sufficiently for our purposes, we
+resolved to attempt the working of the balloon before the whole
+town and to turn it from the east to the north.  We saw with
+pleasure that our machinery answered By the working of the helm,
+the prow of our air-boat was turned in the direction we desired.
+The oars, working only on one side, supported the helm, and
+altogether we got on as we wished.  We described a curve,
+crossing the road from Dijon to Langres.  The mercury had
+descended to 24 inches 8 lines, which announced that we were
+gradually rising.  We attempted for some time to follow the route
+to I Langres, but the wind drove us off our course in spite of
+all our efforts.  At nine o'clock our barometer informed us that
+we had ascended to the height of 6,000 feet.  M. de Verley took
+advantage of this elevation to put some touch wood to a
+burning-glass 18 lines in diameter, and the touch wood lighted
+immediately."
+
+The aeronauts decided to direct their course for Dijon.  After
+re-setting the helm with this intention, they worked their oars,
+and proceeded in that direction more than 1,000 feet.  But heat
+and fatigue obliged them to suspend their endeavours, and the
+current drove them upon Mirebeau, where, throwing out the last of
+their ballast and regulating their descent, they came softly down
+upon a corn-field.
+
+The adventurers were cordially welcomed by the ecclesiastics and
+the magistrates of the place, and after a time they, with their
+balloon, were carried back on men's shoulders to Dijon.
+
+
+
+Chapter III.  Experiment in Montgolfiers--Roziers and Proust--The
+Duke of Chartres--The Comte d'Artois--Voyage of the Abbe Carnus
+to Rodez.
+
+The longest course travelled by Montgolfiere balloons, and the
+highest elevation reached by them, were achieved by Roziers and
+Proust with the Montgolfiere la Marie Antoinefte, at Versailles,
+on the 23rd of June, 1784.  Roziers himself has left us a
+picturesque narrative of this excursion from Versailles to
+Compiegne.  He says:--
+
+"The Montgolfiere rose at first very gently in a diagonal line,
+presenting an imposing spectacle.  Like a vessel which has just
+been precipitated from the stocks, this astonishing machine hung
+balanced in the air for some time, and seemed to have got beyond
+human control.  These irregular movements intimidated a portion
+of the spectators, who, fearing that, should there be a fall,
+their lives would be in danger, scattered away with great speed
+from under us.  After having fed my fire, I saluted the people,
+who answered me in the most cordial manner.  I had time to remark
+some faces, in which there was a mixed expression of apprehension
+and joy.  In continuing our upward progress, I perceived that an
+upper current of air made the Montgolfiere bend, but on
+increasing the heat, we rose above the current.  The size of
+objects on the earth now began perceptibly to diminish, which
+gave us an idea of the distance at which we were from them.  It
+was then that we became visible to Paris and its suburbs, and so
+great was our elevation that many in the capital thought we were
+directly over their heads.
+
+"When we had arrived among the clouds, the earth disappeared from
+our view.  Now a thick mist would envelop us, then a clear space
+showed us where we were, and again we rose through a mass of
+snow, portions of which stuck to our gallery.  Curious to know
+how high we could ascend, we resolved to increase our fire and
+raise the heat to the highest degree, by raising our grating, and
+holding up our fagots suspended on the ends of our forks.
+
+"Having gained these snowy elevations, and not being able to
+mount higher, we wandered about for some time in regions which we
+felt were now visited by man for the first time.  Isolated and
+separated entirely from nature, we perceived beneath us only
+enormous masses of snow, which, reflecting the sunshine, filled
+the firmament with a glorious light.  We remained eight minutes
+at this elevation, 11,732 feet above the earth.  This situation,
+however agreeable it might have been to the painter or the poet,
+promised little to the man of science in the way of acquiring
+knowledge; and so we determined, eighteen minutes after our
+departure, to return through the clouds to the earth.  We had
+hardly left this snowy abyss, when the most pleasant scene
+succeeded the most dreary one.  The broad plains appeared before
+our view in all their magnificence.  No snow, no clouds were now
+to be seen, except around the horizon, where a few clouds seemed
+to rest on the earth.  We passed in a minute from winter to
+spring.  We saw the immeasurable earth covered with towns and
+villages, which at that distance appeared only so many isolated
+mansions surrounded with gardens.  The rivers which wound about
+in all directions seemed no more than rills for the adornment of
+these mansions; the largest forests looked mere clumps or groves,
+and the meadows and broad fields seemed no more than garden
+plots. These marvellous tableaux, which no painter could render,
+reminded us of the fairy metamorphoses; only with this
+difference, that we were beholding upon a mighty scale what
+imagination could only picture in little.  It is in such a
+situation that the soul rises to the loftiest height, that the
+thoughts are exalted and succeed each other with the greatest
+rapidity.  Travelling at this elevation, our fire did not demand
+continual attention, and we could easily walk about the gallery. 
+We were as much at peace upon our lofty balcony as we should have
+been upon the terrace of a mansion, enjoying all the pictures
+which unrolled themselves before us continually, without
+experiencing any of the giddiness which has disturbed so many
+persons.  Having broken my fork in my exertions to raise the
+balloon, I went to obtain another one.  On my way to get it, I
+encountered my companion, M. Proust.  We ought never to have been
+on the same side of the balloon, for a capsize and the escape of
+all our hydrogen gas might have been the result. As it was, so
+well was the machine ballasted, that the only effect of our being
+on the one side made the balloon incline a little in that
+direction.  The winds, although very considerable, caused us no
+uneasiness, and we only knew the swiftness of our progress
+through the air by the rapidity with which the villages seemed to
+fly away from under our feet; so that it seemed, from the
+tranquillity with which we moved, that we were borne along by the
+diurnal movement of the globe.  Often we wished to descend, in
+order to learn what the people were crying to us the simplicity
+of our arrangements enabled us to rise, to descend, to move in
+horizontal or oblique lines, as we pleased and as often as we
+considered necessary, without altogether landing."
+
+When they came to Luzarche, the delighted aeronauts resolved to
+land.  Already the people were testifying their pleasure at
+seeing them.  Men came running together from all directions,
+while all the animals rushed away with equal precipitation, no
+doubt taking the balloon for some wild beast.  Finding that their
+course would lead them straight against certain houses, the
+aeronauts again increased their fire, and, slightly rising,
+escaped the buildings that had been in their way.  Shortly
+afterwards they safely landed forty miles from the spot from
+which they had started.
+
+It was not only the man of science or the mechanician that
+devoted himself to the task of taking possession of the new
+empire, but the nobles gave their hands to the aeronauts, and
+humbly asked the favour of an ascent.  The king had addressed
+letters to the Brothers Montgolfier, and the marvellous invention
+had become an affair of state.  The princes of the blood and the
+nobles of the court considered it an honour to count among the
+number of their friends a celebrated aeronaut.
+
+The Count d'Artois, afterwards Charles X., and the Duke de
+Chartres, father of Louis Philippe, made experiments in aerial
+navigation. The chemists Alban and Vallet made a magnificent
+balloon for the Count, who went up many times in it, with several
+persons of all ranks.
+
+Already at St. Cloud, the Duke of Chartres, afterwards Philippe
+Egalite, had, on the 15th of July, 1784, made, with the Brothers
+Robert, an ascent which put their courage to terrible tests.  The
+hydrogen gas balloon was oblong, sixty feet high and forty feet
+in diameter, and it had been constructed upon a plan supplied by
+Meunier.  In order to obviate the use of the valve, he had placed
+inside the balloon a smaller globe, filled with ordinary air.
+This was done on the supposition that, when the balloon rose
+high, the hydrogen being rarefied would compress the little globe
+within, and press out of it a quantity of ordinary air equal to
+the amount of its dilation.
+
+At eight o'clock, the Brothers Robert--Collin and Hullin--and the
+Duke of Chartres, ascended in presence of an immense multitude. 
+The nearest ranks kneeled down to allow those behind to have a
+view of the departure of the balloon, which disappeared among the
+clouds amid the acclamations of the prostrate multitude. The
+machine, obedient to the stormy and contrary winds which it met,
+turned several times completely round.  The helm, which had been
+fitted to the machine, and the two oars, gave such a purchase to
+the winds that the voyagers, already surrounded by the clouds,
+cut them away.  But the oscillations continued, and the little
+globe inside not being suspended with cords, fell down in such an
+unfortunate manner as to close up the opening of the large
+balloon, by means of which provision had been made for the egress
+of the gas now dilated by the heat of the sun, which poured down
+its rays, a sudden gust having cleared the space of the clouds. 
+It was feared that the case of the balloon would crack, and the
+whole thing collapse, in spite of the efforts of the aeronauts to
+push back the smaller balloon from the opening.  Then the Duke of 
+Chartres seized one of the flags they carried, and with the
+lance-head pierced the balloon in two places.  A rent of about
+nine feet was the consequence, and the balloon began to descend
+with amazing rapidity.  They would have fallen into a lake had
+they not thrown over 60 lbs. of ballast, which caused them to
+rise a little, and pass over to the shore, where they got safely
+to the earth.
+
+The expedition lasted only a few minutes.  The Duke of Chartres
+was rallied by his enemies, who accused him of cowardice; and
+Monjoie, his historian, making allusion to the combat of
+Ouessant, says that he had given proofs of his cowardice in the
+three  elements--earth, air, and water
+
+M. Gray, professor at the seminary of Rodez, presented us some
+years ago with the following letter from the Abbe Carnus, upon
+the aerial voyage which he undertook, August 6th, 1784:--
+
+"The progress of the Montgolfiere was so sudden that one might
+almost have believed that it arose all inflated and furnished out
+of some chasm in the earth The air was calm, the sky without
+clouds, the sun very strong.  Our fuel and instruments were put
+into the gallery, my companion, M. Louchet, was at his post, and
+I took mine.  At twenty minutes past eight the cords were
+loosened, we waved a farewell to the spectators, and while two
+cannon-shots announced our departure, we were already high above
+the loftiest buildings.
+
+"To the general acclamations of the crowd succeeded a profound
+silence.  The spectators, half in fear, half in admiration, stood
+motionless, with eyes fixed, and gazing eagerly at the superb
+machine, which rose almost vertically with rapidity and also with
+grandeur.  Some women, and even some men, fainted away; others
+raised their hands to heaven; others shed tears; all grew pale at
+the sight of our bright fire.
+
+"'We have quitted the earth,' said I to my companion.
+
+"'I compliment you on the fact,' he answered; 'keep up the fire!'
+
+"A truss of hay, steeped in spirits of wine accelerated the
+swiftness of our ascent.  I cast my glance upon the town, which
+seemed to flee rapidly from under our feet.  Terrestrial objects
+had already lost their shape and size.  The burning heat which I
+felt at first now gave place to a temperature of the most
+agreeable kind, and the air which we breathed seemed to contain
+healthful elements unknown to dwellers on the lower earth.
+
+"'How well I am!' I said to Louchet; 'how are you?'
+
+"'As well as can be.  Would that I could dispatch a message to
+the earth!'
+
+"Immediately I threw over a roll of paper on which I had written
+the words, 'All well on board the City of Rodez.'
+
+"At thirty-two minutes past eight our elevation was at least
+6,000 feet above sea level.  A flame from our fire, rising from
+eighteen to twenty feet, sent us up another 1,000 feet.  It was
+then that our machine was seen by every spectator within a
+circuit of nine miles, and it appeared to be right over the heads
+of all of them.
+
+"'Send us up out of sight,' said my adventurous confrere.
+
+"I had to moderate his ardour--a larger fire would have burnt our
+balloon.
+
+"From our moving observatory the most splendid view developed
+itself.  The boundaries of the horizon were vastly extended.  The
+capital of the Rouergue appeared to be no more than a group of
+stones, one of which seemed to rise to the height of two or three
+feet.  This was no other than the superb tower of the cathedral.
+Fertile slopes, agreeable valleys, lofty precipices, waste lands,
+ancient castles perched upon frowning rocks, these form the
+endlessly varied spectacle which the Rouergue and the
+neighbouring provinces present to the view of those who traverse
+the surface of the earth.  But how different is the scene to the
+aerial voyager!  We could perceive only a vast country, perfectly
+round, and seemingly a little elevated in the middle, irregularly
+marked with verdure, but without inhabitants, without towns,
+valleys, rivers, or mountains.  Living beings no longer existed
+for us; the forests were changed into what looked like grassy
+plains; the ranges of the Cantal and the Cevennes had
+disappeared; we looked in vain for the Mediterranean, and the
+Pyrenees seemed only a long series of piles of snow, connected at
+their bases.  Our own balloon, which from Rodez appeared about
+the size of a marble, was the only object that for us retained
+its natural dimensions.  What wonderful sensations then arose
+within us!  I had often reflected upon the works of nature; their
+magnificence had always filled me with admiration.  In this
+soul-stirring moment how beautiful did nature seem--how grand! 
+With what majesty did it strike my imagination.  Never did man
+appear to me before such an excellent being His latest triumph
+over the elements recalled to my mind his other conquests of
+nature.  My companion was animated with the same sentiments, and
+more than once we cried out, 'Vive Montgolfier!  Vive Roziers!
+Vivent ceux qui ont du courage et de la constance!'
+
+"In the meantime our fuel was getting near the end.  In eighteen
+minutes we had run a distance of 12,000 feet.  'Make your
+observations while I attend to the fire,' said my companion to
+me.  I examined the barometer, the thermometer, and the compass,
+and having sealed up a small bottle of the air at this elevation,
+I asked my companion to reduce the fire.  We descended 1,800
+feet, and at this height I filled another bottle with air.
+
+"Afterwards we felt the refreshing breath of a slight breeze,
+which carried us gently toward the south-east.  In six minutes we
+had run 18,000 feet.  Then, having only sufficient fuel to enable
+us to choose the place of our descent, we considered whether we
+should not bring our aerial voyage to a termination.  We had
+neither lake nor forest to fear, and we were secure against
+danger from fire, as we could detach the grating at some distance
+from the earth.  At fifty-eight minutes past eight all our fuel
+was exhausted, except two bundles of straw, of four pounds each,
+which we reserved for our descent.  The balloon came gradually
+down, and terrestrial objects began again to resume their proper
+forms and dimensions.  The animals fled at the sight of our
+balloon, which seemed likely to crush them in its fall.  Horsemen
+were obliged to dismount and lead their frightened horses. 
+Terrified by such an unwonted sight, the labourers in the fields
+abandoned their work.  We were not more than 600 feet from the
+earth.  We threw on the two bundles of straw, but still gradually
+descended.  The grating was then detached, and I had no
+difficulty in leaping to the ground.  But now a most surprising
+and unlooked-for event happened.  M. Louchet had not been able to
+descend at the same moment as myself, and the balloon, now free
+from my weight, immediately re-ascended with the speed of a bird,
+bearing away my companion.  I followed him with my eyes, and it
+was to my agreeable surprise that I heard him crying to me, 'All
+is well; fear not!' though it was not without a species of
+jealousy that I saw him mounting up to the height of 1,400 or
+1,500 feet.  The balloon, after having run a distance of 3,600
+feet in a horizontal direction, began gently to descend at four
+minutes past nine, at the village of Inieres, after having
+travelled 42,000 feet from the point of departure.  When it had
+touched the ground it bumped up again two or three feet.  M.
+Louchet jumped out, and seized one of the ropes, but had much
+difficulty in holding the balloon in hand.  He cried to the
+frightened peasants to come and help him.  But they seemed to
+regard him as a dangerous magician, or as a monster, and they
+feared to touch the ropes lest they might be swallowed up by the
+balloon.  Soon afterwards I came to the rescue.  The balloon was
+in as thorough repair as when we began our journey.  We then
+pressed out the hot air, folded up the envelope, placed it upon a
+small cart drawn by two oxen, and drove off with it."
+
+
+
+Chapter IV.  Serio-Comic Aspect of the Subject--The Public
+Duped--The Abbes Miolan and Janninet at the
+Luxembourg--Cariacatures--The "Minerva" of Robertson, and its
+Voyage Round the World.
+
+The discovery like that of balloons could not be made public in
+France without being travestied, and without offering some comic
+side for the amusement of the wits of the day.  Under some old
+coloured prints, designed with the intention of satirising such
+unfortunate aeronauts as had collected their money from the
+spectators, but had failed in inflating their balloons, is
+written, "The Infallible Means of Raising Balloons"--the
+infallible means consisting of ropes and pulleys.
+
+While caricature was thus turning its irony upon the efforts of
+believers in the new idea, serious pamphlets were being written
+and published with the same object.  One of these declares that
+the discovery is IMMORAL,  I. Because since God has not given
+wings to man, it is impious to try to improve his works, and to
+encroach upon his rights as a Creator;  2. Because honour and
+virtue would be in continual danger, if balloons were permitted
+to descend, at all hours of the night, into gardens and close to
+windows;  3. Because, if the highway of the air were to remain
+open to all and sundry, the frontiers of nations would vanish,
+and property national and personal would be invaded, &c.  We do
+not wish to gather together here the stones which critics threw
+against the new discovery, unaware all the time that these stones
+were falling upon their own heads.
+
+It is only fair to state that after the first ascents the public
+were often duped by pretending aeronauts, whose single aim was to
+sell their tickets, and who disappeared when the time came for
+ascending.  The result of these frauds was that sometimes honest
+men were made to suffer as rogues.  Even in our own day, when an
+ascent, seriously intended, fails to succeed, owing to some
+unforeseen circumstances, the public frequently manifests a
+decided ill-will to the aeronaut, who is perfectly honest, and
+only unfortunate.
+
+The famous ascent of the Abbes Miolan and Janninet, at the
+Luxembourg, may be cited as among the failures which suffered
+most from the satire of the time.  Their immense balloon,
+constructed at great expense at the observatory, was expected to
+rise beyond the clouds, and a multitude, each of whom had paid
+dearly for his ticket, had assembled at the Luxembourg.  The
+morning had been occupied in removing the balloon from the
+observatory to the place of ascent, and at midday the inflation
+of it began.  The rays of a burning July sun--and one knows what
+that is in the Luxembourg in Paris--streamed down on the heads of
+the thousands of spectators.  From six in the morning till four
+in the evening they had waited to see the unheard-of wonder; the
+ascent, however, was to be so imposing, that nothing could be
+lost by waiting for it.
+
+But at five in the afternoon the heavy machine was still
+motionless--inert upon the ground.  We need not attempt to
+describe the scene which took place as the impatience of the
+multitude increased.  Sneers of derision made themselves heard on
+all sides.  A universal murmur, rapidly developing into a
+clamour, arose amongst the multitude; then, wild with
+disappointment, the frenzied populace threw themselves upon the
+barricade, broke it, attacked the gallery of the balloon, the
+instruments, the apparatus, trampling them under foot, and
+smashing them in bits.  They then rushed upon the balloon and
+fired it.  There was then a general melee.  Far from fleeing the
+fire, every one struggled to seize and carry off a bit of the
+balloon, to preserve as a relic.  The two abbes escaped as they
+best could, under protection of a number of friends.
+
+After this there fell a perfect shower of lampoons and
+caricatures. The Abbe Miolan was represented as a cat with a band
+round its neck, while Janninet appeared as a donkey; and in a
+coloured print the cat and the ass are shown arriving in triumph
+upon their famous balloon at the Academy of Montmartre, and are
+received at the hill of Moulins-a-Vent by a solemn assembly of
+turkey-cocks and geese in different attitudes.  Numerous songs
+and epigrams, of which the unfortunate abbes were the subjects,
+also appeared at this time.  The letters which composed the words
+"l'Abbe Miolan" were found to form the anagram, Ballon
+abime--"the balloon swallowed up."
+
+The most extravagant balloon project was that of Robertson, who
+published a scheme for making a tour of the world.  He called it
+"La Minerva, an aerial vessel destined for discoveries, and
+proposed to all the Academies of Europe, by Robertson, physicist"
+(Vienna, 1804; reprinted at Paris, 1820), Robertson dedicated his
+project to Volta, and in his dedication he does not scruple to
+say: "In our age, my friendship seeks only one gratification,
+that we should both live a sufficiently long time together to
+enable you to calculate and utilise the results of this great
+machine, while I take the practical direction of it."  The
+following is this aeronaut's prospectus:--
+
+"There is no limit to the sciences and the arts, which
+cultivation does not overstep.  We have everything to hope and to
+expect from time, from chance, and from the genius of man.  The
+difference which there is between the canoe of the savage and the
+man-of-war of 124 guns is perhaps as great as that of balloons as
+they now are and as they will be in the course of a century.  If
+you ask of an aeronaut why he cannot command the motions of his
+balloon, he will ask of you in his turn why the inventor of the
+canoe did not immediately afterwards construct a man-of-war.  It
+must be recollected that there have not yet elapsed forty years
+since the discovery of the balloon, and that to perfect it would
+be a work of difficulty, as much from the increased knowledge
+which such a work would demand, as from the pecuniary sacrifices
+and the personal devotion which it would involve.
+
+"Thus this invention, after having at first electrified all 
+savants from the one end of the world to the other, has suffered
+the fate of all discoveries--it was all at once arrested.  Did
+not astronomy wait long for Newton, and chemistry for Lavoisier,
+to raise them to something like the splendour they now enjoy? Was
+not the magnet a long time a toy in the hands of the Chinese,
+without giving birth to the idea of the compass?  The electric
+fluid was known in the time of Thales, but how many ages did we
+wait for the discovery of galvanism?  Yet these sciences, which
+may be studied in silent retreats, were more likely to yield
+fruit to the discoverer than aerostatics, which demand courage
+and skill, and of which the experiments, which are always public,
+are attended with great cost."
+
+Robertson's proposed machine was to be 150 feet in diameter, and
+would be capable of carrying 150,000 lbs.  Every precaution was
+to be taken in order to make the great structure perfect.  It was
+to accommodate sixty persons to be chosen by the academics, who
+should stay in it for several months should rise to all possible
+elevations, pass through all climates in all seasons, make
+scientific observations, &c.  This balloon, penetrating deserts
+inaccessible by other means of travel, and visiting places which
+travellers have never penetrated, would be of immense use in the
+science of geography: and when under the line, if the heat near
+the earth should be inconvenient, the aeronauts would, of course,
+easily rise to elevations where the temperature is equal and
+agreeable.  When their observations, their needs, or their
+pleasures demanded it, they could descend to within a short
+distance of the earth, say ninety feet, and fix themselves in
+their position by means of an anchor.  It might, perhaps, be
+possible, by taking the advantage of favourable winds, to make
+the tour of the world.  "Experience will perhaps demonstrate that
+aerial navigation presents less inconvenience and less dangers
+than the navigation of the seas."
+
+The immensity of the seas seemed to be the only source of
+insurmountable difficulties; "but," says Robertson, "over what a
+vast space might not one travel in six months with a balloon
+fully furnished with the necessaries of life, and all the
+appliances necessary for safety?   Besides, if, through the
+natural imperfection attaching to all the works of man, or either
+through accident or age, the balloon, borne above the sea, became
+incapable of sustaining the travellers, it is provided with a
+boat, which can withstand the waters and guarantee the return of
+the voyagers."
+
+Such were the ideas promulgated regarding the "Minerva."  The
+following is the serious description given of the machine.  The
+numbers correspond with those on the illustration.
+
+"The cock (3) is the symbol of watchfulness; it is also the
+highest point of the balloon.  An observer, getting up through
+the interior to the point at which the watchful fowl is placed,
+will be able to command the best view to be had in the 'Minerva.'
+The wings at the side (1 and 2) are to be regarded as ornamental. 
+The balloon will be 150 feet in diameter, made expressly at Lyons
+of unbleached silk, coated within and without with indict-rubber.
+This globe sustains a ship, which contains or has attached to it
+all the things necessary for the convenience, the observations,
+and even the pleasures of the voyagers.
+
+"(a) A small boat, in which the passengers might take refuge in
+case of necessity, in the event of the larger vessel falling on
+the sea in a disabled state.
+
+"(b) A large store for keeping the water, wine, and all the
+provisions of the expedition.
+
+"(cc) Ladders of silk, to enable the passengers to go to all
+parts of the balloon.
+
+"(e) Closets.
+
+"(h) Pilot's room.
+
+"(1) An observatory, containing the compasses and other
+scientific instruments for taking the latitude.
+
+"(g) A room fitted up for recreations, walking, and gymnastics.
+
+"(m) The kitchen, far removed from the balloon.  It is the only
+place where a fire shall be permitted.
+
+"(p) Medicine room.
+
+"(v) A theatre, music room, &c.
+
+"--The study.
+
+"(x) The tents of the air-marines, &c. &c."
+
+This balloon is certainly the most marvellous that has ever been
+imagined--quite a town, with its forts, ramparts, cannon,
+boulevards, and galleries.  One can understand the many squibs
+and satires which so Utopian a notion provoked.
+
+
+
+Chapter V.  First Aerial Voyage in England--Blanchard Crosses the
+Sea in a Balloon.
+
+In spite of their known powers of industry and perseverance, the
+English did not throw themselves with any great ardour into the
+exploration of the atmosphere.  From one cause or another it is
+the French and the Italians that have chiefly distinguished
+themselves in this art.  The English historian of aerostation
+gives some details of the first aerial voyage made in this
+country by the Italian, Vincent Lunardy.
+
+The balloon was made of silk covered with a varnish of oil, and
+painted in alternate stripes--blue and red.  It was three feet in
+diameter.  Cords fixed upon it hung down and were attached to a
+hoop at the bottom, from which a gallery was suspended.  This
+balloon had no safety-valve--its neck was the only opening by
+which the hydrogen gas was introduced, and by which it was
+allowed to escape.
+
+In September, 1784, it was carried to the Artillery Ground and
+filled with gas.  After being two-thirds filled, the gallery was
+attached with its two oars or wings, and Lunardy, accompanied by
+Biggin and Madame Sage, took his place; but it was found that the
+balloon had not sufficient lifting power to carry up the whole
+three, and Lunardy went up alone, with the exception of the
+pigeon, the cat, and the dog, that were with him.
+
+The balloon rose to the height of about twenty feet, then
+followed  a horizontal line, and descended.  But the gallery had
+no sooner touched the earth than Lunardy threw over the sand that
+served as ballast, and mounted triumphantly, amid the applause of
+a  considerable multitude of spectators.  After a time he
+descended upon a common, where he left the cat nearly dead with
+cold, ascended, and continued his voyage.  He says, in the
+narrative which he has left, that he descended by means of the
+one oar which was left to him, the other having fallen over; but,
+as he states that, in order to rise again, he threw over the
+remainder of his ballast, it is natural to believe that the
+descent of the balloon was caused by the loss of gas, because, if
+he descended by the use of the oar, he must have re-ascended when
+he stopped using it.  He landed in the parish of Standon, where
+he was assisted by the peasants.
+
+He assures us again that he came down the second time by means of
+the oar.  He says:--"I took my oar to descend, and in from
+fifteen to twenty minutes I arrived at the earth after much
+fatigue, my strength being nearly exhausted.  My chief desire was
+to escape a shock on reaching the earth, and fortune favoured
+me."  The fear of a concussion seems to indicate that he
+descended more because of the weight of the balloon than by the
+action of the oar.
+
+It appears that the only scientific instrument he had was a
+thermometer which fell to 29 degrees.  The drops of water which
+had attached themselves to the balloon were frozen.
+
+The second aerial journey in England was undertaken by Blanchard
+and Sheldon.  The latter, a professor of anatomy in the Royal
+Academy, is the first Englishman who ever went up in a balloon.
+This ascent was made from Chelsea on the 16th October, 1784.
+
+The same balloon which Blanchard had used in France served him on
+this occasion, with the difference that.  the hoop which went
+round the middle of it, and the parasol above the car, were
+dispensed with.  At the extremity of his car he had fitted a sort
+of ventilator, which he was able to move about by means of a
+winch.  This ventilator, together with the wings and the helm,
+were to serve especially the purpose of steering at will, which
+he had often said was quite practicable as soon as a certain
+elevation had been reached.
+
+The two aeronauts ascended, haying with them a number of
+scientific and musical instruments, some refreshments, ballast,
+&c.  Twice the ascent failed, and eventually Sheldon got out, and
+Blanchard went up again alone.
+
+Blanchard says that, on this second ascent, he was carried first
+north-east, then east-south-east of Sunbury in Middlesex.  He
+rose so high that he had great difficulty in breathing, the
+pigeon he had with him escaped, but could hardly maintain itself
+in the rarefied air of such an elevated region, and finding no
+place to rest, came back and perched on the side of the car. 
+After a time, the cold becoming excessive, Blanchard descended
+until he could distinguish men on the earth, and hear their
+shouting.  After many vicissitudes he landed upon a plain in
+Hampshire, about seventy-five miles from the point of departure. 
+It was observed that, so long as he could be clearly seen, he
+executed none of the feats with his wings, ventilator, &c., which
+he had promised to exhibit.
+
+Enthusiasm about aerial voyages was now at its climax; the most
+wonderful deeds were spoken of as commonplace, and the word
+"impossible" was erased from the language.  Emboldened by his
+success, Blanchard one day announced in the newspapers that he
+would cross from England to France in a balloon--a marvellous
+journey, the success of which depended altogether upon the course
+of the wind, to the mercy of which the bold aeronaut committed
+himself.
+
+A certain Dr. Jeffries offered to accompany Blanchard.  On the
+7th of January the sky was calm, in consequence of a strong frost
+during the preceding night, the wind which was very light, being
+from the north-north-west.  The arranged meets were made above
+the cliffs of Dover.  When the balloon rose, there were only
+three sacks of sand of 10 lbs. each in it.  They had not been
+long above ground when the barometer sank from 29.7 to 27.3.  Dr.
+Jeffries, in a letter addressed to the president of the Royal
+Society, describes with enthusiasm the spectacle spread out
+before him: the broad country lying behind Dover, sown with
+numerous towns and villages, formed a charming view; while the
+rocks on the other side, against which the waves dashed, offered
+a prospect that was rather trying.
+
+They had already passed one-third of the distance across the
+Channel when the balloon descended for the second time, and they
+threw over the last of their ballast ; and that not sufficing,
+they threw over some books, and found themselves rising again.
+After having got more than half way, they found to their dismay,
+from the rising of the barometer, that they were again
+descending, and the remainder of their books were thrown over. 
+At twenty-five minutes past two o'clock they had passed
+three-quarters of their journey, and they perceived ahead the
+inviting coasts of France.  But, in consequence either of the
+loss or the condensation of the inflammable gas, they found
+themselves once more descending. They then threw over their
+provisions, the wings of the car, and other objects.  "We were
+obliged," says Jeffries, "to throw out the only bottle we had,
+which fell on the water with a loud sound, and sent up spray like
+smoke."
+
+They were now near the water themselves, and certain death seemed
+to stare them in the face.  It is said that at this critical
+moment Jeffries offered to throw himself into the sea, in order
+to save the life of his companion.
+
+"We are lost, both of us," said he; "and if you believe that it
+will save you to be lightened of my weight, I am willing to
+sacrifice my life."
+
+This story has certainly the appearance of romance, and belief in
+it is not positively demanded.
+
+One desperate resource only remained--they could detach the car
+and hang on themselves to the ropes of the balloon.  They were
+preparing to carry out this idea, when they imagined they felt
+themselves beginning to ascend again.  It was indeed so.  The
+balloon mounted once more; they were only four miles from the
+coast of France, and their progress through the air was rapid.
+All fear was now banished.  Their exciting situation, and the
+idea that they were the first who had ever traversed the Channel
+in such a manner, rendered them careless about the want of
+certain articles of dress which they had discarded.  At three
+o'clock they passed over the shore half-way between Cape Blanc
+and Calais.  Then the balloon, rising rapidly, described a great
+arc, and they found themselves at a greater elevation than at any
+part of their course.  The wind increased in strength, and
+changed a little in its direction.  Having descended to the tops
+of the trees of the forest of Guines, Dr. Jeffries seized a
+branch, and by this means arrested their advance.  The valve was
+then opened, the gas rushed out, and the aeronauts safely reached
+the ground after the successful accomplishment of this daring and
+memorable enterprise.
+
+A number of horsemen, who had watched the recent course of the
+balloon, now rode up, and gave the adventurers the most cordial
+reception.  On the following day a splendid fete was celebrated
+in their honour at Calais.  Blanchard -was presented with the
+freedom of the city in a box of gold, and the municipal body
+purchased the balloon, with the intention of placing it in one of
+the churches as a memorial of this experiment, it being also
+resolved to erect a marble monument on the spot where the famous
+aeronauts landed.
+
+Some days afterwards Blanchard was summoned before the king, who
+conferred upon him an annual pension of 1,200 livres.  The queen,
+who was at play at the gambling table, placed a sum for him upon
+a card, and presented him with the purse which she won.
+
+
+
+Chapter VI.  Zambeccari's Perilous Trip Across the Adriatic Sea.
+
+There is not in the whole annals of aerostation a more moving
+catastrophe than that of the unfortunate Comte Zambeccari, who,
+during an aerial journey on October the 7th, 1804, was cast away
+on the waves of the Adriatic.
+
+The history of Zambeccari is dramatic throughout.  After having
+been taken by the Turks and thrown into the Bay of
+Constantinople, from which he with difficulty escaped, he devoted
+himself to the study and practice of aerial navigation.  He
+fancied he could make use of a lamp supplied with spirits of
+wine, the flame of which he could direct at will, in the hope of
+thus being able to steer the balloon in whatever direction he
+chose.  One day his balloon damaged itself against a tree at
+Boulogne, and the spirits of wine set his clothes on fire.  The
+flames with which the aeronaut was covered only served to
+increase the ascending power of the balloon, and the frightened
+spectators, among whom were Zambeccari's young wife and children,
+saw him carried up into the clouds out of sight.  He succeeded,
+however, in extinguishing the fire which surrounded him.
+
+In 1804, he organised a series of experiments at Milan, for which 
+he received, in advance, the sum of 8,000 crowns; but the
+experiments failed, in consequence of the inclemency of the
+weather, the treachery of his assistants, and the malice of his
+rivals.
+
+At length, on the 7th of October, after a fall of rain which
+lasted forty-eight hours, and which had delayed the announced
+ascent, he resolved, whatever might happen, to carry it out,
+though all the chances were against him.  Eight young men whom he
+had instructed,  and who had promised him their assistance in
+filling the balloon, failed him at the critical moment.  Still,
+however, he continued  his labours, with the help of two
+companions, Andreoli and Grassetti.  Wearied with his
+long-continued efforts, dis-appointed and hungry,  he took his
+place in the car.
+
+The two companions whom we have named went with him. They rose
+gently at first, and hovered over the town of Bologna. 
+Zambeccari says, "The lamp, which was intended to increase our
+ascending force, became useless.  We could not observe the state
+of the barometer by the feeble light of a lantern.  The
+insupportable cold that prevailed in the high region to which we
+had ascended, the weariness and hunger arising from my having
+neglected to take nourishment for twenty-four hours, the vexation
+that embittered my spirit--all these combined produced in me a
+total prostration, and I fell upon the floor of the gallery in a
+profound sleep that was like death.  'The same misfortune
+overtook my companion Grassetti.  Andreoli was the only one who
+remained awake and able for duty--no doubt because he had taken
+plenty of food and a large quantity of rum.  Still he suffered
+from the cold, which was excessive, and his endeavours to wake me
+were for a long time vain.  Finally, however, he succeeded in
+getting me to my feet, but my ideas were confused, and I demanded
+of him, like one newly awaking from a dream, 'What is the news? 
+Where are we?  What time is it?  How is the wind?'
+
+"It was two o'clock.  The compass had been broken, and was
+useless; the wax light in the lantern would not burn in such a
+rarefied atmosphere.  We descended gently across a thick layer of
+whitish clouds, and when we had got below them, Andreoli heard a
+sound, muffled and almost inaudible, which he immediately
+recognised as the breaking of waves in the distance.  Instantly
+he announced to me this new and fearful danger.  I listened, and
+had not long to wait before I was convinced that he was speaking
+the truth.  It was necessary to have light to examine the state
+of the barometer, and thus ascertain what was our elevation above
+the sea level, and to take our measures in consequence.  Andreoli
+broke five phosphoric matches, without getting a spark of fire. 
+Nevertheless, we succeeded, after very great difficulty, by the
+help of the flint and steel, in lighting the lantern.  It was now
+three o'clock in the morning--we had started at midnight.  The
+sound of the waves, tossing with wild uproar, became louder and
+louder, and I suddenly saw the surface of the sea violently
+agitated just below us.  I immediately seized a large sack of
+sand, but had not time to throw it over before we were all in the
+water, gallery and all.  In the first moment of fright, we threw
+into the sea everything that would lighten the balloon--our
+ballast, all our instruments, a portion of our clothing, our
+money, and the oars.  As, in spite of all this, the balloon did
+not rise, we threw over our lamp also.  After having torn and cut
+away everything that did not appear to us to be of indispensable
+necessity, the balloon, thus very much lightened, rose all at
+once, but with such rapidity and to such a prodigious elevation,
+that we had difficulty in hearing each other, even when shouting
+at the top of our voices. I was ill, and vomited severely. 
+Grassetti was bleeding at the nose; we were both breathing short
+and hard, and felt oppression on the chest.  As we were thrown
+upon our backs at the moment when the balloon took such a sudden
+start out of the water and bore us with such swiftness to those
+high regions, the cold seized us suddenly, and we found ourselves
+covered all at once with a coating of ice.  I could not account
+for the reason why the moon, which was in its last quarter,
+appeared on a parallel line with us, and looked red as blood.
+
+"After having traversed these regions for half an hour, at an
+immeasurable elevation, the balloon slowly began to descend, and
+at last we fell again into the sea, at about four in the morning
+I cannot determine at what distance we were from land when we
+fell the second time.  The night was very dark, the sea rolling
+heavily, and we were in no condition to make observations.  But
+it must have been in the middle of the Adriatic that we fell.
+Although we descended gently, the gallery was sunk, and we were
+often entirely covered with water.  The balloon being now more
+than half empty, in consequence of the vicissitudes through,
+which we had passed, gave a purchase to the wind, which pressed
+against it as against a sail, so that by means of it we were
+dragged and beaten about at the mercy of the storm and the waves.
+At daybreak we looked out and found ourselves opposite Pesaro,
+four miles from the shore.  We were comforting ourselves with the
+prospect of a safe landing, when a wind from the land drove us
+with violence away over the open sea.  It was now full day, but
+all we could see were the sea, the sky, and the death that
+threatened us.  Certainly some boats happened to come within
+sight; but no sooner did they see the balloon floating and
+striping upon the water than they made all sail to get away from
+it.  No hope was then left to us but the very small one of making
+the coasts of Dalmatia, which were opposite, but at a great
+distance from us.  Without the slightest doubt we should have
+been drowned if heaven had not mercifully directed towards us a
+navigator who, better informed than those we had seen before,
+recognised our machine to be a balloon and quickly sent his
+long-boat to our rescue.  The sailors threw us a stout cable,
+which we attached to the gallery, and by means of which they
+rescued us when fainting with exposure.  The balloon thus
+lightened, immediately rose into the air, in spite of all the
+efforts of the sailors who wished to capture it.  The long boat
+received a severe shock from its escape, as the rope was still
+attached to it, and the sailors hastened to cut themselves free.
+At once the balloon mounted with incredible rapidity, and was
+lost in the clouds, where it disappeared for ever from our view.
+It was eight in the morning when we got on board.  Grassetti was
+so ill that he hardly showed any signs of life.  His hands were
+sadly mutilated.  Cold, hunger, and the dreadful anxiety had
+completely prostrated me.  The brave captain of the vessel did
+everything in his power to restore us.  He conducted us safely to
+Ferrara, whence we were carried to Pola, where we were received
+with the greatest kindness, and where I was compelled to have my
+fingers amputated."
+
+
+
+Chapter VII.  Garnerin--Parachutes--Aerostation at Public Fetes.
+
+"On the 22nd October, 1797," says the astronomer Lalande, "at
+twenty-eight minutes past five, Citizen Garnerin rose in a
+balloon from the park of Monceau.  Silence reigned in the
+assembly, anxiety and fear being painted on the visages of all. 
+When he had ascended upwards of 2,000 feet, he cut the cord that
+connected his parachute and car with the balloon.  The latter
+exploded, and Garnerin descended in his parachute very rapidly.
+He made a dreadful lurch in the air, that forced a sudden cry of
+fear from the whole multitude, and made a number of women faint.
+Meanwhile Citizen Garnerin descended into the plain of Monceau;
+he mounted his horse upon the spot, and rode back to the park,
+attended by an immense multitude, who gave vent to their
+admiration for the skill and talent of the young aeronaut. 
+Garnerin was the first to undertake this most daring and
+dangerous venture. He had conceived the idea of this feat while
+lying a prisoner of state in Buda, Hungary."  Lalande adds that
+he went and announced his success at the Institute National,
+which was assembled at the time, and which listened to him with
+the greatest interest.
+
+Robertson conducted an experiment of descending by means of a
+parachute at Vienna, in 1804, in which he received all the glory,
+without partaking of any of the danger.  He made the public
+preparations for an ascent in the balloon, his pupil, Michaud,
+however, took his place in the car, and made the ascent.
+
+Robertson says that on this occasion he yielded to the entreaties
+of a young man who was his pupil, and had begged to be allowed to
+make his debut before such a great multitude.  In this case a
+slight improvement was made in the parachute.  The car was
+surrounded by a cloth of silk, which, when the aeronaut cut
+himself away from the balloon, spread itself out in such a way as
+to form a second parachute.
+
+Robertson made all the preparations, and Michaud had no more to
+do than place himself in the car.  Loud applause arose on all
+sides. Michaud had ascended 900 feet above the earth when the
+signal for his cutting himself clear of the balloon was given, by
+the firing of a cannon.  He at once cut the two strings, and the
+balloon soared away into the upper regions, whilst he was left
+for one terrible moment to fate.  The fall was at first rapid,
+but the two parachutes soon opened themselves simultaneously, and
+presented a majestic appearance.  In a few seconds the aeronaut
+had traversed the space that intervened between him and the
+assembly, and found himself safely landed on the ground, at a
+short distance from the place whence he had set out, while the
+whole air was rent with shouts of applause.  This experiment was
+deemed a most extraordinary one.  Compliments were showered upon
+Robertson from all sides, and the court presented him with rich
+presents.
+
+Balloons have always formed a prominent feature at the fetes of
+Paris, for the celebration of the chief events of the Revolution,
+the Consulate, and the Empire--the first of these epochs being
+that in which these aerial vessels were held in highest esteem.
+
+Jacques Garnerin had played a brilliant role as aeronaut under
+the Directory, the Consulate, and the Empire; and it was he who
+after the coronation of the Emperor Napoleon I., was charged with
+the raising of a monster balloon, which was arranged to ascend,
+with the accompaniment of fireworks, on the evening of the 16th
+of December, 1804.
+
+An uncommon incident connected with this event serves to show us
+the spirit of fatalism with which the character of Napoleon I.
+was infected.  "The Man of Destiny" believed in the destiny of
+man; he had faith in his star alone; and from the height of his
+greatness the new ruler, consecrated emperor and king by the
+Pope, beheld a presage of misfortune in a chance circumstance,
+insignificant to all but himself, in the experiment of which we
+are about to recount the history.
+
+The fete given by the city of Paris to their majesties embraced
+the whole town, from the Champs Elysees to the Barriere du Trone,
+on the square of the Hotel de Ville.  Upon the river throughout
+its length between the Isle of St. Louis and the bridge of Notre
+Dame, an immense display of fireworks was to take place.  The
+scene to be represented was the passage of Mont St. Bernard.
+Garnerin was stationed with his balloon in front of the gate of
+the church of Notre Dame.  At eleven o'clock in the evening, at
+the moment when the first discharge of fireworks made the air
+luminous with a hundred thousand stars, Garnerin threw off his
+immense balloon.  The chief feature of it was the device of a
+crown, designed in coloured lanterns arranged round the globe. It
+rose splendidly, and with the most perfect success.
+
+On the following morning the inhabitants of Rome were astounded
+to behold advancing toward them from the horizon a luminous
+globe, which threatened to descend upon their city.  The
+excitement was intense.  The balloon passed the cupola of St.
+Peter's and the Vatican; then descending, it touched the ground,
+but rose again, and finally it sank into the wafers of Lake
+Bracciano.
+
+It was drawn from the water, and the following inscription,
+emblazoned in letters of gold upon its vast circumference, was
+printed, published, and read throughout the whole of
+Italy--"Paris, 25eme Primaire, an XIII., couronnement de
+l'empereur Napoleon, 1er par S.S. Pie VII."
+
+In touching the earth, the balloon happened to strike against the
+tomb of the Emperor Nero, and, owing to the concussion, a portion
+of the crown was left upon this ancient monument.  The Italian
+journals, which were not so strictly under the supervision of the
+government as were the journals of France, gave the full
+particulars of these minor events; and certain of them,
+connecting the names  of Nero and Napoleon, indulged in malicious
+remarks at the expense of the French emperor.  These facts came
+to the ear of the great general, who manifested much indignation,
+dismissed the innocent Garnerin from his post, and appointed
+Madame Blanchard to the supervision of all the balloon ascents
+which took place at the public fetes.
+
+The balloon was preserved in the vaults of the Vatican in Rome,
+accompanied with an inscription narrating its travels and
+wonderful descent--minus the circumstance of the tomb.  It was
+removed, as might be supposed, in 1814.  From this time the
+ascents of balloons took place for the most part only on the
+occasions of coronations and other great public fetes.
+
+
+
+Chapter VIII.  Green's Great Journey Across Europe.
+
+It is probable that at the origin of navigation, man, before he
+had invented oars and sails, made use of trunks of trees upon
+which he trusted himself, leaving the rest to the winds and the
+currents of the water, whether these were known or unknown. 
+There is some analogy between such rude rafts, the first
+discovered means of navigation on water, and balloons, the first
+discovered means of navigation in air.  But unquestionably the
+advantage is with the latter.  No means have yet been found of
+directly steering balloons, but by allowing the gas to escape the
+aeronaut can descend at will, and by lightening his car of part
+of the ballast he carries he can ascend as readily.  It must also
+be remembered that the currents of air vary in their directions,
+according to their elevation, and were the aeronaut perfectly
+acquainted with aerial currents, he might, by raising or lowering
+himself, find a wind blowing in the direction in which he wished
+to proceed, and the last problem of aerostation would be solved.
+That any such knowledge can ever be acquired it is impossible to
+say; but this much may with safety be advanced, that distant
+journeys may frequently be taken with balloons for useful
+purposes.
+
+One of the most remarkable excursions of this kind was that
+superintended by Green, in 1836, from London to Germany.  This
+journey, 1,200 miles in length, is the longest that has been yet
+accomplished.  Green set out from London on the 7th of November,
+1836, accompanied by two friends--Monk-Mason, the historian of
+the journey, and a gentleman named Molland.  Not knowing to what
+quarter of the globe he might be blown, Green provided himself
+with passports to all the states of Europe, and with a quantity
+of provisions sufficient to last him for some time, should he be
+driven by the wind over the sea.  Shortly after mid-day the
+balloon rose with great grandeur, and, urged by a light breeze,
+floated to the south-east, over the plains of Kent.  At four
+o'clock the voyagers sighted the sea.
+
+"It was forty-eight minutes past four," says Monk-Mason, "that we
+first saw the line of waves breaking on the shores beneath us. It
+would have been impossible to have remained unmoved by the
+grandeur of the spectacle that spread out before us.  Behind us
+were the coasts of England, with their white cliffs half lost in
+the coming darkness.  Beneath us on both sides the ocean spread
+out far end wide to where the darkness closed in the scene.
+Opposite us a barrier of thick clouds like a wall, surmounted all
+along its line with projections like so many towers, bastions,
+and battlements, rose up from the sea as if to stop our advance.
+A few minutes afterwards we were in the midst of this cloudy
+barrier, surrounded with darkness, which the vapours of the night
+increased.  We heard no sound.  The noise of the waves breaking
+on the shores of England had ceased, and our position had for
+some time cut us off from all the sounds of earth."
+
+In an hour the Straits of Dover were cleared, the lights of
+Calais shone out toward the voyagers, and the sound of the town
+drums rose up toward them. "Darkness was now complete," continues
+the writer, "and it was only by the lights, sometimes isolated,
+sometimes seen in masses, and showing themselves far down on the
+earth beneath us, that we could form a guess of the countries we
+traversed, or of the towns and villages which appeared before us
+every moment.  The whole surface of the earth for many leagues
+round showed nothing but scattered lights, and the face of the
+earth seemed to rival the vault of heaven with starry fires.
+Every moment in the earlier part of the night before men had
+betaken themselves to repose, clusters of lights appeared
+indicating large centres of population.
+
+Those on the horizon gave us the notion of a distant
+conflagration. In proportion as we approached them, these masses
+of lights appeared  to increase, and to cover a greater space,
+until, when right over them, they seemed to divide themselves
+into different parts, to stretch out in long streets, and to
+shine in starry quadrangles round the squares, so that we could
+see the exact plan of each city, given as on a small map.  It
+would be difficult to give an idea of what sort of effect such a
+scene in such circumstances produces.  To find oneself
+transported in the darkness of night, in the midst of vast
+solitudes of air, unknown, unperceived, in secret and in silence,
+exploring territories, traversing kingdoms, watching towns which
+come into view, and pass out of it before one can examine them in
+detail--these circumstances are enough in themselves to render
+sublime a science which, independent of these adjuncts, would be
+so interesting. If you add to this the uncertainty which,
+increasing as we went on into the night, began to assail us
+respecting our voyage, our ignorance of where we were, and what
+were the objects we were attempting to discover, you may form
+some idea of our singular position.
+
+About midnight, the travellers found themselves above Liege.
+Situated in the midst of a thickly-peopled country, full of
+foundries, smelting works, and forges, this town was quite a
+blaze of light.  The gas-lamps with which this town is so well
+lighted, clearly marked out for our travellers the main streets,
+the squares, and the public buildings.  But after midnight, at
+which time the lamps in continental towns are mostly put out, the
+whole of the under world disappeared from the view of the
+aeronauts.
+
+"After the turn of the night," says Mason, "the moon did not show
+itself, and the heavens, always more sombre when regarded from
+great altitudes, seemed to us to intensify the natural darkness. 
+On the other hand, by a singular contrast, the stars shone out
+with unusual brilliancy, and seemed like living sparks sown upon
+the ebony vault that surrounded us.  In fact, nothing could
+exceed the intensity of the night which prevailed during this
+part of our voyage.  A black profound abyss surrounded us on all
+sides, and, as we attempted to penetrate into the mysterious
+deeps, it was with difficulty we could beat back the idea and the
+apprehension that we were making a passage through an immense
+mass of black marble, in which we were enclosed, and which, solid
+to within a few inches of us, appeared to open up at our
+approach."
+
+Until three o'clock the voyagers were in this state.  The height
+of the balloon, as calculated by the barometer, was 2,000 feet.
+They had not then anything to fear from a disastrous encounter,
+when all at once a sudden explosion was heard, the silk of the
+balloon quivered, the car received a violent shock, and seemed to
+be shot suddenly into the gloomy abyss.  A second explosion and a
+third succeeded, accompanied each time by this fearful shock to
+the car.  The travellers soon found out that, owing to the great
+altitude, the gas had expanded, and the rope which surrounded it,
+saturated with water, and frozen with the intense cold, had
+yielded to the pressure, in jerks which caused the report and the
+shock.
+
+"From time to time," continues Mason, "vast masses of clouds
+covered the lower regions of the atmosphere, and spread a thick,
+whitish veil over the earth, intercepting our view, and leaving
+us for some time uncertain if this was not a continuation of the
+same plains covered with snow which we had already noticed.  From
+these masses of vapour, there seemed more than once during the
+night to come a sound as of a great fall of water, or the
+contending waves of the sea; and it required all the force of our
+reason, joined to our knowledge--such as it was--of the direction
+of our route, to repress the idea that we were approaching the
+sea, and that, driven by the wind, we had, been carried along the
+coasts of the North Sea or the Baltic.  As the day advanced these
+apprehensions disappeared.  In place of the unbroken surface of
+the sea, we gradually made out the varied features of a
+cultivated country, in the midst of which flowed a majestic
+river, which lost itself, at both extremities, in the mist that
+still lay on the horizon."
+
+This river was the Rhine, and as the neighbourhood seemed
+suitable for a descent, and as the travellers did not wish to be
+carried too far into the heart of Europe, they allowed a portion
+of the gas to escape, came gradually down, and dropped their
+anchor.
+
+It was then half-past seven in the morning.  It was only then
+that the inhabitants, who had hitherto held themselves aloof,
+watching the movements of the strangers from under the brushwood,
+began to assemble from all sides.  A few words in German spoken
+from the balloon dissipated their fears, and, recovering from
+their mistrust, they hastened immediately to lend assistance to
+the aeronauts The latter were now informed that the place they
+had selected for their descent was in the Duchy of Nassau.  The
+town of Wiberg, where Blanchard had descended, after his ascent
+at Frankfort in 1785 was, by a singular chance, only two leagues
+distant.  The three aeronauts received a most flattering
+reception, and, in memory of the event, they placed the flag
+which they had borne in their car during their adventurous
+excursion in the ducal palace, side by side with that of
+Blanchard.
+
+"Thus," says Mason, "terminated an expedition which, whether we
+regard the extent of the journey, the length of time occupied in
+it, or the results which were the objects of the experiment, may
+justly be considered as one of the most interesting and most
+important ever undertaken.  The best answer which one could give
+to those who would be disposed to criticise the employment of the
+peculiar means which we made use of, or to doubt their
+efficiency, would be to state that, after having traversed
+without hindrance, without either danger or difficulty, so large
+a portion of the European continent, we arrived at our
+destination still in possession of as much force as, had we
+wished it, might have carried us round the whole world."
+
+
+
+Chapter IX.  The "Geant" Balloon.
+
+Not a few of our readers will remember the ascent of Nadar's
+colossal balloon from Paris, on Sunday, the 18th of October,
+1863.  This balloon was remarkable as having attached to it a
+regular two-story house for a car.  Its ascent was witnessed by
+nearly half a million of persons.  The balloon, after passing
+over the eastern part of France, Belgium, and Holland, suffered a
+disastrous descent in Hanover the day after it started on its
+perilous journey.  It was a fool-hardy enterprise to construct
+such a gigantic and unmanageable balloon, presenting such an
+immense surface to the atmosphere, and being so susceptible to
+adverse aerial currents as to become the helpless prey of the
+elements; and it was still more fool-hardy to place the lives of
+its passengers at the mercy of such terrible and ungovernable
+forces.  A large section of the public laboured under the
+delusion that Nadar's balloon was one capable of being steered. 
+In reality, however, the 'Geant' was unquestionably the most
+rebellious and unruly specimen of its class that has been made
+since the days of Montgolfier.  The object in view when this
+formidable monster was designed and constructed was to create the
+means to collect sufficient funds to form a "Free Association for
+Aerial Navigation by means of MACHINES HEAVIER THAN AIR," and for
+the construction of machines on this principle.  The receipts
+from the exhibition of the "Geant" were intended to form the
+first capital of the association.  The hopes, however, of the
+promoters have not been realised in this respect; for while the
+expenses of the construction of the balloon have amounted,
+directly and indirectly, to the sum of L8,300, its two ascents in
+Paris and its exhibition in London produced only L3,300.
+
+Space forbids us to enter at length on the various stages of the
+idea of aerial navigation by means of an apparatus heavier than
+the atmosphere.  The idea is not, however, by any means so absurd
+as it appears at first sight.  Those who, like Arago, declare
+that the word "impossible" does not exist, except in the higher
+mathematics, and those who look hopefully to the future instead
+of resting content with the past, will join in applauding the
+spirit which dictated the manifesto of aerial locomotion to the
+founder of the association which we are about to describe.  M.
+Babinet, speaking on this subject before the French Polytechnic
+Association, said:  "It is absurd to talk of guiding balloons.
+How will you set about it?  How is it possible that a
+balloon--say, for instance, like the Flesselles, whose diameter
+measures 120 feet--can resist and manoeuvre against opposing
+winds or currents of air?  It would require a power equal to 400
+horses for the sails of a ship to struggle on equal terms with
+the wind. Suppose an impossibility, namely, that a balloon could
+carry with it a force equal to 400 horse-power; this result would
+be of little use, for under the immense weight the fragile
+covering of the balloon would instantly collapse.  If all the
+horses of a regiment were harnessed to the car of a balloon by
+means of a long rope, the result would be that the balloon would
+fly into shivers, being too fragile to withstand these two
+opposing forces.  Man must seek to raise himself in the air by
+another mode of operation altogether, if he wish to guide himself
+at the same time.  Some time ago I bought a play thing, very much
+in vogue at that time, called a Stropheor.  This toy was composed
+of a small rotating screw propeller, which revolved on its own
+support when the piece of string wound round it was pulled
+sharply.  The screw was rather heavy, weighing nearly a quarter
+of a pound, and the wings were of tin, very broad and thick. 
+This machine, however, was rather too eccentric for parlour use,
+for its flight was so violent that it was continually breaking
+the pier glass, if there was one in the room; and, failing this,
+it next attacked the windows.  The ascending force of this
+machine is so great that I have seen one of them fly over Antwerp
+Cathedral, which is one of the highest edifices in the world. 
+The air from underneath the machine is exhausted by the action of
+the screw, which, passing under the wings, causes a vacuum, while
+the air above it replenishes and fills this void, and under the
+influence of these two causes  the apparatus mounts from the
+earth.  But the problem is not solved by means of this plaything,
+whose motive power is exterior to it.  Messrs. Nadar, Ponton,
+D'Amecourt, and De la Landelle teach us better than this,
+although the wings of their different models are entirely
+unworthy of men who desire to demonstrate a truth to short-lived
+mortals.  We have only arrived as yet at the infancy of the
+process, but we have made a good beginning, for, having once
+proved that a machine capable of raising itself in the air,
+wholly unaided from without, can be made, we have overcome with
+this apparently small result the whole difficulty.  The principle
+of propulsion by means of a screw is by no means a novelty.  It
+was first utilised in windmills, whose sails are nothing more nor
+less than an immense screw which is turned by the action of the
+wind on its surface.  In the case of turbine water-wheels, where
+perhaps 970 cubic feet of water are utilised by means of a
+mechanism not larger than a hat, we see another illustration of
+it, with this difference, that water takes the place of wind as
+the motive power.
+
+"The aerial screw is beset with great difficulties, but if we can
+succeed through its agency in raising even the smallest weight,
+we may be confident of being able to raise a heavier one, for a
+large machine is always more powerful in proportion to its size
+than a small one.
+
+"Mlle. Garnerin once made a bet that she would guide herself in
+her descent from a considerable altitude towards a fixed spot on
+the earth at some distance, with no other help than the
+parachute; and she was really able to guide herself to within a
+few feet of the specified spot, by simply altering the
+inclination of the parachute.
+
+"From observations in mountainous districts, where large birds of
+prey may be seen to the best advantage hovering with outstretched
+wings, I have come to the conclusion that they first of all
+attain the requisite height and then, extending their wings in
+the form of a parachute, let themselves glide gradually towards
+the desired spot.  Marshal Niel confirms this opinion by his
+experience in the mountains of Algeria.  It is, therefore, clear
+from these examples that we should possess the power of
+transporting ourselves from place to place if we could only
+discover a means of raising a weight perpendicularly in the air,
+which would then act as a capital of power, only requiring to be
+expended at will."
+
+From the foregoing remarks we may gather an idea of the
+importance which may be attached to aerial locomotion
+notwithstanding the successive failures of all those who have
+hitherto taken up the subject.  We come now to the description of
+the memorable ascent of the 'Geant.'
+
+We learn from the very interesting account of the 'Geant,'
+published at the time, all the mishaps and adventures it outlived
+from the time of the first stitch in its covering to its final
+inflation with gas.  We must, however, be content to take up the
+narrative at the point at which the 'Geant,' with thirteen
+passengers on board, had, in obedience to the order to "let go,"
+been released from the bonds which held it to the earth.  The
+narrative is, as our readers will perceive, written in somewhat
+exaggerated language:--
+
+"The 'Geant' gave an almost imperceptible shake on finding itself
+free, and then commenced to rise.  The ascent was slow and
+gradual at first--the monster seemed to be feeling its way.  An
+immense shout rose with it from the assembled multitude.  We
+ascended grandly, whilst the deafening clamour of two hundred
+thousand voices seemed to increase.  We leant over the edge of
+the car, and gazed at the thousands of faces which were turned
+towards us from every point of the vast plain, in every
+conceivable angle of which we were the common apex.  We still
+ascended.  The summits of the double row of trees which surround
+the Champ de Mars were already under us.  We reached the level of
+the cupola of the Military School.  The tremendous uproar still
+reached us.  We glided over Paris in an easterly direction, at
+the height of about six hundred feet.  Every one took up the best
+possible position on the six light cane stools, and on the two
+long bunks at either end of the car, and contemplated the
+marvellous panorama spread out under us, of which we never grew
+weary.
+
+"There is never any dizziness in a balloon, as is often
+erroneously supposed, for in it you are the only point in space
+without any possibility of comparison with another, and therefore
+the means of becoming giddy are not at hand.
+
+A very experienced aeronaut, who numbers his ascents by hundreds,
+has assured me that he never knew of a single case of dizziness.
+
+"The earth seems to unfold itself to our view like an immense and
+variegated map, the predominant colour of which is green in all
+its shades and tints.  The irregular division of the country into
+fields made it resemble a patchwork counterpane.  The size of the
+houses, churches, fortresses, was so considerably diminished as
+to make them resemble nothing so much as those playthings
+manufactured at Carlsruhe.  This was the effect produced by a
+microscopic train, which whistled very faintly to attract our
+attention, and which seemed to creep along at a snail's pace,
+though doubtless going at the rate of thirty miles an hour, and
+was enveloped in a minute cloud of smoke.  What a lasting
+impression this microscopic neatness makes on us!  What is that
+white puff I see down there?  the smoke of a cigar?  No: it is a
+cloud of mist.  It must be a perfect plain that we are looking
+at, for we cannot distinguish between the different altitudes of
+a bramble-bush and an oak a hundred years old!
+
+"It is one of the delights of an aeronaut to gaze on the familiar
+scenes of earth from the immense height of the car of a balloon!
+What earthly pleasure can compare with this! Free, calm, silent,
+roving through this immense and hospitable space, where no human
+form can harm me, I despise every evil power; I can feel the
+pleasure of existence for the first time, for I am in full
+possession, as on no other occasion, of perfect health of mind
+and body.  The aeronauts of the 'Geant' will scarcely condescend
+to pity those miserable mortals whom they can only faintly
+recognise by their gigantic works, which appear to them not more
+dignified than ant-hills!
+
+"The sun had already set behind the purple horizon in our rear.
+The atmosphere was still quite clear round the 'Geant,' although
+there was a thick haze underneath, through which we could
+occasionally see lights glimmering from the earth.  We had
+attained a sufficient altitude to be only just able to hear
+noises from villages that we left beneath us, and were beginning
+to enjoy the delicious calm and repose peculiar to aerial
+ascents.
+
+"There is, however, a talk about dinner, or rather supper, and
+night is now fast approaching.  Every one eats with the best
+possible appetite.  Hams, fowls and dessert only appear to
+disappear with an equal promptitude, and we quench our thirst
+with bordeaux and champagne.  I remind our companions of the
+pigeons we brought with us, and which are hanging in a cage
+outside the railing.  I knew there was no danger of their flying
+away, so fearlessly opened the cage.  The three or four birds I
+had put in the car seemed struck with terror.  They flew
+awkwardly towards the centre of our party, tumbling among the
+plates and dishes and under our feet.  It was not a case of
+hunger with them, and I ought to have remembered that their
+feeding time was long since past.  I replaced them in their cage.
+
+"Meanwhile, the sun has left us for some time.  Our longing gaze
+followed it behind the dark clouds in the horizon, whose edges it
+tipped with a glorious purple.  Its last rays shone on us, and
+then came a bluish-grey twilight.  Suddenly we are enveloped in a
+dense fog.  We look around, above us.  Everything has disappeared
+in the mist.  The balloon itself is no longer visible.  We can
+see nothing except the ropes which suspend us, and these are only
+visible for a few feet above our heads, when they lose themselves
+in the fog.  We are alone with our wickerwork house in an
+unfathomable vault.
+
+"We still ascend, however, through the compact and terrible fog,
+which is so solid-looking as to seem capable of being carved into
+forms with a knife.  As we were without a moon, and had no light
+at all, in fact, we were unable to distinguish nicely the
+different shades of colour in these thick clouds.  Now and then,
+when the clouds seemed to be lighter, they had a bluish tinge;
+but the thicker ones were dirty and muddy-looking.  Dante must
+have seen some like these.
+
+"Water trickled down our faces, hands, and clothes, and the ropes
+and sides of our car.
+
+"The water did not fall in rain-drops or in flakes, as it
+sometimes does in the tropics; but we were as completely
+saturated by this heavy, penetrating mist as if we had been under
+a waterfall.  We still continued to traverse these rainy regions.
+The thick fog which the balloon dislodged in forcing a passage
+closed immediately after it.  At one moment I thought I felt
+something press against my cheek, which could only be compared to
+the points of a thousand needles, or to floating particles of
+ice.  We were all of us too much absorbed with our situation to
+think of the hour or of the height to which we had attained.
+Suddenly the Prince of Wittgenstein, who was standing at my left
+hand, cried out under his breath--
+
+"'Look at the balloon, sir! look at the balloon!'
+
+"I raised my eyes, in company with several others, and shall
+never forget the magnificent sight which awaited them. I saw the
+balloon, for which I had been searching in vain a few minutes
+before.  It had undergone a transformation .  It looked now as if
+coated with silver, and floating in a pale phosphorescent
+glimmer.  All the ropes and cords seemed to be of new, bright,
+and liquid silver, like mercury, caused by the mist which had
+rested on them becoming suddenly congealed.  Two luminous arcs
+intervened between us, in a sea of mother-of-pearl and opal, the
+lower one being the colour of red ochre and the upper one orange. 
+Both of them, blinding in their brilliancy, seemed about to
+embrace one another.
+
+"'How far are they off?' thought I to myself. 'Can I touch them
+with my hand, or are they separated from me by an immense space?'
+We are not capable of forming ideas of perspective, floating as
+we are in the midst of such a glimmering splendour.
+
+"Above and around us are nothing but thick fogs and enormous
+black clouds, whose ragged edges and backs are relieved by a pale
+silver coating.  They undulate ceaselessly to and fro, and either
+usurp quietly the place of others, or disappear only to be
+superseded by more formidable ones.  But the last ray of
+reflected light has died out, and we plunge into this chaos of
+dreadful forms.  Monsters seem to wish to approach us, and to
+envelop us in their dark embraces.  One of them, on my right
+hand, looks like a deformed human arm in a menacing attitude,
+writhing its jagged top like a blind serpent feeling its way. 
+The vague monster has disappeared; but the momentary splendour
+being followed by the original gloom, we plunge once more into a
+darkness that can be felt.
+
+"The water which had collected on the balloon during its ascent
+now began to take effect, and caused it to descend with such
+rapidity into the dark abyss that the ballast, which was
+immediately thrown overboard, was overtaken in its descent and
+fell on our heads again
+
+"I hear exclamations and voices near me.  My companions are
+evidently agitated, and with good reason, too; for the lights
+which we could see a long way below us approach with terrible
+rapidity.  We reached the earth rather quicker than we left it.
+
+"Suddenly we feel a dreadful shock, followed by ominous
+crackings. The car has grounded.  The 'Geant' has made its
+descent.  But in what part of the habitable globe, and under what
+zone?  At Meaux!"
+
+To employ an expression of M. Nadar's it seems that these
+gentlemen never before experienced such a "knock-down blow."
+
+After all these preparations, all this trouble, all the energy
+employed in the undertaking--sufficient, indeed, wherewith to
+attempt to cross the Atlantic--to "descend at Meaux!"
+
+The 'Geant,' however, had its revenge.  Its second ascent gave it
+this revenge.  We shall be as brief as possible in relating this
+voyage; but the details are all so very interesting that we
+regret extremely our being unable to give more than extracts from
+the narrative.
+
+Our travellers committed themselves again to the mercy of the
+air.  The Emperor, following the example of a former King of
+France, took considerable interest in the construction of this
+aerial monster, and wished the aeronaut "Bon voyage" at starting.
+The passengers endeavoured to pass the night as comfortably as
+possible, having first instituted a four hours' watch, as on
+board ship.
+
+The aerial vessel glided rapidly through the air.  "We
+repeatedly," said Nadar, "passed over some manufacturing centre,
+whose lights were not yet extinguished.  I either hailed them
+with my speaking-trumpet or rang our two bells. Sometimes we
+received a reply from below, in the shape of a shout, for,
+although we still had no moon, the night was occasionally clear
+enough for people to distinguish us; and sometimes we heard a
+peal of laughter from out of the atmosphere in which we were
+travelling.  It was another party of aeronauts in a smaller
+balloon, who left at the same time as we did, and who would
+persist in keeping the 'Geant' company.  We are passing over a
+small town; we hear the usual shouting and the report of a gun. 
+Our first thoughts are--Was it loaded with shot or ball?  The
+inhuman brute who fired will say, 'Certainly not;' but as
+balloons have often been damaged in this way, we may be confident
+there was more than powder in this one.  It would be
+satisfactory, at any rate, if the name of the person could be
+ascertained who favoured us with this welcome.  But it is rather
+late to make inquiries on this subject.  It was between a quarter
+and half-past nine o'clock when this occurred.  'The sea!' cried
+Jules; 'look at the revolving lights of the lighthouses.  There:
+one has just disappeared: it will flash out again in a moment!' 
+But what is this?  Before us, as far as our eyes can reach, we
+distinguish faint lights, which in this case are neither lamps
+nor torches.  As we continue to draw nearer we get a better view
+of these numerous, violent, and smoking furnaces.  Loud and
+ringing sounds strike on our ear at the same time.  Am I right in
+my conjectures?  Is this not that splendid country I love more
+than ever now?  It must be Erquelines!  And the dignified
+Custom-house official, had it been possible, would have added
+thereto 'Belgium!'
+
+"We still continue to pass over fires, forges, tall chimneys, and
+coal mines at frequent intervals.  Not long after we distinguish
+a large town on our right hand, which, by its size and brilliant
+lighting by gas, we recognise as Brussels.  There could be no
+mistake, for close by, more modest in size and appearance, we see
+Catholic Malines.  We have left it behind us.
+
+"Onward!  Onward!  Behind us the fires fade gradually away, and
+disappear one after anopther.  Before us nothing at present
+visible.  We seemed to drift on for about one hundred or one
+hundred and fifty yards more.  We cannot distinguish a single
+point in front of us on which to fix our gaze.  But we still
+continue our course in silence.
+
+"This mournful darkness, this endless shroud, in which we can
+discover neither rent nor spangle, still continues.  Where are
+we?  Over what strange country, possessing neither cities, towns,
+nor villages, are we hovering in the tomb-like silence of this
+interminable darkness?  We seem, indeed, to have been carried by
+a puff of wind towards the west.
+
+"But something seems to approach us.  What are those pale rays of
+light which we can faintly see a long, long way before us--rays
+pale and soft, quite unlike those flaming fires we have left
+behind us?  Surely these do not denote the presence of human
+activity!  As we continue to advance, these pale flakes of
+light--resembling nothing so much in appearance as molten
+lead--which at first were scanty and isolated, gradually expand,
+and leave only narrow strips of darkness to divide them into
+fantastic shapes.  By their help we discovered we were passing
+over the immense marshes of Holland, which extended to and lost
+themselves in the hazy horizon.  On our right hand we hear a deep
+moan, still distant, but rapidly approaching every moment. It is
+undoubtedly the rushing of the wind.  A fresh breeze for five
+minutes would bring us to the sea.
+
+"We experienced another shock not less formidable than the first.
+The 'Geant' is trembling from its effects.  The cable of our
+first anchor has just broken like a piece of thread.  We could
+not hope for a better result.  The violence of the wind which is
+carrying us along seems to be redoubled.  A bump: another and
+another--then shock after shock.
+
+"'The second dead men!'
+
+"Our swift pace was shock after shock.
+
+"'The anchor is lost,' cries Jules; 'we are all dead men!
+
+"This truth is too palpable to all of us to require expressing in
+so many words, for we are just commencing that furious, tearing
+course called 'trailing.'
+
+"Our swift pace was considerably accelerated by the lower part of
+the balloon, which--limp, empty, and forming nearly a third of
+the whole--had been set free at the first shock, and flapped
+against the distended part, acting as a sail.  The shocks
+continued to multiply so fast that it was impossible to count
+them.  The car continued to rebound from these shocks to the
+height of five, ten, sometimes thirty, forty, and even fifty
+feet, for all the world like an India-rubber ball from the hands
+of an indefatigable player.  Unfortunately, all our human
+freight, terror stricken and without advice, had crowded into one
+side of the car; and as this happened to be the side on which we
+invariably bumped, we experienced all the worst effects of the
+joltings.
+
+"What a dizzy whirl!  What a succession of breathless shocks! 
+What a strain on both muscles and nerves!  By the least
+negligence or slip, or by the loss of presence of mind for one
+moment, we should have been thrown out and dashed to atoms.
+
+"Every collision tries our muscles and strains our wrists or our
+shoulders; and every rebound dashes us one against the other,
+constituting each individual a tormentor and victim at the same
+time.  Our flight is so rapid that we can only distinguish an
+occasional glimpse of anything.  Far, far in the distance we
+distinguish an isolated tree.  We approach it like lightning, and
+we break it as though it were a straw.
+
+"Two terrified horses, with manes and tails erect, endeavour to
+fly from us.  But we consume distances; we leave them behind
+immediately. We skip over a flock of affrighted sheep in one of
+our bounds.  But now comes the real danger.
+
+"At this moment, when we were perfectly benumbed with fear, and
+had lost all power of articulation, we saw a locomotive, drawing
+two carriages, running along an embankment at right angles to our
+course.  A few more revolutions of the wheels, and it will be all
+over with us, for we seem to be fated to meet with geometrical
+precision at one spot!
+
+"What will happen?
+
+"Travelling at our present hurricane pace, we shall undoubtedly
+lift up and overturn the machine and what it is drawing.  But
+shall we not be crushed ourselves?  A few paces still intervene
+between us and our foe, and we give vent to a shout of terror.
+
+"It is heard, and the locomotive answers it by a whistle, then
+slackens its pace, and after seeming to hesitate an instant backs
+quickly and only just in time to give us a free passage, whilst
+the driver, waving his cap, salutes us with--
+
+"'Look out for the wires!'
+
+"The caution was well timed, for we had not noticed the four
+telegraph wires which we rapidly approached.  We energetically
+ducked our heads on seeing them, but fortunately we escaped any
+more damage than having two or three of our ropes cut.  These we
+continued to drag after us like the tail of a ragged comet,
+having the telegraph-wires and the posts which lately supported
+them attached to us."
+
+After having been dragged thus for some time at the mercy of a
+hurricane which they ought to have been able to avoid, these
+aerial navigators at last got entangled in the outskirts of a
+wood near Rethem, in Hanover.  A few broken arms and legs paid
+for their temerity in meddling with this monster, and one and all
+of the passengers have reason to be thankful that it will be
+unnecessary for us to proclaim their virtues and their fate in
+our next chapter.
+
+
+
+Chapter X.  The Necrology of Aeronautic
+
+We will conclude this second part by giving a brief notice of
+some of those who, in the early days of aerostation, fell martyrs
+to their devotion to the new cause, and sometimes victims to
+their own want of foresight and their inexperience.
+
+First among these is Pilatre des Roziers, with whose courage and
+ingenuity our readers are already familiar.  After the passage of
+Blanchard from England over to France this hero, who was the
+first to trust himself to the wide space of the sky, resolved to
+undertake the return voyage from France to England--a more
+difficult feat, owing to the generally adverse character of the
+winds and currents.  In vain did Roziers' friends attempt to make
+him understand the perils to which this enterprise must expose
+him; his only reply was that he had discovered a new balloon
+which united in itself all the necessary conditions of security,
+and would permit the voyager to remain an unusually long time in
+the air.  He asked and obtained from government the sum of 40,000
+livres, in order to construct his machine.  It then became clear
+what sort of balloon he had contrived.  He united in one machine
+the two modes previously made use of in aerostation.  Underneath
+a balloon filled with hydrogen gas, he suspended a Montgolfiere,
+or a balloon filled with hot air from a fire.  It is difficult to
+understand what was his precise object in making this
+combination, for his ideas seem to have been confused upon the
+subject.  It is probable that, by the addition of a Montgolfiere,
+he wished to free himself from the necessity of having to throw
+over ballast when he wished to ascend and to let off this gas
+when he wished to descend.  The fire of the Montgolfiere might,
+he probably supposed, be so regulated as to enable him to rise or
+fall at will.
+
+This mixed system has been justly blamed.  It was simply "putting
+fire beside powder," said Professor Charles to Roziers; but the
+latter would not listen, and depended for everything on his own
+intrepidity and scientific skill of which he had already given so
+many proofs.  There were, perhaps, other reasons for his
+unyielding obstinacy.  The court that had furnished him with the
+funds for the construction of the balloon pressed him, and he
+himself was most ambitious to equal the achievement of Blanchard,
+who was the first to cross the Channel, on the 7th of January,
+1785.
+
+The fact was that at this time the prevailing fear in France was,
+that Great Britain should bear off all the honours and profits of
+aerostation before any of these had been won by France.  It was
+thus that with an untried machine, and under conditions the most
+unfavourable for his enterprise, Roziers prepared to risk his
+life in this undertaking, which was equally dangerous and
+useless.
+
+The double balloon was alternately inflated and emptied.  While
+under cover it was assailed by the rats that gnawed holes in it,
+and when brought out of its place it was exposed to the tempests,
+so that the longer the experiment was delayed, the worse chance
+there was of getting through it successfully.  At length Roziers
+went to Boulogne, and announced the day of his departure; but, as
+if by a special Providence, his attempt was delayed by
+unfavourable weather.  For many weeks in succession the little
+trial balloons thrown up to show the course of the wind were
+driven back upon the shores of France.  During all these trials
+the impatient Roziers continued to chafe and torment himself.
+
+At last, on the 13th and 14th of June, 1785, the
+Aero-Montgolfiere remained inflated, waiting a favourable moment
+for departure.  On the 15th at four in the morning, a little
+pilot balloon that had been thrown up fell back on the spot from
+which it had been thrown free, thus showing that there was no
+wind.  Seven hours later Roziers, accompanied by his brother
+Romain, one of the constructors of the balloon, appeared in the
+gallery.  A nobleman present threw a purse of 200 louis into the
+car, and was preparing to follow it and join in the adventure. 
+Roziers forbade him to enter, gently but firmly.
+
+"The experiment is too unsafe," he said, "for me to expose to
+danger the life of another."
+
+"Finally," says a narrative of the time, "the Aero-Montgolfiere
+rose in an imposing manner.  The sound of cannon signalised the
+departure, the voyagers saluted the crowd, who responded with
+loud shouts.  The balloon advanced until it began to traverse the
+sea, and every one with eyes fixed upon the fragile machine,
+regarded it with fear.  It had traversed upwards of a league of
+its journey, and had reached the height of 700 feet above sea
+level, when a wind from the west drove it back toward the shore,
+after having been twenty-seven minutes in the air.
+
+"At this moment the crowd beneath perceived that the voyagers
+were showing signs of alarm. They seemed suddenly to lower the
+grating of the Montgolfiere.  But it was too late.  A violet
+flame appeared at the top of the balloon, then spread over the
+whole globe, and enveloped the Montgolfiere and the voyagers. 
+"The unfortunate men were suddenly precipitated from the clouds
+to the earth, in front of the Tour de Croy, upwards of a league
+from Boulogne, and 300 feet from the sea beach.
+
+"The dead body of Roziers was found burnt in the gallery, many of
+the bones being broken.  His brother was still breathing, but he
+was not able to speak, and in a few minutes he expired."
+
+De Maisonfort, who, against his own will, was left on the earth,
+was witness of this sad event.  He has given the following
+explanation of it:--
+
+"Some minutes after their departure the voyagers were assailed by
+contrary winds, which drove them back again upon the land.  It is
+probable that then, in order to descend and seek a more
+favourable current of air, which would take them out again to
+sea, Roziers opened the valve of the gas balloon; but the cord
+attached to this valve was very long, it worked with difficulty,
+and the friction which it occasioned tore the valve.  The stuff
+of the balloon, which had suffered much from many preliminary
+attempts, and from other causes, was torn to the extent of
+several yards, and the valve fell down inside the balloon, which
+at once emptied itself."
+
+According to this narrative, there was no conflagration of the
+gas in the middle of the atmosphere, nor is it stated precisely
+whether the grating of the Montgolfiere was lighted.
+
+Maisonfort ran to the spot when the travellers fell, found them
+covered with the cloth of the balloon, and occupying the same
+positions which they had taken up on departing.
+
+By a sad chance, that seems like irony, they were thrown down
+only a few paces from the monument which marks the spot where
+Blanchard descended.  At the present day Frenchmen going to
+England via Calais do not fail to visit at the forest of Guines
+the monument consecrated to the expedition of Blanchard.  A few
+paces from this monument the cicerone will point out with his
+finger the spot where his rivals expired.
+
+"Such was the end of the first of aeronauts, and the most
+courageous  of men," says a contemporaneous historian.  "He died
+a martyr to honour and to zeal.  His kindness, amiability, and
+modesty endeared him to all who knew him.  She who was dearest to
+him--a young English lady, who boarded at a convent at Boulogne,
+and whom he had first met only a few days prior to his last
+ascent--could not support the news of his death.  Horrible
+convulsions seized her and she expired, it is said, eight days
+after the dreadful catastrophe.  Roziers died at the age of
+twenty-eight and a half years."
+
+Olivari perished at Orleans on the 25th of November, 1802.  He
+had ascended in a Montgolfiere made of paper, strengthened only
+by some bands of cloth.  His car, made of osiers, and loaded with
+combustible matter, was suspended below the grating; and when at
+a great elevation it became the prey of the flames.  The
+aeronaut, thus deprived of his support, fell, at the distance of
+a league from the spot from which he had risen.
+
+Mosment made his last ascent at Lille on the 7th of April, 1806.
+His balloon was made of silk, and was filled with hydrogen gas.
+Ten minutes after his departure he threw into the air a parachute
+with which he had provided himself.  It is supposed that the
+oscillations consequent on the throwing off of the parachute were
+the cause of they aeronaut's fall.  Some pretend that Mosment had
+foretold his death, and that it was caused by a willful
+carelessness. However this may be, the balloon continued its
+flight alone, and the body of the aeronaut was found partly
+buried in the sand of the fosse which surrounds the town. 
+
+Bittorff made a great many successful ascents.  He never used any
+machine but the Montgolfiere.  At Manheim, on the 17th of July,
+the day of his death his balloon, which was of paper, sixteen
+metres in diameter, and twenty in height, took fire in the air,
+and the aeronaut was thrown down upon the town.  His fall was
+mortal.
+
+Harris, an old officer of the English navy, together with another
+English aeronaut, named Graham, had made a great many ascents. 
+He conceived the idea of constructing a balloon upon an original
+plan; but his alterations do not seem to have been improvements.
+In May, 1824, he attempted an ascent from London, which had much
+apparent success, but which terminated fatally.  When at a great
+elevation, it seems, the aeronaut, wishing to descend, opened the
+valve.  It had not been well constructed, and after being opened
+it would not close again.  The consequent loss of gas brought the
+balloon down with great force.  Harris lost his life with the
+fall; but the young lady who had accompanied him received only a
+trifling wound.
+
+Sadler, a celebrated English aeronaut, who, in one of his many
+experiments, had crossed the Irish Channel between Dublin and
+Holyhead, lost his life miserably near Bolton, on the 28th of
+September, 1824.  Deprived of his ballast, in consequence of his
+long sojourn in the air, and forced at last to descend, at a late
+hour, upon a number of high buildings, the wind drove him
+violently against a chimney.  The force of the shock threw him
+out of his car, and he fell to the earth and died.  His prudence
+and knowledge were unquestionable, and his death is to be
+ascribed alone to accident.  It was an aerial shipwreck.
+
+Cocking had gone up twice in Mr. Green's balloon as a simple
+amateur.  He took it into his head to go up a third time.  He
+wished to attempt a descent in a parachute of his own
+construction, which he believed was vastly superior to the
+ordinary one.  He altered the form altogether, though that form
+had been proved to be satisfactory.  In place of a concave
+surface, supporting itself on a volume of air, Cocking used an
+inverted cone, of an elaborate construction, which, instead of
+supporting him in the air, only accelerated his fall.  Unhappily,
+Green participated in this experiment.  The two made an ascent
+from Vauxhall, on the 27th of September, 1836, Green having
+suspended Cocking's wretched contrivance from the car of his
+balloon.  Cocking held on by a rope, and at the height of from
+1,000 to 1,200 feet the amateur, with his patent parachute, were
+thrown off from the balloon.  A moment afterwards Green was
+soaring away safely in his machine, but Cocking was launched into
+eternity.
+
+"The descent was so rapid," says one who witnessed it, "that the
+mean rate of the fall was not less than twenty yards a second. 
+In less than a minute and a half the unfortunate aeronaut was
+thrown to the earth, and killed by the fall."
+
+Madame Blanchard, thinking to improve upon Garnerin, who had
+decorated the balloon which ascended in celebration of the
+coronation of Napoleon I. with coloured lights, fixed fireworks
+instead to hers.  A wire rope ten yards long was suspended to her
+car; at the bottom of this wire rope was suspended a broad disc
+of wood, around which the fireworks were ranged.  These consisted
+of Bengal and coloured lights.  On the 6th of July, 1819, there
+was a great fete at Tivoli, and a multitude had assembled around
+the balloon of Madame Blanchard.  Cannon gave the signal of
+departure, and soon the fireworks began to show themselves.  The
+balloon rose splendidly, to the sound of music and the shoutings
+of the people.  A rain of gold and thousands of stars fell from
+the car as it ascended.  A moment of calm succeeded, and then to
+the eyes of the spectators, still fixed on the balloon, an
+unexpected light appeared.  This light did not come from under
+the balloon, where the crown of fireworks was already
+extinguished, but shone in the car itself.  It was evident that
+the lady aeronaut, although now so high above the spectators, was
+busy about something.  The light increased, then disappeared
+suddenly; then appeared again, and showed itself finally at the
+summit of the balloon, in the form of an immense jet of gas.  The
+gas with which the balloon was inflated had taken fire, and the
+terrible glare which the light threw around was perceived from
+the boulevards, and all the Quartier Montmartre.
+
+It was at this moment--a frightful one for those who perceived
+what had taken place--that a general sentiment of satisfaction
+and admiration among the spectators found vent in cries of
+"Brava! Vive Madame Blanchard!" &c.  The people thought the lady
+was giving them an unexpected treat.  Meantime, by the light of
+the flame, the balloon was seen gradually to descend.  It
+disappeared when it reached the houses, like a passing meteor, or
+a train of fire which a blast of wind suddenly extinguishes.  A
+number of workmen and other persons, who had perceived that some
+accident had taken place, ran in the direction in which the
+balloon appeared to descend.  They arrived at a house in the Rue
+de Provence.  On the roof of this house the balloon had fallen,
+and the unfortunate Madame Blanchard, thrown out of the car by
+the shock, was killed by her fall to the earth.
+
+This news spread rapidly from Tivoli, where it occasioned a
+stupefying surprise.  It was the first time that a fall of the
+kind had taken place from the sky at Paris.  Fireworks were from
+this time discontinued, the fete came to an end, and a
+subscription was rapidly organised, producing some thousands of
+francs, which shortly afterwards were employed in erecting a
+monument to the lady, which is now to be seen in the cemetery of
+Pere-la-Chaise.
+
+Madame Blanchard had wished to surpass the ordinary spectacle of
+an aerial ascent; she had really prepared a SURPRISE for the
+spectators. She had prepared and she took with her a small
+parachute of about two yards in diameter.  After the extinction
+of the crown or star of fireworks, she intended to throw this
+little parachute loose; and as it was terminated by another
+supply of fireworks, it was supposed that the effect would be as
+beautiful as surprising.
+
+The unhappy lady was small in stature, and very light, and
+unfortunately made use of a very small balloon.  That of the 6th
+of July, 1819, was only seven metres in diameter; and to make it
+ascend with the weight it carried it had to be filled to the neck
+with inflammable air.  In quitting the earth some of this gas
+escaped, and rising above the balloon, formed a train like one of
+powder, which would certainly flash into a blaze the moment it
+came in contact with the fire.  But on this day it was she who
+with her own hand fired this train.  At the moment when,
+detaching the little parachute from her car, she took the light
+for the fireworks in her other hand, she crossed this train with
+the light and set it on fire.  Then the brave woman, throwing
+away the parachute and the match, strove to close the mouth of
+the balloon, and to stifle the fire.  These efforts being
+unavailing, Madame Blanchard was distinctly seen to sit down in
+her car and await her fate.
+
+The burning of the hydrogen lasted several minutes, during which
+time the balloon gradually descended.  Had it not been that it
+struck on the roof of the house Madame Blanchard would have been
+saved.  At the moment of the shock she was heard to cry out, "A
+moi." These were her last words.  The car, going along the roof
+of the house, was caught by an iron bar and overturned, and the
+lady was thrown head foremost upon the pavement.
+
+When she reached the ground she immediately expired.  Her head
+and shoulders were slightly burnt, otherwise she exhibited no
+marks of the fire which had destroyed the balloon.
+
+
+
+PART III.  Scientific Experiments--Applications of Ballooning.
+
+Chapter I.  Experiments of Robertson, Lhoest, Saccarof, &c.
+
+Robertson is regarded by many as a sort of mountebank; yet such
+men as Arago have put themselves to the trouble of examining the
+aerostatic feats of this aeronaut, and of examining the results
+of his observations.
+
+"The savant Robertson," says Arago, "performed at Hamburg on the
+18th of July, 1803, with his countryman, Lhoest, the first
+aeronautic voyage from which science has been able to draw useful
+deductions. The two aeronauts remained suspended in the air
+during five hours, and came down near Hanover, twenty-five
+leagues from the spot from which they set off."
+
+The first time that Robertson appears in the annals of
+aerostation is in 1802, on the occasion of the sale of the
+balloon used at the battle of Fleurus, of which mention will be
+made in the chapter on military aerostation.  But three years
+previously he had been instructed to make a balloon of an
+original form, which should ascend in honour of the Turkish
+ambassador at the garden of Tivoli. The fete was completely
+successful.  Turks, Chinese, Persians, and Bedouins will always
+be welcome, as on this occasion, at Paris, appearing as they do
+only at rare intervals, and for a short time.
+
+The fete took place on the 2nd of July.  Robertson presented
+himself at the house of Esseid-Ali, to obtain his autograph.  The
+Turkish ambassador willingly granted the request, and wrote his
+name in letters, each of which was two inches in height, on a
+sheet of paper.  He then offered the aeronaut coffee and comfits,
+and promised to be present to witness the balloon ascent.  His
+name was painted in large characters on a balloon fifteen feet in
+diameter, and on the form of which was the figure of a crescent.
+The experiment delighted the ambassador, and was well received by
+the public.
+
+Jacques Garnerin, when he came to make his debut as an aeronaut,
+made an attempt with the parachute, the following August, at the
+garden of the Hotel de Biron.  The ambassador was asked to honour
+the fete, but he declined, saying that he had "made up his mind
+that man was not intended for flying--Mahomet had not so willed
+it."
+
+Of one of Robertson's more interesting ascents he himself has
+left us the following sketch:--
+
+"I rose in the balloon at nine a.m., accompanied by my
+fellow-student and countryman, M. Lhoest.  We had 140 lbs. of
+ballast. The barometer marked twenty-eight inches; the
+thermometer sixteen degrees Reaumur.  In spite of some slight
+wind from the north-west, the balloon mounted so perpendicularly
+that in all the streets each of the spectators believed we were
+mounting straight up above his head.  In order to quicken our
+ascent I discharged a parachute made of silk, and weighted in a
+way to prevent oscillations.  The parachute descended at the rate
+of two feet per second, and its descent was uniform. From the
+moment when the barometer began to sink we became very careful of
+our ballast, as we wished to test from experience the different
+temperatures through which we were about to pass.
+
+"At 10.15, the barometer was at nineteen inches, and the
+thermometer at three above zero.  We now felt all the
+inconvenience of an extremely rarefied atmosphere coming upon us,
+and we commenced to arrange some experiments in atmospheric
+electricity.  Our first attempts did not succeed.  We threw over
+part of our ballast, and mounted up till the cold and the
+rarefaction of the air became very troublesome.  During our
+experiments we experienced an illness throughout our whole
+system. Buzzing in the cars commenced, and went on increasing. 
+The pain we felt was like that which one feels when he plunges
+his head in water.  Our chests seemed to be dilated, and failed
+in elasticity.  My pulse was quickened, M. Lhoest's became
+slower; he had, like me, swelled lips and bleeding eyes; the
+veins seemed to come out more strongly on the hands. The blood
+ran to the head, and occasioned a feeling as if our hats were too
+tight. The thermometer continued to descend, and, as we ascended,
+our illness increased, and we could with difficulty keep awake. 
+Fearing that my travelling companion might go to sleep, I
+attached a cord to my thigh and to ]his, and we held the
+extremities of the cord in our hands.  Thus trammelled, we had to
+commence the experiments which I had proposed to make.
+
+"At this elevation, the glass, the brimstone, and the Spanish wax
+were not electrified in a manner to show any signs under
+friction--at least, I obtained no electricity from the conductors
+or the electrometer.
+
+"I had in my car a voltaic pile, consisting of sixty
+couples--silver and zinc.  It worked very well on the occasion of
+our departure from the earth, and gave, without the condenser,
+one degree to the electrometer.  At our great elevation, the pile
+gave only five-sixths of a degree to the same electrometer.  The
+galvanic flame seemed more active at this elevation than on the
+earth.
+
+"I took two birds with me on coming into the balloon--one of
+these was now dead, the other appeared stupefied.  After having
+placed it upon the brink of the gondola, I tried to frighten it
+to make it take to flight.  It moved its wings, but did not leave
+the spot; then I left it to itself, and it fell perpendicularly
+and with great rapidity.  Birds are certainly not able to
+maintain themselves at such elevations.
+
+"It is notable that the atmosphere, which was of a perfect purity
+near the earth, was grey and misty above our heads, and the
+beautiful blue sky seen from the surface did not exist for us,
+although the weather was calm and serene, and the day the most
+beautiful that could be.  The sun did not seem dazzling to us,
+and its heat was diminished owing to our elevation.
+
+"At half-past eleven, the balloon was no longer visible from
+Hamburg.  The heavens were so pure beneath us that everything was
+distinctly seen by us, though very much diminished by distance.
+At 11.40, the town of Hamburg seemed only a red point in our
+eyes; the Elbe looked like a straight ribbon.  I wished to make
+use of an opera-glass, but what surprised me was that when I
+lifted it up it was so cold that I had to wrap my handkerchief
+around it to enable me to hold it.
+
+"Not being able to support our position any longer, we descended,
+after having used up much gas and ballast.  Our descent caused
+that degree of terror among the inhabitants which the size of our
+balloon was calculated to inspire in a country where such
+machines had never before been seen.  We descended above a poor
+village called Radenburg, a place amid the heaths of Hanover. 
+Our appearance caused great alarm, and even the beasts of the
+field fled from us.
+
+"While our balloon rapidly approached the earth, we waved our
+hats and flags, and shouted to the inhabitants, but our voices
+only increased their terror.  The villagers rushed away with
+cries of terror, leaving their herds, whose bellowings increased
+the general alarm. When the balloon touched the ground, every man
+had shut himself up in his own house.  Having appealed in vain,
+and fearing that the villagers might do us some injury, we
+resolved to re-ascend.
+
+"In making this second ascent, we threw over all our ballast; but
+in this we were imprudent, for after sailing about at a great
+height, and having lost much gas, I perceived that our descent
+would be very rapid, and to provide against accident, I gathered
+together all the instruments, the bread, the ropes, and even such
+money as we had with us, and placed them in three sacks, to which
+I attached a rope of a hundred feet in length.  This precaution
+saved us a shock.  The weight, amounting to thirty pounds,
+reached the ground before us, and the balloon, thus lightened,
+came softly to the ground between Wichtenbech and Hanover, after
+having run twenty-five leagues in five and a half hours."
+
+After this ascent Robertson became acquainted with some savants
+of Hamburg, and amongst others with Professor Pfaff, who was
+interested in aerial travelling as a means of settling certain
+meteorological problems.  Some days after Robertson's ascent, the
+professor wrote to him--
+
+"You speak of a certain height at which the hydrogen gas will
+find itself in equilibrium in the air of the atmosphere.  I
+believe that this height is the extremity of the atmosphere
+itself; for as the gas has an elasticity much greater than that
+of the air, it will go on dilating as it mounts into the higher
+regions of the atmosphere, and its specific weight will diminish
+as the weight of atmospheric air diminishes; and it will not
+cease to mount until it rises above the atmosphere itself, if two
+conditions be completely fulfilled--1, the condition that the gas
+may be allowed to dilate without leaving the balloon as it rises;
+2, the condition that the gas shall not be allowed to mix at all
+with the atmospheric air."
+
+Another ascent was arranged for the 14th of August, in which
+Robertson was to be accompanied by the professor, but the latter,
+yielding to the entreaties of his family, did not go.  "I went up
+with my friend Lhoest," says Robertson, "at forty-two minutes
+past twelve midday.  In a minute or two we rose up between two
+masses of cloud, which seemed to open up and offer us a passage.
+The upper surfaces of these clouds are not uniformly level, like
+the under sides seen from the earth, but they are of a conical or
+pyramidal shape.  These imposing masses seem to precipitate
+themselves upon the earth, as if to engulf it, but this optical
+illusion was due to the apparent immobility of the balloon, which
+at the moment was rising at the rate of about twenty feet per
+second.
+
+"The fear of losing the view of the Baltic, which we perceived
+between the clouds at intervals, obliged us to renounce the
+project of rising as high as on the last occasion.  The barometer
+was at fifteen inches, and the thermometer one degree below zero,
+when I let off two pigeons.
+
+"One descended in a diagonal direction, its wings half open but
+not moving, with a swiftness which seemed that of a fall.  The
+other flew for an instant, and then placed itself upon the car,
+and did not wish to quit us.  Acting on the hint of Dr. Reimarus,
+I tried the same experiment with butterflies, but the air was too
+much rarefied for them; they attempted in vain to raise
+themselves by their wings, but they did not forsake the car.
+
+"The wind continuing to carry me towards the sea, I resolved to
+bring my observations to an end.  I effected my descent in a
+meadow, near the village of Rehorst, in Holstein, after having
+run sixteen leagues from France in sixty-five minutes."
+
+At the commencement of the year 1804, Laplace, at the Institute,
+proposed to take advantage of the means offered by aerostation to
+verify at great heights certain scientific points--as, for
+example, those which concern magnetism. This proposition was made
+at a favourable time, and was, so far, carried out in the best
+possible way.  The aeronauts who were appointed to carry out the
+expedition were Biot and Gay-Lussac, the most enthusiastic
+aeronauts of the period.
+
+The following is their report:--
+
+"We observed the animals we had with us at all the different
+heights, and they did not appear to suffer in any manner.  For
+ourselves, we perceived no effect any more then a quickening of
+the pulse.  At 10,000 feet above the ground we set a little
+green-finch at liberty.  He flew out at once, but immediately
+returning, settled upon our cordage; afterwards, setting out
+again, he flew to the earth, describing a very tortuous line in
+his passage.  We followed him with our eyes till he was lost in
+the clouds.  A pigeon, which we set free at the same elevation,
+presented a very curious spectacle.  Placed at liberty on the
+edge of the car, he remained at rest for a number of instants, as
+if measuring the length of his flight; then he launched himself
+into space, flying about irregularly, as if to try his wings.
+Afterwards he began his descent regularly, sweeping round and
+round in great circles, ever reaching lower, until he also was
+lost in the clouds."
+
+As to the voyagers themselves, this is how they speak of their
+situation at the height of 3,000 yards:--
+
+"About this elevation we observed our animals.  They did not
+appear to suffer from the rarity of the air, yet the barometer
+was at twenty inches eight lines..  We were much surprised that
+we did not suffer from the cold; on the contrary, the sun warmed
+us much.  We had thrown aside the gloves which had been put on
+board, and which were of no use to us.  Our pulses were very
+quick; that of M. Gay-Lussac, which is 62 in the minute on
+ordinary occasions, now gave 80; and mine, which is ordinarily
+89, gave 111.  This acceleration was felt by both of us in nearly
+the same proportion.  Nevertheless, our respiration was in no way
+interfered with, we experienced no illness, and our situation
+seemed to us extremely agreeable."
+
+The following is their report to the Galvanic Society--
+
+"We have known for a long time that no animal can with safety
+pass into an atmosphere much more dense or much more rare than
+that to which it has been accustomed.  In the first case it
+suffers from the outer air, which presses upon it severely; in
+the second case there are liquids or fluids in the animal's body
+which, being less pressed against than they should be, become
+dilated, and press against their coverings or channels.  In both
+cases the symptoms are nearly the same--pain, general illness,
+buzzing in the ears, and even haemorrhage.  The experience of the
+diving-bell has long made us familiar with what aeronauts suffer.
+Our colleague (Robertson), and his companion, have experienced
+these effects in great intensity.  They had swelled lips, their
+eyes bled, their veins were dilated, and, what is very
+remarkable, they both preserved a brown or red tinge which
+astonished those that had seen them before they made the ascent. 
+This distension of the blood-vessels would necessarily produce an
+inconvenience and a difficulty in the muscular action."
+
+
+
+Chapter II.  Ascent of M. Gay-Lussac Alone--Excursions of MM.
+Barral and Bixio.
+
+Respecting this ascent, Arago states that M. Gay-Lussac has
+reduced to their proper value the narratives of the physical
+pains which aeronauts say they suffer in lofty aerial ascents.
+
+M. Gay-Lussac says:--"Having arrived at the most elevated point
+of my ascent, 21,000 feet above sea level, my respiration was
+rendered sensibly difficult, but I was far from experiencing any
+illness of a kind to make me descend.  My pulse and my breathing
+were very quick; breathing very frequently in an extremely dry
+atmosphere, I should not have been surprised if my throat had
+been so dry as to make it painful to swallow bread."
+
+After having finished his observations, which referred chiefly to
+the magnetic needle, with all the tranquillity of a doctor in his
+study, Gay-Lussac descended to the earth between Rouen and
+Dieppe, eighty leagues from Paris.
+
+After the names of Robertson, Gay-Lussac, and Biot, science has
+registered those of Barral and Bixio, two men whose aeronautic
+achievements have enriched meteorology with more important
+discoveries, perhaps, than any we have yet mentioned.
+
+These gentlemen had conceived the project of rising by means of a
+balloon to a great height, in order to study, with the assistance
+of the very best instruments in use in their day, a multitude of
+phenomena then imperfectly known.  The subjects to which they
+were specially to direct their attention, were the law of the
+decrease of temperature in progress upwards, the discovery of
+whether the chemical composition of the atmosphere is the same
+throughout all its parts, the comparison of the strength of the
+solar rays in the higher regions of the atmosphere and on the
+surface of the earth, the ascertaining whether the light
+reflected and transmitted by the clouds is or is not polarised,
+&c.
+
+All the preparations having been made in the garden of the
+Observatory at Paris, the ascent took place on the 29th of June,
+1850, at 10.27 a.m., the balloon being filled with hydrogen gas.
+The first ascent was a signal failure.  It was found that the
+weather being bad, the envelope of the balloon was torn in
+several places, and had to be mended in all haste.  Immediately
+preceding the moment of ascent, a torrent of rain fell.  But the
+voyagers were determined to ascend.  They placed themselves in
+the car, and, when thrown off from the fastenings, they rose
+through the air with the speed of an arrow.  The height to which
+the balloon reached made it suddenly dilate, and the network,
+which was much too small, was stretched to the utmost.  The
+balloon was forced down upon them by the dilation, and one of
+them, in the endeavour to work the valve, made a rent in the
+lower part of the globe, from which the gas escaping almost over
+the heads of the travellers, nearly choked them. The escape of
+the gas had the usual result--the balloon descended rapidly, and
+fell in a vineyard near Lugny, where they were found by the
+peasants holding on to the trees by their legs and arms, and thus
+attempting to stop the horizontal advance of the car.  They had
+risen to the height of over 17,000 feet, and they had descended
+from this height in from four to five minutes.
+
+For all practical purposes, the ascent was a failure, and the
+aeronauts immediately commenced preparations for a new voyage,
+which took place a month afterwards.  They rose to very great
+altitudes, but experienced no illness from the rarefied air.  M.
+Bixio did not feel the sharp pains in the ears from which he had
+suffered on the former occasion.  They passed through a mass of
+cloud 15,000 feet in thickness, and they had not yet passed quite
+through it, when at the height of over 21,000 feet from the
+ground, they began to descend, their descent being caused by a
+rent in the envelope of the balloon, from which the gas escaped. 
+They might, in throwing out the last of their ballast, have,
+perhaps, prolonged for a little their sojourn in space, but the
+circumstances in which they were placed did not permit them to
+make many more scientific observations than those they had made,
+and thus they were obliged to submit to their fate.  When they
+had reached their greatest height, there seemed to open up in the
+midst of the vaporous mass a brilliant space, from which they
+could see the blue of heaven.  The polariscope, directed towards
+this region, showed an internal polarisation, but, when pointed
+to the side where the mist still prevailed, there was no
+polarisation.
+
+An optical phenomenon of a remarkable kind was witnessed when the
+voyagers had attained their highest point.  They saw the sun
+through the upper mists, looking quite white, as if shorn of its
+strength; and, at the same time, below the horizontal plane,
+below their horizon, and at an angular distance from the plane
+equal to that of the sun above it, they saw a second sun, which
+resembled the reflection of the actual sun in a sheet of water.
+It is natural to suppose that the second sun was formed by the
+reflection of the sun's rays upon the horizontal faces of the ice
+crystals floating in this high cloud.
+
+
+
+Chapter III.  Ascents of the Mssrs. Welsh, Glaisher and Coxwell.
+
+The most recent balloon ascents in England deserving attention
+have been undertaken for scientific objects, and in this country,
+more than in any other, it may be said that the conquest of the
+air has been made to serve a practical end.
+
+In July, 1852, the Committee of the Kew Observatory resolved to
+undertake a number of balloon voyages.  This resolution was
+approved of by the British Association for the Advancement of
+Science, and the necessary instruments for making a number of
+meteorological observations were prepared.  The balloon employed
+was that of Mr. Green, who was accompanied in his ascents by Mr.
+Welsh.  The greatest height to which Mr. Welsh rose was on the
+fourth ascent which took place on the 10th of November, 1852. 
+The balloon rose 22,930 feet, and the lowest temperature observed
+was 26 degrees below zero.
+
+It is to Mr. Glaisher and Mr. Coxwell, however, that the highest
+honours of scientific aerostation belong.  The ascents made by
+these gentlemen--Mr. Glaisher being the scientific observer, and
+Mr. Coxwell the practical aeronaut--have become matters of
+history.  Not only did they, in the course of a large number of
+ascents undertaken under the auspices of the British Association,
+succeed in gathering much valuable meteorological information,
+but they reached a greater height than that ever gained on any
+previous or subsequent occasion, and penetrated into that distant
+region of the skies in which it has been satisfactorily proved
+that no life can be long maintained.  It was on the 5th of
+September, 1862,that Mr. Glaisher and Mr. Coxwell made the famous
+ascent in which they reached the greatest height ever attained by
+an aeronaut, and were so nearly sacrificed to their unselfish
+daring.  Mr. Glaisher has given an admirable account of this
+ascent, which took place from Wolverhampton.  He says:--"Our
+ascent had been delayed, owing to the unfavourable state of the
+weather.  It commenced at three minutes past one p.m., the
+temperature of the air being 59 degrees, and the dew-point 48
+degrees.  At the height of one mile the temperature was 41
+degrees and the dew-point 38 degrees.  Shortly after wards clouds
+were entered of about 1,100 feet in thickness.  Upon emerging
+from them at seventeen minutes past one, I tried to take a view
+of their surface with the camera, but the balloon was ascending
+too rapidly and spiraling too quickly to allow me to do so.  The
+height of two miles was reached at twenty-one minutes past one.
+The temperature of the air had fallen to 32 degrees and the
+dew-point to 26 degrees.  The third mile was passed at
+twenty-eight minutes past one, with an air temperature of 18
+degrees, and a dew-point of 13 degrees.  The fourth mile was
+passed at thirty-nine minutes past one, with an air temperature
+of 8 degrees, and a dew-point of minus 6 degrees and the fifth
+mile about ten minutes later, with an air temperature minus 5
+degrees, and a dew-point minus 36 degrees.
+
+"Up to this time I had experienced no particular inconvenience.
+When at the height of 26,000 feet I could not see the fine column
+of the mercury in the tube; then the fine divisions on the scale
+of the instrument became invisible.  At that time I asked Mr.
+Coxwell to help me to read the instruments, as I experienced a
+difficulty in seeing them. In consequence of the rotary motion of
+the balloon, which had continued without ceasing since the earth
+was left, the valve line had become twisted, and he had to leave
+the car, and to mount into the ring above to adjust it.  At that
+time I had no suspicion of other than temporary inconvenience in
+seeing.  Shortly afterwards I laid my arm upon the table,
+possessed of its full vigour; but directly after, being desirous
+of using it, I found it powerless.  It must have lost its power
+momentarily.  I then tried to move the other arm, but found it
+powerless also.  I next tried to shake myself, and succeeded in
+shaking my body.  I seemed to have no legs.  I could only shake
+my body.  I then looked at the barometer, and whilst I was doing
+so my head fell on my left shoulder.  I struggled, and shook my
+body again, but could not move my arms.  I got my head upright,
+but for an instant only, when it fell on my right shoulder; and
+then I fell backwards, my back resting against the side of the
+car, and my head on its edge.  In that position my eyes were
+directed towards Mr. Coxwell in the ring.  When I shook my body 
+I seemed to have full power over the muscles of the back, and
+considerable power over those of the neck, but none over my
+limbs.  As in the case of the arms, all muscular power was lost
+in an instant from my back and neck.  I dimly saw Mr. Coxwell in
+the ring, and endeavoured to speak, but could not do so; when in
+an instant intense black darkness came over me, and the optic
+nerve lost power suddenly.  I was still conscious, with as active
+a brain as whilst writing this.  I thought I had been seized with
+asphyxia, and that I should experience no more, as death would
+come unless we speedily descended.  Other thoughts were actively
+entering my mind when I suddenly became unconscious, as though
+going to sleep. I could not tell anything about the sense of
+hearing: the perfect stillness of the regions six miles from the
+earth--and at that time we were between six and seven miles
+high--is such that no sound reaches the ear.  My last observation
+was made at 29,000 feet, about fifty-four minutes past one.  I
+suppose two or three minutes elapsed between my eyes becoming
+insensible to seeing the fine divisions and fifty-four minutes
+past one, and that other two or three minutes elapsed before I
+became unconscious; therefore I think that took place about
+fifty-six or fifty-seven minutes past one.  Whilst powerless I
+heard the words 'temperature,' and 'observation,' and I knew Mr.
+Coxwell was in the car, speaking to me, and endeavouring to rouse
+me; and therefore consciousness and hearing had returned.  I then
+heard him speak more emphatically, but I could not speak or move. 
+Then I heard him say, 'Do try; now do!' Then I saw the
+instruments dimly, next Mr. Coxwell, and very shortly I saw
+clearly.  I rose in my seat and looked round, as though waking
+from sleep, and said to Mr. Coxwell, 'I have been insensible.' He
+said, 'Yes; and I too, very nearly.' I then drew up my legs,
+which had been extended out before me, and took a pencil in my
+hand to note my observations.  Mr. Coxwell informed me that he
+had lost the use of his hands, which were black, and I poured
+brandy over them.  I resumed my observations at seven minutes
+past two.  I suppose three or four minutes were occupied from the
+time of my hearing the words 'temperature' and 'observation,'
+until I began to observe.  If so, then returning consciousness
+came at four minutes past two, and that gives about seven minutes
+of total insensibility.  Mr. Coxwell told me that in coming from
+the ring he thought for a moment that I had laid back to rest
+myself; that he spoke to me without eliciting a reply; that he
+then noticed that my legs projected, and my arms hung down by my
+side.  That my countenance was serene and placid, without
+earnestness or anxiety, he had noticed before going into the
+ring.  It then struck him that I was insensible.  He wished then
+to approach me, but could not, and he felt insensibility coming
+over himself.  He became anxious to open the valve, but, in
+consequence of having lost the use of his hands, he could not;
+and ultimately he did so by seizing the cord with his teeth and
+dipping his head two or three times.  No inconvenience followed
+our insensibility.  When we dropped it was in a country where no
+accommodation of any kind could be obtained, so that we had to
+walk between seven and eight miles.  At the time of ceasing our
+observations the ascent was at the rate of 1,000 feet per minute,
+and on resuming observations the descent was at the rate of 2,000
+feet per minute.  These two positions must be connected, having
+relation to the interval of time which elapsed between them; and
+they can scarcely be connected at a point less than 36,000 or
+37,000 feet high.  Again, a very delicate minimum thermometer was
+found to read minus 12 degrees, and that reading would indicate
+an elevation exceeding 36,000 feet.  There cannot be any doubt
+that the balloon attained the great height of seven miles--the
+greatest ever reached.  In this ascent six pigeons were taken up. 
+One was thrown out at three miles.  It extended its wings, and
+dropped like a piece of paper.  A second at four miles, and it
+flew with vigour.  A third between four and five miles, and it
+fell downwards.  A fourth was thrown out at four miles in
+descending, and it alighted on the top of the balloon.  Two were
+brought to the ground.  One was dead, and the other was ill, but
+recovered so as to fly away in a quarter of an hour."
+
+The results gathered by Mr. Glaisher from his numerous ascents
+are very interesting.  He found that in no instance did the
+temperature of the air decrease uniformly with the increase of
+height.  In fact, the decrease in the first mile is double that
+in the second, and nearly four times as great as the change of
+temperature in the fifth mile.  The distribution of aqueous
+vapour in the air is no less remarkable.  The temperature of the
+dew-point on leaving the earth decreases less rapidly than the
+temperature of the air; so that the difference between the two
+temperatures becomes less and less, till the vapour or cloud
+plane is reached, when they are usually together, and always most
+nearly approach each other, and that point is usually at about
+the height of one mile.  On leaving the upper surface of cloud,
+the dew point decreases more rapidly  than the air, and at
+extremely high situations the difference  between the two
+temperatures is wonderfully great, indicating an extraordinary
+degree of dryness, and an almost entire absence of water.  Under
+these circumstances, the presence of cirrus clouds far above this
+dry region, apparently as much above as when viewed from the
+earth, is very remarkable, and leads to the conclusion that they
+are not composed of water.
+
+In the propagation of sound, M. Glaisher made many curious
+experiments.  In one ascent (July 17th) he found, when at a
+distance of 11,800 feet above the earth, that a band was heard;
+at a height of 22,000 feet, a clap of thunder was heard; and at a
+height of 10,070 feet, the report of a gun was heard.  On one
+occasion, he heard the dull hum of London at a height of 9,000
+feet above the city, and on another occasion, the shouting of
+many thousands of persons could not be heard at the height of
+4,000 feet.
+
+
+
+Chapter IV.  Balloons Made Useful in Warfare.
+
+Wars of the French Republic--Company of "Ballooneers"--Battle of
+Fleurus--The Balloons of Egypt--Napoleon--Modern Services War in
+Italy--War in America--Conclusion.
+
+We will conclude our work with a glance at aerostation as applied
+to warfare.  Scarcely had the first ascents astonished the world,
+than the more adventurous spirits began to use the new discovery
+for a thousand purposes directly useful to man.  The first point
+of view in which aerostation was regarded, was in that of its
+practical utility If one refers to the pre-occupations of the
+time--to the great events then occurring in the history of
+France, one will easily understand that the Committee of Public
+Safety soon thought of employing balloons in the observation of
+the forces and the movements of hostile troops.  In 1794, the
+idea was practically carried out, and the French armies were
+provided with two companies of aeronauts.  The command of one of
+these companies was given to Captain Coutelle, a young physicist
+of great talent, who rendered memorable services at the battle of
+Fleurus.  The balloons were not thrown free, but were retained
+attached by means of long cords.  In this way they took up, so to
+speak, aerial posts of observation.  Placed in his car, the
+captain transmitted his instructions to his men below by means of
+coloured flags.  Coutelle has left us a lively narrative of
+certain incidents connected with one of the grand days of the old
+Republic.  He had been commissioned by the Committee of Public
+Safety to go to Maubeuge, where Jourdan's army was encamped, and
+to offer him the use of his balloon.  The representative to whom
+the young doctor presented his commission, knew nothing about
+balloons, and not being able to understand the order of the
+Committee of Public Safety, it suddenly dawned upon him that
+Coutelle, with his trumpery forgery about balloons, was nothing
+else than a spy, and he was about to have him shot.  The
+genuineness of the order from the Committee, however, was proved,
+and Coutelle's case was listened to.
+
+"The army was at Beaumont," says Coutelle, "and the enemy, placed
+at a distance of only three miles, could attack at any moment.
+The general told me this fact, and engaged me to return and
+communicate it to the Committee.  This I did.  The Commission
+then felt the necessity of making an experiment with a balloon
+that could raise two persons, and the minister placed at my
+service the garden and the little mansion of Meudon.  Many of the
+members of the Commission came to witness the first ascent of a
+balloon held in hand, like a kite, by means of two cords.  The
+Commissioners ordered me to place myself in the car, and
+instructed me as to a number of signals which I must repeat, and
+observations which I must make.  I raised myself to the full
+length of the cord, a height of 1,500 feet, and at this height,
+with the help of a glass, I could distinctly see the seven bends
+of the river Seine.  On returning to the earth, I received the
+compliments of the Commission.
+
+"Arrived at Maubeuge, my first care was to find a suitable spot
+to erect my furnace, and to make every preparation for the
+arrival of my balloon from Meudon.  Each day my observations
+contained something new either in the works which the Austrians
+had thrown up during the night, or in the arrangement of their
+forces.  On the fifth day a piece of cannon had been brought to
+bear upon the balloon, and shots were fired at me as soon as I
+appeared above the ramparts.  None of the shots took effect, and
+on the following day the piece was no longer in position. 
+Experience enforced upon me the necessity of forming some
+provision against these unexpected attacks.  I employed the night
+in fixing cords all round the middle of my balloon.  Each of the
+aerostiers had charge of one of the ropes, and by means of them I
+could easily move about, and thus get myself out of range of any
+gun that had been trained to bear against me.  I was afterwards
+ordered to make a reconnaissance at Mayence, and I posted myself
+between our lines and the enemy at half range of cannon.  When
+the wind, which was tempestuous at first, became calmer, I was
+able to count the number of cannon on the ramparts, as well as
+the troops that marched through the streets and in the squares.
+
+"Generally the soldiers of the enemy, all who saw the observer
+watching them and taking notes, came to the idea that they could
+do nothing without being seen.  Our soldiers were of the same
+opinion, and consequently they regarded us with great admiration
+and trust.  On the heavy marches they brought us prepared food
+and wine, which my men were hardly able to get for themselves, so
+closely did they require to attend to the ropes.  We were
+encamped upon the banks of the Rhine at Manheim when our general
+sent me to the opposite bank to parley.  As soon as the Austrian
+officers were made aware that I commanded the balloon, I was
+overwhelmed with questions and compliments.
+
+"What causes an impression which, till one is accustomed to it,
+is very alarming, is the noise which the balloon makes when it is
+struck by successive gales of wind.  When the wind has passed,
+the balloon, which has been pressed into a concave form by the
+wind, suddenly resumes its globular form with a loud noise heard
+at a great distance.  The silk of the balloon would often burst
+in a case of this kind, were it not for the restraining power of
+the network."
+
+After the days of Coutelle we do not read that balloons were made
+much use of in warfare.  The only ascent in the Egypt campaign
+was that of a tricolor balloon thrown up to commemorate a fete. 
+That Napoleon knew full well the value of the scientific
+discoveries of his time is clear from the following conversation
+with a learned Mohammedan, which took place in the great pyramid
+of Cheops:--
+
+Mussamed.  "Noble successor of Alexander, honour to shine
+invincible arms, and to the unexpected lightning with which your
+warriors are furnished."
+
+Bonaparte.  "Do you believe that that lightning is the work of
+the children of men?  Allah has placed it in our hands by means
+of the genius of war."
+
+Mussamed.  "We recognised by your arms that it is Allah that has
+sent you--the Delta and all the neighbouring countries are full
+of thy miracles.  But would you be a conqueror if Allah did not
+permit you?"
+
+Bonaparte.  "A celestial body will point by my orders to the
+dwelling of the clouds, and lightning will descend towards the
+earth, along a rod of metal from which I can call it forth."
+
+Napoleon did not favour the use of balloons in war.  Perhaps it
+was because he himself had such a splendid genius for war that he
+depended alone upon himself, and scorned assistance.  Perhaps it
+was because if balloons were discovered to be of real utility,
+his enemies might make use of them as well as himself, and France
+retain no special advantage in them. But however this may be, on
+his return from Egypt he sold the balloon of Fleurus to
+Robertson. The company of ballooneers was dissolved, and the
+balloons themselves disappeared in smoke.
+
+During the war in America, the role which the balloon played was
+a more important one.  The Government of the United States
+conferred the title of aeronautic engineer upon Mr. Allan, of
+Rhode Island, who originated the idea of communicating by a
+telegraphic wire from the balloon to the camp.  The first
+telegraphic message which was transmitted from the aerial regions
+is that of Professor Love, at Washington, to the President of the
+United States.  The following is this despatch:--
+
+"WASHINGTON, Balloon the 'Enterprise.'
+
+"SIR,--The point of observation commands an extent of nearly
+fifty miles in diameter.  The city, with its girdle of
+encampments, presents a superb scene.  I have great pleasure in
+sending you this despatch--the first that has been telegraphed
+from an aerial station--and to know that I should be so much
+encouraged, from having given the first proof that the aeronautic
+science can render great assistance in these countries."
+
+In the month of September, 1861, one of the most hardy aeronauts
+(La Mountain) furnished important information to General
+M'Clellan. The balloon of La Mountain, which arose from the
+northern camp upon the Potomac, passed above Washington.  La
+Mountain then cut the cord that connected his balloon with the
+earth, and rising rapidly to the height of a mile and a half, he
+found himself directly above his enemies' lines.  There he was
+able to observe perfectly their position and their movements.  He
+then threw over ballast, and ascended to the height of three
+miles.  At this height he encountered a current which carried him
+in the direction of Maryland, where he descended in safety. 
+General M'Clellan was so much satisfied with the observations
+taken in the balloon, that, at his request, the order was given
+to the War Department to construct four new balloons.
+
+If this volume of "The Library of Wonders" had not had for its
+single object "balloons and their history," we would have devoted
+a chapter to the numerous attempts made to steer balloons.  We
+shall only say here that aerial navigation should be divided into
+two kinds with balloons, and without balloons.  In the first
+case, it is limited to the study of aerial currents, and to the
+art of rising to those currents which suit the direction of the
+voyage undertaken.  The balloon is not the master of the
+atmosphere; on the contrary, it is its powerless slave.  In the
+second case, the discovery of Montgolfier is useless; and the
+question is, to find out a new machine capable of flying in the
+air, and at the same time heavier than the air.  Birds are,
+without doubt, the best models to study.  But with what force
+shall we replace LIFE?  The air-boat of M. Pline seems to us one
+of the best ideas; but the working of it presents many
+difficulties.  Let us find a motive power at once light and
+powerful (aluminium and electricity, for example), and we will
+have definitively conquered the empire of the air.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg Etext of Wonderful Balloon Ascents
+