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THE FALL OF ICARUS . 
 
 //w/< r.uirminip/ii;/ ,n i/i,- Ortliniiin' Slavey Office Souffiamptom ////,/,////,- ./*/////, //,/,<v /Y;//// :'/////..//(////.. '/.. ///;' /r// v/-//. ////,-.- /'/,' /.'/'. O'v .//'//< v//.- 
 
 1864 
 
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 K.M'KIMMK.VI'S AN!) ADVKNTUlfKS 
 
 IS THK 
 
 ATMOSPHKHE. 
 
 . : ' 
 
 in 
 
 IIATTON TURNOR, 
 
 THE I'llINCE OONgOBT'f OWN 
 
 1MKI.K I'.Iili.AHK. 
 
 LONDON : 
 
 CHAPMAN AND HALL, 193, PICCADILLY. 
 
 1866, 
 
ASTRA CASTRA. NUMEX LUMEN." 
 
 Motto of (lie LINDSAYS. 
 
 rf-, * * fc ***'*"** ** 
 /' ** i * *" 
 
 - *-.' : :..**-. - 
 
TO 
 
 TIIK LADY CAROLINE TURNOR, 
 
 urn 
 CHRISTOPHER TURNOR, Esy., 
 
 IX ORATEFi;L RF.MEMBKANCK OF 
 
 THEIR I'AKEXTAL CARE 
 
 AND AFFECTIONATE TEACHING OF GOD'S WORD, 
 
 THIS VOLUME 18 DEDICATED 
 
 BY THEIB SON, 
 
 < IIIMSTOPHER HATTON TURNOR. 
 
[ OOMHT1 il to !>< tin- duly .it every educated person closely to watch and Ktudy tin- time in which he liven, and. 
 an far as in him lien, to add his humble mite of individual exertion to further the acconipli.-hinent of what he 
 believe.* 1'i.ivjdenec to have ordained." SI-KKCH OK mi: I'KIV K ( 'ox>onr, March 2lst, 
 
 1 1 I'.ielm in the history ..f every great operation and in the course of every undertaking, to which 
 
 the i " "| it 'laMon* ol" successive generations <jf nun have contributed (especially such as have received their 
 inclement* at various and remote periods of history), when it becomes desirable to pause for a while, and, as it 
 were, to take stock; to review the progress made, and estimate the amount of work done: not so much for 
 eiiiiiplaeency. :IK for the purjtose of forming a judgment of the efficiency of the methods resorted to, to do it ; and 
 to lead im to inquire how they may yet be improved, if Mich improvement be possible, to accelerate the furtherance 
 of the object, or to ensure the ultimate perfection of its attainments. In scientific, no less than in material and 
 i undertakings, such pauses and resume's are eminently useful, and are sometimes forced on our con- 
 siderations by a conjuncture of circumstances which almost of necessity obliges us to take a coup (f<ril of the 
 wh..|e subject, and make up our minds, not only as to the validity of what is done, but of the manner in which it 
 has been done, tin- methods employed, and the direction in which we are henceforth to proceed, and probability of 
 further progress." SIR JOHN HKIL-IIM.. 
 
( vii 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 'I'm: Author has endeavoured in the following pages to do justice to the ubiquity and 
 importance of .1 subject which must in some degree be of great interest to all, for the 
 medium whii-h forms its l>asis is the air, in which we all "live and move, and have our 
 being." 
 
 Franklin said of tin- science of Aerostation, " It is an infant, but it icill ///".' Tin- 
 discoveries and inventions relating to the uses which have hitherto l>een made of the 
 atmosphere. and the inatlieinatical deductions which so clearly teach us to hope for 
 the practicability of aerial navigation, have never yet been described in a manner worthy of 
 the human life hitherto sacrificed in unavailing attempt-, nor of the confidence, in ultimate 
 success with which those are now inspired, who have patiently and laboriously considered 
 the ijuestion iii a mathematical and scientific point of view. 
 
 Beyond the outlines to be found in Encyclopaedias, no general synopsis of the Science 
 of Aerostation has hitherto been published in England, except Monck Mason's brief account 
 in 1836; yet the numl>er of English ascents and aeronauts more than doubles those nf 
 the French, who have had their experiments recorded by two historians since 1850. The 
 
 nt ace. unit, however, is not confined to England but wherever an adventure has 
 or a courageous attempt has been made, it is here recorded. 
 
 The story extends over eighty years. In that time many pamphlets, letter-, < -ninax : 
 and caricatures have appeared in reference to this important subject. All the writers exhibit 
 much ardour, many show acerbity; their productions have here been carefully collated and 
 formed into a summary: if inaccuracies should have inadvertently arisen in the process, the 
 Author will gladly see them corrected. 
 
 Public attention has been recently aroused from the lethargy of "hope deferred," by 
 the experiments of Mr. Coxwell, one of the boldest pioneers of the science of aerostation : 
 especially when, in the company of Mr. Glaisher, the eminent Meteorologist, he made an 
 
viii PREFACE. 
 
 ascent which was thus mentioned in a leading article of the Times, on the 1 1th of September, 
 1862 :- 
 
 It deserves to take its place among the unparalleled junctures, and the critical and striking moments of 
 war. politics, or discovery ;" 
 
 and again : 
 
 ' The courage of the men of science deserves to have a chapter of history devoted to it." 
 
 Aerostation may, indeed, be well considered as a branch of science, which displays, 
 among other qualities, the largest amount of physical courage in its professors. 
 
 The Author has ventured to add this contribution to the History of Aerostation in the 
 hope that his readers will observe how much the subject differs from other sciences in the 
 impossibility of keeping it concealed from public observation during its progress into 
 maturity, and of forming it into a system before it engages popular attention in an imperfect 
 state ; and this would appear to be one of the greatest difficulties with which it has to 
 contend. 
 
 The Author trusts that when full publicity shall have been given to the comparative 
 rarity of accidents, and the causes whence they have arisen, many persons may be induced 
 to avail themselves of that enjoyment of Nature under novel aspects, from which they 
 are now deterred by the apprehension of personal danger. Schiller says of Columbus 
 
 With Genius, Nature ever stands in solemn union still, 
 And ever what the one foretels, the other shall fulfil. 
 
 May this prove true of the assertion that we shall eventually bring into useful subjection 
 all the atmospheric currents, which for the present baffle our attempts to subdue or control 
 them ! If any means should hereafter be found for rendering the science of aerial navigation 
 practically and generally useful, how apt would then be the following quotation from 
 Milton : 
 
 Th' invention all admir'd, and each, how he 
 
 To be th' inventor miss'd ; so easy 't seem'd 
 
 Once found, which yet unfound most would have thought 
 
 Impossible ! 
 
 NOTE. A discursive chapter has been added, on what Sir Bulwer Lytton defines as the "normal clairvoyance 
 of poets' imagination ;" and it icitt be found that it is a remarkable one, representing as it does the thoughts of so many 
 ayes anil countries on one subject. 
 
 WINCHESTER. May 186o. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Tin l>\\v\ OK NAVIGATION COMI-AHKU WITH THE DAWN OF AEROSTATION. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 AN'ABAAHX; OK, TIIK -NUIIMM. ( i \IKVOYANCE" OF POETS' IMAGINATION, AND 
 
 IAI-KHIMENTS PRECEDING 1783. 
 
 PAOK 
 
 l'.-tr\ ami Science Olympus The " Kthereal 1'lain" Phaeton Dasdalus and Icarus Astolpho, the English 
 knight " The Source of the Nile " The wizard Ismcnc Godfrey's dream Armida Latin Authors of tin' 
 middle ages Roger Baoon on flying Wilkins, Bishop of Chester Kai Kaios, King of 1'ersia English monk 
 Klmerus Borelli's ' De Motu Aninialium ' Jesuit Father Lana's propositions Bartholomew Lawrence de 
 
 rtuguese Friar Hark Akensidc .. .. .. .. .. .. 4 3ti 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 TIIKI'NK'I'lli ; OR, MONTCOJ. FIBRES AND CHARLIERES, AND THE Two YEAUS OF 
 
 UNINTERRUPTED SUCCESS. 
 
 Montgollk-r family The invention of Annonay, Institution of the "Derby," and the discovery of the composition of 
 water The experiment at Paris "A paternal Government" Tiberius Cavallo "A sheep, a cock, and a 
 duck " Experiments "Honours to Montgolfier" TO jrprotrn//ia Count Zambeccari in London First 
 I'ilot-ballooD from Woolwich to Petworth The Charliere "Honours to Charles" Experiments at Phila- 
 delphia, U.8. Seven people ascend at Lyons The first pilot-balloon across the Channel Paul Andreani at 
 Milan Jean Pierre Blanchard Ascent of four ladies Madame Tliible the first lady to ascend in a fire-balloon 
 - Puke de Chartres Lunardi An Italian's view of English Society in 1784 Chelsea Hospital The 
 Artillery Ground " The Prince of Wales " The first ascent in England English law The ' Morning 
 Post ' of S. ; i . 1 1 .. 1784 The descent at Ware, in Hertfordshire Presentation to the king Deposition* " A 
 well-known ^-ntleman in the literary world" A voyage of 150 miles Second aerial voyage in England 
 Ascent from Oxford Blanchard Jefieries crosses the Channel Shakespeare's Cliff Calais A momm 
 erected General Remarks .. .. .. ..' .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 3784 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 TlIK OHARLO-MoNTGOI.FlfcltE THE DEATH OF PlLATRE DE ROZIER. AND ITS 
 1.1 KKCT ASC'KSTS OF ISTF.HKST TILL 1800. 
 
 iiarlo-Montjroltiere Death of Pi litre de Kozier and M. Romaine Reasoning The Eloge Tcstu de Briasy 
 in a thunderstorm Baldwin's Airo]ida The appearance of Chester from a height of six miles Chat-moss 
 Edinburgh to Cupar across the Firth of Forth " Knights-com|ianions of the Beggar's Benison " Kelso 
 Glasgow St Andrew's Churchyard The Officers of the 27th Rcgt. The Manse of Campsie " Dinna ye 
 think the world will soon be at an end ?" Help from the Bass Rock 'Hie first ascent of Mont Blanc The 
 Parachute Lucien Bonajnrli- .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 8.". 114 
 
x CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 REMARKABLE ASCENTS FROM 1800 TO 1825, INCLUDING NAPOLEON'S EXTRAORDINARY OMEN. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 London to Colchester in 45 minutes Garuerin's descent in a parachute Count Zarnbeccari and Dr. Grassati fall 
 into the Adriatic Scientific experiments at St. Petersburg MM. Biot and Gay-Lussac A second ascent to 
 23,000 feet Napoleon's omen Vincent Lunardi dies in a convent near Lisbon Nocturnal excursions First 
 attempt to cross the Irish Channel Falling into the Sea Second attempt successful .. .. .. 115 128 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 EEMARKABLE ASCENTS FROM 1825 TO 1840. 
 
 Green's solitary ascents In a thunderstorm Wise's first voyage in America Balloon bursting Effects of Echo 
 Explosion of Balloon Mr. and Mrs. Graham's Ascents London to Leighton Blizzard London to Weilburg 
 Preparations Leave England Sunset Crossing the Sea Belgium Furnaces of Liege Midnight "A 
 rope mistaken for a river" A violent concussion Sound of rushing waters The Dawn Three sunrises 
 A Snowy Landscape " Thoughts of Central Asia " Descent The Duchy of Nassau " Himmlischer 
 Schnapps" Weilburg Paris The Summary The Parachute in Siam A letter to the ' Morning Herald ' 
 
 Mr. Cooking's experiment Afcent Fatal descent Mr. Green's account Opinions may still vary Indian 
 Chiefs Blackhawk and Keokuk the Prophet Burning Forests An Explosion Intentional Bursting "A 
 storm-scene above the clouds " Archimedes' " evpr/Ka" Wise's " Victory " .. .. .. .. .. 129 177 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 EEMARKABLE ASCENTS FROM 1840 TO 1864. 
 
 First proposition to cross the Atlantic A double Balloon Ascent "The Crutches thrown away " the warmth of 
 the Valleys reflected Experience sometimes at fault A Lady's description A wind from West to East con- 
 stantly flowing at the height of 12,000 feet The widow Montgolfier in good health at 107 years An unruffled 
 temper A thunder-storm Colonel John McClellan of Gettysburg The Aerial Transit Bill Naming the 
 place of descent A Transatlantic project enclosed in a storm-cloud A Petition to the United States Con- 
 gress Henry Coxwell's first experiments Mons. Depuis Delcourt, the Editor of a Parisian Journal The 
 dangers of a solitary ascent The ' Aerostatic Magazine ' A gentleman of 83 years ascends Mr. Green's second 
 proposal to cross the Atlantic The latest news from West Chester How to capture the Castle of Vera Cruz 
 
 Albert Smith's first ascent Albert Smith's second ascent and perilous descent Mr. Coxwell's account of it 
 A speck in the horizon A view of Niagara A descent ou Lake Erie Crossing the Sleswig-Holstein Frontier 
 210 miles in 3 hours 10 minutes From Marseilles to Turin across the Alps The death of Lieut. Gale 
 Mr. and Mrs. Graham grazing the Great Exhibition meet with an accident in Arlington-street Mr. Coxwell 
 returns from Germany Henry Mayhew's ascent Knight's experiments at Bombay Mr. Coxwell's propositions 
 before the Crimean War London to Tavistock, 250 miles in 5 hours The Crystal Palace Company Ascents 
 at Melbourne The proposition to explore Australia by balloons Meeting of the British Association in 1862 
 
 Mr. Coxwell's zeal is equalled by Mr. Glaisher, the meteorologist, and memorable ascents follow The height 
 of seven miles is attained ' The Times ' leading-article Mr. Glaisher's eight ascents in 1862 Winchester to 
 Harrow in 66 minutes " Coasting in a balloon " Meeting of the British Association in 18G3 Ascent at 
 Newcastle Nadar's Geant The Champ de Mars Descent near Meaux Paris to Hanover 750 miles in 
 17 hours Goddard's Montgolfiere Mr. Glaisher's five ascents in 1863 AERIAL NAVIGATION IN CHINA : 
 Ascent at Pekin in 1306 The Chinese aerial equipage in 1860 Methods for directing Knowledge of the 
 winds Atmospheric sounding-lines Observations Daily transmission of meteorological observations Means 
 and instruments employed by the captains to know the rapidity of motion and the direction taken by the aerostat 
 
 The improvements that might be made by a knowledge of electricity Presumption of the Chinese The 
 author's first voyage The aerial terminus of Fou Cheou The towing-path Description of the Aerostat and 
 appendages The seat for the watcher The seats for travellers We take our seats The central cabin We 
 are weighed and hoisted Our tackle is adjusted and we leave the station Travelling companions The pastime 
 of the ladies A consumptive man A commercial traveller Two officers of the Imperial Aerial Flotilla The 
 projected voyage to the Pole Franklin's opinion Chinese aeronauts forbidden to come to Europe A moment 
 of alarm In the clouds The Striker and the Marker The Chinese method for maintaining an aerostat at 
 a given height without loss of gas or ballast, much the same as what Meusnier suggested in 1783 Manoeuvres 
 for descending The possibility of applying steam to this operation Experiment of Gilford in 1852 Our arrival 
 at the Nant-Chang terminus The towing chariots The building-yard for the construction of Aerostats 
 
 " Bureaux de reuseignements" Our century .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. j^g, .o-g 
 
CONTENTS. xi 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 \V.\i: 
 
 MM 
 
 I!.'Vulutiiiiiary War Formation of ail aerostatic cor; ei Aerostation with the armies of tlio Satubro and 
 
 Mouse and tin- Khii.. A march from Matiberge to Charlcroi (/'rowing the Meuse, niul the inarch to Brussels 
 
 i Generals The reconnaiManoe of Mayence The company made prisoners of war 
 
 at \Vur/.liiir- Fimrvr..y's iv|>ort to the Convention M. Lomct's Mtfmoire on the services that can bo rendered 
 to topography The Moscow Aerostat Pn>|usitions during the Crimean War '1 ho Italian War Solferino 
 ud Castiglione The Austrian Engineer Coimnittit Millions ami their refutation The American war- 
 balloon equipage Topographical remarks The battle oi Hanover Court House Telegraphic communication 
 from the Balloon Mr. Low'* project of crossing the Atlantic ................ 270 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Mr.THii.s OK DIRECTING AEROSTATS: WHAT HAS BEES IX>XK, AND SUGGESTIONS AERODYNAMICS. 
 
 Dr. I.inlni-r's opinion on the powers of steam in resisting fluids The opening of the Atlantic steam navigation, and 
 the surmise* to which it gave rise " How do eels and snakes move through water?" A classification of experi- 
 rn.-nU Hanson's aerial carriage The 'Westminster Itcvicw' Electro-magnetism and gun-cotton General 
 Meusnier, an Kti-tmtT Officer The erroneous calculations of Monck Mason "The resistance of fluids is in 
 proportion to their density;" Newton There arc instances when we must cease to imitate Nature A Tabular 
 Synopsis of the eleven difficulties to be overcome The " Rapport" on Marey-Monge's " Etudes " A copper balloon 
 Aepinn'tives Itabinet's opinions M. Barrel's opinion Instances of remarkable rapidity in ascending and 
 descending M. David's ' Solution du probl&me de la Navigation dans Pair,' 1864 .......... 299 ar.-l 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 1 l.KLINGS EXPERIENCED IN AERIAL TBAVELLING IN CALM AND STORM. 
 
 The Freshman The Senses deceived Flying off at a tangent The Tornado will not extinguish a caudle A 
 Freshman insensible to the charms of his situation The translation The unseen most visible The remarkable 
 clearness of outline Tranquillity of mind The reason for an absence of giddiness The clouds Two strata 
 of clouds Colours and sounds The boundless abyss Gravitation Floating on the sea alone, and far from 
 shore, a sensation similar to a solitary ascent The vibrations of sound The zenith of a Prussian-blue Tin- 
 diffusion of light "Stars appear in the day, if a sufficient height is attained, as they do from the bottom of a 
 well" Hi fleeted heat from the clouds The line of perpetual snow Concave appearance of the earth The 
 Descent Skill required by the Aeronaut Mr. Green's success an instance Singing in the ears Oxygen 
 Song of the stars " The Contrasts "A cloud-scape A parhelion Falling on one's legs Midnight Falling 
 into the Adriatic Wet clothes frozen above the clouds Picked up by a smack Count Zambeccari ; death in 
 18112 A vision A journey six miles high The sight of 130,000 square miles " Sand enough and to spare * 355 :)r'.' 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 CAIU< ATI I:K. AND THE IJnm i I.K THIS Si \\.\t i: HAS txi,Ki:<ioxE. 
 
 a man laughs he is not very merry, but very proud;" HMct. Cyrano de Bergerac Making use of the 
 morning mist The beauties of the lunar country A solar being A lunar arrest Iteturns to Italy Dean 
 .ft Pegasus in harness; Schiller. A flying visit; Albert Smith. Pleasure trips for the people Crochets 
 in the air The Planet Earth Pallo-mieisnis No ruffling of butterfly's wings to put your faiu:i< s to llight 
 Twelve times the height of St. Paul's The earth went down ! Person's skull A friend's chamlxT on tin: second 
 floor Half way down Does Boswell say Johnson was ever in a balloon ? The penny ' Dictator ' The science 
 of ballooning A Highlander's knowledge of knee-buckles liaising the wind Babbage's machine Waterloo 
 Bridge 00,000 Tl u- statue .,l George III. Natural, Moral, and Political Philosophy Julius Osar and the 
 of London " Glorious \ i. t.. r y " The Jewel Office Hall of the Goldsmith's Company National Gallery 
 and Newgate Dig, dig, dig Quartz and silica 0,000,000 " But London showed another sight " 
 
Xll 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 Drawn in lines of fire A hint for somebody Camp and Cabinet divisions The Eagle and Child Flat as a 
 pancake A reverie Histriometer one degree above the mediocrity point The Puffster The public is the 
 mainstay Edgar Poe Rotterdam Hans Pfall, the Burgomaster The Astronomical College The moon's 
 actual distance from the earth ; to be reached in 161 days at the rate of 60 miles an hour Life sustained in a 
 vacuum The cat eyes the pigeons with an air of nonchalance Should the kittens suffer in an equal degree with 
 their mother ? The shores of the Atlantic Ocean Puss makes a hearty meal 132,000 feet, or 25 miles above 
 the sea The ice of the North Pole Taking the line of this axis, a height of 7254 miles is reached Diminution 
 of the earth's apparent diameter The exact plane of the lunar eclipse The " Bouleversement " No time to be 
 lost in lightening the machine The earth appears like a copper shield It is belted with tropical and equatorial 
 zones The Dutch Professor drops his pipe The Younger Munchausen The Roast Duck 
 
 390 438 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 " PROGRESS " ; OR, REVIEW OF THE PAST, AND THE HOPES FOR THE FUTURE. 
 
 Confucius's types Time and space Man's progress towards happiness The contributions of the various nations 
 that form our present Commonwealth to this science The origin of discoveries The analogy that exists in the 
 development of any science ; Astronomy taken as an instance Victor Hugo's XX me siecle, Plein Mer, Plein Ciel 
 
 Conclusion 
 
 439454 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 Statistics showing the comparative rarity of accidents, and the proportion of ascents among the various nations The 
 
 atmosphere, and a diagram of the circulation of the winds round the globe, and a " NUMEN LUMEN" .. .. 455 490 
 
 GENERAL INDEX 
 CHRONOLOGICAL INDEX .. 
 INDEX NOMINUM 
 
 51 f I 
 526 
 
 528 
 
THE PIIOTOZINCOGRAPHS. 
 
 TV Irtcription of tht ]'I<itrt having lxr inwlvtrteiitly omitted in thit edition, the following Hit of them, with the pagtl oppotite to 
 
 th-y are jtlaced, may be in tome degree a compentation for the overnight. 
 
 I have to return my think* for the very kind attatanet rendered to thit toork by Colonel Sir Htnry Jamet, ll.i:., l-'.l;.\, 
 tin /lilsfi" '.K., to whom f am indebted fur the luccem of thit divition of the book. 
 
 No. 
 1 .. .. .. .. .. .. .. (Frmtitpiece.) 
 
 i. OK ICARUS, A CAUTIOS TO AERONAUTS. THO' ICARUS FALLS, YET D.EDALCS FLIES. 
 la .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. Facing page '2 
 
 Tin Ai:....v VUTS. ps'os. 1, la, 16, Ic, 30a are from PICARD'S Illustrations in the ' TEMPLK OF THE 
 
 MUSES,' 1730 A.D.] 
 
 Quorum simul alba Nantis 
 Stella refulait, 
 
 Defluit saxia agitatus humor, 
 Concidunt vcnti, fiigiuntqiic nubcs, 
 Et iiiinax (quod sic voluere) ponft) 
 
 Unda recumbit. Horat. 1, Carm. Od. 12. 
 
 14 . .. .. Facing page 16 
 
 1-iniN HI.IITS THE CHIM.ERA. 
 
 Tq* itir Tlfiyaaff iX, KOI faffkbs BeXAfpfX/ximj*. 
 
 lc .. .. .. .. .. Facing page 10 
 
 1'lIAETOX STRUCK DOWN BY JUPITER'S THUNDER. 
 
 Intonat, ct dextra libratum fulmen ab aure 
 Misit in aurigam ; pariterque animftque rotisquc 
 Exuit, et saevis compescuit ignibus igncs. Ovid, Met. 2. 
 '2 .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. Facing page 28 
 
 HOMO VOLAXS ; xxxixth illustration in the work, MACHINE Nov^, Fausti Verantii Siceni cnm 
 declaratione. Latina, Italica, Hispaniea, Gallica, et Germanica (Venetiis) (Consansir, 1695, in MS.) 
 Homme volant avecq un voile quarro estendu avecq quattre perches egalle et ayant attache 
 quattre cords aux qnattres coings, un horame sans danger se pourra jetter du haut d'une tour, ou de 
 qnelquo aultre lieu eminent : Car encores quo alheure il naye pas de vent, 1'effort de celuy qui 
 tombera, a portera du vent, qui retiendra la voile, de peur qu'il ne tombe violement, mais petit & 
 petit descende ; 1'homme doncq se doiht mesurer avecq la grandeur de la voile. 
 
 3 .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. Facing page 34 
 
 BARCELONA, 1678. It was copied by the same artist and at the same time as the foregoing, but 
 the reference having been lost, the original, which is certainly in the British Museum, cannot now 
 be found. 
 
 4 .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. Facing page 44 
 
 IU.PRESEXTATIOS of the Am BALLOON of M. MoxTGOLFiER, in the FIELD OF MABS near PARIS. 
 
 This Balloon of 38 feet in Circumference, made of Taffeta covered with Elastic Gum and filled 
 with Inflammable Air drawn from Iron by means of Vitriolic Acid, rose of itself, the 27th August, 
 1 783, at 5 o'clock in the evening, in Presence of more than 300,000 People. 
 
 5 .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. Facing page 56 
 
 GENERAL ALARM of the INHABITANTS of Gonesse, occasioned by the Fall of the -ir Balloon of 
 Afr. Montgoljier. 
 
 The Balloon previously described rose in heavy rain above the clouds ; " It is presumed that it 
 was carried to the height of more than 20,000 feet, when it burst by the reaction of the Inflammable 
 Gas upon the Atmospheric Air ; it fell at three-quarters past five near Gonesse, 10 miles from the 
 Champ de Mars. The affrighted inhabitants ran together, and two Monks having assured them it 
 was the skin of a Monstrous Animal, they attacked it with stones, pitch-forks, and flails, the Curate 
 of the Village was obliged to attend in order to remove the fears of his astonished Parishioiien. At 
 last they tied to the Tail of a Horse the finest Instrument that was ever made for an Experiment in 
 Natural Philosophy, and trailed it across the fields more than 6000 fui t. ' 
 
xiv PHOTOZINCOGRAPHS. 
 
 No. 
 (i ... .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. - Facing page 72 
 
 A MONSIEUR DE FAUJAS DE ST. FOND, DE PLUSIEURS ACADEMIES. 
 
 Experience Aerostatique faite a Versailles le 19 Septembre, 1783, eu presence de leurs Majestes, 
 de la Famille Eoyale, et de plus de 130 mille spectateurs, par Messrs, de Montgolfier, avec im Ballon 
 de 57 pieds de hauteur, sur 41 de diametre. 
 
 Cette superbe machine, a fond d'azur, avec le chiffre du Eoi et divers ornements en couleur 
 d'or, deplagoit 37,500 pieds cubes d'air atmospherique, pesant 3192 livres, mais la vapeur dont on la 
 remplissoit, pesant moitie moins que'l'air commun, il restoit uno rupture dequilibre de 159C livres 
 sur quoi la machine et la cage ou 6toit un mouton, un coq et un canard, pesant ensemble 900, et ce 
 poid devant 6tre soustrait, le Ballon auroit pu enlever encore 696 livres. A une heure un coup de 
 canon annon9a qu'on alloit remplir la machine ; onze minutes apves, un second coup apprit quelle 
 etoit pleine, et un troisieme qu'elle alloit partir; elle s'eleva alors majestueusement a une grande 
 hauteur, a la surprise des spectateurs et au bruit des acclamations publics. Elle se soutient quelque 
 terns en equilibre et descendit lentement huit minutes apres, a 1700 toises de distance du point de 
 son depart, dans le bois de Vaucresson, Carrefour Marechal ; le mouton, le coq, et le canard 
 n'eprouverent pas la plus legere incommodit^. 
 
 7 .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. Facing page S2 
 
 ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE SAMK EXPERIMENT IN THE EUROPEAN MAGAZINE. 
 
 8 .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. Facing page 104 
 
 EXPERIENCE DE LA MACHINE AEROSTATIQUE DE M. MONTGOLFIER, AU CHATEAU DE LA MUETTE, LE 
 21 NOVEMBRE, 1783. 
 
 Le Giel etoit couvert en partie de nuages : a midi 8 ruin, on a annonce en tirant une boe'te, qu'on 
 alloit remplir la Machine; 8 min. apres, elle e"toit prete a partir; M. le Marquis d'Arlandes et 
 M. Pilatre de Eozier se sont mis dans la galerie. On 1'a d'abord laisse enlever par forme d'essai, en 
 la soutenant avec des cordes, mais s'etant dirigee sur une des allees du Jardin, elle a souifert plusieurs 
 d^chirures qui ont ete reparees en moins de 2 heures. A 1 heure 54 min. elle est partie, portant les 
 memes personnes ; etant environ 250 pieds de haut, ces MM. ont salue les spectateurs en baissant le 
 chapeau. Ce spectacle etait majestueux et attendrissant ; la machine a monte a trois mille pieds 
 environs. Tout Paris a pu la voir traversant la Seine et passant entre 1'Ecole Militaire et les 
 Invalides ; les voyageurs voulant borner leur course, ont laisse descendre la machine, mais le vent 
 les dirigeant sur les maisons de la rue de Sevres, Faub. St. Germ., ils se sont releves pour traverser 
 Paris; ensuite ils sont descendu tranquillement dans la campagne du nouveau Boulevard. En 
 25 minutes ils ont parcouru 2 lieues saus eprouver aucune incommodite". La machine a 70 pieds de 
 haut, 46 de diametre, contenant 6000 pieds cubes; elle est de toile de coton gommee; le poids 
 qu'elle a enleve^ est de 1700. 
 
 !' .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. Facing page 116 
 
 FRANCOIS PILATRE DE EOZIER. 
 
 President of the Museum established at Paris in 1781 under the Patronage of Monsieur and 
 Madame ; Inspector of the Cabinet of Physick, Chymistry, and Natural History of Monsieur ; 
 Secretary of the Cabinets of Madame ; Pensioner of the King ; Member of several National and 
 Foreign Academies, and an honorary Member of the Thornville or Balloon Club of London. From 
 an Original Picture in the possession of Colonel Thornton (being the only Portrait 'he would ever 
 permit to be painted) by whose desire it is engraved, to perpetuate the memory of that great man. 
 Francois Pilatre de Eozier, the FIRST AERONAUT, was born at Metz on the 30th March, 1756. In 
 1782 he performed the experiment described in the Picture of inspiring and expiring inflammable 
 air before the Eoyal Family at Paris, and repeated the same experiment in London on May 27th, 
 1785, before the Members of the Balloon Club. On the 14th of June, 1785, M. Pilutre de Eozier, 
 accompanied by M. do Eomain, ascended with his Balloon from Boulogne with an intention to cross 
 the Channel to England. At an elevation of 3600 feet the inflammable air took fire and exploded 
 the Balloqn, which descended with such an accelerated velocity as to crush the unfortunate 
 adventurers. 
 
['H()T()/iNC()(;i;.\rns. XT 
 
 N 
 
 Hi .. .. Facingpage 126 
 
 KM viiyrt.. ili'ili.' ii Monsieur Charles. 
 
 i 'die ui.irliiiir r.st i, | vant pour la secondo foin au milieu do la 1'niirio do Nesle, 
 
 on il vfii"it do descend re, acconipagno' de XI. Robert et en presence de Mgr. le Due do ('hurtres, 
 M. le Duo de FitzJames, et de M. Farer, Gentilhomrae Anglois. M. Robert prcsente le Prooe*- 
 
 il u signer aux < 'MI> > .lll..louville et de Nesle. 
 11 .. .. facing page 140 
 
 M. Ciivi:i.i-, l'i;oKES80R OF NATURAL PHILOSOPHY. 
 pj .... Facing page IbO 
 
 Tin: K\in:i-l:iMN'. I.i NAKM'S (.;I:A\I. AlR-BALLOOS. 
 i:; .. .. .. .. Facingpage ITU 
 
 Vi\.i\r I. IN M.I.I, Secretary to the late Neapolitan Ambassador, First AKRIAL TKAVKI.I.KH in 
 ll..ii..r:n-y M.-mber of the Honourable Artillery Company of the City of London, and 
 Kuv:il Aii-hi-r nf Scotland. 
 II ...... Facing page 1 > ! 
 
 IA AiROsrATiQUE faite a Lyon le 19 Janvier, 1784, a midi 48 minutes, avec tin Ballon 
 
 de 100 pied do diunu'tre, sur 118 : do haut il s'est eleve & la hauteur de 1400 Toiseu, et a et6 vu de 
 1 J lifues k la ronde ; et il a fait 1'admiration de tons lea spectateurs. II a descendu dans une prairie, 
 
 |--ii uluigiie de son depart 
 
 Ix>reque, il'un front majcstucux 
 Qu'embcllissoit la modtstie, 
 MONTGOIJTIER g'eleva prts du g^jour des Dicux, 
 II approchoit de sa patric. 
 
 V.iyageure Aeriens: M. Montgolfier, inventeur; M. Pilastre du Rozier; Lo Prince Charles, 
 lil- .lu i'liiico de Ligne; M. le Comte d'Anglefort, Lieut-Col. d'Inf., Chevalier do S. Louis; M. 
 le Cotnte de Laurencin, Chevalier de S. Louis; M. le Comte de Dampiere, OfiScier aux Gardes 
 Francais ; M. Fontaine, coopdrateur z61e. 
 1.") .. .. .. .. Facingpage IW 
 
 M v< IIISK AKitosTATiQUE de cent vingt pieds de hauteur sur cent de diamotre, construite a Lyon, 
 avec uiio .Miveloppe formee par trois papiers entre deux canevas, ot un filet qui enveloppoit le tonr 
 et retenoit la gallerie ; sur la surface 6toient representes diverges alegories. Cette machine, faito sous la 
 direction de M. de Montgolfier 1'aine en veitu d'une Souscription, s'est elevee le 19 Janvier, 1784, a 
 |>n\s de deux mille cinq cent pieds de hauteur; portant avec elle M. de Montgolfier 1'aine, M. Pilatre 
 de h'n/icr, M. Le Prince Charles De Ligne, M. le Comte de la Porte d'Anglefort, M. le Comte de 
 l.iiiiiciu in, M. le Comte de Dampiere, et M. Fontaine de Lyon, zele cooperateur. Sa direction fut 
 verticale et parvint a sa plus grando hauteur en 13 minutes de terns ; alors, s'etant fait une ddchirement 
 a 1'enveloppe, cette machine resta un instant stationnaire, et descendit ensuite assez promptement 
 dans une prairie aux environs de Lyon, sans qu'aucun des nouveaux argonautes cut epronvc la 
 niuindrt- iixiMiimoditu. Jamais scene ne fut plus touchante que 1'accueil et les acclamations qui furent 
 faites aux voyagenre, et surtout les embrassements r&torees du Prince de Ligne et de son Fils. Le soir, 
 a la t '. .iii.'.li.-. il fut jou6 une Cantade a 1'honneur de M. de Montgolfier, qui fut couronne", lui et ses 
 compagnons de Voyage, dans la Logo de 1'Intendance ; tous les habitans de la Ville de Lyon et plus 
 I- t rente mille etrangers qui y violent venus de toutes parts furent t^moins de cette belle experience. 
 
 This was an Engraving of the same event done at Paris. 
 
 Hi .. .. .. .. .. Facingpage 210 
 
 LK Noi-vK.vf JKI M.- P.AI I...NS AEROSTATlgl 'i.~ A i.'r- V.K i>w ESPRITS ^LEVfa. 
 
 Comlnnaison. Ce Jeu, comme celui du Juif, s'execute avec deux dez et les jettons, du prix des- 
 ijiiols on convient : on eu met chacun huit sur le No. 1, avant de commencer la partie ; quo 1'on paye 
 on .[HI- 1'un recoil siiivunt li-.. n^K-jj inscrites uu Las de cliaijiu- can, et si Ton excede le nombre !'!, 
 on retrogradera d'autunt de poin 
 
xvi PHOTOZINCOGBAPHS. 
 
 No. 
 
 17 .. .. Facing page 222 
 
 COUNT ZAMBECCARI'S BALLOON, 1785. 
 
 18 .. .. Facing page 234 
 
 TOUE DE CALAIS. 
 
 Nouvelle Machine Aerostatique construite par Mr. Eomain, par ordre du Gouvernement, 
 destined a faire le passage de France en Angleterre, conjointment avec M'. Pilatre de Eozier. 
 
 19 .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. Facing page 246 
 
 BLANCHARD'S 28ra FAHRT zu NURNBERG, 1787, 
 
 20 .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. Facing page 254 
 
 LA MINERVE, an advertisement of Robertson's. 
 
 21 .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. Facing page 262 
 
 THE ASCENT OF MR. SADLER AND CAPTAIN PAGET FROM HACKNEY, AUGUST, 1811. From a drawing 
 on the spot. 
 22 Facingpage 270 
 
 THE VILLAGE OF SEAL, NEAR SEVENOAKS, KENT, where, on the 23rd August, 1825, at P.M., 
 M. P. COMILLOT established the principle of sailing in an horizontal direction at any required point 
 of elevation. 
 
 23 : Facingpage 282 
 
 THE BATTLE OF FLEURUS. 
 
 24 .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. Facingpage 312 
 
 THE FIRST CARRIAGE OF THE AERIAL TRANSIT COMPANY. 
 
 25 Facingpage 362 
 
 A BALLOON VIEW OF THE DERBY IN 1846. 
 
 26 .. .. .. .. .. ., .. .. .. .. .. Facingpage 398 
 
 AEROSTATION OUT AT ELBOWS ; OR, THE ITINERANT AERONAUT. 
 
 Behold a hero, comely, tall, and fair ! 
 
 His only food phlogisticated air ! 
 
 Now on the wings of mighty winds he rides ! 
 
 Now torn thro' hedges ! dash'd in ocean's tides ! 
 
 Now drooping roams about from town to town, 
 Collecting pence t' innate his poor balloon; 
 Pity the wight, and something to him give, 
 To purchase gas to keep his frame alive. 
 
 27 .. .. .. .. .. Facingpage 412 
 
 NEW PRINCIPLES ; OK, THE MARCH OF INVENTIONS : a Caricature of 1828. 
 
 Facingpage 434 
 THE CHAMBER OF GENIUS. 
 
 29 .. .... Facingpage 43(i 
 
 TRYING ENPERIMENTS. 
 
 30 .. .. .. .. .. .. .. Facingpage 444 
 
 THE GROWTH OF SCIENCES FROM ADAH AND EVE TO THE INVENTION OF THE BALLOON, 1783. [Frontis- 
 piece to the 1st edit, of the ' Encyclopedia Britannica.'] 
 .. .. .. .. .. .. .. Facingpage 480 
 
 ATLAS SUPPORTING THE HEAVENS ON HIS SHOULDERS. 
 
 Lajvaquc a parte Medusaj 
 Ipse retro versus squalentia prodidit ora 
 Quantus erat, mons factus Atlas. . . . 
 
 Et omne 
 Cum tot sideribus coslum requievit in illo. 
 
 Oaiil. Met. 4. 
 
I NVl'i 
 
 POUT II. \ ITS. 
 
 \ 
 
 ;', 1 .. .. .. Facing page 4(>2 
 
 I. M.I.i M u-.t.'Uis D'ARI-ASDKS. Premier Navigateur Aerien. 
 _'. J>iv in riiAi:n:i>, father of" Louis Philippe." 
 
 M. ( ; M:M KIN. the First to descend in a Parachute. This sketch was drawn by Edward Ilawke 
 
 Locker, on an aerial voyage in 1802. 
 4. DR. J.' in American who accompanied Blanchard in the first voyage across the Channel. 
 
 ;;_! .. .. .. Facing page 4<>2 
 
 :.. .U vs PUI:I:K Iti \N, HARD. The first Aerial Mariner, Citizen of Calais, and Pensioner of the 
 Fr.-n.-h King, born at Andely in Normandy, the 4th July, 1753. In his sixth Aerial Voyage 
 h. .-roused the Straits between Dover and Calais; he left Dover Castle on the 7th January. 
 . at one o'clock at noon, and descended at a quarter before three at Guignes in France, 
 where a Pyramid is erected to his honour, and the place by the King's order is to be called 
 " The Canton of Blanchard." 
 !. MONS. CHAHI.KS. The inventor of the Gas Balloon. 
 
 7. Mi:. HAMITOX. 
 
 8. ROBKRT COCKING, who lost his life at Lee in Kent, by descending with his Parachute from the 
 
 Nassau Balloon, 24th July, 1837. 
 
 33 .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. Facing page I'i'J 
 
 9. TIBKRIUS CAVALLO, F.R.S., Author of the " History of Aerostation in 1785." 
 I". Mi>. S\..K. the first English lady who made an aerial voyage. 
 
 11. CH.M-.I .1.- CIIKKJJ (who made 526 ascents without any serious accident, and is still living, aged 
 
 84 years). 
 
 12. EDWARD SPENCER (who made many ascents with Mr. Green, and was with him on the occasion of 
 
 .Mr. Cocking's parachute experiment). 
 
 .",1 Facing page 462 
 
 i:. To the Right Honourable the Chancellor, the Rev. the Vice-Chancellor, the Rev. the Proctors, 
 the Rev. the Heads of Colleges and Halls, with their respective Societies, this Engraving of 
 Mi:. SADLER (the first English aeronaut) is respectfully dedicated, etc., by James Roberts. 
 Oxford, 1785. 
 
 14. TIIK i w.i MONI.;OI.HU:S. Inventors of the Balloon. 
 
 I."). .1 \\ii.^ CI.AIMIKR, Esq., F.R.S., the meteorologist. 
 
 16. HENRY COKWELL, Esq. (who has made 5110 ascents). 
 
 ::.". Facing page 402 
 
 From left to right 
 
 1. \\.\l. in: I'ltll'KAUX, Esq. 
 
 2. HOLMNS, F.sq., R.A. 
 :!. \V. M. .IAMK. Ksq. 
 
 4. ROBKRT HOLLAND, Esq., M.I'. 
 
 MAWS, Esq. 
 
 6. Cn.u:i.K> (liiKi.x, Esq. 
 
 The Nassau Party in 1636. 
 
( xviii ) 
 
 VIGNETTES. 
 
 The photograph is from a sepia drawing, copied from 
 a wood engraving executed by Dalziel and designed 
 by Mr. John Linton Dedication page 
 
 No. 
 
 1. Jupiter Tonans. Antique Greek gem in a cabinet at 
 
 Turin, original size, from the Worsley gems . . Title page 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 2. The Early Britons' Coracle .. .. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 3. Sculpture 
 
 4. Painting 
 
 5. Architecture 
 
 6. The Ethereal Plain 
 
 7. Aurora 
 
 8. Astolpho and St. John 
 
 9. Sorceries 
 
 10. Kai Kaoos, King of Persia 
 
 11. Mons. Besnier 
 
 12. Jesuit Father Lana's Proposition 
 
 13. The Portuguese Experiment 
 
 14. The Art of Flying Burlesqued (from an old print) 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 15. Initial Letter A 
 
 16. " G'a'lum ipsum petimus stultitia" 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 17. Elves and Thistle-Down 
 
 PAGE 
 3 
 
 o, 
 
 6 
 
 6 
 
 8 
 
 12 
 
 18 
 
 27 
 
 31 
 
 32 
 
 34 
 
 35 
 
 36 
 
 39 
 
 84 
 
 113 
 
 18. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 Jacob's Dream 128 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 19. Night Voyage to Nassau 146 
 
 20. Parachutes 159, 160 
 
 21. The Coal Strata 177 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 NO. . PA6K 
 
 22. Eagle and Eaven 188 
 
 23. The Winchester Ascent 242 
 
 24. Car of Nadar's Balloon .. 257 
 
 25. Godard's Montgolfiere, L'Aigle 269 
 
 26. The Initial Letter A boat with Japanese Flag .. .. 271 
 
 27. The Chinese Aerostat 273 
 
 28. The Fish-Balloon 278 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 29. The Eagle and Child 279 
 
 30. French War-Balloon, 1794 .. 281 
 
 31. American War-Balloon, 1862-4 292 
 
 32. "I'll put a girdle round about the earth in forty 
 
 minutes" exit Puck 299 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 33. A group of Experiments 310 
 
 34.. The interior of the Nautilus-shell 333 
 
 35. Mons. Nadar's Ideas .. .. 341 
 
 36. Mons. de la Landelle's Ideas 346 
 
 37. M. David's Sailing Aerostat 349 
 
 38. M. David's mechanically propelled Aerostat . . . . 351 
 
 39. M. Dessen's Bath .. 354 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 40. The Flying Fish and Nautili 
 
 41. Wild Ducks and Tortoise 
 
 382 
 389 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 42. The Morning Dew 391 
 
 43. " Obstantes findit nebulas " 438 
 
 44. A Footprint of the Past 440 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 45. Earth, water, air, fire 441 
 
 46. A Glimpse of the Future 453 
 
 47. The Angel and Child 454 
 
 48. Pegasus Volans 465 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 49. Phryxus and Helle 477 
 
 50. The Owl 478 
 
 51. Lux oritur 484 
 
 It is a very pleasing -duty to acknowledge my obligations for the designs of some of the Vignettes that illustrate this 
 , to my friend?, Miss Johns, Captain Archer, 60th Rifles, and Charles Fairfield, of P. C. 0. Rifle Brigade. 
 Nos. 3, 4, 5, and 47, are the well-known designs of Kaulbach. 
 No. 18 is also a German design, by Bd. 
 
 Messrs. Dalziel engraved the larger half, and the others were executed by Mr. Whymper, Mr. Pearson, Mr. Petherwick, 
 M. Dumont, of Paris. 
 
SlIJSCRIBERS. 
 
 TIIK ROYAL LIBRARY, WINDSOR CASTLE. 
 1 . M. Ill> UtiVAI. I1ICHNKSS THE DUKE OF CAMBRIDGE, K.G. 
 
 ABBOTT, Colonel J., Bengal Ariill 
 
 ABBOTT, General Sir FREDERICK, C.B. 
 
 ABBOTT, Major-General SAUNDERS. 
 
 ABKRCROMBY, The Hon. JOBS, The Prince Consort's Own 
 
 Rifle Brigade. 
 
 ALGAR, Captain, tiOth Rifle* 
 AMIIKILST, EarL 
 
 - \ , Marquis of. 
 ARBITHNOT, ARTHUR, Esq., The Prince Consort's Own 
 
 Iiitlf Brigade. 
 ARCHER, Captain LAWRENCE. 
 
 i.i., Duke of, K.T. 
 ARKWRIOHT, FERDINAND, Esq. 
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 ATTYE, Miss. 
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 BARNE, FREDERICK, Esq. 
 
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 BERNKRS, , Esq. 
 
 BERTRAND, Mons., Nenilly. 
 
 BI.ACKETT, CHARLES, Esq., The Prince Consort's Own 
 
 Rifle Brigade. 
 
 BOLTON, Captain, 12th Regiment 
 BOOTH, SCLATER, Esq., M.I'. 
 BOSWELL, J., Esq., Royal Horse Guards. 
 BOULTON, W.. Esq. 
 BOYLE, GERALD, Esq., The Prince Consort's Own Rifle 
 
 Brigade. 
 
 BOYLE, Hon. G. F., M.I'. 
 BRAIIAM, AUGUSTUS, Esq. 
 
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 BRAND, Mrs. Four Copies. 
 
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 BURNABY, E., Esq., Royal Horse Guards. 
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 CHOLMLKY, Mrs. 
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 CORRY, Dr., Belfest. 
 
 COXWELL, HENRY, Esq., Aeronaut. Five Copies. 
 COKWELL, J. EDWARD, Esq. 
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 COST, Hon. ADELBERT. 
 
 c 2 
 
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 DARTMOUTH Earl of. 
 
 DEANE, Major, 18th Regiment. 
 
 DEEDES, JOHN, Esq. 
 
 DESBOROUGH, Captain, Sunninghill. 
 
 DICK-LAUDER, T. N., Esq., 60th Bines. 
 
 DIXON, Miss A. 
 
 DRUMMOND, ANDREW, Esq. 
 
 BUNCOMBE, Sir PHILIP PAUNCEFORT, Bart. 
 
 DUNDAS, ROBERT, Esq., The Prince Consort's Own Rifle 
 
 Brigade. 
 DUNDAS, Colonel PHILIP. 
 
 EATON, HENRY W., Esq. 
 
 EFFINGHAM, Earl of. 
 
 EGERTON, ALFRED, Esq., The Prince Consort's Own 
 
 Rifle Brigade. 
 
 EGERTON, Sir PHILIP GREY, Bart., M.P. 
 ELLIS, E. SHIPLEY, Esq. 
 ELLIS, , Esq. 
 ELRINGTON, Colonel, The Prince Consort's Own Rifle 
 
 Brigade. 
 
 ENTWISLE, J., Esq., Wolhays. 
 EXETER, Marquis of, K.G. 
 
 FAIRFIELD, CHARLES, Esq., the Prince Consort's Own 
 
 Rifle Brigade. 
 FARNCOMB, Colour-Serjeant, The Prince Consort's Own 
 
 Rifle Brigade. 
 FOLEY, Lady EMILY. 
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 FROST, Mr. WILLIAM. 
 
 GILMOUR, W. L., Esq., Melton Mowhray. 
 
 GLASHIER, JAMES, Esq., F.R.S. 
 
 GLYN, Captain J. P. C., The Prince Consort's Own Rifle 
 
 Brigade. 
 
 GODDARD, AMBROSE, Esq., M.P. 
 GOMM, General Sir WILLIAM, G.C.B., $ M. 
 GRAHAM, REGINALD, late Captain, The Prince Consort's 
 
 Own Rifle Brigade. 
 GREEN, Major ANDREW, The Prince Consort's Own Rifle 
 
 Brigade. 
 
 GREEN T , CHARLES, Esq., Aeronaut. 
 
 GREENWOOD, Mrs. 
 
 GREENWOOD, Colonel. 
 
 GREENWOOD, Colonel GEORGE. 
 
 GREGORY, Sir GLYNNE E. WKI.BY, Bart. 
 
 GREGORY, J. SHERWIN, Esq., Harlaxton Manor. 
 
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 HEALE, Dr., Winchester. 
 
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 HILBERS, Dr., Brighton. 
 
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 HOPETOUN, The Earl of. 
 
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 INGELOW, W. H., Esq. 
 ISHAM, Sir CHARLES, Bart. 
 
 JAMES, Colonel Sir HENRY, R.E., F.R.S. 
 
 JOHNS, Rev. C. A., B.A., F.L.S. 
 
 JOHNS, Miss. 
 
 JONES, HELSHAM, Captain, Royal Engineers. 
 

 KN,,\. r^.t.iiiu r~ C. Tl 
 
 I'mio- r.msort's Own Kill-- 
 
 r, Mo*l kSDK, l.i.-nt.. K..V.I! Kni;iir 
 
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 M CM ! K, Ai in . i:-i.. .'.'.'ili K.'trt. Madras Infantry. 
 M DH vi.P, (;<-n,Tiil Sir J..HX. K.t'.H. ^. 
 
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 MAKKIIVM, Lieutenant-Colonel, late Kifle Brigade and 
 
 Coldstrvam Guards. 
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 \l\un \l v i. Mi. us., Park. 
 M v \WELL, Hon. M. 
 Mll.Dl.ETOS, Lady. 
 Mir.ni'.: ~i. l.'.-v. .1.. t'..lst.-1-w..nli. 
 M p v A" I KU. I,. ml. 
 \] UK, Miss HARRIET. 
 MURRAY, Miss LOUISA. 
 M ~.UAVK. Captain, The Prince Consort's Own Rifle 
 
 Brigade. 
 
 N \r., Mons., Aeronaut, Paris. 
 
 NKVILLE, THOMAS, Esq., Chilland. 
 
 NEWDIQATE, Major, The Prince Consort's Own Rifle 
 
 Brigade. 
 
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 NI.'IIOLL, Mrs. 
 NKHOLL, Captain, The Prince Consort's Own Rifle 
 
 Brigade. 
 
 N-l. i u. K, Esq. 
 
 \ : in. lluii. CIIM-MS Tin' Priii.-. '..M..I l's own I, ill. 
 Brigade. 
 
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XX11 
 
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 TURNOR, Lady CAROLINE. Three Copies. 
 
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 TURNOR, CECIL M., Esq., R.N. 
 
 TURNOR, CHRISTOPHER, Esq. Four Copies. 
 
 TURNOR, EDMUND, Esq. 
 
 TURNOR, Captain HENRY. 
 
 TURNOR, The Hon. Mrs. HENRY. 
 
 UHREN, MAGNUS, Esq. 
 UXBRIDGE, Countess of. 
 UXBRIDOE, Earl of. Two Copies. 
 
 VIVIAN, HUSSEY, Esq., M.P. 
 
 WARDEN of WINCHESTER COLLEGE, Rev. the 
 
 \VCZELE, Count GUROWSKI DE. 
 
 WEBSTER, A., Esq. 
 
 WELBY, Rev. GEORGE, Barrowby. 
 
 WELBY, JOHN, Esq. 
 
 WELBY, WILLIAM, Esq., M.P. 
 
 WESTCAR, E. H. EMERSON, Esq., Royal Horse Guards. 
 
 WHARNCLIFFE, Lord. 
 
 WHICHCOTE, Sir THOMAS, Bart. 
 
 WHICHCOTE, Major-General, J3 WL. 
 
 WHICHCOTE, Rev. CHRISTOPHER. 
 
 WILLIAMSON, Dowager Lady. 
 
 WILLIAMSON, Sir HEDWORTH, Bart., M.P. 
 
 WILLIAMSON, Captain, 60th Rifles. 
 
 WILLIANSON, DAVID, Esq., of Lawers. 
 
 WILLIS, Colonel. 
 
 WILLSON, Anthony, Esq., Rauceby. 
 
 WILSON, HENRY, Esq., Stowlangtoft Hall. 
 
 WILSON, JAMES HOLBERT, Esq., 19, Onslow Square. 
 
 WINCHILSEA, Countess of. 
 
 WINCHILSEA, Earl of. Tliree Copies. 
 
 WINCHILSEA, Dowager Countess of. 
 
 WINDHAM, Captain, The Prince Consort's Own Rifle 
 
 Brigade. 
 
 WOODGATE, Captain FRANCIS, 2nd Life Guards. 
 WROTTESLEY, Captain Hon., Royal Engineers. 
 
( xxiii ) 
 
 CORRIGENDA. 
 
 Page 86 of Chapter IV., hemline/or Ixiuis Iiuoni|wrtc, ri<l I.iicien Buona|*trte. 
 
 7ti, last line but .1, >', K..U-rtn rani Robert. 
 .. 89, heading, for I:"/.IKK rwd lI'i/IKl;. 
 .. 1 "'.'. IP ..I r woodcut, for (iamarin read Garncriu. 
 .. U'18, last line but 3,/w KU-rleld read Klberfold. 
 .. -.'19, line 27, for Mont Viao nod Monte Visa 
 
 .. line .':.", ,, 
 
 ., _'_' 1, liii. J7, for tnkc. ri> s // trickeries. 
 
 .. l"J7, line 1, "Australian," subsequently callcl " Australasian." 
 
 .. Jt)9, last line but 3, for IVAnioult read Amould. 
 
 .. L'7>:. Hi,.- IT, for labiist read fabulist. 
 
 338, line 19, for dviu-ur rrrn/ evitrr. 
 
 338, last line but 11, for duxieme read deuxieme. 
 
 354, last line but 3, for Aerien read ae*rirn. 
 
 '91, line 3, for indifferent read in<lifft : n-nt. 
 line 3, for education read Education. 
 
 . lino 20, for chimerique read chime'rique. 
 
 line 20, /wrdecouvert mi</ decou vert. 
 -I'-', line 14, for agreable nod agreable. 
 
 .. line 15, for melodieiue* read mdlodieusea. 
 
 .. line 16, for generate read g^n^rale. 
 
 line 28, for |*is mid pall. 
 
 .. line 29, for notre read nostre. 
 
 .. line 40, for veritd read verite*. 
 
 line 40, for Pedana read p&lanU. 
 
 line 42, for oonte read oompte. 
 
 .. line 42, for innensez read insenses or insensez. 
 
 .. line 43, for repondit read r^pondit 
 
 last line but 3, for retirerent read retirerent. 
 
 393, line 6, for reverence read re're'rence. 
 
 line 22, for mon maale a leurs, &c., read a leura. 
 
 394, line 6, for alleguay read alle^tiay. 
 
 line 7, for deoouvrirent read dccouvrirent 
 line 7, for me dirent ils rmid me dirent-ils. 
 .. line 13, for poaedoU read poesetlois. 
 line 15, for fouroient read fourroient. 
 ,. line 26, for repartis de read repartia-de. 
 line 28, for sifle read sifll^. 
 line 28, for ecUt read esclat. 
 line 37, fur g'ecriat'il read g'ecria-t-il. 
 1 !'_', line 12, for ^trangerea read ftrangere. 
 459. Year 1824, for Dupuis Delcourt read Depuis-Delcourt. 
 
 1825, for Captain Currie read Curry. 
 461. Year 1836, for Captain Grenow read Gronow. 
 462. Year 1848, for Liege read Liege. 
 
 463. Year 17t>3. (Meusnicr). Line 1, for Academic read Acadlmie. 
 ,, Line 2, for a^rostatique read aeVostatiquea. 
 
 (M. Pin<.;eron)i For aeroataliqne read alrostatiques. 
 Year 1784. (M. de Bcrtholon). for retires read retirer. 
 (M. de Montgolficr). For academic read ecadimn: 
 464. Year 1825. DepuU Delcourtr, dele final r. 
 
 For comte rendu read cpmpte rendn. 
 
 (Jul. Tnrgan). For Ilistoircs read Uistoire. 
 
 (Dr. Pierre Moreaud). Line 2, for Aerostat read Aerostat*. 
 
 Year 1851. 
 Tear 1863. 
 
 i:\ri. ICANDA. 
 
 Pge 23. The M. Rozier here mentioned and M. Pilatre de Rozier, whose name recurs so often, were 
 
 tliffercnt individuals. 
 110. Napoleon here mentioned is Napoleon L 
 
<>> 
 
 CHAPTER I. ?.'AL 
 
 TIIK IM\ ,VK, \TIoN COMPARED WITH THE DAWN OF AEROSTATION. 
 
 See him from Nature rising slow to art ! 
 To copy instinct then wag reason's part : 
 Thug then to man the voice of Nature sjinkc 
 < iu, from the creatures thy instructing take : 
 Learn of the birds .... 
 
 Learn of the little Nautilus to sail, 
 
 Spread the thin oar, and catch the driving gale. POPE. 
 
 \i the Bible we learn that the directions for building the first vessel were given l>y 
 God himself. Much of the ridicule that Noah had to bear may perhaps have arisen from the 
 complete novelty of his attempt. 
 
 David in the cvii. Psulm, and other passages, refers to this subject; but as the Apocrypha 
 
 *s read. I will here give some verses from the book of the Wisdom of Solomon, which 
 appear to me to express the same dread of the water that we now have of the air. The 
 inspired author wished to draw attention to the folly of worshipping idols, and, in comparison, 
 In- speaks of ships, which are also the work of man's hands, and by which he is much more 
 likely to be saved than by carved images : 
 
 < 'Imp. liv. 1 to 5. 1. Again, one prepareth himself to sail, and about to pass through the raging waves, 
 i -illi-th ujion a piece of wood more rotten than the vessel that carrieth him : 
 
 _'. I'-r v.-rily desire of gain deviseth that, and the workman built it by his skill. 
 
 .'.. But thy pr<>viil''iu- ( -, O Father, governeth it : for them hast made a way in the sea, and a sale path in tli> 
 waves 
 
 -lowing that thou canst save from all danger ; yea, though a man went to art. 
 
 V v.-rtholess thou wonldest not that the works of thy wisdom should be idle, and therefore do men 
 'imuit their lives to a small piece of wood, and passing through the rough sea in a weak vessel are saved. 
 
 B 
 
2 ASTRA CASTRA. 
 
 The classic poets impute the origin of navigation to Bacchus or Neptune ; and Pindar 
 thus speaks of the ' Argo : ' 
 
 Naos Apyovs' p.rj Tiva \ 
 
 Tap aKivdvvov Trapa p,arp\ pevfiv 
 
 Alwva irtr(TOVT, aXX' ITTI *cai Bavmia 
 
 $dpp.ciKov KuXXioroi* caf opera? 
 
 "AXi^ii* evp(<r6at avv XXois. 
 
 *Es 8* 'lacaX/cop eVel 
 
 Kare'/3a vavriiv awrof, 
 
 Ae'aro Traz/ra? cVat- 
 
 vf}(rats Ifiwv. Kat pa oi 
 Mdi/ris upvixeaat KOI K\a- 
 
 jnttin $eo7rpo7re'cov tfpois 
 ftcKre arparov 
 . firei 8' e'p./3oXou 
 Kpfp,a<rav aynvpas v-jrfpflcv 
 
 eV 71-p'vp.a irrep 
 
 , Ka TTOITOU /e 
 'A^iUTa T' fvfppova, Kal 
 4>iXtav I'OOTOIO fj.oipav. 
 'Ex vfCpeatv 8e 01 arr- 
 
 at)(T fipovrus ata-iov 
 $@fyp.a' Xa/i7rpai 8' ^X^ 
 
 xfs trrtpcmas aTroprjy 
 'A/i7rvoay 8 Jjpwfs c- 
 
 i. Kapve 8' 
 
 avTois. 
 4iH PYTHIAN, 327th line. 
 
 Horace also says 
 
 Great Juno waked the sweet desire 
 Which bade the demigods aspire 
 With Argo o'er the deep to roam ; 
 That fixed in his maternal home 
 Kemote from peril none should stay, 
 And wear his laggard age away. 
 But share his fellow heroes' toil, 
 Death's fairest antidote, the spoil. 
 Soon as to proud lolcos' town 
 Came the bright flower of seamen down, 
 Jason extoll'd with praises due, 
 And number'd all the valiant crew. 
 Skill'd in each bird that cleaves the sky, 
 And sacred lots of augury, 
 Mopsus enjoin'd the host their sail 
 To spread before the favouring gale. 
 But when they hang'd upon the prow 
 Their anchors o'er the deep below, 
 Fix'd at the stern, the chief displays 
 His sacred phial's golden blaze. 
 Invoking heaven's great father Jove, 
 Who wields his lightning spear above ; 
 Waves that o'er ocean's bosom play, 
 And breezes' every-varying way, 
 Calm nights and days his prayers implore, 
 And sweet return, their wanderings o'er. 
 Propitious thunder's awful sound 
 Heaven's favouring answer quickly spoke, 
 And lightning's forked darts around 
 From all the clouds irradiate broke. 
 Elated at the prosperous sign, 
 The heroes glow with joy divine. 
 The augur issued his command 
 
 To ply their oars with constant force, 
 Suggesting to the valiant band 
 
 Sweet hopes to cheer them on their course. 
 Quick gaining with the breezy south 
 Th' inhospitable ocean's mouth, 
 There to the god a shrine they rear, 
 Who sways the raging sea's career. 
 
 WHEELWRIGHT'S Trans. 
 
 Illi robur et EBS triplex 
 
 Circa pectus erat ; qui fragilem truci 
 
 Commisit pelago ratem 
 
 Primus. 
 
 The classic historians ascribe the discovery to the Phoenicians, or to the inhabitants of 
 that " Ultima Thule, Britannica," whose coracle, like the one here represented, is still to be 
 found on the coast of Donegal. 
 
 Each alteration has progressed with slow and painful steps* in this science, from these 
 
 * Johu Charnock, F.S.A., in his History of Marine Architecture, 
 1800, divides the improvements in this science into seven epochs : 
 ' The 6th commences with the invention of the mariner's compass, 
 A. n. 1260, and continues till the beginning of the 16th century, 
 when the general introduction and use of cannon on board ships, 
 together with the contrivance of port-holes, gave birth to the 7th 
 and last epoch, by attaching to vessels those requisites and properties, 
 which, though imperfectly supplied and provided for in the begin- 
 ning, have, by repeated practice and continued experience, gradually 
 
 improved into that excellence, and almost unimprovable state of 
 perfection, which the ships built at the present day are by some sup- 
 posed to possess." 
 
 In the Cotton MSS. are the heads of an intended publication on 
 this subject in Sir Walter Kaleigh's handwriting. 
 
 For a declaration of the impracticability of applying steam to 
 marine navigation, see Dr. Larduer's Cabinet Cyclopaedia ' Hydro- 
 statics,' chap. ix. I quote this in a future chapter. 
 
J/t LD 
 
 uvcarts, or 
 
 Gvtor arw 
 
 of *s/fari'nrj 
 
 (Af 
 
 UUU- 
 
~ r ' -''it' II 
 
mi: IA\\N ir \\YII;ATION COMI-AIIKH WITH THE DAWN OF AEROSTATION. :: 
 shells iif boats to the highly-finuhed, swift, and powerful vessels that we now 
 
 V. t the dilliculties at the commencement of Aerostation were plainly far greater; tin 
 whereas man had wood at hand that lloated on water, he had to seek for means whereby to 
 rise in the unseen ocean with which he is surrounded. 
 
 It took centuries of e\p. rimcnte, assisted by many accidental discoveries, to find out tin 
 properties of air. 
 
 The victory obtained as yet, has been only the power of visiting the atmosphere ; but io 
 master its currents, and guide one's self through them, is reserved for this or some succeeding 
 generation. 
 
 We may hope from the present rapid means of communication, that the combined lal ..... r- 
 of many may effect in a few years improvements in Aerostation as marked as those which 
 have been secured to marine navigation after a lapse of centuries. 
 
 Our lio|K's are further strengthened by the incredible progress made within a short 
 period from the first steamer launched on the Clyde, to our beautiful fleets that now visit all 
 the harbours of the world. 
 
 Tin: CORACLE or THE Braroxs. 
 BIO* 6j|te <rc c^rtjne TO 
 
 i: 2 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 'ANABAAHN; OR, THE "NORMAL CLAIRVOYANCE " OF POETS' IMAGINATION; AND THE EXPEKIMK.XTS 
 
 PRECEDING 1783. 
 
 Thought suggests experiment, experiment ministers fresh materials to thought. 
 
 SIR HENRY HOLLAND, Edinburgh licvieu: 
 
 POETRY AND SCIENCE OLYMPUS THE " ETHEREAL PLAIN " PHAETON D7EDALUS AND ICARUS ASTOLI'HO, THE ENGLISH 
 
 KNIGHT " THE SOURCE OF THE NILE" THE WIZARD ISMENE GODFREY'S DREAM ARMIDA LATIN AUTHORS OF 
 
 THE MIDDLE AGES ROGER BACON ON FLYING WILKINS, BISHOP OF CHESTER KAI KAIOS, KING OF PERSIA ENGLISH 
 
 MONK ELMERUS BORELLl's ' DE MOTU ANIMALIUM ' THE JESUIT FATHER LANA*S PROPOSITIONS. 
 
 BUCKLK, in his ' History of Civilisation,' makes the following remarks on the consequences 
 of divorcing poetry from science : 
 
 In England, especially, there is, among physical inquirers, an avowed determination to separate philosophy 
 from poetry, and to look upon them, not only as different, but as hostile. Among that class of thinkers, whose 
 zeal and ability are beyond all praise, and to whom we owe most unbounded obligations, there does undoubtedly 
 exist a very strong opinion, that, in their own pursuit, the imagination is extremely dangerous, as leading to 
 speculations, of which the basis is not yet assured, and generating a desire to catch too eagerly at distant glimpses 
 before the intermediate ground has been traversed. That the imagination has this tendency is undeniable. But 
 they who object to it on this account, and who would, therefore, divorce poetry from philosophy, have, I 
 apprehend, taken a too limited view of the functions of the human mind, and of the manner in which truth is 
 obtained. There is, in poetry, a divine and prophetic power, and an insight into the turn and aspect of things, 
 which, if properly used, would make it the ally of science instead of the enemy. By the poet, nature is 
 contemplated on the side of the emotions ; by the man of science, on the side of the understanding. But the 
 emotions are as much a part of us as the understanding ; they are as truthful ; they are as likely to be right. 
 Though their view is different, it is not capricious. They obey fixed laws ; they follow an orderly and uniform 
 course ; they run in sequences ; they have their logic and method of inference. Poetry, therefore, is a part 
 of philosophy, simply because the emotions are a part of the mind. If the man of science despises their teaching, 
 so much the worse for him. He has only half his weapons ; his arsenal is unfilled. Conquests, indeed, he may 
 make, because his native strength may compensate for the defects of his equipment. But his success would be 
 more complete and more rapid, if he were properly furnished and made ready for the battle. And I cannot but 
 regard as the worst intellectual symptom of this great country, what I must venture to call the imperfect 
 education of physical philosophers, as exhibited both in their writings and in their trains of thought. This is the 
 more serious, because they, as a body, form the most important class in England, whether we look at their ability, 
 or at the benefits we have received from them, or at the influence they are exercising, and are likely to exercise, 
 over the progress of society. It cannot, however, be concealed, that they display an ignorant respect for 
 experiments, an undue love for minute detail, and a disposition to overrate the inventors of new instruments, and 
 the discoverers of new but almost insignificant facts. Their predecessors of the seventeenth centuiy, by using 
 hypotheses more boldly, and by indulging their imagination more frequently, did certainly effect greater things, in 
 comparison with the then state of knowledge, than our contemporaries, with much superior resources, have been 
 able to achieve. The magnificent generalisations of Newton and Harvey could never have been completed in an 
 age absorbed in one unvarying round of experiments and observations. We are in that predicament, that our 
 facts have outstripped our knowledge, and are now encumbering its march. The publications of our scientific 
 institutions, and of our scientific authors, overflow with minute and countless details, which perplex the 
 judgment, and which no memory can retain. In vain do we demand that they should bo generalised and reduced 
 into order. Instead of that, the heap continues to swell. We want ideas, and we get more facts. \Ve hear 
 constantly of what nature is doing, but we rarely hear of what man is thinking. Owing to the indefatigable 
 industry of this and the preceding century, we are in possession of a huge and incoherent mass of observations, 
 which have been stored up with great care, but which, until they are connected by some presiding idea, will be 
 
POETRY \\l' SCIKNVK 
 
 in teily nucleus. Th nmiing thorn to account, would be to give more nc<>|- to the 
 
 >rporat tfu spirit ofpottry with the spirit of scitnce. Hy this mean." our philosophers would i|oul>lc 
 
 their ic.-oiirci-s. ii.-teud of working, as now, maimed, with mily lialf their nature-. Tln-y fear the imagination, on 
 
 account of it* tendency t<> form hasty tin-olios. I'.ut surely all our faculties an- needed in the pursuit of truth, 
 
 ami we cannot !* justified in discrediting any part of tin- human mind. And I can hardly doubt that one of the 
 
 HMOUs "l'\ "' i" I -"-I "'' "' ''I'' ~"' I' w-.. i id ei t'nl di-e. 'M i i> . dm in-/ th.- seventeen I h nun \ . Wtt < MM 'I. .' 
 
 .-.ntiiry was also the great age of English pot-try. The two mightiest intellects our country has produced aro 
 
 -peare and Newton; and that Shakspeare should have preceded Newton was. I lx>li. \. . n<> casual 01 
 
 unmeaning event. Shakspeare and the poets sowed the seed, which Newton and the philosophers reaped. 
 
 This idealism ha- 1" . 11 furtln-r extolled by the powerful pen of Schiller, that gave birth 
 t.i tin- beautiful designs of Kaiilhach. <>!' which the following are engravings. They remind 
 ti> ln>w tin- ideas of uniniprcsi-ncv and of aspiration naturally associate themselves with the 
 atmo0phere. 
 
 
 von dem Thou, dem Stein bescheiden aufgcstiegen, 
 Die schopfurische kunst, umschlieszt mil stillen Siegen 
 Des OeisU-s unermcssnes Reich. 
 Was in des Winens Land Entdecker nur ereicgen, 
 Kntdecken c, ersiegen sie fur euch. ' 
 
 .-, <lii- d.T Denkeraufgchaufet, 
 Wird er in euren Amicn erst gich freun, 
 
 i seine Wi&scnschaft, der Schbnhett zugereifet, 
 /Cum Kun.stwerk wird geadelt scyn 
 \V. mi er auf einen Hugel mit euch steiget, 
 Und seinem Auge sich, in mildem Abendachcin, 
 Das malerische Thai auf einmal zeigeL 
 Je rcicher ihr den schncllen Ulick verg'- 1 
 Je hohre, schiinre Ordnungen der Geist 
 In einem Zauberbund durchflieget, 
 In einem schwrlgeaden Genusz umkrcist ; 
 li- writer sich Gedauken uud Gcfuhle 
 Dem ii Barmonienfpiele, 
 
 icliern Strom il<-r Schiinhcit atifgethan 
 Je schutire (ilii-dor aua dem Wfltfiiplan, 
 Die jetzt verftiiramelt seine Sciiopinn;; scliiinden, 
 Sieht er ilii- hnhc-n Knrmen dann vollendcn, 
 Je schiinri- Illiti 'nt, 
 
 ier wird eii< . r iimschlieszet, 
 
 ' IT t dan Meer, mit ilcm er flii - 
 
 Je Khwachcr w i - . ksals blinde Maclit, 
 
 Je kleiniT winl cr si-llist, je groszcr seine Lie-be. 
 
 If Art rose plastic from the stone and clay, 
 To Mind from Matter ever sweeps its sway; 
 Silent, but conquering in its silence, lo, 
 How o'er the Spiritual World its triumphs go I 
 What in the Land of Knowledge, wide and far, 
 Keen Science tracks for you discovered arc : 
 First in your arms the wise their wisdom learn 
 They dig the mine you teach them to discern ; 
 And when that wisdom ripens to the flower 
 And crowning time of Beauty to the Power 
 From whence it rose, new stores it must impart, 
 
 ils of Science swell the Wealth of Art. 
 \Vhi-n to one height the Sage ascends with you, 
 As spreads the vale of matter round his view 
 In the mild twilight of serene repose ; 
 
 The more the Artist charms, the more the Thinker knows. 
 The more the shapes, in intellectual joy, 
 Link'd by the Genii which your spells employ, 
 The more the thought with the emotion blends 
 The more up-buoyed by both the Soul ascends 
 To loftier Harmonies, and heavcnlicr things, 
 Ami tracks the stream of Beauty to its springs. 
 The lovely members of the mighty whole. 
 Till then confused and ghapcli-ss to his soul, 
 Distinct and glorious grow upon his sight, 
 The fair enigmas brighten from the X 
 More rich the Universe his thoughts enclose 
 More wide the Ocean with whose wave he flows ; 
 The wrath of Fate grows feebler to his i 
 As from < i. -1'- Scheme Chance wanes and disappears ; 
 And as each straining impulse soars above 
 How his pride lessens how augments bis 1 
 
ANABAAHN. 
 
 PAINTING. 
 
 Wenn auf des Denkens freigegebnen Bahnen 
 Der Forscher jetzt mit kiihnem Gliicke schweift 
 Und, trunken von siegrufenden Paanen, 
 Mit rascber Hand schon nach der Krone greift ; 
 Wenn er mit niederm Sb'ldnerslohne 
 Den edlen Fiihrer zu entlassen glaubt, 
 Und neben dem getraumten Tbrone 
 Der Kunst den ersten Sklavenplatz erlaubt : 
 Verzeiht ihm der Vollendung Krone 
 Schwebt glanzend iiber eurem Haupt. 
 Mit euch, des Friihlings erster Pflanze, 
 Begann die seelenbildende Natur ; 
 Mit euch, dem freud'gen Brntekranze, 
 Sohlieszt die vollende Natur. 
 
 If on the course of Thought, now barrier-free, 
 Sweeps the glad search of bold Philosophy ; 
 And with self-pa:ans, and a vain renown, 
 Would claim the praise and arrogate the crown, 
 Holding but as a soldier hi her band, 
 The nobler Art that did in truth command ; 
 And grants, beneath her visionary throne, 
 To Art, her Queen the slave's first rank alone ;- 
 Pardon the vaunt ! For You, Perfection all 
 Her star-gems weaves in one bright coronal ! 
 With you, the first blooms of the Spring, began 
 Awakening Nature in the Soul of Man ! 
 With you fulfill'd when Nature seeks repose, 
 Autumn's exulting harvests ripely close. 
 
 So fiihrt ihn, in verborgnem Lauf, 
 
 Durch immer reinre Formen, reinre Tone, 
 
 Durch immer hbhre Hbhn und immer schb'nre Schbne 
 
 Der Dichtung Blumenleiter still hinauf 
 
 Zuletzt, am rcifen Ziel der Zeiten, 
 
 Noch cine gluckliche Begeisterung, 
 
 Des jiingsten Menschenalters Dichterschwung, 
 
 Und in der Wahrheit Arme wird er gleiten. 
 
 SCHILLER. 
 
 So, scattering blooms, the still Guide, Poetry 
 
 Leads him thro' paths, tho' hid, that mount on high 
 
 Thro' forms and tones more pure and more sublime 
 
 Alp upon Alp of Beauty till the time 
 
 When what we long in Poetry have nurst, 
 
 Shall as a God's swift inspiration burst, 
 
 And flash in glory, on that youngest day 
 
 One with the Truth to which it wings the way ! 
 
 SIR E. BDLWER LYTTOX. 
 
 Not having been able to obtain Poetry when desired, I have been obliged to substitute Architecture, a design by the same artist. 
 
oI.VMl'l S. 
 
 nn 
 
 PSAI.H xvui. 1 1 Jfebrtw Biblr, ver. 10 in Englitl, liible. 
 
 On Cherubim and Seraphim 
 
 Full royally he rode, 
 Ainl mi tip- wings of flaming winds 
 
 Came flying all abroad. 
 
 PSALM xvu:., Sternfiold and llopkinft Metrical Vcnion. 
 
 Nothing can surpass the grandeur of this, even if compared with other passages of 
 inspiivd writing. But let us descend to the loftiest fancy of the classic poets, and 
 hrar lloiiu-r in one of his descriptive scenes, that throw such beauty on the glowing 
 of Greece (Iliad, Book V. 925th line) : 
 
 To tame the monster-god Minerva knows, 
 And oft afflicts his brutal breast with woes.'' 
 
 He said : Saturnia, ardent to obey, 
 Lash'd her white steeds along the aerial way. 
 Swift down the steep of Heaven the chariot rolls, 
 Between tlie expanded earth and starry poles. 
 Far as a shepherd, from some point on high, 
 O'er the wide main extends his boundless eye ; 
 Through such a space of air, with tlmnd'rin^ suund 
 At every leap, the immortal coursers bound : 
 Troy now they reach'd, and touch'd those banks divine 
 Where silver Simois and Scamander join. 
 There Juno stopp'd, and her fair steeds unloosed, 
 Of air condensed a vapour circumfused ; 
 For these, impregnate with celestial dew, 
 On Simois' brink ambrosial herbage grew. 
 Thence to relieve the fainting Argive throng, 
 Smooth as the sailing doves they glide along. 1'ori:. 
 
 scourge, the ethereal coursers fly, 
 the smooth char liquid sky. 
 
 Heaven's gates spontaneous open to the powers, 
 Heaven's golden gates, kept by the winged Hours ; 
 CommissiouM in alternate watch they stand, 
 The sun's bright portals and the skies command, 
 Inv.I. of day, 
 
 < )r tin' dark barrier roll with ease a\vuy. 
 -iiiniliii^ hinges ring: on cither side 
 
 unes, pierced with light, divide. 
 .irint mounts, where deep in ambient skies, 
 ised, Olympus' hundred beads arise ; 
 Where lar n|rt the Thunderer fills his throne; 
 
 all the gods superior and alone. 
 There with her snowy hand the queen restrains 
 The fiery steeds, and thus to Jove complains ; 
 
 
 To whom assenting, thus the Thunderer said : 
 "Go ! and the great Minerva be thy aid ; 
 
 Oh that I could as smoke arise, 
 
 That rolls its black wreaths through the air ; 
 Mix with the clouds, that o'er the skies 
 
 Show their light forms, and disappear : 
 Or like the dust be toss'd 
 
 By ev'ry sportive wind, till all be lost 1 
 
 jEscHVLUS, The Supplianft Chona, 806th line. 
 
 And again (824th line) : 
 
 Oh might I sit sublime in air, 
 
 Where wiiii-ry clouds the freezing snows prepare! 
 
 iin. in Pindar, who thus expresses the idea that pervades the Greek mythology 
 l 1 Irh Olympiad, 14th line). It may be translated according to an old version : 
 
 aXXu ndvruv 
 Ta/u'm (pyav tv ovpnvta 
 
 jxi viStiiv 'An-oXXum Bpovovt, 
 > trtjiovTi irarpbs 
 
 Tlfiai/. 
 
 Ever on the ethereal plain 
 In harmonious measures move 
 The celestial choirs above. 
 
ANABAAHN. 
 
 B.C. Z-22 
 
 ETHEREAL PLAIN. 
 
 \afi7rpov iTrTrod 
 
 'Ei<$' eiaXiox fpxfrai irup. 
 
 An Italian painter of the fifteenth .or sixteenth century, has well expressed this with 
 his pencil, which the engraving here represents. 
 Euripides, also, in the Iphigenia : 
 
 Oh ! might I travel through yon lucid road, 
 
 Where rolls the chariot of the fiery God ; 
 
 Might I through tli' impassive air 
 
 My unwearied course pursue ! 
 
 Till, distinguished from afar, 
 
 My dear country rose to view : 
 
 Then quick descending from my airy height, 
 
 My pinions would I close, and stay my flight. 
 
 Enough having been given of the mind of Greece, let us turn to that of Rome, and take 
 first Ovid's description of Phaeton : 
 
 a TI cv Tavpois, 1140. 
 
A.I.. :;. 
 
 THAI-TON. 
 
 STi)|;V nl' ril.M'.TdN. Ti: \\SIATK.D in ALLISON. 
 
 Intena v. ' ; 
 
 .|i, i|iiartuii<|uu I'hle^ou, liinnitilntx auras 
 Klaiiiiniferis imp -squc repagula pulsant 
 
 Qua. 1 |>st, plain Trthys, latoruiii ignar.i IH-J 
 Keppnlit, cl I.i4 1. 1 cst ilium nsi O'pia muiiili ; 
 . |-tliluis<|iic ]*T iiera niotis 
 Obstanti * liinlunt nebulas, |'<-ii!ii~>|ii>- 1 
 
 us Eurot. 
 Seil ! 
 
 in-.-iiui gravitate carebat. 
 [HI latent ciirva- justo sine |w[iilere naves, 
 
 - nitnis levitate, feruntur ; 
 
 re assueto vacms dat in acre *altun, 
 .titur.|tie alte, similisque cat currus inani. 
 
 Quod simul no senscre, ruunt, trituiin|iie n linqiiunt 
 Quadrijugi ]>atiuni, net; qiu> prin . :rrunt. 
 
 Ipse ivet ; ncc qua commissas flcctat habenas, 
 Nee Kit, [ii:i sit it.-r : nee, si sciat, imperet illis, 
 Tuni prinmm radiis gelidi caluere Trioncs, 
 
 :ni8tra tentarunt ;e.|ii,.iv t 
 yunxjue i>olo IK- |*ns, 
 
 .'Mis ulli, 
 
 lnc.iliiit, sumxitque in i\as fervoribus iras. 
 To qu<K|iii- iiirKiiiuu incinorant fugiasc, Boote, 
 
 rdus eras, et tc tua plaustra toticbant. 
 I't vero Miiumo despe\it ali .-eiheri- terras 
 
 . i' i,i;<i- ifiiitusque jacentes ; 
 1'alluit, et Mibito genua intremuere timore : 
 Suntqiie oculis tenebro jier tantum lumen ol 
 K: j.iiu ni.illi t .-.puis nunquam ttigi8e pateruos : 
 Jamque agnone genus Juisae rogaudo : 
 
 - ilici cii]. ims; ita f.-rtur, ut acta 
 i I'inus Boreo, cui victa remisit 
 i suns n'Ctor, ijuam Dis votisque reliquit. 
 ? inultiim coeli post tcrya relictum : 
 Ante oculos plus est ; animo metitur utruiuque. 
 
 do, quos illi fato contingcre non est, 
 Prospicit occasus : inu-rdum respicit 01 : 
 Qui.ique agat igiiarus, stupet : ct nix fiviia remittit, 
 
 c noniina novit equoniin. 
 Sparsa quoque in vario passim miracula coelo, 
 Vastaniiin|Uf vi.let trr|>ilus simulacra fcrarum. 
 
 -ii-i. in i:i-ininos ubi brachia concavat arciu 
 Scorpios, et cauda flexisque utrimque lacertis 
 1'urri^ii in s|itiuiu signoram membra duorum. 
 
 ; lit T ut nigri madidum sndore veneui 
 
 Vuliam ciirvata niinitautein cuspide vidit ; 
 
 < inojis, gelida foniiidinc lora n-misit. 
 
 tquam summin jinn, 
 Exspatiantur equi : nulloque inhibente \x-r auras 
 
 Mill, nuat|iH' in,; 
 
 Hac sine lv- ruunt : altoque suba-ilicp 
 Incursant sU-llig, rapiuiit<iue \vr :ivia currum. 
 .ma pi'tniit, IIH|U |T di-cliva, v. 
 
 : iurr ItTUiitur. 
 InfiTiusqui* suis fratrrtios curn-rr l.una 
 
 s: ambustaque nubila fumant. 
 itur llaimnis ut c|u;r,|iio aliissiina, tellus, 
 Fisnqne. agit rimas, et suo 
 Pabnla canescunt : tuin fruiidil'iis iiritur arbos : 
 
 01 sun pr.-i'U'l _ s :n-ii!a ilamiid. 
 PWra queror; magna? pcTt-iint cnin iiKrnibus urU-x : 
 
 Meanwhile the restless horses neigh'd aloud, 
 Breathing out fire, and pawing where they stood. 
 Tcthys, not knowing wliat had pass'd, gave way, 
 And all the waste of heaven before them lay. 
 They spring together out, and swiftly liear 
 The flying youth through clouds and yielding air; 
 With wingy speed outstrip the eastern wind, 
 And leave the breezes of the moon behind. 
 The youth was litrht, imr nmld he till the seat, 
 ( >r |-.i.se the chariot with its wonted weight : 
 But as at sea the unbalhwted vessel rides, 
 Cast to and fro, the sport of winds and tides. 
 So in the bounding chariot, toss'd on high, 
 The youth is hurried headlong through the sky. 
 Scon as the steeds perceive it, they forsake 
 Their stated course, and leave the beaten track. 
 The youth was in a maze, nor did he know 
 Which way to turn the reins, or where to go ; 
 Nor would the horses, had he known, obey. 
 Then the seven stars first felt Apollo's ray, 
 Ami wish'd to dip in the forbidden sea. 
 The folded serpent, next the frozen jole, 
 Still" and benumb'd before, began to roll, 
 And raged with inward heat, anil threatenM war, 
 And shot a redder light from every star ; 
 Nay, and 'tis said, Bootes, too, that lain 
 Thou wouldst have fled, though ctimlierM with thy wain. 
 
 The unhappy youth then, bending down his head, 
 Saw earth and ocean far beneath him spread. 
 His colour changed, he startled at the sight, 
 And his eyes darken'd by too great a liyht. 
 Now could he wish the fiery steeds untried, 
 His birth obscure, and his request denied ; 
 Now would he Merops for his father own. 
 And quit his boasted kindred to the Sun. 
 So fares the pilot, when his ship is toss'd 
 In troubled seas, and all its steerage lost ; 
 He gives her to the winds, and in despair 
 Seeks his last refuge in the gods and prayer. 
 What could he do? his eyes, if bark ward cast, 
 Find a long path he had already pass'd ; 
 If forward, still a longer pat h they find : 
 Both he compares, and measures in his mind ; 
 And sometimes casts an eye upon the east, 
 And sometimes looks upon the forbidden west 
 The horses' names he knows not in the fright ; 
 Nor would he loose the reins, nor could he hold them right 
 Now all the horrors of the heavens he spies, 
 And monstrous shadows of prodigious size ; 
 That, ili < kM with stars, lie scattered o'er the skies. 
 
 Then- is a place above, where Scorpio bent 
 In tail and arms surrounds a vast extent : 
 In a wide circuit of the heavens he shines, 
 Ami tills the space of two celestial signs. 
 Soon as the youth beheld him, vex'd witlrheat 
 
 -li his >tmj. and in his poison sweat, 
 Half dead with sudden fear, he dropp'd Urn reins ; 
 
 rses felt them loose upon their manes, 
 And, flyins out through all the plains I 
 Han, uncuntroll'd, win re'.-r tin ir fury drove ; 
 llusliM on the stars, and, through a pathless wa> 
 Of unknown regions, hurried on the '. 
 
10 
 
 ANABAAHN. 
 
 A.D. 43. 
 
 Cumque suis totas populis incendia gentes 
 In cinerom vertunt. Sylva; cum montibus ardent : 
 Ardet Athos, Taurusque Cilix, et Tmolus, et (Etc : 
 Et mine sicca, prius celeberrima Ibntibus, Ide : 
 Virgineusque Helicon, et nondum CEagrius Hrcmos. 
 Ardet in immensum geminatis ignibus ^Etne : 
 Parnassusque biceps, et Eryx, et Cynthus, et Othrys, 
 Et tandem Rhodope nivibus caritura, Mimasque, 
 Dindymaque, et Mycale, natusquc ad sacra Cithreron. 
 Nee prosuut Scythia; sua frigora : Caucasus ardet, 
 Ossaque cum Pindo, majorque ambobus Olympus : 
 Aeriasque Alpes, et nubifer Apenninus. 
 
 Tune vero Phaethon cunctis e partibus orbem 
 Adspicit accensum, nee tantos sustinet a;stus : 
 Ferventesque auras, velut e fornace profunda, 
 Ore traliit, currusque suos candescere sentit. 
 Et neque jam eineres ejectatamque favillam 
 Ferre potest : calidoque involvitur undique fumo. 
 Quoque eat, aut ubi sit, picea caligine tectus, 
 Nescit ; et arbitrio volucrum raptatur eqnorum. 
 
 Sanguine turn credunt in corpora summa vocato, 
 -lEthiopum populos nigrum traxisse colorem. 
 Turn facta est Libye, raptis humoribus jestu, 
 Arida : turn Nympha; passis fontesque, lacusque 
 Deflevere comis. Qurcrit Bceotia Dircen, 
 Argos Amymonen, Ephyre Pirenidas undas. 
 Nee sortita loco distantes flumina ripas 
 Tuta manent : mediis Tanais fumavit in undis, 
 Peneosque senex, Teuthranteusque Caicus, 
 Et celer Ismenos, cum Phocaico Erymantho, 
 Arsurusque iterum Xanthus, flavusque Lycormas, 
 Quique recurvatis ludit Mreandros in undis : 
 Mygdoniusque Melas, et Taenarius Eurotas. 
 Arsit et Euphrates Babylonius, arsit Orontes, 
 Thermodonque citus, Gangesque, et Phasis, et Ister. 
 ^Estuat Alpheos : riprc Spercheides ardent : 
 Quodque suo Tagus amne vehit, fluit ignibus aurum. 
 Et, qua; Ma?onias celebrarant carmine ripas, 
 Fluminea; volucres medio caluere Caystro. 
 Nilus in extremum fugit perterritus orbem, 
 Occuluitque eaput, quod adhuc latet. Ostia septem 
 Pulverulenta vacant, septem sine flumine valles. 
 Fors eadem Ismarios Hebrum cum Strymone siccat, 
 Hesperiosque amncs, Rhenum, Rhodanumque, Padmnque, 
 Cuique t'uit rerum promissa potentia, Tibrin. 
 
 Dissilit omne solum ; penetratque in Tartara rimis 
 Lumen, et infernum terret cum conjuge regem. 
 Et mare contrahitur : siccreque est campus arena;, 
 Quod modo pontus erat : quosque altum texerat rcquor, 
 Exsistunt montes, et sparsas Cycladas augent. 
 Ima petunt pisces : nee se super ajquora curvi 
 Tollere consuetas audent delphines in auras. 
 Corpora phocarum summo resupina profundo 
 Exanimata jacent. Ipsum quoque Nerea fama est, 
 Doridaque, et natas, tepidis lattiisse sub antris. 
 Ter Neptunus aquis cum torvo brachia vultu 
 Exserere ausus erat : ter non tulit aeris sestus. 
 
 Alma tamen 'J'elhis, ut erat circumdata ponto,' 
 Inter aquas pelagi, contractosque undiquc fontes, 
 Qui se condiderant in opacas viscera matris ; 
 Sustulit omniferos collo tenus arida vultus, 
 Opposuitque manum fronti : magnoque tremore 
 Omnia conditions paullum subsedit, et infra, 
 Quam solet esse, fuit : siccaque ita voce locuta est : 
 Si placet hoc, meruique, quid o tua fulmina cessant, 
 
 And now above, and now below they flew, 
 And near the earth the burning chariot drew. 
 
 The clouds disperse in fumes, the wond'ring moou 
 Beholds her brother's steeds beneath her own : 
 The high lands smoke, cleft by the piercing rays ; 
 Or, clad with woods, in their own fuel blaze. 
 Next o'er the plains, where ripen'd harvests grow, 
 The running conflagration spreads below. 
 But these are trivial ills : whole cities burn, 
 And peopled kingdoms into ashes turn. 
 
 The mountains kindle as the car draws near ; 
 Athos and Tmolus red with fires appear ; 
 yEagrian Hiemus (then a single name) 
 And virgin Helicon increase the flame : 
 Taurus and (Etc glare amid the sky ; 
 And Ida, spite of all her fountains, dry : 
 Erix, and Othrys, and Citha:ron, glow ; 
 And Hhodope, no longer clothed in snow : 
 High Pindus, Mimas, and Parnassus, sweat ; 
 And /Etna rages with redoubled heat : 
 Ev'n Scythia, through her hoary regions warm'd, 
 In vain with all her native frost was arm'd : 
 Cover'd with flames, the towering Apennine, 
 And Caucasus, and proud Olympus, shine ; 
 And where the long-extended Alps aspire 
 Now stands a huge continued range of fire. 
 
 The astonish'd youth, where'er his eyes could turn, 
 Beheld the universe around him burn : 
 The world was in a blaze ; nor could he bear 
 The sultry vapours and the scorching air, 
 Which from below, as from a furnace, flow'd : 
 And now the axle-tree beneath him glow'd. 
 Lost in the whirling clouds that round him broke, 
 And white with ashes, hovering in the smoke, 
 He flew where'er the horses drove, nor knew 
 Whither the horses drove, or where he flew. 
 
 'Twas then, they say, the swarthy Moor began 
 To change his hue, and blacken in the sun ; 
 Then Libya first, of all her moisture drain'd, 
 Became a barren waste, a wild of sand ; 
 The water-nymphs lament their empty urns ; 
 Boeotia, robb'd of silver Dirce, mourns ; 
 Corinth Pyrene's wasted spring bewails ; 
 And Argos grieves whilst Amymone fails. 
 The floods are drain'd from every distant coast : 
 Ev'n Tanais, though fix'd in ice, was lost ; 
 Enraged Caicus and Lycormas roar, 
 And Xanthus, fated to be burnt once more : 
 The famed Mmander, that unwearied strays 
 Through mazy windings, smokes in every maze : 
 From his beloved Babylon Euphrates flies : 
 The big-swoln Ganges and the Danube rise 
 In thick'uing fumes, and darken half the skies : 
 In flames Ismenos and the Phasis roll'd, 
 And Tagus, floating in his melted gold: 
 The swans, that on Cayster often tried 
 Their tuneful songs, now sung their last, and died : 
 The frighted Nile ran off, and underground 
 Conceal'd his head, nor can it yet be found ; 
 His seven divided currents all are dry, 
 And where they roll'd seven gaping trenches lie : 
 No more the Rhine or Rhone their course maintain, 
 Nor Tiber, of his promised empire vain. 
 The ground, deep cleft, admits the dazzling raj", 
 And startles Pluto with the flush of day : 
 

A. I.. I.".. 
 
 I'llAKTON. 
 
 11 
 
 Sumrae deflm ? lioeat peritnne viribus ignis, 
 
 i ii' , ckuiemque auctore levare. 
 Vix c.|iii.l.-in f.iuces luce ipM in verbtt resolve; 
 (I'rwssorat ora vapor ;) tostos eo adspice crines, 
 liii|in- .viili. 1.11:111111, taiitum super ora favillse. 
 Hosne inilii fnu'tiis, hunc I'ertilitati.s honorcm 
 Otlicii<itie refer*; .|iici a.lum-i vulncn aratri, 
 Raatrurumqiie fcro, totoque exeroeor aiino? 
 Qiunl i--. ..ii frimdes, alimcntaque niiiiii fruges 
 lliiii>:ino generi, vobis quod thura ininistro? 
 Sed Umcn exitium fac me mcruisso : quid undae, 
 < t >ui.i merait frater? cur illi tradita sorto 
 ^Equora dccrescunt, et ab Kthere longius absuti t ? 
 Quod si ncc fratris, nee tc mea gratia tangit ; 
 At coeli miserere tui. Circuuispice utrumque ; 
 Fumat utcrque polus : quos si vitiarvrit ignis, 
 Atria vestra ruent Atlas en ipse laborat, 
 Vixque suis humeris candentem sustiuct axcm. 
 Si freta, si term pereunt, ri regia ooeli ; 
 In chaos antiquum confundimur. Rripe flammis, 
 Si i|uid adhuc snperest : et rerum oousule suronue. 
 Dixerat hicc Tellus : neque cniin tolerare raporem 
 Uterius jiotuit, nee dioere plura : suumque 
 Kettulit os in se, propioraque manibus antra. 
 
 At pater omnipotens superos testatus, et ipt>um, 
 Qui dederat currus, nisi opem ferat, omnia fato 
 Interitura gravi ; sumraam petit arduus arcem, 
 
 olet latis nubcs inducere terris : 
 Unde movet tonitnis, vibrataque fulmina jactat. 
 Sed neque, quas posset terris inducere, nubes 
 Tune liabuit, nee, quos coclo dimitteret, imbres. 
 Intuuat : et dextra libratum fulmen ab aure 
 Misit in aurigam : pariterque animaque rotisque 
 Kxpulit, et sa'vis compescuit ignibus ignes. 
 Constertiantur equi, et saltu in contraria facto 
 Colla JM^II exrutiunt, abruptaque lora relinquunt 
 Illic frena jaccnt, illic temone rerulsus 
 Axis ; in liac radii fractarum parte rotarum : 
 Spanaque suut late laceri vestigia currus. 
 At Phaethon, nitilos llamnia populante capillos, 
 Volvitur in pneceps, longoque per aera tractu 
 
 r : nt interdum de coelo Stella sereno, 
 Etsi non cecidit, potuit cecidisse videri. 
 .Quern procul a patria di verso maximns orbe 
 Kxcii'it Kridanus, spumantiaqiie abluit ora. 
 
 The teas shrink in, and to the sight disclose 
 
 .ikc.l plains, where once their billowy roie; 
 Th. ir rocks are all disoover'd, and increase 
 The number of the scattcrM Cyclade* ; 
 Tlie fish in shoals about the bottom creep ;<< 
 Nor longer dares the crooked dolphin leap: 
 Gasping for breath the unshapun Phocte die, 
 And on the boiling wave extended lie : 
 Nereus, and Doris with her virgin train, 
 Seek out the last recesses of the main ; 
 Beneath unfathomable depths they faint, 
 And secret in tln-ir gloomy caverns pant; 
 Stern Neptune thrice above the waves upheld 
 His face, and thrice was by the flames repell'd. 
 
 The Earth at length, on every side embraced 
 With scalding seas, that floated through her waist, 
 When now she felt the springs and rivers come, 
 And crowd within the hollow of her womb, 
 Uplifted to the heavens her blasted head, 
 And clapp'd her hand upon her brows, and said 
 (But first, impatient of the sultry heat, 
 Sunk deeper down, and sought a cooler seat) : 
 "If you, great kings of gods, my death approve, 
 And 1 deserve it, let me die by Jove : 
 If I must perish by the force of fire. 
 Let me transfix'd with thunder-bolts expire. 
 See, whilst I speak, my breath the vapours choke 
 (For now her face lay wrapp'd in clouds of smoke), 
 See my singed hair, behold my faded eye, 
 And wither'd face, where heaps of cinders lie ! 
 And does the plough for this my body tear ? 
 This the reward for all the fruits I bear, 
 Tortured with rakes, and harass 'd all the year ? 
 That herbs for cattle daily I renew, 
 And food for man, and frankincense for you? 
 But, grant me guilty, what has Neptune done ? 
 Why are his waters boiling in the Sun ? 
 The wavy empire, which by lot was given, 
 Why does it waste, and farther shrink from heaven? 
 If I nor he your pity can provoke, 
 See your own heavens, the heavens begin to smoke ! 
 Should once the sparkles catch those bright abodes, 
 Destruction seizes on the heavens and gods ; 
 Atlas becomes unequal to his freight, 
 And almost faints beneath the glowing weight. 
 If heaven, and earth, and sea, together bum, 
 All must again into their chaos turn. 
 Apply some speedy cure, prevent our fate, 
 And succour Nature ere it be too late." 
 She ceased ; for, choked with vapours round her spread, 
 Down to the deepest shades she sunk her head. 
 
 Jove call'd to witness every power above, 
 And even the god, whose son the chariot drove, 
 That what he acts he is compell'd to do, 
 Or universal ruin must ensue. 
 Straight he ascends the high ethereal throne, 
 From whence he used to dart his thunder down, 
 From whence his showers and storms be used to pour, 
 But now could meet with neither storm nor show. r. 
 Then, aiming at the youth, with lifted hand, 
 Full at his head he hurl'd the forky brand 
 In dreadful tluinderingg. Thus the Almighty Sire 
 Suppn *.s'd the raging of the fires with 
 At once from life and from the dmri..t driven, 
 The ambitious boy fell thunder-struck from heaven ; 
 
 UN1VEKS1TY OF CALIFORNIA 
 
12 
 
 ANABAAHN. 
 
 A.D. 43. 
 
 The horses started with a sudden bound, 
 
 And flung the reins and chariot to the ground ; 
 
 The studded harness from their necks they broke, 
 
 Here fell a wheel, and there a silver spoke, 
 
 Here were the beam and axle torn away, 
 
 And scatter'd o'er the earth the shining fragments lay. 
 
 The breathless Phaeton, with flaming hair, 
 Shot from the chariot like a falling star, 
 That in a summer's evening from the top 
 Of heaven drops down, or seems at least, to drop, 
 Till on the Po his blasted corpse was hurl'd, 
 Far from his country, in the western world. 
 
 AUKOKA. 
 
 We may also refer to the ' Story of Dsedalus and Icarus,' translated by Croxall : 
 
 In tedious exile now too long detain'd, 
 Dfedalus languish'd for his native land ; 
 The sea foreclosed his flight, yet thus he said ; 
 " Though earth and water in subjection laid, 
 
 cruel Minos, thy dominion be, 
 
 We'll go through air ; for sure the air is free." 
 Then to new arts his cunning thought applies, 
 And to improve the work of nature tries. 
 A row of quills, in gradual order placed, 
 Rise by degrees in length from first to last ; 
 As on a cliff the ascending thicket grows ; 
 Or different reeds the rural pipe compose : 
 Along the middle runs a twine of flax, 
 The bottom stems are join'd by pliant wax ; 
 Thus, well compact, a hollow bending brings 
 The fine composure into real wings. 
 
 His boy, young Icarus, that near him stood, 
 Unthinking of his fate, with smiles pursued 
 The floating feathers, which the moving air 
 Bore loosely from the ground, and wafted here and there : 
 Or with the wax impertinently play'd, 
 And with his childish tricks the great design delay'd 
 
 The final masterstroke at last imposed, 
 And now, the neat machine completely closed ; 
 Fitting his pinions on, a flight he tries, 
 And hung self-balanced in the beaten skies. 
 Then thus instructs his child : " My boy, take care 
 To wing your course along the middle air : 
 If low, the surges wet your flagging plumes ; 
 If high, the sun the melting wax consumes. 
 Steer between both : nor to the northern skies, 
 Nor South Orion, turn your giddy eyes, 
 But follow me : Let me before you lay 
 
 1 Jules for the flight, and mark the pathless way." 
 Thus teaching, with a fond concern, his son, 
 
 He took the untried wings, and fix'd them on : 
 But fix'd with trembling hands ; and, as he speaks, 
 The tears roll gently down his aged cheeks ; 
 
 Then kiss'd, and in his arms embraced him fast, 
 
 But knew not this embrace must be the last ; 
 
 And mounting upward, as he wings his flight, 
 
 Back on his charge he turns his aching sight ; 
 
 As parent birds, when first their callow care 
 
 Leave the high nest to tempt the liquid air ; 
 
 Then cheers him on, and oft, with fatal art, 
 
 Reminds the stripling to perform his part. 
 
 These, as the angler at the silent brook, 
 
 Or mountain shepherd leaning on his crook, 
 
 Or gaping ploughman, from the vale descries, 
 
 They stare, and view them with religious eyes, 
 
 And straight conclude them gods : since none but they 
 
 Through their own azure skies could find a way. 
 
 Now Delos, Paros, on the left are seen, 
 
 And Samos, favour'd by Jove's haughty queen ; 
 
 Upon the right, the isle Lebynthos named, 
 
 And fair Calymne for its honey famed. 
 
 When now the boy, whose childish thoughts aspire 
 
 To loftier aims, and make him ramble higher, 
 
 Grown wild and wanton, more embolden'd flies 
 
 Far from his guide, and soars among the skies : 
 
 The softening wax, that felt a nearer sun, 
 
 Dissolved apace, and soon began to run : 
 
 The youth in vain his melting pinion shakes, 
 
 His feathers gone, no longer air he takes : 
 
 Oh ! father, father ! as he strove to cry, 
 
 Down to the sea he tumbled from on high, 
 
 And found his fate : yet still subsists by Fame, 
 
 Among those waters that retain his name. 
 
 The Father, now no more a father, cries : 
 " Ho, Icarus ! where are you ? " as he flies ; 
 " Where shall I seek my boy ? " he cries again, 
 And saw his feathers scattered on the main : 
 Then cursed his art; and funeral rites conferr'd, 
 Naming the country from the youth interr'd. 
 
 A Partridge from a neighbouring stump beheld 
 The Sire his monumental marble build ; 
 
LD. 1171. 
 
 ASTnl.l'iin. Till! IIV-USI! KMMIT. 
 
 L8 
 
 with i>eculiar call nml ll'ilterim; I 
 CliirpM joyful, nutl malicious seem'd to - 
 
 Iv bird ..I'.iil its kind, anil late 
 TransformM in pity to a feather'd slate; 
 
 . whence, O Diwdalns! thy guilt v dale. 
 II i rift r's s.>n, when MOW twrlve years were pass'd, 
 
 . with his uncle, n* a srholar placed; 
 Tin' unsu*|.i i tin'.' mother saw his part*, 
 And 'in' tincst arts. 
 
 This soon ap|ar'd ; fur when thr spiny I'U.- 
 In tishes' locks was by the stripling known, 
 utioii thence lie li'.iruM in ilraw, 
 
 teeth in iron, and made the grating saw. 
 IK- w.i^ l!i.' tiiM, that tri'tii a knob of brass 
 Hade two straight amis with widening stretch to pass ; 
 That while one stooil upon the centre's place, 
 '!'!). oilier round it drew a circling space. 
 Dvdalus i n\ ] ! tins, anil from ti 
 Of fair Minerva's 'dm drop; 
 
 Feigning, that as he lean'd u]>n tlie tower. 
 
 ss, he utoop'd too mucli, and tuinliled o'er. 
 The Goddess, who tl - still befriends, 
 
 ' hi this occasion her assistance lends ; 
 His arms with feathers, as he fell, she veils, 
 
 in the air a new-made bin! he sails. 
 
 The quickneas of his genius, once to fleet, 
 
 Still on his wings remain, and in his I 
 
 Still, tin.' transformM, his ancient naino he keeps, 
 
 And with low iliuht the new-shorn stubble sweep*, 
 
 M-S the lofty trees, and thinks it best 
 To brood in hedgerows o'er its humble nest ; 
 And in remembrance of the former ill, 
 Avoids the heights ail'! still. 
 
 At length, fatigued with long laborious flights, 
 On fair Sicilia's plains the artist lights; 
 Where Cocalus the king, that gave him aid, 
 Was, for his kindness, with esteem repaid. 
 Athens no more her doleful tribute sent, 
 That hardship gallant Theseus did prevent ; 
 Their temples hung with garlands, they adore 
 Each friendly god, but most Minerva's power ; 
 To her, to Jove, to all, their altars smoke, 
 . each with victims and i>crfiimcs invoke. 
 
 Now talking fame, thro' every Grecian town 
 Hail spread, immortal Theseus, thy renown : 
 From him, the neighbouring nations, in distress, 
 In suppliant terms implore a kind redress. 
 
 Thr following passage I take from the 'Orlando Furioso' of Ariosto (born at Reggio, 
 \.i>. I 171), as it is strangely appropriate at this time. He describes Astolpho, an English 
 kui^rlit, leaving the island, and winging his flight to the Source of the Nile. The English 
 version is by William Stewart Rose: 
 
 CANTO XXXIII. 
 
 XCVI. 
 
 Voglio Astolfo seguir, ch' a sella, e ii mono 
 A uso facea andar di palafreno 
 L* Ippogrilb |KT 1' aria a si gran corso, 
 Che 1' aquila, e il falcon vola assai menu. 
 Poi die ile' Galli ebbe il paese scorso 
 Da un marc all' altro, e da Firene al Reno, 
 Tomb verso Ponente alia montagna, 
 Che separa la Francia dalla Spagna, 
 
 XCVll. 
 
 Passo in Xavarra, ed indi in Ara^oiia, 
 Lasciando a chi ' in maraviglia. 
 
 humi a sinistra Taracona, 
 Biscaglia a destra, ed arrivO in Castiiilia. 
 
 ' .ali/.ia, e '1 Regno d' Ulisbona ; 
 Poi volse il corso a Cordova, i> Siviglia : 
 N.- lascid presso al mar, rik fra campagna 
 ritta, che non vedesse in tutta Spagna. 
 
 XCVIIi. 
 
 Vide le Gade, e la nicta che pose 
 Ai primi navi^anti ICrculi- invittn. 
 Africa vagar ]>oi si dispose 
 
 nte a i termini d' Kgitto. 
 faniose, 
 I'. \ i, Kviza appreaso al cammin dritto. 
 
 rso Arzilla 
 Sopra '1 mar, che da Spagna dipartilla. 
 
 Astolpho in his flight will I pursue, 
 That made his hip]wgryph like palfrey flee, 
 With reins and sell, so quick the welkin through ; 
 That hawk and eagle soar a course less free. 
 O'er the wide land of Gaul the warrior flew, 
 From Pyrenees to Rhine, from sea to sea. 
 He westward to the mountains turned aside, 
 Which France's fertile land from Spain divide. 
 
 To Arragon he past out of Navarre, 
 
 They who beheld, sore wondering at the sight 
 
 Then, leaves ho Tarragon behind him far, 
 
 Upon his left, Biscay upon his right : 
 
 Traversed Castile, Gallicia, Lisbon, are 
 
 Seville and Cordova, with rapid flight; 
 
 Kor city on sea-shore, nor inland plain, 
 
 Is unexplored throughout the realm of Spain. 
 
 Beneath him Cadiz and the strait he spied, 
 Where whilom good Alcides closed the way ; 
 From the Atlantic to the further side 
 Of Egypt, bent o'er Africa, to stray ; 
 The famous Balearic isles descried, 
 And Iviea, that in his passage lay ; 
 Towards Arzilla then lie tnrmM the rein, 
 Above the sea and severs it from 
 
ANABAAHN. 
 
 A.D. 1474. 
 
 XCIX. 
 
 Vide Marocco, Feza, Orano, Ippona, 
 Algier, Buzea, tutte Citta superbe ; 
 C' hanno d' altre Citta tuttc corona, 
 Corona d' oro, e non di fronde, 6 d' erbe. 
 Verso Biserta, e Tunigi poi sprona : 
 Vide Capisse, e 1' Isola d' Alzerbe, 
 E Tripoli, e Berniche, e Tolomitta, 
 Sin dove il Nilo in Asia si tragitta. 
 
 c. 
 
 Tra la marina, e la; silvosa sehiena 
 
 Del fiero Atlante vide ogni contrada. 
 
 Poi die le spalle a i ruonti di Carena ; 
 
 E sopra i Cirenei prese la strada ; 
 
 E traversando i campi de 1" arena 
 
 Venne a' confin di Nubia in Albaiada. 
 
 Bimase dietro il Cimiter di Batto, 
 
 E '1 gran Ternpio d' Amon, ch' oggi e disfatto. 
 
 CI. 
 
 Indi giunse ad un' altra Tremisenne 
 Che di Maumetto pur segue lo stilo ; 
 Poi volse agli altri Etiopi le penne, 
 Cbe contra questi son di la dal Nilo. 
 A la Citta di Nubia il camrnin tenne 
 Tra Dobada e Coalle in aria a filo. 
 Questi Cristiani son, quei Saracini, 
 E stan con 1' arme in man sempre a' confini. 
 
 oil. 
 
 Senapo Imperator de la Etiopia, 
 
 Che 'n luogo tien di scettro in man la Croce ; 
 
 Di gente, di cittadi, e d' oro ha copia 
 
 Quindi fin la, dove il mar Rosso ha foce ; 
 
 E serva quasi nostra fede propia, 
 
 Che pub salvarlo da 1' esilio atroce. 
 
 Gli e, s' io non piglio errore, in questo loco 
 
 Ove al battesmo loro usano il foco. 
 
 GUI. 
 
 Dismonto il Duca Astolfo a la gran Corte 
 Bentro di Nubia, e visitb il Sendpo. 
 
 Marocco, Fez, and Oran, looking down, 
 Hippona, Algier, he, and Bugia told, 
 Which from all cities bear away the crown, 
 No palm or parsley wreath, but crown of gold ; 
 Noble Beserta next and Tunis Town 
 Capys, Alzerba's Isle, the warrior bold, 
 Tripoli, Berniche, Ptolomitta viewed, 
 And into Asia's land the Nile pursued. 
 
 'Twixt Atlas' shaggy ridges and the shore, 
 He viewed each region in his spacious round ; 
 He turned his back upon Carena hoar, 
 And skimmed above the CyrenEean ground ; 
 Passing the sandy desert of the Moor, 
 In Albajada, reached the Nubian's bound ; 
 Left Battus' tomb behind him on the plain 
 And Ammon's now dilapidated fane. 
 
 To other Tremizen he posts, where bred 
 As well the people are in Mahound's style ; 
 For other JDthiops then his pinions spread, 
 Which face the first, and lie beyond the Nile ; 
 Between Coallee and Dobada sped, 
 Bound for the Nubian city's royal pile ; 
 Threading the two, where, ranged on either hand, 
 Moslems and Christians watch, with arms in hand. 
 
 In ^Ethiopia's realm Senapus reigns, 
 Whose sceptre is the cross ; of cities brave, 
 Of men, of gold possest, and broad domains, 
 Which the Bed Sea's extremes! waters lave. 
 A faith wellnigh like ours that king maintains, 
 Which man from his primeval doom may save. 
 Here, save I err in what their rites require, 
 The swarthy people are baptized by fire. 
 
 Astolpho lighted in the spacious court, 
 Intending on the Nubian king to wait. 
 
 He continues to describe the grandeur of the palace, and among the proofs of his power 
 is one that forms the subject of the following stanza : 
 
 cvi. 
 
 Si dice che '1 Soldan, Bfc de 1' Egitto 
 A quel Be da tribute, e sta suggetto ; 
 Perch' e in poter di lui dal'cammin dritto 
 Ijevare il Nilo, e dargli altro ricetto ; 
 E per questo lasciar subito afflitto 
 Di fame il Cairo, e tutto quel distretto. 
 Senapo detto fc da i sudditi suoi : 
 Gli diciam Presto, o Preteianni noi. 
 
 The soldan, king of the Egyptian land, 
 Pays tribute to this sovereign, as his head, 
 They say, as having Nile at his command 
 He may divert the stream to other bed. 
 Hence, with its district upon either hand, 
 Forthwith might Cairo lack its daily bread. 
 Senapus him his Nubian tribes proclaim ; 
 We Priest and Prester John the sovereign name. 
 
 The tale is carried on by incorporating the classic story of the Harpies sent by heaven to 
 punish this rich king. 
 
1171. 
 
 A>T<>U'IIO. TIIK KNCUSH KM'.HT. 
 
 15 
 
 Tin- following stanzas give the prophecy and ite fulfilment of the period put to these 
 
 pm. 
 
 K in disperazion continua il mease 
 Uno, che gia gli avea profet izato, 
 Che le sue mense non sariano opprease 
 Da la rapina, e da 1' odore ingrato, 
 Quando venir |- r 1' aria si vedease 
 Un Cavalier sopra un cavallo alato. 
 Perch*- ili;in|iie impossibil jiarea qucsto, 
 I'nvn d' ogni speranza vivea mesto. 
 
 CXIH. 
 
 < 'r, che con gran stupor vedo la gente 
 Sopra ogni muro, e sopra ogn' alta torre 
 Knt rare il Cavalicro, imiuantenente 
 K r hi il narrarlo al Re di Nubia corre ; 
 A c-ni la profezia ritorna a mcnte ; 
 1-M oM.liaixlo per Ictizia torre 
 La fedel vcrga, con le mani ionantc 
 Vien brancolando al Cavalier volante. 
 
 And him had plunged in uttermost despair 
 One that to him erewhilo had prophesied 
 " The loathsome Harpies should his daily fare 
 " Leave unpolluted only, when astride 
 " Of winged horse, arriving through the air, 
 " An armed cavalier should be descried." 
 And, for impossible appears the thing, 
 Devoid of hope remains the mournful king. 
 
 Now tbat with wonderment his followers spy 
 
 The English cavalier so make his way, 
 
 O'er every wall, o'er every turret high, 
 
 Some swiftly to the king the news convey. 
 
 Who calls to mind that ancient prophecy, 
 
 And heedless of his staff, his wonted stay, 
 
 Thro' joy, with outstretched arms and tottering feet, 
 
 Comes forth, the flying cavalier to meet. 
 
 CIIV. 
 
 Astolfo nc la piazza del castello 
 Con gpaziose rote in terra scese. 
 
 'lie fu il lie condotto innanzi a qucllo, 
 Inginocchiossi, e le man giunte stese, 
 E diase : Angel di Dio, Messia novello, 
 " S' io non inerto perdona a tante ofieae, 
 " Mini, che proprio e a noi peocar sovente, 
 " A voi perdonar sempre a chi si pente. 
 
 Within the castle court Astolpho flew, 
 And there, with spacious wheels, on earth descended, 
 The king, conducted by his courtly crew, 
 Before the warrior knelt with arms extended, 
 And cried, " Thou Angel, sent of God, thou new 
 " Messiah, if too sore I have offended, 
 " For mercy, yet, bethink thce, 'tis our bent 
 " To sin, and thine to pardon who repent." 
 
 Civil. 
 
 Rispose Astolfo : Ne 1' Angel di Dio, 
 
 Ne son Messia novel, ne dal Ciel vegno ; 
 4 Ma son mortale, e peocatore anch' io, 
 
 ' Di tanta grazia, a me concessa indegno. 
 ' Io faro ogn' opra accib che '1 mostro rio, 
 ' Per morte o fuga io ti leri del Hegno. 
 ' S' io il I'o, me non, ma Dio ne loda solo, 
 ' Che per tuo aiuto qui mi drizr.6 il volo." 
 
 CXVIIl. 
 
 Fa' qncsti voti a Dio, debiti a lui, 
 A lui le Chiese edifica, e gli altnri. 
 Cost parlando, andavano ambidui 
 Verso il Castello fra i Baron preclari. 
 II Re comanda a i servitori sui, 
 Che subito il couvito si prepari ; 
 S]*raiido clie non debba essergli toll* 
 La vivanda di mono a questa volta. 
 
 cxix. 
 
 Dcntro una ricca sala immantinente 
 Apparecchiossi il convito solenne. 
 Col Senapo s* assise solamente 
 11 l>uca Astolfo, e la \ ivanda vcnne. 
 Ecco per 1' aria Io strii'.or si scnte 
 Percossa intorno da I' orribil |.>nne. 
 Ecco vcnir 1' Arpie brutte e nefande 
 Tratte dal cielo a odor de le vivande. 
 
 " Nor angel," good Astolpho made reply, 
 
 " Nor new Messiah, I from heaven descend ; 
 
 " No less a mortal or a sinner I, 
 
 " To such high grace unworthy to pretend. 
 
 " To slay the monsters I all means will try, 
 
 " Or drive them from the realm which they offend. 
 
 " If I shall prosper be thy praises paid, 
 
 " To God alone who sent me to thy aid. 
 
 " Offer these vows to God, to Him well due ; 
 
 " To Him thy churches build, thine altars rear." 
 Discoursing so, together wend the two, 
 'Mid Barons bold, that King and Cavalier. 
 The Nubian Prince commands the menial crew 
 Forthwith to bring the hospitable cheer ; 
 And hopes that now the foul, rapacious band, 
 Will not dare snatch the victuals from his hand. 
 
 Forthwith a solemn banquet they prepare 
 Within the gorgeous palace of tbe king. 
 Seated alone here guest and sovereign arc, 
 And the attendant troops the viands brin;.'. 
 Behold ! a whizzing sound is beard in air, 
 Which echoes with the beat of savage \vinu r . 
 Behold ! the band of Harpies thither flies, 
 Lured by the scent of victual from the ski. s. 
 
16 
 
 ANABAAHN. 
 
 A.D. 1474. 
 
 cxx. 
 
 Erano sette in ima schiera ; e tutte 
 Volto di donna avean, pallide e smorte, 
 Per lunga fame attenuate e asciutte, 
 Orribili a veder, piu che la mortc. 
 L' alacce grand! avean, deform! e bruttc ; 
 Le man rapaci, e 1' ugne in curve c torte ; 
 Grande, e fetido il ventre, e lunga coda, 
 Come di serpe, che s' aggira, e snoda. 
 
 All bear a female face of pallid dye, 
 And seven in number are the horrid band ; 
 Emaciated with hunger, lean, and dry ; 
 Fouler than death ; the pinions they expand, 
 Kagired and huge and shapeless to the eye; 
 The talon crooked ; rapacious is the hand ; 
 Fetid and large the paunch ; in many a fold, 
 Like snakes their long and knotted tails are rolled. 
 
 CXXI. 
 
 Si sentono venir per 1' aria, e quasi 
 
 Si veggon tutte a un tempo in sii la mensa 
 
 Eapire i cibi, e riversare i vasi ; 
 
 E molta feccia il ventre lor dispense, 
 
 Tal ch' egli e forza d' atturare i nasi, 
 
 Che non si pub patir la puzza immensa. 
 
 Astolfo, come 1' ira lo sospinge, 
 
 Contra gli ingordi augelli il ferro stringe. 
 
 The fowls are heard in air ; then swoops amain ; 
 The covey wellnigh in that instant, rends 
 The food, o'erturns the vessels, and a rain 
 Of noisome ordure on the board descends. 
 To stop their nostrils king and duke are fain ; 
 Such an insufferable stench offends. 
 Against the greedy birds, as wrath excites, 
 Astolpho with his brandished faulchion smites. 
 
 The three next stanzas give the account of the success of the Harpies, the despair of the 
 king, and the resolve of Astolpho to use his magic horn. So he again tempts the monsters, as 
 follows : 
 
 CXXV. 
 
 E cos\ in una loggia s'apparecchia 
 
 Con altra mensa altra vivanda nuova. 
 
 Ecco 1' Arpie, che fan 1" usanza vecchia : 
 
 Astolfo il corno subito ritrova. 
 
 Gli augelli, che non han chiusa 1' orecchia, 
 
 Udito il suon, lion pon stare a la prova ; 
 
 Ma vanuo in fuga pieni di paura, 
 
 Ne di cibo, ne d' altro hanno piu cura. 
 
 cxx vi. 
 
 Subito il Paladin dietro lor sprona ; 
 Volando esce il destrier fuor de la loggia, 
 E col castel la gran Citta abbandona ; 
 E per 1' aria, cacciando i mostri, poggia. 
 Astolfo il corno tuttavolta suona : 
 Fuggon 1" Arpie verso la Zona roggia 
 Tanto che sono a 1' Altissimo monte, 
 Ove il Nilo ha, se in alcun Inoyo lta,fonte. 
 
 CXXVII. 
 
 Quasi de la montagna a la radice 
 Entra sotterra una profonda grotta 
 Che certissima porta esser si dice 
 Di chi k 1' Inferno vuol scender talotta. 
 Quivi s' e quella turba predatrice, 
 Come in sicuro albergo, ricondotta, 
 E giu sin di Cocito in sii la proda 
 Scesa, e piu la, dove quel suon non oda. 
 
 CXXVIII. 
 
 A 1* infernal caliginosa buca, 
 
 Ch' apre la strada a chi abbandona il lume, 
 
 F'm\ V orribil suon 1' inclito Duca, 
 
 E fe raccorre al suo destrier le piume.* 
 
 The tale continues to describe the descent of the English Paladin after tying up his 
 winged steed, the horrors, and his forced retreat on account of the poisonous fumes. He stops 
 ii] the mouth of the cavern, and- 
 
 XLVIII. 
 
 Poi monta il volatore, e in aria s' alza 
 Per giunger di quel monte in su la cima, 
 Che non lontan con la superna balza 
 Dal cerchio de la Luna esser si stima. 
 Tanto c il desir, che di veder 1' incalza, 
 Ch' al cielo aspira, e la terra non stima. " 
 De 1' aria piu, e piii scmpre guadagna ; 
 Tanto, ch' al giogo va de la montagna. 
 
 CANTO XXXIV. 
 
 Then backed the griffin-horse, and soared a flight 
 Whereby to reach the mountain tops he schemes ; 
 Which little distant, with its haughty height, 
 From the moon's circle good Astolpho deems ; 
 And such desire to see it warms the knight, 
 That he aspires to heaven, nor ease esteems. 
 Through air so more and more the warrior strains, 
 That he at last the mountain-summit gains. 
 
 * I omit the English in these and some of the following stanzas, where I think the translation falls far short of the original. 
 
-the" 
 
 L M V . C l- 
 C L L 1 1- C K U I 
 
r ri 
 
A. I.. 1171. 
 
 ASTOI.IMIO. TllK KNCI.ISII KXHMIT. 
 
 17 
 
 A glowing description of beautiful scenery follows, and of the gorgeous palace, 
 
 win -re 
 
 1,1V. 
 
 N<1 luoente veatibulo <li quclU 
 
 Felice caaa un Veccliio al Dun oocom, 
 
 manto ha rosso, e bianca la gonnella, 
 ( 'I,.- 1' un ;>u5 al latte, e 1' altro al minio opporre. 
 I oriui lia bianchi, e biaiica la maacclla 
 
 ia barba, che al petto diaoorre; 
 Ed e si venrrahile nel vise, 
 Che un degli clotti par del Paradiao. 
 
 LVlll. 
 
 Qnel tanto al Redentor cam Giovanni 
 Per cui '1 sermone tra i fratelli usci'o, 
 Che oon dovca per morte finir gli anni : 
 SI che fu causa, che '1 Figliuol di Dio 
 A Piatro disse : Perche pur t' affanni, 
 S* io vo' che coal aspetti il venir mio ? 
 Benched non disae : Egli non de' moriro ; 
 Si vede pur, che coal voile dire. 
 
 LV. 
 
 Costui con lirta faocia al Paladino, 
 Che rivcrcnte era d'arcion diaoeso, 
 Dine: Baron, che per voW <livim> 
 Sei nel terreatre Paradiao aaoeao. 
 Come che ne la cnusa del camroino, 
 M- il fin del tuu deair da to aia inteao ; 
 Pur credi che non wnza alto misteriu 
 Venuto sei dall' artico emisperio. 
 
 LIX. 
 
 Quivi fu asaunto, e trovb compagnla, 
 Che prima Enoch, il I'ntriarca, v' era : 
 Eravi inaieme il gran 1'rofcta Ella, 
 Che non ban vista aucor 1' ultima fera, 
 E fuor dell' aria peatilente e ria 
 85 goderan 1' etema Prima vera 
 Fin che dian aegno le Angeliche tube, 
 Che torni Criato in su la bianca nube. 
 
 I.VII. 
 
 Continuando il Vecchio i detti auoi 
 Fece maravigliare il Duca oasai 
 Quando, scoprendo il nome suo, gli diaae 
 Baser colui, che 1' Evangelic scrisse ; 
 
 IX. 
 
 Con accoglicnza grata il Cavaliero 
 Fu dai Santi alloggiato in una stanza : 
 Fu provviato in un' altra al suo destriero 
 Di buona biada cbe gli fu a bastanza. 
 De' frutti a lui del Paradiso diem, 
 Di tal sapor, che a suo giudicio, sanza 
 Scusa non sono i duo primi Parent), 
 Se per quei fur ai poco ubbidienti. 
 
 The following stanzas are the conversations that ensue, in the course of which St. John 
 informs the English cavalier that he has a mission to perform in recovering Orlando's wits, 
 .mil thus concludes: 
 
 LXVII. 
 
 " ( ili e ver che ti bisogna altro viaggio 
 " Far meco, e tutta abbandonar la Terra, 
 " Nel cerchio della Luna a menar t' aggio, 
 ! i pianeti a noi piu prossima erra ; 
 " I'erche la medicina, che pud saggio 
 It-re Orlando, la dentro ai serra. 
 " Come la Luna questa nottc aia 
 " Sopra noi giunta, ci porremo in via." 
 
 CANTO XXXIV. 
 
 " Tia true to journey further ye will need, 
 1 And wholly must you leave this nether sphere ; 
 ' To the moon's circle you I have to lead, 
 ' Of all the planets to our world moat near. 
 ' Because the medicine, that is fit to apeed 
 ' Insane Orlando's cure, is treasured li> 
 ' This night will we away, when overhead 
 ' Her downward rays the silver moon shall shed." 
 
 LXVIII. 
 
 Di questo, e d'altre cose fu diffuse 
 II parlar dell' Apostolo quel giorno. 
 Ma poi clie '1 S<ji g'ebbe nel mar rinchiuao, 
 E sopra lor levO la Luna il corno ; 
 t'n carro apiarecchiossi, ch' era ad uao 
 1 1' amlar scorrendo per quei Cieli intorno : 
 Wuol gia nclle montagne di Giudea 
 Da'morUili occhi Eli'a levato avca. 
 
 In talk the bleated apostle is diffuse 
 On this and that, until the day is worn ; 
 But when the sun is sunk i' the salt-sea ooze, 
 And overhead the moon uplifts her horn, 
 A chariot is jirepared, crewhile in use 
 To scour the heavens, wherein of old was borne 
 From Jewry's misty mountains to the sky 
 Sainted Elias, rapt from mortal eye. 
 
18 
 
 ANABAAHN. 
 
 A.D. 1474. 
 
 ASTOLl'HO AND ST. JOHN. 
 
 LXIX. 
 
 Quattro destrier via piu che fiammi rossi, 
 Al giogo il santo Evangelista aggiunse ; 
 E poi che con Astolfo rassettossi, 
 E prese il freno, in verso il Ciel li punse. 
 Ruotando il carro per 1' aria levossi, 
 E tosto in mezzo il fuoco eterno giunse ; 
 Che '1 Vecchio fe miracoloramente, 
 Che, mentre lo passar, non era ardente. 
 
 Four goodly coursers next, and redder far 
 Than flame, to that fair chariot yokes the sire ; 
 Who, when the knight and he well seated are, 
 Collects the reins ; and heavenward they aspire. 
 In airy circles swiftly rose the car, 
 And reached the region of eternal fire ; 
 Whose heat the saint by miracle suspends, 
 While through the parted air the pair ascends. 
 
 LXX. 
 
 Tutta la Sfera varcano del foco, 
 Ed indi vanno al Regno della Luna. 
 Veggon per la piii parte esser quel loco, 
 Come un acciar, che non ha macchia alcuua ; 
 E lo trovano uguale, o minor poco 
 Di cio, ch' in questo globo si ragnna, 
 In questo ultimo globo della Terra, 
 Mettendo il mar che la circouda e ferra. 
 
 The chariot, towering, threads the fiery sphere, 
 And rises thence into the lunar reign. 
 This, in its larger part they find as clear 
 As polished steel, when undefiled by stain ; 
 And such it seems, or little else, when near, 
 As what the limits of our earth contain : 
 Such as our earth, the last of globes below, 
 Including seas, which round about it flow. 
 
 LXXI. 
 
 Quivi cbbe Astolfo doppia maraviglia ; 
 Che quel paese appresso era si grandc, 
 II quale a un picciol tondo rassimiglia 
 A noi che lo miriam da queste bande ; 
 E clic aguzzar conviengli ambe le ciglia, 
 S' indi la Terra, e '1 mar, ch' intorno spande, 
 Discerner vuol ; che non avendo luce, 
 L'immagin lor poco alta si conduce. 
 
 Here doubly waxed the paladin's surprise, 
 
 To see that place so large, when viewed at hand ; 
 
 Resembling but a little hoop in size, 
 
 When from the globe surveyed whereon we stand, 
 
 And that he both his eyes behoved to strain, 
 
 If he would view Earth's circling seas and land ; 
 
 In that, by reason of the lack of light, 
 
 Their images attained to little height- 
 
A.M. 1171 
 
 TIII: ><>n;t i: or TIM: NILE 
 
 19 
 
 i.\\n. 
 
 Altri titiini, attri lughi.altre campagne 
 Sono la su, cho noli son qul tra ni : 
 Altri piani, altn- valli, aim- muiitagne, 
 
 . hannoi Ca-stcl 
 
 Con caae, lU'lli q;ii inai lo piil iiiagne 
 Nun viilo il 1'ulailin prima, ni- ; 
 "iii> iiiupli', c solitaric solve, 
 ugnor caci 
 
 LXXlll. 
 
 Non stettc il Duca a ricercare il tutto ; 
 Chi Ik uon era asceso a quello eflri i< >. 
 Dall' Apontolo san to fu condutto 
 In mi vallon fra due montagne si: 
 Ove mirabilmrnte era rulntto 
 Cid, chu si perdo o per nostro difetto, 
 prr col pa di teni|>, o di fortuna. 
 Cid, che si perde qui, Ik si raguna. 
 
 The M;m/.;is following tlirsc describe many wondrous scenes, and, in the 87th, his own 
 is realised : 
 
 La piil capace, e plena ampolla ov' era 
 II aeuno che solea far savio il t'ontc, 
 Astolfo tolle ; e non e si leggiera, 
 Come Htimb, con 1' altrc essendo a monte. 
 Prima die '1 Paladin da quella Sfcra 
 Plena di luce alle piu basse smontc, 
 Menato fu dall' Apostolo santo 
 In un Palagio, ov' era uu tiunio a canto. 
 
 CANTO XXXVIII. 
 
 nor. 
 
 Sceao era Astolfo dal giro lucente 
 Alia maggiorc altezza della Terra, 
 Con la felice ampolla che la i 
 Dovea aanare al gran Mastro di guerra. 
 
 i>;i quivi di virtii eccellente 
 Mostra Giovanni al Duca d' Inghilterm. 
 COD ewa vuol ch' al suo ritonio tocchi 
 II Re di Nubia, e gli risani gli occhi ; 
 
 XXV. 
 
 Accid per quest!, e per li primi nicrti 
 
 gli dia, con che Biserta assaglia ; 
 E, come poi quei popoli incsi*Tti 
 Arnii, ed acconci ad uso di battaglia, 
 E senza danno passi pei dencrti ' 
 Ove 1' arena gli uomini abbarbaglia ; 
 A punto a punto 1' online che tegna, 
 Tutto il Vecchio sajitissimo gl' insegna. 
 
 IXVL 
 
 Poi lo fe rimontar su quello A la to, 
 Che di Ruggicro, e fu prima d' Atlante. 
 II Paladin lascio, liceuziato 
 Da San Giovanni, le contrade sante ; 
 E, secondando il Nilo a lato a lato, 
 Tosto i Nubi apparir si vide innante ; 
 E, nella Terra, che del Rcgno fe capo, 
 Scese dall' aria, e ritrovd il Scnapo. 
 
 rxvii. 
 
 Molto fu il gaudio, e molta fu la gioja, 
 Che porto o quel Signer nel suo ritorno ; 
 Che ben si ricordava della noja, 
 Che gli avea tolta dell* Arpie d' intomo. 
 Ma poi che la grossezza gli discuoja 
 Di quell' umor, che gia gli tolse il giorno, 
 E che gli rcnde la vista di prima, 
 L' adora e cole, e come un Dio sublima. 
 
 Astolpho again used his steed on several occasions, and wrought many wonders, but, 
 
 my ijUotaticiTis ;nv :ihv;nly long enough. 
 
 T ASSO. BORN AT SORRENTO, A.D. 1544. Translation, by Edward Fairfax, A.D. 1600, and by J. Wiffen. 
 
 XIV. 
 
 All bianclii vesfi, ch' han d' or le cimc, 
 Inlatiraliiliiii-iiti' BgUl 
 
 i vcnti c Ic nubi, c va sublime 
 Sovra la torra c ,-i.vni il mar con queste : 
 Cosl vcstito, imlirizzossi all'ime 
 Parti del mondo il Mfssaggier celeste : 
 Pria sul Libano montc ei si ritenne, 
 K i librfl suit' adi-guate ]<-nnc. 
 
 CANTO I. 
 
 THE AKGBL GABRIEL. 
 
 Of silver wings he took a shining pair, 
 Fringed with gold, unwearied, nimble, swift ; 
 With these he parts the winds, the clouds, the air, 
 And over seas and earth himself doth lift. 
 Thus clad, he cute the spheres and circles fair, 
 And the pure skies with sacred featlifrs clift : 
 On Lebanon at first his foot he set 
 And shook his wings with rory May-dews wet 
 
 D 2 
 
20 
 
 ANABAAHN. 
 
 A. a 1544. 
 
 The wizard Ismene conveys the Soldan from the battlefield to Jerusalem by the means 
 described in the following stanzas : 
 
 XV. 
 
 E sovra un carro suo, che non lontano 
 Quinci attendea, col fier Nicendo ei siede : 
 Le briglie allenta, e con maestra naano 
 Ambo i corsieri alternamente fiede. 
 Quei vanno si che '1 polveroso piano 
 Non ritien della rota orma o del piede : 
 Fumar gli vedi ed anelar nel corso, 
 E tutto biancheggiar di spuma il morso. 
 
 CANTO X. 
 
 His magic car stood ready at command, 
 
 They mount ; the Stranger, shunning all delay, 
 
 Shook the rich reins, and with a master's hand 
 
 Lashed the black steeds, that, ramping, scoured away 
 
 So swift, that not the sands a trace betray 
 
 Of hoof or wheel ; they vanish as they come, 
 
 Proudly precipitant, and snort, and neigh, 
 
 Paw the parched soil, and, ardent for their home, 
 
 Champ their resplendent bits all white with fleecy foam. 
 
 XVI. 
 
 Meraviglie dir6 : s' aduna e stringe 
 L' aer d' intorno in nuvolo raccolto, 
 Si che '1 gran carro ne ricopre e cinge, 
 Ma non appar la nube o poco o nolto ; 
 Ne sasso che mural macchina spinge, 
 Penetreria per lo chiuso e folto : 
 Ben veder ponuo i duo dal cavo seno 
 La nebbia intorno, e fnori il ciel sereno. 
 
 Away ! away ! and still as fast and far 
 They fly, the air to clouds condensing rolled 
 In heaps around, and draped th" enchanted car, 
 Yet not a wreath could human eye behold ; 
 Nor stone nor rock (surprising to be told,) 
 Hurled from the most magnificent machine, 
 Might of its crapelike volume pierce the fold ! 
 Yet by the two within were all things seen 
 The clouds, air, earth, and sky, all rosily serene. 
 
 XVII. 
 
 Stupido il cavalier le ciglia inarca, 
 Ed increspa la fronte, e mira fiso 
 La nube e '1 carro cb' ogni intoppo varca 
 Veloce si, che di valar gli e avviso. 
 L' altro che di stupor 1' anima carca 
 Gli scorge all' atto dell' immobil viso, 
 Gli rompe quel silenzio, e lui rappella ; 
 Ond' ei si scote, e poi cosi favella : 
 
 With wrinkling forehead and arched brow, the knight 
 
 On cloud and car gazed stupidly intent, 
 
 Its wheels seemed wings, and its career a flight, 
 
 So swift and soundless on its way it went 
 
 O'er the smooth soil ; the Sag;e plenipotent, 
 
 Who saw his raptured spirit stand aghast 
 
 At the sublime and mystical portent, 
 
 From his abstraction roused him ; voice at last 
 
 Came to his lips, from which these eager questions passed. 
 
 XXV. 
 
 Cosi gir ragionando, insin che furo 
 La 've presso vedean le tende alzarse : 
 Che spettacolo fu crudele e duro ! 
 E in quante forme ivi la morte apparse ! 
 Si fe' negli occhi allor torbido e scuro, 
 E di doglia il soldano il volto sparse. 
 Ahi con quanta dispregio ivi le degne 
 Mird giacer sue gia tevnute insegne ! 
 
 Thus commune they ; and now the plain they pass, 
 
 Near which their domes the white pavilions rear ; 
 
 There what a cruel sight was seen ! alas, 
 
 In what unnumbered shapes did death appear ! 
 
 To Solyman's stern eyes a troubled tear 
 
 Of grief and passion rose at the survey, 
 
 And filled his face with gloom ; afar and near, 
 
 In what wild havoc, how insulted, lay 
 
 His arms and ensigns, feared, so feared of yesterday ! 
 
 XXVI. 
 
 E scorrer lieti i Franchi, e i petti e i volti 
 Spesso calcar de' suoi pill noti amici ; 
 E con fasto superbo agl' inscpolti 
 L' arme spogliare e gli abiti infelici ; 
 Molti onorare in lunga pom pa accolti 
 Gli amati corpi degli estremi uffici : 
 Altri soppor le fiamme, e '1 volgo misto 
 D' Arabi e Turchi, a un foco arder fe visto. 
 
 He saw the Franks in carnival o'erspread 
 
 The field, oft trampling on the faces pale 
 
 Of his slain friends, as from th' unburied dead 
 
 They tore the gorgeous vests and shirts of mail, 
 
 With rude insulting taunts : down the far vale, 
 
 In long, long order, many a funeral quire 
 
 Was seen attending with the voice of wail 
 
 Bodies beloved, whilst some brought careless fire, 
 
 And Turks and Arabs heaped in one commingling pyre. 
 
TIN-: \\I/AI;D ISM KM-:. 
 
 \\VII. 
 
 .N ,U1 profi'iido, o'l ferro intae 
 1 carro UncioMi, e correr voile ; 
 Ma il vccchio incantatore M il ritnMu 
 S'jridando, c r.illpiu'i 1' impeto folle; 
 i.. rlu- iii imov.i <>i rimuDtaue, 
 Driz/.iN il suo oorao al piu sublime colle. 
 Cod alquanto n* andaro, main ch' a tcrgo 
 Lasciar do' Frauchi il militaro albergo. 
 
 He deeply ligbed, In- dn-w his sword in rage, 
 And from hi* sent leaped, eager iu their blood 
 T avenge the insult ; but tin- Archimage 
 HU mad resolve inflexibly withstood; 
 And, curbing by rebuke hi* hiricms mood, 
 Made him perforce renume the neat resigned ; 
 Then to tin- l.'iiiest hills his course pursued, 
 Uaflling the rival pinions of the wind, 
 Until the hostile tents in distance Hank behind. 
 
 XXVIII. 
 
 Smontaro allor dal carro, e quel refute 
 Sparve, e presono a piedi insieme il calle, 
 Kella aolita nube occultaraenti-, 
 Discendendo a sinistra in una vallc, 
 Sin che giuuwru la dove al ponente 
 L' alto montc Sion volge le upalle. 
 
 Alighting then, the chariot disappeared, 
 
 And side by side on foot the travellers went; 
 
 Still curtained in the cloud, their course they steered 
 
 Down a deep vale of difficult descent, 
 
 Till they arrived where to the Occident 
 
 Sublime Mount Sinn turned its shoulders wide, 
 
 In rocks and cliffs fantastically rent. 
 
 CANTO XIV. 
 
 HI. 
 
 Da quest* or quel ch' al pio Buglion discende, 
 L' all dorate inverse lui distende. 
 
 This dream to pious Godfrey now descends, 
 
 And o'er his placid face its radiant wings extends. 
 
 IV. 
 
 Nulla mai vision nel sonno offeree 
 Altrui si vaghe immagini o si belle, 
 Come ora questa a lui, la qual gli aperse 
 I secreti del cielo e dellc stelle : 
 ( hide, siccome entro uuo spe^lio, ei scene 
 Cib che lassuso % verameute in elle : 
 1'areagli esser traalato in un sereno 
 Candido, e d' auree liamine adorno e pieno. 
 
 Such semblances, such shapes, such portraits fair, 
 Diil never yet in dream or sleep appear, 
 For all the forms in sea, in earth, or air, 
 The signs in heav'n, the stars in every sphere, 
 All what was wondrous, uncouth, strange and rare, 
 All in that vision well presented were. 
 His dream had placed him in a crystal wide, 
 Beset with golden fires, top, bottom, side. 
 
 V. 
 
 E mentre ammira in quell' ecceUo loco 
 L'ampiezza, i moti, i lunii e 1' armonia, 
 Eoco cinto di rai, cinto di foco, 
 Un cavaliero incontra a lui venia, 
 K 'n snono allato a cui sarebbe roco 
 Qual pill dolce e qnajxgin, parlar 1' udia : 
 Goffredo, or non m* accogli, e non ragione 
 Al fulo amico? or non conosci Ugone? 
 
 VI. 
 
 _-li rispondea : quel novo aspetto 
 Che par d' un sol mimbilmente adorno, 
 Dall'antica notizia il inio intelletto 
 SvUto ha si, che tardi a lui ritomo. 
 Gli stendea poi con dolce amico afletto 
 Tre flatc le braccLi al collo intomo 
 K in- tiate invan cinta 1'immago 
 Fuggia, qual leve sogno od aer vago. 
 
 VII. 
 
 Sorridea quegli e, non gia, come credi, 
 Dicea, son cinto di terrcna veste : 
 Semplice forma, e nuilo spirto veili 
 Qui, cittadin della citta celeste. 
 
 Here, as the moving spheres, the vast blue sky, 
 
 Tim lights, and the rich music he admires, 
 
 I/o, to his side a winged knight draws nigh, 
 
 With sunbeams crowned, and circum fused with fires! 
 
 And in a voice to which the clearest choirs 
 
 And perfect marriage of sweet sounds below, 
 
 Would be but discord, said, " Canst thou bestow 
 
 No smile, or dost thou not thy once-loved Hugo know ? ' 
 
 To which the Duke replied ; " That aspect new, 
 
 Which like the glowing sun so brightly shjnes, 
 
 Has dazzled so mine intellectual view, 
 
 That it can ill recall its ancient lines : " 
 
 And saying this, to greet him he inclines; 
 
 Thrice with a fond affectionate embrace 
 
 Around his neck his loving arms he twines ; 
 
 And thrice th' encircled form and radiant face 
 
 Fly like the summer cloud, or shade the sunbeams chac. 
 
 Prince Hugo smiled ; " And think not, as of old," 
 He said, " that earthly robes ray limbs invest ; 
 My naked spirit here dost thou behold, 
 A simple shape; I dwell, a clnrions -nest, 
 In tliis th' illumined City of the Blest : 
 
ANABAAHN. 
 
 A.D. 1544. 
 
 IX. 
 
 Ma, perche piu lo tuo desir s' avvivc 
 Nell' amor di quassii, piu fiso or mira 
 Questi lucidi alberghi e queste vive 
 Piarnme, che mente eterna informa e gira ; 
 E in angeliche tempre odi le dive 
 Sirene, e '1 suon di lor celeste lira. 
 China poi disse, e gli additb la terra 
 Gli occhi a cib che quel globo ultimo serra. 
 
 X. 
 
 Quanto e vil la cagion ch' alia virtude 
 Umana e colaggiil preuiio e contrasto ! 
 In die picciolo ccrchio, e fra che nude 
 Solitudini e stretto il vostro fasto ! 
 Lei, come isola, il mare intorno chiude ; 
 E lui ch' or ocean chiamate, or vasto, 
 Nulla eguale a tai nomi ha in se di magno ; 
 Ma fc bassa palude e breve stagno. 
 
 XI. 
 
 Cos! 1' un disae ; a 1' altro ingiuso ilumi 
 Volse, quasi sdegnando, e ne sorrise ; 
 Che vide un punto sol mar, terre, e fiumi, 
 Che qui paion distinti in tante guise ; 
 Ed ammirb che pur all' ombre, ai fumi. 
 La nostra folle umanita s' affise, 
 Servo imperio cercando e muta fama, 
 Ne miri il ciel ch' a se n' invita e chiama. 
 
 " But now look round more fixedly ; behold 
 To quicken for the skies thy pure desires, 
 Those lucid walls and starry orbs of gold, 
 Which, whirling round, th' Eternal Mind inspires ! 
 Observe the beauty of those siren choirs 
 Of seraphs ; hear the angelical sweet strains, 
 In concord sung to their celestial lyres ; 
 Next view," he said, and pointed to the plains 
 Of earth, " below, what yon terrestrial globe contains." 
 
 " Think of your earthly titles and designs ; 
 With what a vile reward is virtue crowned ! 
 Mark what a little ring your pride confines ! 
 What naked deserts your vain glories bound ! 
 Earth like an island the blue sea flows round. 
 Now called the Mighty Deep from coast to coast, 
 Now, the vast Ocean ; to that pompous sound 
 Nought corresponds, to authorise such a boast 
 'Tis but a shallow pool, a narrow marsh at most." 
 
 The Spirit said : and he his sight let fall 
 On earth, and smiled with a serene disdain ; 
 Shrunk to a point, seas, streams, and mountains tall 
 He sees, remote, but here distinguished plain; 
 And much he wondered that weak man should strain 
 At shades and mists that swim before his eyes, 
 And chase those radiant bubbles of the brain 
 Capricious Fame, and Power, that, followed, flies, 
 Nor heeds th' inviting voice that calls him to the skies. 
 
 Tasso thus describes the flight of Armida from Western Europe to Assyria, through 
 stormy skies, in her aerial wain : 
 
 LXIX. 
 
 Ella sul carro suo, che presto aveva, 
 
 S' asside e, come ha in uso, al ciel si leva. 
 
 CANTO XVI. 
 
 Her chariot nigh 
 She as is usual mounts, and fast away doth fly. 
 
 LXX. 
 
 Calca le nubi, e tratta 1' aure a volo, 
 Cinta di nembi e turbini sonori : 
 Passa i lidi soggetti all' altro polo, 
 E le terre d' ignoti abitatori ; 
 Passa d' Alcide i termini, ne '1 suolo 
 Appressa degli Esperii, o quel de' Mori ; 
 Ma su i mari sospeso il corso tiene, 
 Infin che ai lidi di Soria perviene. 
 
 LXXI. 
 
 Quinci a Damasco non s' in via, ma schiva 
 II gia si caro dclla patria aspetto, 
 E drizza il carro all' infeconda riva, 
 Ov' e tra 1' onde il suo castello eretto. 
 Qui giunta, i scrvi e le donzelle priva 
 Di sua presenza, e sceglie ermo ricetto, 
 E fra vari pensier duhbia s' aggira : 
 Ma tosto cede la vergogna all' ira. 
 
 The clouds she cleaves, and round her doth enroll 
 
 Thunders and tempests, lightnings, wave, and wind ; 
 
 The regions subject to the southern pole, 
 
 And all their unknown natives left behind, 
 
 Calpe she crossed ; nor, in her fretful mind, 
 
 Stooped to the Spaniard, or the Moor, but o'er 
 
 The Midland Sea her winged car inclined ; 
 
 Nor to the right, nor to the left hand bore, 
 
 Till in mid air she reached the known Assvrian shore. 
 
 Not now to fair Damascus does she post, 
 But shuns the aspect of her once dear land, 
 And guides her chariot to the Dead Sea coast, 
 Where the strongholds of the Enchantress stand. 
 Alighting here, she from her duteous band 
 Of damsels and of pages hides her face, 
 And, wandering lonely on the sea-beat strand, 
 Where in sad thoughts a thousand doubts she cast, 
 Till grief and shame, to wrath gave place at last. 
 
i.vriN AITIIIIKS nr Tin-: Mii'hi.i: A<;KS. 
 
 I miiiplrtf tliis chapter \\itli several curious extracts from old writers, bearing more or 
 
 less on tin- sulijrct of Aerostation. They are cited by M. Rozier in his 'Dissertation sur le 
 
 \ Irs Aiiririi>' ((iciicv.i, 1784). The first relates to the automaton Dove niatlc l>y 
 
 An-livtas nf Tarriitmu (400 to 345 B.C.), which is thus noticed by Aulus Gellius, in liis 
 
 A ttii- Ni.irlii-.' 
 
 M .my account* of this sort appear to have been given in the name of Democritus by ignorant men, who 
 sheltcie.l themselves under the nink and authority of others. Hut that wliii-h Aivhytas the I'ythagorean in 
 related to have invented and perfected is not lew* marvellous, though it appears less absurd ; for many nit 
 eminence amon^ tip- <ii.-ek>. and I'avorinus the pbflnoplw, a most vigilant searcher into antiquity, have, in a 
 tvc manner, assured us that the model of a Dove or Pigeon formed in wood by Archytas, was so 
 eontrived, as by a certain mechanical art and power to fly : so nicely was it balanced by weights, and put in 
 motion liy hidden and enclosed air. 
 
 Iloraiv (<),!<*' I. 28) refers to his performances, especially his experiments with the 
 
 >pln-iv : 
 
 Te, mans et terra; numeroquc ca rent is arena*, 
 
 Meinorem cohibent, Archyta. 
 I'ulveria cxigui, )>n>n' Inns [arva Matinum 
 
 Minerva. Nee quidquam tibi prodest 
 Aerias tentasse duinus, animoque rotundum 
 
 lY'rcurrisse polum, moriluro. 
 
 HOKAIK, <',,rin. I. 28. 
 
 Archytas I thou sage, who measured the Earth and the Sea ; 
 and did count the grains of sand that arc infinite in number, 
 now that you lie extended near the Matiuian shore, covered only 
 with a small quantity of dust, is it of any service to you, who 
 wrrt so soon to die, that you penetrated into the broad hc;i 
 and by a vast and comprehensive understanding, extended your 
 views from one Pole to the other ? 
 
 ('l;iu<li:m, in his ' Epigrams,' makes Jove speak as follows, of the Sphere of 
 Archimedes : 
 
 Jupiter in \arvo cum cerncret a-thera vitro 
 
 Risit, et ad superos talia dicta dedit. 
 Huccine mortalis progressa jxttentia euro ? 
 
 Jam meus in fragili luditur orbe labor. 
 Jura poli, rerumque fidem, legesque Deorum, 
 
 Ecce Syracusius transtulit arte senex. 
 Inclusus variis famulatur spiritus astris 
 
 Kt vivum ccrtis motibus urget opus. 
 Percnrrit proprium mentitus signifer annum 
 
 Kt simulata novo Cynthia mense redit, 
 Jamque suum volvens, audax industria mundum 
 
 t, et humaiiA gidera mentc 
 Quid falso insontem tonitru Salmonea iniror ? 
 
 JSmula naturae pan'a repcrta nianus. 
 
 When in a narrow glass Jove saw the skies, 
 He smiled, and thus to gods expressed surprise : 
 " See, how man's talents imitate our ways ; 
 " My heavenly work a fragile globe displays : 
 " An aged Syracusan, by his skill, 
 " Arranges poles, laws, harmony, at will, 
 " To stars, a secret spring gives motion true : 
 " The parts with steadiness their path pursue ; 
 " A zodiac, framed by hand, receives the Sun. 
 " Which through the year, proceeds his course to run ; 
 " And Cynthia, feigned, is seen each month to trace 
 " The orbit o'er, and again show her face. 
 " Audacious art, the world with pleasure, rolls: 
 " The human mind celestial orbs controls. 
 " Why, at Salmoneus' thunder, wonder feel ? 
 " All Nature's plan, those fingers can reveal." 
 
 Many authors have endeavoured to throw a light on the mechanism of this wonderful 
 civ; and perhaps the best explanation is that due to Cardan, as given by Grasper Sclmtt 
 or Sohottus, in liis k .\f:iiri:i 1'iiiversalis': 
 
 Cardan considered it probable, in his statement of the matter of the Sphere, that it was not put in motion 
 by the application of weights, but by rarefied enclosed air. " For," he says, "weights could with difficulty be 
 enclosed, and when enclosed could not maintain perpetual motion, and would disfigure the works ; while external 
 wheels in motion on one side only would communicate an objectionable power to the glass. Therefore it was a 
 much easier t;i>k f..r Archi-nedes to set them in motion by rarefied air, especially ;us in this case he had to give 
 only one motion to the wheels, when place. 1 iirund the same centre, a Callippus and Kudoxus had done; but 
 the Earth itself, a small sphere, he kept going by complex motion in media, by soni'- unexplained means." 
 
24 ANABAAHN. 
 
 Cardan has the following remarks on the Pigeon, in his ' Variarum Rerum,' book xii. 
 chap. 58 : 
 
 It has been questioned whether a wooden pigeon could be made such as we have stated elsewhere, on the 
 authority of Gellius. to have been fabricated by Archytas of Tarentum, which would be able, without external 
 movement, to take flight, and when it rested remain immovable. Now we have seen images and statues moving 
 011 tables impelled by concealed wheels, and also a bird so constructed flying ; but not with motive power of its 
 own. Consequently we can with difficulty conceive that any sort of an Automaton can be made with power to 
 raise itself, for the chains which contribute its motive power must be solidly and substantially constructed, and 
 therefore too heavy to be impelled by their own force. But we see no reason why such construction should not 
 be put in motion particularly by a favourable breeze, when the size of the wings is considered and the impulsion 
 of the wheels which move them. The light construction of the body would contribute to this result, as would 
 likewise the largeness of the wings and the strength of the wheels, aided by the wind, and of which geese and the 
 heavier birds intuitively avail themselves ; and it is probable that this pigeon would take its flight in a certain 
 fashion, but with a wavering power, as lamps do. Thus it would occasionally mount upwards spontaneously, flutter 
 its wings, then leave oif suddenly, and fall, the motive power being unequal to the weight. 
 
 Lauretus Laurus enlarged on the subject. He is also quoted by Schottus in his ' Magia 
 Universalis ' : 
 
 The shells of hen-eggs, if properly filled and well secured against the penetration of the air, and exposed to 
 solar rays, will ascend to the skies, and sometimes suffer a natural change. And if the eggs of the larger 
 description of swans, or leather balls, stitched with fine thongs, bo filled with nitre, the purest sulphur, 
 quicksilver, or kindred materials, which rarefy by their caloric energy, and if they externally resemble pigeons, 
 they will easily be mistaken for flying animals. If we should desire to give aerial motion to a wooden and 
 ponderous machine we must apply fire. Should there be any apprehension of the pigeon being burned, it can be 
 covered over with some incombustible coating, and tubes of tin introduced, so that the fire may be kept alight in 
 its bosom without injury to it. To prevent the crackling of the flames and the emission of the sparks, the 
 gunpowder may be deprived of force by the mixture of ochre and butter. An artificial throat may be formed to 
 change the crackling of the flames into an imitation of the cooing of a pigeon, somewhat after the manner (too 
 unfortunately for himself) practised by Perillus in the formation of his bull. And thus a contrivance could be 
 adopted which escaped the ingenuity of Archytas, and the want of which was the cause why his pigeon was 
 unable to rise again when once it descended to the ground. Tubes could have been easily constructed to ascend 
 one after the other at convenient intervals, so that the pigeon would apparently be endued with life. 
 
 The Jesuit Schottus, already mentioned, has collected the ideas of many authors who had 
 written on Nature's miracles. He throws great light on the production and use of gas, in 
 his ' Magia Universalis.' 
 
 Mendoza (in ' Viridario,' lib. iii. probl. 47) discusses a problem which previous writers had touched on. For 
 having demonstrated the fact that fire is more subtile, rare, and of less gravity than air, it follows as a corollary 
 from these premisses that it collects the air when contiguous to the fire. 
 
 In support of this opinion Mendoza asserts that, should a vessel bo raised above the convex superficies of the 
 air, it may be sustained in that air and propelled with oars, if there be not another counteracting force. 
 
 We find by experience that substances of greater gravity than water will, when filled with air, float in that 
 element, and which if not so filled would immediately sink. This may be seen in the case of a skin, or in that of 
 any brass or iron vessel which when filled with air is sustained on the surface of the water and not submerged, 
 although its specific gravity is much greater than that of water. 
 
 Kelying on this experience Mendoza thus completes the argument. " Any brass vessel full of air, which 
 otherwise would sink, is sustained 011 the surface of the water though naturally of much greater specific gravity, 
 consequently a wooden ship, or one of any other material, placed on the summit of an aerial superficies and filled 
 with elementary fire, will be sustained in that position till the gravity of the vessel becomes greater than the 
 sustaining power of the fire it contains. Nor is the nature of fire sufficiently unruly to ignite and consume 
 the timber, for the fire has not sufficient inherent energy to burn; as those philosophers have ingeniously proved, 
 who agree in placing fire in the hollow of the moon." 
 
A.M. 1190. I. \T1N AlTIInKS or Illi: MIDDLE AGES. 25 
 
 In Mich terms has this matter been treated by Mcndoza (died lii-ii), nor is there any improbability involved 
 in his view, whether tin- clement of fire be placed above tin- air, or what is still more credible, the ether that in 
 tin; purest air. Although uny wood, iron, copper, lead, and such like metals are weightier than an equal volume 
 of water, ami for that reason will sink in water when there placed alone, yet if fabricated into hollow shapes, and 
 fillfil with our impure and heavy air they swim upon waters and are adapted to the construction of ships, and are 
 sustained 1'v ;itei- without danger of immersion ; thus although these bodies are of greater specific gravity than 
 our iiir. nevertheless, when shaped into a boat and filled with that very light material, they can float in the air, 
 anil are suitable materials for the construction of small ships, because the entire work composed of the little ship 
 and the ether can bo made lighter than an equal volume of our impure air. even in the highest region. 
 
 Alln-itus Magnus (born about A.D. 1190), at the end of his work ' De Mirabilibus 
 N;itur:i>,' says : 
 
 Take one pound of sulphur, two pounds of willow-carbon, six pounds of rock-salt ground very fine in it 
 unable ninitar. 1'lace, when you please, in a covering made of flying papyrus to produce thunder. The covering 
 in nfiler tn ascend and float away should be long, graceful, well filled with this fine powder; but to produce 
 thunder, the covering should be short, thick, and half full. 
 
 Tliis ivivipt is to be found in the 'Secrets of Decker,' liv. iii., under the title of 
 Flying Fire. Magic was the guise of the dark ages for the progress made by a fe\\ in 
 rlirmi>tr\ . The following is :m inst:in<-.-, hum KVmigius, in his ' Daemonolatria,' cap. 25 : 
 
 There is no doubt the following will bo considered incredible by all, and perhaps ridiculous by many ; yet I 
 can aver that two hundred persons testified to its truth, who, when 1 held the office of Duumvir, wore condemned 
 by mo for arson, and thus atoned their crime of sorcery. On stated and regular days they assembled in a crowd 
 on the bank of some lake or river, secluded from the observation of passers-by, and there they were in the habit of 
 lashing the water with a wand received from a demon, till such time as vapours and mista were produced in large 
 quantities, and with these they were wont to soar on high. The exhalations thus provoked condensed themselves 
 into thick and darkling clouds, agitated and swept the heavens, assisted in their atmospheric war by the evil spirits 
 whom they wrapped in their folds, and at length in a hailstorm smote the earth in their fury. 
 
 Salome and Dominica Zabella add, that before they thus agitated the water they were in the practice of 
 throwing into it an earthen pot, in which, a little previous, a demon had been enclosed, without the knowledge 
 of the lookers on, or some stones of such size as they wished the hail to be. 
 
 Decker Maygeth states that he and his confederates in crime used to receive candles from a demon of an 
 azure colour, and sail with them some distance from the margin of Lake Fonterssgrube, hold the light downwards, 
 and let them drop freely into the water ; that after that they scattered and spread some medicinal powder over the 
 surface, that they then with black rods bestowed on them by his demon most vehemently lashed the waters, 
 accompanying the action with a repetition of incantations calculated to produce the desired results. When all this 
 had been done, the sky became overcast with clouds, and discharged torrents of rain and hail on those localities 
 which they pointed out. The mode practised to excite the clouds was not confined to the middle ages. Pausanias 
 tells us it prevailed' for many ages in Arcadia, and was practised on Mount Lycam in that country. In that 
 country, he says, was a fountain named Agno, naturally so admirable that the art of divination was there cultivated 
 in a very curious manner, the water being gently moved with a branch of an oak, in a short time there arose from 
 it a vapour like a small cloud, which, soon expanding and embracing others, discharged heavy showers. This 
 incantation, therefore, is not an invention of modern ages. It is not the invention of old hags, whose mental 
 powers were depraved by demons, or perverted by visions or dreams, it was practised by men of keen intellects, 
 and acute investigation, who minutely observed, critically examined, and deliberately adopted their convictions. 
 
 Barbelina Ilayal adds, that tubs turned upside down were propelled through the air by sorcerers, assisted 
 by demons, and hovered for some short time over the spots which had been doomed to calamity, and at length 
 shattered into stones and flames, inflicted sudden injury, and crushed every impediment. 
 
 A l-o Delrio, in his ' Disquisit. Magic.,' lib. ii. quaest. 11 and 12 : 
 
 Marcus th. V, i,. tna M ,; ii Polo) in his travels in Asia relates, that the Tartars are able, through the arts 
 of demons, to excite storms and fojrs when and where they please, and that on one occasion, when entrapped by 
 robbers, by biich means, he effected his escape with difficulty. Hiatouus also (Hist. Sarmatice) relates that the army 
 
 1 
 
26 ANABAAHN. 
 
 of the Tartars being in a battle and forced to break the line, was rallied by their standard-bearer, who happened 
 to be a magician, and who involved the enemy in profound darkness by his incantations. 
 
 Magicians can, by the agency of certain minerals, produce meteorological results, which, though seeming to 
 be miraculous, are, nevertheless, natural. Such as a mixture in mountain caverns of alum and nitre, which, 
 becoming ignited, emit a sudden cloud, which, on penetrating to the middle region of the atmosphere, is then 
 dissolved into rain.* 
 
 There are many instances quoted, and worthy of credit, of the praise of victory having been often deservedly 
 assigned to men. Ollerus by magic art became a distinguished warrior amongst the Swedes, and was looked upon 
 as a divinity, if we credit Saxo Grammaticus, who thus writes of Oddo, the Danish pirate. Without a ship, 
 wandering o'er the ocean, he often defeated hostile fleets by rousing by his charms the fury of the elements against 
 those enemies of the merchant and agriculturist. 
 
 Of the remarkable victory of the Tartars over the Poles, Cromerus writes in the following words : " In the 
 year 1240 of the Christian era, the Poles gave battle to the Tartars near Legnica, broke their lines by their 
 impetuous charge, and drove them to flight, pressing closely on their rear. In the outmost rank of the Tartar 
 host, amidst the other standards, was an ensign remarkable for the display of the figure and crest of the bearer. 
 On the staff of the ensign was the figure, terrific and black, of a human head with shaggy beard. This ensign, 
 when vehemently shaken by the bearer, exhaled a smoke and cloud, very thick and foul ; and this cloud not only 
 shrouded the barbarians from the vision of the Poles, but it also plagued them with their sickening odour." 
 
 It has also happened that clever men have employed the marvellous to escape from a 
 critical situation, by imposing on the people. The following instances are from Kircher, in 
 his ' Artis Magnaa Lucis et Umbras': 
 
 I know that many of our fathers have been rescued from the most imminent dangers amongst the barbarians 
 of India by such inventions. These were cast into prisons, and whilst they continued ignorant of any means of 
 effecting their liberation, some one, more cunning than the rest, invented an extraordinary machine, and then 
 threatened the barbarians, unless they liberated his companions, that they would behold in a short time some 
 extraordinary portents, and experience the visible anger of the Gods. The barbarians laughed at the threat. He 
 then had constructed a dragon of the most volatile paper, and in this he enclosed a mixture of sulphur, pitch, wax, 
 and so artistically prepared all his materials, that, when ignited, it would illumine the machine, and exhibit the 
 following legend in their vernacular idiom, The Anger of God. The body being formed and the ingredients 
 prepared, he then affixed a long tail, and committed the machine to the heavens, and, favoured by the wind, it 
 soared aloft towards the clouds. The spectacle of the dragon, so brilliantly lit, was terrific. The barbarians, 
 beholding the unusual motion of the apparition, were smitten with the greatest astonishment, and now, remem- 
 bering the threatened anger of the Deity and the words of the father, they were in fear of expiating the punishment 
 he had prognosticated for them. Therefore, without delay, they threw open the gates, they suffered their prisoners 
 to go forth in peace and enjoy their freedom. In the mean time the fire seized on the machine and set it in a blaze, 
 and with an explosion, which was interpreted as an expiring declaration of satisfaction, it, apparently of its own 
 accord, vanished from sight, as if it had accomplished its supernatural mission. Thus the fathers, through the 
 apprehension which this natural manifestation inspired, obtained that which could not be purchased with a large 
 amount of gold. 
 
 Froissart tells us that, A.D. 1383, the Count of Bourgogne, wishing to capture a 
 citadel near Naples, a magician came to one of the chiefs of his army, and promised to take it 
 by means of a cloud, that would serve as a bridge, on which his soldiers could stand and 
 descend to the summit of the walls; and that the besieged would be so alarmed, that they 
 would surrender at discretion. He talked in such a strange way that he was looked upon as 
 a man possessed by the devil ; and when the particulars were detailed to the Count, he ordered 
 him to be put to death. 
 
 * Note by Rozier. " Par la raison quo lo sec attire I'lnimide ct qu'tme semblable nuee composee do parties eliaudes et rarefie'es, doit 
 uttircr a elle toute 1'humidite de 1'air environnant et que bientot gonflee et eommo engrossee par Ics courans d'air qui viennent se Jeter dans 
 elle, elle se condense, et aequicrt une pcsanteur qui doit la forcer de retombcr." 
 
LATIN AlTllnKS <!' Till: MIPHI.K AUKS. 
 
 In t\\u liistorifs 1>\ .Irf ! Mini-tiv ;iinl !>. r,i|nni;i. of tin- ti\vn .if Lyi>n>. tin- 
 :ii-.'>i!!iit i- irivt-n : 
 
 tin- <-n.l i.l' I 'Imrlemagne's reign, certain persons who lived near Mount I'ilatr in S\vit/<-rland. 
 
 by what incuns pretended sorcerers tmvrlli.l through tin- air, resolved to try the experiment, and 
 .iiii).. ll.-il some poor people to ascend in an aerostal. This descended in the town .!' l.\..n.-, uh. i.- they wen- 
 iinmi-iliiitcly hurrii-il I., )>ris<.n. :md (lie mob desired their death as sorcerers. The Judges condemned them to be 
 Imniiil: but thr i:ii-lioj Agobard suspended the exi'i'iitimi, and sent for them to his palace, that la- might 
 i|ii.-Mi,,n tlii'in. They iin.-wi in!, ( hi'ils .s..nt ilu JKIVM iiu'-nif. ipie des pereonnes do consideration les out force's 
 -.iiduiiu. k'ur ).!.. in. ll. nit qu'il.s vi rn.ii-nt ili-s choses mcrveilleuses ; et qu'ilw sont veritablemont 
 deacendn par 1'air." Agobard, tlumgh he could not believe this fact, gave credence to their innocence, and allowed 
 tin -in to escape. On this occasion he wrote a work on the superstition of the time, in which he demonstrated I/if 
 impossibility of rising in // uir ; that it is on error to believe in the power of magic; and that it lias its existence in 
 
 tin iTriinlity Mil.-ly of the peoplr. 
 
 It wan during tin- ]HHitilit.'iite f 15<uiiface VIII. that the miracle of Loretto occurred. The house inhabited 
 by the Virgin immediately after her conception, had been converted, on the death of the Holy Family, into a 
 chapel, ami St. Luke had presented to it an image, carved by his own hands, still known as our Lady of Loretto. 
 
 angels, chancing to be at Nazareth when the Saracen conquerors approached, fearing that the sacred relic 
 mijrlit tall into their possession, took the house bodily in their hands, and, carrying it through the air, after several 
 h ilt>. fin ill v ile]>.ited it at Loretto, in Italy. DBA PEH'S Intellectual Development of Europe. 
 
 A. A v 
 
 B. A spirit TVMd by UK Wit, -h 
 
 C. A Knar railing hi* Imp*. 
 
 SOBCi 
 
 Is t wurK-ks ^rim, an' witlic-r'il hags 
 Tell liow wi' you, on ra<;wet<l nags, 
 They skitn the inuirs an' dizzy crags 
 
 \Vi' wicked speed 
 And in kirk-yards renew their leagues 
 
 Oure howkit dead. 1 
 
 D. A Kurr King. 
 
 E. A Witch ri<l. . 
 
 thiough th. 
 T. An Induuitetl Cutlc. 
 
 t I ' . 
 
 K 2 
 
28 ANABAAHN. A.D. 1214. 
 
 We come next to an eminent Englishman, Roger Bacon (born at Ilchester, 1214), who, 
 for his genius and ability, was styled the " Admirable Doctor." He is the first to whom we 
 are indebted for an approximation to the true principles of Aerostation. We here borrow the 
 words of Wise (the American historian of Aerostation) : 
 
 He wrote upon various subjects, and displayed in all a great power of imagination, with an equal degree of 
 enterprise. The knowledge he possessed, and the theories he laid down, appear the more remarkable, because we 
 have, within the last hundred years, realised several of his most magnificent schemes. Like Franklin, his ideas 
 and knowledge were three or four centuries ahead of the age he lived in. The art of sailing in the air, or, at 
 least, the principle by which it is accomplished, seems to have been so well understood by him, that we may 
 safely ascribe to him the discovery of its main principle (atmospheric buoyancy), which we shall presently 
 perceive. 
 
 In one of his works,* he descants, in glowing language, on the possibility of constructing engines of 
 immense size and power, that could traverse the land and the water with great speed, and carry with them 
 persons and merchandise. He then goes on to describe a plan of navigating the air. He assumes that the 
 atmosphere is a material of some consistency, capable of bearing upon its surface vessels, like ships are borne upon 
 the surface of the water. He next describes the construction of his aerial machine, " which," he says, " must be 
 a large hollow globe of copper, or other suitable metal, wrought extremely thin, in order to have it as light as 
 possible. It must then," he says, "be filled with 'ethereal air or liquid fire,' and then launched from some 
 elevated point into the atmosphere, where it will float like a vessel on water." It cannot be ascertained, from the 
 writings of Eoger Bacon, that he ever realised any of his grand projects of flying, by actual experiment ; but, in 
 concluding his treatise upon this branch, he expresses himself thus : " There is certainly a flying instrument, 
 not that I ever knew a man that had it, but I am particularly acquainted with the ingeuious person who 
 contrived it." 
 
 After expressing himself so confidently upon the " hollow globe " method, ho thinks, " There may be made 
 some flying instrument, so that a man sitting in the middle of the instrument, and turning some mechanism, may 
 put in motion some artificial wings which may beat the air like a bird flying." 
 
 To these descriptions of Bacon, some of our modem writers have adverted with greater zeal than judgment, 
 to prove that the art of flying by human contrivances was known to the ancients, or, at least, anterior to the 
 discovery of the Montgolfiers. They contend that Eoger Bacon was well acquainted with the properties of the 
 atmosphere. Some very learned disquisitions have been written to prove that his ethereal air and liquid fire were 
 the same as our rarefied air and hydrogen gas. 
 
 With all due deference to the brilliant genius and far-reaching intellect of Eoger Bacon, it must still be 
 evident from his own writings that he did not fully understand the principle of atmospheric pressure, or he 
 would not have thought it necessary to get his " hollow globe " on the surface of the atmosphere. As to his 
 having some knowledge of the consistency of the air as an elastic fluid, that will not be denied, for, at that period, 
 the attention of the learned began to be directed to the science of pneumatics ; but we have no authenticated 
 writings to show that they had a knowledge of the various and distinct gases. 
 
 The discovery of the art of making gunpowder has been attributed to Eoger Bacon, and history makes it 
 evident that he accomplished astonishing things in his day, for we read that he was accused of holding 
 communion with the devil, and that the perusal of his writings was interdicted by an order of Nicolas IV., 
 and the Doctor placed under personal restraint, where the emanations of his brilliant mind could only enlighten 
 the emperor and his courtiers. Soon after Bacon's time, projects were instituted to train up children from 
 their infancy in the exercise of flying with artificial wings, which seemed to have been the favourite plan 
 of the flying philosophers and artists of that day. If we credit the accounts of some of their experiments, 
 it would seem that considerable progress was made in that way. The individuals who used the wings could 
 skim over the surface of the earth with a great deal of ease and celerity. This was accomplished by the 
 combined faculties of running and flying. It is stated that, by an alternately continued motion of the wings 
 against the air, and the feet against the ground, they were enabled to move along 'with a striding motion, 
 and with incredible speed. 
 
 ' Notes and Queries' of September 5, 1864, contains the following interesting answer to a 
 
 * ' EpistolfB Fiatris liogeri Bcconis, dc Secretis operibus Artis et Naturaj, et dc Nullitate Magia;.' Paris, 1542. 
 
,lh,*t,l*TI,l 
 
 1864 
 
 \l, t/.t,. 
 
r, .vi \' : u 
 j- r,~\jr c 
 
L !':<>:. ROGER BACON ON FLYING. 29 
 
 .jiicrv, tin- -ul!:iii<v i.f which is <rivrii in the extract of the letter of 1607, that had been 
 
 iv. 1 to : 
 
 The passage, supposed to relate to a discovery of aerostation as early as 1607, is very short, and for the sake 
 
 !' i loarnen may be here repeated : 
 
 S..pt. 27. 1607. 
 
 " The greatest nowes of this ouuntrie is of an ingenious fellow, that in Barkcshire sailed or went over a high 
 !v in a boat, all of his owno making ; and, without other help linn himself in her, conveyed her above twenty 
 miles by land over hills and dales to the river, and so down to London." 
 
 in 1606 the celebrated Peirescius (Nicolas Uande Fabri de Peiresc) came with the French Ambassador 
 _;land, was graciously received by King James, and having gone to Oxford, and visited Camden, Sir Robert 
 1 ii. Sir Henry Saville, and other literary men, went over to Holland. While there he travelled to Scoveling 
 for the purpose of seeing a sailing chariot lately made under the direction of the celebrated mathematician and 
 iii' rliaiiist Simon Stcviuus. Peireecius was much struck with the invention, and, according to Gassendus (' Vita 
 IViiv-kii,' lib. ii.), he used to describe the astonishment with which he was hurried along, driven by a rapid wind, 
 which was yet not perceived by those in the chariot, for they went as fast as the wind itself. 
 
 "Commemorare wilt-bat stuporein quo correptus fuerat, cum vonto translatus citatissimo non persentiscero 
 tamen, ncinpe tarn citus er.it quam ventus." 
 
 !'. irescius describes the sailing chariot as going from Sceveling to Putten, about forty-two English miles, in 
 two hours. Another contemporaneous writer, Walceins, describes the carriage as carrying six or ten persons a 
 di>tun<T of twenty or thirty (i,-nn<in miles in a few hours, with far greater speed than the swiftest ship on the sea, 
 being completely under the easy command of the man at the helm. 
 
 It is known that Peirescius was obliged, by family affairs, to return to Paris in September 1606; and thus 
 the striking invention, or possibly application of a kind of locomotive used before in China, and oven in Spain, 
 would be made known to his literary and scientific friends in France and in England. 
 
 Grotius celebrated the ingenuity of Stevinus in two epigrams. The fifth epigram contained in bin ' 1'oemata' 
 
 is as follows : 
 
 " Impoeuit plaustro vectantem carbasa navim ? 
 
 An potitiH navi subdidit ille rotas? 
 Scandit aquas navis : currus ruit acre prono : 
 Et merito dicas, ' Hie rolat, ilia natat.' " 
 
 In his fifteenth epigram he pays a graceful and elegant tribute to Stevinus, after the Roman fashion, a 
 reference being made, in the second line, to the celestial constellation, Argo Navis : 
 
 " Ventivolum Tiphyi dcduxit in aequora navim : 
 
 Jupiter in Stellas artheriamque domum : 
 In terrestre soluin virtus Stcvinia : nam nee, 
 Tipby, tuum fuerat, nee Jovis istud opus." 
 
 The success of the experiment in Holland at least aa early as September 1606, was likely to produce 
 imitators in England as early as September 1607 ; and "the ingenious fellow in Barkeshire " appears to have been 
 one. He conveyed " a boat all of his owne making," " above twenty miles by land, over hills and dales," upon 
 one of which hills he might well be over, or above, " a high steeple " in a dale and so arriving at the river, 
 might proceed to London by water in his boat, detached from its temporary wheels. 
 
 That it is possible for a wheeled carriage driven by sails, to pass over uneven ground, was experimentally 
 proved about the year 1820, when such a carriage travelled along the turnpike-road from Great Chesterford to 
 Newmarket, a distance of about fifteen miles, over some considerable hills, at the rate, it is said, of about thirteen 
 miles an hour. The writer of this reply saw Unit sailing carriage in motion on Newmarket Heath. It was cutter- 
 rigged. with a fore-and-aft mainsail and triangular fore-sail. It carried several persons; worked easily to 
 win'lua'.l. ..... iiing up to the wind and tacking as readily as a boat on the water ; and its speed was Uien such a* 
 
 to keep a horse at a moderate canter in order to accompany it 
 
 It would thus appear that the alxjve passage has probably no reference to aerostation. If such a discovery 
 bad been made at the beginning of the seventeenth century, it never could have been lost. We should have 
 found allusions to it in Up. \\ilkinsV ' Discourse concerning the I'osKibility of a Passage to the World in the 
 Moon,' 1638. and in his Mathematical Magic," 1048. Yet, while that daring and most original thinker dcM-i-il.es 
 
30 ANABAAHN. A.D. 1660-70. 
 
 at length Stevinus's sailing chariot, and discusses several means by which flight might be effected mechanically, 
 he makes no mention of a balloon, or any similar means of rising in the air. He does not appear to be acquainted 
 even with the theoretical notion of his contemporary, the Jesuit Lana, who proposed to exhaust hollow balls 
 of metal, and thus to render them specifically lighter than the atmosphere, forgetful that such balls would be 
 crushed by the enormous pressure of the external air, unsupported by a fluid within. 
 
 Wilkins, Bishop of Chester, who died in 1672, had read many of the foregoing 
 quotations, and wrote a work named ' Daedalus ; or, Mechanical Motions,' in which he 
 embodies the sentiments and principles of Roger Bacon on this subject, giving, however, 
 quainter illustrations, to show that the atmosphere is navigable. Man now erred by attempts 
 to imitate the flight of birds, and from a lack of empirical knowledge with regard to the laws 
 of heat and gases, which remained an enigma till revealed by the experiments of Priestley and 
 Cavendish, about the middle of the eighteenth century. We may here notice, that " in tracing 
 the progress of knowledge in relation to atmospheric buoyancy, it exhibits to the mind a very striking 
 exemplification of the nearness with which we may approach to the desired object of our pursuits, and 
 yet, for the want of knowing correctly the application of a trifling part of it, how long we may 
 be baffled in perfecting our schemes" * 
 
 Bishop Wilkins thus succinctly speaks of the several ways by which " flying hath been or 
 may be attempted " : 
 
 " 1st. By spirits or angels. 
 2nd. By the help of fowls. 
 
 3rd. By wings fastened immediately to the body. 
 4th. By flying chariots." 
 
 This appears much the order in which we read of them in history. 
 
 " By spirits and angels." Instances occur in the Bible ; and, if we could believe 
 spiritualists, this is again revived. 
 
 " By the help of fowls." As related in Persian and other Oriental tales ; of which the 
 following is a good sample, from a manuscript in the British Museum : 
 
 ' Translation of the relation of the Aerial Voyage of Kai Kaoos, King of Persia, the 
 Cyaxares of the Greeks, from the Persian of Ferodosee, the Shah-Nameh, or King-Book, 
 written in the tenth century.' 
 
 " To the king it became a matter of great concern how he might be enabled to ascend 
 " the heavens, without wings ; and for that purpose he consulted the astrologers, who 
 " presently suggested a way in which his desires might be successfully accomplished. 
 
 " They contrived to rob an Eagle's nest of its young, which they reared with great care, 
 " supplying them with invigorating food. 
 
 " A Frame of Aloes-wood was then prepared and at each of the four corners was fixed 
 " perpendicularly a javelin, surmounted on the point with the flesh of a goat. At each corner 
 " again one of the eagles was bound, and in the middle the king was seated with a goblet of 
 " wine before him. AS soon as the eagles became hungry they endeavoured to get at 
 " the goat's flesh upon the javelins, and by flapping their wings, and flying upwards 
 
 WISE, 'History of Aeronautics.' 
 
IIITII i 'I:M-M:Y. 
 
 KAI KAODS, K1N<; ()F I'KKSIA. 
 
 31 
 
 tlu-v ijiiiekly rai.-ed tin- tlm-ne from the ground. Hunger still pressing on them, and -till 
 distant from tlicir prey, tln-y ascended higher and higher in the clduds, conveying the 
 king tin l.eyoml his own country. But after a long and fruitless exertion their 
 stivnirtli failed tin-in. :nnl unal)le to ke.-p tln-ir way the whole fabric came tuml.ling down 
 from tin- sky, :nid fell upon a dreary solitude in the kingdom of Chin : where Kai Ka....- 
 was l.-t't a pn-y to huntrer, alone, and in utter despair." 
 
 KAI KAOOS, TITE PERSIAS Kixo. 
 
 Tli tales of the Roc in the 'Arabian Nights,' and also the wondrous Ganzas, an- 
 familiar to us, and, only a century ago, were still believed in England.* 
 
 Automata were then devised, and tin human mind speculated for centuries on "fastening 
 wings to tli l.i >dy " ; or even, like Archytas in the fourth century before the Christian ern, in 
 making a dovi-. Two or three instances will suffice. 
 
 Cordon and Sfoligrr doc unnnimniuly nffirm. tlmt there ig ft 
 l.inl amongst the Indian* of to great a bigncaae, that hu beak is 
 "ft. n med U> make a (heath or -nl>benl for a mrortl. And Arotta 
 . I'.iwl in l\m mlliil <'<mii>rr*, whii-h will of thrmselreB 
 kill and <t up a wl.<>!.> cwlf nt a tinu . N"..r i- tlu-n- uiiy niuon 
 why any ittlii-r lly may not be iiip|irt<-d nnd mrri. d ITI tin- air, 
 it i-hniild a. much exceed the quantity f these fowl an tin y 
 
 do the quantity of a flie. Mnrriu I'olus meotioni a fowl in Mail.-i- 
 gaacar which ho caU a ICiick. tho featherx of whole wing* nrv 1'2 
 paces, or threescore, foot long, wliirh run with as mucli own *.p up 
 an cli'pliant an our kite* do a mouse. If thin relation wi-m anything 
 .n.lil.lr. it niii;ht serve aa an abundant pr<f for tin- pn -nt ., 
 \VHKIV-. Hi-l...p of Chester, 
 
32 ANABAAHN. A.D. 1042. 
 
 'Tis related of a certain English monk (Elmerus) in the reign of the Confessor, that he 
 did by such wings fly from a tower above a furlong ; and so another from St. Mark's steeple 
 at Venice ; and Busbeqiiius speaks of a Turk at Constantinople who attempted something this 
 way. Burton (in his ' Anatomy of Melancholy '), mentioning this quotation, doth believe that 
 some new-fangled wit ('tis his cynical phrase) will some time or other find out this art. In the 
 beginning of the tenth century an Italian adventurer visited Scotland, during the reign of 
 James IV., and, being a man of some address, and at the same time a pretender to alchemy, 
 he contrived to insinuate himself into the favour of that gay and needy prince, by holding out 
 hopes of augmenting his scanty treasury by the acquisition of the philosopher's stone. 
 
 He was collated by royal favour to the abbey of Tungland (or Tongland), in Galloway ; 
 but, not having succeeded in creating artificial riches, he resolved, in the height of his 
 enthusiasm, at once to gratify and astonish the courtiers by the display of a feat still more 
 extraordinary. 
 
 Having constructed a set of ample wings, composed of various plumage, he undertook to 
 fly through the air from the walls of Stirling Castle to France. This experiment he had 
 actually the folly and hardihood to try, but soon came to the ground, and broke his thigh-bone 
 by the violence of the fall. For this unlucky failure, however, the abbot had the dexterity to 
 draw a very plausible excuse from the wretched sophistry termed science, in that age. 
 
 " My wings," said the artful Italian, " were composed of various feathers. "Among them 
 " were the feathers of dunghill fowls, and, by a certain sympathy, were attracted to the 
 ' ; dunghill ; whereas had my wings been composed of eagles' alone, the same sympathy would 
 " have attracted them to the region of the air." 
 
 Like attempts were made at Tubingen and Vienna; and, in the reign of Louis XIV., the 
 noble terrace of St. Germain en Laye witnessed the rope-dancer Allard's endeavour to fly 
 across the Seine to Vesinet ; but, falling at the bottom of the wall, he broke a limb. 
 
 Eoger Bacon. Lauretus Laurus, Schottus, Cardan (already quoted), and Scaliger, gave 
 countenance to such experiments ; and it was not till Borelli published his celebrated work, 
 ' De Motu Animalium,' in 1670, showing by accurate calculations the prodigious force 
 which the pectoral muscles of birds must exert and maintain, that these projects were 
 abandoned, except by a few. The most remarkable of these attempts appeared in the 
 ' Journal des Savans,' 12th September, 1678, when a Mons. Besnier, of the province of Maine, 
 tried the experiment, represented in the following woodcut : 
 
 M. BESNIEH. 
 
v.,,. ir-D. Till: .IKSUI I'ATIIKU ULNA'S PROPOSITIONS. 88 
 
 " Ces ailes sont chacnne un chassis oblong de taffetas, attachees h chaquc bout dc deux 
 batons que 1'nn aju>tait snr les epanles. Ces chasses se pliaient du haut en bas comme 
 dcs liattant -If \olris liri-< >. ( 'oux de devant etaient rcmucs par les mains, et ceux de derricre 
 p:ir les pieds. en tirant cliaenn uiu' ficelle qui leur etait attachce." 
 
 The inventor di<l nut pivtend that he could rise from the earth, or sustain himself lonj^ in 
 the air with them, from the inability to give his apparatus the required power and rapidity ; 
 luit he availed himself of their aid in progressively raising himself from one height to another 
 until IK- reached the top of a house, from the roof of which he passed over the neighbouring 
 houses. By thus leaving an elevated position, he could cross a river of considerable breadth, 
 or anv other obstacle. His first pair of wings were purchased by a Mr. Baldwin, of Guibre, 
 who, it is said, used them with remarkable success. And finally Blanchard, of whom we shall 
 hear more hereafter, wrote thus to the 'Journal de Paris:' " Je rends done, 11 1'occasion de 
 sa premiere ascen>ion en ballon au Champ-de-Mars, le 2 Mars, 1784, un hommage pur et 
 sincere a riiamortel Montgolfier, sans le secours duquel j'avoue que le mecanisme de mes ailes 
 ne in'aiirait peiit-etre jamais servi qu"a agiter un element indocile qui m'aurait obstineraent 
 sur la tcrre comme le lourd autruche, moi, qui comptais disputer ii 1'aigle le cheinin 
 des nn< 
 
 We again quote from Mr. Wise: 
 
 The philosophers, from Bacon's time down to the discovery of the true nature of atmospheric pressure, as 
 illustrated by the Torricellian tube, and air-pump, in their speculations upon aerial navigation, all had an opinion 
 that the atmosphere had a defined limit or border, not very high above the earth, upon which the aerial vessel 
 must necessarily be placed in order to have it buoyed up by the air underneath, like the water under a ship. 
 Reasoning from their knowledge of hydrostatics, they took it for granted that the atmosphere was a vast ocean of 
 air surrounding our globe, upon the outer border of which rested another ethereal ocean of a much rarer kind, 
 separate and distinct as the air rests upon the water. Still they approached nearer, in each succeeding generation, 
 to an attainment of navigating the air. Judging, then, from the scanty knowledge they possessed of pneumatics, 
 iind indeed of all the sciences, they are entitled to a great deal of credit, in regard to the art of aerial navigation, 
 as also to other important subjects. It does seem that, if the progressive individuals of our generation were to 
 apply themselves with the same earnestness to this subject now, that those did before us whom wo have made 
 reference to, it would not be long before we should see air travelling as much preferred and in advance of 
 steamboat and railroad travelling, as the latter are now in advance of the old-fashioned stage-coach and schooner 
 method. In the course of our history, we shall see that the discovery by the Montgolfiers created a spirit for its 
 advancement so far beyond a legitimate end, that wo may ascribe to it much of the apathy that has followed 
 it. At the present time, there is, however, a new and sober determination growing up again in the way 
 <if improving this neglected art. 
 
 The great interest that was manifested in the seventeenth century from the numerous experiments that were 
 
 going on in every civilised part of the world, brought into the field many able writers on this subject, which soon 
 
 il the knowledge and history of the past, and created a fresh stimulus to the investigation of all subjects 
 
 that had any l m- relation to, the improvement of aerial navigation. Hypothetical narrations had now 
 
 to give way to the more solid principles that naturally suggested themselves under such a state of improvement. 
 
 Mathematical demonstration was resorted to as the only sure guide to direct the progress of the arts, and thus the 
 
 veil .if m\ -;rry could no longer cover the vague pretensions of monopolised learning. The researches of alchemy 
 
 : United many valuable discoveries towards strengthening the rational philosophy of the ilnv. 
 
 And fii'iu about this period we date the beginning of the most important and useful improvements in the 
 
 operations of mankind. 
 
 :<;is I .ana, a .Jesuit, and a very judicious writer, deduced from the new discoveries the real nature and 
 prest.ii:' i if the utmiispheie. and is the first who established a theory verified by mathematical accuracy, and 
 clearness of perception, which pi, iced him far in advance of his predecessors in the science of aerial navi^ntinn. 
 He veiy tinly inferred that a vessel e.\haii.-ted r,f air would weigh less than when full of that fluid, lie also 
 in his problem-- that the capacity of globular vessels increases much faster than their surf.io s. For 
 
ANABAAHN. 
 
 A.D. 1670. 
 
 example, two globular vessels, one of ten feet diameter, and another of twenty feet diameter ; the first will have a 
 capacity of 523 cubic feet and a fraction over, while the other will have 4189 cubic feet. The surface of the 
 larger is four times that of the smaller, while its capacity, or contents, is eight times as great. This is a very 
 important consideration in the construction of balloons. Thus, a balloon that would carry one person, would 
 weigh one hundred pounds, which is about the weight of such a one, and would cost between 40/. and 50/. ; one 
 capable of carrying two persons would not cost more than between 601. and 101., and would not weigh more than 
 one hundred and fifty pounds. Now, a balloon of the power first mentioned would be about twenty feet in 
 diameter, which, when filled with ordinary hydrogen gas, would have an ascending power of two hundred and fifty 
 pounds, while one of five times its diameter, being one hundred feet, would have an ascending power of thirty-two 
 thousand seven hundred and twenty-five pounds, which would be capable of carrying one hundred and sixty-six 
 men, independent of its own weight and necessary appendages. 
 
 Lana proposed to prepare four hollow globes of copper, each twenty feet in diameter, and so thin, that they 
 would weigh less than an equal bulk of atmosphere, when they were exhausted of air. To these globes he 
 designed fastening a boat, in which the aeronaut and his appendages were to be stationed, for the purpose 
 of directing the machine. Although the idea laid down here involves the same principles by which aeronautics are 
 practised at the present day, still, several obstacles present themselves which must have rendered his plan 
 impracticable. The copper, of which the balloons were to have been made, must necessarily have been so thin, to 
 make the vessels light enough, that they would not have been strong enough to resist the external pressure of the 
 atmosphere when they were exhausted. 
 
 The barometer, by which the pressure of the atmosphere is ascertained, was discovered in 1643. The 
 weight of the air, as shown by the Torricellian tube, being about fifteen pounds to every square inch of surface, 
 was no doubt the stimulus to Lana's proposition of the copper globes. His work, entitled ' Prodrome dell' Arte 
 Maestra Brecia,' in which he describes his machine, appeared in 1670, while the air-pump was not invented, 
 or at least its invention not made known, until the year 1672. The great pressure of the air, as shown by the 
 barometer, without a knowledge of its specific gravity, would very naturally induce a belief that it possessed 
 a much greater weight than it really has, which is one and two-tenth ounces to the cubic foot. Had Lana known 
 the exact pressure and specific gravity of the air, his mathematical knowledge would have at once convinced him 
 of the impracticability of his machinery. 
 
 JESUIT FATHER LANA'S PROPOSITION. 
 
 A letter dated Lisbon, the 10th of February, was published soon after in some of the scientific journals 
 of Paris, containing with it the copy of an address presented to the King of Portugal, in the year 1709, by 
 
1'k.J,. t,.,ruf,luTj ,,l I/if tkr/n,/H.; <///->,;, It/ft,; .W/////////>/,/,/ ,/., //. .n t ,.-i;,il.;i.l.-mr ,*<'/*" Hllrl*t,a,H .*,.,.:'/:'/. ///.*<.'//' '/'.-''J XV. / .'.' ., /1,,-rrlnf 
 
 IRCA 
 

 ,\'i v u 
 r.~i j r 
 
\.n. i:on. BARTHOLOMEW I.AIKKM'E DE GU8MAN, THE PORTUGUEH I i;i M, 1 . 
 
 a friar called Rarth"l..m> \v l.atir.-nee d.- (iuMimn. In this the jK'titinner represents himself as having invented u 
 flying ma. hine, capable of carrying passengers, and navigating through tho air very swiftly. He also requests the 
 privilege of being tho sole possessor of the invention, desiring a prohibition against all and every person from 
 ooostructing a similar machine under a severe penalty. Upon this tho king issued the following order in 
 
 his favour: 
 
 " Agreeably to the advice of my council, I order the pain of death against the transgressor. And, in order 
 : i-nconrage the suppliant to apply himself with zeal towards improving the machine which is capable of 
 immuring the effects mentioned by him, I also grant him the first IVofessorshi]! nf Mathematics in my University 
 I" ( '"iinbr.t. liinl tho first vacancy in my College of Barcelona, with tho annual pension of 600,000 reis during 
 his lift-. 
 
 The 17th day of April, 1709." 
 
 It is said notwithstanding that, through the influence of the Inquisition, he was thrown 
 into prison. 
 
 Father (ialien, of Avignon, published a work called ' L'Art de Naviguer dans les Airs 
 in 17 ">;">, when the force of general superstition, that still imputed all flights in the air to 
 demons or magicians, obliged him to qualify it with the additional title of ' Amusement 
 Physique et Geometriiue.* It contained a wild scheme of ascending mountains, and enclosing 
 the light ethereal air found at such altitudes, in constructions of canvas or cotton; while the 
 maehiiie lie had the boldness to project and minutely describe, was about ten times the size of 
 Noah's ark, and could have lifted the whole town of Avignon, where he resided. 
 
 Till: PORTCODESF. EXPKRIMCNT. 
 
 Till: FLIGHT OF IM.\<; I\ ATI' >N. 
 
 The hiRh-born soul 
 
 Disdains to rest her heaven-asjiirin.: wing 
 Heneath its native quarry. Tired of earth 
 And this <!iurn:. 
 ThrouL'h fi< Ms of air : pursues the flying storm ; 
 
 Rides on the volleyed lightning through the heavens ; 
 Or, yoked with whirlwinds and tho northern blast, 
 iw the long tract of day. Tlien high she soars 
 The blue profound, and hovering round the sun, 
 Iteholda him pouring the redundant stream 
 
 F '-' 
 
ANABAAHN. 
 
 A.D. 1744. 
 
 Of light ; beholds his unrelenting sway 
 Bend the reluctant planets to absolve 
 The fated rounds of Time. Thence far effused 
 She darts her swiftness up the long career 
 Of devious comets ; through its burning signs 
 Exulting measures the perennial wheel 
 Of Nature, and looks back on all the stars, 
 Whose blended light, as with a milky zone, 
 Invests the orient. 'Now amazed she views 
 The empyreal waste, where happy spirits hold, 
 Beyond this concave heaven, their calm abode ; 
 And fields of radiance, whose unfading light 
 Has travelled the profound six thousand years, 
 Nor yet arrives in sight of mortal things. 
 Even on the barriers of the world untired, 
 
 She meditates the eternal depth below ; 
 
 Till, half recoiling, down the headlong steep 
 
 She plunges ; soon o'erwhelmed and swallowed up 
 
 In that immense of being. There her hopes 
 
 Best at the fated goal. For from the birth 
 
 Of mortal man, the sovereign Maker said, 
 
 That not in humble nor in brief delight, 
 
 Not in the fading echoes of renown, 
 
 Power's purple robes, nor Pleasure's flowery lap, 
 
 The soul should find enjoyment ; but from these, 
 
 Turning disdainful to an equal good, 
 
 Through all the ascent of things enlarge her view, 
 
 Till every bound at length should disappear, 
 
 And infinite perfection close the scene. 
 
 MARK AKENSIIIK. 1744. 
 
 THE ART OF FLYING BUKLESQUED. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 1783-5. 
 
 rnEPNE*HS; OR. MOXTGOLFIERES AND CHARLIKKK.s. AND THE TWO YEARS OF UNINTERRUPTED SUCCESS. 
 
 MontRolfior nous n|i[irit fc creor 1111 nuage. 
 Son gfnic 6tonnanl, nilgai hnrdi que sage, 
 Sons un immense voile rnlcnnnnt la vapcur 
 Par ta ca|citc lii-truit la pcsanU'iir. 
 Notre aiidaco, bicntfit, en saura faire usage, 
 Now soumcttrons de 1'air le mobile element, 
 Et des champ* azures le pe'rilleux voyage 
 Ne nous paraltra plus qu'un simple amusement. 
 
 Ill) \I"\I'.<>1.KIER FAMILY THK INVENTION AT ANNONAY THE INSTITUTION OF THE "DERBY," AND THE DISCOVERY OK 
 
 IIIK (IMPOSITION OK WATKK THE EXPERIMENT AT PARIS " A PATERNAL GOVERNMENT" TIBERIUS CAVALIX) "A 
 
 SHEEP, A COCK, AND A DUCK " " EXPERIMENTS" " HONOURS TO MONTGOI.FIER " TO nPHTOnTHMA COUNT ZAMIIET- 
 CARI IN LONDON WOOLWICH TO PETWORTH THE CHARL1SRE " HONOURS TO CHARLES " EXPERIMENTS AT MIILA- 
 I'KI.PHI.V, U.S. SEVEN PEOPLE ASCEND AT LYONS THK FIRST PILOT BALLOON ACROSS THE CHANNEL PAUL ANIHil \M 
 AT MILAN JEAN-PIERRE BLANCHARD THE ASCENT OF FOUR LADIES MADAME TIIIHI.K, THE FIRST LADY TO ASCEND IX 
 A 1 IKE-BALLOON Dl'KK Hi: rHARTRES LUNARDI AN ITAU\s's VIEW OF ENGLISH SOCIETY CHELSEA HOSPITAL 
 THK ARTILLERY GROUND "THE PRINCE OF WALES " THK FIRST ASCENT IN ENGLAND "ENGLISH LAW " 1111 
 
 'MORNING POST'OFSEPT. 16-rn, 1784 THE DESCHNT AT WARE, IN HERTFORDSHIRE PRESENTATION TO THE KING 
 
 DEPOSITIONS A WELL -KNOWN GENTLEMAN IN THE LITERARY WORLD A VOYAGE OF ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY MILES 
 
 SECOND AERIAL VOYAGE IN ENGLAND ASCENT FROM OXFORD BLANCHARD JEFFERIES CROSSES THE CHANNEL 
 
 SHAKSPEARE'S CUFF CALAIS A MONUMENT ERECTED GENERAL REMARKS. 
 
 THK inventors of the aerostat will be for ever remembered. Their family history is also 
 of much interest. The Montgolfiers were natives of the small town of Ambert, in Auvergne. 
 At the close of the last century there was still seen on the slope of the hill that overhangs the 
 t<>\vn the ruins of the ancient residence of the Montgolfier family; and they either gave their 
 name to, or took it from, the surrounding country, as may be noticed in the old map by 
 Tassini. 
 
 The oldest paper manufactories in France were established at Thiers and Ambert. The 
 invention of this manufacture dates from a remote epoch; for in the time of St. Louis, the 
 I M dally Damascus, supplied the world with paper. St. Louis mentions this in his 
 lettt-rs to Joinville. Paper was then male from cotton, and was called " Carta Damascena." 
 
 There exist in the archives of the province of Auvergne, acts that speak of a paper 
 manufactory at Ambert, in 1386. To its citizens belongs the glory more especially to 
 OIK- M..iii^i,lfuT (whose name signifies the Master of the Mountain) of introducing thiv 
 manufacture into France, on their return from the sixth, and last Crusade, when, according 
 to historians, a great number of " Auvergnats " were made prisoners of war. During that 
 
38 TIIEPNE<f>H2. 
 
 long captivity they had become acquainted with the manufactories of Damascus. Soon after 
 setting up the mills in their native town, they found rags were as good for the purpose as the 
 new cotton exclusively used in the East. 
 
 From the annals of Ambert, it appears that a Montgolfier was the " barege," or mayor, 
 of that town in 1440. 
 
 Paper at this time was only used for writing ; but the invention of cards, in the reign of 
 Charles VI., increased its consumption. 
 
 Michel Montaigne speaks of this manufacture when passing through Thiers on his return 
 from Italy, " II y a autant de fac.ons a cela, dit-il, qu'a une autre bonne besogne ; les cartes ne 
 se vendent qu'un sou les communes, et les fines deux." Later, when printing (that triumph 
 of written thought) was discovered, the manufactories of Auvergne found a new demand for 
 their products, and flourished accordingly. 
 
 In 1533, when Luther and Calvin preached, a great number of " Auvergnats," and 
 among others Montgolfier, ardently embraced the reformed religion. The Montgolfier of this 
 generation was one of the most zealous Protestants, and, at his own expense, he sent to 
 Geneva for ministers of the Gospel. His zeal brought on himself and his family a rigorous 
 persecution. After the Massacre of St. Bartholomew (1572) his goods were confiscated, his 
 paper manufactories destroyed, and he was obliged to fly. Montgolfier, with his family, took 
 refuge in the mountains near Lyons, where he again introduced the manufacture of paper. 
 
 Towards the end of the seventeenth century there lived at Vidalon, near Annonay, at 
 the foot of the mountains of Vivarais, a wealthy owner of a number of windmills, named 
 Antoine Schelle. He had two daughters. Jean Montgolfier, paper manufacturer, of 
 St. Didier sur Beaujeu, asked them in marriage for his two sons, Michel and Eaymond. 
 This double union was celebrated in January, 1693. The windmills were transformed into 
 paper manufactories, and, under the direction of the brothers Montgolfier, these establishments 
 became important, and at length attained the rank of a royal manufactory. In consequence 
 of these marriages the greater part of the Montgolfier family came and lived at Annonay. 
 Raymond Montgolfier had a large family, and among them Pierre Montgolfier, who was the 
 father of the inventors of the Aerostat. He had already received many tokens of approbation 
 from Louis XYI. when the brilliant discovery of his sons to be mentioned presently 
 crowned his happiness. 
 
 The poet Boissy d' Anglas says of him : 
 
 La gloire I'etivironne, et ses cheveux blanchis 
 S'embellissent encore des lauriers de ses fils. 
 
 The following letter-patent, which in chronological order should come in a little later, 
 here shows the estimation in which the family was held : 
 
 Lettres-patentes donnees par le Roi Louis XVI 6 - du nom, au Sieur Pierre Montgolfier, Decembre 1783 : 
 
 Louis, by the grace of God King of France and of Navarre, to all present and to come, greeting : 
 The aerostatic machines invented by the two brothers, the Sires Etienno-Jacques and Joseph-Michel 
 Montgolfier, have become so celebrated, the experiment made before us on the 19th of September by the said 
 Etienne-Jacques Montgolfier, and those that have followed, have had such success, that we have no doubt but that 
 this invention will cause a memorable epoch in physical history ; we hope also that it will furnish new means 
 to increase the power of man, or at least to extend his knowledge. 
 
v.i'. IT-.". 
 
 Till: Mn\T.;n|. TIKI; I . \M1I.V 
 
 l'i T>u.iilf<l tliat ..IP- <>f "in .In. i' duties is to encourage persons who cultivate the sciences, and to show the 
 
 - i>f niir good wishes to those who succeed in enriching thorn by happy discoveries, Wo have thought that this 
 ought inniv especially to draw our atteutinn to tint two enlightened naturalists who share the glory of the discovery. 
 
 U I have leanit that the Sire " Pierre Montgolfier," their lather, i of an ancient and honourable family, and 
 that having received from hi* ancestors a paper manufactory situated at Annonay, in Vivarais, he has rendered it 
 l>y his care and intelligence one of the most important in the kingdom, so that 300 people are there employed. 
 We are also informed that the said Sire " Pierre Montgolfier " was the first to make Vellum Paper, and that in 17HO 
 the State> of Languedoc, wishing to imitate the Dutch manufacture, intrusted to him the commission, by which he 
 gave so much satisfaction, that many manufacturers copied his productions. These circumstances relating to the 
 Sire " Pierre Montgolfier" are sufficient to place him among those largo manufacturers who by their zeal, their 
 activity, and their talents, can hope to receive the most flattering and distinguished honour we are able to accord- 
 that of being raised to the rights and prerogatives of the nobility. But what has caused us to bestow it at once on 
 the She Pierre Montgolfier" is, that it may be (both) a reward worthy of the labours of the father and of the 
 beautiful discovery of aerostatic machines, entirely owing to the knowledge and researches of his two sons. 
 
 For these causes, by our especial grace, full power, and royal authority, we have ennobled, and by these 
 presents signed by our hand do ennoble the said Sire " Pierre Montgolfier," and we have honoured and do 
 honour him with the title of Squire; and we wibh and it pleases us that he be enrolled and addressed, as wo have 
 enrolled and addressed him. Noble, at all times, together with his children and descendants, male and female, born 
 and to be born in legitimate marriage; that they may like him at all times and in all places be ranked as squires, 
 and Ixj enabled to arrive at all degrees of chivalry and other dignities, titles, and qualities, reserved for our 
 nobility, that they shall be inscribed in the list of squires, and that they shall enjoy all rights, privileges, and 
 prerogative-, that are reserved to them. 
 
 (Signed) Louis. 
 Par le Boi. 
 
 LE BARON DE BRETKUIL.* 
 
 shout of joy rang through Europe, and reached the ear of 
 the aged Eulerf on the banks of the Neva, who, between 
 attacks of vertigo, which were soon to carry him from this 
 scene to a better, dictated to his sons the calculations he 
 IKK! made on Aerostatical Globes. It is said he ceased to 
 calculate and live at the same instant. 
 
 The cause of so great enthusiasm had better be given 
 in the accurate description that immediately circulated among 
 the peoples : 
 
 On Thursday, 5th June, 1783, the States of Vivarais being assembled 
 at Annonay (36 miles from Lyons), Messrs. Montgolfier invited them to 
 see their new aerostatic experiment. 
 
 Imagine the surprise of the Deputies and spectators on seeing in 
 the public square a ball, 110 feet in circumference, attached at its base to a wooden frame of 16 feet surface. 
 This enormous bag, with frame, weighed 300 Ibs., and could contain 22,000 feet of vapour. 
 
 * Depui* Deloonrt's Hi-:, ii. d'AcrostaU.' 
 
 , -.it ll.il. I.Mh April. 17(17; Frofewor of 
 
 M.itlieinatica: Mi-mU r of th. In.|- ri:.l Ar:nl. in\ of St. I'etenborg; 
 Aneieiit lhWt.,r of the K,.y:,l A. I. my MI It. iliti : I-MJ.S.. :u, 
 n-|imlin^ M> nil" r of tlie Itoyal A.ii.l. my ..t r'nuiec ; the inn! 
 many work - r.-et say: " Kulcr wag one 
 
 of thoHc men whose gi-niu* was equally capable of the greatest efforts 
 and of the moat continued labour; whu multipli- -1 hi- productions 
 
 beyond what might hare been expected from human strength, and 
 who, notwithstanding, was original in .n.-h : u !.. In -:u\ was always 
 
 1. mid his mind always calm. The nature ..f l.i- punraits, 
 l.y vuihdmwiiii; him from the world, preserved that wmpli. 
 nuimii r- tor which he wus originally indebted to hi- .-liaiart. r and 
 
 .u ; mid 1 mployed none of thoac mean* to wliirh men 
 
 I merit have mftimt* recourse in order ! im- 
 
 of their di*p>. : 
 
40 THEPNE^HS. A.D. 1783. 
 
 Imagine the general astonishment when the inventors announced that, as soon as it should be filled with gas 
 (which they had a simple means of making), it would rise of itself to the clouds. One must here remark that, 
 notwithstanding the general confidence in the knowledge and wisdom of Messrs. Montgolfier, such an experiment 
 appeared so incredible to those who were present, that all doubted of its success. 
 
 But Messrs. Montgolfier taking it in hand, proceed to make the vapours, which gradually swell it out till it 
 assumes a beautiful form. Strong arms are now required to retain it ; at a given signal it is loosed, rises with 
 rapidity, and in ten minutes attains a height of 6000 feet; it proceeds 7668 feet in a horizontal direction, and 
 gently falls to the ground. 
 
 Just as the Omnipotent, who turns 
 
 The system of a world's concerns, 
 
 From mere minutiae can educe 
 
 Events of the most important use ; 
 
 But who can tell how vast the plan, 
 
 Which this day's incident began ? 
 
 The effect of this letter in England was to cause a display of jealousy at which we might 
 now blush, if we do not remember that the sagacious and convincing views of Adam Smith on 
 Political Economy had only just been published, and had not yet had time to circulate ; for, 
 though we were obliged to admit a discovery had been made in France, yet the periodicals 
 argued that all the experiments that had led to it were made in England. Many were the 
 caricatures which appeared, as will be noticed in a subsequent chapter. 
 
 Brisson, in his ' Dictionnaire Baisonne de Physique,' says, " Je ne fais que repe'ter, ce 
 que le citoyen Montgolfier m'a affirme lui meme lorsqu'il est venu a Paris annoncer sa 
 decouverte, la citoyenne Montgolfier, ayant place un jupon sur un de ses paniers d'osier a 
 claire-voie dont les femmes font usage pour secher leur linge, le jupon fut eleve jusqu'au 
 plancher. C'est de ce fait que sont partis les citoyens Montgolfier." 
 
 In a discourse at the Academy of Lyons, Montgolfier says that a French copy of Priestley's 
 ' Experiments relating to the Different Kinds of Air ' came in his way, and was to him like 
 light in darkness ; as from that moment he conceived the possibility of navigating the air, but, 
 after some experiments in gas, he again tried smoke and hot air. This year, 1783, is not only 
 memorable for this invention of the Montgolfiers, but also for the institution of the " Derby," 
 and for the still more important discovery that Buckle, in his ' History of Civilisation,' thus 
 relates : 
 
 The only discovery made by Watt, was that of the composition of water. Though his claims are disputed by 
 the friends of Cavendish, it would appear that he was the first who ascertained that water, instead of being an 
 element, is a compound of two gases. This discovery was a considerable step in the history of chemical analysis, 
 but it neither involved nor suggested any new law of nature, and has, therefore, no claim to mark an epoch in the 
 history of the human mind. There is, however, one circumstance connected with it which is too characteristic to 
 be passed over in silence. The discovery was made in 1783, by Watt, the Scotchman, and by Cavendish, the 
 Englishman, neither of whom seems to have been aware of what the other was doing. But between the two there 
 was this difference, Watt, for several years previously, had been speculating on the subject of water in connexion 
 with air, and having, by Black's law of latent heat, associated them together, he was prepared to believe that one 
 is convertible into tho other. The idea of an intimate analogy between the two bodies having once entered his 
 mind, gradually ripened ; and when he at last completed the discovery, it was merely by reasoning from data which 
 others possessed besides himself. Instead of bringing to light new facts, he drew new conclusions from former 
 ideas. Cavendish, 011 the other hand, obtained his result by the method natural to an Englishman. He did not 
 venture to draw a fresh inference, until he had first ascertained some fresh facts. Indeed, his discovery was so 
 completely an induction from his own experience, that he omitted to take into consideration the theory of latent 
 heat, from which Watt had reasoned, and where that eminent Scotchman had found the premisses of his argument. 
 
j:;i:i. AI-QUST, A.D. 1783. TUT. r.Xl'KKIMENT AT PAHIS. 41 
 
 I'.-. tli uf these great inquirers arrived at truth, but each accomplished his journey by a different path. And this 
 antithesis U accurately expressed by one of the most celebrated of living chemists, who, in his remarks on thu 
 composition of water, truly says, that while Cavendish established the facts, Watt established the idea. 
 
 In Paris this intelligence caused a meeting of savans, who, by the advice of Mons. Faujas 
 de Saint Fond, started a public subscription for defraying the expense of making inflammable 
 gas (hydrogen), the materials of which were expensive : 1000 Ibs. of iron filings and 498 Ibs. 
 of sulphuric acid were consumed to fill a globular bag of varnished silk, which, for the first 
 time, was designated a Ballon; or Balloon, as we call it, meaning a great ball. 
 
 The filling commenced on the 23rd of August, in the Place des Victoires. Bulletins were 
 published daily of its progress, but, as the crowd was found to be immense, it was moved on 
 tin- ni.irht <>f tin 'Jtlth to the Champ de Mars, a distance of two miles. It was done secretly, 
 and in the dark, to avoid a mob. 
 
 A description by an eye-witness is as follows : " No more wonderful scene could be 
 imagined th:m the Balloon being thus conveyed, preceded by lighted torches, surrounded by a 
 ' corti -(.' ;tnd escorted by a detachment of foot and horse guards ; the nocturnal march, the 
 form aud capacity of the body, carried with so much precaution ; the silence that reigned, 
 tin- unseasonable hour, all tended to give a singularity and mystery truly imposing to all those 
 who were unacquainted with the cause. The cab-drivers on the road were so astonished that 
 tin v were impelled to stop their carriages, and to kneel humbly, hat in hand, whilst the 
 procession was passing." 
 
 In the morning the Champ de Mars was lined with troops, every house to its very top, 
 and every avenue was crowded with anxious spectators. The discharge of a cannon at 5 P.M. 
 was the signal for ascent, and the globe rose, to the great surprise of the spectators, to a 
 height of 3123 feet in two minutes, where it entered the clouds. The heavy rain which 
 descended as it rose did not impede, and tended to increase surprise. The idea that a body 
 leaving the earth was travelling in space was so sublime ; and appeared to differ so greatly 
 from ordinary laws, that all the spectators were overwhelmed with enthusiasm. The 
 satisfaction was so great that, ladies in the latest fashions allowed themselves to be drenched 
 with rain, to avoid losing sight of the globe for an instant. 
 
 The Balloon, after remaining in the atmosphere three-quarters of an hour, fell in a field 
 near Gonesse, a village fifteen miles from the Champ de Mars. The descent was imputed to a 
 tear in the silk. 
 
 The effect on the inhabitants of this village well illustrates that the human character with 
 an unawakened intellect is the same in all countries and ages : 
 
 " For on first sight it is supposed by many to have come from another world ; many fly ; 
 " others, more sensible, think it a monstrous bird. After it has alighted, there is yet motion 
 ' in it from the gas it still contains. A small crowd gains courage from numbers, and for an 
 " hour approaches by gradual steps, hoping meanwhile the monster will take flight. At 
 length one bolder than the rest takes his gun, stalks carefully to within shot, fires, witnesses 
 " the monster shrink, gives a shout of triumph, and the crowd rushes in with flails and 
 " pitchforks. One tears what lie thinks to be the skin, and causes a poisonous stench ; again 
 all retire. Shame, no doubt, now urges them on, and they tie the cause of alarm to a 
 " horse's tail, who gallops across the country, tearing it to shreds." 
 
 G 
 
42 
 
 TIIEPNE4>H2. 
 
 A.D. 1783. 
 
 A similar tale has lately been told me as having occurred in Persia, where a fire balloon 
 was let off by some French visitors to the Shah's palace at Teheran, when it alighted. No 
 less than three shots were fired at it when on the ground, before any one would venture 
 nearer. 
 
 It is no wonder, then, that the paternal government of France deemed it necessary 
 to publish the following " avertissement " to the public : 
 
 Paris, 27th August, 1783. 
 
 " Avertissement an peuple " on the ascent of balloons or globes in the air. The one in question has been raised 
 in Paris this said day, 27th August, 1783, at 5 P.M., in the Champ de Mars. 
 
 A discovery has been made, which the Government deems it right to make known, so that alarm be not 
 occasioned to the people. 
 
 On calculating the different weights of inflammable and common air, it has been found that a balloon filled 
 with inflammable air will rise towards heaven till it is in equilibrium with the surrounding air ; which may not 
 happen till it has attained a great height. 
 
 The first experiment was made at Annonay, in Vivarais, by MM. Montgolfier, the inventors; a globe 
 formed of canvas and paper, 105 feet in circumference, filled with inflammable air, reached an uncalculated 
 height. 
 
 The same experiment has just been renewed at Paris (27th August, 5 P.M.) in presence of a great crowd. 
 A globe of taffetas, covered by elastic gum, 36 feet in circumference, has risen from the Champ de Mars, and been 
 lost to view in the clouds, being borne in a north-easterly direction ; one cannot foresee where it will descend. 
 
 It is proposed to repeat these experiments on a larger scale. Any one who shall see in the sky such a globe 
 (which resembles " la lune obscurcie "), should be aware that, far from being an alarming phenomenon, it is only 
 a machine, made of taffetas, or light canvas covered with paper, that cannot possibly cause any harm, and which 
 will some day prove serviceable to the wants of society. 
 
 Read and approved, 3rd September, 1783. DE SAUVIGNY. 
 Permission for printing. LENOIR. 
 
 Balloons made of paper and goldbeater's-skin were now sent up by amateurs from 
 all places which this intelligence reached; and in September another important step was 
 made, an account of which, and of the ascents which followed during the next two years, I 
 take from the quaint but graphic ' History of Aerostation ' by Tiberius Cavallo. 
 
 Tiberius Cavallo was an electrician and natural philosopher, born at Naples, 1749. He 
 came to England in 1771, where he devoted his time to science and literature till his death, in 
 1809. In Old St. Pancras churchyard we may read the following inscription : 
 
 Beneath are deposited the Remains 
 
 of TIBERIUS CAVALLO ; 
 Son of a Neapolitan physician, 
 
 Who dedicated his life 
 To the attainment and improvement 
 
 of science, 
 
 Fixed his residence in this 
 country, as the chief seat of free inquiry, 
 
 Distinguished, 
 
 By many useful writings 
 
 and ingenious inventions, 
 
 In various tranches of 
 
 Natural Philosophy, 
 
 and no less 
 
 The independence of his principles, 
 The gentleness of his manners, 
 
 and the innocence of his life. 
 
 Unenvied, beloved, and admired, 
 
 By a meritorious circle of friends, 
 
 Who justly appreciated in him, 
 
 Those solid, 
 
 But unostentatious qualities 
 
 That contribute, most essentially, 
 
 To the happiness of mankind. 
 
A.I,. I i:\IT.KIMr.NTS. 
 
 EXTRACT FROM CAVALLO'S HISTORY OF AEROSTATION. 
 Montgoljur'i Experiment at Versailles. 
 
 On the r.Mh Se|>tenil>er, the King, Queen, the Court, and innumerable people of every rank and age, 
 at Versailles, Montgolfier being present to explain every particular. About one o'clock the fire was 
 l. in consequence of which the machine began to swell, acquired a convex form, soon stretched itself on 
 every side, and in eleven minutes' time, the cords being cut, it ascended, together with a wicker cage, which wan 
 ..d to it 1'v a rope. In this cage they had put a sheep, a cock, and a duck, which were the first animal* that 
 ever ascended into the atmosphere with an aerostatic machine, \\hon the machine went up, its power of ascension, 
 r levity. was 696 pounds, allowing for the cage and animals. 
 
 The machine raised itself to the height of about 1440 feet; and being carried by the wind, it fell gradually 
 in the wood of Vaucresson, at the distance of 10,200 feet from Versailles, after remaining in the atmosphere only 
 
 Two gamekeepers, who were accidentally in the wood, saw the machine fall very gently, so that it just bent 
 the branches of the trees upon which it alighted. The long rope to which the cage was fastened, striking against 
 the wood, was broken, and the cage came to the ground without hurting in the least the animals that were in it, 
 so that the sheep was even found feeding. The cock, indeed, had its right wing somewhat hurt ; but this was the 
 consequence of a kick it had received from the sheep, at least half an hour before, in presence of at least ten 
 
 Aerottatic Experiments in wliich Men first ventured to atoend into the Atmosphere vith an Aerostatic Machine. The 
 ling part of this history has shown the rapid progress of the subject, and has sufficiently demonstrated by 
 experiments, that little or no danger is to be apprehended for a man who ascends with such a machine into the 
 atmosphere. The steadiness of the aerostat whilst in the air, its gradual and gentle descent, the safety of the 
 animals that were sent up with it in the last-mentioned experiment, and every other observation that could be 
 deduced from all the experiments hitherto made in this new field of enquiry, seem more than sufficient to expel 
 any fear for such an enterprise ; but as no man had yet ventured in it, and as most of the attempts of flying, or of 
 lin into the atmosphere, on the most plausible schemes, had from time immemorial destroyed tho reputation 
 or the lives of the adventurers, we may easily imagine and forgive tho hesitation that men might express, of going 
 uji with one of those machines: and history will probably record, to the remotest posterity, the name of M. Pilatn- 
 do Rozier, who had the courage of first venturing to ascend into the atmosphere with a machine, which, a few 
 years hence, tho most timid woman will perhaps not hesitate to trust herself to. 
 
 The king, aware of the difficulties, ordered that two men under sentence of death should 
 be sent up ; but Pilatre de Rozier was indignant, saying, " Eh quoi ! de vils criminels 
 auraieiit les premiers la gloire de s'elever dans les airs ! Non, non, cela ne sera point." He 
 >tir> up ill-- i-itv in his behalf, and the king at length yields to the earnest entreaties of the 
 d'Arlandes, who said that he would accompany him. 
 
 Scarce ten months had elapsed since M. Montgolficr made his first aerostatic experiment, when M. Filatro 
 de Ilozier puMicly offered himself to be the first adventurer in the newly-invented aerial machine. 
 
 [Yet who but he undaunted could explore 
 
 A world of waves, a sea without a shore, 
 
 Trackless and vast and wild as that reveal'd, 
 
 When round the ark the birds of tempest wheel'd ; 
 
 When all was still in the destroying hour, 
 
 No sign of man ! no vestige of his power ! Roc EM.] 
 
 Hi- offi-r was accejittd; his courage remained undaunted; and on the 15th of October, 1783, he actually 
 ascended into the atmosphere, to the astonishment of a gazing multitude. The following are the particulars of this 
 experiment. 
 
 o 2 
 
44 THEPNE^HS. A.D. 1783. 
 
 The accident which happened to the aerostatic machine at Versailles, and its imperfect construction, induced 
 M. Montgolfier to construct another machine, of a larger size and more solid. With this intent, sufficient time 
 was allowed for the work to be properly done ; and by the 10th of October the aerostat was completed, in a garden 
 in the Fauxbourg St. Antoine. It had an oval shape, its diameter being about 48 feet, and its height about 74. 
 The outside was elegantly painted and decorated with the signs of the zodiac, with cyphers of the king's name, 
 fleurs-de-lys, &c. The aperture or lower part of the machine had a wicker gallery about three feet broad, with a 
 balustrade both within and without, about three feet high. The inner diameter of this gallery, and of the aperture 
 of the machine, the neck of which passed through it, was near 16 feet. In the middle of this aperture an iron 
 grate, or brazier, was supported by chains, which came down from the sides of the machine. In this construction, 
 when the machine was up in the air, with a fire lighted in the grate, it was easy for a person who stood in the 
 gallery, and had fuel with him, to keep up the fire in the mouth of the machine, by throwing the fuel on the grate 
 through port-holes made in the neck of the machine. By this means it was expected, as indeed it was found 
 agreeable to experience, that the machine might have been kept up as long as the person in its gallery thought 
 proper, or whilst he had fuel to supply the fire with. The weight of this aerostat was upwards of 1600 
 pounds. 
 
 On Wednesday, the 15th of October, this memorable experiment was performed. The fire being lighted, and 
 the machine inflated, M. Pilatre de Rozier placed himself in the gallery, and, after a few trials close to the ground, 
 he desired to ascend to a great height ; the machine was accordingly permitted to rise, and it ascended as high as 
 the ropes, which were purposely placed to detain it, would allow, which was about 84 feet from the ground. There 
 M. de Eozier kept the machine afloat during four minutes and twenty -five seconds, by throwing straw and wool 
 into the grate to keep up the fire : then the machine descended exceedingly gently ; and such was its tendency to 
 ascend, that, after touching the ground, the moment M. de Eozier came out of the gallery, it rebounded up again 
 to a considerable height. The intrepid adventurer, returning from the sky, assured his friends and the multitude, 
 which had gazed on him with admiration, with wonder, and with fear, that he had not experienced the least 
 inconvenience, either in going up, in remaining there, or in descending : no giddiness, no incommoding motion, no 
 shock whatever. He received the compliments due to his courage and activity ; having shown to the world the 
 accomplishment of what had been for ages desired and attempted in vain. 
 
 On the 17th, M. Pilatre de Eozier repeated the experiment with nearly the same success as he had two days 
 before. The machine was elevated to about the same height, being still detained by ropes ; but the wind being 
 strong, it did not sustain itself so well, and consequently did not afford so fine a spectacle to the concourse of 
 people, which at this time was much greater than at the preceding experiment. 
 
 On the Sunday following, which was the 19th, the weather proving favourable, M. Montgolfier employed his 
 machine to make the following experiments. At half after four o'clock, the machine was filled in five minutes' 
 time; then M. Pilatre de Eozier placed himself in the gallery, a counterpoise of 100 pounds being put in the 
 opposite side of it, to preserve the balance. The size of the gallery had now been diminished. The machine was 
 permitted to ascend to the height of about 210 feet, where it remained during six minutes, not having any fire in 
 the grate ; and then it descended very gently. 
 
 Soon after, everything remaining as before, except that now a fire was put into the grate, the machine was 
 permitted to ascend to about 262 feet height, where it remained stationary during eight minutes and a half. On 
 pulling it down, a gust of wind carried it over some large trees of an adjoining garden, where it would have been 
 in great danger, had not M. de Eozier, with great presence of mind and address, increased the fire by throwing 
 some straw upon it; by which means the machine was extricated from so dangerous a situation, and rose 
 majestically, amongst the acclamations of the spectators, to the situation in which it stood before. On descending, 
 M. de Eozier threw some straw upon the fire, which made the machine ascend once more, and then it descended 
 to the ground. 
 
 This experiment showed that the aerostat may be made to ascend and descend at the pleasure of those who 
 are in it ; to effect which, they have nothing more to do than to increase or diminish the fire in the grate : which 
 was an important point in the subject of aerostation. 
 
 After this, the machine was raised again with two persons in its gallery, M. Pilatre de Eozier, and M. 
 Girond de Villette; the latter of whom was therefore the second aerostatic adventurer. The machine ascended to 
 the height of about 330 feet, where it remained perfectly steady for at least nine minutes ; hovering over Paris, in 
 
A. ... 1788, HONOURS TO MONTGOLFIER I :. 
 
 sight of its iiiini. Tons inhabitants, many of whom could plainly distinguish, through telescopes, the aerostatic 
 adventurers, ond especially M. do Kozior, who was busy in managing the fire. 
 
 The machine 1>< ing come down, the Marquis d'Arlandes, major of infantry, took the place of M. Villette, 
 and the aerostat was lot up once more. This last experiment was attended with nearly the same success as the 
 preceding : and they all proved and confirmed that the persons who ascended with the machine did not suffer 
 the least inmnvcnii n< . : which was owing to the gradual and gentle descent or ascent of the machine, and to its 
 steadiness or equilibrium whilst it remained in the atmosphere. 
 
 If wo consider for a moment the sensation which these first aerial adventurers must have felt in their exalted 
 situation, we can hardly prevent an unusual sublime idea in ourselves. Imagine a man elevated to such an height, 
 into an immense space, by means altogether new, viewing under his feet, like a map, a vast tract of country, with 
 one of the greatest towns existing, the streets and environs of which were crowded with spectators, attentive to 
 him alone, and all expressing, in every possible manner, their amazement and their anxiety. Reflect on the 
 prospect, the encomiums, and the consequences; then see if your mind remains in a state of quiet indifference. 
 
 An instructive observation may bo derived from those experiments, which is, that when an aerostatic machine 
 is kept confined by ropes, especially at a considerable height above the ground, the wind blowing on it, must drive 
 it in its own horizontal direction ; so that the cords which hold the machine must make an angle with the horizon, 
 which is greater when the wind is stronger, and contrary wise ; in consequence of which the machine must be much 
 fatigued; it being acted on by three forces, in three different directions; namely, its power of ascension, the 
 confinement of the ropes, which is opposite to the first, and the action of the wind, which is across the other two. 
 It is therefore infinitely more safe to abandon the machine entirely to the air, because then it stands perfectly 
 balanced, and therefore is not at all fatigued. 
 
 In consequence of the report of the foregoing experiments, signed by the Commissaries of the Academy of 
 Sciences, that learned and respectable body ordered, 1st, That the said report should be printed and published ; 
 ami '-'mlly, That the annual prize of 600 livres, according to the establishment of an anonymous citizen, be given 
 t<. M M. Montgolfier, for the year 1783. 
 
 The account of a subsequent testimony to the importance of their discovery will not, 
 I think, be here out of place, as in the year 1801 an obelisk was erected opposite the College 
 of Annonay, on the spot from whence the first balloon rose, bearing this inscription : 
 
 " Aux deux Frferes Montgolfier Leurs concitoyens reconnaissants." 
 
 This obelisk was voted in 1783, but was not inaugurated till 1801, by the prefect 
 of Ardeche, who records it in these words : 
 
 This day (16 prairial an IX. de la Re'publique francaise) we, Charles Ambroise Caffarelli, prefect of the 
 department of Ardeche, finding ourselves whilst on circuit at Annonay accompanied by the citizen Larivoire La 
 Tourette, sub-prefect of the first arrondissemcnt. 
 
 The citizens of this " Commune " have expressed their desire to see erected the marble pyramid that citizens 
 of Annonay had executed to commemorate the art of traversing the atmosphere, discovered by the two Mont- 
 golfiers, the first experiment having been made at Annonay, in presence of the former States of Vivarais, the 5th of June, 
 1783 (vieux style), a monument which was not finished till 1791, and which events have prevented erecting in the 
 public place ; the results already known from this astonishing discovery, which much contributed to the victory at 
 Fleurus, and those that may still be expected, are of such importance, that the citizens of Annonay must long to see 
 the monument erected as a witness to their love for the Arts, and their esteem for the Montgolfiers. 
 
 Touched by the sentiments that animate the inhabitants of Annonay, and considering the most honourable 
 attribute of the rank to which we have been raised is that of encouraging the arts, and to render to the genius of 
 discovery a striking testimony of the value the Government attaches to those who unite utility with fame 
 
 We order that The Pyramid shall forthwith be erected on the spot where the first experiment was made, on the 
 oth of June, 178't. The first stone of this obelisk shall bo laid to-day, 16 prairial, corresponding to the 5th of June. 
 
 It was duly laid among the acclamations of thousands, who cried, " Vive la R5publique ! 
 
A.D. 1783. 
 
 The experiments hitherto made, especially those of the 19th of October, having prepared the way for a fair 
 aerial navigation, the attempt was fixed for the 20th of November, 1783, everything being prepared for it at La 
 Muette, a royal palace in the Bois de Boulogne. Notwithstanding that no advertisement relative to the experiment 
 had been mentioned in the public papers, a vast multitude assembled in the garden at La Muette on the morning 
 of the above-mentioned day. The necessary operations were begun ; but the rain and the wind, which came on 
 suddenly, obliged M. Montgolfier to defer the performance of the experiment to the following day, provided the 
 weather proved more favourable. 
 
 Accordingly, on the 21st, the wind, which blew at intervals, and the appearance of large clouds, threatened 
 a second disappointment ; notwithstanding which, everything being got in readiness, the machine was filled in a 
 few minutes' time, and M. de Kozier, together with the Marquis d'Arlandes, placed themselves in the gallery 
 one on one side of it, and the other on the opposite, in order to preserve the equilibrium. But as M. Montgolfier 
 intended to make some preliminary experiments relative to the power of ascension of the machine, &c., the aerostat 
 was kept confined by ropes, in consequence of which the wind agitated it violently, and at last forced it to the 
 ground, which damaged and tore it in several places ; and it would have been entirely burned had not timely 
 assistance prevented it. Notwithstanding this disagreeable accident, by an extraordinary exertion of the workmen 
 the aerostat was replaced on the scaffold, and was repaired in less than two hours. They then filled it again, put 
 into the gallery the necessary fuel, and the two intended travellers entered the gallery with courage and eagerness. 
 The whole weight of the machine, travellers and all, was between 1600 and 1700 pounds. 
 
 The aerostat left the ground at fifty-four minutes past one o'clock, passed safely over some high trees, and 
 ascended calmly and majestically into the atmosphere. The aeronauts having reached the altitude of about 
 280 feet, took off their hats and saluted the surprised multitude. They then rose too high to be distinguished, so 
 that the machine itself was scarce perceivable. When they rose, the wind was very nearly north-west, and it is 
 said that the machine, in rising, made half a turn round its own axis. The wind drove them horizontally over the 
 Kiver Seine, and over Paris. They passed between the Hotel des Invalides and the Ecole Militaire and approached Sa/nt- 
 Sulpke ; but, as they were rather low, the fire was increased in order to clear the houses, and in rising higher they 
 met with a current of air which carried them southward. They passed the Boulevard ; and at last, seeing that the 
 object of the experiment was fully answered, the fire was no longer supplied with fuel, and the machine descended 
 very gently in a field beyond the new Boulevard, about 9000 yards distant from the palace of La Muette, which 
 distance they ran in between twenty and twenty-five minutes' time. The Marquis d'Arlandes stepped out of the 
 gallery the moment it touched the ground ; but the machine collapsing immediately after, M. de Rozier, who stood 
 on the side opposite to the wind, was covered by the canvas, from which dangerous situation, however, he soon 
 extricated himself. Otherwise they had suffered no inconvenience whatever. 
 
 When they came down, about two-thirds of the fuel was still remaining in the gallery ; so that they might 
 have kept themselves up a much longer time. The machine was soon folded up, and, being put on a cart, was sent 
 to the place where it had been originally constructed, in the Fauxbourg St. Antoine. 
 
 Thus far has been collected from the accounts given by various spectators, and especially from the affidavit 
 of the experiment, which was signed by the Dukes of Polignac and de Guines, Counts de Polastron and de 
 Vaudreuil, Dr. Benjamin Franklin, and MM. Faujas de Saint-Fond, Delisle, and Leroy, of the Academy of 
 Sciences. But, as the transactions of the aeronauts during their voyage can only be learned from themselves, 
 and as those circumstances seem to be peculiarly useful and instructive, I shall subjoin the translation of part of a 
 letter, written by the Marquis d'Arlandes to M. Faujas de Saint-Fond, on this subject. 
 
 " At this time M. Pilatre said, You do nothing, and we shall not mount. Pardon me, I replied. I threw a truss 
 of straw upon the fire, stirring it a little at the same time, and then quickly turned my face back again ; but I 
 could no longer see La Muette. Astonished, I gave a look to the direction of the river. . . . M. Pilatre then said, 
 See, there is the river, and observe that we descend. "Well, then, my friend, let us increase the fire ; and we worked away. 
 But instead of crossing the river, as our direction seemed to indicate, which carried us over the house of the 
 Juvalides, we passed along the island of Cygnes, re-entered over the principal bed of the river, and advanced up it 
 as far as the gate de la Conference. I said to my intrepid companion, See, tltere is the river, &c. I stirred the fire, and 
 took with the fork a truss of straw, which, from being too tight, did not take fire very easily. I lifted and shook 
 it in the middle of the flame. The next moment I felt as if I were lifted up from under the arms, and said to my 
 companion, Now we mount, &c. At the same time I heard a noise towards the top of the machine, as if it were going 
 
To 
 
 ux i i" iirinoiiTHMA. IT 
 
 to IIIIIM . I l.M.ked, Imt did not see anything. However, as I was looking up, I felt a shock, which was the <mh 
 ,,ne 1 ,>d. The direction of the moti .n was from the upper jwrt downwards. I said then, What are you 
 
 doing / Are you dancing f / di-n't stir, said he. &> much the better, replied I, it Li then a new current, vliirh, 1 //*, mil 
 push us over the river. In fact, I turned myself in order to see where we were, and 1 found myself betw. 
 MMaire and let Invalides, beyond which place we had already gone about 2500 feet. M. 1'ilatro said, at the same 
 time, II'. ,ire on the plain. Yes, said I, and W advance. Work on, said he. I then heard another noise in the machine. 
 which appeared to be the effect of a rope breaking. This fresh admonition made me examine attentively the 
 interior ..f our habitation. I saw that the part of the machine, which was turned towards the south, was full of 
 romul holes, maiiv of which were of a considerable size. I then said, We must descend, and at the same time I took 
 the .-{Hinge and easily extinguished the fire, which was round some holes that I could reach; but leaning on the 
 lower part of the linen, to observe whether it adhered firmly to the surrounding circle, I found that the linen was 
 1 from it, on which I repeated, that it was necessary to descend. My companion said, We are over 
 . Never mind that, said I, but look if there appears any danger for you on your side are you safe'f He said Yes. I 
 examined my side, and found that there was no danger to bo apprehended. Farther, I wetted with the sponge 
 those cords which were within my reach. They all resisted, except two, which gave way. I then said, We /;// 
 pass over Pari*. In doing this, we approached the tope of the houses very sensibly ; wo increased the fire, and rose 
 with the greatest ease. I looked below me, and perfectly discovered the Mission Etranger. It seemed as if we were 
 going towards .Sji;i/-V;cc, which I could perceive through the aperture of our machine. On rising, a current of 
 air made us leave this direction, and carried us towards the south. I saw on my left a sort of forest, which I took 
 to be the Luxembourg; we passed over the Boulevard, and I then said, Let vn note descend. The fire was nearly 
 extinguished ; but the intrepid M. Pilatrc, who never loses his presence of mind, and who went forward, imagining 
 that we were going against the mills that are between Petite Gentilly and the lioulevard, admonished me. I 
 tht.-w a bundle of straw on the fire, and shaking it in order to inflame it more easily, we rose, and a new current 
 carried us a little towards our left. M. Kozier said again. Take care of the mills : but as I was looking through the 
 aji-'i tiire of the machine. I could observe more accurately that we could not meet with them, and said, We are there. 
 The moment after, I observed that we went over a piece of water, which I took for the river, but after landing, I 
 recollected that it was the piece of water, &c. The moment we touched the ground, I raised myself up in the 
 gallery, and perceived the upper part of the machine to press very gently on my head, I pushed it back, and 
 jum{>ed out of the gallery, and on turning myself towards the machine, expected to find it distended, but was 
 surprised to find it perfectly emptied, and quite flattened," etc. 
 
 Account of the first Aerostatic Experiment made in England. It is somewhat remarkable, that more than five 
 months had elapsed, since M. Montgolfier made his first public aerostatic experiment at Annonay, the news of 
 which, as well as of his subsequent experiments, was rapidly and universally spread, and yet no experiment of the 
 kind had been made out of France, at least none is authentically recorded. In this island, where the improvements 
 of arts and sciences find their nursery, and many their birth, no aerostatic machine was seen before the month of 
 
 :ulier. ITs.'J. It was, perhaps, owing to a persuasion that this new field of experiment was in the hands of 
 
 us fully capable to improve it in France ; and consequently that it would be useless to lose time, trouble, and 
 expense, about experiments, which others were actually making elsewhere. At least, the curiosity of the learned 
 might have been satisfied with an experiment in small ; but it often happens in a nation, that a sort of stupor 
 prevents even the most necessary and easy exertions, in particular cases, for which omission, a short time after, no 
 person can assign any plausible reason. However, it must be confessed, that the news of the first aerostatic 
 
 iments was far from giving any exact account of the practical part, or of the principles themselves. 
 
 !. this be as it may, the matter of fact is, that the first aerostatic experiment was shown in London in the 
 month of November, 1783. Count Zambeccari, an ingenious Italian, who happened to be in London, made a 
 K-illiKin of oil-silk, which was ten feet in diameter, and weighed eleven pounds. It was gilt, both in order to render 
 it more beautiful, and more impermeable to the inflammable air (hydrogen). This balloon was publicly shown for 
 several days in London ; and at lost, on the 25th of the above-mentioned month, three-quarters of it were filled with 
 inflammable air ; a direction, for any person who should afterwards find it, inclosed in a tin-box, was fastened to it. 
 and, in the presence of many thousand spectators, it was launched from the Artillery Ground, at one o'clock in the 
 afternoon. 
 
48 TIIEPNE<J>H2. A.U. 1783. 
 
 Two hours and a half after, viz., at half-past three o'clock, this balloon was found at Graffam, near Petworth, 
 in Sussex, forty-eight miles distant from London ; so that it went at the rate of near twenty miles an hour. A rent 
 found in it, which was certainly the consequence of the rarefaction of the inflammable air, when the balloon came 
 into a much lighter part of the atmosphere, must have been the occasion of its descent. 
 
 We must now return to the aerostatic experiments made in France, and must defer describing those made in 
 England till the order of time renders it necessary. 
 
 Account of the first Aerial Voyage made with an inflammable-air (hydrogen') Balloon.- The success of the experiment 
 with the inflammable-air balloon, made in the Champ de Mars, and the other experiments made after that, with 
 M. Montgolfier's aerostat, naturally suggested the idea of attempting a voyage in an inflammable-air balloon; 
 every consideration, excepting the dearness of the inflammable air, seeming to give the preference to the 
 inflammable-air balloon, as a vehicle for an aerial voyage. 
 
 The plan for such a voyage, and every necessary calculation, being made, the balloon was constructed by 
 the Roberts, two brothers, very intelligent in mechanics. Their project was first announced to the public 
 in the ' Journal de Paris ' of the 19th of November, 1783 ; and a subscription was opened in order to defray the 
 expenses, which, as it was calculated, would amount to about ten thousand livres. 
 
 As soon as the balloon was finished it was inflated with common air, and was publicly shown in one of the 
 great chambers of the Tuileries till the 26th, on which day it was suspended to a rope stretched between two trees 
 before the Tuileries. 
 
 This balloon was made of gores of silk, covered with a varnish, said to be a solution of elastic gum (caoutchouc). 
 Its form was spherical, measuring twenty-seven feet and a half in diameter. A net went over the upper hemisphere, 
 and was fastened to a hoop that went round the middle of the balloon, and was therefore called its equator. To 
 this equator was suspended, by means of ropes, a sort of car, or rather a boat, which swung a few feet below the 
 balloon. In order to prevent the bursting of the machine, by the expansion of the inflammable air, a valve was 
 made in it, which, by pulling a string, was opened to let out some of the inflammable air. There was likewise a 
 long silken pipe, through which the balloon was filled. The boat, made of basket-work, was covered with painted 
 linen, and was beautifully ornamented. Its length was near eight feet, its breadth four, and its depth three and 
 a half. It weighed 130 pounds. 
 
 This famous experiment was performed on Monday, the 1st of December, 1783. The Tuileries, the Pont 
 Royal, every house, and every adjacent place, were crowded with spectators. A numerous guard of soldiers 
 preserved order, and protected the operation. Mathematical persons, with proper instruments, were conveniently 
 stationed for the purpose of calculating the height, rate of going, and other particulars concerning the balloon. 
 Signals were given by the firing of a cannon, waving of pendants, &c. A small balloon of six feet in diameter was 
 launched by M. Montgolfier, which served to show the direction of the wind, and likewise to amuse the people. 
 The boat was then attached to the balloon ; M. Charles and one of the Eoberts seated themselves in it, with proper 
 instruments, plenty of provisions, clothing, and the ballast, consisting of sand-bags ; and at three-quarters after one 
 o'clock the machine left the ground, and ascended with a moderately accelerated course. The astonished spectators 
 stood silent. 
 
 It may be said of this ascent that Charles completely created the " appareil " of 
 aerostation ; for in reality he thought of the valve for allowing the escape of gas to cause 
 a slow and gradual descent of the aerostat, the car for the voyagers to sit in, the number 
 of ropes to support it, the ballast to regulate, and the barometer to measure ascent and 
 descent; and also the varnish that renders the silk impermeable, and prevents the loss of 
 gas. For this, his first ascent, Charles created all these ingenious contrivances ; since then 
 nothing has been changed, little has been added. He gave his name to the Charlieres, 
 or gas balloons. 
 
 When the balloon had reached the altitude of about six hundred yards, the two aerial navigators indicated 
 their safety by frequently waving two pendants, though they themselves could not be distinguished from the 
 
A.H. IT-::. Tin: ni.vr rii.\i;i.ii':i;i:. 49 
 
 Around. Tho spectators were by tliis time awakened from their astonishment ; enthusiasm took the place of 
 silence, and nothing but expressions of praise and applause were by every mouth annexed to the names of Charles 
 and ].'! 
 
 Soon after their aseent, they remained stationary for a short time; then they went horizontally in the 
 direetion \ \ . \\ . They crossed the Seine, and passed over several towns and villages, to the great astonishment 
 <>f the iuli iliitanN. who did not expect, and perhaps had never heard of, this new sort of experiments. This 
 I. lirioiiH voyage lasted one hour and three-quarters. At last they descended in a field near Ncslt, a small town, 
 about twenty-seven miles distant from Paris, it being then three-quarters past three o'clock ; so that they had gone 
 at i lif rate of about fifteen miles per hour, without feeling the least inconvenience; and the balloon underwent 
 no other alt- i.ition, than what was occasioned by the dilatation and contraction of the inflammable air, according 
 to the \iei-Mtn.l. s of heat and cold. 
 
 A short time nfter their descent, they were overtaken by the Dukes de Chartres and do Fitz-James, who 
 had rode after the balloon, ami did them the honour to add their names to the certificate of their descent, which 
 had been already drawn up and signed by other persons, who had arrived sooner. 
 
 The balloon still containing a considerable quantity of inflammable air, M. Charles determined to ascend 
 once more. M. Hubert then got out of the boat, which lightened the balloon of 130 pounds. This weight 
 tiny intruded to supply with ballast; but not finding any conveniency to take up any earth or stones very 
 readily, and the sun being near setting, M. Charles, without losing more time, gave the signal to the peasants 
 who held down the machine, to let go; "And I sprung up," says he, "like a bird. In twenty minutes I was 
 1500 toises high ; out of sight of all terrestrial objects. I had taken the necessary precautions against the 
 
 !<>n <>t the globe, and prepared to make the observations which I had promised myself. In order to observe 
 the barometer and thermometer, placed at the end of the car, without altering the centre of gravity, I knelt 
 down in the middle, stretching forward my body and one leg, holding my watch and paper in my left hand, and 
 my pen and the string of the valve in my right, waiting for the event. Tho globe, which, at my setting out, 
 was rather flaccid, swelled insensibly. The air escaped in great quantities at the silken tube. I drew the valve 
 from time to time, to give it two vents ; and I continued to ascend, still losing air, which issued out hissing, and 
 became visible, like a warm vapour in a cold atmosphere. The reason of this phenomenon is obvious. On earth, 
 the thermometer was 47', or 15' above freezing point; after ten minutes' ascent it was only 21, or 11 below. 
 The inflammable air had not had time to recover the equilibrium of its temperature. Ite elastic equilibrium 
 being quicker than that of the heat, there must escape a greater quantity than that, which the external dilatation 
 of the air could determine by its least pressure. For myself, though exposed to the open air, I passed in ten 
 minutes from the warmth of spring to the cold of winter: a sharp dry cold, but not too much to bo borne. 
 I declare that, in the first moment, I felt nothing disagreeable in the sudden change. When the barometer 
 ceased to fall, I marked exactly 18 inches 10 lines (20-01 in. English), the mercury suffering no sensible 
 oscillation. From this I deduce a height of 1524 toises (3100 yards), or thereabouts, till I can be more exact in 
 my calculation. In a few minutes more, my fingers were benumbed by the cold, so that I could not hold my pen. 
 I was now stationary as to the rising and falling, and moved only in an horizontal direction. I rose up in the 
 middle of the car to contemplate the scene around me. At my setting out the sun was set on the valleys ; he soon 
 rose for me alone, who was the only luminous body in the horizon, and all the rest of nature in shade ; he, 
 however, presently disappeared, and I had the pleasure of seeing him set twice in the same day. I beheld, for 
 a few seconds, the circumambient air and the vapours rising from the valleys and rivers. The clouds seemed to 
 ri.-e from the earth and collect one upon the other, still preserving their usual form, only their colour was grey 
 and monotonous from the want of light in the atmosphere. The moon alone enlightened them, and showed me 
 that I was tacking about twice ; and I observed certain currents that brought mo back again. I had several 
 sensible deviations; and observed, with surprise, the effects of the wind, and saw the streamers of my banners 
 point upwards This jihenomenon was not the effect of the ascent or descent, for I then moved horizontally. At 
 that b onceived, perhaps a little too nastily, the idea of being able to steer one's course. In the midst of 
 
 my transport I felt a violent pain in inv right ear and jaw, which I ascribed to the dilatation of the air in the 
 cellular eonstnietion of those organs, as much as to the cold of the external air. I was in a waistcoat and 
 bareheaded . I immediately put on a woollen cap, yet the pain did not go off but as I gradually de-n nded. 
 For seven or eight minutes I had ceased to ascend; the condensation of the internal inflammable air rather made 
 
 II 
 
50 TIIEPNE<I>H2. JANUARY TTII, 1784. 
 
 me descend. I now recollected my promise to return in half an hour, and, pulling the string of the valve, I came 
 down. The globe was now so much emptied, that it appeared only an half globe. I perceived a fine ploughed 
 field near the wood of Tour du Lay, and hastened my descent. When I was between twenty and thirty toises 
 from the earth I threw out hastily two or three pounds of ballast, and became for a moment stationary, till I 
 descended gently in the field, above a league from the place whence I set out. The frequent deviations and 
 turnings about make me imagine that this voyage was near three leagues, and I was gone about thirty-three 
 minutes. Such is the certainty of the combinations of our aerostatic machine, that I might have kept in the air 
 at least for twenty-four hours longer." 
 
 For this exploit he received from the king a pension of 200J., who also ordered his name 
 to be inscribed on the Montgolfier medal; but it was a case in which we* may repeat the 
 saying of the great Conde : " II cut du courage ce jour-la," as he never ascended again, 
 having sworn, it is said, not to do so when Kobert left the car ; and he ascended alone with 
 the swiftness of an arrow. 
 
 We will pass over many accounts of minor interest, and insert one which could not reach 
 our narrator in those steamless days. Experiments had been made at Philadelphia, U.S., as 
 to the adoption of gas for balloons, almost simultaneously with its adoption in France ; a 
 remarkable coincidence, frequently noticed in the history of discovery and invention. For, on 
 the arrival of the news of P. de Rozier and Marquis d' Arlandes exploit, Messrs. Eittenhouse 
 and Hopkins, members of the Philosophical Academy of that city, instituted a series of 
 experiments, which resulted in the construction of a machine with forty-seven small hydrogen 
 balloons attached to a car, or cage (as they called it). After some preliminary trials of 
 animals, and one man let up to a certain height, and pulled down by ropes, Mr. James 
 Wilcox, a carpenter, ascended free (28th December, 1783). Perceiving himself rapidly 
 approaching the Schuykell River, and apprehensive of falling into it, he took the necessary 
 steps to occasion his descent, and, according to his instructions, made incisions in three 
 balloons ; but this proving ineffective, he cut three more, and then five, nearly all at the same 
 time. This caused so violent a descent that he dislocated his wrist. Such was the first 
 experiment in the New World. 
 
 On the 7th of January, 1784, the pieces which were to form the largest aerostatic machine hitherto launched 
 were brought out of Lyons into one of the suburbs, called Les Brotteaux, and the two following days were employed 
 to join those pieces together. In the morning of the 10th they made the first essay. The fire was lighted, and in 
 twenty minutes the machine was perfectly inflated, and in this state the cords which were to hold the gallery were 
 begun to be fixed. On the 12th they inflated the machine again in order to fix more of the ropes for the gallery ; 
 and, in short, they worked incessantly till the 19th to fix the ropes, to attempt the aerial voyage, and to repair the 
 rents and other damages which the machine continually received from being often inflated and from the injuries of 
 the weather ; for the rain, the snow, the frost, and almost all the elements, seemed angry with this unfortunate 
 machine, which, being constructed of bad materials, was little able to sustain those injuries. Nevertheless, in various 
 trials it had shown its surprising power ; and once, on putting a bundle of straw, upon which spirit of wine had 
 been sprinkled, on the fire, the sudden flame occasioned such a rarefaction, that the machine, notwithstanding the 
 efforts of fifty persons who were employed to hold it, rose three feet from the ground, and went to the distance 
 of fifteen feet. 
 
 At last, on the 19th, the weather was pretty clear with very little wind, the sun showing itself at intervals. 
 The thermometer stood at 45. Everything was got ready for the experiment, and a prodigious crowd of spectators 
 
 ' Revue des Deux Mondes,' 1852. 
 
FntKi \KY -J-jxi.. I7M. THK F1KSI' I'll.oT-HA !.!.< < >.\ ACROSS THE CHANNEL. 61 
 
 assembled about the place ; but as the machine had ben wet, and in the night it had frozen very hard, it 
 necessary to thaw the i l,\- degrees, which was effected by making several small fires under the scaffold ; but 
 this naturally took up .1 considerable time, so that the experiment could not be begun before noon. The fire wan 
 now li-ht.,1. ami tin- in u liino soon began to swell, assuming the best form that could be wished; but the 
 spectators. \vh<> had been often ilisappointed, showed at this time a great deal of anxiety, their minds seeming to 
 Hue i ni hope and fear. In seventeen minutes the machine was filled, and was ready to ascend; the 
 
 intended nix passengers took their places in the gallery, and nothing was wanting but the signal of departure 
 tv.iii M. .1 I; .-!!. I'.nt tliis gentleman, considering the indifferent condition of the machine, that hod greatly 
 suffercil in tin- preceding trials, was of opinion that the experiment would certainly fail if more than three person,, 
 ascended with it : his remonstrances were of no effect, for none of the adventurers would leave his place on any 
 account whatever. Upon this, the interposition of M. lo Flesselles, the intendant, was requested; but his 
 authority could not prevail on them to cast lots. At last, their obstinacy being unconquerable, the signal of 
 departure was given, with reluctance and with fear, and the ropes were cut off. A very remarkable instance 
 ofenthusi r than courage, happened at this instant The machine was not raised above a foot or two 
 
 from tin- .n.'mi'l, \\ h. u a seventh person, one M. Fontaine, jumped into the gallery, which occasioned a sudden 
 
 --i !! of tho machine ; but, by increasing the fire in the grate, the whole ascended majestically and with 
 moderate rapidity, i >n meeting with the wind, it was turned from the east, instantly, towards the west; but it 
 
 *ards proceeded east-south-east, ascending at the same time till it was at least a thousand yards high. The 
 need on the spectators by this spectacle is described as the most extraordinary that was ever occasioned 
 by any production of human invention. It was a mixture of the strangest nature. Vociferations of joy, shrieks 
 of fear, expressions of applause, the sound of martial instruments, and the discharge of mortars, produced an 
 effect more easily imagined than described. Some of the people fell on their knees, and others elevated their 
 suppliant hands to the heavens; some women fainted, and many wept: but the confident travellers, without 
 showing the least appearance of fear, were continually waving their hats out of the gallery. The wind shifted 
 again, but it was very feeble, so that the machine stood almost stationary for about four minutes. 
 
 I nfoitunately, about this time, which was near fifteen minutes after the ascent, a rent was made in the machine, 
 which occasioned its descent ; and when it came within about six hundred feet of tho ground it descended with 
 a MTV great celerity. It is said that not less than sixty thousand people, besides the Marechaussee, ran to the 
 spot, with tho greatest apprehension for the lives of those adventurous aerial travellers. They were immediately 
 
 1 out of tho gallery, and luckily none of them hod received any hurt, except M. Montgolfier an insignificant 
 scratch. The machine was torn in several places, besides a vertical rent of upwards of fifty feet in length ; 
 which shows very clearly how little danger is to be apprehended from the use of those machines, especially when 
 they are properly constructed and judiciously managed. 
 
 The following are the names of the seven travellers : M. Joseph Montgojfier, M. Pilatre de Rozier, Count 
 de Laurencin, Count de Dampierre, Prince Charles de Ligne, Count de Laport d'Anglefort, and M. Fontaine. 
 
 Arrostalic Experiments made in February and March, 1784. The first balloon that crossed the English Channel 
 
 was launched from Sandwich in Kent, on Friday, the 22nd of February, 1784. It was an inflammable-air balloon, 
 
 :uet in diameter, which was let loose at half-past twelve o'clock, in the presence of a great many spectators. 
 
 The liallo.in rose rapidly, and was carried over the sea by the wind, which was west by north ; so that the direction 
 
 of (he balloon was east by south. It was found, at three o'clock of the same day, in a field near WarneUm. in 
 
 li Flanders, nine miles from Lisle, by a boy, who carried it to Monsieur Betrayle, at Warneton ; and, there 
 being a tieki-t on tho balloon, in which it was requested that an account of the time when, and place where, the 
 said balloon should Iw found, might bo sent to William Boys, Esq., at Sandwich, such request was politely 
 complied with. The straight distance between Sandwich and Wameton is seventy-four miles and a half, so that 
 this Killoon went at the rate of above thirty miles an hour. 
 
 Tin- 'hevalier Paul Amln ani. of Milan, was the first person in Italy who had an aerostatic machine ma 
 his own e\ [ the purpose of making an aerial voyage, in which attempt he actually succeeded on the 2.1th 
 
 'ruary. 1 7*4. The project was entirely his own, but for the practical execution of the work he employed the 
 brothen An^u-tin and Charles (ierli, persons of a mechanical genius. 
 
 maehino was spherical, of about sixty-eight feet in diameter, made of linen, lined with line paper. In 
 
 II 2 
 
52 TIIEPNE*H2. A.D. 1784. 
 
 the inside, towards the middle of the machine, there was a wooden zone or hoop ; and another hoop, of fourteen 
 feet in diameter, was round its aperture. On the top of the machine there was a sort of hat, or round piece of 
 wood, strengthened with an iron hoop, from which ropes proceeded, which went down along the seams of the 
 machine, and were lastly fastened to the hoop of the aperture. Other smaller cords were fastened to the linen, 
 and, crossing the larger ropes, made a sort of network. Some short wooden arms, which proceeded from the hoop 
 of the aperture, held the fireplace or copper brazier, of about six feet and a half in diameter. Cords proceeding 
 from the same hoop held a circular basket, which stood under the brazier at a moderate distance from it, so that 
 the persons in it might easily supply the fire with fuel and at the same time were not incommoded by the heat. 
 
 The machine, being constructed, was secretly transported to a seat of the Chevalier, called Moncucco, which 
 is eight miles distant from the town. Two ineffectual trials were made : each time the machine was perfectly 
 inflated in fifteen minutes, but it did not lift up the annexed weight from the ground. However, on the 25th, at 
 about noon, the fire under the machine was lighted ; it was supplied at first with very dry wood, and afterwards 
 with a composition of bituminous substances. The machine now made evident endeavours to rise, and, it being 
 imagined that giving more freedom to the air under it would increase its power, the Chevalier judiciously ordered 
 those who held the ropes to let the machine rise a little, which was attended with the desired effect. The 
 machine instantly manifested it had acquired an increase of power, in consequence of which the Chevalier and the 
 two brothers Gerli put themselves into the gallery or circular basket ; the ropes were let loose, and the machine, 
 with the three adventurers, immediately ascended, with a slow and almost horizontal motion, directing itself 
 towards the building, to avoid which the fire was increased, and then the machine ascended with rapidity to a great 
 height, so that it was seen from the city, which was eight miles off. At this height they met with a current of 
 air which seemed to drive the machine towards the adjoining mountains ; but as this was not an eligible direction, 
 and as the fuel was almost exhausted, they thought proper to descend ; and accordingly, the fire being diminished, 
 the machine gradually descended. In coming down the aerostat was going directly over a large tree, but by a 
 proper management of the fire it just cleared the tree ; after which the people that had run to its assistance 
 laid hold of the ropes that were swinging down and conducted the machine to a safe place, where the intrepid 
 travellers alighted without the least inconvenience. In consequence of the loss of this weight the machine 
 acquired such power that it required the assistance of many persons to detain it. The machine being thus capable 
 of keeping itself swelled, they availed themselves of its condition, and carried it, in that inflated state, over trees 
 and other obstructions, to the place where it had been filled, which was not above a quarter of a mile distant. 
 The machine remained in the atmosphere for about twenty minutes. It is remarkable that this machine, 
 notwithstanding the various trials it had undergone, had not suffered the least damage. Its upper part especially, 
 like that of the machine used in the experiment at Versailles and that also at La Muette, was neither scorched nor 
 in any other manner affected by the fire, which is a circumstance deserving of notice, particularly because it has 
 been commonly said that the upper part of those machines would be always burned or scorched. 
 
 On the 19th of February an inflammable-air balloon of five feet in diameter was launched from Queen's 
 College, at Oxford. It was of a spherical form, made of varnished Persian silk, and it seems that this was the first 
 balloon seen in that town. 
 
 The next aerial voyage we are to describe was made by one who, as will appear from the sequel of this 
 history, has performed a greater number of these excursions than any other person previous to February, 1785, and 
 is the first who crossed the English Channel with an aerostatic machine. This ingenious Frenchman, M. Jean- 
 Pierre Blanchard, had, for several years before M. Montgolfier's discovery, busied himself in attempts to fly by 
 mechanical means ; but it appears, from a passage in a letter of his to the editors of the ' Journal de Paris,' that he 
 never succeeded in this undertaking :* but, as soon as the discovery of the aerostatic machine was made, he 
 immediately resolved to use one of those machines for the lifting power, and to add the wings of his former scheme 
 for directing his course through the air. 
 
 After a great deal of contrivance, and some calculation, M. Blanchard at last constructed an inflammable-air 
 balloon of twenty-seven feet in diameter, with a boat made and suspended nearly in the same manner as that of 
 Charles and Eobert, only he added two wings and a rudder (gouvernail) to his boat. He had likewise a sort of large 
 
 * " Je rends done un hommage pur ct sincere a I'immortel Montgolfier, sans le secours duquel j'avoue que le me'eanisme de mes ailes ne 
 m'auroit pout-ctre jamais servi qu'ii agiter un element indocile qui m'auroit obetine'ment repousse' vers la terre comme le lourd autruche, moi 
 qui cotnptois disputer a 1'aigle le chemin des nues." 
 
A.I.. I7M JEAX-1'IKKKE BLAXCHAHD. 53 
 
 uinlin -lla spread horizontally IM-IW.-.-H tl,, Lalloon and the boat, which, in case the balloon should bunt, would 
 
 ,-ln-i'k till- fill. 
 
 \\ iili tliis balloon M. Blanchard made his first aerial voyage on the 2nd of March, 1784. As the incidents of 
 this voyage are of a very strange and romantic nature, I think that a particular account of them will not be 
 HIM. e,-|,:.il,;.- to the reader.' The balloon, with the rest of the machinery and apparatus for filling it, was carried 
 t.. tin- i 'hiiu]i .! Mars, the place from whence the first inflammable-air balloon had been launched; and, as usual 
 nn similar ocra-sions, an immense number of people assembled about the place. The machine being filled, 
 M. I'.l ni'-li (! and a Benedictine Friar seated themselves in the boat; the ropes were cut off, and they ascended, 
 lint nut higher than about fifteen foot from the ground. Then the Iwlloon being leaky, and the weight in the boat 
 nit her too great, the whole fell very rapidly, and on touching the ground the boat received an unpleasant shock, 
 in consequence of which the Friar was persuaded to abandon his seat But the intrepid M. Blanchard was not at 
 all intimidated by the accident; he immediately repaired the little damage the apparatus had received from the 
 fall, and was going to ascend again by himself; but, just as he was setting off*, a young gentleman forced his way 
 through the crowd, jumped into the boat, and, without any right or reason, insisted upon going up with 
 M. 1 Hunt-hard. 
 
 Tliis youth (from the Military Academy) was for some time believed to be Napoleon 
 IJiimiaparte ; l>ut, on a more careful inquiry, his name was found to be Dupont de Chambon. 
 Napoleon also i-ontnulictcii this in conversation with Las Cases at St. Helena. 
 
 y expostulation or remonstrance of M. Blanchard, and of many persons of the first rank who were 
 present, was ineffectual to persuade the young gentleman to give up this desperate attempt. His answer was, that 
 he was provided with the King's licence; and, on being desired to show it, he presented his sword, with which, it 
 is said, he wounded M . Blanchard on the wrist. At last, the Marquis de Conflans, at the risk of his life, pulled 
 the young enthusiast out of the boat, and, delivering him to the guards, ordered them to confine him. This strange 
 contest being over, M. Blanchard alone, without fear or hesitation, ascended with his balloon very rapidly into the 
 atmosphere ; but, notwithstanding his endeavours, the wings and rudder of the boat seemed to have no effect, and 
 the wind drove- the balloon in its direction. It crossed the river, and went over Passy ; but M. Blanchard found 
 a perfect calm, so that it remained stationary for about fourteen minutes. Then he crossed the river a second 
 time, and in this passage the clouds appeared under his feet. He now felt the heat of the sun's rays, which was 
 rather strong, and stood stationary again for about fifteen minutes, the balloon being at the same time agitated by 
 two opposite currents of air, on which he threw four pounds of ballast out of the boat, and, ascending higher, met 
 with that current of air in which he had gone at first, and which carried him very rapidly again across the river. 
 
 he was obliged to throw out more ballast, by which means the voyage was prolonged as far as the plain of 
 Billancourt, near Sevres, where he descended at thirty-five minutes past one o'clock, after having been in the 
 atmosphere an hour and a quarter, during which time he had experienced heat, cold, hunger, and an excessive 
 drowsiness. On his return to earth he was welcomed by many thousands of people, who had watched his progress 
 all the way. 
 
 On the 13th of March the Chevalier Andreani, and two other persons, ascended a second time into the 
 atmosphere with a rarefied-air machine, from the same place where he had performed his first experiment The 
 machine attained to the height of 5200 feet, and travelled to the distance of seven miles. 
 
 1 1 was about this time that M. Argand, an ingenious gentleman of Geneva, being in England, had the honour 
 of exhibiting the aerostatic experiment, with an inflammable-air balloon of about thirty inches in diameter, in the 
 presence of the King, Queen, and royal family at Windsor. 
 
 : tin- month of February balloons of both kinds, but especially filled with rarefied air, became very 
 common in Kngland as well as in other parts of Europe. In London, during the spring, the summer, and the 
 autumn, paper balloons, raised by means of spirit of wine, and generally from three to five feet in diameter, were 
 seen flying by night as well as by day. All ranks of people seem to have found pleasure in such kind of 
 experiments; and so much had the subject engaged general attention, that, both in earnest and in jes;. the epithet 
 of Ixillorjn was annexed to articles of dress, of house-furniture, of instruments, &c. Thus, one commonly heard of 
 balloon hat, balloon colours, balloon coaches, and such like empty phrase*. 
 
54 TnEPNE*HS. A.D. 1784. 
 
 Aerostatic Experiments made in the Months of May, June, and July, 1784. At Paris, on the 20th of May, 
 M. Montgolfier made a private experiment with an aerostatic machine of seventy-four feet in height and seventy- 
 two in diameter, with which four ladies ascended in the atmosphere. This machine was raised from the Faubourg 
 Saint Antoine, and was elevated above the highest buildings of Paris, where it remained confined by ropes for a 
 considerable time. Those courageous ladies were 
 
 Mmes. La Marquise de MONTALEMBERT ; 
 La Comtesse do MONTALEMBERT ; 
 La Comtesse de PODENAS ; 
 Mile. De LAGAEDE ; accompagnees de 
 MM. Le Marquis de MONTALEMBERT et 
 Artaud de BELLEVUE. 
 
 Towards the latter end of May the following remarkable accident happened at Dijon ; it is related by the 
 ingenious M. de Morveau. A balloon, intended to be filled with inflammable air, being completed, was, by way of 
 trial, filled with common air, and in this state was kept in the open air. Now it was observed, and indeed 
 a similar observation had been made before, that the air within the balloon was much hotter than the circumambient 
 air : the thermometer in the former stood at 120, whereas in the latter, and when the sun shone upon it, the 
 thermometer stood at 84. This showed a considerable degree of rarefaction within the balloon, and, consequently, 
 it was suspected that by means of this rarefaction alone especially if it were to increase a little the balloon 
 might ascend. On the 30th, about noon, the wind, being rather strong, agitated the balloon so that two men 
 were employed to take care of it ; but, notwithstanding their endeavours, the balloon escaped from its confinement, 
 and lifting up about sixty-five pounds weight of cords, equatorial circle, &c., rose several feet high, and, passing 
 over several houses, went to the distance of about two hundred and fifty yards, where it was at length properly 
 secured. 
 
 At Lyons, on the 4th of June, in the presence of the King of Sweden, two persons, namely, M. Fleurand and 
 Madame Thible, ascended with an aerostatic machine called Le Gustave, which was seventy feet in diameter. They 
 went to the distance of about two miles in forty-five minutes. The greatest altitude reached in this excursion is 
 estimated at about 8500 feet. This experiment will probably be long remembered, since it was the first time that 
 a woman made an aerial voyage. 
 
 On the 23rd of June a large aerostat, on the principle of rarefied air, was elevated at Versailles, in the 
 presence of the royal family and the King of Sweden, who travelled under the name of Count Haga. The height 
 of this machine was ninety-one feet and a half, and its diameter seventy-nine. M. Pilatre de Eozier and M. Prouts 
 ascended with it. The machine was filled in thirty-five minutes, and it left the ground at forty-five minutes after 
 four o'clock. In three-quarters of an hour it went to the distance of thirty-six miles, when it safely descended in 
 a field, which, having no name, was, by order of the Prince de Conde, called Pilatre de Eozier, in honour of that 
 celebrated first aerial traveller, who had likewise gone with this machine, and to whom, after this experiment, the 
 King was pleased to grant a pension of two thousand livres. 
 
 On the 15th of July the Duke de Chartres, the two brothers Robert, and another person, ascended with an 
 inflammable-air balloon from the Park of St. Cloud at fifty-two minutes past seven o'clock in the afternoon. This 
 balloon was of an oblong form, measuring fifty-five feet and a half in length and thirty-four in diameter. It 
 ascended with its greatest extension neai-ly horizontal ; and, after remaining in the atmosphere about forty-five 
 minutes, it descended at a little distance from whence it had ascended, and at about thirty feet distance from 
 the Lake do la Garenne, in the Park of Meudon. But the incidents that happened in this aerial excursion deserve 
 to be particularly described, as nothing like it had happened before to any of the aerial travellers. This machine 
 contained an interior smaller balloon, filled with common air ; by which means, according to a scheme hereafter to 
 be mentioned, the machine was to be made to ascend or descend without any loss of inflammable air or ballast. 
 The boat was furnished with a helm and oars, intended to guide it, &c. 
 
 On the level of the sea the barometer stood at 30-25 inches ; and at the place of departure it stood at 30-12. 
 Thiee minutes after its ascending the balloon was lost in the clouds, and the aerial voyagers lost sight of the earth, being 
 involved in a dense vapour. Here an unusual agitation of the air, somewhat like a whirlwind, in a moment turned 
 the machine three times from the right to the left. The violent shocks which they suffered prevented their using 
 any of the means prepared for the direction of the balloon ; and they even tore away the silk stuff of which the 
 
A.M. L784 THK I'l KK 1>F. HI AKTKKS. 
 
 helm \\us nude. Never, said they, a more dreadful scene presented itself to any cyo than that in whieh they wore 
 inv,.|\.,l. An unbounded ocean of shapeless clouds rulled one upon another beneath, and scumod to forbid their 
 i. mi n to tin- e irth. which was still invisible. Theagitation of the balloon became greater every moment. They 
 
 ut tin- - nU whi.-h held the interior balloon, which consequently ! 11 on the bottom of the external one, just 
 ii|".n tin- :i|- nun- of tli.- tube, which went down into the boat, and stopped it up. At this time the thermometer 
 showed a little above 44. A gust of wind from below drove the balloon upwards, to the extremity of the vapour, 
 \\ii. : , the :i|>]iearanco of the sun showed them the existence of nature ; but now both the heat of tho sun and the 
 diinini.-lied density of the atmosphere occasioned such a dilatation of the inflammable air that tho bursting of 
 tlic lull.M'ii \\:is apprehended; to avoid which, they introduced a stick through tho tube that proceeded fn>n> 
 tin- halloon, and endeavoured to remove from its aperture tho inner balloon which closed it; but the dilatation of 
 the inflammable air pushed tho inner balloon so violently against the aperture of the tube that ever}* endeavour 
 
 ual. During this time they still continued to ascend, until the mercury in the barometer stood not 
 higher tli.-in '_' \-:\t> inches, which showed their height above the surface of the earth to be about 5100 feet. In these 
 
 Ire. iilful e ire u instances they thought it necessary to make a hole in tho balloon, in order to give an exit to the 
 inflammable air ; and the Duke de Chartres took himself one of the banners, and made two holes in the balloon, 
 liieh tore open between seven and eight feet. They then descended very rapidly, seeing at first no object either 
 on earth or in the heavens ; but a moment after they discovered tho fields, and were descending straight into a lake, 
 win-rein they would inevitably have fallen, had they not quickly thrown overboard about sixty pounds weight 
 of ballast, which occasioned their coming down at about thirty feet beyond the edge of the lake. Notwithstanding 
 this rapid descent, occasioned by the great quantity of gas which escaped out of the two rents in the balloon, none 
 <>f the four adventurers was hurt ; and it is very remarkable, that out of six glass bottles full of liquor that were 
 Minjdy luid down in the boat only one was found broken. 
 
 On the 18th of July M. Blanchard made his third aerial voyage, with the same inflammable-air balloon 
 from l.'oii.-n. Ho was accompanied by one M. Boby; and in the account of the voyage ho says, that when they 
 
 led there were 210 pounds of ballast, besides their weight, in tho boat. In this voyage M. Blanchard 
 had a barometer and a thermometer, the former of which on the ground stood at 30-1 inches, and the latter at 45. 
 The wind was north-west. They set off at a quarter past fivo o'clock in tho afternoon from the barracks of Kouen, 
 and in seven minutes' time the barometer fell 4-76 inches, and the thermometer 40. During the voyage, M. 
 1>1. niehard says, that by agitating the wings of his boat he often ascended, descended, went side-way, and even, in 
 some measure, against the wind ; but ono of the certificates says, that, previous to the final descent, M. Blanchard, 
 in order to gratify the spectators, descended and reascended three times at pleasure, by means of the wings. I lowever, 
 this might have been occasioned by merely rebounding on the earth, or by letting out alternately some ballast and 
 some inflammable air ; which seems rather likely to have been the case, since, in the voyages which M. Blanchard 
 afterwards made in England, with the same balloon, the wings of his boat in spite of his endeavours seemed to 
 produce no particular effect 
 
 At half on hour past seven they descended safely in the plain of Puissanval, near Grandcour, which is forty- 
 five miles distant from Rouen, 110 pounds weight of ballast still remaining in the boat. 
 
 One of the certificates, signed by many persons, testifies, that for this experiment the balloon was filled by 
 M. Vallet in the remarkable short time of one hour and a half. The last certificate that is annexed to the account 
 of this voyage says, that the balloon remained full all the night, and that on the following day, having anchored it 
 1'V means of ropes, which permitted it to ascend only to about eighty feet, divers ladies ascended successively with 
 it ; and they found tho experiment far from being dangerous or displeasing. 
 
 The balloon was at last evacuated of its gas ; to effect which not only the valve was opened, but a great 
 ajHTtiiro was made towards tho inferior part of the balloon, which was laid on its side and pressed; and yet more 
 than an hour was required to empty it ; from whence may be concluded, that if a rent of three feet should be made 
 in such a balloon, whilst in the atmosphere, tho loss of inflammable air would not be sufficient to occasion a danger- 
 ous fill. 
 
 l';ivallo now rivi s an account of Lunardi's, as the first aerial voyage in this country : 
 Imt I prefer inserting Lunanli's own letters, as they are lively, and depict London society of 
 tli:it day. This priority, moreover, was owing to the slowness of intelligence; for in th- 
 Public ledger of August IGth (1784), we n ad that, on August 9th. 
 
56 TI1EPNE<&H2. A.D. 1784. 
 
 An attempt was made to launch a fire-balloon from the Comely Gardens, Edinburgh ; but just as it had 
 been filled, and Mr. Tytler was about to take his seat in the basket, one of those unlucky accidents, which hitherto 
 have never failed to attend every proposed exhibition of this aerial machine, took place. The consequence was a 
 relinquishment of the project for the present. 
 
 However, on August 27th, the following letter was written to and inserted in the 
 London Chronicle : 
 
 Edinburgh, August 27, 1784. 
 
 Mr. Tytler has made several improvements upon his fire-balloon. The reason of its failure formerly was 
 its being made of porous linen, through which the air made its escape. To remedy this defect Mr. Tytler has got 
 it covered with a varnish to retain the inflammable air after the balloon is filled. 
 
 Early this morning this bold adventurer took his first aerial flight. The balloon being filled at Comely 
 Garden he seated himself in the basket, and the ropes being cut he ascended very high, and descended quite 
 gradually on the road to Eestalrig, about half a mile from the place where he rose, to the great satisfaction of those 
 spectators who were present. Mr. Tytler went up without the furnace this morning ; when that is added he will 
 be able to feed the balloon with inflammable air, and continue his aerial excursions as long as he chooses. 
 
 Mr. Tytler is now in high spirits, and in his turn laughs at those infidels who ridiculed his scheme as 
 visionary and impracticable. Mr. Tytler is the first person in Great Britain who has navigated the air. 
 
 It is remarkable that the 'Gentleman's Magazine' (vol. liv. part ii. pp. 709 and 711) 
 should accurately chronicle both ascents, and yet speak afterwards of Lunardi's as the first, 
 when the dates speak to the contrary. 
 
 To Tytler, therefore, belongs the title of the first Aeronaut in Great Britain ; and, with 
 the exception of Mr. Smeath, in 1837, he was also the first, and the only, one, to use a 
 Montgolfiere in this country. 
 
 I will now give Vincent Lunardi's account of his ' First Aerial Voyage in England ' 
 (1784), published in a series of letters to his guardian, Chevalier Compagni. Lunardi 
 was secretary to the Neapolitan ambassador, Prince Caramanico, to which circumstance 
 his presence in England was at this time due. His letters were written in a flush of 
 excitement; or, as he says, " under the impressions of the various events that affected 
 the understanding." 
 
 LETTER I. 
 
 MY HONOURED FRIEND, London, July 15, 1784. 
 
 The innumerable instances of kindness I have received from you, and the respectful affection it has 
 impressed on my mind, have insensibly led me into the habit of giving all my interesting thoughts and actions 
 some reference to you, and making your opinion and satisfaction necessary to my happiness. 
 
 You are well apprised of the general effect which the attempts to perform aerial voyages in Fi ance, have had 
 in Europe ; but you may not know that the philosophers in England have attended to them with a silence, and 
 apparent indifference, not easily to be accounted for. 
 
 These two nations emulate each other in all circumstances. And the progress and advantage of 
 manufactures arc not watched on either side with greater anxiety and jealousy, than a discovery in science, or an 
 improvement in fine arts. This has the happiest effect, as it is accompanied with a liberality and candour that do 
 honour to human nature. 
 
 The first rumours of aerial voyages were so swollen by the breath of fame, and the imaginary advantages to 
 attend them, so rapidly and plausibly multiplied, that the genius of English philosophy, which, since the days of 
 Newton, has borne the palm of science, clouded her brows with a kind of sullenness, and perhaps feared for 
 a moment the ascendancy of her sister. 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 . 
 
 i 
 
A.I.. 1TM. CHELSEA IIMSI'IT.M.. 57 
 
 Tin' glory of a discovery is iiulivi>ihlo as the atoms of Epicurus; and in respect to aerostation, it remain*, 
 
 and iini-t remain iih Frnnce. It is supposed, and I speak it on better authority than rumour, that Dome of the 
 
 most ;t!t. :.'i\.- and penetrating observers in England meditate such improvements of Aerostatic IM!. .>n-. ami MK h 
 
 m-iiles of applying tin-in to use, as may give them an equal claim to glory with their philosophical rivals in 
 
 I'.nt tliis has not hitherto been attended with any remarkable effects. 
 
 will possibly wonder, that in such circumstances, at my age, with the numerous engagements and 
 occupations of my office, not yet distinguished in the records of Kcience, and but littlo known in a country 
 so enlightened as England, I should have the ambition to bo the first man who \i>it. .1 IN atmosphere. 
 
 I have already acquainted you with the project of our friend Zambeccari, and the reason of its failure. Little 
 (lisi|'p.>iiitiuetits and errors are often the moans of instruction. I proceeded in a different method, and conceived 
 the design of interesting generosity and humanity, in the patronage of an experiment of some hazard, particularly 
 in the hands of a foreign- r. 
 
 lie distance of two miles from this metropolis stands a monument of liberal and prudent charity, first 
 suggested (as it is Raid) to Charles II. by a licentious woman. It is the hospital of military invalids at Chelsea; 
 an object of national attention ; and managed with a respect to the intentions of the successive princes who have 
 patronised it, and to the health and comfort of the meritorious veterans who inhabit it, which are not common in 
 national institutions. 
 
 This building consists of three sides of a spacious quadrangle : a garden sloping before it to the shore of the 
 Thames; the vale extensive and fertile, and bounded by hills gently rising, highly cultivated, and beautifully 
 marked with villas, churches, and villages, all indicating the opulence and felicity of the inhabitants. 
 
 This I have ii\. -1 upon, in my mind, as a picturesque and propitious spot; and I wish, as it were from the 
 altar of humanity, to ascend the skies. 
 
 I have, therefore, addressed the following request to Sir George Howard, governor of the hospital : 
 
 Mr. Lunardi has the honour to acquaint Sir George Howard, that he intends to construct an Air lialloon. 
 in which he will ascend for the purpose of making some interesting experiments. But previous to his engaging in 
 so expensive an undertaking, ho wishes to bo assured of a place for launching it, to which none but subscribers 
 can be admitted. If Sir George Howard will indulge him with his permission to launch it from Chelsea gardens, 
 Mr.. Lunardi proposes to devote whatever may exceed the expense of the undertaking to be divided among the 
 invalids of the hospital. Mr. Lunardi requests the favour of an answer from Sir George Howard." 
 
 The King of England is distinguished for an attention to the minutest variations in the state of science or the 
 arts, as ho is for an unblemished character, and the most scrupulous practice of all moral and religious obligations. 
 The innumerable concerns of an empire, to which extent and unwieldiness alone have been an inconvenience, 
 do not prevent his personal notice of any remarkable character, or his correct examination of any scientific event. 
 
 He has had the condescension to attend to the first probable intimations of a successful experiment with 
 balloons, and the governor, with Mis Majesty's approbation, has granted my request 
 
 1 know your friendly and parental bosom will have some emotions at the opening of a design, by a youth 
 whom you have so long cherished and loved, which leads to glory through some uncertainty and some danger. 
 But my resolution is taken, and you know, within the bounds of life, nothing can shake it. 
 
 When I write to you, though at such a distance, I discharge a duty. It seems to have the effect of 
 my usual methods of consulting you. I obtain my own approbation, and collect firmness and resolution, where 
 perhaps I had my difficulties and doubts, and I take you with me in everything I do. This habit is favourable to 
 my sluml ]>. which I find to be a little interrupted by the magnitude of my design. I will therefore avail myself of 
 its influence. 
 
 Good night, my dearest and best friend, communicate my intelligence to my sisters, &c., and believe me to 
 remain your obliged and affectionate 
 
 VINCENT LcNAp.ru. 
 
 LETTER II. 
 
 MY DEAR FRIKNP. 
 
 London, August _', I , > I . 
 
 I know your anxiety to learn the progress of my undertaking. 
 
 Neither my fortune nor m\ i o n< my have ever allowed me to be in affluence ; I therefore enter on any business 
 requiring cxpen.-e with some disadvantage. In Italy I should have sought the patronage and generosity of my 
 
 I 
 
58 TLTEPNE<&H2. A.U. 1784. 
 
 Sovereign, or of some liberal and opulent nobleman, to enable me to sustain the expense of my present undertaking. 
 Here wealth is more equally diffused; and by any contrivance that can gratify the curiosity of the people, sums of 
 money are immediately collected, without the anxiety and mortification of petitioning the great. This has, in some 
 measure, banished patronage from England ; but ingenious men are perhaps the better rewarded, and are not ren- 
 dered slaves to the purposes and caprices of patrons. Hence are innumerable exhibitions, which are always open in 
 London, and which are means of circulation, convenience, information, and utility, almost unknown in every other 
 country. 
 
 To proceed in my design I have been obliged to adopt this custom. You will not be offended that a secretary 
 to an embassy exhibits his balloon, when you know that the first artists in the nation, under the immediate 
 protection of the King, and incorporated into an academy, exhibit their pictures yearly, and that the price of 
 admission is one shilling. This expedient adds two or three thousand a year to the income of the Academy, and is 
 neither an inconvenience nor a dishonour, where the diffusion of wealth through the lowest ranks renders the whole 
 nation the general patron of useful designs. 
 
 In the centre of London, and in a street called the Strand, because it runs by the edge of the Thames, there 
 is a large room constructed for the exhibition of pictures, by the first society formed in England for the encourage- 
 ment of painting and sculpture. 
 
 Italians viewed this society, and every other of a similar kind, as the Europeans do the establishment of 
 manufactories in America. The English had been accustomed to send their youth to Italy to learn just so much 
 of the fine arts as would enable them to purchase and imitate its productions. At this time there are names in 
 England which are equal in reputation to any in the world. This, however, is greatly owing to the patronage 
 afforded by His Majesty, who has instituted an academy for sculpture and painting, and who is himself the best 
 judge in his dominions of the productions of his artists. 
 
 The institution of the Academy gradually weakened and destroyed the Society, and their room has since 
 been fitted up for a species of entertainment which no country ever produced but England ; that is, a debate on 
 political subjects, continued at random by any man who would pay for his admission, and speak so as to amuse the 
 assembly. In reference to this entertainment, it was called the Lyceum ; and in that Lyceum I exhibit my 
 balloon. 
 
 As the minutest step I take is interesting to you, I shall send you some of my proposals and advertisements 
 just as they appear. 
 
 " ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 " I take the liberty to acquaint that I have undertaken the construction of a globe of thirty-two 
 
 feet in diameter, with which I intend to ascend, as soon as completed, to make the most interesting experiments, 
 especially that of going many miles before the wind, and keeping the globe constantly not higher than a gun-shot, 
 previous to my constructing the great machine for direction. 
 
 " Being already involved in great expenses attending the construction of so large a globe, made with the best 
 oiled silk, the filling it with inflammable air, the machinery for the experiments, &c., I am obliged to solicit the 
 assistance of the liberal promoters of ingenuity, in an undertaking of so curious a nature. By the improvements I 
 flatter myself to have invented, I hope to render the discovery of great public utility ; and presume to request you 
 will have the goodness to honour me with your support and subscription ; as approbation of my scheme 
 
 may have weight with others, and induce them to conceive the practicability of it. 
 
 " The gallery, oars, and wings are already made, and to be seen at the Lyceum, Exeter-Change, Strand, where 
 the balloon is now constructing, and will be finished in about a fortnight : with which, when completed, I intend 
 to set off from Chelsea Hospital Garden, having already obtained His Majesty's patronage, and Sir George Howard's 
 permission. 
 
 "Subscriptions are taken in at Mr. Debrett's, Bookseller, opposite Burlington-house, Piccadilly ; Mr. Booker, 
 Stationer, No. 56, New Bond-street ; Mr. Barnes, Engraver, Coventry-street, Haymarket ; Mr. Adams, Mathe- 
 matician to His Majesty, No. 60, Fleet-street ; and also at Messrs. Nairne and Blunt, Mathematical and Philosophical 
 Instrument-makers, No. 20, Comhill, opposite the Koyal Exchange. Which Mr. Lunardi will give his 
 receipt for. 
 
 "The guinea subscribers will be admitted into Chelsea Hospital Garden, and have a chair near the globe the 
 day of ascending, and may view the construction at the Lyceum four different times. 
 
A.I.. ITM. >n; .insi:i-il BANKS ;,-i 
 
 " A half guinea subscriber will likewise be admitted into the Garden on the above day, and also be accom- 
 modated with a seat on bunches, next to the chair*, and admitted twice to see the construction of the machine." 
 
 The prolmliilit y that my design would be executed produced, what hardly any recommendatory letters or 
 Other Common means of introduction will do in England, I mean an a< quaixttaBM with persons of merit and 
 consequence. England is open to all the world, either in war or peace ; and a man of talents, whether liberal or 
 
 .nil-, .linn it fail of support and encouragement in proportion to his merit. But it would be wholly usolea* to 
 lirin^ tn l.i.iL.l .ii such letters i.f i. commendation as would in any city on the continent enable a man to run through 
 almost all ili- houses in it. lit r.- the prodigious resort of strangers has nearly destroyed that indiscriminate 
 specif* of h.i-pitiility which prevails on the continent; and whirh, while it may be agreeable to those who travel to 
 get riil "f time, has not sufVu-icnt utility to atone for its inconvenience. But when once a circumstance in the 
 situation or haracter of a stranger has attracted the notice of an Englishman, and he has declared himself his 
 
 tor and t'li. nd, it is worth a thousand of the civilities of general hospitality; a reliance may be had on its 
 and tin' friendship is permanent in duration as it is slow in growth. 
 
 Sir .I.-, ph Hanks is among the first persons who have taken notice of my design ; and he has honoured my 
 subscription with his name. The reputation he has acquired as the first botanic collector in the world; as the 
 friend and companion of Captain Cook, in one of his voyages round the globe ; as the President of the Royal 
 
 v. and the general patron of knowledge and merit, renders any account of him to you unnecessary. 
 
 uLsci iptiun, however, comes in but slowly ; nor has the balloon, though larger, constructed of better 
 materials and on betti-r principles than an}- that has yet appeared in England, excited the curiosity I expected. 
 This is partly owing to some ridiculous exhibitions of the kind which have been had at the same place, and which 
 have diffused a disposition to incredulity and suspicion. 
 
 M\ balloon is composed of oiled silks, of which five hundred and twenty yards are inserted in alternate 
 strij>es of blue and red, which give it a very lively and pleasing appearance. Its form is spherical. The horizontal 
 dimension of it is thirty-three feet; its circumference one hundred and two. It is kept suspended, and at present 
 is filled with common air only, which I inject with bellows, through tubes of oiled silk that pass through its sides. 
 More than two-thirds of the globe are covered with a strong net, from which depend forty-five cords, forming 
 equal sections on its lower part, and uniting at the bottom. These will be fastened to a circular frame, that forms 
 the upper part of the vehicle in which I mean to perform my Aerial Voyage. It will be furnished, likewise, 
 with wings and oars; the use of the former is to excite air when the globe is becalmed, and thereby to move it 
 horizontally; they have the form of large rackets, and are covered with loose flounces of oiled silk. The oars, 
 which differ from the wings only in size, will be worked with a vertical motion, and are intended to effect a 
 depression of the machine ; by which I hope to be enabled either to check its ascension, or to descend without the 
 necessity of letting out the inflammable air. 
 
 I exhibit these, not only as matters of curiosity to persons who have not seen or understood the French 
 
 in. nts, but to point out to those who have the peculiar object of my enterprise. For I have the ambition to 
 
 be the first not only to visit the English atmosphere, but to ascertain the practicability of rendering the balloon 
 
 stationary, or descending at pleasure by means of oars, acting vertically, and superseding the use and necessity of 
 
 valves. In this only circumstance I aim to deviate into originality from the splendid and successful track of the 
 
 :n-h philosophers. 
 
 Th. -re arc two methods of filling a balloon for ascension ; and it is remarkable, that the method first discovered 
 and executed by >! -- M ntgolfier, is the most hazardous and difficult to apply to use. It is effected, as a chimney 
 is heated, by a common fire ; and a balloon of this kind is a moving chimney, closed at the top, made of light 
 materials, and raised by the elasticity which is always given to air by fire. 
 
 This requires a constant application of fire to the contents of the balloon, which is a difficult operation ; and 
 ihe least error in the application ma} 1 be the occasion of consuming the apparatus and endangering the lives of those 
 who trust to it 
 
 1 h ivo chosen inflammable rather than elastic air for my guide. It is a substance produced by the action of 
 vitriolic acid on m. ni-m.-ials, and is similar to that vapour (carburettcd hydrogen) which takes firt- in 
 
 minoH, and carries terror and destruction wherever it approaches. This you will say is changing one hazai 
 instrument for another; but the chances of setting fire to the elastic balloon, or of not applying the heat so 
 equally as to answer the purposes of ascension, are numerous; those of exploding an inflammable balloon arise 
 
 I I' 
 
GO TnEPNE<X>H2. A.D. 1784. 
 
 only from thunder-clouds ; and, if proper attention be paid to the weather, they are not numerous or difficult 
 to be avoided. Besides, inflammable air being seven times lighter than atmospherical air, and rarefied air not more 
 than three times lighter, the machine must of course be proportionably larger in the use of the latter than in that of 
 the former. 
 
 My design to use inflammable air has been the occasion of my acquaintance with Dr. George Fordyce, a 
 physician of eminence, a lecturer in chemistry, and probably the first chemist in the island. I consider this as 
 a very fortunate circumstance; for, besides the improvement and satisfaction I derive from his friendship, he has 
 offered in the kindest manner to fill the balloon in a method which is an improvement on that of the French 
 philosophers, as he contrives the tubes for conveying the inflammable so as to prevent the admission of any 
 atmospheric air. He is also of opinion, that air produced by the vitriolic acid and zinc alone is the lightest of any 
 that has been yet used. 
 
 But, in the leading incidents of this era of my life, I must reckon among the happiest my introduction to 
 Mr. Biggin, a young gentleman distinguished by his birth, education, and fortune ; of improved and elegant accom- 
 plishments, a strong lover of science, and of a liberal and affectionate heart. This young gentleman, in the first 
 days of our acquaintance, expressed a wish to accompany me in my ascent. And as the regions 1 intended to visit 
 are unknown, and Mr. Biggin's talents so useful and engaging, I have accepted his offer. The voyage will, by 
 this circumstance, be rendered more interesting ; we shall direct our particular attention to different objects ; and, 
 in any of those incidents which novelty may render astonishing, we shall communicate and multiply our joy, or 
 lessen and remove our apprehensions. j am & c _ 
 
 VINCENT LUNARDI. 
 LETTER HI. 
 
 MY DEAR FMEKD, London, August 18, 1784. 
 
 The events of this extraordinary island are as variable as its climate. You here experience the extremes of 
 elevation and dejection, as you do of heat and cold in a shorter time, and in a greater number of occurrences, than 
 in any country I know in the world. When I wrote you last, everything relative to my undertaking wore a 
 favourable and pleasing appearance : I am at this moment overwhelmed with anxiety, vexation, and despair. 
 
 On advertising my intention to go up with my balloon, it was natural to suppose that any latent ambition of 
 the same kind would show itself, and perhaps spring forward to seize the applause attending the execution of such 
 an enterprise. I do not say that this would not have disappointed me, but it would not have left me in any 
 situation of distress like the present. 
 
 A Frenchman, whose name is Moret, and who may possibly have assisted at some trials at Paris to launch 
 balloons in the manner of Montgolfier, advertised as it were in competition with me ; and fixed on a day for 
 ascending with his balloon, previous to that on which I had the permission of Sir George Howard to make my 
 excursion from Chelsea Hospital. 
 
 To hasten my own undertaking would have been entering into a ridiculous race with Moret ; and if I had 
 been inclined to such a measure it was probable that the day appointed for me would not have been changed 
 without a better reason than could have been assigned from the competition. I therefore waited, with as much 
 patience as I could command, the event of Moret's experiment ; imagining, however, it would fail, from a view of 
 the balloon ; bvit having no apprehension of such consequences as might involve my disappointment or my ruin. 
 
 On the llth of August his advertisements assembled a company of three or four hundred persons in a Garden 
 at Chelsea ; and, unfortunately for me, at a small distance from the Hospital where I was permitted to exhibit. The 
 gardens and fields around 1he place were crowded with fifty or sixty thousand people, not so much from economy 
 as incredulity and suspicion of the undertaking. That was greatly owing to his manner of anticipating my design, 
 which threw on him and me, undeservingly, the imputation of imposture. 
 
 From one to four o'clock the company waited with patience the filling and ascension of the balloon ; and 
 when every effort was seen to fail, and the balloon sank into the fire which expanded it, the mob rushed in, tore it 
 in a thousand pieces, robbed many of the company, levelled with the ground all the fences of the place and neigh- 
 bourhood, and spread desolation and terror through the whole district. 
 
 I saw into many of the consequences which would affect my own undertaking. Though the people of England 
 are comparatively well-informed and enlightened, yet the multitude in all nations is nearly alike. The misfortune 
 of Moret was attributed to imposture ; and a suspicion of a similar nature was extended to me. I felt all the 
 
A.I). 17>l. I.rNAKDl'S PISAITnlYIMIAT. 61 
 
 iniin. <li:r.- ii:.'"ii\. ni. lu-i'N of guilt, us you will sco by the following copies of letters ; though nothing could bo 
 t'.nili. i- I'].. in my tin nights than any intention to be concerned in an ini]....-ii inn : 
 
 - Sin. " Chel* Hcupital, Auguit 14. 17M. 
 
 " It hnving been represented to the governor of this place, that a riot was oooasioned by an attempt to raise 
 
 - Kill. ..ii in iliis ncighbourluxMl on Wednesday last, I have his orders to acquaint you that it is impossible he 
 
 can, on any OOIIMI!. r.ui.ui, >ul.j. .-i this College to the insults of a mob; and at the same timo ho directs me to ay 
 
 how disagreeable it is to him to refuse his consent, but that his determination ia unalterably fixed. I have the 
 
 honour to be. Sir, &c., 
 
 " \\ M. BtTLKELET." 
 
 On the receipt of this letter I waited on Major Bulkeloy, and, describing the hardship of being involved in 
 the consequences of the faults or misfortunes of another, I prevailed on him to represent my situation to the 
 governor. In consequence of which I received tlii.s final resolution of Sir George Howard : 
 
 " Ghclica College, August 17, 1784. 
 
 I have this moment received a letter from Sir George Howard, in answer to one I wrote to him on Monday 
 last, after I had the honour of seeing you, and he desires me to acquaint you that ho must again repeat the 
 impossibility <>f his convent ing to the exhibition of your Air Balloon in any place belonging to Chelsea College ; 
 his duty absolutely forbid." it, and no consideration shall make him do it after wltat happened last week. That he 
 v snrry you should meet with any disappointment, but that nothing shall mako him do what he cannot 
 ju-iify, and that, at all events, it cannot take place at Chelsea College, and, therefore, that it is absolutely necessary 
 y..ii sir ii 1 .. 1 1. ok out for some other place, and give notice of it in the public papers. 
 
 " I have the honour to be, Sir, Ac., 
 
 " \V. BULKELEY." 
 
 I am now Mink into the utmost depth of distress. Though I may be said to have no reputation to lose in 
 a kingdom where I am scarcely known, I yet experience the most poignant mortification at seeing my hopes 
 destroyed, and myself, in the slightest degree, suspected of anything inconsistent with honour, and an ardent love 
 of scien.-i-. 
 
 You will say it is an imputation on the character of an enlightened kingdom to prejudge an experiment 
 which has not been made, especially as I propose to do only what has been proved to be practicable in France. 
 I have already told you that everything respecting Air Balloons has been admitted here with reluctance ; the 
 pompous accounts of French voyages are credited, after making large allowances for Gallic vanity; and all 
 hypotheses respecting a certain and useful application of the discovery are considered as romantic visions. This 
 prepossession, however, does not prevent philosophers and men of letters here from discerning the practicability of 
 everything that has been effected in France. But they arc not much more numerous in this than in other nations ; 
 they do not always regulate the opinions of tho people, and, in this case, they ore not very desirous of undeceiving 
 them. The national prejudice of the English against France is suffered to have its full effect on a subject from 
 which the literati of Kngland expect to derive but little honour; an unsuccessful attempt has been made by u 
 !> n.-liiiiiin ; and my name being that of a foreigner, a very excusable ignorance in the people may place me among 
 the adventurers of that nation, which are said to have sometimes distinguished themselves here by ingenious 
 impositions. 
 
 I am apprehensive, therefore, I must relinquish my undertaking, after an expense which my circumstances 
 can ill bear, and when the satisfaction and glory of accomplishing it are just within my reach. 
 
 Ailii.-u, my di-ar friend, I regret the necessity of leaving on your mind the melancholy impressions which this 
 letter must make. You may depend on it I shall conduct myself in every event with a proper recollection of your 
 solicitude and regard for me. For I shall ever remain 
 
 Most sincerely yours, 
 
 NI I.I N AKI'l. 
 
62 TnEPNE*HS. A.D. 1784. 
 
 LETTEE IV. 
 
 MY HONOURED FRIEND, London, September 14, 1784. 
 
 I still have hopes : for what philosophers dare not attempt, the ladies easily accomplish. They can smile 
 into acquiescence that uncouth monster, public prejudice ; and they regulate the opinions and manners of a nation 
 at pleasure. 
 
 My perseverance amidst the difficulties and supposed dangers which surround me, in consequence of the 
 failure of Moret, has given me an air of heroism which you know interests the fair sex. The Lyceum, therefore, 
 is crowded with company, and particularly ladies, who take for granted I am to ascend ; many of them wish I were 
 not engaged to Mr. Biggin, that they might accompany me ; and with that bewitching air of sincerity which is 
 almost peculiar to the women of this country, and which I think more difficult to resist than the coquetry of my 
 own, they express a tender concern for my safety, which fixes my determination : and I will ascend, if I do it from 
 the street. 
 
 I have a prospect of being accommodated with an inclosed piece of ground, which is appropriated for the 
 exercise of a body of armed citizens, viz., the Honourable Artillery Company. This corps is composed of all 
 the officers of the six regiments of the London Militia, and other gentlemen to the amount of five hundred. It is 
 a collection, or assemblage of officers, all independent, in officers' uniforms, who, in case of emergency, might 
 exercise in a month twenty thousand men. His Eoyal Highness the Prince of Wales is Captain-General, and Sir 
 Watkin Lewis, one of the representatives in Parliament for the city of London, is their colonel. To this gentleman 
 I have made application, and the Eev. Mr. Kirwan, chaplain to the embassy, whose friendship upon this, and 
 every other occasion, I shall ever remember with gratitude, did me the honour to wait upon him, and represented 
 the consequence of my disappointment of Chelsea Garden, and the very great expenses 1 have been at ; and that, 
 unless the Honourable Artillery Company would take me under their protection, 1 could get no proper place for 
 the experiment, from the apprehension of riots and disturbances. Sir Watkin heard his representation with 
 candour, and after inquiring into the principles on which my balloon was constructed, the reasons of the failure of 
 Monsieur do Moret, and attending to every information on the subject which could be given by Doctor Fordyce, 
 Mr. Biggin, and me, he promised to lay my application before the Court of Assistants of the Artillery Company. 
 
 The honourable mention he was pleased to make of me, and of my endeavours to promote science by executing 
 the experiment, the support he gave my application, and the liberality with which he acted, and which distinguish 
 his character, demand my warmest thanks. You would be astonished at the apprehensions and prejudices excited 
 even in this respectable body, by the failure of De Moret. In vain did Sir Watkin recommend to them to exercise 
 their own judgment ; a violent debate took place ; and the concession was carried only by his casting vote. I had 
 been led by policy as well as inclination to connect charity with the other motives, which might induce the 
 English to favour my enterprise. I engaged to give a hundred guineas to the family of the late Sir Bernard 
 Turner, as an inducement to the Court of Assistants to grant me the Artillery Ground to receive my company, 
 and to launch my machine. Another Court was called, which was necessary to confirm the proceediugs of the 
 former ; that was numerously attended, and the proposal again carried by the casting vote of Sir \\atkin Lewis. 
 
 In consequence of this grant from the Honourable Artillery Company, I published the following 
 advertisement : 
 
 " GRAND AIR-BALLOON, WITH WHICH MR. LUNARDI AND AN ENGLISH GENTLEMAN ARE TO ASCEND INTO THE ATMOSPHERE. 
 
 " MR. LUNARDI is extremely happy to have it in his power to inform the public that, in consequence of an application 
 made to the Honourable Artillery Company, they have been so kind as to accommodate him with the use of their 
 ground, for the purpose of executing the experiment ho has undertaken, with this condition annexed, that he shall 
 pay one hundred guineas, to be added to the subscription for the children of the late Sir Bernard Turner. The 
 very laudable and benevolent motive which influenced the Honourable Company to make this demand, was of itself 
 sufficiently operative on the feelings to remove every objection on the part of Mr. Lunurdi to a proposal that flowed 
 from the impulse of philanthropy and the cause of humanity. Mr. Lunardi wishes to testify his gratitude in the 
 warmest manner to the public, and will feel a pleasure inexpressible in being able, by their means, to contribute 
 to the relief of distress, and in particular that of the family of so respectable an individual as Sir Bernard Turner. 
 He desires to return his sincere thanks to the Honourable Artillery Company for the great civility he has received 
 
A.I.. i:.< i. TIIK AIMII.I i:i;v CKOUND. 
 
 tV,.ni them, and particularly for the favour of resolving to appear under arms, for the purpose of preserving order 
 ami regularity on the day ,-fhi> balloon bein* launched. II,- ha> the highest sense of tho honour they int. n.l him. 
 and tho additional satisfaction of acquainting tin- public that tho three avenues leading to and from the Ground, as 
 well as tli.- outside of the gates, will be guarded by the sergeants of tin- t 'itv Militia and tho peace-officers, in order 
 t.) render tin- access to th,- Artillery I i round easy and convenient to his subscribers, and to all others who may be 
 favour him with their presence on that day, which is determined to bo Wednesday, tho 1 5th instant, between 
 twehe and on.' o'clock, it" tho weather permits. 
 
 Mr. Lunardi is desirous to prevent confusion, he has determined that no money shall be taken at tin- 
 gates of tin- Artillery < i round, or any person admitted without ticket*, which are now issuing at the office adjoining 
 to tin- /.-, rum at one guinea, half-a-guinea, and five shillings. 
 
 Tickets, which have already been delivered for Chelsea Hospital Garden, will admit the bearers into the 
 Artillery <! round." 
 
 is time upwards of twenty thousand persons had attended the exhibition of the balloon and apparatus 
 at th-- Lyceum; and I had no doubt the proprietor of the room, who had received the money, and who hod made 
 such a bargain that tho pecuniary advantage was to be his, and the hazard and loss to bo mine, would 
 inniK uable me to fulfil my agreement with the Artillery Company, and remove tho balloon and 
 
 apparatus to the Ground, lint 1 was mistaken. There are men like sharks, who, by devouring, seem only to be 
 reii'i iaMe : and those men are not peculiar to tho Jewish nation. 
 
 If there were not a probability that these letters may appear in England, I would lay open the whole of this 
 
 i. and the character of the man with whom I unfortunately became connected. But though the Knglihh 
 
 boast of tl f the press, they enjoy it with such exceptions as are difficult to be understood by a stranger. 
 
 liidi-i-<l it is nut understood by themselves, for they are ever debating the subject. One of the exceptions to the 
 
 writing and speaking, and which nearly annihilates it, is, that truth constitutes, or is at least aii 
 
 :i of a libel. Satirists, therefore, in this country are strictly confined to falsehood; and in this it is v<-i y 
 
 ! they may yield obedience to a learned judge's opinion of the law. It is possible, however, that this 
 1 lawyer [Lord Mansfield?], being at the head of the King's Bench, may only aim to wrest from the press 
 tho adjudication and punishment of every species of delinquency ; and that he considers reciprocal defamation and 
 injury in the public papers like duelling, an appeal from the laws to the passions of individuals. Be this as it may, 
 I shall .-IT >n the best side, if I err at all, by avoiding expressions of resentment against a character too insignificant 
 for public notice, and too fixed in its habits to be amended by reprehension. It will bo sufficient to say that he 
 attempted to take cruel advantages of my situation, and proposed such conditions of assistance as I must have been 
 insane to accept. 
 
 \\ hat to do in these circumstances I was at a loss to imagine. Fatigue, agitation of mind, and that kind of 
 shame which attends a breach of promise, however involuntary, induced me to send an apology to the committee 
 of tho Artillery Company, instead of waiting on them myself. Conceiving this an attempt to deceive them, they 
 rescinded their former resolution respecting the appearance of the men under arms, and ordered tho materials for 
 fixing and preparing the balloon which had been sent to be thrown out, unless I paid tho hundred guineas the 
 morning, and found securities in five hundred pounds to indemnify the Artillery Company for any injury that 
 might be done to the premises. 
 
 Difficulties generate difficulties. The man at the Lyceum, apprised of the resolutions of the Artillery 
 I '< niipany, locked up my balloon and apparatus, and declared they should never be removed until I consigned to 
 him a moiety of all the possible advantages which my present and future enterprises of a similar kind might 
 produce. Moderate oppression might have ruined me. Enormous injustice rouses and interests the generous and 
 huma case was soon known ; I was enabled to send the money ; Sir Watkin Lewis and .Mr. Kirwan were 
 
 kind enough to become securities to the Artillery Company. The magistrates of the police took mo under their 
 protection, warranted mo in forcibly wresting my balloon out of the Lyceum, and also protected me in 
 it to the Artillery Uronml on Tuesday, the 14th, under a guard, which was ordered by Sir Sampson Wright ami 
 William Addington, Esq., in a manner that did honour to their personal as well as official characters. 
 
 .Id me I was going to say but I should bo extremely sorry if you were to see me, exhausted with 
 fatigue, anxiety, and distress, at tin.- < undertaking that requires my being collected, cool, and easy in 
 
 mind. The difficulties thrown in my way have postponed all my preparations; and indi.-j>oged and exhausted as I 
 
64 TIIEPNE<J>H2. A.D. 1784. 
 
 am, I cannot avoid paying such attention to the operations of this night as will allow me but little sleep. Doctor 
 Fordyce is applying his ingenious apparatus to fill the balloon. The process is admirable, though slow ; but, 1 
 hope by attending to it all night, 1 shall keep my appointment witli the public to-morrow. 
 
 Adieu, my honoured and respectable friend; my health and spirits are injured by a series of unfortunate and 
 
 cruel incidents, but if I succeed I shall be abundantly rewarded. I am, &c., yours, 
 
 VINCENT LUNAEDJ. 
 
 LETTER V. 
 
 MY DEAR FlUEND, London, Wednesday, 15. 
 
 The auspicious morning is arrived, and I will write the occurrences of it as they arise, lest any of those 
 supposed impossibilities overtake me which have lately haunted my designs. I have no apprehension but of the 
 populace, which is here, as it is everywhere, an impetuous, impatient, and cruel tyrant. A disappointment is an 
 ofi'ence, whatever be the occasion ; and offenders, in every degree, are punished with the same species of injustice. 
 The practicability of the experiment, though perfectly known to philosophers and men of letters, is not believed by 
 the populace ; and I have their prejudices to remove, at the risk of that resentment and violence which Sir George 
 Howard did not choose to encounter, even at the head of the veterans of the British army ; which have made the 
 Artillery Company doubt, hesitate, resolve, and re-resolve; and which will prevent those who would wish to 
 encourage me from entering the ground. 
 
 Twelve o'Clock. The view from the upper apartments of the Artillery House, into which I sometimes retire, 
 is striking and extraordinary, and serves to animate my imagination for scenes more extensive and picturesque 
 which I shall soon survey. 
 
 The fear of the populace, in case of a disappointment, has, as I expected, prevented my having much company 
 in the Artillery Ground. But the windows and roofs of the surrounding houses, scaffoldings of various forms and 
 contrivances, are crowded with well-dressed people, and form a singular, and to me very interesting spectacle. 
 They have viewed for hours, with fixed and silent attention, the bustle around the apparatus, and the gradual 
 expansion of the balloon. On my left, in a square, or rather parallelogram, the largest I know in Europe, a part 
 of the populace of this immense place is collected into one compressed and impenetrable mass. The whole would 
 suggest to a tyrant the idea of a pavement of human heads ; but I conceive the risk of going up in my balloon 
 trifling, compared with that of attempting to walk on the living surface I now contemplate. One hundred and fifty 
 thousand countenances have all one direction ; but I have reason to be anxious not to disappoint such a multitude, 
 every one of which has been wedged in a painful situation the whole morning. You will think me whimsical, 
 perhaps, in fixing my imagination at this time on a public institution of any kind. The principal area which 
 contains the populace is bounded by an extensive and noble building, devoted to the most compassionate and 
 affecting of all the offices of benevolence. It is a retreat for the insane who are not judged incurable, and it is 
 called Bedlam. The arrangement, extent, and wholesomeness of the apartments, the assiduity and care of the 
 governors, physicians, and apothecaries, and the uuabating liberality with which it is supported, render it an 
 object of universal respect. The figures of Frenzy and Melancholy at its gate are celebrated throughout Europe, 
 and are deemed barely inferior to the admired productions of Greek sculpture. "Which of these allegorical beings 
 the people have assigned as my patron I have not learned. I suppose they may be divided ; but they agree in the 
 propriety of making my attempt near Bedlam, as the event, in their opinion, will render it necessary to convey 
 me there. How happy should I be if some kind spirit would instruct me to emulate Astolpho * on his flying horse, 
 and to explore those regions where the straying wits of mortals betake themselves! But this is not a time for even 
 benevolent reveries, and I indulge them in any degree to repel unwelcome apprehensions. 
 
 Half after One. The time fixed for my departure is elapsed, but the balloon is not sufficiently filled for the 
 purpose. The populace have given some intimations of impatience, and I may yet be pro-judged before I make 
 my attempt. The presence of the Prince of Wales, and the obvious satisfaction with which he views the progress 
 of the preparations, may remove the suspicion of deceit, and restrain the impetuosity of the people. The 
 condescending affability of the Prince, and the interest he deigns to express, by repeated wishes for the safety of 
 
 * Vide Ariostu's ' Orlando Furioso,' where the Knglish knight is snid to have mounted to the moon, to bring back the wits of Orlando. 
 Query, Are not the fables of flying horses, dragons, &c., presumptions that the principle of air-balloons is not a modern discovery? (See 
 p. 11-14 of this work.) 
 
A.I.. 17>I. THK I'IMMT. OF \\.\l. IX 
 
 Mr. l',i m ami mo, are pleasing alleviations of my present anxi. -ty. His Royal Highness remains near the 
 i|.|'i:.i-ii-. without p. in- i.. ill.- eompany in the house. Those who attend liini pay their court, and I dare say 
 -s their real sentiments by anxieties for his safety. They apprehend dangers from the apparatus and frmu 
 tumult* : his l.'..\.il Highness apprehends none, for ho is really better informed, asks question* with more judgment. 
 ami .liie.t- hi- emio-ity in u better manner than is usual to persons of his high rank and his early years. II. 
 seems now and then to express his wishes for our safety, as if not destitute of doubt. Indeod the whole company 
 \iew 11- with a kind of regret, as devoted persons, whose return is at least problematical. This is pleasing to MH 
 only as it is a proof of polite humanity. \\ are not under the slightest apprehensions of danger when once 
 .-miiinitt.il to the balloon. I must own the concern betrayed by the looks of my friends, though I know it to be 
 without reason, has a considerable effect on me. Prince Caramanico, my kind patron and benefactor, is evidently 
 under some apprehension; and I shall remember, my whole life, this unequivocal proof of his friendship. As those 
 wh.> interest themselves in my fate bid me adieu in the most expressive, though silent manner, I thus take my 
 leave of you. Whatever Incomes of me, I know this testimony of my respectful regard will be affectionately 
 leo i\. .1 l.y yi 11. .V;,. :. i:i\ ii BQmd t'n> 1..1. I w .il MM lodl my 1. -;t. i OB my i. :urn. 
 
 Friday Evening, 24th September. 
 
 I w -I- this morning to have been presented to the King, but the anxiety and fatigue 1 had endured exhausted 
 my -tii n-th and spirits in such a manner as to occasion a violent fit of sickness, which confined me to my bed, 
 and deprived me of the honour and satisfaction I had promised myself on the occasion. 
 
 This is the. tii-t moment since my excursion I have been able to take up my pen with the probability of 
 
 i; you an account of it, and I am determined the post shall not go out this evening without it. 
 
 A little before two o'clock on Wednesday, Mr. Higgin and myself were prepared for our expedition. His 
 atti-nti.in was all-tied to the philosophical experiments and observations, mine to the conduct of the machine and 
 the UNO iif the vertical oars in depressing the balloon at pleasure. 
 
 Tiie impatience of the multitude made it unadvisable to proceed in filling the balloon, so as to give it the 
 force it was intended to have. On balancing that force with weights, it was supposed incapable of taking us up. 
 \\ht-u the gallery was annexed, and Mr. Biggin and I got into it, the matter was beyond doubt; and whether 
 .Mr. I'iggin felt the most regret in relinquishing his design, or I in being deprived of his company, it may be 
 difficult to determine. But we were before a tribunal where an instantaneous decision was necessary; for 
 h. --nation and delay would have been construed into guilt; and the displeasure impending over us would have 
 been fatal, if in one moment he had not had the heroism to relinquish, and I the resolution to go alone. 
 
 This event agitated my mind greatly ; a smaller gallery was substituted ; and the whole undertaking being 
 devolvnl mi me, I was preparing accordingly, when a servant brought me word that an accident had befallen the 
 balloon, \\hi.-h would prevent my intended voyage. I hastened down, almost deprived of my senses; and though 
 I was instantly convinced that the injury was trifling, I could not recover the shock in time to recollect that 1 
 should supply myself with those instruments for observation which had been appointed to Mr. Biggin. I threw 
 myself into the gallery, determined to hazard no further accidents that might consign me and the balloon to the 
 fury of the populace, which I saw was on the point of bursting. An affecting, because unpremeditated, testimony 
 of approbation and interest in my fate was here given. The Prince of Wales and the whole surrounding assembly, 
 almost at one instant, took off their hats, hailed my resolution, and expressed the kindest and most cordial wishes 
 for my safety and success. 
 
 At five minutes after two the last gun was fired, the cords divided, and the balloon rose, the company 
 returning my signals of adieu with the most unfeigned acclamations and applauses. The effect was that of a miracle 
 on the multitudes which surrounded the place ; and they passed from incredulity and menace into the most extra- 
 vagant expressions of approbation and joy. 
 
 At the height of twenty yards the balloon was a little depressed by the wind, which had a fine effect; it held 
 me over the ground for a few seconds, and seemed to pause majestically before its departure. 
 
 On discharging a part of the ballast it ascended to the height of two hundred yards. As a multitude lay 
 before me of a hundred and fifty thousand people who had not seen my ascent from the ground, I had recourse to 
 every stratagem to let them know I was in the gallerv, and they literally rent the air with their acclamations and 
 applause. In these stratagems I devoted my flag and worked with my oars, one of which was immediately broken. 
 and fell from me. A pigeon, too, escaped, which, with a dog and cat, were the only companions of uiy excursion. 
 
 K 
 
66 THEPNEcDHS. A.D. 1784. 
 
 When the thermometer had fallen from 68 to 01 I perceived a great difference in the temperature of the 
 air. I became very cold, and found it necessary to take a few glasses of wine. I likewise eat the leg of a chicken ; 
 but my bread and other provisions had been rendered useless, by being mixed with the sand which I carried 
 as ballast. 
 
 When the thermometer was at 50 the effect of the atmosphere and the combination of circumstances around 
 produced a calm delight, which is inexpressible, and which no situation on earth could give. The stillness, 
 extent, and magnificence of the scene, rendered it highly awful. My horizon seemed a perfect circle ; the termi- 
 nating line several hundred miles in circumference. This I conjectured from the view of London, the extreme 
 points of which formed an angle of only a few degrees. It was so reduced on the great scale before me that I can 
 find no simile to convey an idea of it. I could distinguish St. Paul's and other churches from the houses. I saw 
 the streets as lines, all animated with beings whom I knew to be men and women, but which I should otherwise 
 have had a difficulty in describing. It was an enormous beehive ; but the industry of it was suspended. All the 
 moving mass seemed to have no object but myself ; and the transition from the suspicion, and, perhaps, contempt 
 of the preceding hour, to the affectionate transport, admiration, and glory of the present moment, was not without 
 its effect on my mind. I recollected the puns* on my name, and was glad to find myself calm. I had soared from 
 the apprehensions and anxieties of the Artillery Ground, and felt as if I had left behind me all the cares and 
 passions that molest mankind. 
 
 Indeed, the whole scene before me filled the mind with a sublime pleasure, of which I never had a conception. 
 The critics imagine for they seldom speak from experience that terror is an ingredient in every sublime sensation. 
 It was not possible for me to be on earth in a situation so free from apprehension. I had not the slightest sense 
 of motion from the machine ; I knew not whether it went swiftly or slowly ; whether it ascended or descended ; 
 whether it was agitated or tranquil, but by the appearance or disappearance of objects on the earth. I moved to 
 different parts of the gallery ; I adjusted the furniture and apparatus ; I uncorked my bottle, eat, drank, and wrote, 
 just as in my study. The height had not the effect which a much lesser degree of it has near the earth, that of 
 producing giddiness. The broomsticks of the witches, Ariosto's flying-horse, and even Milton's sunbeam conveying 
 the angel to the earth, have all an idea of effort, difficulty, and restraint which do not affect a voyage in the 
 balloon. 
 
 He was the first, perhaps, who realised the beauty of Shelley's chorus : 
 
 Cloudless skies and windless streams, 
 Silent, liquid, and serene ; 
 As the birds within the wind, 
 As the fish within the wave, 
 As the thoughts of man's own mind 
 Float through all above the grave, 
 We make these our liquid lair, 
 Voyaging clondlike and unpent 
 Through the boundless element. 
 
 Thus tranquil, and thus situated, how shall I describe to you a view such as the ancients supposed Jupiter 
 to have of the earth, and to copy which there are no terms in any language? The gradual diminution of objects, 
 and the masses of light and shade, are intelligible in oblique and common prospects. But here everything wore 
 a new appearance, and had a new effect. The face of the country had a mild and permanent verdure, to which 
 Italy is a stranger. The variety of cultivation, and the accuracy with which property is divided, give the idea 
 ever present to a stranger in England of good civil laws and an equitable administration : the rivers meandering ; 
 the sea glistening with the rays of the sun ; the immense district beneath mo spotted with cities, towns, villages, 
 and houses, pouring out their inhabitants to hail my appearance : you will allow me some merit at not having been 
 exceedingly intoxicated with my situation. 
 
 To prolong the enjoyment of it, and to try the effect of my only oar, I kept myself in the same parallel 
 respecting the earth for nearly half an hour. But the exercise having fatigued, and the experiment having satisfied 
 me, I laid aside my oar, and again had recourse to my bottle : this I emptied to the health of my friends and 
 
 In some of the papers, witticisms appeared on the affinity of Lunatic and Lunardi. 
 
A.... I7M. Till: DESCKNT NK.VK \\.\\i\:. IN II F.lMTi |;|>SI1I I.T.. 67 
 
 benefactors in tin- lower \vnrM. All my affections wore alive, in a manner not easily to be conceived; and you 
 may bo assured th.it the sentiment which seemed to me most congenial to that happy .sit nation was gratitude and 
 
 Iship. I will in.t refer to any softer passion. 1 sat down and wrote four pages of Jcmiltory observations, 
 ami, ]'ii;!iiir_- tin in to a napkin, committed them' to the mild winds of the region, to be convoyed to my honoured 
 fiieinl an. I patron. l'i inre Caramanico. 
 
 During this business I had ascended rapidly; for, on hearing the report of a gun fired in the Artillery 
 Ground, I was induced to examine the thermometer, and f..un.l it had fallen to 32. The balloon was so much 
 inflated as to astmme the form of an oblong splu-roM. tin- sh.u-te>t diameter of which was in a line with mo, though 
 I li i<l ascended with it in the shape of an inverted cone, and wanting nearly ono-third of its full complement of 
 air. Having no valve, I conl.l mily open the neck of the balloon, thinking it barely possible that the strong 
 .iii iii might force out some of the inflammable air. The condensed vapour around its nock was frozen, 
 though I found no inconvenience from the cold. The earth at this point appeared like a boundless plain, whose 
 surface had variegated shades, but on which no object could be accurately distinguished. 
 
 I iii. n !M.| t course to the utmost use of my single oar ; by hard and persevering labour I brought myself 
 within three hundred yards of the earth, and, moving horizontally, spoke through my trumpet to some country 
 people, from whom I heard a confused noise in reply. 
 
 At half after three o'clock I descended in a corn-field, on the common of South Minims, Hertfordshire, 
 where I lumli-il iliccat.* The poor animal had been sensibly affected by the cold during the greatest part of the 
 voyage. Here I might have terminated my excursion with satisfaction and honour to myself ; for, though I was 
 not destitute of ambition to be the first to ascend the English atmosphere, my great object was to ascertain the 
 effect of oars acting vertically on the air. I had lost one of my oars, but by the use of the other I had brought 
 myself down, and was perfectly convinced my invention would answer. This, though a single, was an important 
 object ; and my satisfaction was very great in having proved its utility. The fatigues and anxiety I have endured 
 might have induced me to be content with what I had done, and the people about me were very ready to assist at 
 my disembarkation ; but my affections were afloat, and in unison with the whole country, whose transport and 
 admiration seemed boundless. I bid them therefore keep clear, and I would gratify them by ascending directly in 
 their view. 
 
 My general course to this place was something more than one point to the westward of the north. A gentle- 
 man on horseback approached me, but I could not speak to him, being intent on my re-ascension, which I effected, 
 after moving horizontally about forty yards. As I ascended one of the balustrades of the gallery gave way, but 
 the circumstance excited no apprehension of danger. I threw out the remainder of my ballast and provisions, and 
 again resumed my pen. My ascension was so rapid that before I had written half a page the thermometer had 
 fallen to 29. The drops of water that had adhered to the neck of the balloon wore become like crystals. At this 
 point of elevation, which was the highest I attained, I finished my letter, and fastening it with a corkscrew to jnj* 
 handkerchief, threw it down. I likewise threw down the plates, knives, and forks, the little sand that remained, 
 and an empty bottle, which took some time in disappearing. I now wrote the last of my despatches from the 
 clouds, which 1 fixed to a leathern belt, and sent towards the earth. It was visible to mo on its passage for 
 several minutes, but I was myself insensible of motion from the machine itself during the whole voyage. The 
 earth appeared as before, like an extensive plain, with the same variegated surface, but the objects rather less 
 distinguishable. The clouds to the eastward rolled beneath me in masses immensely larger than the waves of the 
 ocean. I therefore did not mistake them for the sea. Contrasted with the effects of the sun on the earth and 
 water beneath, they gave a grandeur to the whole scene which no fancy can describe. I again betook myself to 
 my oar, in order to descend, and by the hard labour of fifteen or twenty minutes I accomplished my design, when 
 my strength was nearly exhausted. My principal care was to avoid a violent concussion at landing, and in this 
 my good fortune was my friend. 
 
 At twenty minutes past four I descended in a spacious meadow, in the parish of Standon, near Ware, in 
 Hertfordshire. Some labourers were at work in it. I requested their assistance; they exclaimed they would 
 have nothing to do with one who came in the Devil's house, or on the Devil's horse (I conld not distinguish which 
 of the phrases they used), and no entreaties could prevail on them to approach me. I at last owed my deliverance 
 
 Attraction* of particular circumstance* in this Kit. -r Imvc been received iince it WAS written, which the rvader may aeo annexed, in 
 the manner of an Appendix. 
 
 K 2 
 
(58 TIIEPNE<I>H2. A.D. 1784. 
 
 to the spirit and generosity of a female. A young woman, who was likewise in the field, took hold of a cord which 
 I had thrown out, and, calling to the men, they yielded that assistance to her request which they had refused to 
 mine. A crowd of people from the neighbourhood soon assembled, who very obligingly assisted me to disembark. 
 General Smith was the first gentleman who overtook me. I am much indebted to his politeness ; he kindly assisted 
 in securing the balloon, having followed me on horseback from London, as did several other gentlemen, amongst 
 whom were Mr. Crane, Captain Connor, and Mr. Wright. The inflammable air was let out by an incision, and 
 produced a most offensive stench, which is said to have affected the atmosphere of the neighbourhood. The 
 apparatus was committed to the care of Mr. Hollingsworth, who obligingly offered his service. I then proceeded 
 with General Smith, and several other gentlemen, to the Bull Inn at Ware. On my arrival I had the honour to be 
 introduced to William Baker, Esq., Member for Hertford in the last parliament. This gentleman conducted me to 
 his seat at Bayfordbury, and entertained me with a kind of hospitality and politeness which I shall ever remember 
 with gratitude, and which has impressed on my mind a proper idea of that frank liberality and sincere beneficence 
 which are the characteristics of English gentlemen. 
 
 The general course of the second part of my voyage, by which I was led into Hertfordshire, was three 
 points to the eastward of the north from the Artillery Ground, and about four points to the eastward of the north 
 from the place where I first descended. 
 
 This is the general account of my excursion. I shall take a few days to recover my strength, and whatever 
 particulars occur to me I shall send you. 
 
 VINCENT LUNARDI. 
 
 LETTER VI. 
 MY DEAR FRIEND, 
 
 I should at this time have as much difficulty in describing the effect of my success on the whole English 
 nation as I had in conveying to you an idea of the apprehension and distress I felt lest any untoward circumstances 
 should prevent or defeat my undertaki ng. 
 
 The interest which the spectators took in my voyage was so great that the things I threw down were divided 
 and preserved, as our people would relics of the most celebrated saints. And a gentlewoman, mistaking the oar 
 for my person, was so affected with my supposed destruction that she died in a few days. This circumstance being 
 mentioned on Saturday, when I had the honour of dining with the Judges, Lord Mayor, Recorder, and Sheriffs of 
 London, I was very politely requested by one of the Judges not to be concerned at the involuntary loss I had 
 occasioned ; that I had certainly saved the life of a young man who might possibly be reformed, and be to the 
 public a compensation for the death of the lady; for the jury was deliberating on the fate of a criminal whom, after 
 the utmost allowance for some favourable circumstances, they must have condemned, when the balloon appeared, 
 and a general inattention and confusion ensued. The jury was perplexed with considerations on the case, which 
 their curiosity would not suffer them to weigh ; and being under a necessity to determine before they departed, 
 they took the favourable side, and acquitted the criminal immediately, on which the court was adjourned to indulge 
 itself in observing so novel a spectacle. 
 
 I mention these things, as they may prepare you for the reception I was honoured with on my return to 
 London. No voyager from the most interesting and extensive discoveries, no conqueror from the most important 
 victories was ever inquired for with more solicitude, or welcomed with greater joy. The house of Prince Caramanico 
 had been besieged by multitudes, early and late, to have some account of my safety, or to applaud my return. 
 
 You may suppose when I came to town I hastened to Caramanico, who received mo with every mark of 
 affection and condescending friendship. 
 
 Here circumstances of gratulation and joy crowded on me every hour. I was flattered by learning that while 
 I hovered over London His Majesty was in conference with his principal Ministers. On being informed that I was 
 passing, the King said, " We may resume our deliberations on the subject before us at pleasure ; but we may never 
 see poor Lunardi again." The conference broke up, and His Majesty, attended by Mr. Pitt and other great officers 
 of state, viewed me through telescopes while I remained in their horizon. 
 
 I had received insults which I thought cruel by persons whose houses overlooked the ground, who erected 
 scaffolds and let out their rooms, so as to deprive me of a chance of having my expenses defrayed. I was no sooner 
 returned but some of these people hastened to atone for their misapprehensions of me. They had considered and 
 treated me as an impostor. My ascension, as a charm, dissipated their ill opinion, and gave them an enthusiasm 
 
ux IT-I. -THK MOI;NIN<; TOST' or -rrn:Mr,i:i: ICTH, IT>I. M 
 
 in my i i\..ur. I am offered tli<> houses and scaffoldings for my own tiro, if I choose to exhibit again. These things 
 show the iiii]xirtain : ~> in all undertakings which are not thoroughly understood by the multitude. I am 
 
 iiitfiHliuvil not niily into piivate families, but into public institutions, with tho most advantageous and flattering 
 distinctions. The civilities of tho Lord Mayor, tho Judges, and other magistrates, led me into the Courts of Law; 
 and, though I had made them objects of curiosity, I had never attended trials in circumstances so favourable to infor- 
 mation. Kvery precaution \vhieh tho wisdom of man can devise seems to be taken here to administer equal justice 
 
 en all contending parties. The judges are appointed by the king, but rendered independent by an ample 
 pm\ i,ii,n for their support, and by the tenure of their places, which is during good behaviour, and a proper dis- 
 charge of their duty. But the peculiar happiness of English jurisprudence is the appointment of juries from tho 
 neighbourhood of every offender to adjudge his particular case. The hint is taken from tho appointment of judges 
 in the courts of the Pnetors in the Roman republic; but those judges were chosen wholly from tho citizens of 
 Rome. In Kn- l.ind every dispute is decided by the inhabitants of the neighbourhood, who ore obliged to attend 
 the parties to the assizes, because the}* alone are capable of determining the nature of their actions, from a know- 
 ledge of their circumstances and characters. It is extraordinary that Rome, who gave the first hints of this ad- 
 mirable mode of trial, should be insensible to its advantages, and perhaps ignorant of its existence. 
 
 My fame has not been sparingly diffused by the newspapers, which in England are tho barometers of public 
 opinion ; often erroneous, as other instruments are, in their particular informations, but yielding tho best that can 
 be obtained. Vc.n will imagine the importance of these vehicles of knowledge, when you learn that in London 
 alone there are printed no less than a hundred and sixty thousand papers weekly, which, by a stamp on each paper, 
 and a duty on advertisements, bring into the treasury of the nation upwards of eighty thousand pounds a year. 
 They are to tho English constitution what the censors were to that of ancient Rome. Ministers of State are checked 
 and kept in awe by them; and they freely, and often judiciously, expose the pretensions of those who would harass 
 government, merely to be taken into its service. But tho principal reason of their extensive circulation is the 
 information and entertainment they afford an opulent people, who have leisure and inclination to interest them- 
 selves in all public occurrences. On this account the conductors of newspapers seize every opportunity of convey- 
 ing the earliest information of all the events that take place in the kingdom ; and though they must be often mis- 
 taken, yet the dexterity with which they trace all sources of intelligence is such that they are generally right 
 
 I have reason to thank the managers of all tho papers for their candour and partiality to mo. I send you an 
 account from one of them, written and published within a few hours after my descent, founded only on immediate 
 observation and conjecture. You will thereby form your opinion of the attention and industry employed in these 
 prints on all similar, and indeed on all interesting occasions, and you may amuse yourself by comparing their con- 
 jectures with facts. 
 
 "FROM 'THE MORS'IXO POST,' THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 16TH, 1784. LlJXARDl's AERIAL EXCURSION. 
 
 " To combat the prejudices of a nation, and the incredulity of mankind, especially when deterred by examples of 
 resentment in consequence of deception or misfortune, when awed by the danger incurred in experiment and the 
 uncertainty of success in the project, must certainly require the greatest effort of human resolution. Whilst we 
 are recollecting the occasion, which collected one-tenth of the inhabitants of the metropolis within tho optical 
 powers of an individual, we t^nnot help indulging ourselves in these eccentric reflections. The aerial voyage, 
 which has long been proposed by Mr. Lunardi, was appointed for yesterday, and perhaps the English nation never 
 witnessed upon any occasion whatever such a number of persons collected together and so Irftily displayed as were 
 to be seen in the environs of Moorfields; not a plain or an eminence, a window or a roof, a chimney or a steeple, 
 within the view of Hedlam, but were prodigiously thronged. About half-past one o'clock the Prince of \Vah-s 
 arrived in the Artillery (inmnd. and after receiving the salutations of the gentlemen of the Artillery, though not 
 it la militairr but en obeistance cajxt-pie, his Royal Highness having expressed a wish to dispense with military atten- 
 tions, he \iewed the apparatus of the balloon and retired to the Armoury House, which was occupied by 
 persons who had liberally paid the adventurer for their admission. We were sorry indeed to observe tliat such 
 general advantages had been taken by the neighbourhood of farming their windows, and for benefits which were 
 due only to the novelty and spirit of the enterprise. About a quarter before two o'clock the balloon was suffi- 
 ciently filled and closed, and the gallery and other apparatus prepared to be suspended ; but on Mr. Lunardi and 
 
70 TIIEPNE<DH2. A.D. 1784. 
 
 his intended companion, whom wo understand to he Mr. Biggin, a young gentleman of fortune and enterprise, 
 having taken their situations, and finding that the machine was tmequal to their weight, it was determined that 
 Mr. Lunardi should ascend alone. A cannon having been fired as a preparatory signal, Mr. Lunardi, having 
 embraced his friends, and all matters being adjusted, a second cannon was fired as the signal of ascension. In- 
 sensible must that heart be which did not feel itself anxious and interested at that moment for the fate of him, 
 who intrepidly stepped into his seat, and, Phaeton-like, seized the reins which were to guide the chariot of the sun. 
 About five minutes after two o'clock the machine was launched ; and as if dreading the course it had to run, and 
 unwilling to proceed, after having mounted about twelve yards, it reclined to its native earth; but roused by 
 ambition and the spirit of philosophical researches, Mr. Lunardi rebuked its fear, and gave its swiftness to its airy 
 flight. He took his seat in the gallery with great composure and confidence on the balloon's being launched ; but 
 finding himself too equally poised, he readily discharged part of his ballast, which consisted of small bags of white 
 dry sand, and by that means relieved his weight and caused a regular and most beautiful ascension. After he had 
 cleared the buildings, subject to the direction of the easterly wind, he saluted the populace with great elegance and 
 gallantry by waving a blue flag, which he had taken for the purpose, and seemingly bidding them a friendly adieu. 
 The gallery was formed of an upright four feet square, and netted with a strong cord, about breast high, but quite 
 open at the top. After this salutation, for the space of five minutes he dropt his flag with an air of security, and 
 having seated himself, took to his oars ; but as we since learn, finding they compressed the wind too much, he 
 disengaged one, which was taken up about Smithfield : at that time his friends were alarmed for the consequence. 
 Steering at this moment due west, he suddenly tacked towards the north, and with little variations, according 
 to the altitude he obtained, till he seemed by degrees to establish that direction, his progress seemed exceedingly 
 elevated and swift, although the balloon appeared under masterly management. We viewed this object, never- 
 theless, distinctly for one hour and twenty minutes, with a mixture of anxiety and delight, not unalloyed, however, 
 by a friendly dread for the ultimate effect, until we were this moment relieved by the following intelligence from 
 very good authority, viz., that Mr. Lunardi lowered himself towards the earth near Barnet, but not approving the 
 situation and finding he had the command of his machine, he discharged a part of his ballast and pursued his course 
 until he arrived over Collier's-hill, five miles beyond Ware, in Hertfordshire, at twenty-five minutes past four 
 o'clock ; there he alighted, and was received by the neighbourhood with testimonies of admiration.* He afterwards 
 returned to town, where no doubt his friends and every true lover of courage and merit will receive him with 
 friendship and respect. His companions in this adventurous voyage were a dog and cat ; the latter was destroyed, 
 and the dog was almost spent by the severity of climates through which they passed. Mr. Lunardi himself was, of 
 course, affected by the change of elements, as may be readily conceived by those who are told that icicles were 
 hanging on his clothes. 
 
 Such were the incidents of yesterday, and we heartily wish that the effects may be valuable to the projector. 
 Every Englishman should feel an emulation to reward him ; for uncertain as the good to be derived from such an 
 excursion may be thought, yet it becomes the nobleness of our nature to encourage them. Discoveries beyond the 
 reach of human comprehension at present may by perseverance be accomplished. Emulation and industry are a 
 debt which is due to posterity, and he who shrinks from innovation is not his country's friend. Encouragement is 
 the spur to emulation, and emulation the parent frequently of excellence ; let Mr. Lunardi, therefore, be rescued 
 by a generous public out of the hands of a villain, who has emphatically been described as being industrious only 
 in matters wherein honest men would be ashamed, but to whom Mr. Lunardi has been a dupe in this undertaking 
 and injured instead of being benefited by the danger he has encountered." 
 
 On the Sunday immediately after my return I had the honour of waiting on Sir James Wright, who had been 
 politely solicitous to give me testimonies of his approbation. Ho had the goodness to represent to His Majesty 
 
 " The vulgar and the great 
 
 Equally happy now, with freedom share 
 The common joy. The shepherd-boy forgets 
 His bleating care ; the labouring hind lets fall 
 His grain unsown ; in transport lost, he robs 
 Th' expecting furrow, and in wild amaze 
 The gazing village point their eyes to heaven. 
 
A .n. 
 
 IM;I>I:\ i ATION m mi; KIN,, 71 
 
 that I \\-i.slu .! to lay an account of my voyage at Ilia Majesty's foot, wlio appointed Friday fur my attendance at 
 St. James's. 
 
 On Wednesday Sir James Wright took me to court The drawing-room was very crowded, it being the 
 anniversary of tin- Kind's Coronation. I was surrouiul.il with tin- ministers of state and the nobility, when the 
 Pun. of \\ .<! - entered the drawing-room. My penou was pointed out to him by one of the Secretaries of State, 
 mi which IP- .-aid in tin- liv.lv ami familiar manner which i- peculiar l<> him. " < > .Mr. I.unanli, I am very glad to 
 As a proof of the attention of this amiable Prince, I must let you know he did mo the hon..ur t.. 
 scn.l his i;.[.i. : . to say he observed at my ascension I hud not a watch describing seconds of time, as I was under 
 a necessity of borrowing ouo fr.iin Mr. Anbcrt, who has since honoured mo with his friendly attention, and that 
 hi.- i;..yal Highness had ordered his watchmaker to take my directions for such a one as might bo useful to me 
 another time. < >n m. ntioiiing this circumstance to Prince Caramanico, he immediately said I might want such a 
 watch Wfore that whii h was ordered by the Prince of Wales could be ready, and taking out his own, presented it 
 t<> in.- in tin- km. I. M manner imaginable. 
 
 The rumour that 1 had sunk a considerable sum of money by the adventure was soon circulated, and sub- 
 .-. -ripti ..ns have been opened in several parte of London for my advantage; but with what effect I must not yet 
 presume to judge. 
 
 But you will wonder, perhaps, that I should think it necessary on this occasion to become an author. 
 Spurious accounts and misrepresentations of my excursion, have been published by booksellers of some considera- 
 tion here. They have been reprehended freely and perhaps severely by my publisher, who is very warm and 
 zealous for my interest, and who suggested to me the plan of revising and publishing my letters to you, as necessary 
 to the reputation of my undertaking, and likely to bo conducive to my advantage. Ho is a man of spirit and 
 judgment in his profession, whose name is already familiar to you and all the world by his complete and beautiful 
 n of the English poets. 1 have yielded to his advice, and entertain the fullest confidence that under his 
 direction my enterprise will not bo dishonoured. Ho is now soliciting the attention of the public towards a new 
 edit i..n of Shak-pearo's works, which, by the elegance of the specimen ho has produced, promises to render an 
 author, whose genius is here deemed only short of inspiration, celebrated in all parts of the world, not exempting 
 ili <>-. where his native language is not understood. Permit me, as a mark of gratitude, to recommend that work, 
 in its infant state, to your protection and encouragement. I have taken the liberty of entering your name as a 
 subscril>cr, and hope soon to have the pleasure of adding many more by your means. 
 
 Most of my time is now taken np with the exhibition of the balloon, and indeed of myself; for the principal 
 curio-it \ is to see me, at the Pantheon, which is one of the largest and most splendid rooms in Europe. It is diffi- 
 cult to imagine anything more pleasing than the solicitude which multitudes of beautiful women express concerning 
 dangers that are past, and the heroism of others who wish to accompany me in my second tour. I receive the 
 compliments and congratulations of two or three thousand persons in a day. You must not wonder if I conceive 
 an opinion of my own consequence and become vain. I have been made an honorary member of the Artillery 
 Company, in whose uniform I accompanied Sir James Wright this morning, to lay before His Majesty a short 
 account of my excursion. 
 
 I was received in the most gracious manner. The King took my account, talked to me about five minutes on 
 the subject of aerostation, permitted the usual honour of kissing his hand, and I took my leave. 
 
 1 have led you, my dear friend, through my apprehensions, difficulties, and anxieties, to the completion of 
 almost all my wishes respecting the first attempt I made to place myself on the records of fame. 
 
 It has been no small assistance to me that I have ever wished not to dishonour your care, advice, and 
 friendship ; and it heightens every gratification that I can always subjoin 
 
 I am your sincere and affectionate friend, 
 
 Yiv ! MSIH. 
 
 Having wrote several letters, while on my excursion in the atmosphere, I had several inducements to employ 
 myself in that manner. It proved the astonishing evenness and smoothness of the motion ; and, l.y throwing down 
 any information of myself, there was a chance of its falling into the hands of my friends, and relieving tin -ir an\i. ty 
 concerning my safety, and the state of my spirits and mind. 
 
 I threw down several to the same effect with the following, one of which was very obligingly convey. -d t.. 
 
72 TIIEPNE<DH2. A.D. 1784. 
 
 me by Carimajor, Esq., who found it, not very far from the milestone on Northaw Common, while out a 
 
 shooting. I have collated my own copies, written with a pencil ; and the following letter is inserted, as an addi- 
 tional proof of the felicity with which I performed the whole voyage : 
 
 Addressed to any Person or Persons who may pick up this Letter. 
 
 MY DEAR FRIEND OR FRIENDS, 
 
 The anxiety which my acquaintance showed at my departure makes it necessary to assure them that my 
 situation is, at this moment, the happiest of my life. The relief of my mind, and the accomplishment of my 
 purpose, which I now see is practicable in all respects, concur with the temperature of the air and the magnificence 
 of prospect to sooth and gratify my mind with the highest delight. The thermometer is at 50, and I will keep 
 myself in this station till three o'clock ; I shall then ascend higher, to try the effect of a different aerial climate, 
 as well as to put my oar to a fair trial. 
 
 I beg the person or persons who may take up this letter to take notice of the time and place, and to convey 
 either the letter or the contents of it to my kind friend and patron, Prince Caramanico, No. 56, in New Bond- 
 street, to Sir Joseph Banks, Soho-square, or to Doctor Fordyce, Essex-street, to whom I have many and great 
 obligations, and who may have the goodness to be concerned, if they should soon learn I am cheerful and well. 
 
 I am particularly anxious that the earliest information of me should be given to George Biggin, Esq., Essex- 
 street, the loss of whose company is the only abatement of my present joy ; but I hope for that pleasure another 
 time. 
 
 My desire to convey some news of me is from an opinion that my descent may not be effected immediately, 
 or within the distance of forty or fifty miles. In that case I might not be able to convey them any letter or 
 message in time to save them uneasiness on my account. It is now exactly three o'clock, the air has a mildness 
 and sweetness I never experienced, and the view before me is heavenly. Happy England ! I see reasons to hail 
 
 thy peculiar felicity ! 
 
 Farewell, 
 
 VINCENT LUNARDI. 
 
 To VINCENT LUNARDI, ESQ. 
 
 Sl R) Bayford, near Hertford, September 18, 1784. 
 
 I send you this by my servant, that I may learn from yourself what I am extremely anxious to hear, that 
 your health has not suffered by your late fatigues, that your balloon arrived in London without injury, and at the 
 same time to acquaint you with the further steps I have taken in your business. 
 
 Yesterday morning I made to the very spot where your balloon in its passage touched the ground, and where 
 your cat was landed; and with the assistance of several people who were witnesses, particularly of a person whom 
 you may recollect to have been near the balloon at the time on horseback, and of the very girl who picked up the 
 cat, have ascertained the place with a sufficient precision. They pointed out the part also where your grapple 
 dragged, and mentioned some other circumstances, the most of which I propose to collect into a formal deposition, 
 and shall attend them again to-day to obtain their more solemn confirmation of the facts. 
 
 Yesterday, at my request, five of the harvest-men, mentioned in the deposition of Elizabeth Brett (which you 
 have with you) attended me here, and have in the same formal mode deposed to the time, manner, and place of 
 your last descent, and to the fact of their coming to the assistance of Elizabeth Brett, as stated by her. This 
 deposition shall accompany the other, which I am to take to-day, and you will make such use of them as you may 
 find necessary. I cannot, however, avoid saying that admiration and astonishment seem so thoroughly to have 
 taken possession of all ranks of people instead of that incredulity which your friend, Mr. Sheldon, apprehended, 
 that these supplemental proofs are hardly required. If finally they should, however, be thought requisite, it will 
 give mo particular pleasure in having procured them. Whatever you may bo advised by your friends in London 
 to give to the public will, I have no doubt, be well considered : it cannot be detailed in terms too plain and 
 simple. You must bo sensible that the fafons de purler here and in France arc extremely different, and that truth 
 has never received advantage from unnecessary ornament. You will recollect, too, that the account will be read 
 by thousands, who were not witnesses of the facts. You will make such use of the subjoined memorandum as you 
 think necessary. 
 
u> 
 oo 
 
A.I.. 1781 i'i:rn>iTH\s. 78 
 
 \ our ;_" in T.il course from the spot of your departure, in the Artillery Ground, 1o that of your first de-scent, 
 was something more than ono point on the compass to the westward of the north, ami the general ooune of your 
 second voyage was three pointa on the compass to the eastward of the north fnnn tin- jil.i.-.- .,(' \ ,.ur first departure, 
 or something mure than four points on the compaas to the eastward of the north from the place of your first descent: 
 observe, I speak of v.-m -rul course, with a reference to the best maps which 1 have 1>y me. \\hat deviations 
 <>r tmvoraes you might make from time to time in both voyages, as you certainly must have made many, you will 
 best judge. As a proof of this, you will recollect that the field in which the last letter with the belt annexed was 
 found, lies about one mile and a half to the eastward, being a point to the south of the spot whore you finally 
 landed : if, therefore, the belt and letter dropped in anything like a perpendicular direction, the course you took 
 after the dropping of this letter must have been weat, with a point to the north. I mention this by the by for 
 your consideration. 
 
 With respect to the identical spots on which you made the two descents, you may wish to know the literal fact. 
 
 That where you made your first descent, that is, where your gallery came to the ground, and where or near 
 to \vliii-li \<>u put out the cat, is a large ploughed field belonging to John Hunter, Esq., of Gtibhins, in the county 
 t Hertford. The field itself is part of the lately enclosed common of North Minims, in the manor of the Duke of 
 Leeds. The field is about half a mile to the eastward of the sixteen-mile stone, on the road leading from London 
 to Hatfield, and adjoining to the road leading from the said turnpike-road to the northward on the left. The par- 
 tirular spot in the field is on the east side, very near to the boundary-line between the manors of Xorthaw and 
 Noi tli Mi nuns. For the present a common hedgestake only marks the spot; but with your leave a,nd the permission 
 of Mi. Hunter I propose to erect a stone there, with a suitable inscription to record the fact, as I shall likewise do 
 on the spot of your last descent, if, as I have no doubt, I can obtain permission of the proprietor. It is remarkable 
 that the field where you made your first descent is called Italy, from the circumstance which attended the late 
 enclosure of a largo quantity of roots, rubbish, &c., having been collected there, and having continued burning for 
 many days. The common people having beard of a burning mountain in Italy, gave the field that name. You 
 hardly conceived, when you dropped, that you was so near to anything that had connexion with Naples. 
 
 The place of your final descent is imperfectly described in Elizabeth Brett's deposition, but is in fact, as there 
 stated, in the parish of Standon, about half a mile to the northward of the twenty-four mile stone, on the road that 
 leads from London to Cambridge, through Ware and I'uckeridge. 
 
 If you wish to have any further conversation with me on these matters, I can come to London conveniently 
 after Wednesday next, and will attend you with pleasure, if you give me notice. 
 
 The enclosed scraps of paper were found in the field where you first descended, near the part where your 
 grapple took up the corn. Whether you threw them from the balloon you will recollect. 
 
 I have no tidings of the two first letters ; probably to-day I may hear something of them, as I shall moot many 
 
 persons assembled from different parts of the country. 
 
 Adieu. Mont sincerely yours, 
 
 W. BiKhit. 
 
 DEPOSITION- 
 
 The voluntary Declaration and Deposition on Oath O/NATHANIKL WHITBREAD, of Swanky Bar, farmer, in tlie 
 Parish of North J/i'mms, in the County of Hertford, Yeoman. 
 
 This deponent, on his oath, saith, that being on Wednesday the 15th day of September instant, between the 
 hours of three and four in the afternoon, in a certain field called Etna, in the parish of North Minims aforesaid, he 
 
 ived a large machine sailing in the air near the place where he was on horseback; that the machine 
 continuing to approach the earth, the part of it in which this deponent perceived a gentleman standing came to 
 the ground, and dragged a short way on the ground in a slanting direction ; that the time when the machine 
 thii* toii.-h'-'l the earth was, as near as this deponent could judge, about a quarter before four in the afternoon. 
 That this deponent being on horseback, and his horse restive, he could not approach nearer to the machine than 
 about four poles; but that lie could plainly perceive therein a gentleman dressed in light-coloured clothes, holding 
 in his hand a trumpet, whieh hail the appearance of silver or bright tin. That by this time several harvest-men 
 coming up from the other part of the lie-Id, to the number of twelve men and thirteen women, this <le]>nent called 
 to them to endeavour to stop the machine, which the men attempted; but the gentleman in the m.i. liine deMring 
 
 L 
 
74 TIIEPNE4>H2. A.D. 1784. 
 
 them to desist, and the machine moving with considerable rapidity, and clearing the earth, went off in a north 
 direction, and continued in sight at a very great height for near an hour afterwards. And this deponent further 
 saith, that the part of the machine in which the gentleman stood did not actually touch the ground for more than 
 half a minute, during which time the gentleman threw out a parcel of what appeared to this deponent as dry sand. 
 That, after the machine had ascended again from the earth, this deponent perceived a grapple with four hooks, 
 which hung from the bottom of the machine, dragging along the ground, which carried up with it into the air a small 
 parcel of loose oats, which the women were raking in the field. And this deponent further, on his oath, saith, that 
 when the machine had risen clear from the ground about twenty yards, the gentleman spoke to this deponent and 
 the rest of the people with his trumpet, wishing them good-by, and saying that he should soon go out of sight. 
 And this deponent further, on his oath saith, that the machine in which the gentleman came down to the earth 
 appeared to consist of two distinct parts, connected together by ropes : namely, that in which the gentleman 
 appeared to be, a stage boarded at the bottom and covered with netting and ropes on the sides, about four feet and 
 a half high ; arid the other part of the machine appeared in the shape of an urn, about thirty feet high, and of the 
 
 same diameter, made of canvas, like oilskin, with green, red, and yellow stripes. 
 
 NATHANIEL WHITBREAD. 
 Sworn before me, this 20th day of September, 1784, WILLIAM BAKER. 
 
 The voluntary Declaration and Depositions on Oath of WILLIAM HARPER, of the Parish of Hatfield, in ilie County of Hertford, 
 Labourer, and of MARY BCTTERFIELD, of the Parish of North Mimms, in the County of Hertford, Spinster. 
 
 This deponent, William Harper, on his oath saith, that as he was mowing oats in a certain field called Etna, 
 in the parish of North Mimms, in the county of Hertford, on Wednesday, the 1 5th of this instant September, 
 between three and four o'clock in the afternoon, in company with Thomas Blackwell, Thomas Moore, John 
 Kichardson, and several others, he perceived a large machine hovering in the air and gradually approaching the 
 ground near the boundary-line of the manors of Northaw and North Mimms ; that on his approaching the machine, 
 in company of the persons aforementioned, the machine, which had then passed the said boundary-line, touched 
 the earth in the said field called Etna. And this deponent, being then at the distance of four or five poles from 
 the same, plainly perceived a gentleman in the lower part of the said machine, dressed in light-coloured clothes 
 and a cocked hat, who, on the machine touching the ground, threw out a parcel of dust or white sand ; that 
 immediately the machine mounted again into the air, and went off in a north direction ; that while the machine 
 continued touching the ground, Mr. Nathaniel Whitbread, who was likewise present on horseback, desired this 
 deponent and the rest who were present to stop the said machine, which some of them, and in particular Thomas 
 Blackwell, attempted to do ; but the gentleman desiring them not to stop the machine, they desisted. And this 
 deponent, Mary Butterfield, on her oath saith, that she was raking oats in the said field called Etna, on Wednesday 
 the 15th of September instant, between three and four o'clock in the afternoon, in company with Mary Crawley, 
 Sarah Day, and others, and perceived a large machine hovering over Northaw Common, and approaching the earth 
 in the field whore this deponent was at work, which at length it touched in the said field called Etna ; and during 
 the time that it so touched the ground a kitten, which was in the lower part of the said machine, came out on the 
 field, which this deponent picked up, and soon afterwards sold to a gentleman who came up to the hedge-side, 
 inquiring after the machine, which he called an air-balloon. That this deponent plainly perceived a gentleman in 
 the lower part of the machine, dressed in light-coloured clothes, who, on the machine ascending again, spoke 
 through his trumpet, and wished them good-by. And these deponents, William Harper and Mary Butterfield, 
 severally, on their oaths, say that the machine which came down to the earth appeared to consist of two parts 
 connected together : namely, that 'in which the gentleman was appeared to be a framework of wood and netting, from 
 which there stuck out a sort of wing ; and the other part of the machine appeared in the shape of a large pear with 
 the stalk downwards, and Appeared to be made of silk or canvas, in stripes of green and red. And this deponent, 
 Mary Butterfield, further, on her oath, saith, that when the machine was ascending from the ground, she, this 
 deponent, perceived an anchor or grapple drag along the ground, which took with it a small parcel of the oats from 
 the field where they were raking. 
 
 his her 
 
 WILLIAM ^ HARPER. MARY !*! BUTTERFIELIJ. 
 
 mark. mark. 
 
 Sworn before me this 20th day of September, 1784. 
 
A.I.. I7si. -A GENTLEMAN WELL KNOW* LN THE UTERABl \\oKI. 1>." 75 
 
 The voluntary Declaration and Dejmtition on Oath r/ KI.I/.AIIKIII BRKTT, Spinster, Servant to Mr. Tin>\( \- UKAH, r'armer, 
 
 in the Parish of Standon, in At Cou,,/,/ of 11,-ris. 
 
 This deponent, on her oath, with, that on Wednesday the 15th day of September instant, between four :nnl 
 ii\. . ! k iti tlif afternoon, she, this deponent, In-in^ then at work in her master's hrowhouso, hoard an uncommon 
 I.>M.) n-i-. . whirli, mi :iit. ii.liiiir to it, sho conceived to be the sound of men singing as they returned Ci..in 
 
 t-1 . Tli.i! u | ion going to the door of th.- liousu she perceived a strange large body in tho air, itml, on 
 
 i^ it in a moadow-ficld near the house, called Long M- a.l. >he perceived a man in it; that tho ponton in 
 tin- machine, which -In- know not what to make of, but \\ hi.-li tin- person in it called an air-balloon, called to her 
 It !<! of tin- i"i"-, wl.ii h she did accordingly; that John Mills and George 1'hillips, labonreni with said 
 Mr. Thomas liead, came up soon after, and, being likewise requested to assist in holding tho rope, both made their 
 -a, one of them, George ]'hilli], saying he was too short, and .lolm Mills Kuying that he did not like it ; that 
 this deponent ii.ntinui-d t.. hnld the rope till some other liarvest-men of Mr. Benjamin Kobinson, of High Crow, 
 came up, by whose assistance the machine was held down till the person got out of the machine. And this 
 .iit further, i<ii her oath, saith, that tho person now present and shown to her by William Baker, Esq., the 
 ju-tico of peace before whom this deposition is taken, as Mr. Vincent l.unardi, and in her presence declares himself 
 to be Mr. \ in. . nt l.un.ii .li. waa the person who called to mo from the machine, as above stated, and who descended 
 
 Tom in tin said field called Long Meadow. 
 
 her 
 
 KI.IZA m: ni t*J BRETT. 
 mark. 
 
 Sworn before me this ItJth da}- of September, 1784, at Bayford Bury, in the county of Hertford, aforesaid. 
 
 The voluntary Declaration and Depositions on Oath (f JONAS LANKIOS, JOHN CHIVEN, JAIIES CRAMPLAN, EDWARD BEXTLKY, 
 \\ ii .1.1 \M W u.i.ER, severally made this 17th day of September, 1784, before WILLIAM BAKKK, Esq., one of His 
 Majetty's Justices of the Peace for the County of Hertford. 
 
 The said deponent*, on their oath, severally declare, that on the loth of this instant, September, between four 
 and !i k in the afternoon, being then at work, some of them in the harvest-fields and others in the farmyard 
 
 ssrs. Benjamin Robinson and James Snow, in the parish of Standon, in the county of Hertford, they saw a 
 large and uncommon machine hovering in the air, which they severally followed till it arrived at a certain mead, 
 called Long Mead, in the occupation of Thomas Read, yeoman, of Stnndon aforesaid, where the same touched the 
 ground; and on their severally arriving at the same place they found Elizabeth Brett, spinster, maid-servant with 
 'I'll' .mas Read aforesaid, holding a rope which was fixed to the said machine ; that on their severally approaching 
 the said machine they perceived a gentleman in one part of it, who desired them to assist Elizabeth Brett, the 
 servant, who waa then holding the rope, which they did accordingly ; that by this assistance the machine being 
 stopped, the gentleman who was in it came out, and to these deponents declared that he had set out from the 
 Artilleiy Ground in London, a little before two o'clock in the afternoon of the said day, in the machine, and had 
 travelled through the air to the place where they found him. 
 
 Sworn before me this 1 7th day of September, 1 784, at Bay ford Bury, in the county of Hertford. 
 
 A gentleman wi-11 known in the literary world having sent Mr. Lnnanli the following epistle as a compliment 
 to his p-niu- and enterjii-isinjr > j ) ii-it, Mr. Lunardi's friends have strongly expressed their wishes to have it annexed 
 to thow.- letters, and the author has obligingly given permission to have it printed with them. 
 
 AN Kl'ISTLE TO SIG. VINCENZO LUNARDI. 
 
 Excuft- it, KM Youth, if a stranger slmnM Ami.l two Inindntl thousand good people awemi 
 
 To address thus lour I/ii/liffs a> Ki; at the Air, Who felt for your fame, for your safety too trembled ; 
 
 F.T I was a witness, a charmed one, I own, Whilst you, a tnic HEBO, of notliirm afraid 
 
 When yon sprung to the skies, and ascended your throne Took leave of the world, and mankind, undimmy'd ; 
 
 L 2 
 
A.D. 1784. 
 
 Dctermin'd to bid every danger defiance 
 
 For the noblest of conquests, the conquest of SCIENCE. 
 
 When you bid us adieu, and first quitted the earth, 
 To what varied sentiments gave you quick birth ? 
 Each ruind was brim full of unnumber'd strange notions, 
 Each eye all attention, to watch all your motions. 
 The multitude scarcely believ'd that a man 
 With his senses about him could form such a plan, 
 And thought that as BEDLAM was so very nigh 
 You had better been there, than turned loose in the sky ! 
 But when they perceiv'd you rose higher and higher, 
 O'ertop'd every building, each church, and each spire, 
 They extoll'd with one voice your superlative merit, 
 Who could hazard your life with so dauntless a spirit, 
 With benevolent wishes each bosom now burns, 
 And Awe and Amaze-merit both fill it by turns. 
 " Where's he going ? " cries one, " Why he shrinks from out- 
 sight ! 
 
 " And where's this poor fellow to quarter to-night? 
 "If he soars at this rate in his silken balloon, 
 " He'll surely by Sunset be up with the Moon ! " 
 Whilst " God save his Soul," was the prayer of most, 
 As they took it for granted your Body was lost 
 The lovers of science who best of all knew 
 How much might be hop'd from a Genius like you, 
 In silence pursu'd you, unwilling to speak, 
 For the tear of anxiety stole down their cheek. 
 In their own way of thinking, all felt, and all reason'd, 
 Greedy ALDERMEN judg'd that your flight was ill season'd, 
 That you'd better have taken a good dinner first, 
 Nor have pinch 'd your poor stomach by hunger, or thirst. 
 In perfect indiff'rence the BEAU yawn'd a blessing, 
 And fear'd before night that your hair would want dressing : 
 But the LADIES, all zeal, sent their wishes in air, 
 For a man of such spirit is ever their care ! 
 ATTORNEYS were puzzled how now they could sue you, 
 UNDERWRITERS what premium they'd now take to Do you, 
 Whilst the sallow-faced JEW of his Moneys so fond 
 Thank'd Moses, he never had taken your Bond. 
 
 Amid these sensations which mov'd us below 
 
 Through the realms of pure Ether triumphant you go, 
 
 A course which no mortal had here before dar*d ; 
 
 For You, was the risk, and the glory prepar'd ; 
 
 Though depriv'd of that FRIEND who had urg'd the fond claim 
 
 To partake all your dangers, and share in your fame, 
 
 From all human aid though cut off, and alone, 
 
 When mounting thus singly, you still greater shone 1 
 
 Ah ! tell me LUNAKDI, hereafter you may ! 
 What new scenes of wonder your flight must display ? 
 
 How awful the feel, when through new regions gliding, 
 Through currents untried, and from cloud to cloud sliding ? 
 With what new ideas your mind must o'erflow! 
 With what new sensations your bosom must glow ! 
 How little, how trifling, must then in your eyes 
 Have seem'd what below we look up to, and prize ! 
 No more than a molehill, the TOWER'S old walls, 
 A Hop-pole the MONUMENT, -Bandbox, ST. PAUL'S. 
 
 The vast host of people you quitted so lately, 
 
 Which spread to each present a scene the most stately, 
 
 To one who so distant on all of us gazes 
 
 Must look like a meadow embroider'd with daisies ; 
 
 Nay, e'en this GREAT CITY we all hold so dear 
 
 As a HONEY-COMB only to you would appear, 
 
 All its SHIPPING mere spots, though its bulwark and pride, 
 
 The BANK and the TREASURY hardly descried, 
 
 The abodes of the Great not discern'd e'en with winking, 
 
 And the THAMES but a basin for lap-dogs to drink in. 
 
 'Tis the points whence we view things which fix, or create 
 
 Our imperfect conceptions of Little, or Great ! 
 
 An adventurous stripling, so sweet OVID sings, 
 Had the boldness to soar once on two mighty wings, 
 Unguided by judgment, and wand'ring too high, 
 He met his just fate, and was plung'd from the sky, 
 And all that the world from this tale have been able 
 To learn, was, it gave false Ambition a fable. 
 But from flights such as yours we've reason to hope 
 Philosophy one day may gain wider scope, 
 The secrets of nature are slowly reveal'd, 
 Though much is discover'd, far more is concealed. 
 A spirit like yours can assist best the cause 
 And more clearly illustrate her motions and laws ; 
 But should not to you the great lot be assigned 
 To establish new doctrines of air or of wind, 
 Should future Adventurers still further rove, 
 And pursuing your course, your discov'ries improve, 
 Yet know, GALLANT YOUTH, that to none but to You 
 Will in ENGLAND the praise, and the triumph be due, 
 In the FIRST bold attempt so intrepid who shone, 
 And show'd by Example how much could be done. 
 Our country will gratefully boast of your name, 
 And LUNARDI be plac'd on the bright scroll of fame, 
 With the warmest acclaims of the PUBLIC applauded, 
 By PHILOSOPHERS lov'd By the MUSE too recorded ! 
 
 Amidst all these honours, a stranger who fir'd 
 By what he beheld, what yourself have inspir'd, 
 Round your temples while this little tribute he wreaths, 
 Thus with zeal his fond wishes prophetic he breathes, 
 Long enjoy Th' AERIAL THRONE you now sit on ! 
 And live, ah ! long live, The COLUMBUS of BRITAIN ! 
 
 We again take up the Cavallo narrative of these early experiments ; he says, that, 
 
 On the 19th of September, at Paris, the balloon was filled, in three hours' time, by M. Vallett; the two 
 MM. Koberts and M. Collin Hullin entered into the boat, and, with the addition of four hundred and fifty 
 pounds of ballast, they were perfectly balanced. At noon they threw out twenty- four pounds of ballast, in 
 consequence of which they began to rise very gently. At that time the mercury in the barometer, on the level of 
 the sea, stood at 29'6 inches, and the thermometer stood a little above 77. Soon after, they threw out eight 
 pounds of ballast, in order to avoid going against some trees ; in consequence of which they rose to 1400 feet. At 
 this elevation, perceiving some stormy clouds near the horizon, they went up and down, endeavouring to find some 
 
A.I.. L784. A VOYAGE OF ONK II1NDRED AND Firn MII.HS. 77 
 
 :it ..f air which might cany them out of tho way of tho storm ; but from 600 feet height to 4200 the current 
 of air \\.is cpiite unit'.. mi. Having lont one of the earn, they suppressed another on the opposite hide of the boat, 
 and by working with tho remaining three found that they accelerated their courae. \V.- t ravelled," says their 
 account, at i lie rate of twenty-four feet per second, and tho manoauvrini; ..f th. oars helped us about a third." At 
 fi>rty minutes pant three o'clock they heard a thunderclap, and three minutes after they heard another, much 
 lomli i . at this time tho thermometer from 77 came down to .Mi''. This sudden cold, occasioned by tho approach 
 of tin- stormy clouds, condensed tho inflammable air and made the balloon descend very low; henoo they wore 
 ..l.li-.-d t throw .,111 forty pounds of ballast. They had the curiosity to examine the degree of heat within the 
 balloon, and, introducing a thermometer into one of the appendices, tho quicksilver rose immediately to 104, 
 wlicr.-.i- tli.- external thermometer stood at about 63. Tho barometer stood at 23-94 inches. In this region of 
 the a'mos|,hero they were so becalmed that tho machine did not go even two feet a minute; and, availing 
 themselves of that ojijHirtunity to try tho power of their oars, they worked them for about thirty-five minutes, and, 
 by observing the shadow of tho machine on tho ground, they found that they had described an elliptical track, the 
 smallest diameter of which was about 6000 feet. 
 
 'I'll.- lest of this voyage being very interesting is best described in their own words : " We perceived below 
 us some clouds that ran very rapidly from south to north. We descended to the level of those clouds, in order to 
 follow that current, the direction of which was changed since onr departure. The close of daylight being near, we 
 determined to follow that current for forty minutes only ; increasing onr velocity by the use of our oars, we 
 endeavoured to deviate from tho direction of the current, but we could not obtain a deviation greater than 
 -- ilogrees towards the east. The length of our route, during about one hour and a quarter, was 2100 feet. 
 Willing to try whether the wind nearer the earth was strong, we descended to the height of three hundred feet, 
 where we met an exceedingly rapid current. At some distance from Arras we perceived a wood, over which we 
 did not hesitate to pass, though there was hardly any daylight upon the earth ; and in twenty minutes' time 
 we came near Arras, on the plain of Beuvry, distant nearly three-quarters of a mile from Bethnne, in Artois. As 
 
 ulil not distinguish amongst the shadows the body of an old mill, upon which we were going to descend, we 
 
 ! it by the help of our oars, and descended amidst a numerous assembly of inhabitants." 
 
 \\ hen they ilescended, which was at forty minutes past six o'clock, there were above two hundred pounds' 
 weight of ballast still remaining in the boat. The way they had travelled was about fifty leagues, or one hundred 
 and fifty miles. The account of this voyage is concluded with the following remarks : " Those experiments show 
 that, far from going against the wind, as is said by some persons to be possible, in a certain manner, and seme 
 aeronauts pretend to have actually done it, we have only obtained, by means of two oars, a deviation of 22". It is, 
 
 ver. certain that, if we could have used our four oare, we might have deviated about 40 from the direction of 
 the wind; and a our machine would have been capable of carrying seven persons, it would have been easy for 
 five persons to have gone, and to have put in action eight oars, by which means a deviation of about 80 might 
 
 oeen obtained. 
 
 \Ve have already observed, that if we did not deviate more than 22, it was because the wind carried us at 
 the rate of twenty-four miles an hour. And it is natural to judge, that if the wind had been twice as strong as it 
 
 we should not have deviated more than half what we actually did ; and, on the contrary, if the wind had 
 been only half as strong, our deviation would have been proportionably greater." 
 
 Aerottiitk Experiments made in the remainder of the Year 1 784. The second aerial voyage made in England was 
 'tned by M. lUanchard, and Mr. Sheldon, Professor of Anatomy to the Royal Academy, who is therefore tho 
 first Kn^lishman that ascended with an aerostatic machine. This experiment was performed at Little Chelsea, 
 about two miles distant from London, on tho 16th of October. 
 
 \V. l,:ivi- ;ihv:idy shown by the mention of Mr. Tytler, that our narrator's information 
 on this point is not correct. Mr. Monck Mason, also, in his careful researches in 1836, 
 lisriivi-rel that Mr. S;nllrr had ascended from Oxford, on the 12th of October in this 
 
 At nine minutes past twelve o'clock the balloon ascended, but, after a few feet elevation, it returned again 
 to the ground ; it hit likewise against an adjoining wall, and, in short, the boat was loaded with too much weight. 
 
78 THEPNE^HS. A.U. 1784 
 
 This obliged the two gentlemen to throw out several things that were of no immediate use ; in consequence 
 of which the machine at last rose with great velocity almost perpendicularly, and took a course nearly south-west. 
 The weather being hazy, it went soon out of sight ; but as long as it remained in view it appeared to go in one 
 invariable direction. The balloon, unable to sustain long the weight of two persons, began to descend after 
 having been up about half an hour. As the barometer was out of order, in consequence of an accidental blow, 
 M. Blanchard used an ingenious and at the same time easy method of observing whether the balloon was 
 ascending or descending. It was merely to put a ribbon out of the boat, which, being impelled upwards by the 
 air, showed that they were descending. Small downy feathers might answer this purpose still better. The 
 throwing down a bottle prolonged their descent ; but at last the machine alighted in a meadow near the village of 
 Sunbury, in Middlesex, which is about fourteen miles distant from London ; it being then fifty minutes past 
 twelve o'clock. There Mr. Sheldon came out of the boat ; and M. Blanchard, after taking a quantity of ballast 
 nearly equivalent to the weight of Mr. Sheldon, which employed near thirty minutes, reascended alone and 
 continued the voyage. 
 
 In this second ascension M. Blanchard's account says that he was carried at first by a north-east current, 
 and soon after, meeting with another current, he was carried east-south-east of Sunbury ; but finding the balloon 
 too much distended, he opened the valve at the top of it, and descended again into the north-east current, it being 
 then just twenty-six minutes past one. Tour minutes after he entered into a thick fog, in which he remained five 
 minutes. This fog occasioned the balloon to contract considerably. At thirty-eight minutes past one, the heat of 
 the sun became excessive, in consequence of which the globe was again distended. In the course of this voyage 
 M. Blanchard says that he went so high as to experience great difficulty in breathing. lie likewise relates 
 a curious circumstance, which is, that a pigeon which had been taken in the boat, being affrighted by the bursting 
 of a bladder full of air, flew away, labouring very hard with its wings in order to sustain itself in the rarefied air 
 of that elevated region of the atmosphere. The poor animal wandered about for a good while, but at last, finding 
 no other place to stand upon, returned to the boat and rested on one side of it. 
 
 At fifty-eight minutes past one, the cold being intolerable, M. Blanchard descended a considerable deal 
 lower, so as to distinguish men and hear their noise on the earth. Some time after he again ascended higher, 
 then was becalmed for a short time ; and thus, after several such-like vicissitudes, he came in sight of the sea, the 
 approach to which at last determined him to put an end to the voj'age ; and accordingly he descended, at half-an- 
 hour after four, in a plain which lay in the vicinity of Eomsey in Hampshire, about seventy-five miles distant 
 from London. 
 
 It was related in the newspapers that at Oxford, on the 4th of October, one Mr. Sadler ascended with a 
 rarefied-air balloon; but, after strict inquiry, it was found that nobody saw him either ascend or descend. 
 However, on the 12th of the following month he really ascended, with an inflammable-air balloon, from the Physic 
 Garden at Oxford, in the presence of surprising numbers of people of all ranks. The balloon being sufficiently 
 filled by a little before one o'clock, Mr. Sadler placed himself in the boat, which was fastened by ropes to the net 
 that went over the balloon. Then the machine, being abandoned to the air, ascended with such velocity that in 
 three minutes' time it was hid in the clouds, but a few moments after became visible again ; and thus it appeared 
 and disappeared three or four times, seeming always to ascend, and at the same time moving with great rapidity 
 in the direction of the wind, which blew rather hard from the south-west. In this voyage Mr. Sadler crossed 
 Otmoor, Thame, and other places ; but an aperture made in the balloon, almost as soon as it was launched, 
 exhausting the inflammable air very fast, obliged him to throw out successively all his ballast, provisions, 
 instruments, &c., and at last forced him to descend at Hartwell, near Aylesbury, which is about fourteen miles 
 distant from Oxford ; which length he travelled in seventeen minutes ; so that he went at the rate of near fifty 
 miles an hour. He found himself exceedingly wet in passing through the heavy clouds, and in descending had 
 the misfortune of being entangled in a tree, afterward swept the ground and rebounded to a considerable distance, 
 but at last alighted safe. 
 
 It is said that Mr. Sadler was the sole projector, architect, workman, and chemist in this experiment. 
 
 On the 30th of November M. Blanchard made his fifth aerial voyage in his old balloon, being his second 
 voyage in London. He was accompanied by Dr. J. Jeffries, a physician, and native of America, and ascended 
 from the Rhedarium, in Park-street, Grosvenor-square, at about two o'clock in the afternoon. M. Blanchard was 
 now furnished with wings or oars, which he worked very fast, but their action seemed to produce no effect on the 
 course of the machine. His direction being about east by south, he passed over London ; but the weather being 
 
.IAN. 7 ni. 1785. HI. \ M 'HARD AND JKI-TKIKS ('ROSS Till: rllANNT.I.. 7! 
 
 vory hazy, the machine did not show so fine a spectacle u oonld have I., -en M..-.1. It does not apjn-ar that either 
 of the two travellers made any particular philosophical observation, though they were provided with several 
 instruments. They descended, near the Thames, in the parish of Stum-, in Kent, at the distance of twenty-one 
 
 111:1' - I':. .!N London. 
 
 Aerostatic Rrperimenti madt in the beginning of the Ytar 1785. On the 4th of January, 178.">, Mr. Harper 
 ascended with an inflammable-air balloon from Birmingham. The weather was very rainy, hazy, and foggy, and 
 the barometer stood at 28-4 ; the thermometer stood at 40. At about a quarter before one o'clock ho ascended, in 
 presence of an immense multitude of spectators and amidst a very hard ruin, which increased to an uncommon 
 for M\ minute* after ; but in four minutes more the aerial adventurer got above the clouds and enjoyed the 
 vivifying influence of the sun and a purer air. 
 
 At about two o'clock Mr. llarp.-r descended at Millstone Green, near Newcastle, in Staffordshire, about fifty 
 miles distant from Birmingham. In this voyage the thermometer never came lower than 28, and Mr. Harper 
 experienced no other inconvenience than what might be expected to arise from the changes of wet and cold, 
 
 t a temporary deafness. 
 
 \\ come now to the account of a voyage which deserves to be long remembered. It is nothing less thiin 
 the crossing of the English Channel in an aerostatic machine. The same balloon which had carried the enterprising 
 XI. rdanehard five times through the air served for this remarkable experiment 
 
 On Friday, January the 7th, being a fine clear morning, after a very frosty night, and the wind about north- 
 north-west, but hardly pen cptiMe, M. Blanchard, accompanied by Dr. Jeffries, departed in the old balloon from 
 .'.ireetinj; their course for the French coast The balloon was begun to be filled at about ten o'clock, 
 and, whilst the operation was going on, two small balloons were launched in order to explore the direction of tin- 
 wind The apparatus was placed at about fourteen feet distance from the perpendicular cliff; and at three- 
 quarters after twelve o'clock, the boat being attached to the net which went over the balloon, several necessaries, 
 and some bags of sand for ballast, were put in it The balloon and boat with the two adventurers, now stood 
 within two feet of the brink of the cliff, that identical precipice so finely described by Shakspeare : 
 
 How fearful 
 
 And dizzy 'tis, to cast one's eyes to low 1 
 The crows and choughs, that wing the midway air, 
 Show scarce so gross as beetles. Halfway down 
 Hangs one that gathers samphire; dreadful trade! 
 Mcthiiik* he seems no bigger than liin head. 
 The fishermen, that walk upon the beach, 
 Ai'jicar like mice; and yon tall anchoring bark, 
 Piminish'd to her cock ; her cock, a buoy 
 Almost too small for night The murmuring (urge, 
 That mi the unnumber'd idle pebbles chafes, 
 Cannot be heard so high. Ill look no more ; 
 Lest my brain turn, and the deficient sight 
 Topple down headlong. 
 
 At on,- o'clock the intrepid Blanchard desired the boat to be pushed off; but the weight being too great for 
 the power of the balloon, they were obliged to throw out a considerable quantity of ballast, in consequ. n, , 
 of whieh they at last rose gently and majestically, though making very little way, with only three sacks of 
 ballast, of ten pounds each. At a quarter after one o'clock the barometer, which on the cliff stood at 29'7, was 
 fallen to 'jT ;, ami the weather proved fine and warm. Dr. Jeffries, in a letter to Sir Joseph Banks, Bart, P.K.S., 
 ibes with rapture tin- prospect which at this time was before their eyes. The country to the back of Dover, 
 
 tieix-d with towns and villages, of which they could count thirty-seven, made a beautiful appearance. On 
 the otlu-r side, the breakers on the Goodwin Sands appeared formidable. They passed over several vessels, and 
 nj"v. .1 a view perhaps more exK-ndi-d and diversified than any that was ever beheld by mortal eye. The balloon 
 was much distended, and at fifty minutes past one o'clock it was descending, in consequence of whieh they w, ,, 
 obliged to throw out one sack and a half of ballast, in order to rise again. They were now om-thiid of th< a\ 
 from Hover, and had lost distinct sight of the Castle. A short time after, seeing that the, balloon was descending 
 
 t'.ist. all the ballast was thrown out; but that not being sufficient to lighten the l...af. a pan-el of Itooks was 
 next thrown overboard, when they rose again, being at about midway between tin- Knglish and French coasts. 
 
80 TnEPNE*H2. A.D. 1785. 
 
 At a quarter past two o'clock the rising of the mercury in the barometer showed that the balloon was again 
 descending, which obliged them to throw away the remaining books. At twenty-five minutes after two they were 
 at about three-fourths of the way, and an enchanting view of the French coast appeared before their eyes ; but the 
 lower pole of the balloon was collapsed, in consequence of the loss or condensation, of the inflammable air, 
 the machine was descending, and they, Tantalus like, were uncertain whether they should ever reach the beautiful 
 land. Provisions for eating, the wings of the boat, and several other articles, were successively thrown into the 
 sea. " We threw away," says Dr. Jeffries, " our only bottle, which in its descent cast out a steam like smoke, with 
 a rushing noise ; and when it struck the water we heard and felt the shock very perceptibly on our car and 
 balloon." Anchors, cords, &c., were thrown out next, but the balloon still approaching the sea, they began 
 to strip, cast away their clothes, and fastened themselves to certain slings which proceeded from the hoop to 
 which the boat was fastened, intending to cut the boat away for a last resource ; but they had the satisfaction 
 to find that they were rising, their distance from the Trench shore was about four miles, and they were approaching 
 it very fast. Fear was now vanishing apace ; the French land showed itself every moment more beautiful, more 
 extended, and more distinct; Calais, and above twenty other towns and villages, were clearly distinguished. 
 Their actual situation, with the idea of their being the two first persons who crossed the Channel in such an 
 unusual vehicle, made them little sensible of the want of their clothes ; and I doubt not but the sympathising 
 reader will feel an unusual sensation of admiration and joy in imagining their situation. Exactly at three o'clock 
 they passed over the high grounds about midway between Cape Blanc Nez and Calais ; and it is remarkable that 
 the balloon at this time rose very fast, so that it made a magnificent arch. The balloon rose higher than it had ever 
 done in any other part of the voyage, and, the wind increasing, varied a little its direction. The two adventurers 
 now threw away their cork jackets, which they had taken for safety, and of which they were no longer in want. 
 At last they descended as low as the tops of the trees in the Forest of Guines, and Dr. Jeifries, laying hold of a 
 branch of one of the trees, stopped their progress. The valve of the balloon was opened, in consequence of which 
 the inflammable air got out with a loud rushing noise ; and some minutes after they came safely to the ground 
 between some trees which were just open enough to admit them, after having accomplished an enterprise which 
 will perhaps be recorded to the remotest posterity. 
 
 About half an hour after they were overtaken by some horsemen, &c., who had followed the balloon, and who 
 showed every possible attention to the fortunate aeronauts. 
 
 The next day a magnificent feast, made at Calais, solemnised the event. The freedom of the city was 
 presented to M. Blanchard in a gold box, and the Police of Calais wrote to the Ministry to have the balloon 
 purchased and deposited, as a memorial of the experiment, in the church of Calais, and also design to erect a 
 marble monument on the spot where the intrepid adventurers descended. 
 
 Some days after M. Blanchard received an order to appear before the King ; and in a letter to Mr. Sheldon, 
 the companion of his fourth aerial voyage, he mentions that His Majesty was pleased to grant him a gift of 12,000 
 livres, and a pension of 1200 livres a year. 
 
 The most remarkable circumstance in the account of this voyage is that of the bottle, the striking of which 
 on the water occasioned some agitation on the boat and balloon. This deserves to be carefully repeated, at another 
 opportunity, before we attempt an explanation of the phenomenon. 
 
 The balloon approaching the sea very fast, or, which is the same thing, going veiy low whilst over the sea, 
 and rising very high when it got over land, has been by several persons attributed to a pretended attractive power 
 of the sea- water ; but if the various circumstances which concur in this experiment be duly considered, there 
 seems to be no reason to admit so strange a supposition. It should be recollected that in the two preceding 
 voyages, made with the same machine, it was found that the balloon could not support two men long in the 
 atmosphere ; it should therefore occasion no wonder if in the last .voyage it showed the same weakness of power. 
 As for its rising higher just when it got over the land, that may be easily accounted for : in the first place, the two 
 travellers threw out their clothes just about that time ; secondly, in consequence of the wind's then increasing the 
 balloon travelled at a much greater rate than it had done whilst over the sea, which increase of velocity lessened its 
 tendency to descend ; besides which, the vicissitudes of heat and cold may produce a very considerable eifect ; for, 
 if we suppose that the air over the land was colder than that over the sea, the balloon, coming from the latter into 
 the former, continued to be hotter than the circumambient air for some time after, and consequently it was 
 comparatively much lighter when in the cold air over the land than when in the hotter air over the sea ; hence it 
 floated easier in the former than in the latter case. 
 
A. i.. i :>.">. 
 
 '.I:\KK\I. I;I:MAI;KS. 
 
 | -nples diviscH ]iour I'empiro del mcrg 
 t ipi'mi :iiij..iiril'liui en I'raiirliissniit lea uirs. 
 e liiriunr ill- 1'uiiioii lil 
 
 - le Men de la r 
 
 \ monument was raised on the spot when- M. Mlanchard ali-rhted, with the following 
 inscription : 
 
 sovi I.E RBONB DB LOOM MI. Traversa le premier lei tin 
 
 M i' i \\\v, Au-<leMui dtt Paa-de-Calaia, 
 
 Jcan-1'ierrc Ilium-hard d' - -inamlii', diicendit a trnis hciini troii quarts 
 Ac. i < ;:)'. rii-s. A n :lais, Dans le lieu mtnw oil \et habitant* do Guine* 
 
 1'ariit .In It Douvrei Ont tievt cettc colonne 
 
 I '.ma uu aerostat, A la gloire den deux voyageun. 
 : I Janvier ;i line lieiire nn quart; 
 
 And tlie.se verses, record the feelings awakened hy this inrident : 
 
 Autant que le Franpiia, 1'Anglais fut intrt'piilc : 
 Tout lei deux ont plane jusqu'nu plus haut dc* air* ; 
 Tons le* deux, *aun naviro, ont traverse' les men. 
 Mai* la France a produit 1'inventeur et le guide. 
 
 // llemarks on the prectding History (ly Cavatio). The art of navigating throughthe air, sought after from 
 
 time imnii nioiial, has K-eii discovered and so far improved within these two years that above forty different persons 
 
 peit'oimed ihe experiment, and not a single instance is known of any person having lost his life in the 
 
 attempt : and, excepting two or three, who have been hurt in consequence of accidents owing, not to tho principle 
 
 of the invention, 1ml rather to the want of proper judgment all have unanimously testified the safety, ease, and 
 
 v of the expei iincnt ; and it is very remarkable that no man or woman who ascended into the atmosphere by 
 
 this new-invented means, experienced any sickness or giddiness, such as is generally tho consequence at first 
 
 a^ hi-h Imildin^s, or of going in a boat on water. It is justly questioned whether the first forty 
 
 MS who t> listed themselves to the sea in boats escaped so safe. 
 
 The method, far from being complicated or troublesome, is perhaps as simple as might have been wished by 
 the warmest imagination; and so easy for the aeronaut that he has absolutely much less trouble with his machine 
 than a sailor with a ship in the most favourable circumstances. With a moderate wind the aerial navigators havo 
 often -ion. at the rate ..f Let ween forty and fifty miles an hour, but very commonly at the rate of thirty miles, and that 
 without any a^itati-.n and without feeling the wind ; for, in fact; the wind goes with them, and therefore they are 
 lively in a calm and without uneasiness. Compare this mode of travelling with any other known method of 
 
 iieii judge of the merit and importance of the discovery. 
 
 Ign. . . iosity, and often the supercilious wisdom of the splenetic, ask whether it is possible to bring 
 
 this <: to IK- (.f any use ; and the want of a decisive answer, which it is not in the power of any man to 
 
 . makes such generally decide 'against air-balloons ; endeavouring to depreciate them still further by 
 
 the ridiculous idea of emptiness, which has been often allegorically expressed by the words aerial, full of air, empty 
 
 balls, and bags full of trind. Some persons often wonder that air-balloons should engross the public attention, that 
 
 they aie !-.-,, me the object of scientific societies, and havo acquired tho patronage of tho great and learned. They 
 
 should first consider how much human attention, human life, human labour, human peace and tranquillity, have 
 
 -siil, disturbed, and checked by unmeaning words and ideal powers; perhaps they would then allow 
 
 some attention to be bestowed upon one of the greatest discoveries of human industry. 
 
 The principal objection started against aerostation is, that those machines cannot bo guided against the 
 wind, or in . \. i v direction at pleasure; and the enemies of innovations would set aside even the idea of air- 
 balloons, i after their discovery, the subject has not b6en so far improved as to steer them in 
 any diii-dion r. I'mt. as the advantages and merit of an invention may be comprehended by comparison 
 r t!. an by other means, it should } considered, that vessels on water cannot be guided against the wind, 
 within many derives of the contrary direction ; and indeed, if the lee-way of a vessel going close to 
 vind ! taken into account, it will bo found that, in reality, a vessel at sea can hardly bo guided in a 
 r than a rijrht angle to the point of tho wind : for instance, with a northerly wind, a vessel cannot 
 n alove northward of east, or northward of west. Now, an aerostatic machine has 
 ' ir as twenty-two decree* from tho direction of the wind, by the use of oars, which 
 
 were neither all the oars that could have In , n u~ed nor of tho most advantageous construction ; so that there is 
 grea' ,ty that an improved construction and proper management may enable an aerostatic machine to go 
 
 across the wind, if not Mill : the point from whence it blow.s. 
 
82 THEPNE^HS. A.D. 1785. 
 
 An aeronaut, in the atmosphere, has two advantages which are very considerable ; first, that if the wind 
 does not prove favourable, he may descend, provided he is overland ; and secondly, as currents of air, going in 
 different directions, have been very often observed at the same time in the atmosphere, the aeronaut may, by 
 ascending or descending into a higher or lower region, go with that current which is proper for him. Indeed, 
 it is not known that those different currents always exist; but it is not unlikely that they, as has been the case 
 with the currents of various seas, may be better ascertained by future experience and investigation ; and we have 
 now in our power the means of examining them at any time. The reader should here observe that the above- 
 mentioned means of directing aerostatic machines are not schemes of theoretical projectors, but the produce of 
 experience, and in great measure confirmed by many instances in the preceding history. 
 
 The incomparably greater velocity of an aerostatic machine, and its very seldom or never losing time by 
 being becalmed,* are likewise two advantages, which aerostation has above navigation. But as my object is to 
 inform those who wish to know what has been done in this subject, and not to persuade the unwilling, I shall 
 conclude this chapter, and the First Part of my work, with a summary recapitulation of the most interesting 
 particulars that have been ascertained, in order to exhibit to the mind of the reader a comprehensive view of the 
 subject in a few lines. 
 
 Two substances having been discovered to be specifically much lighter than common air, namely, 
 inflammable air and common air when heated, large bags have been formed which would contain so great a 
 quantity of these substances, as that the excess of weight of a body of common air above that of an equal bulk 
 of hot or inflammable air might be greater than the weight of the bag, or at least equal to it ; those bags, therefore, 
 thus filled, being lighter than an equal bulk of the circumambient air, float in it, and are driven by the wind ; and 
 for the same reason, a piece of wood in a river floats upon the water, and proceeds with the stream. 
 
 As air will not long remain hotter than the surrounding medium, those bags or balloons, which are filled 
 with hot air, must contain a fire capable of keeping the air sufficiently hot ; by which means they may continue 
 to float for an indefinite time ; otherwise, in a very short time, the air in them cools, and they fall. The other 
 balloons, which contain inflammable air, continue to float as long as a sufficient quantity of that fluid remains 
 in them; so that they would float for ever, if the envelope did not permit any inflammable air to escape through 
 its pores. 
 
 It is mathematically true, that the ascensional power of balloons, or their excess of levity above an equal 
 bulk of common air, increases incomparably faster than the proportion of their diameters : for instance, if an 
 air-balloon of a certain diameter can lift up into the atmosphere a weight of ten pounds, another balloon of twice 
 that diameter (everything else, as the thickness of the stuff, &c., remaining the same) will lift up more than 
 eighty pounds ; and a balloon of three times that diameter will lift up more than 270 pounds' weight. Upon 
 this principle, balloons have been made of such a size as would carty up any required weight ; in various parts 
 of the world men have ascended with them, and have safely travelled through the air at the rate even of about 
 fifty miles an hour. 
 
 Wherever those experiments have been made, persons of every rank have gazed with the greatest anxiety, 
 and have shown unequivocal marks of astonishment and satisfaction ; the aeronauts, returning from their aerial 
 excursions, have been generally received with the greatest applause, have been carried in triumph ; medals have 
 been struck, and plates engraven, in commemoration of the persons who have most distinguished themselves in 
 such performances, or of their particular experiments ; premiums and pensions have been granted them by 
 learned societies, and by many great persons, especially by the court of France, whose patronage and generosity, in 
 this respect, must be ever acknowledged and praised by all impartial and discerning people. Thus mankind, 
 by these acts of admiration, of satisfaction and generosity, has shown and confirmed its approbation of the 
 discovery. The vicissitudes of human affairs may at times retard or accelerate the use and improvement of 
 aerostatic machines, but the interest and curiosity of man will doubtless for ever retain the knowledge of the 
 subject a subject infantile indeed, but endowed with manly features. 
 
 It has been often discussed whether the preference should be given to the inflammable-air machines or to 
 those raised by means of hot air. Each of them has its peculiar advantages and disadvantages ; a just consideration 
 of which seems to decide in favour of those with inflammable air. The principal comparative advantages of 
 the rarefied-air balloons are their being filled with little or no expense their not requiring to be made of so 
 
 * An instance of an aerostatic machine remaining in the atmosphere stationary for want of wind, has happened very seldom, and then 
 it has never lasted above a few minutes. And everybody knows that, in the calmest weather, the clouds always appear to he in motion. 
 

 2 
 
 I " 
 
 I 
 
 I 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 
A.I). 1785. GENERAL REMARKS 
 
 -.-\\,- materials -and tli.' C'.inl.iiMil.l. s- necessary to fill tln-m being found almost everywhere; so that when 
 tho provision of fuel is exhausted, the aeronaut may descend and rvrrmt hi* fuel in order t proceed on his 
 
 voyage. Hut ill. 'ii the\ ma-! ! l.i:^.-r linn :!. "'h. i ..it of Utllooiis. in ..id. r I., t.ik.- up tin- same . i-lit . and 
 
 the presence of a In. is a continual trouble, and a continual danger: in fact, amongst tho many aerial voyages 
 made aii. I attempted with such machines, very fuw have succeeded without some inconvenience of one sort or 
 other; \vh.-reas tho aerial excursions made with inflammable-air machines have all answered exceedingly !!, 
 ami in lint few instances ha\.- the machines been damaged, and then very inconsiderably. Hut, on tho other 
 han.l. tin' inflammable-air balloon must be made of a substance impermeable to the subtile gas ; tho gas itself 
 cannot be produced without a considerable expense; and it is not easy to find the materials and apparatus 
 necessary for the production of it in every place. Nevertheless, an inflammable-air balloon of thirty feet in 
 diameter, according to tho present state of knowledge, may be made so tight as to be capable of keeping two 
 persons, and a considerable quantity of ballast, up in tho air for above twenty-four hours, if properly managed; 
 and possiUv one man might bo supported by the same machine for three days: and it is very probable that the 
 stuff fur these balloons may be so far improved as to be quite impermeable to tho inflammable air, or nearly to; 
 in which case, the machine, once filled, would continue to float for a vast while. At Paris they have already 
 attained to a great degree of perfection in this point ; and small balloons have been kept floating in a room for 
 many weeks without losing any considerable quantity of their levity : but the method of preparing tho stuff is still 
 k.-pt secret However, there seems to be no great difficulty in making small balloons so very tight; the difficulty 
 is in tho large ones ; because, in a large machine, the weight of the stuff itself, tho weight and stress of ropes 
 and boat, tho folding it up, &c., may easily crack or scrape off the varnish in some place or other, which is not 
 the case with small balloons. 
 
 As for the dearness of 'the inflammable air, it must be observed, that divers experiments and observations 
 show that a method of obtaining it incomparably cheaper is not for from being ascertained ; and indeed there 
 are several manufactories in which abundance of inflammable air is daily produced, and lost for want of duo 
 attention, or of vessels proper to confine it ; but, as its utility becomes known, there can be no doubt that moans 
 will be contrived to preserve it, wherever it may be abundantly produced ; so that we may shortly expect to 
 see repositories of inflammable air, where one may go to fill a balloon for a certain sum. 
 
 In regard to philosophical observations, derived from the new subject of aerostation, there havo been very 
 few made; the novelty of the discovery, and of the prospect enjoyed from the gallery of an aerostatic machine, 
 has generally distracted the attention of the aeronauts ; and besides, many, if not the greatest number of the 
 aerial voyages, though said to be purposely made for tho improvement of science, were performed by persons 
 absolutely incapable of accomplishing this purpose, and who, in reality, had either pecuniary profit alone in 
 view, or were stimulated to go up with a balloon for the sake of the prospect, and the vanity of adding their name- 
 to the list of aerial adventurers. 
 
 The agreeable stillness and tranquillity experienced up in the atmosphere has been a general observation. 
 Some machines have ascended to a great height, even as far as two miles ; they have generally penetrated through 
 fogs and clouds, and have enjoyed the vivifying heat of the sun, whilst tho earth beneath was actually covered by 
 dense clouds that poured abundance of rain. In ascending very high, the aeronauts have often experienced a 
 pain in their ears, arising from the air, within a certain cavity of those organs, being not of the same density 
 as the external air ; but that pain generally went off soon after. There is one experiment recorded, in which the 
 air of a high region, being brought down and examined by means of nitrous air, was found to be purer than 
 tho air below. The temperature of tho upper regions is much colder than that of the air near the earth ; the 
 thermometer, in some aerostatic machines, having descended many degrees below tho freezing point of water, 
 whereas on the earth, at the same time, it stood considerably higher than that degree. The electricity brought 
 down by strings, fastened to balloons floating in the atmosphere, proves nothing more than what was known 
 before, and had been ascertained by other means, viz. the existence of a continual electricity, of the positive kind, 
 in a clear atmosphere. 
 
 Having just mentioned tho electricity of the atmosphere, it will be proper to take notice of a sort of danger 
 justly suspected to attend the inflammable-air balloons, and which arises from this principle. It is, that a stroke 
 of lightning, or the smallest electric spark, happening near the balloon, might set fire to the inflammable-air 
 and destroy the marhine and the adventurers. But several considerations seem to render this apprehension of 
 no great weight, though they do not entirely remove it, according to the present state of knowledge. First, this 
 accident never actually happened, though inflammable-air balloons have been up in every season of the year, 
 
 ii 2 
 
84 
 
 THEPNE^HS. 
 
 A.D. 1785. 
 
 and at the very time when thunder was actually heard : secondly, in case of danger, the aeronauts may easily 
 come down to the earth, or. ascend above the clouds, viz. above the region of thunder-storms : thirdly, the balloon, 
 made of materials that are not conductors of electricity, is not likely to receive a stroke of lightning, especially as 
 it stands insulated ; for it is a maxim pretty well established by electricians, that the lightning, in coming to the 
 earth, does not strike any intermediate body, except that body can assist its passage ; thus, a house that contains 
 a great deal of metal, and is situated upon ground that is a good conductor of electricity, especially if near a river, 
 is more likely to be struck by the lightning than a house which stands upon dry and hardly-conducting ground. 
 This has been confirmed by many instances. It may be said that a stroke of lightning may strike the balloon in 
 passing from one cloud to another ; but the same reasons which show that the balloon is not likely to be affected 
 in the former case are applicable to the latter : however, at present, it seems impossible to give a proper decisive 
 answer relative to this point ; and nothing but experience can show how far the aeronaut may be in danger of the 
 lightning. Lastly, it may be observed, in regard to this circumstance, that inflammable air by itself, viz. unmixed 
 with a certain quantity of common air, will not burn, and consequently, even if a spark of electricity was to 
 pass through the balloon, it would not set fire to the inflammable air, except a hole was to be made in the 
 envelope ; in that case the inflammable air coming out of the hole, would mix with the common air, and might 
 easily be inflamed by electricity. 
 
 In the course of the preceding history I have scarcely mentioned a word relative to the numberless schemes 
 that have been proposed for directing the aerostatic machines. The projects of this sort have been numerous 
 indeed, but hardly ever had the appearance of probability. Some imagined that an aerostatic machine might be 
 guided by means of sails, like a vessel at sea, forgetting that there is no wind with respect to an aerostatic 
 machine ; for it goes with the wind, and therefore is respectively in a calm ; in which case the sails cannot act. 
 Others would direct it from the wind by the action of a steam-engine or eolipile : and others again by means 
 of gunpowder fired out of a tube, in a direction contrary, or inclined to the wind. But, without troubling the 
 reader any further with such chimerical schemes, it must be acknowledged that there have been a few projects 
 for this purpose which are far from being groundless, and consequently deserving of notice. 
 
 Beautiful cloud ! with folds so soft and fair, 
 
 Swimming in the pure quiet air ! 
 Thy fleeces bathed in sunlight, while below 
 
 Thy shadow o'er the vale moves slow : 
 Where, midst their labour, pause the reaper train 
 
 As cool it comes along the grain. 
 Beautiful cloud ! I would I were with thee 
 
 In thy calm way o'er land and sea : 
 To rest on thy unrolling skirts, and look 
 
 On Earth as on an open book ; 
 On streams that tie her realms with silver bands, 
 
 And the long ways that seem her lands ; 
 
 And hear her humming cities, and the sound 
 
 Of the great ocean breaking round. 
 Ay I would sail upon thy air-borne car 
 
 To blooming regions distant far, 
 To where the sun of Andalusia shines 
 
 On his own olive-groves and vines, 
 Or the soft lights of Italy's bright sky 
 
 In smiles upon her ruins lie. 
 But I would woo the winds to let us rest 
 
 O'er Greece long fettered and oppressed. BRYANT. 
 
 -'M II'SUM PETIMUS STULT1T1A.- 
 
CIIA 1'TKK IV. 
 
 TIIK rllAl;l.n-M"V!<."I.KlKUE TIIK UKATII iK PII.ATRE DE ROZIEK, AXD ITS EFFECT ASCENTS 
 
 OF INTKUKST Til. I. 1800. 
 
 To sec sad sights moves more than hear them told ; 
 
 For tlu-n the I've inti-rprcts to the ear 
 
 The heavy motion that it ilnth M\->\<\ ; 
 
 When every part a i*rt of woe doth bear, 
 
 Tia but a part of sorrow that we hear. 
 
 Deep sounds make lesser noise than shallow fords ; 
 
 And sorrow ebbs, being blown with winds of words. SIIAKSPEARE. 
 
 IHf < llu:U>-M.iM'.'.| nii:K TIIK DEATHS OF P1LATRE DE ROZ1ER AND 11. ROMAIXE REASONING THE LETTER Til III! 
 
 l.illiNU. I'K PAKIs'- TIIK KI/X5E TE8TU BRISSY IN A THUNDERSTORM BALDWIN'S AEIIOI'IDA THE APPEA1: \ V. I 
 
 HKM'KR FROM A HKI.ilir OF SIX MILES CHAT-MOSS EDINBURGH TO COPAB ACROSS THE FIRTH OF FORTH 
 
 KM'. IIP ro.MI'ANIoNs OK TIIK HEOGAR's BENISON " - KEL8O - GLASGOW - ST. ANDREW'S "CHURCHYARD"- NIK 
 
 nmi-KUS OK TIIK 27TH REGIMENT "MANSE OF CAMPSIE " - " DINNA YE THINK THE WORLD WILL SOON BE AT AN 
 
 ""HELP KllOM THE 'BASS ROCK'" "THE FIRST ASCENT OF MONT BLANC " THE PARACHUTE l. n I- 
 
 WON APARTE. 
 
 CAVALI.O ends his history luckily for the remarks he makes in January, 1785. 
 H;nl In- iK-lavt-il till .lime, his last tale would have been a melancholy one; for on the 15th 
 of that month the shout of joy, that had re-echoed over Europe during two years, was rolled 
 hark 1>\- a wail of dismay :it the appalling accident that happened to MM. Pilatre de Rozier 
 
 Public opinion from that time stigmatised as foolhardy, all further attempts to navigate 
 tin- clouds; and this opinion has been strengthened by the number of inexperienced 
 adventurers, who, for the sake of gain or popular applause, have run needless risks. 
 
 HITI- an the accounts of eyewitnesses; and we may now calmly judge of the correct n<- 
 
 it' sucli an opinion : 
 
 This th>t :inil K.M. -t of aeronauts desired to crown his sucoeaaea by the passage of the Channel, but trivial 
 .ml Miitnrv winds delayed his start for seven months. Meanwhile Blanchard had crossed from England. 
 Tin- many taunts lie wa* Miliji-rt. .! t.> in consequence of continued postponements galled his youthful spirit; and on 
 ili>- l">t)i .linn- he starUnl at 7 P.M., with Mons. Romainc, under unfavourable circumstances; his last tie to earth 
 having lvn tin- hand nl' tin- .Manpiis d<- Maisonfort, to whom ho had refused a seat in his car, in spite of hi* 
 arn .:id who n-inainiil t. . write an account of the melancholy death of his friend, and to deliv> 
 
 i-l']iirnt i-ul'ipuin nvi-r liiin at tin- A'-a.l. m\ ni' Si-i.-iioflB. 
 
 Thi-iiximl.s .-!' i.i.]il,- watched thoir flight with peculiar anxiety, for another stop would have been 
 gainrd in the iniprovciiic-nt of the aerostat, should thu Clnirl.>-Moiitgolui-ru succeed. The advocates of the Mont- 
 
86 ASTEA CASTHA. JUNE, 1785. 
 
 golfiere had now had two years' controversy with those who thought the Charliere the best ; and it was the 
 ambition of Pilatre de Eozier to combine the two in this bold attempt. 
 
 About thirty minutes only had elapsed since they had left the earth ; the S.E. current that earned them out 
 to sea had changed to S.W., that again brought them inland ; when a cry arose from those thousands of spectators, 
 maybe more swift and sudden than any that ever emanated from so large a multitude ; for at the same instant all 
 beheld the machine in flames; and after many swift, wave-like motions, it fell a shapeless mass upon the 
 ground, on reaching which the unfortunate occupants were found dead. Nothing more remained for them but a 
 funeral ; and the following inscription was placed on their tomb : . 
 
 Passants, plaigncz leur sort, et priez Dieu pour 1e repos de leurs amcs 
 
 L'estime, la doulcur, 
 Et ramitie", leur ont eleve 
 Ce monument, en l'anne"e 
 
 1786. 
 
 Ardens amis des arts et de la ve'rite', 
 Au printemps de ses jours par un noble courage 
 Le premier dans les airs il s'ouvrit un passage 
 Et pent au chemin d'immortalitd, 
 Le matin dans les airs comble' de la gloire 
 Le soir ne reste d'eux que la me'moire 
 Montrant de 1'homme au meme instant 
 Et la grandeur, et le ne"ant. 
 
 Ill-tidings fly rapidly ; a bad impression was made ; and it was in vain that the writer of the 
 following able letter to the ' Journal de Paris,' endeavoured to combat this misconception : 
 
 One cannot doubtless too much regret the death of an amiable young man, full of love to science and victim 
 to his zeal and courage ; but wherefore throw upon this invention all the blame of some false combinations or 
 neglect in the construction (of the machine), or perhaps some unforeseen circumstances ? 
 
 There has never been an invention useful to mankind that has not cost human blood ; we need not look far 
 for examples. 
 
 Will the immortal Franklin reproach himself for having announced to mankind the identity of lightning 
 with electric fluid, because two physicians have been victims to this discovery ? 
 
 How many thousands have died from emetics, or the crushing of stone, and must we on this account forbid 
 the remedy or the operation ? 
 
 Let us remember the time when a balloon first rose from the Champ de Mars, and was lost in the clouds in 
 the midst of Paris, astounded at this physical prodigy, as if a miracle had interrupted the laws of nature. 
 Imagination did not even dare to fancy a human being attached to such a vehicle ; and those who ventured to 
 suggest experiments with those under sentence of death appeared to propose something diabolical. 
 
 At this timid period, a young man, of an agreeable and taking figure, and of a gentle and happy character, 
 loved by all who knew him, having every reason to love life, volunteered to try the experiment which hardly 
 any one had yet the courage to think of. Every one said he was a fool ; but when he had descended from the 
 clouds after crossing Paris, all were ready to look upon him as a being of another world. 
 
 Hardly had the novelty been repeated four or five times than the public wished to despise it, and spoke of it 
 as children's play, that required no courage. 
 
 The fearful death of Pilatre de Eozier has re-awakened original fears, and again it is said that experiments 
 should be abandoned after proving so fatal to the man who first made the attempt. 
 
 The public is again ready to condemn as a fool him whom they had just admired as the hero of the sciences. 
 Thus is the tide of public opinion carried between contempt and admiration. 
 
 There is something surprising in these experiments, which are so alarming to the imagination; it is, that 
 more than a hundred have been made without a single accident. From this one would conclude that the dangers 
 are not so great, when these have all been trials and experiments. 
 
 Such is the lot of mankind, that the most happy revolutions, the most useful discoveries, cost sacrifices. 
 Navigation, again, costs mankind thousands of victims ; and navigation is useful to man. 
 
 Aerostats, it is true, are uncertain, till a way has been discovered for directing them ; and this is a problem 
 
A.M.! REASONING THE ELOGE, 87 
 
 \et t.. I- solved. \Vli.. will dare say tho problem in insoluble, or that its impossibility has already 
 
 .I.-,-].; 
 
 I re]"-ct tin authority of men >f science, and I know their value; BUT SCIENCE OXLY COMBINES AND COMPARI* 
 KN..U \ ii, RESULTS CANNOT GO BEYnM> ii ANi MOI;K iiM\ ITS coMPAHi -o\- \M' < uMiuv vrioNS. GENIUK 
 
 \M-.ll\vi I.I- "\ III NKW FORCES; > -IK- WHAT 18 ACTUALLY . llvvi: \\|. ..IMI- I \ I KND THE LIMITS 
 
 ot i^.-ir;; 1:1 Ml. -D TO SPEAK, NKW POSSIBILITIES. 
 
 n ili" discovery of Moutgolficr, Science had announced tho impossibility of man ever rising in tin- air. 
 ami it hud reason, fr it could only combine and compare known forces. Montgolfier appears, and at Aniionay 
 
 - a ii. \\ t'. ! ve. .in.l nuiii floats in the air : should it be, at a time when this discovery has extended the limits of 
 possibility to a prodigious extent, that any one should presume to say that it is impossible to extend tin-in \.i 
 forth 
 
 Thi- di-co\.r\ has accustomed us to prodigies, and reason has a right to expect now ones; everything 
 |irniiiisi-.s that tin- reign "t I.ui- \\ 1. will yet add this glory to tho glory of tho first discovery. 
 
 lnitv|i],l ami pei-sev. ring men exhaust combinations in their numerous experiments, and chance, so to speak, 
 is searched in all ways. 
 
 us, at tin- NIMH- tiin,-. will \\.ii.-li nature in all directions; and a single observation or a single idea may 
 perhaps lx. worth a thousand experim. 
 
 The t'<>lli>\vin<r i* tin- Kloge pronounced at the Academy of Sciences: 
 
 Tut: ELOOE ON PILATRE DE ROZIKR, DY TIIK MARQUIS DE MAISONFORT. 
 
 A P.-IM.M must possess well-known talent.-, and an established n-putat ion, to venture to speak in praise of a man 
 whose <i>l intrepidity ami a<-tivr knowledge intercut all generous hearts. I do not estimate my own powers, but 
 .inly listen to the dictates of my heart. I conceive, that without being eloquent, we may dare all things when 
 warmly affected. 
 
 ** 
 
 Hereafter, mi seeing his name consecrated by glory, t will say, if his last expressions of affection were 
 I- -t. -u . -1 on me, I am the first to strew some flowers on his grave. 
 
 He was born March, 1 T.'.T ; tin- city of Mctz gave him birth, but to Paris ho dedicated his talents. 
 
 Almost unknown in his own country (which he left early in life), tho city where he was born knew him only 
 1'V those rays of glory which ho spread over it; and although his fellow-citizens have a right to bo proud of his 
 birth, it remain.- "iily lor us to lament his death. 
 
 I sh.ill not touch upon the family of I'ihUro do Rozier. Lot it suffice us to know that he was born of virtuous 
 ami honest ]tiv nt-. I'.il.-e jiriile is always founded in mediocrity. 
 
 The Icarm-il. the artist, and the poet are tho children of their own creation, and the eminent man belongs to 
 
 claws of citizens. The great disadvantage of poverty is, that it deprives us of a generous and distinguished 
 education. A rich man. without talents, is the more blameablc, as ho has had in his power all tho means of 
 olitaininjx tln-m. Thus, a man without fortune, like Piliitrc do Kozicr, has so much tho more right to our esteem; 
 because he has v.m.|ui-h. ! many obstacles to merit it Ho was but a mere boy when ho was employed in the 
 military h.-].ital : tin- stmly of anatomy interested, without fixing him to it An attraction, which ho could not 
 
 li-'l him to physics ami chemistry, and ho soon gave himself up (if I may so express myself), to that happy 
 enthusiasm which elevates great men to the place they ought to filL 
 
 At the age of svv.-nt.-cn, without support, without assured resources, ho came to this capital, allured by a 
 desire of instruction. He thought, with reason, that Paris was the centre of all learning, and seeking out of his 
 misfortums new exertions. ] u . determined to attempt all things in order to extend his knowledge. 
 
 Tip- lalmratorii-s of two alile chemists of that city were successively the ports where his youth t'.,und shelter 
 during hi- first storms of life. Ituniiing always with equal ardour to attain his end, difficulties disappeared 1 Ion- 
 ium, and his daily employment* could not retard cither his Labours or his progress. Ho found in pharmacy the first 
 dement), of that science to which his genius called him. 
 
 If its theory had previously seduced him, what charm did he not find in wholly giving ln'inn-lf up to tho 
 .-xp.-rim.-nts ..f physics and chemistry ? II,- attended all tho courses, heard all the lectures, read with avidity all 
 
SS ASTRA CASTUA. A.D. 1785. 
 
 the books. Intelligent, tractable, and studious, he marched with the strides of a giant in this newly-discovered 
 career. Nature had bestowed on Pilatre do Eozier all the gifts that form the natural philosopher and the chemist. 
 Laborious, daring, who possessed, more than he, the love of that glory which makes us undertake ; that patience 
 which makes us execute ; and that courage which makes us succeed ? 
 
 ********** 
 
 In 1 780 the city of Eheims wanted an enlightened person, capable of all things within himself, and of giving 
 a public course of interesting and instructive chemistry. M. Sage was requested to name a professor ; he chose one 
 from among his own pupils, and Pilatre flies to give lectures at an age that few begin to receive them with 
 advantage. That zeal which first brought him to Paris soon carried him back again. Insatiable of knowledge, 
 Pilatre, tired with teaching, hastened to return to his own studies. 
 
 Commerce, for a time, caught his attention; but, compelled by a passion stronger than interest, he yielded, 
 and returned to physics and chemistry. 
 
 Happy then, for the first time, to find himself placed at once under the eye of a Prince (Monsieur, the King's 
 brother), protector of the sciences he honoured, and a friend to the arts he cultivated, he soon merited his regard 
 and his favours. To this invaluable good fortune he had that of serving a generous and sensible Princess, an 
 enlightened judge of talents, and well knowing how to profit by them herself, and how to value them in others. 
 He had the honour to explain to both, the interesting phenomena of physics and chemistry. It was at this period, 
 gentlemen, that reflecting on the infinite difficulties that must be overcome, he resolved to spare much troiible to 
 those whom a love of the arts and sciences should induce to follow him in this immense career. Great ideas are 
 readily generated near great princes. Like the God of day, which spreads around him flames of light, they impress 
 a character of sublimity on all that surround them. Pilatre do Eozier purposed to reunite in one and the same 
 centre what his genius alone knew so well to comprehend, and, collecting all the scattered parts, to create a place 
 which might draw the whole to a focus. This vast project a man, born without support, dared to conceive and execute. 
 
 What obstacles must he encounter \ What patience must he oppose to the intrigues of malice I Then it was 
 that he frequently exclaimed, with that sweetness that always characterised him, " The world is just in the end ; 
 but it begins always by opposing the good we would do it." Thus answering, by successes, to doubts, by the 
 evidence of things, to the inutility of words, he succeeded. Monsieur approved his projects ; the museum was 
 formed, and we soon saw natural history, chemistry, anatomy, and mathematics united and ranged under the name 
 of the Muses. 
 
 It was at this time, gentlemen, that for the honour of human nature, one man dared to resolve the problem of 
 all ages. By the laws of gravity, every heavy body appeared to have a direct tendency to the earth ; but Monsieur 
 de Montgolfier calculated and compelled the same laws to produce a contrary effect, and in the end he broke the 
 chain of gravity. Thus truth came in aid to fable, and that which the imagination of poets invented, the genius of 
 one man realised. 
 
 A person must have courage, gentlemen, to combat and to attempt that which prejudices had declared to be 
 impossible ! What thorns are planted in the paths of the learned by that same public they attempt to instruct and 
 enlighten ! Men, extreme in all things, are always lavish of praise or censure, and we have frequently seen them 
 leave genius combating with mediocrity. 
 
 In the month of July, 1783, Monsieur de Montgolfier, already announced to Paris by his fame, arrived there to 
 evince this discovery. A globe was elevated to the eyes of the astonishing capital, and the field of Mars became for 
 aerostation the first field of triumph. Then it was, that delivering himself to that enthusiasm which inspires great 
 things to souls formed to perceive and appreciate them, Pilatre de Eozier dared to solicit that which no person had 
 ever ventured to foresee. The idea of a man in the middle region of the air, trusting his existence to feeble and 
 weak substances, froze all hearts ; his alone remained unshaken. 
 
 He solicited the place, which was for a long time through humanity refused him, and he requested that, as a 
 favour, which a beneficent King trembled to substitute as a most dreadful punishment. Think not, that the desire 
 of glory alone could stifle in him that attention which attaches us to this life. It is to the public good that such 
 prodigies belong, that alone can carry iis above the terrors and common prejudices. And, if we have sometimes seen 
 people seek death in hope of acquiring an immortal name, it is more noble to brave it with design to make 
 < purselves useful. Let me here consecrate what ho has so often said to me, " We have lived long enough when we 
 have added something to humanity." 
 
\.i.. 1 7>.\ Tin: KI.IH.I: <\ rii..\n;i: m: I;O/II;K. HI 
 
 Aft. r iii.inv MI,-., -ssful i ssay. Moiisi. in d. :ier consented to tho repeated wishes of Pilutro do Kozier, 
 
 :llld till' I IMJiil-r of air Uvallle till- patrimony ill' lll:ill. 
 
 Tliei.- existed tw.. methods, Imtli i>erhaps equally da nge runs, liut attaining ono and tho same end. though by 
 contrary processes. A choioo must be made, and tin- inventor seem- d t.. -ivi- a il.-i-i.l. d preference tn tin-; inoic 
 simple, in..-,- ready, nniiv saving, this method announced a more real utility, and advantage! within every one's 
 
 !"" 
 
 ; this time aerostation was divided intn two parties. M. Ch.-irles sustained with success the im-thod lie 
 adopted, and Paris saw the most celebrated artists balancing between the Air P.alloonN and tho Mont^olticrs. 
 Always happy when a noble emulation is the only sentinn nt that divides two rivals! Happy when they know hoa 
 to set a due value nil. tn calculate their power, and to merit their esteem ; especially to have the commendalile pride 
 .I'll, -pi-iii:; envy. . .f braving the prejudices of the moment, and of adopting posterity only for judge, alone competent 
 to pronounce its ii n-vi.-aMe decree* 
 
 Tho u'lst nf N..M inU-r, six months after tin- discovery made by Monsieur do Montgolfier, two adventurous 
 mortals aband d themselves to all the risks of an element till then unknown. 
 
 Pihitre ile 1,'o^ier and Monsieur tin- Manpiis d'Arlandes participated a triumph, so much the more flattering, 
 
 as it Wati without example. 
 
 
 
 To pass from Franco into England, through the region of the air, required new audacity. This idea i.s hinted 
 to Piliitre do Rozier; he adopts it, and we soon see him on tho coast waiting for the decrees of fate, and one of tho 
 three only winds that could IK- favourable to him. 
 
 P.I. mi-haul ! tin- happy Hlanchard arrives at Dover, forming tho same design on tho opposite coast; fortune 
 smiles on him. and the wind, more favourable, brings him triumphantly into his native country. 
 
 Incapable of feeling the stin^ of envy, as just as generous, 1'ilatro wait* for him nt lioulogne, crowns him with 
 his own hand, and goes with him to Paris without fearing to increase his triumph. Not imagining that he himself 
 had done anything, he sees the success of another, and wishes to excel him. Encouraged by the most powerful 
 motives, he sets out ; but not without a most painful presage. f 
 
 
 
 I will not tell you that, during six months, he passed his time in tho most frightful uncertainty! The days 
 in getting ready his machine the nights, in consulting tho winds! Thrice he filled it; three times he was seated 
 in tin- gallery, where I have seen him lying down broken-hearted; and three times the inconstant winds rejected 
 his vows and destroyed his hopes! 
 
 * 
 
 To draw greater advantages out of the system of aerostation, 1'ilatre had resolved to unite them ; such was 
 his p nius and character. I will not defend what he i.s accused of. either as to rashness or imprudence, nor lost! in 
 dismissing a time, which ought to be employed in f^ ling. Let us leave it to persons less affected to defend tho cause 
 of a truly afflicting and deplorable misfortune. Let us rather call to mind his last moments ; for they will never bo 
 iililiteraicd from my remembrance. I saw him restless, melancholy, the whole night consulting the winds, and 
 dreading their inconstancy. In vain I implored him to take some repose ; be answered mo, " There is no more rest 
 for me ; I must si I off. I must cross that sea, although it swallows me up. It is the only gato that remains to me, 
 in order to r. -turn to my friends." I pressed him to take some sleep; ho refused, aks ! he. unfortunate, ktu-w not 
 that death was tin- sleep that awaited him. 
 
 ;d him say, showing me England, " My fortune, my glory, and my life an- all on that side ! " 
 
 It is with the most heartfelt emotion that I recall, gentlemen, the moment when his generous friendship 
 saved my life! lie clasped me in his arms, and, trying to shake my constancy, he attempted to fri-lit. n me with 
 the danger ho foresaw, and feared for me, whilst he dared it himself. " No," says he to im -. " It in not a certain 
 wind it is not a sure experiment!" I yielded! So true it is that circumstances will sometimes take an 
 ascendancy, which we can neither conquer nor define. At hist the fatal moment approaches the fire is lights! 
 my hands alone still keep my friends to the earth. They escape me! They fly upwards! They ascend with 
 majesty! Mv.y.- f.-ll,.ws tin m. and I breathe with difficulty. All my Senses are suspend, d : I. most unfortunate. 
 
 still .nvy them! Already thirty minutes are ,l,|,s,d in this violent agitation. 1 hear shrieks all around me; 
 
 horror envinms me: it hath already laid hold of my heart! A rapid motion accelerates and brin-s Kick the 
 
 \ 
 
90 ASTRA CASTEA. A.D. 1785. 
 
 machine to the earth. I see it but in an instant it disappears from my sight it is over no more hope remains 
 
 for me ! 
 
 ************* 
 
 [A few minutes after their ascension, the translator of this Eulogium spoko to the Marquis, who seemed much 
 afflicted, and answered with his handkerchief to his eyes. As soon as the Marquis perceived the accident, he 
 mounted his horse and was the first from Boulogne to witness the cruel fate of his beloved friend.] 
 
 It has pierced my soul ! Since there are degrees of grief which we may feel, but can never express. 
 
 No radiant pearl which crested fortune wears, 
 
 No gem that, twinkling, hangs from beauty's ears, 
 
 Not the bright stars which night's blue arch adorn, 
 
 Nor rising suns that gild the vernal morn, 
 
 Shine with such lustre as the tear that breaks 
 
 l''or others' woe down virtue's manly cheeks. DARWIN. 
 
 I conclude saying, Would you prolong his glory? would you honour his ashes? Then encourage and give splendour 
 to a Museum which was of his creating. 
 
 May the Belles Lettres which are there united add, if it be possible, new lustre to it; and that from this 
 enchanting union may there spring up an establishment worthy to bear the name of " Temple of the Muses." * 
 
 Calmly reviewing the melancholy incident that called forth these eloquent expressions of 
 sorrow, we may now, perhaps, wonder that such a dangerous essay could ever have been made 
 even hy such an adventurous experimenter ; but, far from concluding that all future attempts 
 should be abandoned, we ought with greater energy to carry out such trials as have been 
 found to be safe, and have a reasonable probability of success. 
 
 On the 18th of June, 1786, the following remarkable experiment was made by 
 Testu-Brissy. These are his own words : 
 
 Having been engaged since the commencement of aerostation in discovering a method for making taffetas 
 impermeable, I succeeded, and made an aerostat seventeen feet in diameter, in which I left the Gardens of the 
 Luxembourg in the presence of Count Nullenburg and a large concourse, at 4.51 P.M., with the ascensional power 
 of five pounds. 
 
 Having acquired more lightness on account of the heat drying the net, which had been wet by the morning's 
 rain, / descended by the aid of my oars in the Plain of Montmorency to obtain more ballast. Curiosity made people run 
 from all parts and surround me. The proprietor of the field, supported by some vineyard-keepers, wished to make 
 me pay for the damage done ; and when I objected, he broke my oars and took my coat. 
 
 I bade farewell to such inhospitality, and again descended at 6.45, P.M., near the Abbey of Bozaument, following 
 the river Oise. At 8 P.M., I put foot on ground, to get rid of my broken oars, and take in more ballast. Some 
 sportsmen informed me that I was halfway between Ecouen and Wariville. On leaving I rose above some electric 
 clouds, to a height of three hundred toises. The thermometer was 5 below freezing point. The car was covered 
 with icicles, and I had to throw out the snow and ice that encumbered me. 
 
 Night coming on, I lowered, and found myself in the midst of clouds, which were sending forth vivid flashes of 
 lightning and loud thunder, and perceived that clouds attracted or repelled me according to the amount of their 
 electricity. A flag which carried the arms of France in gold sparkled with light. According to my elevation, by 
 means of an electric needle, I could discover whether the current was positive or negative. 
 
 I remained more than three hours in this storm-cloud, and the only damage eifected was the loss of gilt on the 
 flag, which was perforated with holes by the force of natural electricity. I may here observe that the thunder did 
 me less harm than the peasants of Montmorency. 
 
 A calm succeeded, and I remained stationary, making the most of my time by talcing refreshment. Finding 
 
 * A monument is intended to be erected upon the spot where they met with their disaster, and the following epitaph designed for 
 de Rozier. 
 
 Victime avoue' de la rigueur du sort 
 
 Le cheiniu de 1'lionneur t'a conduit a la mort. 
 
A .,,. i I:\I.II\VIYS \ii;np.\n>\. MI 
 
 the Imllaat wax running short. 1 des.-en.led. : ,t :;.-T. V.M.. in tin- village of < 'imii>rein. wh. re I WM well received by 
 tin- Cure. T.-tu-r.iix-v ,i,M>. further, tliat in liis flight of eleven h.mrx lie made other \\~ liiii.nt-. xomo of wlneli 
 he thought would lead 1.. the dise,,very ..f the method .if gliding balloons: l.ut he would m it talk of them till he had 
 iiiin|ilet> d his trials. 
 
 \ Eew months lat.-r Te-tu-r.ri-.-y a-ceiid.-d mi horseback, without eitlii-r tying tin- horse to 
 tli.' cm. ! perceiving in tin- noble animal the least fear. This experiment was to prove 
 whether his assertion was true with regard to large animals, that their blood, being 
 apparently less fluid than man's, would yet flow from the nose at a much lower elevation; 
 ami thi> was found to I*- the case. 
 
 Tin- ' Airopaida' (with illustrations) ap])oared in 1786, giving the accounts of experiments 
 mad*.' at ( 'li.--t.T. in Septemlx-r, ITsj. l.y Tlioiu..s Baldwin, Esq., A.M. The style, as may be 
 imagined, now appears .piaint ; and, for amusement, I will note some peculiarities, which will 
 assist us in f. inning an opinion of how much the manner of thinking lias changed since that 
 period. 
 
 He regrets, in his introduction, that the many aerial voyages preceding his should not 
 have Urn recorded ; and he now undertakes to explain to the " bulk of mankind, which are 
 by far tin- greater nuiiilter." what they had not yet experienced. He also writes his narrative 
 for the " (leiierality. and not for the Curious and Philosophic only." 
 
 II.- ri.-. -s from the ('a -tie-yard at 1.40, with a levity of 20 Ibs., liberated by Mr. Lunardi, 
 amid-t acclamations, mixed with tears of delight and apprehension, the misgivings of 
 humanity, &c. 
 
 1 ! compared the appearance of that city to a coloured map, its blueness contrasting with 
 the redness of the Dee. " The blue is owing to the stones called slates," then unknown in 
 the south of Knglaud. The concave appearance of the earth, the beautiful iris surrounding the 
 shadows i.n the clouds, next attract his attention, but their description I will leave to 
 another. 
 
 lie takes out his note-book and pencil, " but a tear of pure delight flashes in his eye! of 
 
 pure, ex.|iiisite delight and rapture," &c The imagination was more than gratified, it 
 
 \\a- overwhelmed. 
 
 The report of a cannon awakes him from this reverie, and informs him that he is becoming 
 invisible to those on earth. Looking at his watch, he finds it 2.10 P.M. By an after 
 comparison, he found that it took thirty seconds to reach him; and, from this, he calculates the 
 height as (^ miles. A shout two minutes later reaches his ear, and informs him that he is no 
 longer in sight. 
 
 Observing the Welsh coast he commences to descend, and perceives that the under 
 eiurent is from the sea. On entering it the gas contracts; he descends rapidly, and swiftly 
 write-, N.I nun-.- remarks, mind ship." By throwing out ballast, he touches the ground so 
 lightly that his wai.-h and thermometer, lying on the seat, are not displaced. He finds 
 the hour to IK' :;.'Js, and jh,- distance from Chester twelve miles. 
 
 Two miimt.-s later he again rises, 31 Ibs. lighter, and the sea-breeze at starting earner- 
 him over Asht.ni Hall. He compares his rapidity to that of a skyrocket, and reaches 
 a greater altitude than on his piwioiis a-e.-nt ; and thus does he give vent to his feelings: 
 ' I-'.-r a while detached, far d.-taehed from earth, and all terrestrial thoughts: rapt in the 
 
 N 1' 
 
92 ASTRA CASTE A. AJX 1785. 
 
 mild azure of the ethereal regions; suspended in the centre of a vast and almost endless 
 concave ; come as a mere visitor from another planet ; surrounded with the stupendous works 
 of nature, yet above them : the glorious sun except, which enlivened all, and shone with pure 
 celestial lustre. A peaceful serenity of mind succeeded ; an enviable Ei-pom. an idea of which 
 it is not in the power of language to convey or describe." * 
 
 He remarks as curious that the thermometer is at 60, and warmer than the sea-breeze. 
 He also breathes freely, nor did the pulse quicken. Bladders filled with air, attached to the 
 car, in case of a descent in the sea, crackle and look like bursting. He tries experiments with 
 the valve, and alternately rises and falls. The country people said that he appeared to 
 be " quivering and warping in the air." 
 
 He suggests balloon geography, in which maps should be drawn with a camera-obscura, 
 aided by a micrometer applied to the underside of the transparent glass ; and notices the 
 predilection balloons have for becoming stationary, even in a strong gale, over channels and 
 rivers. 
 
 At 3.47 he could not recognise the country. He sees through the clouds what appears 
 two red handkerchiefs, surrounded by a green border. It excites his curiosity ; he descends 
 into the smaller, with a uniformly retarded motion, and alights as " the down of a thistle " 
 at 3.54 P.M. The country people come wading to him ankle-deep, and inform him he is in 
 Rixton-moss, twenty-five miles from Chester ; the other, of handkerchief appearance, being 
 the famous Chat-moss. Till sunset he amused the country people with rides in the balloon, 
 conducted by a rope, along the turnpike. From his own observation he makes the following 
 remark : " It is from frequent experiment only that diminution of objects presupposes 
 distance." 
 
 The Pindaric Lunardi, whom I have already quoted, in a second series of letters to 
 his guardian, describes, with all the liveliness of youth, and the warmth of an Italian 
 imagination, his aerial voyages in Scotland, in the month of October of this year. 
 
 His first flight was on the 5th of October," from Heriot's Gardens, Edinburgh. Rising 
 at 3.45 P.M., he says: " The city of Glasgow I could plainly distinguish, also the town of 
 Paisley, and both shores of the Forth ; but my intention was now diverted by finding myself 
 immediately over the Firth of Forth, at an altitude of 2000 feet. I descended within 500 feet 
 of the water, to inform the boats that it was needless to follow me ; then, rising to the clouds, 
 found the upper current was in an opposite direction. The northern coast, trending away in 
 the distance, was now one of the most remarkable objects in view. At 4.20 P.M. I descended 
 at Ceres, after a voyage of forty-six miles, thirty-six being over water, and was conveyed in 
 triumph to the town of Cupar," where he received an address from the club of gentlemen 
 Golfers. 
 
 The Rev. J. Arnot, of Ceres, thus describes the descent he had witnessed : ;i Yesterday 
 afternoon, the sky being clear, and a breeze from S.S.W.. whilst overlooking the stacking of 
 some corn, a boy who was standing by me took notice of what he thought was a hawk. 
 
 Meditation here 
 
 Mar think down horns to moment*. Here the heart 
 May give a useful lesson to the head. 
 And learning wiser grow without his books. Cowra. 
 
A.D. ; KM-. Hi- COMPANIONS OF Tin: BBQOABB in M 
 
 I l.>>ked, and perceived a globe nearly six inches in diameter. I knew Mr. Lunanli was to 
 ascend from Edinburgh, so I immediately gave information that this was his balloon. It wan 
 thei it 1. in the balloon descended below the clouds, and, as it drew near the earth, 
 
 appeared to sail along with a kind of awful grandeur and majesty. At 4.20 P.M. anchor was 
 cast, and we ran up to give assistance. Mr. L. told me the barometer had stood at IS-] J, the 
 
 rnometer below freezing-point'* 
 
 On his return to Edinburgh he was made a burgess and guild-brother of the city ; also a. 
 member of a merry society callttl " Knights Companions of the Beggar's Benison." The 
 
 .ving is the diploma : 
 
 " JAJOB LCHSDAIXZ, Prases. 
 
 - By the supeiemiuenUy tmimVeBt and sopermtively benevolent Sr James Lumadaine of Innergellie. Sovereign 
 at the most Ancient and mart [['lit Order of the Beggar's Beniaon and Merryland, in the thirteenth year of hi* 
 guanliuuhip. and in that of the Order 5785. 
 
 - flaring nothing more Mncerclr at heart than the happineas and prosperity of oar beloved subjects, the 
 inhabitant* of oar celebrated territories of Merryland, and the encouraging of trade, manufacture*, and agriculture 
 in that rfrffjaffW culonj: and where*, we are fully satisfied that Vincent Lunardi, armiytnm taraM. ha* all 
 
 ' of inclination a* well a* sufficient abflitiea, and other necesamrv q"lifr^itk^it. far promoting theae noble and 
 and willing that such bold adnatturei* shoold have all suitable encouragement ; we do hereby 
 create, admit, and metre him a Knight Companion of the mart ancient and puissant Order of the Beggar'* 
 1 Merryland. by the name, stile, and title of Sir Vincent Lunardi, to be used and enjoyed by him in all 
 , with oar foil powers and prirfleges of ingress, egress, and regress, from and to and to and from all the 
 harbour*, havens, nuts, and commodious inlets npon the coasts of oar said extensive territories at his pleasure, and 
 that without payment of toll, custom, or any other taxes or impositions whatsoever. 
 
 - Done at the Beggar's Benison Chambers of Anstrnther, npon this tenth day of the month, known to the 
 vulgar by the name of October. ~ \Vitneat, I the Recorder, 
 
 - P. rLEXHXLEtTB. D.R." 
 
 '? SKCOM> ^KKIKS OP LETTERS. 
 
 LETTER I. 
 
 MT mono Fran, KAo, <k . ITSS. 
 
 I did not propose to write again till I had ascended from Kelao ; bat time tempts me with a few leisure 
 , and I am thoroughly convinced that I cannot employ them better than in corresponding with my worthy 
 
 now been four days here, three of which I hare passed in preparing for my aerial voyage; and everything 
 being in readiness met night, I went this morning, in high spirit*, to amnse myself at the raoe-groand. 
 
 The weather was fine, and the concourse of people very considrrahl* ; the box was crowded with the most 
 raspccUblu company ; bat the number of ladies was less than I expected. 
 
 The noes afforded me much entertainment ; for though bat few horses entered, they were very swift, and the 
 -. : - -. 
 
 My attention, huweiei. was more strongly fixed npon a match botneeti the Duke of Hamilton and Robert 
 Band. Esq., both of whom rode their own horses. Xerer did I behold a more admirable spectacle ! If y ideas rolling 
 back through the wide channel of history, reverted to the Grecian States in the meridian of their glory. Methooght 
 I saw two heroes contending far the prise in the Olympic Games! Starting from the barrier, they ei immi <1 lightly 
 over the plain, hailed by an uuiieiml bunt of applause. Equally rapid the two cumseis moved as if both 
 snhnstfd and directed by the same spirit. Expectation fixed the crowd a while in silence ; but soon the i 
 began to rise: at first, gentle as the sound* from a well-regulated hire of bees, they seemed but to float on the 
 wind : by degrees the noises increased ; and now the snoots of admiration and encouragement, the load articulation* 
 
94 ASTRA CASTBA. A.D. 1785. 
 
 of hope, the exclamations of joy, clamours of suspense rent the very air! A few moments were likely to determine 
 the victory ; the Duke and his antagonist exerted their utmost efforts ; their horses flew, and scarce appeared to touch 
 the earth. Every eye was fixed upon them, and every heart panted as agitated in favour of one or the other of these 
 eager competitors. The goal was in view ; they darted forward with the velocity of lightning, and both reached it 
 at the same instant, without the least perceptible difference ! The race was still undecided ; the palm of glory was 
 not yet awarded. They started again ; again the same applause, the same emotions, took place ; every one was 
 anxious to see the termination of a contest so nobly pursued : once more they touched the goal at Mossa, and now 
 only differed by the breast of one of the animals. 
 
 I cannot express the pleasure I took in this sight ; more especially as it was to me quite new and surprising ; 
 as you know, in Italy, people of rank never show themselves to the public in such a conspicuous manner. Frankly 
 speaking, I own I highly approve this custom, because it must, in a short time, cause the gentlemen of distinction to 
 excel in horsemanship. 
 
 The races here are supported by subscription. The gentlemen bring ladies along with them ; they all dine 
 together ; after which the latter retire to dress, and are the first to enter the ball-room, whither they are soon 
 followed by the gentlemen. It is not uncommon, in this small country-town, to find in the evening a most brilliant 
 and numerous assembly. 
 
 The happiness I here enjoy does not proceed merely from the civilities and attentions hourly shown me, but 
 from the many opportunities of observing manners and customs calculated to preserve the peace and welfare, 
 and heighten the pleasures of a social and deserving people. There is but one reflection to damp my joys, you are 
 
 not here to share them with the too fortunate 
 
 VINCENT LUNARW. 
 
 P.S. My next shall, I hope, give you the particulars of my aerial journey, of which you need be under no 
 apprehension, as this is an inland town. 
 
 LETTER II. 
 
 MY DEAR GUARDIAN, Edinburgh. 
 
 On my return to Kelso, I instantly wrote down the particulars of my voyage, intending to transmit them to 
 you without loss of time ; I was, however, prevented by the impatience of the people there, who handed them from 
 one to another, till at last they got into the public newspaper. That I may gratify my wishes, therefore, in making 
 known to you the circumstances of my journey as speedily as possible, I shall, without ceremony, insert what 
 appeared in the Kelso paper, which you may credit as every way authentic : 
 
 " KELSO. Last Friday being the day appointed for Mr. Lunardi to ascend from the churchyard here, about 
 eleven o'clock forenoon two cannon wore fired, to give notice that he had begun to fill the balloon, the process of 
 which succeeded to admiration. At half-past twelve two guns were fired as a signal that the balloon could support 
 itself. At one o'clock other two guns were fired, as a signal for the attendance of the ladies and gentlemen, as his 
 departure was approaching. A quarter before two o'clock, the balloon being sufficiently inflated, he attached the car 
 to it, and put therein a basket full of provision, four bags of dry sand for ballast, a grapple, several small ropes, a 
 barometer, thermometer, compass, quadrant, &c. He then got into the car himself, and ordered the balloon to bo 
 carried into the middle of the churchyard ; and giving the signal for two guns to be fired, he rose perpendicularly 
 from thence, at two o'clock precisely, in a grand and most majestic manner. Immediately on the rising of the 
 balloon, Mr. Lunardi stood up in the car, took off his hat, and bowed to the spectators. At a greater height he 
 threw out his flag, which is forty-eight square feet, and was fastened to the car by a cord of one hundred and fifty 
 feet in length. About ten minutes past two he entered a thin cloud, which pretty much obscured the balloon ; but 
 he soon came out of it. At twenty-one minutes past two he entered another cloud, in which we lost sight of him 
 about four minutes, but the flag was still discernible below the cloud. When he again became visible, he was seen 
 going below all the clouds horizontally to the east. About fifty minutes past two he was lost to the naked eye, 
 though several with glasses say they saw him longer. 
 
 " To those who were not present, it is impossible to give any idea of the beauty and grandeur of the spectacle, 
 which could only be exceeded by the cool and intrepid manner in which the adventurer conducted himself: and 
 indeed he appeared more at his case than the greater part of his spectators. The multitude assembled was very 
 great, but had the day of his ascension been generally known in the country, we doubt much if the churchyard, 
 
.v.i,. i KELflO EDINBUBGB i;i..\s<;o\v. 
 
 largo an it is. could liavo contained .ill that would have Urn assembled on the occasion. So anxious were nil ranks 
 t.. I*- present, th.ii, although it was ni.uk. t da\. MI. .si ,,f the shops wore shut by ono o'clock. 
 
 Tin' Killoon. whi.h contained aUmt live hundred yards <>f tall'ita silk, was shaped liki- a jx-ur, thirty-three 
 feet high, and twenty-three in diamet. r. with a netting o\vr it. ami Mri]icd with ilirt'.-n-nt ...l..uis. Tin- car had a 
 |nttom of thin board, with a small netting n.iind it, uriiaiin-iiti-il at tin- tup with pink silk, fringed with gold lace. 
 \l I. mi. u. li was dressed in 
 
 Mr. l.nnarvli has favoured IIH with tin- following JMI ti. nl.n- .!' his voyage, which is the second that has been 
 |N.rf'iriin-<l in S-i.tlaml : 
 
 \s soon 08 ho got up, ho could plainly perceive the Boa, and that his course was towards it Twenty minutes 
 .ill. r his M . mling with his balloon he got into u <-l<nnl. and lost sight of the earth; ho might have gone through it 
 .y tin- high, r region, when- there is always a fine clear sky, but thought proper to kwp himself down, to give 
 pleasure t.' tin- spectators. At twenty five minutes past two ho was only four thousand feet above the (surface of the 
 earth : lie then, observing the sea to be about ten miles fnn-i him. Ix-gan to ascend higher, and when at the height 
 thousand r, , t. the west wind above was stronger than below. He went through the cloud, and for two 
 minutes observed the clearness of the sky above, and the thickness of the clouds b. n.-atli ; his intention was to go 
 in search of another current of air, Imt having no signahi above for it, and being so near the sea, he thought JH-UJHT 
 to come in sight of the earth again, which ho effected in throe minutes. At throe o'clock precisely he was no higher 
 than tine.- thousand feet from the surface of the earth, and went Imri/.i .ntally at that height for five minutes; he 
 then Infill to descend, as In- tlioii^ht the sea to be no more than n mile from him. At twenty minutes after three 
 he anchored at li.-l.lin^ton Mo.,r, about four miles north-cast of \\.N.1, r. where several country people were collected, 
 Imt they were afraid to approach him. lie called to them, and after repeated entreaties they at length came up to 
 him, Mr. Lunardi then iin|iiired how far he was from the sea, and they told him four miles. II. r. Mr. Strother 
 Anrriim, who had followed him on horselsick for two miles, came up and shook hands with him. lie desired M\ ..t' 
 
 iintry people to draw him with the ropes to Berwick, but after having carried him two miles, the wind blowing 
 fresher, and in an opposite direction, the men were not able to hold the balloon. lie came down in a field at 
 
 noor, where he emptied the balloon, with the assistance of the people who were coming from every quarter. 
 U 1,. n Mr. l.unaidi alighted ho had sixty pounds of ballast remaining, which made him regret much his not being 
 alile t.. |. '.--.. d farther on account of the sea being so near. 
 
 I'.n^st ili-- p. ..pi.- who came to congratulate his safe descent, Mr. Lunardi took much notice of the tu.. 
 Miss Halls of Thornton, Mi.su Wilkie of Doddington, and Miss Car of Newcastle, He gave-much praise to Mr. 
 i;ii-hard Thump-on of I'.an moor, who, after giving Mr. Lunardi every assistance in his power, ordered the balloon 
 to IN- carried to his h..iise, and politely insisted on Mr. Lunardi accepting of his horse home. Mr. Lunardi spent the 
 night at Mr. Thompson's house, where ho was entertained in the most hospitable manner, and after breakfast set off 
 f.>r Ki-l.so. when- he arrived on Saturday at one o'clock afternoon. He was met upon the bridge by a great number 
 of the townspeople, ;md rotlo in triumph to the Cross Keys Inn, with his flag displayed on the top of the chaise, tin- 
 l-lls ringing, drums beating, and the people huzzaing, to welcome him on his arrival. 
 
 dn Saturday he diiuil with Sir James Douglas, and supped with the gentlemen of the Caledonian Hunt. 
 
 - inday he was entertained by Sir James Pringlo, at Stitchill; on Monday by I. ..id Home, at Hirse!; and on 
 1 1\ i .yi-iiing by our ancient Lodge of Freemasons, of which he was admitted a member. On Tuesday, about 
 
 noun, lie set oil' for l.dinlmrgh. 
 
 Mr. I. unardi's course was due oast (till the end, when he was carried a little to the south), continued an 
 hour and twenty minutes, IMY, 11,-d twenty-five miles; his highest elevation, when above all the clouds, was seven 
 thousand > v. n hnnd.'ed : 
 
 Al> .ut two hours ago I reached Edinburgh, in good health, and could not permit the post to depart without 
 acquainting y..u with the whole transaction. In my lodging I found several l.-tters; in particular two from the 
 most respectable people in Glasgow, inviting me thither; I must therefore pay a visit to that city as soon as 
 possible ; and I lio]K-, in a few days, to write you from thence, and ostmrc you once more how much I am and 
 
 shall lie, your obliged and giatcful 
 
 V. LUXAKUI. 
 
96 ASTRA CASTE A. A.U. 1785. 
 
 LETTER III. 
 
 MY DEARKST FRIKNP, Glasgow. 
 
 I am already as well known in this city as if I had resided in it some months. About seven o'clock in the 
 evening I arrived here, and was immediately favoured with the visits of several gentlemen who had been witnesses 
 to my ascent from Edinburgh. As I passed through the streets in the morning, a thousand eyes were fixed upon 
 me ; and if I remained in view for any considerable space, I had the pleasure of seeing the windows filled with eager 
 beholders. 
 
 My first visit was to the chief magistrate, who received me with the greatest civility, and seems a mighty 
 honest, worthy, and well-meaning gentleman. I lodge at the Tontine Hotel, adjoining to which is the most 
 elegant coifee-room I have seen in Europe. The city of Glasgow is in general very neat ; the streets broad, well- 
 paved, and intersecting each other at right angles, give it a far more regular appearance than the metropolis. The 
 people apply themselves with unceasing industry to commerce and manufactures, which are carried to such an 
 extent as to make Glasgow justly reckoned the richest city in Scotland. I could not help also remarking the great 
 friendship and hospitality which subsists in this part of Caledonia ; the inhabitants not only visit each other 
 frequently at their own houses, but each shop has such a communication with its neighbour that every commercial 
 transaction is presently known through the whole city ; and hence any merchant is able to direct one with certainty 
 where to find a piece of goods, though he may not have it in his own shop. 
 
 A few days after my arrival I became acquainted with one Mr. Ingram, who seems very much interested in 
 my behalf, and by him I was introduced to Mr. French, a merchant of this place, uncommonly popular for his 
 generosity and openness of heart. He was formerly Provost of the city, and though another is now invested with 
 that dignity, he still retains the title of Provost French. 
 
 The University of Glasgow is one of the most complete that can be imagined, well calculated for diffusing 
 every branch of science, and they have an excellent Observatory, charmingly situated in their extensive garden. 
 
 As this garden seemed to me the most eligible place for my ascent, I applied to the Professors for it ; but they 
 in a polite manner declined granting my request, on account of many young trees which might be injured by the 
 concourse of people. I was therefore advised to open a subscription for defraying the expense ; which accordingly 
 was done three days since, but it goes on slowly. 
 
 I have had many rambles through the city, but can find no place that will answer my purpose. I do not like 
 to run the hazard of losing a considerable sum ; but, on the other hand, I am treated with so much cordiality and 
 civility, that I know not how to resolve, so as at once to clear my heart and head from any disgraceful reflections ; 
 but I am fully bent to acquaint you in my next with the final determination of your 
 
 VINCENT LUNAEDI. 
 
 LETTER IV. 
 
 My HONOURED FRIEND, Glasgow, November 22, 1785. 
 
 Everything is settled and ready for my excursion ; and, if the weather proves favourable, I shall go up 
 to-morrow. 
 
 The day after my last was written, I went to St. Andrew's Churchyard, which indeed may be overlooked in 
 every part, but the avenues are remarkably well fenced, for which reason I thought it would be convenient for all 
 those who had purchased tickets. I instantly applied to the magistrates, who very readily allowed me the use of 
 it; in consequence of which I advertised that, without waiting for the subscription, I intended certainly to ascend 
 on Wednesday, trusting that the ladies and gentlemen of Glasgow would not permit me to be a loser by my 
 ascension. And indeed, I am already convinced that will not be the case, as I have been informed that, if the 
 money arising from the exhibition shall prove deficient, they will immediately make up what is vf anting ; and I 
 know that in the course of this day tickets to the amount of fifty guineas have been disposed of. 
 
 By the desire of many principal inhabitants, I have exhibited my balloon in the Old Church choir, where it 
 was no sooner inflated than such a crowd of people assembled as I do not ever remember to have seen in a place of 
 the kind before ; so that, one way or other, money enough will most probably be collected. 
 
 I have also the pleasure to inform you that in consequence of an application to Colonel Ferguson, Commander 
 of the 27th Regiment, accompanied with a card from the magistracy, I shall be attended by a good number of 
 soldiers ; and during the process of filling the balloon the band of the regiment will entertain the company with 
 martial music. 
 
s.i,. 1785. 
 
 \M'i;i:\\> mt i;rih \i;i>. 
 
 '.'7 
 
 ,11 my letter* y.m will find that my \>\ri<* have in general been rained and depraved 
 aliiniiit.lv. Nu tiling. however, has been able to conquer my resolution ; and I have so often iihown mywlf "| 
 
 . .-, that I think she is by thin time tired of persecuting me : therefore I subscribe myself, as cool, collected. 
 an.l ha|,].y as c\ , i . Your sincere friend, 
 
 \ . LUNARDI. 
 
 i.i:m:u v. 
 
 GlMgow. November 25. 1785. 
 
 SuccesB has overpaid my expectations! I am returned to the caresses of my surrounding friends; and, in 
 token nf gratitude, shall make a second ascension on Monday m-xt You will imagine that I ought now to bu 
 sufficiently acquainted with tin- air. and perhaps call this rage for flying mere madness ; but give me leave to urge a 
 childhood i>r.Nif, that what. -v. r .mr ideas may be in th.- bud. they shoot into habit, grow as wo grow, and with .mi 
 s..uls ,\|Miid. till thev become al*.lutely iimiititutional. \\hcn quite a schoolboy I used to look with contempt 
 the . r. , i-ing worm, or shard-borne beetle; while my eye* were fixed with rapture and admiration II|MUI the 
 l.i- and gild.-d drag, .n -fly. I was not fond of quadrupeds; the tricks and gambols of the playful squirrel, or 
 th. t V.. lie.-,, .in.- caresses of the spaniel, afforded me little or no amusement. Hut birds were my delight! I could 
 li-t. ii t.. their songs with inexpressible pleasure, and with the most eager attention survey their rapid flight 
 through tli,- air : they were object* of my love and envy. Is it then to be wondered that I court their company 
 and emulate their modi- of living ? 
 
 1'n \i,,u.s to tin- detail of my very successful expedition, I nhall insert a paragraph from the newspaper, the 
 ]iiil,li.-sh. r of which must be a person who understands something of Aerostation, as he describes my apparatus better 
 than any other writer that has attempted the subject. 
 
 " Ax A i int.sTic ACCOUNT OK MB. LUXARDI'S AKIUAI, EXCURSION FROM ST. ANDREW'S CHURCHYARD, GLASGOW, ox 
 \\U.\KM.AY, THE 23Ri> ISSTAST. (Extracted from the ' Glasgow Advertiser," November 28th, 1785.) 
 
 "On Wednesday last Mr. I.unardi fulfilled his promise in ascending in his aerial car from this city. He came 
 
 to the place appointed at eleven o'clock forenoon, in company with the officers of the 27th Kcgimcnt. pivn-dcd l>v 
 
 the musical band, and followed l,y all the soldiers under arms. After they had taken their stations at proper places, 
 
 everything was got ready for beginning the operation about twelve. The balloon was suspended at the east end of 
 
 inin-h, l>y a rope stretched between the top of the church and the ground at some distance. Three 
 
 large casks with iron hoops were sunk to some depth in the ground, for the purpose of containing the oil of 
 vitriol and iron necessary for the oj>cration. These casks were furnished with large tin tubes, which, passing 
 through a large vessel of water to cool the vapour, united into one, round which the mouth of the balloon wan tied. 
 
 >rds of a ton weight of iron shavings were divided among the casks, and five or six tons of water along with 
 them. A largo tub lined with lead in the under jmrt, with a hole in the bottom, was used an a funnel. This hole 
 was closely stopped up with a stick, until the i|imntity of oil of vitriol destined for each cank was put into it, when. 
 I'v j.iilling out the Mi.k. the whole .[iiantity rushed in at once. There were sixteen large bottles of oil of vitriol 
 used, in all containing upwards of 2000 pounds. On mixing such a quantity of heterogeneous substances togeth. i . 
 a tumult, effervescence, and heat were instantly generated to such a degree as cannot be conceived by those who 
 have not been eyewitnesses of similar operations. The vapour instantly issued out with great velocity, and 
 ascending in the Imlloon, Ix-gaii to swell it first at the top, so that it became quite round and full there, while (lie undei 
 part remain, d quite flaccid. By degrees the swelling proceeded downwards, and the net with which the balloon 
 was covered began to embrace it closely. About half an hour after twelve it was inflated sufficiently to carry it* 
 own weight, so that the rope by which it was suspended became no longer necessary, and was therefore taken 
 
 W. l..vitl to wnt. 1. the rwallow >wimmiug high. 
 In tin- I'rinlit uzurv of tin- vaulted cky. 
 Or gZ4- |.ii tin- rl.rn.ls, whose eolour'd pride 
 WM mUtcr .1 Uiiuly ..'. r tin- . Ikin wide. 
 And tinc.'.l will. MI, I, vuri.-ty .,f shade, 
 To thechann'd soul miMim< -i tli,.ui;l,t.- i>-i,. 
 In thec wluU form* romantic .li.l wi- trace. 
 While Fancy 11 u. o'er the realm* of space ; 
 
 Now we eapied the Thunderer in his car. 
 Leading the embattled Hvraphim to war, 
 Ti n xtately towers descried, tuhlimcly high, 
 In ( ...tlin- grandeur frowning on tlie nky; 
 
 Or law, wide atretching o'er the azure height 
 A ri.lj:.- of ^liii-u-r.i in mural white. 
 Hugely terrific. 
 
 KIIIKK WHITE. 
 
98 ASTRA CASTKA. A.D. 1785. 
 
 away. The wind struck one side of it considerably, which rendering the operation of filling somewhat difficult, 
 it was pulled down by means of the net and cords affixed to it, as close to the ground as possible, which removed 
 that difficulty. It was kept in this position till about half an hour after one; and though the smell indicated some 
 loss of inflammable air, yet, considering the large scale on which the operation was conducted, we cannot help 
 thinking that the chemical part was performed with great dexterity. 
 
 " As the balloon now began to pull very strongly upwards, it was no longer confined, but gradually suffered 
 to rise to its full length, when it appeared of a beautiful oval shape, but still somewhat flaccid in the under part. 
 The car being now appended, Mr. Lunardi took his place, dressed in his regimentals, amidst the anxious 
 expectations of the spectators. At a quarter before two the balloon, now floating with Mr. Lunardi in it, was 
 conducted to some distance from the church, in order to give a more full view of his ascent. It was then let go, 
 and began to rise somewhat slowly ; but Mr. Lunardi soon quickened it by throwing out a sand-bag, and as its 
 ascending power was not yet answerable to his wishes, he in a few minutes threw out another, and after that a 
 third. Thus the balloon rose with great rapidity, to the admiration of every one who saw it, and being impelled 
 by a brisk gale, flew also with immense velocity in a S.E. direction as it ascended; and during this ascent 
 Mr. Lunardi gradually lowered his flag to a considerable distance from the balloon, which occasioned no little 
 uneasiness among the spectators, many of whom imagined that the car was getting loose and falling away. In 
 about a quarter of an hour our adventurous hero was lost in a cloud, to the great concern of the spectators, and 
 though a glimpse or two of the balloon were afterward! obtained, it was impossible to view it distinctly for any 
 length of time. He was seen passing over Hamilton at two o'clock, so that he must have been flying at the rate of 
 forty miles an hour. The magistrates, in testimony of their esteem for Mr. Lunardi, ordered the bells to be set 
 a-ringing ; and in about ten minutes after he was seen passing over Lanark. In the course of his journey, it is said, 
 he met with a southerly current, along with which he was carried for about twelve minutes, but afterwards 
 returned into his former course. 
 
 " It is impossible to describe the astonishment and admiration which Mr. Lunardi's ascent occasioned in this 
 place. Indeed, the sight of the balloon, with Mr. Lunardi ascending along with it, was majestic and beautiful 
 beyond description. To this, indeed, the gracefulness and genteel air of his person, with his easy intrepidity in the 
 moment of ascent, contributed not a little. The most majestic part of the scene, indeed, was only visible to those 
 in the churchyard, being in a great measure lost by the rest of the spectators who did not purchase tickets. The 
 concourse of people was amazing. The Green, the tops of the houses, and all places where the sight could be had 
 for nothing, were immensely crowded. Many were amazingly affected. Some shed tears, and some fainted ; while 
 others insisted that he was in compact with the Devil, and ought to be looked upon as a man reprobated by the 
 Almighty. 
 
 " During the whole time that the balloon was filling, Baillie Brown attended, in the absence of the Lord 
 Provost, and showed the greatest attention to Mr. Lunardi ; and invited the principal persons, who were strangers, 
 to dine with him in the Tontine, among whom was the Earl of Loudoun ; and an Assembly was held in the 
 evening. 
 
 " While the balloon was filling, the company were entertained by the musical band of the 27th Regiment, just 
 now quartered here, who played a quick march as he went up. It is computed that there were upwards of 100,000 
 spectators assembled on this occasion, among whom were the greatest number of ladies ever seen in Glasgow, 
 who were all very much interested in Mr. Lunardi's safety. As no accounts of his landing arrived on Thursday, 
 many people began to fear some fatal accident, but their apprehensions were happily dispelled on Friday by the 
 following letter to Colonel Ferguson : 
 
 " ' SlR, " Edinburgh, Friday Morning, 11 o'clock. 
 
 " ' I have the honour to inform you, that at forty-two minutes after three o'clock on Wednesday evening, I 
 touched the ground upon high hills, where, the wind being very fresh, the cable gave way, and I lost the great 
 anchor and flag ; the balloon being then lighter, ascended to a considerable height, and entirely lost sight of the 
 earth. At fifty-five minutes after three I finally descended about two miles to the east of Alemoor, on the water of 
 Ale, in Selkirkshire, and luckily met with Mr. and Mrs. Chisholm, who were riding on the mountains in their way 
 home from a visit ; and the lady took my place (being lighter) in the balloon, and went three miles in it. 
 
 " ' Yesterday I was entertained by the gentlemen of Ha wick, and the magistracy presented me with the freedom 
 of the town. 
 
A.D.I THE OFFICERS OF TlIK --'Tin UK' .IMKNT. M 
 
 This in. .mini; I reached Edinburgh, and to-morrow, at twelve o'clock at noon, I hope I shall have the 
 h..n..tir t.. return YOU, rivd wet, my sincere thanks, as 1 do \vith my \\\. t'..r all v.mr kindness. I have the honour 
 
 '" K "' VlXCKNT LUXARI.1.' 
 
 A. . ..i. ling to his promise in this Liter. Mr. Lunardi arrived with his balloon in this city, about half an hour 
 iilVr twelve ..', l.K-k ..11 Saturday, ami was entertained at dinner by the prin.ip.il merchants, and yesterday by the 
 ..tlir. rs i.f tin- 'JTtli hVgiim-nt." 
 
 At fivi- minutes before two !.\ my watch I parted from the ground, but could not judge of the ascending 
 power i.f tli.- balloon, by reason of its waving with the wind, which was pretty high. Ik-ing thi-i 
 a]i|iri-henidve of its again descending to the ground, I threw out two bags of sand in the very churchyanl ; after 
 wlii.-h I ascended with groat velocity, and nalut.-d tlie very respectable and brilliant company whom I had li-ft. and 
 tin- multitude ,,f -i-ectators who were assembled all round, by lowering my flag about sixty feet from the bottom ,,f 
 
 . !! \ . It was now exactly two o'clock, when I entered a very thick but small cloud ; on which I pulled tin 
 valve in order to descend !!. it. l.ut the ascending power was too great, 80 that I continued to rise for some time 
 _ r. 
 
 On my coming again in sight of Glasgow, I found the compass had shifted T 4 f > the wind being N.W. I now 
 passed through higher clouds, and at five minutes after two saw Hamilton, about two miles distant The balloon 
 had u..w I..M ii> rising i.w.i. tin- ran ti. -at ion of the uir having expelled a groat quantity out of it. I could see 
 Lanark very well, but it was soon intercepted by a small and thick cloud. Finding myself descending, I threw out 
 half a bag of sand ; but that proving iiiMifli.-i. -nt, I threw down the whole, on which the balloon stood motionless for 
 about two minutes and then began to ascend at a good rate, I entered a thick cloud about three-quarters of a mil. 
 
 :idii-ular. wh.-n I could neither see heaven nor earth, being in short involved in an ocean of clouds, which about 
 a mil.- al>ve me I jierceived were of different and biiautiful colours. 
 
 \Vlu-n involved in these clouds I dined, and having emptied one bottle of its contents by making a hole in it 
 hide, as I could not uncork it, I threw it down altogether, and heard it whistle as it descended for thirty-five 
 seconds. The wind was now duo south by the compass, and, being extremely fatigued and sleepy, having scam- 
 rested three hours the preceding night, I lay down in the bottom of the gallery. That I might not, however, incur 
 any danger by sleeping in this extraordinary situation, I fastened a small steelyard to a piece of rope, and this to the 
 ne< -k i.f the UilliN.n, so that it was suspended about a foot distance from my face. The balloon was at this time 
 keeping itself quite full by tin- ran fa.tion of air; and I was sure that when it began to descend it must become 
 
 1, and consequently longer, so that the steelyard would hit my face and awake me. AVithout the least 
 apprehension, therefore, I fell asleep and enjoyed a comfortable nap for about twenty minutes, when the hook of the 
 steelyard got hold of my chin, and I got up at once. I could now see the earth quite plain, and a serpentine river 
 beneath me. 1 had no map. and the balloon was turning u]x.n its axis, so that I could form no judgment of my 
 situation : but turning upon my right I could perceive that the river below me was the Forth. It was then twelve 
 minuti-s aft.r three when I threw out half a bag of sand to keep me in a horizontal direction, and afterwards tried 
 : on tin- other side of tin- river; but I saw with surprise that the balloon was again approaching to the 
 river, when I dropped my pocket-book, and which appears to mo has fallen about a mile to the north of the Forth. 
 Tin- Utlloon quickly crossed the river again, on which I threw away the remainder of the bag, but still the balloon 
 rose but very little, and was involved in thick clouds on my coming to the S.E. 
 
 At twenty-five minutes after three the earth began to appear, and I found I was over huge hills, which I 
 judged t'. \*- ill.- Highlands. I'.eing now descending very quick, I threw down the rest of my ballast, and rose to a 
 considerable h. ij.t. l>ut still in sight of the earth. At thirty-eight minutes after three I was again descending, and 
 saw the tops of the hills passing very quick, by which I judged that the wind was very high. I intended to come 
 d'.wn U-twivt some of these hills, as I could not see the end of them, and sleep then- all night; and with this view 
 let I.H.N.- the big anchor alxmt sixty t'. . t from the gallery, and liegan to descend. AM soon as the anchor got hold of 
 the ground the cable gave way, and the aiieln.r remaining in the ground, as well as the flag, &&, in all about 
 eighteen jN.unds weight, the balloon rose again with great rapidity ; and when almve all the clouds I could perceive 
 that they had the very same sliajx' of the hills lielow. The water generated by the intlammable air came down 
 convert, d into icicles. I passed horizontally through the clouds for about eight minutes: when I came in sight of 
 the heathy hills again, I heard a voice call, "Lunardi, come down." quite plain, and I knew not who it was. 1 
 
 o 2 
 
100 ASTEA CASTKA. A.D. 1785. 
 
 saw at a distance sheep feeding, but could not see a human being, and I was greatly surprised to hear my name 
 pronounced by any shepherd that might have been there with his sheep ; and 1 could perceive no house, nor even 
 huts in the neighbourhood. I called aloud several times through the hill, and after one-third of a minute or 
 nineteen seconds I could hear the echo of my words returned as loud as they were pronounced ; but / never had 
 repeated " Lunardi come down," though I heard these words several times repeated, on which I answered through 
 the trumpet, " Hallo ! hallo ! " with a great voice. I heard the words, " Lunardi, hallo ! " repeated ; and being now 
 quite free from any interruption from clouds, I could see distinctly some people on horseback. At last I 
 endeavoured to hasten my descent betwixt two hills where the balloon might be sheltered from the high wind ; 
 and, indeed, I came down as light as a feather. Two trembling shepherds came to me, an old man and a boy, 
 whom I encouraged by calling to them, " My dear friends, come hither." They crossed the water and came up to 
 me, and I gave them some sponge-bread that remained of my provisions ; then a gentleman came, asking how I did, 
 and at what time I set off from Glasgow ; after a proper answer, I reached him with the balloon, and he mentioned 
 the circumstances of meeting me as he was coming from a visit with his wife. 
 
 1 asked the lady if she would get into the balloon, who hardly had pronounced, " I will," when she got into 
 the gallery, and I went out desiring the shepherds to hold the ropes ; I got upon her horse, and in company with 
 her husband we followed her. After three good miles' riding, I saw that the balloon was very much waved ; and 
 the shepherds carried by it at a great rate, so that I thought proper to call the lady down, and it was with great 
 difficulty and fatigue all of us together could succeed in emptying the balloon, which I committed to the shepherds' 
 care, and went along with the gentleman and lady. At seven o'clock we arrived at their houses at Stretches, where 
 I was very well entertained. 1 had a comfortable sleep, and next morning after breakfast the gentleman in whose 
 house I was took me to Hawick, where I was received by the gentlemen and the magistrates, who very generously 
 invited me to dinner with them, and presented me with the freedom of the town ; soon after dinner, I got into a 
 postchaise, travelled all night, and reached Edinburgh at six o'clock in the morning, when I wrote a letter to you 
 with two enclosed, and despatched by an express to Glasgow, as I knew they would have been in anxiety. My 
 course was S.E., then N., and then S.E. ; the whole of my journey, 110 miles.- The descent and place will be better 
 described by the gentleman with whom I was so fortunate as to meet : 
 
 EXTRACT OF A LETTER FROM GILBERT CHISHOLM, ESQ., STRETCHES, TO A FRIEND is GLASGOW, NOVEMBER 23RD. 
 
 " Yesterday afternoon, about half an hour after three, as I was returning with Mrs. Chisholm from a visit to 
 Sir James Nasmyth of Posso, Bart., my servant called out to me to observe a paper kite of most surprising magnitude 
 and height. Turning my eyes to the place where the boy pointed, I perceived a body flying among the clouds 
 which sometimes intercepted it from my sight. As it came near the ground I perceived it assume an oblong oval 
 shape, somewhat like a sugar mould ; but as I could perceive no string to hold it, nor any tail appended, I was 
 convinced that it could be no kite, which indeed its extraordinary height had convinced me of before. As I knew 
 that Mr. Lunardi was in the country, and intended a voyage from Glasgow this day, I began to suspect this must 
 be his balloon, though I was yet unable to distinguish his car, and could scarce allow myself to think that he could 
 be at such a distance from that city. As it still came nearer, however, I was at last convinced that it could be no 
 other ; and in about a quarter of an hour after I first saw him, he was got so near that I began to call out to him, 
 ' Mr. Lunardi come down, come down ! ' This invitation I gave him the more earnestly, because if he had still gone 
 on, he must have alighted in a very inconvenient place on account of the high wind. After repeated calls I had 
 the good fortune to hear that he answered me through his speaking trumpet, though 1 could not distinctly hear 
 what he said. At five minutes before four he alighted in a place very near the water of Ale, and so screened from 
 the wind that the balloon stood quite upright, without inclining either to one side or another. Two shepherds who 
 kept their sheep on the hill-side were so much astonished at the descent of the balloon with a human creature 
 appended to it, that it was with difficult}' I could persuade them that Mr. Lunardi was not some devil who would 
 destroy them. At last by my earnest persuasion they ran down the hill, and, with some signs of fear, came up to 
 Mr. Lunardi. My horse was so much frightened that I could scarce come within a gunshot, but Mrs. Chisholm, 
 who rode a more peaceable beast, was allowed to come much nearer. The shepherds at my desire conveyed the 
 balloon, and Mr. Lunardi along with it, over the water which separated us, which they effected with the greatest 
 ease, the balloon yet rising from the ground with the slightest touch. After receiving our hearty congratulations, 
 Mr. Lunardi asked Mrs. Chisholm if she would take his place in the aerial car, to which she replied by jumping 
 
v.,,. 1 T1IK -J7TH UKCIMKM. 1": 
 
 into it. She willingly would have had tho balloon Bet at liberty, but, an the wind was very high, Mr. Lunardi 
 judijiil tliii t.. IK- iin]iro]>er; tor, us Mm. ( 'lii.-liohu is eonM.li-nil.lv lighter, she must have ascended to a great height, 
 ami U-eii iiinvi-yed to several miles' distance. Tho air, therefore, wan held near tho ground by tho two shepherds. 
 In tliis in inn. i she was carried for .il-.ut three miles, while die hills sheltered us from die wind ; but then it 
 became so viod-nt. mid die balloon waved so much, tluit she was obliged to alight After this wo assisted M 
 I.unanli in eni|.t\ ing his balloon, which was not accomplished without great difficulty on account of the high win. I 
 At't.-r having tin- |>lvM8uro of Mr. I. im. mil's company for die night, I had die honour of introducing him diis day to 
 tin. magistrate* of Hawiek, who, after having entertained him at dinner, presented him with tin- fn..l..m of the 
 city. Mr-. ( 'hi-holm is much pleased with lu-r aerial journey, and still wishes that she had been set at liberty. A- 
 tl..- report of Mr. Lunanli's landing has already spread to a considerable distance, our market of Hawick has 
 
 uncommonly thmnged by multitudes of country people who have come to town in hopes of seeing thin m rial 
 her..." 
 
 1 -hall not have occasion to write to you again till I have taken my second flight from this place, as I cannot 
 -ii].|iMe that any accident will impede my enterprise, die apparatus remaining as I left it This evening I intend 
 to ad vert isc my pocket-book, with two guineas reward to any person who may have found it ; die original value is 
 no more than twelve shillings, and it contains nothing but a paper of calculations and two letters, with my 
 diivtion. one nC which is your last, dated 26di October. My wishes are only to ascertain tho place where it was 
 
 follll.l. 
 
 iiorrow I shall vi-.it 1'aisley, where some beautiful manufactures are carried on. It is very astonishing 
 that in France ami Italy, where such a quantity of silk is produced, this branch of business should not be carried 
 into the same degree of perfection as here! On Sunday I propose to return, and Monday is die day fixed fur my 
 ascension ; soon after which, if no unlucky accident intervenes, you shall again hear from 
 
 Your affectionate and respectful 
 
 V. LUNABDI. 
 
 LETTER VL 
 
 MY IVKB HONOURED Fill END. GlMgOW. 
 
 With additional pleasure I once more take up my pen to inform you of another aerial voyage. Happiness is 
 doubly dear when thus communicated to a friend! What numberless blessings has die Art of Writing diffused! 
 IIo\v many remarkable events has it perpetuated ! How many nations has it taught to imitate the virtues of their 
 ancestors! Without this, the dearest friends, when separated by distant countries, would be as dead to each other. 
 By means of this noble discovery, wo communicate our inmost thoughts to, and receive die kind sentiments of those 
 we lovo and esteem, while intervening oceans roll their rude waves in vain ; but let me not, while I praise, misuse 
 the Messing, by wasting time in idle reflections, wliich I am convinced will not be half so interesting to your heart 
 as the following particulars of my late journey : 
 
 The auspicious morning being arrived, everything was ready by ten o'clock for , beginning the operation. 
 Exactly at eleven I was honoured with tho attendance of die 27th Regiment, as on tho former occasion, to support 
 tho civil power in keeping tho peace and preserving regularity ; though, thanks to God, no riot or disturbance ever 
 happened at any of my experiments, the people being universally acquainted with my upright principles, and 
 'oiivineiil i.t' my intention to fulfil my promise in the most ample manner. 
 
 My two small casks, containing one-half of the ingredients for filling tho balloon wore instandy set to work ; 
 but an, at half an hour after eleven, there were but very few people assembled, I was advised by several respectable 
 friends not to g on with the other until a greater number of spectators should arrive. The operation therefore 
 w.-nt on but slowly, hut at tw.-lve I ordered tho large cask to be set to work; by which means the balloon was 
 inflated by half an hour atVr oin-. 
 
 I hiring this process I could not help paying very particular attention to die different currents of wind, which 
 indeed did alarm me very much. On this account I was obliged to decline die taking with mo a young gentleman 
 of this jilaee, only tw.lv, years of age, but of undaunted spirit, and who might have been a very agreeable 
 companion to me, hail tin- w.-ather K-eii mild; but the voyage at diis time was very dangerous, as I myself \. i \ 
 soon experienced. For the same reason I was obliged with regret to refuse the request of Captain Barns of the 
 L'Tth Krgiinciit. who had several times i-mn-stly expressed to me hit) desire of taking an aerial voyage, and at 
 
'/;;'; : 
 
 . v s V:'..- 
 
 10**: ASTEA CASTKA. A.D. 1785. 
 
 time wished to have gone in my place. The answer I gave him at present, however, was, that " I would not, on 
 this day, send tip any friend of mine for all the gold in the world." 
 
 The wind in the lower regions had all this time been shifting almost every five minutes ; and, in the space 
 of an hour, had gone round three-fourths of the compass. The currents above were evidently W. and S.W., 
 and E. and S.E. To avoid any danger from the church, I ordered the balloon to be carried to the end of the 
 railing, and there I fastened the gallery to it. The wind was high, and tossed the balloon excessively : however I 
 got into it, having all the instruments and provisions I wanted, there already. I desired several officious gentlemen 
 to let it go ; but you cannot conceive, my dear friend, the attachment of everybody here to me, how earnestly they 
 wished to be near me, and offer me their services in the moment of ascension. I got up, however, about fifty feet 
 from the ground, when the rope I had left loose for my servant to give me the rising power I wanted, when cleared 
 of my friends below (which however proved impossible) entangled a gentleman, who, I since understand, is a 
 minister ; and, with the greatest concern, I saw him dragged for a considerable way along the ground, till the rope 
 was cut by my servant. 
 
 It was now near forty minutes after one o'clock, and my ascent was not very rapid, as I could see the people 
 below for six minutes. This time I employed in securing the gallery to the balloon better than it had been done 
 below ; waving the flag, saluting the public. Soon after I lost sight of Glasgow. The wind below was S.E., 
 and I took my course to N.W., so that I was kept in view by everybody. At forty-eight minutes after one, I was 
 obliged to secure the compass and watch, and take hold of the upper hoop with both my hands, as the gallery was 
 not only waving, but all to one side. The balloon being pressed by two contrary winds turned on its axis at least 
 twelve times in ten seconds, and jumped up to a great height. It was now quite full, the inflammable air escaping 
 very fast from the neck, and I opened the valve besides, when all at once it fell down for a quarter of a mile and 
 there became stationary ; it was now two-thirds full, and the silk below sticking together, and driven with the 
 violence of the wind, made a terrible and hideous noise, keeping the valve constantly open, so that I could hear the 
 inflammable air whistle in escaping. 
 
 At fifty-two minutes after one o'clock the balloon was prodigiously inclined to one side, and the gallery almost 
 overturned, so that I was exceedingly alarmed, being obliged to hold the upper hoop, where the not terminated, fast 
 with both my hands. I then found myself attacked by two contrary winds ; the balloon turned with great velocity 
 upon its axis, and jumped up about one hundred feet ; then began to descend with such rapidity that I could see 
 the clouds below approached me very fast, and some passing very rapidly. \\ hen the gallery began to keep itself 
 steady again, I endeavoured to put out both my anchors ; the smallest fastened to a very long rope, and the biggest 
 to a shorter one : I threw down two bottles I had full of water, and all the ballast at once, which did indeed check 
 the rapidity of my descent, but could not give the balloon levity enough to rise again ; the small anchor got hold 
 of the earth, as well as the large one ; I then suspended myself to the upper part of the gallery, letting the bottom 
 of it receive the blow from the earth, which broke it in two parts.^nd I got a very violent shock, but happily am not 
 hurt. It was just two o'clock when I descended. In the place where I alighted there was but very little wind, 
 and the balloon stood perpendicular. Both the anchors having got hold of the ground, I could have come out of the 
 car and done everything myself without any assistance ; but I was immediately surrounded by a great many, who 
 were all very ready to offer me their services,- and did as much as was in their power to assist me, and take care even 
 of the smallest thing. 
 
 The Rev. Mr. Lapslcy, the minister of the parish in which I descended, was the first gentleman who reached 
 me, and he very politely sent his servant to take care of the balloon, &c., and expressed his joy in having acci- 
 dentally met with such an extraordinary piece of good fortune in meeting me. AN hile I was going towards his 
 house, accompanied by the whole multitude of people collected on that spot, we saw at a distance a gentleman 
 advancing very fast : this was Sir Alexander Stirling ; who invited me and the minister to his house, where we 
 were well entertained. But it is beyond the power of my pen to paint to you the happiness of this old gentleman in 
 having me at his house, in such an extraordinary way, and his expressions on the occasion. 
 
 Mr. Lapsley agreeably amused me while at dinner with a conversation upon aerostatic experiments. He 
 seems to be a very intelligent gentleman, and has written a letter to a friend of his in Glasgow, a copy of which I 
 enclose for your inspection, and which will enable you to form some judgment of his sensibility. 
 
 At seven o'clock in the evening, a chaise being read}', I took leave of Sir Alexander, and was accompanied by 
 Mr. Lapsley to Glasgow. I went immediately to the play, where I was received with great applause. 
 
A.,,.] MANSE OF CAMPHI 103 
 
 This a iv I was entertained .it tho Saracen's Head with a very splendid dinner by Provost French, Mr. Ingram, 
 and several ,.f the bent citi/.cns, whore I was presented with tin- diploma, and made Knight of the Cape. Indeed, I 
 am \vrv much oareaaed through all Scotland : then-fore, if I be attached to this nation, you cannot think it any 
 wonder. 
 
 1 !. ,-k..n it a vi TV fortunate circumstance that in this descent, aa well as a former one, I should meet with a 
 minister, young, f.nsiblo, and accomplished ; such is Mr. Lapsley. I shall transcribe a letter from him to one of his 
 frit-mis: his attention to the various occurrences being more exact than what I could possibly pay, it has enabled 
 him to observe, recollect, and mark down the most minuti- circumstances. 
 
 COPY OF A LETTER FROM THE REV. JAMES LAPSLEY TO A FKII.M. IN ULASQOW. 
 
 .. I )KAI . sn:. " Muue of Campeie, Deo. . 
 
 Although you ami my friends in Glasgow have had the advantage in seeing Mr. Lunardi ascend twice into 
 tin- atmosphere. I will nut sutler \<m now to boast too much of your good fortune, for ho has done me the honour of 
 laying ine a visit in my own parish. I saw him descend from his car, and was pleased with the remarks of the 
 villagers upon his descent The people of Campsie were too bold to bo afraid of him : and they are above disguising 
 what their f. . lin-_'s load them to express. 
 
 Yesterday afternoon, whilst I was walking through my parish, visiting the sick, and rather inclined to be 
 (tensive frum retl.-cting upon the scenes of distress to which I had been witness, my attention was suddenly arrested 
 by a confused humming noise, which seemed all at once to spring out of the earth towards the south ; but as my 
 view frum that quarter was intercepted by a clump of trees, I walked on, and for two minutes I had it not in my 
 power to inc[iiiro from what cause it proceeded. 
 
 An old woman at that moment joined me, hearing the noise at the same time, took some pains to convince 
 me that it was the buzz of those spirits and elves who before Christmas Eve hold their meetings in sequestered tl.i I. -. 
 lamenting their lust jmwer. 
 
 \ u will easily l-lii-vo that such a wayward fancy was not then agreeable to my present humour. I left 
 her aiul hastened to a rising ground, when I now heard distinctly several people shouting aloud, ' Yonder he comes ! ' 
 Turning round I In-held the balloon sailing majestically almost over my head. Mr. Lunardi was then standing in 
 bin ear ami waving his banner. 1 1 is distance from the earth seemed to be about 400 yards. The people were coming 
 from all quarters: their acclamations were every moment waxing louder and louder, and the farmers, in imitation 
 "f Mr. < hishulm, were shouting vehemently, 'Lunardi, come down!' And I, along with the rest, invited him i 
 descend. 
 
 " I am rather inclined, however, to think that he did not hear me, owing to the whistling of the wind, it l-ing 
 very violent during the whole of his excursion. However, as ho had resolved not to go far, wo were indulged in i <u r 
 request; for, exactly at two o'clock, he descended at Easter Mockroft, on the banks of the Glassart on the ist.it. 
 uf Sir Archibald Edmonstone, of Dunreath, in the parish of Campsie, nine English miles and a half N.N.I-:. ..f 
 Glasgow. 
 
 \Mn-ii I saw the balloon first, which was about two minutes and a half before two o'clock, it appeared to be 
 very much agitated, turning round its axis, while it was floating through clouds of air, and the day being hazy, it 
 
 1. .1 very much in appearance the full moon, seen through a darkened glass labouring in an eclipse. Some- 
 it appear..! of an ash, sometimes of a copper colour ; sometimes even darker, owing to the different shades 
 
 d from the Campsie Fells. About half a minute, however, before he alighted, the sun came out behind a 
 <-li iud and shone directly upon the balloon : every colour became distinctly seen, the various stripes of the flag became 
 vivid, his regimentals and the d.vorations of the car affording a varied and most beautiful spectacle, according to 
 tin- (.lay of tin different rays of the sun, and as my view on the north was bounded by the Campsie Fells, whose 
 tops were then covered with blue mist, the balloon appeared, as it were, to come out of the mist and descend in a 
 sunbeam. 
 
 "As the balloon was perfectly une\|iectcd by me, and as at the very first it appeared in all its grandeur. I 
 coiif. s>. wiihuut h. sitati.. u. tint the ].l. -asiire I had in teeing it sailing il,]-.,!ig!i lii. . 1. .11. 1-. and deKHndmg hi OO1 
 sequestered vale, was a pleasure mixed with some degree of pain. I lalxmrcd, as it were, under the grandeur of the 
 
 -. and strove to compare it to something I had seen : but I failed. However, a young gentleman happ. -ning to 
 
104 ASTEA CASTRA. A.D. 1785. 
 
 come up to me at that moment, whose imagination was not so overpowered, asked me if I thought it did not resemble 
 the description given by Milton : 
 
 Nigh at hand 
 
 Hung high with diamonds flaming, and with gold : 
 
 Thither came Uriel, gliding through th'even 
 
 On a sunbeam, swift, as a shooting star 
 
 In autumn thwarts the night. 
 
 I told the gentleman that this description was but a conceit in Milton ; not ill-pleased, however, to find that we had 
 got some likeness, though fanciful, to compare it to. 
 
 " As he had descended to within half a mile of where I stood, I immediately hastened to welcome Mr. Lunardi, 
 and to give him all the assistance in my power. The whole country seemed to be alive, running to him with the 
 same kind intention ; and I perceived with pleasure that curiosity was a principle not confined alone to the breasts 
 of the higher born and better educated class of men ; for, in passing a little cottage, I heard a weaver expressing the 
 most vehement desire to see this great sight, and crying to his wife to ' take care of the bairns.' I believe, however, 
 that she at this time forgot that ever she had promised him obedience, and set out, repeating his commands to the 
 servant, who in her turn exclaimed with rage that ' she wondered what people imagined servants were made of. 
 Let those who got bairns take care of them ; for, by her faith, she would both see and touch Lunardi with the best of 
 them ; ' and threw the child from her. Perhaps upon another occasion we might have taken time to tell her that 
 she expressed herself too strongly ; but yesterday everything was her friend. 
 
 " During my going from the rising ground where I first saw it to the vale where it alighted, I sometimes lost 
 sight of the car, by the gentle swells which intervened, but never lost sight of the balloon ; and as it was suspended 
 some yards from the ground, betwixt the darkness of the day and the blue mist of the mountains, under whose shade 
 it was, it had the appearance of an object arising out of the sea, resembling the sun when he makes his first appear- 
 ance in a spring morning out of a thick fog. Before I arrived it assumed a new shape that of a pear, or inverted 
 cone. Mr. Lunardi then standing in his car, about four feet from the ground, some people assisting him to get out 
 and others holding the rope in order to prevent him from being dragged along by the strength of the' balloon, which 
 was hovering above him. 
 
 " It was about six minutes after two when I got up. More than forty people were before me. A multi- 
 tude now assembled from every quarter. The shepherd forsook his flock, the farmer left his plough, and the traveller 
 his journey, so that in less than a quarter of an hour there were many hundreds gazing with astonishment at the 
 daring adventurer. Everybody was pleased, and everybody wished to lend their aid. Mr. Lunardi hardly had 
 occasion to ask for assistance, nor I to encourage them to give it. At half an hour after two the balloon was emptied, 
 and the netting, basket, and other apparatus packed up and all ready to march off the field. 
 
 " Persons from different parishes now wished each to have the honour of his going to their particular village ; 
 however, as I had asked him to do me the favour of taking some refreshment at the Manse of Campsie, my 
 parishioners were not then to be gainsaid ; and in a sort of triumph we began our journey, when Sir Alexander 
 Stirling, of Glorat, one of my principal heritors, came running up, welcoming Mr. Lunardi and insisting on his 
 going to Glorat, which invitation we accepted of as being nearer than the Manse, and we set out for that gentle- 
 man's house in the following order: 
 
 " A little pretty boy carrying the banner ; next came Mr. Lunardi dressed in his regimentals, attended by the 
 Baronet and myself. We were followed by a stout fellow carrying the anchor, then by four youths supporting the 
 car, and then by six stout men bearing the balloon, escorted by a vast number of people of all denominations. We 
 had not, indeed, the ringing of bells, but we were cheered by the hearty acclamations and repeated huzzas of many 
 hundreds of the villagers expressing their joy at the unexpected visit. 
 
 " In going to the Baronet's we had to cross over the bridge of Glassart, where about thirty young blooming 
 lasses had ranged themselves on each side to have a sight of this comely adventurer. All of them appeared well 
 pleased. There was one, however, not the least lovely of the number, whose sensibility led her to express herself 
 more strongly than the rest : ' How pretty he is ! I wish I had been with him.' Mr. Lunardi was too attentive to 
 let slip an opportunity to say a civil thing to our fair countrywoman ; he patted her cheek, whispering, ' My angel, 
 and so do I.' Whatever things this young woman may be disposed to forget, I will engage for it she will never 
 forget the looks she received from her companions at that instant, nor the sensations she felt when her cheek was 
 pressed by the hand of this bold Italian. 
 

 - 
 
 I8G4 
 
 Inl . \irH. 
 
 
-n .-" 
 
 jr c 
 
\.i>. 17-v.. D1NNA VK THINK THK WOULD WILL SOON BE AT AN END?" 105 
 
 \\'e ha<l iiuw arrivi-il within a few hundred yards of tho house of Glorat: we stopped at a little hamlet, 
 pointing out sonic prospects to our new visitor, when I perceived an old woman, whoso frailties would not permit 
 IP i t" run with tli.- niMltitii.il>, eagerly looking at him. She first examined his flag, then she touched his clothes 
 and his body, and having heard him speak, rubbing her eyes, she said, ' I am sure there is nae G luminary hero ; but 
 nh ! Sirs, it's a fair jiity he should bo a Papist* She was immediately checked by an old grey-headed man, who in 
 the pride of bin heart exclaimed, ' Be he 1'upint, or bo he Pagan, fair fa' him, tho' a' tho kirk were here, and Lord 
 George at their head, I would drink his health; and here's to him.' Then addressing himself to me, ' Oh! Sir, I 
 am an auld man, I am auldcr than the Union ; I have seen mony things, but the like of this I never saw. I have 
 seen Marr's year, and the Highlandmen's raid ; and about twelve yean syne I gaed o'er by yonder (pointing to the 
 canal) to see ships sailing thro' dry land ; but the like of this I never saw. Dinna ye think the world will soon be 
 at an 
 
 We arrived at Glorat at three o'clock, where we dined, and having drank a few glasses of wine and coffee, a 
 post-chaise was got ; and, as I was obliged to come to Glasgow that night upon business, I begged to accompany him. 
 \\ . set din from Glorat at half an hour after six, and arrived in Glasgow a little before eight. Mr. Lunardi alighted 
 at the Tontine amidst the huzzas of a Vast concourse of people, who had assembled anxious to express their joy at 
 his arrival. 
 
 " Having promised his friends before he set out in his aerial excursion that ho would certainly, if possible, bo 
 at the play that night, he immediately, therefore, got dressed, went to the house about nine, and was again received 
 I > v tho acclamations of the young, the gay, and the fair. 
 
 - I'.S. As I was obliged to leave the town without seeing you, I took the liberty of writing to you my 
 observations on his descent, and the varied sentiments of curiosity and surprise which the spectators expressed. 
 IVrhaps it may contribute to your amusement in an idle hour." 
 
 To-morrow morning, about four o'clock, I shall set out for Edinburgh, where I know they are all in expecta- 
 tion of seeing a second excursion ; and, if possible, I mean to ascend from Heriot's Garden on Monday, the 
 19th instant 
 
 Adieu! my honoured friend. Give my best love to my dear sisters, and believe me to be, with the most 
 
 sincere affection, , . 
 
 Truly yours, 
 
 V. LUXARDI. 
 LETTER VIL 
 
 Mr DEAREST FRIK.M., Edinburgh, December 11, 1785. 
 
 At eleven o'clock this forenoon I reached Edinburgh, where, with other letters, 1 found two of yours, one 
 dated the 2nd and the other the 7th November. I am truly sensible of the many obligations you have heaped upon 
 our family : we all look upon you as a second father, and give me leave to pay my most grateful thanks for the 
 kind part you have taken in my sister Margaret's behalf. I know she would look upon your advice as that of an 
 indulgent parent ; but let me earnestly entreat that you will not in any degree bias her inclinations. In an affair 
 of such moment she cannot be too cautious ; and I fear her prospects of happiness would be sadly clouded should 
 she marry a gentleman whose advanced years must render him an unfit companion for a girl of three-and-twenty. 
 Their tempers, their dispositions, must be widely different 1 Age can ill accord with the lively sallies of youth, or 
 youth accommodate itself to the gravity of age. I am proud to acknowledge the honour this match might reflect on 
 our family ; but, as Margaret declares she will act according to my advice, I beg you will tell her that, as a brother 
 and a friend, I think that wealth, titles, and grandeur would be poor, very poor compensations, for the sacrifice of 
 her affections. 
 
 In yur M-tt.nd li-tt.-r I found enclosed one of introduction to your old respectable friend; but I am extremely 
 sorry to acquaint y..n that his death was announced in an Edinburgh paper of the 16th November. 
 
 I propose to ascend on Monday, the 19th instant, with two balloons, the common one and another of ten feet 
 diami-t. r, whii-h is already mad. -, under my direction, by the girls of the Merchant's Hospital.. It is to be 560 feet 
 higher than that by which I am supported, in order to ascertain the different currents of air. 
 
 The same girls are also constructing another balloon, which, though without any valve, is so <xmtriv<-d a imt 
 to burst when the ran t'.i.-tinn <,f the air takes place, even though it should asci-nd with 100 Ibs. of rising power. It 
 
 P 
 
106 ASTEA CASTBA. A.D. 1785. 
 
 is composed of 100 yards of fine Persian silk, in stripes of pink, green, straw-colour, and white, and is designed as a 
 model of a large one wkicli I mean to construct for a long journey. 
 
 Till I return from my next flight, once more adieu, and believe me to be 
 
 Sincerely yours, 
 
 V. LUNAKDI. 
 LETTER VIII. 
 
 MY REVERED GUARDIAN, Edinburgh, December 24, 1785. 
 
 My last letter acquainted you that I proposed ascending with two balloons an experiment which, however 
 interesting, I had not the good fortune to try. 
 
 The morning was tolerably favourable, but as tlie day advanced it became thick and foggy, attended with 
 small rain. Sensible that under these circumstances I could not be visible for more than two or three minutes, and 
 that it must be very inconvenient for the ladies to remain in an unsheltered place like that from which I was to 
 ascend, after some deliberation, I resolved to delay the experiment to some more favourable day. At this time I 
 obtained a promise from his Excellency General Mackay that a gun should be fired from the Castle at ten o'clock in 
 the morning of that day, as a certain signal to the public ; on which I ordered handbills to be distributed signifying 
 my intentions. 
 
 In the afternoon I attempted to fill the small balloon with a new apparatus of my own invention, which suc- 
 ceeded beyond expectation. All this time my large machine was kept inflated with atmospheric air at the Register 
 Office, where a vast concourse of people assembled, and some gentlemen, friends to my undertaking, stayed to learn 
 the opinions of the people in general respecting my conduct. I am happy to inform you that all the ladies approved 
 it, and only a very few gentlemen expressed their dissatisfaction ; yet even this mark of disapprobation, trifling as 
 it was, when reported to me wrung my very heart, and I determined, if the weather proved tolerable, nothing should 
 prevent my utmost efforts being exerted to ascend the day following. 
 
 On Tuesday, about seven o'clock, I arose, and perceiving it to be a fine morning, without noticing the direction 
 of the wind, I ordered my servants to carry everything necessary for my experiment to Heriot's Garden, and wrote 
 a note to the Governor of the Castle, begging to be favoured with the attendance of the military and the firing of 
 a gun, as had been promised. Lord Elphinstone seemed greatly surprised at receiving such a card, as the wind was 
 too much from the west, and therefore very obligingly sent me word that he was ready to do everything in his 
 power for my service, but thought the undertaking too dangerous. My resolution, however,' was unalterable, and 
 'his Lordship at last did me the honour to acquiesce in my wishes; on which I went to the Garden and prepared for 
 my ascension. 
 
 A little after eleven o'clock I began to fill the balloon with half the apparatus, and in ten minutes it could 
 support itself ; but at this time there was not much company assembled. They said the gun was scarcely heard, 
 and, as the wind still continued westerly, people of sense could not imagine that I meant to venture. I now sent 
 to General Mackay, requesting the favour that another gun might be fired : this his Excellency readily granted ; 
 after which, the flag being hoisted on Heriot's Hospital, I set the remainder of the apparatus to work, and the 
 number of spectators increased very fast. 
 
 During the process I secured several bladders and pieces of cork round the car. The general question being, 
 " Whether I really intended to go up ? " I made answer that it was impossible to prevent my dropping into the 
 sea, but I was confident some boat would arrive in time to my assistance. 
 
 Dressed in the uniform of the Scots Royal Archers, five minutes before one o'clock I rose majestically, though 
 not with so great a degree of velocity as the former time. The wind was south-west. After saluting the spectators, 
 I fastened some of the strings which had been left loose, and began to untwist the rope of the little anchor. In 
 three minutes from the time of leaving the ground I perceived myself perpendicularly over the Forth. 
 
 Exactly at one o'clock the balloon turned thrice round upon its axis, and was completely full ; the barometer 
 at 21 in., the thermometer at 38, wind south-west by west, and I was moving very slowly, with the most delightful 
 scenery beneath me. 
 
 Half after one the balloon continued much in the same state, and the barometer had only fallen two-tenths. 
 I was going horizontally to the north-east, and saw a boat rowing towards Musselburgh. I threw down a piece of 
 cake about half a pound weight, but do not know whether it fell into the boat. 
 
 Fifty minutes after one the wind was due west, and I therefore resolved to attempt landing 011 the point of 
 
A.M. 1785. HELP FROM THE BASS HOCK. 107 
 
 Archer Ficl.l. For this purpose 1 let go my small anchor about six hundred feet below my car, and began t<> 
 descend: but. fimlinir tli.it 1 rain.' cl..wu with ton niin-li rapidity, and hud no ballast nor the large anchor, I shut 
 ; 1\v and threw down a bottle full of water, when aKmt . om tin- ground; by which moans I pawed 
 
 i.vi-r the i>oint of land and came again upon the water. At this elevation tin- thermometer fell to 31. I fastened 
 my uniform great-coat, my hat, and some other things to tin- upper luxip, that they might not be injured by my 
 tailing into the sea. 
 
 At the minutes after two I touched the surface of the water, not fartlu-r than a mill- and a half from the rocks 
 of Fidru and I^anib; but as the wind was pretty strong, and the balloon acted like a large sail upon my basket, I 
 m.ide way very fust, the water dashing against me and sparkling like silver. I turned round, and could see no 
 boat whatever; nut. when about two miles and a half from the south shore, could distinguish three ships, under 
 .vail, mar Aiistruthcr or Kilivnny, and therefore was under no a ppi > h. unions, as my course was towards them and 
 the i.slaml of May. 
 
 The balloon was much agitatl by the wind and sometimes turned round, so that I was frequently tossed into 
 the water as high as my breast When about five miles from North Berwick I perceived a black spot, apj>earing 
 and disappearing according to the rising and falling of the waves, directing ita course from the Baas. On paying 
 more attention, I saw plainly that it was a boat; but, as I was going with great rapidity, I quickly passed their 
 parallel, and then, as they had gained the wind, and made use of their sails as well as oars, 1 assured myself they 
 would quickly reach me, and began to wave the flag as a signal that I had seen them. 
 
 'Hi. n<-.irer 1 approached the ocean the wind grew brisker, and I began to be in doubt whether to cut away 
 the Kill^.n or not : but. after mature deliberation, I resolved to keep it; for, as darkness now began to draw ni^li, 
 I should have been too small an object without it to be viewed at any distance, being at this time breast-high in 
 the water. 
 
 As soon as the boat came up I threw out a strong rope, desiring the fishermen to make it fast ; but the 
 moment I got on board they let it go, and the balloon was instantaneously out of sight! And now my situation 
 was not the most comfortable : heavy with remaining so long in the water, my hands lacerated with clinging to the 
 hoop, and every limb wearied, I sat down, as well as I was able, in a boat full of fish, while the sharpness of the air 
 .-.,], nil'iited not a little to heighten my distress. 
 
 A King's boat soon came up, and the gentlemen very politely invited me on board ; but I was obliged to 
 ! line this polite offer, that I might show my gratitude to the people who had taken me up. 1 landed on Archer 
 Field aKiut five o'clock, where I found Mr. Xisbet's servant waiting to conduct me to his master's house. I ran 
 thither as fast as possible, in order to make my blood circulate more freely, for the cold had been so intense as t<i 
 freeze my clothes. 
 
 Mr. Nisbet was gone to North Berwick, and his cliarming lady had prepared for my arrival as if she had been 
 sensible that I should land near their house. 
 
 When Mr. Nisliet returned, he could not refrain from personally assisting me to change my dress, when, being 
 unite refreshed, I went down to dinner and paid my compliments to the elegant Mrs. Nisbet. The British women 
 wli" fill tin higher ranks of life may, I think, bo pronounced the handsomest in Europe ; but the case is 
 different with the lower class. This contrast is very striking in Scotland, where the country girls and those in 
 la Matioiis continually go barefooted, which practice is also common in our own country; yet the Italian 
 peasantry, with equal strength, enjoy a far superior freshness of complexion. The reason of this I take to bo 
 that the S-oteh women are often obliged to walk in the wet, their streets and lanes being seldom free from that 
 inoonvenieiiee. while ours tread a drier earth, and for any occasional damp have wooden shoes. 
 
 <1 with my hospitable landlord most part of the evening: he is a most ingenious gentleman and has 
 resided Kevt-ml years in Italy. ( )nr acquaintance first commenced at Kelso; where, while others were dancing, 
 \vu had a long conversation relative to Koine. Naples. &c. Though at that timel entertained the highest opinion of 
 his understanding, yet, as I had not then the pleasure of knowing his name, it was some hours before 1 could 
 recollect where or when 1 had enjoyed his company, though both his person and manner were so strongly impressed 
 on my memory as to appear jK-rft-etly familiar. 
 
 I arose at nine the next morning and went to breakfast : after which Mr. Nisbet obliged me with a sight of 
 his garden, which may rival the im.st elegant in Italy. Though now the depth of winter, the well Mnn-d hothouses 
 with all the beauties of contrasted seasons and of various climes; but in the summer, when spring has 
 
 I- '_' 
 
108 
 
 ASTEA CASTKA. 
 
 A.D. 1785. 
 
 poured out his vast profusion, and the simple charms of Nature aid and are aided by the elegancies of art, what a 
 terrestrial paradise must this be ! I shall be strongly tempted to pay it a visit, and, with the friendly, hospitable 
 owner, stroll through, these regions of pleasure. 
 
 These haunts where the Muses delighted might rove, 
 And Nature, all lovely, would teach us to love; 
 Where blasts from the North might forget to be rude; 
 And care on our joys should not dare to intrude. 
 
 At twelve o'clock Sir David Kinloch, with his son and daughter, accompanied by Major Mackay, came and 
 invited me to his house, where I spent a very happy afternoon, and in the morning set off with Major Mackay for 
 Edinburgh, where I found the generous inhabitants had opened a subscription to enable me to make another 
 balloon ; but, as I am confident mine will be found, I propose, with the most grateful thanks, to decline this 
 obligation ; those already conferred upon me are sufficient to lay a weight upon the feeling heart. 
 
 Before my arrival in Scotland several attempts had been made to launch a large fire-balloon, but all without 
 success. The poor man who should have gone up, how I commiserate his situation ! Judge of his sensibility and 
 misfortunes by the enclosed papers. Do not wrong me so much as to suppose that I have been contented with 
 sitting down idly to drop the unavailing tear over them. I have seen the man; I have offered the voice of 
 consolation to alleviate his distresses, and dictates of humanity have been obeyed as far as lay in my power. Alas, 
 how circumscribed that power ! It is only upon occasions like these that I lament its narrow bounds. Adieu ! 
 approve and join the prayer that the unfortunate may ever find a sympathising friend in 
 
 Your cordially affectionate 
 
 VINCENT LUNARDI. 
 
 TO ME. LUNARDI, ON HIS SUCCESSFUL AEEIAL VOYAGES FEOM EDINBURGH, KELSO, 
 
 AND GLASGOW. BY J. TYTLER. 
 
 ETHEREAL trav'ller, welcome from the skies ! 
 Welcome to earth, to feast our longing eyes ! 
 Ouce more we, trembling, for thine absence mourn'd ; 
 Once more we bless thee from high Heav'n return'd. 
 Bodotria greets thee from his utmost bounds, 
 From Glotta's banks incessant praise resounds ; 
 The winding Avon views thee in the sky, 
 T enhance thy fame the tinkling murmurs fly. 
 Applauses loud the lofty forests fill ; 
 Admiring echoes ring from hill to hill. 
 With gen'rous warmth each honest bosom glows, 
 Each honest heart, exulting, praise bestows. 
 Fair Tweed beholds thee gliding o'er his plains ; 
 Thy name resounds from all his tuneful swains ; 
 Thy rising honours Fame's loud trumpet spreads 
 Where Grampian mountains rear their lofty heads ; 
 Beyond the space of old distain'd with gore, 
 Where dreadful Rome her arms unconquer'd bore ; 
 Where, mourning, o'er th' ensanguin'd slippery field, 
 Sad Scotia wept her bravest heroes kill'd. 
 Ev'n frozen Thule shall thy fame proclaim, 
 From all her barren rocks resound thy name ! 
 
 But say, what Pow'r, fav'rite of the sky, 
 (Though on ethereal pinions taught to fly,) 
 To thy bold breast such dauntless courage gave, 
 When far below appear'd the wat'ry grave ; 
 When tow'ring through vast heaven's tremendous height, 
 The Sea's grim horrors first appall'd thy sight ; 
 When slow descending from the distant skies 
 The boundless Ocean claim'd thee for his prize ? 
 
 Or who could guide thee o'er the vast profound, 
 Where blust'ring winds from dashing waves resound, 
 Untouch'd, unhurt, again to earth restore, 
 And safely lead thee to glad Scotia's shore ? 
 'Twas He whose Pow'r the stormy clouds can bind, 
 Who guides the tempest and directs the wind ; 
 'Twas He who led thee through the trackless air, 
 And, though thou saw'st not, He was surely there. 
 Th' aerial stream sent by His high command 
 Restor'd thee safely to the joyful land. 
 Superior praise to thee His pow'r consigu'd, 
 On thee bestow'd thy matchless strength of mind ; 
 To distant ages gave thy deathless fame ; 
 To future bards He gave Lunardi's name. 
 
 But how shall I to sing thy praise aspire ? 
 What Muse shall fill me with poetic fire ? 
 Shall I address the fabled pow'rs above, 
 And boast that Phoebus will my vows approve ? 
 No, let me to some distant region fly, 
 If such there be, beneath another sky ; 
 Go, court the horrors of wild Zembla's coast, 
 Or, in the dark Cimmerian Regions lost, 
 In abject exile hide my wretched head, 
 Or fly for refuge to the silent dead ! 
 ' On me, alas ! the adverse heav'ns have lour'd, 
 Relentless fortune hath her vengeance pour'd ; 
 Scarce rais'd from earth, and but to sink more low, 
 And more severe to feel the fatal blow, 
 The Whirlwind, or black Eurus stops my way, 
 Or angry Zephyrus commands my stay ; 
 
A.I). 1785. 
 
 TYTI.KK'S .\ 58 TO LUNAKIM. 
 
 Id!) 
 
 Confusion, Discord, all my ways oppose, 
 
 frienilt misguided prove my greatest foe*. 
 Yet though I mourn my favVite wishes crost, 
 n-s, l.y F.Ttune or Misconduct Intt, 
 .n.staitt mind o'er e*ch mischance prevails, 
 My feeble pow'r yet advene fete assails ; 
 Once more I try on wings of wind to rise. 
 Like you to ride in triumph through the skies; 
 1 try in vain ; the bellowing thunder roan, 
 The gathering tempest scowls along the shores ; 
 
 < Notus urge* on his furious course, 
 And sweeps along with stern resistless force. 
 Lost are my wishes, lost is all my care, 
 And all my projects flutter in the air.* 
 ProscribM, despis'd, ah, whither shall I turn ? 
 In silent solitude for ever mourn ? 
 Or shall my hand, urg'd on by black despair, 
 In mi'iist'rons <niilt at once efface my care? 
 With my own blood seal ruin and disgrace, 
 Ainl brave the great Creator to his face? 
 
 Forbid it Ileav'u ! let Fortune rather shed 
 
 i prance on my head ; 
 A wretched object let me rather lie 
 To ev'ry miscreant as he passes by ; 
 In ilull Oblivion let me rather sleep, 
 As vile, unnotic'd, useless insects creep ; 
 
 icb insulting ever wound, 
 m'.i shaft* of malice fly around, 
 In wretched darkness be my poor abode, 
 By men abandon'd, and oppos'd by God I 
 
 I'.ut while in hopeless exile thus I mourn, 
 My mind with desperate gloomy passions torn, 
 I see theo graceful and majestic rise, 
 Mount on the winds, and triumph in the skies; 
 Till envious clouds conceal thee from our view, 
 And eager Vision can no more pursue. 
 At once Ambition points to Fame the way, 
 Dissolving clouds of cold Despair decay ; 
 Celestial Hope again her influence show'n, 
 Again my soul calls forth her latent pow'n. 
 To follow thee my inmost bosom burn*, 
 Tumultuous thought* possess the mind by turns ; 
 Unconquer'd yet, with thee my fancy flies, 
 My soul aspiring yet explores the skies. 
 Impatient now I long the ground to spurn, 
 Like thee to rise, in fiery chariot borne ; 
 To leave the earth, to leave the clouds behind, 
 To mount on pinions of the rapi.l \vin<l ; 
 Beyond the reach of vulgar ken to soar, 
 Beyond the space where blust'ring tempests roar, 
 To see bright Phoebus pour unsullied day, 
 While through wide heav'n he darts his cloudless ray ; 
 To see the splendours of the Moon arise, 
 And all the glories of the spangled skies. 
 Not as through Vapour's medium dull we view, 
 The clouded concave of Ethereal blue ; 
 Hut as from .Etna, or the Alpine Hills, 
 Th' exalted mind the glorious prospect fills ; 
 Where Galaxy in purest flame appears, 
 And wond'rous glories clothe the shining stars ; 
 
 To understand these lines relating to my own misfortunes, it is 
 necessary to give a short history of the Edinburgh Fire-Balloon. 
 The machini , from its size, was certainly capable of performing 
 everything expected from it, provided a sheltered place for raising 
 it e,,uU have been obtained, and a proper degree of heat iippl <1. 
 The former, however, could not be had. The place where it was 
 drat raised was exposed to the west wind, which blew so strongly 
 during the first week of August (the week of the Leith Races) tliat 
 it i-.. n I.I not be inflated until the Friday evening, when the gallery 
 took fire, and some of the chains suspending the stove broke, which 
 prevented any further attempt at that time. An interval of calm 
 intervened on the Saturday evening, which was made use of to 
 inflate the balloon. The gallery was in little better condition than 
 the preceding evening; nevertheless I was about to step into it, 
 when a sadden gust of whirlwind, common in this country in un- 
 settled showery weather, expelled the rarefied air out of the balloon, 
 and otherwise so much damaged it, that no further utt< mpU could 
 be made that night. By continual pulling and tearing about, at- 
 tempting to innate it when it was evidently impossible, and other 
 injudicious proceedings (for which I do not think myself accountable, 
 because I was not at liberty), the paper with which the balloon was 
 lined hiid l>eeii HO much damaged, that I now thought proper to 
 take it out altogether. and cover the eloth with home kind of varnish, 
 In. h iiii^ht ! less apt to receive damage: from rough usage. This 
 was done : l.ut as u pro)" r e. Mipo.-ition could in 4 be afforded, the 
 balloon, thoutrh capalil,- of making one or two experiments, was yet 
 f:ir from In-ini: al.le to endure the fatigue it had to undergo. Th. ! 
 win now no gallery, and the stove with which it was to be heated, 
 U hit; \cry little short of three hundred pounds w. ii.'ht, was inea- 
 lbli- of being taken up; or, at any rate, without a irallery no stove 
 could be Uiken. I now came to the resolution of suffering myself to 
 be |Ti>j.--i..l into the air by inflating the balloon to the utmost, and 
 _ appended to it without any furnace, like a log or piece of bal- 
 last You will easily see that this was the n-nolution of a madman, 
 and which n.'lhins l.ut my desperate situation .-..u.d . v use. A fire- 
 balloou in this situation is a men- projectile, und nm-t undoubtedly 
 
 come to the ground with the same velocity that it ascends from it, 
 unless the person has a considerable quantity of ballast to bniik hi- 
 fall u he descends by throwing it out. Of this it were easy to give 
 a demonstration, if necessary; but it is not worth while, as you will 
 at first perceive it to be true. Having, therefore, obtained one tin. 
 and favourable morning, the balloon, new varnished, and very tight, 
 was exposed to a very strong heat for near an hour. It was inflate I 
 to such a degree, that I am persuaded its power of ascension nuiM 
 have been upwards of half a tun, as a number of |>eople could with 
 great difficulty keep it near the ground. With this monstrous power 
 I suffered myself to be projected upwards, seated in one of the small 
 buxkcN in which earthenware is carried, without ballast, or inde.-d 
 without thinking of any. The balloon set off from the ground with 
 the swiftness of an arrow, but could not ascend more tlian a few feet, 
 when it was stopped by a rope belonging to the mast which held it 
 up during the time of inflation. This broke its force very con- 
 siderably ; and even when freed from this, it flew with such rapidity 
 that several of the spectators, terrified at the unusual sight, endea- 
 voured to drag it downwards till the rope was forced from their 
 liands. Thus my career was stopped, and I arose only a very small 
 way, some say three hundred and fifty feet, others five hundred. For 
 my own part, I had scarce time to taste the pleasures of an aerial 
 journey ; and during the little time I was in the air, I amused myself 
 with looking at the spectators running about in confusion below. 
 My reception from the ground was much more rude tluin I expected, 
 and though insufficient to hurt, was enough to warn me to pruv. d 
 no more in this way. However, by particular desire, I did t..U 
 another leap of the same kind a few days after, but with much i 
 million ; for I would not now suffer the balloon to be HO much inrluti-d. 
 and desired my assistants to break iu power as I ascend, d. 1h.it I 
 might only paas over the adjacent trees and house* 
 power of the balloon was very great, so that it overturned five or -iv 
 people who attempted to stop it; and, ind.-<-d. from ti.. - t A,. . \j,. ii- 
 ments, I am indii,i*l t.. 1.. li. ve. tlmt the |iwer of large flrr-bnll 
 i* much iy, at. r than is commonly sup|N*ol. and tlmt tl 
 theories concerning them are erroneous. 
 
110 
 
 ASTRA CASTEA. 
 
 A.n. 1785. 
 
 The moons of Jove, without a tube to view, 
 
 And endless beauties of the heav'ns pursue ; 
 
 See Northern Lights in flashing glory rise, 
 
 And paint their colours of a thousand dyes ; 
 
 To view bright meteors like the Sun appear, 
 
 And stream their glories through the empyreal air; 
 
 To try the strong electric Ether's pow'r, 
 
 T" explore the sources of the gladd'ning show'r ; 
 
 Through treasures of the direful hail to fly, 
 
 And view the dread artillery of the sky; 
 
 Laugh at the labours of the sons of care, 
 
 And see them move like atoms as they are. 
 
 Transporting thought ! I'll yet with Fate contend, 
 Nor shall my hope to dire misfortune bend ; 
 
 Let lying Slander trumpet through the crowd, 
 Accursed Hate proclaim each fault aloud, 
 Detraction, Malice, and blue Envy burn, 
 And each misfortune to misconduct turn ; 
 My mind unmov'd fair Science shall pursue ; 
 My hopes, my wishes, ever follow you ; 
 Each error past, Experience shall correct, 
 And careful Prudence every step direct ; 
 Till rais'd from earth, I to the skies aspire, 
 Conducted safely by devouring fire ; 
 To future ages then consign my name, 
 And stand thy Brother in Records of Fame. 
 
 On the Continent, during the following years, Blanchard ascended from Brussels, Berlin, 
 Douai, Hamburg, Liege, Valenciennes, Nancy, Strasburg, Nuremberg, Basle, Mulhouse, Metz, 
 and Warsaw. It is worth notice that Alpine and other mountain ascents were unattempted 
 till aerostation had given a stimulus to the exploration of the higher regions of our 
 atmosphere; and it was not till the 7th August, 1786, that MM. Jacques Balmat and 
 Paccard, were the first to reach the summit of Mont Blanc. Their steps were followed the 
 next year by Professor de Saussure and Colonel Beaufoy. The French revolution now caused 
 further experiments to cease ; and, before it had subsided, aerostation, far from furthering the 
 peaceable and intimate association of nations, that at its invention was anticipated, was now 
 employed as an accessory of warfare, and a military aerostatic corps was formed in 1793, 
 which proved of use, as will be hereafter told, at the battle of Fleurus. 
 
 Napoleon also used balloons for impressing on the Arabs the superiority of European arts 
 over those of African. 
 
 As far back as 1785 Blanchard had made a parachute, to which a dog had been attached, 
 and taken upward by a whirlwind : when again on a level with the car he recognised 
 his master, and commenced barking ; but, being raised a second time, he did not reach 
 the ground in safety till some minutes after his master. Yet Garnerin seems to be 
 " 1'inventeur brevete' du parachute," as appears from the following Republican permissive : 
 
 DEPARTEMENT DE LA SEINE. 
 L' Administration central du Department, au Citoyen Garnerin, Rue Dominique, pres celle du Bac. 
 
 ( 'iTOYEN Paris, 2 Vendemiaire, an VIII. de la Ee'publique Franqaise, une et indivisible. 
 
 We have received your letter of the 4th, in which you demand the act of declaration herewith given. Having 
 formed the design of taking an aerial voyage for the discovery of atmospheric currents, and other observations 
 useful to science, you propose to enter within the states of the King of Prussia, should the wind convey you to the 
 north or east ; or into those of the King of Spain, should you be conducted to the south. 
 
 We give you this declaration, and we desire that no obstacle should impede you from obtaining the ends in 
 view. However, should contrary winds convey you into states inimical to France, we should like to believe that 
 you will there receive that succour and protection that General Buonaparte gave in Egypt to an English naturalist 
 who was travelling in that country to make useful discoveries : for the men who cultivate the arts and sciences labour 
 for the good of all nations, and ought therefore to receive special protection. 
 
 We wish you to observe, however, that in thus authorising you to make this experiment we only have in view 
 the progress of science, and therefore you must have no other aim ; the wonderful success that has attended your 
 
A.U. i::i7. I;.M;M:KIN, mi: INVI:NTIJ OF TIM: PARACHUTE. IN 
 
 pnvinii- voyages, ami ymir descent* in parachute*, of w hi. 1 1 y..u gave the first example, xhnuld not mak<- vu 
 i tin' |.i a.!, ii- < ili.it in all oo nog should regulate your .-.,!,. In, -i. 
 ..-VI-, (.-iti/.i-n. that our wishes accompany your ..m.-riiriae. 
 
 "Salutetfrat.-niit,," 
 
 LEOOUTECLZ. A. SAUZAY. SABATIER. 
 
 A few \\eck- later he received the following answer from " le Ministro de 1'Interieur": 
 
 Pkifa, 91 Fructkltir, An VIII. (1801) do la Republique Fnnptte. une et in.livii.iH.. 
 
 offer me. Citizen, to assist with your aerostatic experiments the embellishment of the Fte of 1st 
 Vend^miaire. I accept your offer, but these cxiTiiu> nt should bo limited to the following : 
 1st. Two pilot balloons, to show the direct ii >n >.f tho wind. 
 
 _'n.l. A gilt balloon to reflect the rays of tho sun, and which will appear like a large star. 
 3rd. Your aso-nt mid drwvnt in a jmmcliute. 
 l-'i ,r these three experiments you will receive 1 5,000 franc*. 
 
 I f niv offer suits you, I authorise you to commence at once all that is necessary for the success of the undertaking. 
 
 LUCIEN BUONAPARTE. 
 
 M. liepui.- iK-lcourt says : 
 
 .M. .1. Garnerin had been sent by the Government in 1793 as a Special Commissioner 
 to the Army of the North, and was made prisoner on outpost duty at Marchiennes. He was 
 incarcerated many months in the fortress of Bude, in Hungary, where he directed his 
 thoughts to aerostation. 
 
 " The love of liberty,' said he in the programme of his first descent in a parachute, 
 ' so natural to a prisoner, gave rise to many projects to release myself from the rigorous 
 detention. To surprise the vigilance of the sentries, pierce walls ten feet thick, throw myself 
 from the rampartwithout being injured, were schemes that afforded recreation. 
 
 " ' Blam-hanl's idea of presenting large surfaces to the air to increase its resistance, and 
 the known acceleration of movement in all falling bodies, appeared to me only to require a 
 careful mathematical comparison to be employed with certain success. I applied myself to 
 the problem. After deciding on the size of a parachute for descending from a rampart or a 
 precipice, by natural sequence I devised the size and form of a parachute for a descent of 
 nil thousand feet by an aeronaut.' ' 
 
 Delalande the astronomer gives the following account of the first experiment : 
 
 " At 5 P.M. on the 22nd October, 1797 (1" Brumaire, An VI.), the citizen Garnerin rose 
 from the park of Monceau, a solemn silence pervaded the multitude; excitement and 
 uneasiness was depicted in every countenance. When he had reached an altitude of more 
 than (iOOO feet, he cut the cord that attached him to the aerostat, which ascended till it 
 exploded, whilst the parachute with the citizen Garnerin descended rapidly. The oscillations 
 it uii'lfi-wi-nt drew forth a cry from the spectators, and many women fainted. However, the 
 citixeii Carnerin descended on the plain of Monceau, got on horseback immediately, and 
 returned to the park, in the midst of a crowd who loudly testified their approbation of the 
 talent ami courage of the young aeronaut. In fact, the citi/.en Garnerin is the first who has 
 
112 
 
 ASTRA CASTKA. 
 
 A.D. 1797. 
 
 ventured to try this hazardous experiment. He conceived the project in the fortress of Bude, 
 in Hungary, where he was kept a long time as a state prisoner after the fierce combat of 
 Marchiennes in 1793. I announced this success to the National Institute, and was heard 
 with the utmost attention." 
 
 CAN Y TYLWYTH TEG ; OK, THE FAIKIES' SONG. 
 
 FROM grassy blades, and fenny shades, 
 
 My happy comrades hie ; 
 Now day declines, bright Hesper shines, 
 
 And night invades the sky. 
 From noonday pranks, and thymy banks, 
 
 To Dolyd's dome repair, 
 For ours the joy that cannot cloy, 
 
 And mortals cannot share. 
 
 The light-latched door, the well-swept floor, 
 
 The hearth so trim and neat, 
 The blaze so clear, the water near, 
 
 The pleasant circling seat, 
 With proper care your needs prepare, 
 
 Your tuneful tabors bring ; 
 And day shall haste to tinge the east, 
 
 Ere we shall cease to sing. 
 
 But first I'll creep where mortals sleep, 
 
 And form the blissful dream ; 
 I'll hover near the maiden dear, 
 
 That keeps the hearth so clean ; 
 
 I'll show her when that best of men, 
 
 So rich in manly charms, 
 Her Einiou, in vest of blue, 
 
 Shall bless her longing arms. 
 
 Your little sheaves or primrose leaves, 
 
 Your acorns, berries, spread ; 
 Let kernels sweet increase the treat, 
 
 And flowers their fragrance shed ; 
 And when 'tis o'er, we'll crowd the floor, 
 
 In jocund pairs advance, 
 No voice be mute, and eaeh shrill .flute, 
 
 Shall cheer the mazy dance. 
 
 When morning breaks, and man awakes, 
 
 From sleep's restoring hours, 
 The flocks, the field, his house we yield, 
 
 To his more active powers. 
 While clad in green, unheard, unseen, 
 
 On sunny banks we'll play, 
 And give to man his little span, 
 
 His empire of the day. OLD SONG. 
 
 EOBIN GOODFELLOW. 
 
 MORE swift than lightning can I fly 
 
 About this aery welkin soone, 
 And in a minute's space descry 
 
 Each thing that's done below the moone ; 
 
 There's not a hag 
 
 Or ghost shall wag, 
 Or cry, " Ware goblin ! " where I go ; 
 
 But Robin I 
 
 Their feates shall spye, 
 And send them home with Ho ! ho ! ho 
 
 Whene'er such wanderers I meete, 
 
 As from their night sports they trudge home 
 With counterfeiting voice I greete, 
 And call on them with me to roame 
 
 Through woodes, through lakes, 
 
 Through bogges, through brakes ; 
 Or else unseene with them 1 go, 
 
 All in the nicke, 
 
 To play some tricke, 
 And frolicke it with Ho! ho! ho ! 
 
 Sometimes I meete them like a man ; 
 
 Sometimes an ox, sometimes a hound ; 
 And to a horse I turn me can, 
 
 And trip and trot about them round ; 
 
 But if to ride 
 
 My backe they stride, 
 More swifte than winde away I go, 
 
 O'er hedge and lands, 
 
 Through pools and ponds, 
 I whirry, laughing Ho ! ho ! ho ! 
 
 When lads and lasses merry be, 
 
 With possets and rich juncates fine, 
 Qnseene of all the companie, 
 I eat their cakes and sip their wine. 
 
 And to make sport, 
 
 I puff and snort, 
 And out the candle I do blow ; 
 
 And maids I kiss, 
 
 They shrieke Who's this ? 
 I answer nought but Ho ! ho ! ho ! 
 
CIKCI MI-ISO I'I:M'I:I;\I IN AI:UK." 
 
 1 13 
 
 .v an<l then, tli.- nuM to please, 
 ui.luinht I i-anl up their wool; 
 And while they slcepe and take their ease, 
 With wheel to threads their tlax I pull. 
 
 1 '^riiid .it mill 
 
 Their malt up ittill, 
 I dress their hemp and spin their tow ; 
 
 If any walke, 
 
 And would roe Ulke, 
 I wend me laughing Ho ! ho ! ho ! 
 
 /'.i i. Over hill, over dale, 
 
 Thorough bush, thorough brier, 
 Over |rk, over pale, 
 
 Thorough Bood, thorough fire, 
 I do wander everywhere, 
 Swifter than the rooonei sphere ; 
 And I serve the (airy queen, 
 To dew her orbs upon the green : 
 
 Oft fairy elves, 
 
 Whose uiMni'.'ht revels by a forest side, 
 Or fountain, some belated peasant sees, 
 i >r .Ireams he sees, while o'erhead the moon 
 
 \\ hen iiii-n tlo traps and engine* set 
 
 In loopholes, where the vermines creep-, 
 Who from thrir lields nnd houses get 
 Their ducks and geese, and lamlw and shor] I 
 I spye the gin 
 And enter in, 
 
 And seenio a vermine taken so ; 
 Hut wlicu they thenro 
 Approach me nearc, 
 I leapeout, laughing Uol ho! ho! Rr.s .1 
 
 The cowslips tall her pensioners be; 
 
 In their gold coaU spoU you see; 
 
 Those bo rubies, fairy favours, 
 
 In those freckles live their savours: 
 1 must go seek some dew-drops here, 
 Ami hang :i [H-arl on every cowslip's ear. 
 Farewell, thou lol> of spirit*, I'll lw gone ; 
 Our queen and all our elves come here mum. 
 Midtummer Sight'* I 
 
 Sits arbitress, and nearer to the earth 
 
 Wheels her pale course, they on their mirth and dane.- 
 
 Intent, with jocund music charm his car ; 
 
 At once with joy and fear his heart relwunds. 
 
 AM' "I'll! I 
 
114 
 
 ASTRA CASTRA. 
 
 In days of old, when Arthur fill'd the throne, 
 Whose acts and fame to foreign lands were blown, 
 The king of elves and little fairy queen 
 Gamboll'd on heaths, and danced on every green ; 
 And where the jolly troop had led the round, 
 The grass unbidden rose, and mark'd the ground ; 
 Nor darkling did they dance, the silver light 
 Of Phcebe served to guide their steps aright, 
 And, with their tripping pleased, prolong'd the night. 
 
 Her beams they follow'd where at first she play'd, 
 Not longer than she shed her horns they stay'd : 
 From thence with airy flight to distant parts convey'd. 
 Above the rest our Britain held they dear, 
 More solemnly they kept their sabbaths here, 
 And made more spacious rings, and revell'd half the year. 
 I speak of ancient times, for now the swain, 
 Returning late, may pass the woods in vain, 
 And never hope to see the nightly train. 
 
 DRYDEN. 
 
 They are flown, 
 
 Beautiful fictions of our fathers, wove 
 In Superstition's web when Time was young, 
 And fondly loved and cherish'd they are flown, 
 Before the wand of Science ! Hills and vales, 
 Mountains and moors of Devon, ye have lost 
 The enchantments, the delights, the visions all, . 
 The elfin visions that so bless'd the sight 
 In the old days romantic. Naught is heard 
 Now, in the leafy world, but earthly strains 
 Voices, yet sweet, of breeze, and bird, and brook, 
 And waterfall ; the day is silent else, 
 And night is strangely mute ! the hymnings high 
 And immortal music, men of ancient times 
 Heard, ravish'd oft, are flown ! O ye have lost 
 Mountains, and moors, and meads, the radiant throngs 
 That dwelt in your green solitudes, and fill'd 
 The air, the fields, with beauty, and with joy 
 
 Intense with a rich mystery that awed 
 The mind, and flung around a thousand hearths 
 Divinest tales, that through the enchanted year 
 Found passionate listeners ! 
 
 The very streams 
 
 Brighten'd with visitings of these so sweet 
 Ethereal creatures ! They were seen to rise 
 From the charm 'd waters, which still brighter grew 
 As the pomp pass'd to land, until the eye 
 Scarce bore the unearthly glory. Where they trod, 
 Young flowers, but not of this world's growth, arose, 
 And fragrance, as of amaranthine bowers, 
 Floated upon the breeze. And mortal eyes 
 Look'd on their revels all the luscious night ; 
 And, unrcproved, upon their ravishing forms 
 Gazed wistfully, as in the dance they moved 
 Voluptuous, to the thrilling touch of harp 
 Elysian. CARRINGTON. 
 
 Eye hath not seen it, my gentle boy ; 
 Ear hath not heard its deep song of joy ; 
 Dreams cannot picture a world so fair ; 
 Sorrow and death may not enter there ; 
 Time doth not breathe on its fadeless bloom ; 
 For beyond the clouds, and beyond the tomb ; 
 It is there, it is there, my child. 
 
 MRS. HEMANS. 
 
 The joys of heaven are without example, above experience, and beyond imagination ; for which the whole creation wants 
 comparison ; we, an apprehension, and even the Word of God, a revelation. NORRIS. 
 
 The song 
 
 Of heaven is ever new ; for daily, thus, 
 And nightly, new discoveries are made 
 Of God's unbounded wisdom, power, and love, 
 Which give the understanding larger room, 
 And swell the hymn with ever-growing praise. 
 
 I'OLLOK. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 KKM AIIKAW.E ASCENTS FROM 1800 TO 1823 NAPOLEON'S EXTRAORDINARY OMEN. 
 
 Hoch Ubent ntedern Erdcnlcbcn Above this nether world shall she 
 
 Soil nie ii. Mim-lsielt, In heaven's azure vault appear, 
 
 Die Nachbarin de> Donncr's, schweben The neighbour of the thunder be, 
 
 Und grenrcn an die Btemenwelt. And border on the starry spin -r<: 
 
 SCHILLEB, Song of the /I- II. 
 
 ' COLCHESTER FN FORTY-FIVE MINUTES OARNERIN's DESCENT IN A PARACHUTE COUNT ZAMBECCARI AND DK. 
 GRA88ATI FALL INTO THE ADRIATIC SCIENTIFIC EXPERIMENTS AT ST. PETERSBURG MM. BIOT AND OAT LUS8AC 
 A SECOND A8CENT TO 23,000 FEET KAPOLEON*S OMEX VINCENT LUNARDI DIES IN A CONVENT NEAR LIHIfV 
 
 UR810H8 FIRST ATTEMPT TO CROSS THE IRISH CHANNEL FALLING INTO THE SEA SECOND ATM Ml I 
 SUCCESSFUL. 
 
 I-J. .MMXS. GARNERIN came to England in 1802, and made many successful voyages; our 
 ' for rapidity, on 28th of June, when he ascended with Captain Snowden, E.N., 
 from Chelsea Gardens, and came down near Colchester, in forty-five minutes. 
 
 The excitement this ascent caused is shown by the following statement: "Not only 
 \\tiv Chelsea Gardens crowded, and the river covered with boats, but even the great road 
 fmm Buckingham Gate was absolutely impassable, and the carriages formed an unbroken 
 chain from the turnpike to Ranelagh Gat>-." 
 
 The balloon passed immediately over Duke Street, and kept a line between the river on 
 one side, and the Strand, Fleet Street, Ludgate Hill, and St. Paul's Churchyard on the other. 
 No balloon had ever passed so directly over the metropolis, or had ever been gazed on by so 
 many spectators. Mons. Garnerin wrote to London as follows: "I take the earliest 
 opportunity of informing you that, after a very pleasant journey, but after the most 
 dangerous descent I ever made, on account of the boisterous weather, and the vicinity of the 
 sea, we alighted at the distance of four miles from this place, and sixty from Ranelagh. 
 \\ "- were only three-quarters of an hour on the way. To-night I intend to be in London, 
 v.-ith the balloon, which is torn to pieces. We ourselves are all over bruises." 
 
 On the 5th July, Mons. Garnerin ascended from Marylebone, and descended at 
 Chingford, a distance of seventeen miles, in fifteen minutes, and attained also during this 
 interval a heijrht of 7800 fc< t. 
 
 On the 'Jl.-t S. jitnuber, after having made many ascents in all parts of the country, IM 
 tiii il an experiment with a parachute, and ascended from St. George's Parade, North Audley 
 Street. 
 
 I will give extracts from his own account, which appeared in the ' Annual Visitor': 
 
 ..... I had reached a height of 10,000 feet, and measured with my eye the vast space that separated me 
 
 R 
 
116 ASTRA CASTKA. A.D. 1802. 
 
 from the rest of the human race. I felt my courage confirmed by the certainty that my combinations were just. I 
 then took out my knife, and with a hand firm, from a conscience void of reproach, and which had never been lifted against any 
 one but in, the field of victory, I cut the cord. My balloon rose, and I felt myself precipitated with a velocity which 
 was checked by the sudden unfolding of my parachute. I saw that all my calculations were just, and my mind 
 remained calm and serene. I endeavoured to modulate my gravitation, and the oscillation that I experienced 
 increased in proportion to my approach to the breezes that blow in the middle regions. Nearly ten minutes had 
 elapsed, and I felt the more tune I took in descending the safer I should reach the ground. At length I perceived 
 thousands of people, some on horseback, were following and encouraging me. After one bound I quitted the 
 parachute without accident. I was instantly seized and carried in triumph; but sickness had been produced by the 
 rocking, which always had this eifect on me, so I obtained permission for a few minutes' repose, and then got on a 
 horse. Among the horsemen I saw the Duke of York and Lord Stanhope. Among the congratulations I had the 
 honour of receiving I was ntuch flattered by that of Sir Sidney Smith, who came to me with General Douglas, " on 
 purpose," as he said, " to shake hands with a brave man." This compliment is of the greatest value from the mouth 
 of one of the bravest soldiers in Europe. I can now answer the fallacious query of a correspondent to one of the 
 public papers, who asks " Whether I did not play an infamous part in the French Revolution ? " There are in 
 France but two my brother and myself of the name of Garnerin, and we have played no other part than that 
 which honour may avow in all countries, and at all times. It was upon her frontiers, and in the bosoin of her 
 armies, that we endeavoured to be useful to our country. I might refer, in England, to incontestable evidence 
 relative to my conduct. I am sure H.R.H. the Duke of York would be disposed to do me the justice I deserve, if 
 he recollects the action of Marchiennes, on the night of 31st October, 1793, in which I had the honour of disputing) 
 with a handful of men, that post, after it had been surprised by a strong detachment of his army. The action was 
 extremely bloody, and terminated in a surrender, which made me H.E.H.'s prisoner, and occasioned me thirty-one 
 months' imprisonment in Austria. 
 
 1803. Count Zambeccari, Dr. Grassati, of Rome, and S r - Andreoli, of Ancona, ascended in a 
 Montgolfiere from Bologna, on the 7th October, 1803, at midnight ; the inflation not having 
 been completed before that time, and the populace being too impatient for the experiment, to 
 wait till morning. They took up with them lanterns, and other things necessary for 
 observing the instruments at night. The balloon rose with a most surprising velocity, and 
 soon reached such a height that their fingers were almost frozen by the cold, when both 
 Zambeccari and Grassati fell into a state of deep sleep. Andreoli retained the use of 
 his senses. About 2 A.M. the balloon began to descend. When they came-to they found 
 themselves falling into the Adriatic. The lantern had gone out, and was with much difficulty 
 lighted. They fell into the water, and were drenched. To avoid greater harm they threw 
 out ballast, and rose through three strata of clouds, and their clothes were covered with rime. 
 In this situation they were deaf, and unable to hear each other speak. About 3 A.M. the 
 balloon again descended, and bounded in and out of the sea till 8 A.M. When on the coast of 
 Istria, one Antonio Bazol picked them up in his ship. The balloon, left to itself, ascended to 
 an amazing elevation, and fell in some part of Turkey. The height they attained was 
 conjectured to exceed five miles. Bulletins of their health were published daily at Venice and 
 Bologna. Count Zambeccari, who had suffered most, lost the fingers from one hand. 
 
 1804. In the summer of 1804, M. Robertson ascended from St. Petersburg, and 
 the following is the account of his companion, Sacharof. The object of this voyage was to 
 ascertain the physical state of the atmosphere, as the Academy were of opinion that results 
 differing from those of De Luc, Saussure, and Humboldt, on the summit of mountains, 
 would be obtained : 
 
 Our Charliere rose slowly at 7.15 P.M. from the garden of the 1st Corps of Cadets ; the wind was north-east. 
 
FRANCOIS PII.ATRE DE ROZIER. 
 
 
~ r, . ' [ i' u 
 r \ \ r , r o - \ J r z 
 
A. ... l MM. BIOT AND GAY LUSSAC. 117 
 
 The ilirt-nn.v of the atmosphere when over the Neva caused us to descend; throwing out balhut, we again 
 ascended. At 8.4A P.M. wo had a beautiful view of tho Newski Islands and the whole course of the river 
 Y.I in. -Ham .ska. I'.y 9.20 P.M. our barometer had fallen from thirty to twenty-three inches. I threw out at thin 
 altitude a canary and a dove; the former fell with pi.-<-ipitati..n, and the latter sailed down to the village 
 iiuin. .li.it, ly Mow us. \Vo now threw out all our ballast, a spare greatcoat, and the remains of Kiipper, so as to 
 .nuH, u* in rixi- higher. About 9.30 P.M. the baroni. t. r f. 11 to twenty-two inches. At thin height, w,. saw lialf 
 the mm ; on account of the fog we could not say whether the othur half was hid by the horizon or by a cloud, 
 iin, nt> were here made. My pulse and breathing were the same as on the earth, tho former eighty-two and 
 the latter twenty-two per minute. There were white clouds at a great height over us; though the sky was clear 
 we could observe no stars. I proposed to continue our voyage till sunrise, that wo might enjoy that glorious sight, 
 nut Mr. Itobertson could not accede to my proposal, on account of our ignorance of the country and our want of 
 ImlliiM. I took out a speaking-trumpet, and directed the sound downwards ; after ten seconds I heard an echo ; 
 this was repeated, but I was unable to look at the barometer, as it was already jcked up. Wo descended rapidly, 
 luit when our bundle touched the earth we perceived a slight inclination to rise. As the wind was strong we 
 dragged it along, and the shaking this occasioned caused most of the instruments to be spoilt At 10.46 P.M. we 
 If ft tho car on the estate of Counsellor Deniidof, and were assisted by his boors and servants. 
 
 1804. I give Mr. Wise's account of the scientific experiments made in August and 
 September of this year : 
 
 AERIAL VOYAGE OF GAT LUSSAC AND BIOT THEIR EXPERIMENTS. SEOOXD Aacorr or LUSSAC BIB EXPERIMENTS. 
 
 After tho capitulation of Cairo, the balloon which had been sent to Egypt was returned to Paris, after the 
 h army had returned from tho African deserts. Two young and ardent French philosophers. MM. I'.ii.t and 
 Gay LUBHOC, proposed to undertake an aerial excursion, in order to examine tho magnetic force at great elevations, 
 ami to explore tho constitution of the higher atmosphere and its electrical properties. For such a philosophical 
 prise they were eminently qualified, having been educated together at tho Polytechnic School of Paris, and 
 both of them deeply versed in mathematics ; the former indulging in a wide range of study, and the latter 
 concentrating his efforts more on chemistry, and its application to the arts. Their offer to (iovemment was 
 seconded l>v lierthollet and Laplace; and the celebrated chemist Chaptal, then Minister of the Interior, gave it his 
 patronage and warm support. The war-balloon which had once been in Egypt was now given to the custody of 
 l'>i"t and Gay Lusmc ; and the same artist who constructed it was, at the public expense, ordered to refit and 
 prepare it, under their direction. Besides the usual provision of barometers, thermometers, hygrometers, and 
 electrometers, they had two compasses and a dipping needle, with another fine needle, carefully magnetised, and 
 suspended by a very delicate silk thread, for ascertaining by its vibrations the force of magnetic attraction. To 
 examine the electricity of the different strata of tho atmosphere they carried several metallic wires, from sixty to 
 three hundred feet in length, and a small electrophorus feebly charged. For galvanic experiments, they had 
 procured a few discs of zinc and copper, with some frogs, to which they added some insects and birds. It was also 
 intended to bring down a portion of air from the higher regions, to bo subjected to a chemical analysis, and for thin 
 purpose a flask, carefully exhausted, and fitted with a stopcock, had been prepared for them. 
 
 The balloon was placed in the garden of the Conservatoire des Artt,ar Repository of Models, formerly the Convent 
 of St. Martin ; and no pains were spared by Col. Coutelle in providing whatever might contribute to the greater 
 v and convenience of the experimental voyagers. Everything being now ready for their ascent, these 
 :> tii rous philosophers, in tho presence of a few friends, embarked in the car at ten o'clock on the morning of the 
 J:',rd of August, 1804. The barometer was then at :HM3 inches, the thermometer at 61 on Fahrenheit's scale, and 
 Sanssure's hygrometer pointed at 80'8, or very nearly the limit of absolute humidity. They rose with a slow and 
 imposing motion. Their feelings were at first absorbed in the novelty and magnificence of the spectacle -\vhi.-li 
 opened before them; and their ears were saluted with the buzz of distant gratulations, sent up from the 
 admiring spectators. In a few minutes they entered the region of (lie clouds, which seemed like a thin fog, and 
 gave them a slight sensation of humidity. The balloon had now become quite inflated, and they were obliged to 
 let part of the gas escape by opening tho upper valve; at the same time they threw out some ballast, to gain a 
 greater elevation. They now hhot up through the range of clouds, and reached an altitude of about f>500 English 
 
 R 2 
 
118 ASTEA CASTBA. A.D. 1804. 
 
 feet. These clouds, viewed from above, had the ordinary whitish appearance ; they all occupied the same height, 
 only their upper surface seemed marked with gentle swells and undulations, exactly resembling the aspect of a wide 
 plain covered with snow. 
 
 MM. Biot and Gay Lussac now begun their experimental operations. The magnetic needle was attracted, as 
 usual, by iron ; but they found it impossible at this time to determine with accuracy its rate of oscillation, owing 
 to a slow rotary motion with which the balloon was affected. In the mean while, therefore, they made other 
 observations. A voltaic pile, consisting of twenty pairs of plates, exhibited all its ordinary effects, gave the pungent 
 taste, excited the nervous commotion, and occasioned the decomposition of water. By rejecting some more ballast 
 they had attained tho altitude of 8940 feet, but afterwards settled to that of 8600 feet. At this great elevation the 
 animals which they carried with them appeared to suffer from the rarity of the air. They let off a violet bee, which 
 flew away swiftly, making a humming noise. The thermometer had fallen to 56 Fahrenheit, yet they felt no cold ; 
 they were, on the contrary, scorched by the sun's rays,* and were obliged to lay aside their gloves. Both of them 
 had their pulses much accelerated ; that of Biot, which generally beat seventy-six times in a minute, was raised to 
 one hundred and eleven ; while the pulse of his friend, Gay Lussac, a man of a less robust frame, was heightened 
 from sixty to eighty beats in the minute. Notwithstanding their quickened pulsation, however, they experienced 
 no sort of uneasiness, nor any difficulty in breathing. 
 
 What perplexed them most was the difficulty of observing the oscillations of a delicately-suspended magnetic 
 needle. But they soon remarked, on looking attentively down upon the surface of the conglomerated clouds, that 
 the balloon slowly revolved, first in one direction, and then returned the contraiy way. Between the opposite 
 motions there intervened short pauses of rest, which it was necessary for them to seize. Watching, therefore, the 
 moments of quiescence, they set the needle to vibrate, but were unable to count more than five, or, very rarely, ten 
 oscillations. A number of trials, made between the altitudes of 9500 and 13,000 feet, gave 7" for the mean length 
 of an oscillation, while, at the surface of the earth, it required 7 j-V" to perform each oscillation. A difference so very 
 minute as the hundred and fortieth part could only be imputed to the imperfection of the experiment ; and it was 
 hence fairly concluded that the force of magnetic attraction had in no degree diminished at tho greatest elevation 
 which they could reach. The direction of this force, too, seemed, from the concurring circumstances, to have 
 continued the same ; though they could not depend on observations made in their vacillating car with so delicate an 
 instrument as the dipping needle. 
 
 At the altitude of 11,000 feet they liberated a green linnet, which flew away directly; but, soon feeling itself 
 abandoned in the midst of an unknown ocean it returned and settled on the stays of the balloon. Then, mustering 
 fresh courage, it took a second flight, and dashed downwards to the earth, describing a tortuous yet almost 
 perpendicular track. A pigeon, which they let off under similar circumstances, afforded a more curious spectacle. 
 Placed on the edge of the car, it rested a while, measuring, as it were, the breadth of that unexplored sea which it 
 designed to traverse ; now, launching into the abyss, it fluttered irregularly, and seemed at first to try its wings on 
 the thin element, till, after a few strokes, it gained more confidence, and whirling in largo circles or spirals, like the 
 birds of prey, it precipitated itself towards the mass of extended clouds, where it was lost from sight. 
 
 It was difficult, in those lofty and rather humid regions, to make electrical observations ; and the attention of 
 the scientific navigators was, besides, occupied chiefly by their magnetical experiments. However, they let down 
 from the car an insulated metallic wire of about 250 feet in length, and ascertained, by means of the electrophorus, 
 that the upper end indicated resinous or negative electricity. This experiment was several times repeated, and it 
 seemed to corroborate fully the previous observations of Saussuro and Volta relative to the increase of electricity 
 met with in ascending the atmosphere. 
 
 The diminution of temperature in tho higher regions was found less than what it generally is at the same 
 altitude on mountains, f The hygrometer, or rather hygroscope, of Saussure advanced regularly towards dryncss, 
 in proportion to the altitude which they attained. At the elevation of 13,000 feet it had changed from 80-8 to 30. 
 But still the conclusion that the air of the higher strata is drier than that of the lower, we are inclined to consider 
 as fallacious. In fact, the indications of the hygroscope depend on the relative attraction for humidity possessed by 
 the substance employed, and the medium in which it is immersed. But air has its disposition to retain moisture 
 
 * I have always found the sun oppressive when sailing over dense strata of clouds, which is caused by reflection. This was the case in 
 this instance. 
 
 t This want of diminution was caused bv the reflection of the sun from the cloud stratum below them. 
 
LD.1804. GAY LUSSAC*S SECOND ASCENT. 11H 
 
 .ilu.ivs .inu'iin nted by rarefaction, and consequently such alteration alone must materially affect the hygroMOpe. 
 Tin' niily accurate instrument for aacertaining the condition of air with respect to drynoss is founded on a property 
 . :' , \ i)...i iii..i,. I'.ni we shall afterwards have occasion to refer to thi-. 
 
 'Hi. ballast now being almost expended, it was resolved to descend. The aeronauts, therefore, pulled the 
 MJ.]T valve ami allowed |..nt of the hydrogen gas to escape. They dropped gradually, and when they came to 
 tli.- height <( -l"i ii i feet they met the stratum .if clouds, extending hori/oiitally, but with a surface lieaved in gentle 
 -.\\ells. \\ heii they ivaclu-d the ground no people were near them to stop the balloon, which dragged them in the 
 car to some distance along the fields. From this awkward and even dangerous situation they could not extricate 
 tin-in- -l\. s without discharging a great quantity of gas, and therefore gave up the idea of sending Gay Lussae up 
 alone to explore the highest regions. It has been rep.. it. .1 tint his companion Biot, though a man of udivity and 
 not deficient in ]" rsonal courage, WBB so much overpowered by the alarms of their descent as to lose for the time the 
 .nt ire possession of himself. The place where they alighted, at half-past one o'clock, after three houre and a half 
 sjient in the midst of the atmosphere, was near the village !' M.-i ivillc. in tho department of tho Loiret, and iiU.nt 
 fifty mill- !'i..m Paris. 
 
 ml ]>hil<Mophcraof Paris now desired that Gay Lussac should mount a second time and repeat the different 
 observations at the greatest elevation he could attain. Experience had instructed him to reduce his apparatus, and 
 t.. adapt it letter to the actual circumstances. As he could only count tho vibrations of the magnetic needle during 
 the vi rv short intervals which occurred between the contrary rotations of the balloon, ho preferred one about .six 
 inches in length, which, therefore, oscillated more quickly. Tho dipping needle was magnetised and adjusted l.y 
 the iiiirciii"'i- M ' ..ul. null. To protect the thermometer from the direct action of the sun, it was enclosed within 
 
 mccntric cylinders of pasteboard covered with gilt paper. The hygrometers, constructed by Kicher's mode, 
 with four hairs, were sheltered nearly in the same way. The two glass flasks, intended to bring down air from the 
 holiest regions of the atmosphere, had been exhausted, till the mercurial gauge stood at the twenty-fifth part of an 
 inch, and their stopcocks were so perfectly fitted that, after the lapse of eight days, they still preserved tho vacuum. 
 
 articles, with two barometers, were the principal instruments which Gay Lussae took with him. The skill 
 ami ii of the artist had been exerted in further precautions for the safety of the balloon. 
 
 V f. .rty minutes after nine o'clock on the morning of the loth of September, 1804, the scientific voyager 
 
 Ul. as licfore. from tho garden of tho Repository of Models. The barometer then stood at :;u-<;u Knglish 
 imh.s. tin- thermometer at 82 Fahr., and the hygrometer at 57i. The sky was unclouded, but misty. Scarcely 
 had the observer reached the height of 3000 feet when he observed spread below him, over the whole extent of tin 
 atmosphere, a thin vapour, which rendered, the distant objects very indistinct. Having gained an altitude of 
 
 feet lie et his needle to vibrate, and found it to perform twenty oscillations in 83", though it had taken H i 
 to make the same number at the surface of the earth. At the height of 12,680 foot he discovered the variation of the 
 compass to be precisely the same as below ; but with all the pains he could take ho was unablo to determine with 
 sufficient (vrtainty the dip of the needle. Gay Lussac continued to prosecute his other experiments with the same 
 diligence, and with greater success. At the altitude of 14,480 feet he found that a key, held in the magnetic direc- 
 tion, repelled with its lower end and attracted with its upper end the north pole of a needle of a small compass. 
 This observation was repeated, and with equal success, at, the vast height of 20,150 feet a clear proof that the 
 magnet ism of the earth exerts its influence at remote distances. He made not fewer than fifteen trials at different 
 altitudes with the oscillations of his finely-suspended needle. It used generally to vibrate twenty or thirty times. 
 The mean result gives 4 L"J" for each oscillation, while it is 4-216" at the surface of the earth an apparent dif- 
 ference so extremely small as to be fairly neglected. 
 
 I hiring the whole of this gradual ascent he noticed, at short intervals, the state of the barometer, the thernio- 
 inetcr. and the hydrometer, of these observations, amounting in all to twenty-one, he has given a tabular view. 
 \Ve regret, however, that In- has neglected to mark tho times at which they were made, since the results appear to 
 
 i-.n Toy materially modified l>y the progress of the day. It would likewise have been desirable to have com- 
 ].ii- .1 them with a register noted every half-hour at the Observatory. From the surface of tho earth to tho height 
 of l.'.l-.'i feet the tem|K-iature of the atmosphere decreased regularly from 82' to 47'3 :i by Fahrenheit's scale: hut 
 afterwards it increased again and reached to .V;-f. at tip- altitude of 14,000 feet; evidently owing to the inllin nee 
 of the warm currents of air which, as the day advanced, rose continually from the heated ground. From that jioint 
 the ti mjicratiire diminish* d. with only slight deviations from a jn'rlect regularity. At the height of I - i the 
 
120 ASTRA CASTEA. A.D. 1804. 
 
 thermometer subsided to 32-9, on the verge of congelation ; but it sunk to 14-9 at the enormous altitude of 
 22,912 feet above Paris, or 23,040 feet above the level of the sea, the utmost limit of the balloon's ascent. 
 
 From these observations no conclusive inference, we think, can be drawn respecting the mean gradation of 
 cold which is maintained in the higher regions of the atmosphere ; for, as we have already remarked, the several 
 strata are, during the day, kept considerably above their permanent temperature by the hot currents raised from the 
 surface through the action of the sun's rays. If we adopt the formula given by Professor Leslie at the end of his 
 ' Elements of Geometry,' which was the result of some accurate and combined researches, the diminution of tem- 
 perature corresponding to the first part of the ascent, or 12,125 feet, ought to have been 40 Fahr. It was actually 
 34 - 7, and would, no doubt, have reached to 40, if the progressive heating of the surface, during the interval of 
 time, were taken into the account. In the next portion of the voyage, from the altitude of 14,000 to that of 
 18,636 feet, or the breadth of 4636 feet, the decrement of temperature, according to the formula, should have been 
 only 16i, instead of 20-7, which was really marked a proof that the diurnal heat from below had not yet produced 
 its full effect at such a great height. In the last portion of the balloon's ascent, from 18,636 feet to 22,912, a range 
 of 4276 feet, the decrease of heat ought to have been 15^, and it was actually 18; owing, most probably, to the 
 same cause, or the feebler influence which warm currents of air from the surface exert at those vast elevations. 
 Taking the entire range of the ascent, or 22,912 feet, the diminution of temperature, according to the same formula, 
 would be for the graduation of temperature in ascending the atmosphere 85-4. The decrease actually observed 
 would be 67-1, which might be raised to 80, if we admit the very probable supposition that the surface of the 
 earth had become heated from 82 to 94-9 during the interval between ten o'clock in the morning and near three 
 in the afternoon, when the balloon floated at its greatest elevation. 
 
 After making fair allowances therefore, on account of the operation of deranging causes, the results obtained 
 by Guy Lussac, for the gradation of temperature in the atmosphere, appear, on the whole, to agree very nearly with 
 those derived from the formula which theory, guided by delicate experiments, had before assigned. This gradation is 
 evidently not uniform, as some philosophers have assumed, but proceeds with augmented rapidity in the more elevated 
 regions. The same conclusion results from a careful inspection of the facts which have been stated by other observers. 
 
 The hygrometers, during the ascent of the balloon, held a progress not quite so regular, but tending obviously 
 towards dryness. At the height of 9950 feet they had changed from 57-5 to 62; from which they continued 
 afterwards to decline, till they came to mark 27-5 at the altitude of 15,190 feet. From this inferior limit the hygro- 
 meters advanced again, yet with some fluctuations, to 35-1, which they indicated at the height of 18,460 feet. 
 Above this altitude the variation was slight, though rather inclining to humidity. There can exist no doubt, how- 
 ever, that, allowing for the influence of the prevailing cold, the higher strata of the atmosphere must be generally 
 drier than the lower, or capable of retaining, at the same temperature, a larger share of moisture. 
 
 At the altitude of 21,460 feet Gay Lussac opened one of his exhausted flasks, and, at that of 21,790 feet, the 
 other. The air rushed into them through the narrow aperture with a whistling noise. He still rose higher ; but, 
 at eleven minutes past three o'clock, he had attained the utmost limit of his ascent, and was then 22,912 feet above 
 Paris, or 23,040 feet (being more than four miles and a quarter) above the level of the sea. The air was now more 
 than twice as thin as ordinary, the barometer having sunk to 12-95 inches. From that tremendous altitude, 
 1600 feet higher than the summit of the Andes, more elevated than the loftiest pinnacle of our globe (the Himalayas), 
 and far above the height to which any mortal had ever soared, the aerial navigator might have indulged the feelings 
 of triumphant enthusiasm. But the philosopher, in perfect security, was more intent on calmly pursuing his observa- 
 tions. During his former ascent he saw the fleecy clouds spread out below him, while the canopy of heaven seemed 
 of the deepest azure, more intense than Prussian blue. This time, however, he perceived no clouds gathered near the 
 surface, but remarked a range of them, stretching at a very considerable height over his head ; the atmosphere, 
 too, wanted transparency, and had a dull, misty appearance. The different aspect of the sky was probably owing to 
 the direction of the wind, which blew from the north-west in his first voyage, but in his second from the south-east. 
 
 While occupied with experiments at this enormous elevation, he began, though warmly clad, to suffer from 
 excessive cold, and his hands, by continual exposure, grew benumbed. He felt likewise a difficulty in breathing, 
 and his pulse and respiration were much quickened. His throat became parched from inhaling the dry attenuated 
 air, so that he could hardly swallow a morsel of bread ; but he experienced no other direct inconvenience from his 
 situation. He had indeed been affected, through the whole of the day, with a slight headache, brought on by the 
 preceding fatigues and want of sleep ; but though it continued without abatement, it was not increased by his ascent. 
 
A.I.. 1804. 
 
 s ON TIII: rsi: or I-.AI.I.OONS. 
 
 121 
 
 The balloon was now completely distended, and not more than S3 Ibs. of ballast remained : it began to drop, 
 and Gay Lunao, therefore, only sought to regulate its descent It subsided very gently, at the rate of about a mile 
 in ei^ht minutes: ami after the lapse of about thirty-four minutes, or at throe-quarters after three o'clock, the anchor 
 torn-hod the ground and instantly secured the oar. The voyager alighted with great ease near the hamlet of St. 
 
 < i. .iii^iii. ,,!... -tr >:\t.-. n miles from Rouen. The inhabitants flocked around him, offering him assistance, and eager 
 to gratify tlu-ir curiosity. 
 
 As ....ii as h. iv. i. I,. .1 I'.nU li,. |, ,-.(. n. .1 t.. tli.- laU.ratory of tip- l'..|yt. -.lnii.- S.-h.-.l. with hi> tl.i-1;-. .-..nt. lining 
 
 air of the higher regions, and proceeded to analyse it in the presence of Thonard and Grosset Opened under water, 
 tin. liquid rushed into thorn, and apparently half filled their capacity. The transported air was found, by a very 
 .lli. MI.- Analysis, to contain exactly the same proportions as that collected near the surface of the earth, every 
 1000 parts huMin^ '1\:< of oxygen. From concurring observations, therefore, we may conclude that the atmosphere 
 is essentially the same in all situations. 
 
 Tin- ascents performed by MM. Hiot and Gay Lussac are memorable, as being the first over undertaken solely 
 t'. T objects of science. It is impossible not to admire the intrepid coolness with which they conducted those experi- 
 iiienK o]N-ratiii;4. while they floated in the highest regions of the atmosphere, with the same composure and precision 
 as if they had 1~ n .|ni.-tly seated in their cabinet at Paris. Their observations on the force of terrestrial magnetism 
 show, most conclusively, its deep source and wide extension. The identity of the constitution of the atmosphere to 
 a vast altitude was likewise ascertained. The facts noted by Gay Lussac, relative to the state of the thermometer 
 at dill'i-n-nt heights, appear generally to confirm the law which theory assigns for the gradation of temperature in 
 the iitiii..-|.h. iv : l.nt many interesting points wore left untouched by this philosopher. We are sorry that he had 
 not carried with him the eyanometr, whi.-li enabled Sanssure to determine the colour of the sky on the summits of 
 tin- Swiss mountains; still more do wo regret that he was not provided with an hygrometer and a photometer, of 
 Leslie's construction. These delicate instruments could not have failed, in his hands, to furnish important data for 
 discovering the relative dryness and transparency of the different strata of air. It would have been extremely 
 interesting, at such a tremendous height, to have measured with accuracy the feeble light reflected from the azure 
 canopy of heaven, and the intense force of the sun's direct rays, and hence to have determined what portion of them 
 is absorbed in their passage through the lower and denser atmosphere. 
 
 SUGGESTIONS ox THE USE OF BALLOONS soos AFTER THEIR DISCOVERY. 
 
 Balloons have at different times been thought capable of useful application. It has been even proposed to employ 
 their ]N.wer of ascension as a mechanical force. This might be rendered efficient, it was believed, to raise water 
 from mines, or to transport obelisks and place them on great elevations. We can easily imagine situations where a 
 balloon could be used with advantage ; such as to raise, without any scaffolding, a cross or a vane to the top of a high 
 spin- ; but the power would then be purchased at a very disproportionate expense. It would require four and a 
 half IN .uii. Is of iron, or six of zinc, with equal quantities of sulphuric acid, to yield hydrogen gas sufficient to raise 
 up the weight of a pound. Balloons have rendered important service in reconnoitring the face of a country and 
 communicating military signals ; and it is rather surprising that a system which promised such obvious advantages 
 has not been carried much farther. 
 
 But to a skilful and judicious application of balloons we may yet look for a most essential improvement of the 
 infant -. i.-nce of meteorology. Confined to the surface of this globe, we have no direct intimation of what passes in 
 tin- lofty regions of the atmosphere. All the changes of weather, which appear so capricious and perplexing, pro- 
 ceed, no doubt, from the combination of a very few simple causes. Were the philosopher to penetrate beyond the 
 seat of the clouds, examine the circumstances of their formation, and mark the prevailing currents, he would pro- 
 bably remove, in part, the veil that conceals those mighty operations. It would be quite practicable, we conceive, 
 to reach an elevation <>( seven miles, where the air would bo four times more attenuated than ordinary. A silk 
 balloon of forty feet diameter, it' properly constructed, might be sufficient for that enormous ascent, though not more 
 than one-fourth filled with hydrogen gas. The voyager would not, we presume, suffer any serious inconvenience 
 frum I.reaUiini; the thin air ; the animal frame adapts itself with wonderful facility to external circumstances. 
 
 * II.' would niffer from a diminution of atmospheric presmre. At 
 the surface of the earth an ordinary tized man sustains an ntino- 
 ipberic pressure of over 25,000 pound*, while ut tlm height 
 
 miles li.- ..uM have but C500 pound*. From what I have . \,- 
 rienced at three and a quarter milea high, I would nif>pcu very seri- 
 ous conaequencea would ensue at the immittiiio height of teven uiilm. 
 
122 ASTRA CASTEA. A.D. 1804. 
 
 Perhaps the quickened pulse and short respiration which some travellers have experienced on the summits of lofty 
 mountains should be attributed chiefly to the suddenness of their transition and the severity of the cold. The 
 people of Quito live comfortably 9560 feet above the level of the sea; and the shepherds of the hamlet of Anti- 
 sana, the highest inhabited spot in the known world, who breathe, at an elevation of 13,500 feet, air that has only 
 three-fifths of the usual density, are nowise deficient in health or vigour. But the intenseness of the cold is, 
 probably, what the resolute observer would have most to dread, at the height of seven miles. This decrease of 
 temperature, perhaps equal to 148, might extend below the point at which mercury freezes; yet several circum- 
 stances tend to mitigate such extreme cold, and proper clothing might enable an experimenter for a short time to 
 resist its effects. 
 
 Much could be done, however, without risk or material expense. Balloons from fifteen to thirty feet in 
 diameter, and carrying register thermometers and barometers, might bo capable of ascending alone to altitudes 
 between eight and twelve miles. Despatched from the centres of the great continents, they would not only determine 
 the extreme gradations of cold, but indicate by their flight the direction of the regular and periodic winds, which 
 doubtless obtain in the highest regions of the atmosphere. 
 
 But we will not enlarge. In some happier times such experiments may be performed with the zealous con- 
 currence of different Governments, when nations shall at least become satisfied with cultivating the art of peace 
 instead of war. 
 
 1804. Zambeccari's experiments in a Montgolfiere, in October, I will leave to my 
 Tenth Chapter, where the greatest suffering shall be contrasted with the greatest enjoyment ; 
 it was made, like his previous ascents, from Bologna. 
 
 NAPOLEON'S CORONATION BALLOON. 
 
 Las Cases, in his ' Private Life of Napoleon at St. Helena ' (vol. iii. part 2, p. 313), says 
 of him, " He mentioned, as a sort of prodigy, the circumstance of the balloon which 
 ascended at his coronation having fallen, in the space of a few hours, in the neighbourhood of 
 Rome." 
 
 Coming from Sai'dis, on our foremost ensign, 
 Two mighty eagles fell, and there they perch'd, 
 Gorging and feeding from our soldiers' hands. 
 This morning they are fled away, and gone ; 
 And in their stead, do ravens, crows, and kites 
 Fly o'er our heads, and downward look on us, 
 As we were sickly prey : their shadows seem 
 A canopy most fatal, under which 
 Our army lies, ready to give up the ghost. 
 
 SHAKSPEAEE. 
 
 This remarkable incident well illustrates the fatalism of Napoleon's character. The man 
 of destiny believes in the destiny of man ; he relies solely on his star ; and, from the height 
 of his station, the newly elect, consecrated Emperor and King, by a Pope, sees an evil omen 
 in a fortuitous circumstance, insignificant for any other but himself. The account is as 
 follows : 
 
 It was at this time that the form " Salut et fraternite," as well as the republic " une 
 et indivisible," disappear; and the Minister of the Interior, S. E. M. de Champagny, now 
 writes to Mons. Garnerin, " aerostier des fetes publiques," in the following tone :- - 
 
 I send you, sir, a copy of the programme of the rejoicings which are to take place at the coronation of His 
 Majesty the Emperor. I look to that zeal and activity you have already displayed for the prompt execution of the 
 necessary preparations. 
 
 Your estimate of the cost has been placed before me, and I hope that you will bo able to economise, as 
 the Government has decided on not spending more than 23,500 francs on your account. 
 
 CHAMPAGNY. 
 
A.I.. 1806. Oori;iNNT.Mi:\T DE L'EMPEREUR NAPOLEON PAH S.S. PIE VII." 123 
 
 At 1 I I-.M., nn tin' HUli December, Garnerin allowed his "colossal machine" to rise frm 
 tin- scpiare in front cf N.'.tn- Dame. " One sees it rise slowly and majestically. Not less ilian 
 3000 lights :i,M to ite beauty. It is, indr, !. a lino siirht; but who could then guess the 
 diivetion it would take, or the sensation it would cause?" However, on the following mom,* 
 at break of day, some of tin 1 inhabitants of Rome see at the horizon a brilliant globe coming 
 ti\vards their city. It is soon over St. Peter's and the Vatican; descends, rises again, 
 somewhat torn ; keeps near the ground, and tails into Lake Bracciano. 
 
 II' iv its pursuers first lain from whence it had come; for, on drawing it from the water, 
 they ivad in Lrilt letters on its vast circumference, " Paris, 25 Frimaire, An XIII., Couronm- 
 ment <]< I'l-lmpei-eiir Napoleon par S.S. Pie VII." 
 
 For distance and rapidity this flight would always have been remarkable; but, considering 
 tin- day on which it took place, it appears almost miraculous. A circumstance in addition. 
 v-ry trifling in it-ell', liocame of great importance in the eyes of Napoleon. A political turn, 
 would any one believe it? was given to the voyage of a "ballon perdu." The balloon, on its 
 course near the ground, left part of its crown on an angle of the tomb of Nero. The Italian 
 papers, not being under such rigorous censure as those of France, innocently related the 
 coincidence ; some, however, added malicious remarks, injurious to the Emperor. 
 
 This came at length to the ear of the master, some one even speaking of it at one of his 
 le\ve>. Napoleon showed his displeasure, and ordered that no further remark should be made 
 about (iainerin's balloon. 
 
 Napoleon had formerly applauded the courage of Coutelle, chief of the aerostatic corps, 
 and appreciated its importance for' the engineer department. He had also, when in Egypt, 
 ordered Conte to send up balloons, to show the Arabs the superiority of European arts over 
 those of old and degenerate Egypt. From the coronation, then, of Napoleon, dates his 
 antipathy to aerostation. The military aerostatic school of Meudon was abandoned, and the 
 results of experiments lost. Who knows but that this might not have caused him to turn 
 a deaf ear to Fulton, when he came to the camp at Boulogne, offering to apply steam to 
 navigation ? Little causes often engender great effects. Garnerin ceased to be employed by 
 Government, and to Madame Blanchard was confided the ascents at fetes. Thus the birth of 
 the King of Rome, on the 20th of March, 1811, was announced by bulletins scattered from 
 a balloon that rose under the direction of Madame Blanchard; whilst Garnerin, in his notes, 
 remarks on the poorness of this affair, and sighs that it had not been intrusted to him, who 
 had made flights from Paris to Aix-la-Chapelle and Mont Tonuerre, beside spending nights 
 in the I'o-om of the clouds." Garnerin, moreover, offered to cross the sea, and announce to 
 " La perfide Albion" the birth of the royal child. f 
 
 The coronation balloon was suspended in a corridor of the Vatican, where it remained 
 till 1H1 4, with an inscription and date, but omitting any reference to Nero's tomb. 
 
 In 180G the death of Vincent Lunardi is thus briefly chronicled by the ' Gentleman's 
 Maira/.ine': 
 
 July 31. Died in the convent of Barbadinas at Liubon, of a dedim-. Mr. Vincent Lunardi, the <vli-lir:itnl 
 aeronaut. 
 
 In tli. Oiaric* of a-Laily of Quality (p. 78) it u siid to be 26 boon : further particulars on thin moat angular incident wnuM I. 
 ! itr> m.'ly inu-n - 
 
 t Extract from Depuig Delcourt'a ' Manual ^'Aerostation.' 
 
 S 
 
124 ASTEA CASTEA. A.D. 1807. 
 
 In the same year Carlo Brioschi, astronomer royal at Naples, in company with Andreani, 
 the first Italian aeronaut, attempted to rise from Naples to a greater height than Gay Lussac 
 reached. From the expansion of the gas in the rare atmosphere their balloon burst ; but its 
 fragments checked the velocity of the descent, and they fell to the ground, with no immediate 
 material injury. Brioschi, however, contracted a disease, from which he suffered till his 
 death in 1833. 
 
 1807. The nocturnal aerial excursions of M. Garnerin in this year must be ranked 
 among one of the most enterprising and adventurous. 
 
 Mr. Wise gives the following concise account of these adventures : 
 
 At eleven o'clock on the evening of the 4th of August, he ascended from Tivoli, at Paris, under the Russian 
 flag, as a token of the peace that subsisted between France and Russia. His balloon was illuminated by twenty 
 lamps : and to obviate all danger of communication between these and the hydrogen gas which it might be 
 necessary to discharge in the course of the voyage, the nearest of the lamps was fourteen feet distant from the 
 balloon, and conductors were provided to carry the gas away in an opposite direction. After his ascent, rockets, 
 which had been let off from Tivoli, seemed to him scarcely to rise above the earth, and Paris, with all its lamps, 
 appeared like a plain studded with luminous spots. In forty minutes he found himself at an elevation of 13,200 
 feet, when, in consequence of the dilatation of the balloon, he was under the necessity of discharging part of the 
 inflammable air. About twelve o'clock, when 3600 feet from the earth, he heard the barking of dogs ; about two 
 he saw several meteors flying around, but none of them so near as to create apprehension. At half-past three 
 he beheld the sun emerging in brilliant majesty above an ocean of clouds ; and the gas in the balloon being thereby 
 expanded, it soon rose 15,000 feet above the surface of the earth, where he felt the cold exceedingly intense. In 
 seven hours and a half from his departure M. Garnerin descended near Loges, forty-five leagues distant from Paris. 
 
 This same intrepid aeronaut undertook a second nocturnal voyage on the 21st of September, 1807, in the 
 course of which he was exposed to the most imminent danger. M. Garnerin, prognosticating an approaching storm 
 from the state of the atmosphere, refused to be accompanied by M. de Chassenton, who earnestly requested it. He 
 ascended, therefore, alone from Tivoli, at ten o'clock, and was carried up with unexampled rapidity to an immense 
 height above the clouds. The balloon was then dilated to an alarming degree, and M. Garnerin, having been 
 prevented by the turbulence of the mob, before his ascent, from regulating those parts of the apparatus which were 
 meant to conduct the gas away from the lamps on its escape, was totally incapable of managing the balloon. He 
 had no alternative left, therefore, than with one hand to make an opening, two feet in diameter, through which the 
 inflammable air was discharged in great quantities, and with the other to extinguish as many of the lamps as he 
 could possibly reach. The aeronaut was now without a regulating valve, and the balloon, subject to every caprice 
 of the whirlwind, was tossed about from current to current. When the storm impelled him downwards, he was 
 forced to throw out his ballast to restore the ascending tendency ; and at last, every resource being exhausted, no 
 expedient was left him to provide against future emergencies. In this forlorn condition the balloon rose through 
 thick clouds, and afterwards sunk ; and the car, having struck against the ground with a violent impulse, rebounded 
 from it to a considerable altitude. The fury of the storm dashed him against the mountains, and, after many rude 
 agitations and severe shocks, he was reduced to a state of temporary insensibility. On recovering from his perilous 
 situation he reached Mont Tonnerre in a storm of thunder. A very short period after this his anchor hooked in a 
 tree, and in nine hours and a half, after a voyage which had nearly proved fatal to him, he landed at the distance of 
 three hundred miles from Paris. 
 
 1809. Blanchard died, after making sixty-six ascents. 
 
 1811. On October 7 of this year Mr. Sadler, accompanied by Mr. Burchani, ascended 
 at Birmingham at 2.20 P.M., and by 4 P.M. had made a rapid flight of 112 miles. The 
 direction was at first north-east; they could at one glance behold Lichfield, Coventry, 
 Tamworth, and Atherstone. When approaching Leicester they perceived the wind was 
 carrying them due east, to Market Deeping. Near this they attained their greatest elevation 
 
. W W/./,/,,,,, XV. / V5-.V.1V ////,.,// 
 
 i v . c i- 
 
 1864 
 
r f r 
 
 JJfS 
 
l.D. I ML'. 
 
 I'llfST ATTIiMi'l in CKOSS Till: IKISII rllANM'.!.. 
 
 128 
 
 nun wh.'iiee they saw the towns of IVterl'orou^li. Stamford. \Vi-k ; t eli, (Vow land, 
 iVe. IViveivinof tho lower current was toward the iiortli, Mr. Sadler descended, and alighted 
 near I >i>st i m. 
 
 1*12. The first attempt to cross tin- Irish Channel was made by Mr. Sadler, who, on the 
 l>t ( ). 'toiler, I*r_', asreiiilfd from the lawn of IJelvedero House, Dulilin, in presence of a 
 Treat multitude. iveei\ inLr ln's Hair from the Duchess of Richmond, and the military liamU 
 playing. In the account published the following poetical description is quoted from Darwin : 
 
 Now ICM and less and now a speck is seen ; 
 
 And now tin- lleetini; nick obtrudes lie!. 
 
 The calm philosopher in ether sails, 
 
 Views broader stars and breathes in purer piles, 
 
 Sees like a map in many a waving line, 
 
 Hound Earth's blue plains her lucid waters sliinc ; 
 
 See* at his feet the forky li^htnin^i glow, 
 
 And hears innocuous thunders roar below. 
 
 ! i ! shoreless air the intrepid Gaul, 
 nrli'd the vast concave of his buoyant ball. 
 Journeying on high, the silken castle i- 
 Bright as a nietiiir tlirough the aztnv tides; 
 O'er towns, and towers, and temples wins its way, 
 Or mounts sublime, and jiilds the vault of day. 
 
 :t with upturn'tl eyes unhrcaihing crowds, 
 Pursue the floating wonder to the clouds ; 
 
 Iliish'd with transport, or U-nninh'd with fear, 
 Watch as it rises the diminish'd sphere. 
 
 His own account says: 
 
 From my elevated situation I was enabled to overlook tho ridges of the Wicklow Hills and bring within the 
 iif vision tho distant ocean. Tho country to tho south and west of Dublin, interspersed with villages ami 
 <iiltiv.it.il firlils; the amphitheatre of hills; tho broad expanse of ocean; the bay; tho small breakers beating 
 ..ii tin- islands ami the rocky shore ; tho sails of vessels glancing in the sun ; all combined presented a prospect which 
 
 may contemplate but words can give no adequate idea of/ and to onjoy which was in itself a reward for any 
 hazard that might attend my undertaking. When immediately over Ireland's Eye, I perceived that a rent made at 
 starting was extending ; to reach which I was obliged to tie ropes across tho lower part of tho netting to form a sort 
 .I' ladder, and with my neckcloth I succeeded in closing this orifice. I then entered tho upper current, and wax 
 rarrinl 1'V it in tho manner the annexed map more clearly demonstrates. On again entering the lower one I watt 
 carried to the southern shore of the Isle of Man, and in a few minutes more could have been in Cumberland, had I in it 
 desired to alight in the vicinity nf Liverpool. Having full confidence in the power I possessed, from the quantity 
 of gas and ballast, I ascen.li-il t.. the upper current, and, when carried by it to tho north-west of Holyhead. I jn.1^. d 
 this to bo a oonveni. nt angle for making for the coast of Lancashire. I descended into tho lower current. ].a*sc.| 
 south of the Skerry Lighthouse and across tho Isle of Angleaea. At 4.30 PJI. I was abreast of the Great OrmeV 
 Head, and by aid of my glass could see tho Bidston Lighthouse, beyond which I wished to alight; but in this I \va- 
 disappointed ; for, as tho evening closed, tho wind shifted to the southward, and I was driven in a short time out of 
 sight of land. In this situation I hovered about, endeavouring to find a favourable current ; but as it was now 
 .">.:;n P.M., I determined at once to descend, a resolution in which I was confirmed by observing five vessels li-atmi: 
 
 Tsot Srarr or BEACTT. 
 
 Tin- Spirit of Iltuuty unfurls her light 
 And win . Is In r .v,rge in a joyous flight ! 
 I know lii-r tnii-k through the balmy air. 
 By tho blossoms that elu-t- r ami whiten then- 
 She i.e.. i '!,- mountains green. 
 
 And p. -in- the vail, y with rrystal sheen. 
 
 At morn I know whore she rest^l at nipht, 
 !' r the rases are gushing with il.-wy .li'Iight; 
 Tii. n she mounts again, an.l armn.! li. r flings 
 A sliowrr .if liu'lit fr..m In r purple w 
 Till the -pint i* .Inink with the music on high. 
 That siluntly tills it with ecstasy ! 
 
 At norm she hies to a cool retreat, 
 Where bowering elms over waters i 
 
 She dimples the ware, where the green leaves dip, 
 That smiles, as it curls, like a maiden's lip. 
 When her tremulous bosom would hide, in vain, 
 From her lover, the nopo that she loves again. 
 
 At eve she hangs o'er the western sky 
 Dark clouds for a glorious canopy ; 
 And round the skirts of each sweeping fold. 
 She paints a border of crimson and gold, 
 Wh. n the lingering sunbeams love to stay, 
 Where their god in his glory has passed away. 
 
 She hovers around us at twilight boor, 
 When her presence is felt with the deepest power : 
 She mellows the landscape, and crowd* the stream 
 With shadows that Hit like a fairy dream; 
 Still wh-vliiis her flight through tho gladsome air. 
 Tho Spirit of Beauty is everywhere. -B. DIWB. 
 
 I "J 
 
126 ASTKA CASTKA. A.D. 1812. 
 
 down the Channel ; and entertaining the confident hope that I should meet with that prompt assistance which my 
 circumstances would require, I opened the valve, and in a few minutes was precipitated into the sea about a mile 
 astern of them ; but, to my great mortification, I found that the vessels continued their course. Thus deserted, I 
 was constrained to reascend, and, throwing out some ballast, the balloon sprung upwards, and I again attained 
 an elevated station to look out for some more friendly aid. 
 
 At the time I descended the sun was near setting. Already the shadows of evening had cast a dusky hue 
 over the face of the ocean, and a crimson glow purpled the tops of the waves, as heaving in the evening breeze they 
 died away in distance or broke in foam against the sides of the vessels ; and before I rose from the sea the orb had 
 sunk below the horizon, leaving only the twilight glimmer to light the vast expanse around me. How great, 
 therefore, was my astonishment, and how incapable is expression to convey an adequate idea of my feelings, when, 
 rising to the upper region of the air, the sun, whose parting beams I had already witnessed, again burst on my 
 view, and encompassed me with the full blaze of day. Beneath me hung the shadows of evening, whilst the clear 
 beams of the sun glittered on the floating vehicle which bore me along rapidly before the wind. 
 
 It was a considerable time before I again observed any prospect of assistance ; and as the tcmporaiy day which 
 I then enjoyed was fast declining, and beneath me the evening, thickening into shade, would soon obscure the view, 
 L descended lower ; and it was with much pleasure I discovered a vessel, which by signals gave me to understand 
 she intended, on my descending, to afford mo aid. I, at the same time, observed two others to leeward, one of which 
 tacked and hoisted the Manx colours. I at once formed my resolution to come down without delay, it being then 
 near six o'clock; and accordingly permitting a part of the gas to escape, I fell between the two vessels last 
 mentioned, the first that had attracted my attention being too distant to afford me any assistance. 
 
 As the car touched the sea, the wind, which had risen with the evening, acting on the balloon, swept it along 
 with so much velocity that the vessel astern, notwithstanding every exertion, was unable to come up with it ; my 
 sole dependence was now therefore placed on the vessel which still remained ahead, and in order to impede as much 
 as possible the progress of the balloon, I cast out the grappling-iron ; and at length taking off the greater part of my 
 clothes I tied them to it and sunk them, in the hopes that the increased resistance in the water might tend to 
 retard the rapid motion with which I was dragged along through the sea, now agitated by the increasing breeze, 
 which swelled almost into a gale. This, however, had but little effect, and I found myself reluctantly compelled to 
 weaken the buoyancy of the balloon by reducing the quantity of gas ; I accordingly opened the valve, and the car 
 immediately sunk, being left to its own power, and incapable of floating with the quantity of ballast, the greater 
 part of which remained unexpended. In this perilous situation I supported myself for a short time by hanging to 
 the cane hoop ; but, as the balloon resting partly on the water still presented a considerable object on which the 
 wind acted with full force, impelling it forward with great rapidity, I was under the necessity of clinging to the 
 netting as a last resource, and in this situation was frequently plunged under water by the rolling of the balloon, 
 being able with difficulty to keep my head at intervals so long above the surface as to prevent suffocation ; but even 
 thus circumstanced I did not lose the recollection that, however dangerous the clinging to the balloon, it was still on 
 it my ultimate safety must depend, and that to preserve the power of the gas was an object of the first importance. 
 I therefore passed the valve-cord (which I still firmly held) around my arm, so as to prevent the possibility of losing 
 it, should weakness compel me to relax my hold of the netting, an event which was now fast approaching, as my 
 strength was completely exhausted, and under the apprehension of which I took the precaution of passing the 
 meshes of the net once or twice round my head, and in this state encountered the danger of drowning from 
 the rolling of the balloon. 
 
 Immersed in the waves and entirely exhausted, it was but at intervals I caught a glimpse of the vessel, and 
 when this occurred I was too faint to make my voice be heard so as to direct the necessary operations for securing 
 my safety. I, however, observed that the sailors seemed fearful of coming too near, lest the balloon should get 
 entangled with their rigging, and, availing myself of the first moment of temporary strength, I called to them, as 
 loud as my feeble state admitted of, to run the bowspirit of the vessel through the balloon. Fortunately, my 
 directions were heard and instantly obeyed, the greater part of the gas was immediately expelled, and the violent 
 motion of the balloon subdued ; a rope was then thrown out for me to seize on. which I was fortunate enough to do 
 while under water, and rather instinctively than otherwise to coil round my arm at the moment when every other 
 hold giving way I should, under other circumstances, most probably have sunk to rise no more. After being 
 dragged through the waves for a length of way, I was at last got on board with much difficulty, after having been 
 in the water for at least half an hour, being quite exhausted, nearly insensible, and almost lifeless, a state in which 
 
A.I.. 1817, SECOND ATTEMPT SUCCESSFI I 127 
 
 :.!.! !'! a coii.-id. Table time. The balloon and car wore next secured, the latter particularly with 
 
 1. r.il'le liiUmr, in consequence of the quantity of ballast that remained: a fact wliirh, added tu the 
 
 iine\]>cnded gas, convinces me that I possessed sufficient |>ower to have remained in the air for a very long period 
 
 with i-.-i.-- and safety, and to have accomplished at onoe the passage of the Channel hod not ray ardent desire 
 
 ! i. | *1 operated as a counteracting principle. 
 
 At tli.' time <.f my second descent a circumstance took place, in itself of a trifling nature, but which for 
 
 -iil-iiitv deserves to bo mention, ,1. As the oar touched the water I was surrounded by a multitude of small 
 
 id>. which boldly approached the balloon and attended its rapid course, as impelled by the wind it skimmed 
 
 |. 'ii^ the waves. I imagined they had been attracted to the car by the fragments of cake and bread which 
 
 fell u]N>n the water ; and in thin supposition I was speedily confirmed. l\>r, growing bolder by degrees, they at length 
 
 rushed iijHin me in a crowd, and actually carried off the remnant of provisions which remained floating on the 
 
 water. On mentioning the . ii. umstance to the sailors, I was informed that the birds were of the species designated 
 
 by nautiral men " Mother Cary's Chick. 
 
 Tln vessel on board of which I was taken I found to be the "Victory," a herring-fisher, from Douglas, in flu- 
 Isle of Man, commanded by John Lee, and bound tor Liverpool, to which port our course was accordingly directed, 
 and when- wo arrived in safety at a very early hour on the morning of the 2nd of October. In this city I had over 
 experienced the most kind and flattering attention, nor did the same warm feeling fail to exhibit itself on the 
 present occasion. Already had the news of my arrival reached the inhabitants, and. notwithstanding the early 
 hour, a crowd of anxious spectators had assembled to greet my landing. Wet and exhausted, I found myself 
 unequal tor the moment to meet their congratulations, and accordingly went on board the "Princess" of sixty-four 
 guns, when- I was received by Lieutenant lioche with the most polite attention, obtaining dry clothes and every 
 accommodation which my situation required. 
 
 On the evening of the 3rd of October I arrived at TTolyhead, and embarking on board the packet for Dublin, 
 was, in the forenoon < f the 4th, after a tempestuous and dangerous voyage, driven into Skerries, sixteen miles from 
 that city, to which place I immediately set out, and on the evening of the same day was again restored to my family 
 and to those friends whose anxious and affectionate wishes had attended my aerial journey. 
 
 Tig nut in mortals to command success ; 
 
 But we 11 do more, Sempronius we '11 deserve it. ADDISOX. 
 
 1817. Mr.Windham Sadler, with the intention of carrying out what his father had 
 already attempted, ascended from the Portobello Barracks, Dublin, at 1.20 P.M., on the 
 L'Uiid of June, having received his flag from Lady Jane Loftus. The wind was W.S.W., 
 and lie intended to effect the passage with the utmost rapidity; yet, after passing 
 through a cloud, he rose unwittingly to an altitude of 2 miles. The current there was not 
 the same, for, on descending through a snow-shower, he found himself over the Hill of 
 Hnwth. Having now entered the current that was favourable, his chief care was to keep the 
 balloon in it; and this he effected by the counteracting powers of gas and ballast. By this 
 iiit-ans his nnnsc was a direct line across the Irish Channel. " .... I enjoyed at a glance 
 the opposite shores of Ireland and Wales, with the entire circumference of the Isle of Man. 
 A lleet of twenty-one vessels, among the many single ships, formed a striking object." He 
 noticed also the shadow of the balloon on the water, and the beautiful colour given to the sea 
 l>y the setting sun. At 6.45 he alighted a mile south of Holyhead. The evening was 
 nely calm, and the balloon, when anchored, remained at twelve feet from the ground, 
 motionless. II, -.Ms. with some pride, that he was the first aeronaut who had successfully 
 accomplished the paoaov of tin- Irish Channel. 
 
 -*:r (icorge C'avley proposed a public subscription for the purpose of ascertaining how 
 tar the principle of balloons, supporting heavy burdens in the air, may be made useful as a 
 medium of c<>nveya: 
 
128 
 
 ASTRA C ASTRA. 
 
 A.U. 1817. 
 
 " When the subscription amounted to 1000/., he suggested that an Annual Committee of 
 seven members should be appointed, and that no experiments should be undertaken but by 
 order of this Committee, with the advice of such engineers as they chose to consult. 
 
 " Towards the attainment of this object he himself offered 501., but did not wish any one 
 disposed to forward it to subscribe on a larger scale, as he conceived that a greater amount 
 might be most probably obtained in smaller sums. 
 
 " We suppose, from no further mention of the subject, that Sir George's project fell 
 to the ground." Gentleman's Magazine, 1817. 
 
 JACOB'S DREAM. 
 
 THE sun was sinking on the mountain-zone 
 That guards thy vales of beauty, Palestine ! 
 And lovely from the desert rose the moon, 
 Yet lingering on the horizon's purple line, 
 Like a pure spirit o'er its earthly shrine. 
 Up Padan-Aran's height, abrupt and bare, 
 A pilgrim toiled, and oft on day's decline 
 Looked pale, then paused for eve's delicious air, 
 The summit gained, he knelt, and breathed his evening 
 prayer. 
 
 He spread his cloak and slumbered darkness fell 
 Upon the twilight hills : a sudden sound 
 Of silver trumpets o'er him seemed to swell ; 
 Clouds heavy with the tempest gathered round ; 
 Yet was the whirlwind in its caverns bound ; 
 Still deeper rolled the darkness from on high, 
 Gigantic volume upon volume wound, 
 Above, a pillar shooting to the sky, 
 Below, a mighty sea, that spread incessantly. 
 
 Voices are heard a choir of golden strings, 
 Low winds whose breath is loaded with the rose ; 
 Then chariot-wheels the nearer rush of wings ; 
 Pale lightning round the dark pavilion glows, 
 It thunders the resplendent gates unclose ; 
 Far as the eye can glance, on height o'er height, 
 Rise fiery waving wings, and star-crowned brows, 
 Millions on millions, brighter and more bright, 
 Till all is lost in one supreme, unmingled light. 
 
 But, two beside the sleeping pilgrim stand, 
 Like cherub-kings, with lifted mighty plume, 
 Fixed, sun-bright eyes, and looks of high command ; 
 They tell the patriarch of his glorious doom ; 
 Father of countless myriads that shall come ; 
 Sweeping the land like billows of the sea, 
 Bright as the stars of heaven from twilight's gloom, 
 Till He is given whom angels long to see, 
 And Israel's splendid line is crowned with Deity. 
 
 CROI.Y. 
 
 JACOB'S DREAM. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 KKMAKKAlil.l \S( EXTS KltMM Ivr, Tl> 
 
 Atone, on wide, wide, sea, 
 
 So lonely 'twas, that God himself 
 
 Scarce seemed there to be. COLEUIIX-.K. 
 
 GREEN'S SOLITARY ASCENTS is A rin NPKIUSTORM WISE'S FIRST VOYAGE is AMMEICA BAI.UNIN BURSTING EFFECTS 
 
 Or ECHO EXPLOSION OF BALLOON MR. AMD MRS. ORAHAM's ASCENTS LONDON To I.EIUII KIN BUZZARD LONDON 
 TO WEILBURG PREPARATIONS LEAVE ENGLAND SUNSET CROSSING THE SEA BELGIUM FURNACES OF LIEGE 
 
 MIDNIGHT "A ROPE MIMAkKN TOR A RIVER" "A VIOLENT CONCUSSION" "SOUXH OK ItrsillNO WATERS" 
 
 N " IIIl:M -I MUSES" "A SNOWY LANDSCAPE" "THOUGHTS OF CENTRAL ASIA " DESCENT THE 
 I' 'II V OF NASSAU " HlMMI.l* mil M IINAPPS" WEILIIURO PARIS " THE SUMMARY " Mil: PARACHUTE IN SIAM 
 
 "A LETTER TO THE 'MORNING HERALD '" MR. COCKINO's EXPERIMENT THE ASCENT THE FATAL DESCENT 
 
 MR. GREEN'S ACCOUNT "OPINIONS MAY STILL VARY" i \i KHIMENTS IN AMERICA INDIAN CHIEFS BLACK HAWK 
 
 AM. hKoM'K THE PROPHET BURNING FORESTS " AN EXPLOSION " INTENTIONAL BURSTING "STORM SCENE ABOVE 
 
 IIIK i i.uuos" ARCHIMEDES' ETPHKA, WISE'S VICTORY. 
 
 'Jli. IN June. Ivjii, Mr. Green ascended alone from Boston, in the presence of 20,000 
 I -i >].lr. :unl thus describes one of the many solitary and successful voyages he accomplished. 
 
 ...... The balloon sailing duo west passed between Swincshead and Heckington, in a direct line for 
 
 (intntham. when immediately over Sir John Thorold's park ; Boston resembled a muss of rubbish covering about 
 .in- aere: on descending I .-iit.-ivd another current that carried me towards Newark, ami I alighted at the seat of 
 T I!. \\ . Iliy. Esq., near Hotteeford. The barometer showed my greatest altitude to liave been 2i miles. 
 
 In -July of this yc:ir In- made a night ascent. 
 
 At 1 ".].-, J..M. I ascended from the Yauxhall Gardens. We kept the line of tlie Thames. Notwithstanding the 
 eli'ii.! : tin' atmosphere, and being deprived of the light of the moon, I could distinctly see the earth. 
 
 In Ilatt.rxa ;tnd \\andsworth, where the wheat was ready for cutting, it appeared like sheet* spread on the 
 ground : the ploii^lu-d Lmd was darker, and the trees and houses quite black; bridges with gas-lights appeared like 
 
 I l.nii].> nstin^ on the water: Rattersea and I'utney. without them, like dark planks.' By aid of iJavy's 
 Mil'.-ty lamp I n.uld i.lrM-rx-i- the Isirom. t-r. and. to prevent a higher ascent than three-quarters of a mile, we 
 i. liiuc.nd ; a horse-patrol was the only IXTNUI on the spot, but on account of the dead calm further 
 assistance was nt n-<]u: 
 
 Look ii|Mi the ni-ilit : 
 As water doe* a sponge, no tin muonlight 
 Kills tin' voiil, hollow, iinivi-txil air. 
 
 Wli:it rii]nivilii>nd heaven in lair, 
 
 Win thiT tli. moon, iiitu ln-r eluunber gone, 
 li-.-lit t" it;. L-i'l.lim sum, or wan 
 ( 'in, 1 with ,liiniin-li'.| \iwia the azure sleep; 
 (lr uh<-th<T rl.iiuls Kiil ..'. r the inverse deep, 
 
 ,<,,]. rinir Malt, 
 
 - nish llip'iiu-li <hi in. .liin tiTl fust. 
 All I :ul n. . \, i\ hinil Mil 1 11 , 
 
130 ASTRA CASTEA. A.D. 1827. 
 
 1827. Mr. Charles Green made his sixty-ninth ascent from Newberry, in Berkshire, 
 under very discouraging circumstances. He was accompanied by Mr. H. Simmons, a 
 gentleman of Reading, who was deaf and dumb. The following particulars of this 
 tempestuous voyage are given by Mr. Green : 
 
 The morning was very squally, yet a great number of visitants had assembled on the ground before 2 P.M. ; at 
 which hour a tremendous storm of hail, rain, and thunder occurred, the wind at the time blowing such a hurricane 
 that the balloon could scarcely be kept down, although loaded with two tons' weight of iron, and held by the 
 restraining strength of one hundred men. 
 
 Between 4 and 5 P.M. the clouds dispersed ; but the wind continued to rage with unabated fury the whole of 
 the evening. At 6 P.M. I stepped into the car with Mr. Simmons, and gave the word " Away ! " The moment the 
 machine was disencumbered of its weights, it was torn by the violence of the wind from the assistants, bounded off 
 with the velocity of lightning in a south-easterly direction, and, in a very short space of time attained an elevation 
 of two miles. At this altitude we perceived two immense bodies of clouds operated on by contrary currents of air, 
 until at length they became united ; and at that moment my ears were assailed by the most awful and long- 
 continued peal of thunder I ever hoard. These clouds were a full mile beneath us ; but perceiving other strata 
 floating at the same elevation in which we were sailing, which, from their appearance, I judged to be highly 
 charged with electricity, I considered it prudent to discharge twenty pounds of ballast, and we rose half a mile 
 above our former elevation, where I considered we were perfectly safe and beyond their influence. I observed 
 amongst other phenomena that, at every discharge of thunder, all the detached pillars of clouds within the distance 
 of a mile round became attracted, and appeared to concentrate their force towards the first body of clouds alluded 
 to, leaving the atmosphere clear and calm beneath and around us. 
 
 With very trifling variations we continued the same course until 7.15 P.M., when we descended to within five 
 hundred feet of the earth ; but perceiving from the disttirbed surface of the rivers and lakes that a strong wind 
 existed near the earth, we again ascended and continued our course till 7.30 P.M., when a final descent was safely 
 effected in a meadow-field in the parish of Crawley, in Surrey, situated between Guildford and Horsham, and 
 fifty-eight miles from Xewbury. This stormy voyage was performed in one hour and a half. 
 
 MR. WISE'S ASCENTS IN AMERICA. 
 
 1835. Wise, the most practical of American aeronauts, has left us a lucid history of 
 Aerostation, published at Philadelphia in 1850 ; from which I take the following account 
 of his own experiments. His first ascent, from Philadelphia, is thus described : 
 
 On 2nd May, the balloon being filled, I ordered them to let go, and before I could fairly say " Good-by, 
 gentlemen," the aerial ship was speeding me rapidly above the reach of obstructions. Now followed a scene worthy 
 the pen of a poet. The first second or two of the balloon's ascent caused a stillness in the immense mass of people 
 below that seemed as though they were fixed immovably to the spot, when all of a sudden the very air began to 
 reverberate with the shouts that followed. The multitude appeared to be as much rejoiced at the result as I 
 possibly could be myself ; and I must confess it was one of the happiest moments I ever experienced in my life ; for, 
 but a few minutes before, from the circumstances attendant, the success of the experiment for the time seemed to 
 rest upon a very doubtful contingency that of getting back to the inflating apparatus. Up, up I soared, almost 
 perpendicularly, to the distance of several thousand feet, when a gentle breeze wafted the machine in a south- 
 westerly direction the balloon still rising until it reached a point at the intersection of Market-street and the 
 Schuylkil Eiver, which is about one mile and a half from where it started. Here it became stationary, or nearly so, 
 and just at a point where the balloon had reached an altitude equal to its ascensive power, where was also a point 
 of two currents of air traversing each other ; the one from the north-east, which wafted the machine thither, was 
 here traversed above it by a current from the west. 
 
 Having now lost sight of the great throng of people that surrounded me at starting, and standing over a large 
 city, at least a mile above it, solitary and alone, with a low melancholy murmuring noise rising up from it ; the 
 balloon slowly writhing and twisting, as it were, between two contending currents, causing a fluttering breeze 
 around me, while I was standing in the car without hat, coat, or boots, looking around, below, above, and in every 
 direction, strange emotions pervaded my mind. Grandeur had ever been a delightful theme to me, but this was 
 more than grandeur. All the higher faculties of the human mind bocame gradually aroused; I was gently 
 
A.,,, i -AMKIMCAN EXPEBIMENTa" i::i 
 
 fr.ua i in -ignit'ie. nt dream. casting my eyes upon a scene of reality that .appeared fur more grand imd 
 
 tin-lit than the dream itx.lt'; strange feelings were passing through my tain.l ; 1 felt oompoacd in Iwdy, Imt 
 then- was an indescriKible commotion agitating tin- inin-r man, ami it was some time licforc I reasoned the soul ami 
 l>ody int.. their natural M.I'. ..f . .|iiililn inin.* Although the atmosphere at this height was mid, the perspiration 
 n.w Ix-gan to roll from niy forehead in largo drops. By a comparison of the previous few hours with the present 
 positi,,n then occupied. I Ixramo enal>le,l (,i ],M>k ami reflect in a more natural spirit ; but still, the vastneas, 
 grandeur. and snlilimitv ..f the scene around mo kept in.- in a mood far different from what I had ever 1 
 
 i. ne.-d. Th.- mind appeared to exjiand it^. It' .-..mm.-iiMinit. ly with the magnitude of the scene that surrounded 
 it. II. r.- was an immenHo (innnninity nf human In-iugs swarming underneath my feet, sending up a humming 1m// 
 frmn their a].|vir. ntly e..n.l. used cells: there, the ample folds of the I )e la ware were rolling themselves into the 
 In MM n-< in tained clouds i if the distant hori/.m ; above mo stood the huge distended balloon, swelled, an it were, in 
 ]mm|i.ius pride of its exalted |>oMtion. tl. mt ing like an imlejicndent sphere, with its single inhabitant, in the great 
 ethereal ocean of the univerHO. It was a tml inspiring s-.-nc. and one that will never ! erased from my mind 
 as loi Till live. 
 
 The Kill, mil was retain. -d in the edily it had reached for several minutes, and until it was lightened sufficiently 
 to ri- it, which w;is done by cutting off and throwing overboard a heavy flower-wreath which had Itecn 
 
 twined around the car. These llowers, as they foil from the car, were taken for birds by those who watched the 
 KM of the Kill. -.11 with telescopes, as I was afterwards informed. Besides this, the car was hanging so near 
 the Kill, K.n. that I was enabled to detach tin- tin tul>e which was in the neck of it, and which, in this instance, was 
 ntBMBMBlfy heavy; but. as the di.-]Ni>al of the wreath had lightened the machine sutVicieiitly to enable it to rise 
 al.M- the i-ddy. I did n..t throw it overboard at that point, and upon consideration found it would not le safe to 
 do so until I should get over a place where no human 1 icings would bo endangered by its descent After the balloon 
 had risen above the lower current, and the eddy which invariably exists between two currents, it took off in a 
 direction eastward, nearly on a line with Arch-street This I was enabled to toll by the map-like appearance of the 
 city, the market-houses la-inn in the next street south of it, which made a good mark to distinguish the streets by. 
 As I passed slowly over the city, its murmuring noise rose up in modulations of variable intensity, giving it a 
 melancholy musical effect, in some measure resembling the sound of an .Kolian hnrp. The current from the west 
 Ix-ing very gentle, it r. .piin d full twelve minutes to carry the machine from the Schuylkil to the Delaware, during 
 which time I feasted my eyes upon the panoramic scenery of the city and its precincts, occasionally running the eve 
 along the serjientine folds ..f the Delaware to where it was lost in the clouds which skirted the horizon all round. 
 The Schuylkil scvined of ton little interest, when viewed from that height in comparison with its larger neighbour. 
 
 \Vhen I reached the Delaware I threw overboard the neck-pipe of the balloon, which made a rushing sou ml in 
 itedescent until it splashed into the water, which 1 heard distinctly, although I was over a mile above its surface. As 
 I crossed the Delaware, the view up and down for a distance of twenty or thirty miles each way was picturesque 
 and grand beyond conception, and yet more natural in appearance than land scenery. This effect of the river 
 scenery caused a degree of composure in my mind, which, until now, had been strained far beyond a normal 
 condition, that enabled me to investigate and observe in a more ratiocinative manner. Before this, amazement wax 
 the only resultant of all observation on this magnificent planisphere. Although the boate and ships on the river 
 looked very diminutive, still the scene had the miniature appearance of a natural reality. This was not the ease in 
 taking a grind and gener.il view over the whole visible plain beneath ; for, in such an observation, a regularity and 
 exactness developed itself in the scene, which gave it more of an artificial than a natural aspect A perfectly 
 formed circle cn.-omjiaswd the visible planisphere beneath, or rather the concavo-sphere it might now be called, for 
 I had attain. -d a height from wliich the surface of the earth assumed a regularly hollowed, or concave appearance, 
 
 * O Nature ! by impanion'd heart* alone 
 
 Thy p-iniiiie dmrms :ir>- f. It. The vulgar mind 
 
 Bees but the shadow of a j.. r uiiknnwn: 
 
 Thy 1'iflior brauticg Ixttm not to tin- blin.l 
 
 An.l M-iitmnl throng, to grovelling hope* resign'.l : 
 
 Kin they who high nn.l lii\ tl...ni;lit- iiupire, 
 
 A.|..r.- tin-., in rcliwtiiil K\nT\ slirin.-.l, 
 In that diviner l';iii. , \\i.. i. |,,\, ' pure fire 
 Burns bright, uii.l _!. ins tunes his loud immortal lyre. PRDTOLC. 
 
132 ASTRA CAST11A. A.D. 
 
 an optical delusion which increases as you recede from it. At the greatest elevation 1 .attained, which was about a 
 mile and a half, the appearance of the world around me assumed a shape or form like that which is made by placing 
 two watch crystals together by their edges, the balloon apparently in the central cavity all the time of its flight at 
 that elevation ; the river each way, cut off at the intersection of the upper and lower concavo-spheres. At one time 
 this crevice, if I may so term it, was apparently filled in with clouds all around, while at the close of the voyage the 
 visible horizon was clear of them, which gave it, as I before stated, a very artificial appearance. I could not help 
 thinking at the time that, had the Eoman Inquisition which made Vincent Galileo recant his doctrine of the 
 rotundity of the earth, in favour of the planisphoric theory, occupied my position, they would have insisted to his 
 swearing that our earth was hollowed or concave on its outer surface, instead of flat, as they made the philosopher 
 swear it was. 
 
 After 1 had crossed the Delaware and reached a point five or six miles on the Jersey side of it, I made 
 preparations to descend, as I discovered the balloon was now gradually sinking from the loss of gas through its 
 imperfection, which made me feel as sorrowful as Adam when he was expelled from the garden of Eden. After 
 being in the upper regions of the atmosphere one hour and a quarter, I made a safe descent near Haddonfield, 
 a village about nine miles distant from Philadelphia, and returned home that evening, where I received the 
 congratulations of many friends. 
 
 Now that I had really enjoyed the pleasures of an aerial voyage, viewed the earth from a point in space 
 which was isolated and unobstructed ; feasted my eyes upon one of the most interesting and richest scenes that 
 mortal man could imagine ; and had acquitted myself in an experiment publicly announced in a creditable manner, 
 it might have been supposed that my desires and ambition in this matter had been fully satisfied. But such was 
 not the case. I had now visited the shrine of intellectual grandeur, and its attractions were seductive. I had 
 dreamed a magnificent dream, which, 1 felt convinced, could bo realised. Such were my reflections when recurring 
 to this event. Although many of my friends desired me, in the most persuasive manner, to give up the idea of 
 repeating the experiment, looking upon it as an extremely dangerous business, I resolved in my own mind to pursue 
 it as long as it afforded me the same enjoyment which I experienced in my first essay. Besides, I formed an opinion 
 that aerial navigation was destined to move with the progressive order of the day ; and I felt that a duty devolved 
 upon me not to let it sleep for the want of active investigation, however slow its improvement might be. Such 
 considerations induced me to go on; and on I did go, as the sequel will show, for fifteen years already, with, at 
 least, well-founded hopes of its approaching general usefulness, if not with considerable improvement in the way of 
 having simplified the art, so as to bring it within the reach of experimenters at a reasonable cost and a certainty of 
 success that must ere long give it a valuable feature. 
 
 Another ascent was made in July, from Lebanon, Pennsylvania, when the weather was 
 extremely w;irm. 
 
 There were (he says) defects in the rigging of the balloon which developed themselves in the high and rarefied 
 regions of the atmosphere, that placed me for a while in a very perilous situation. 
 
 At 3 o'clock P.M. I left the earth with a breeze from the north-west. In a few minutes after, a panoramic 
 view of innumerable villages, with the broad dazzling sheet of water of the Susquehanna, was unfolded to the 
 view. 1 crossed the Reading and Harrisburg turnpike at the first gate below the town, and although I staiied off 
 with an ascending power that raised me more swiftly than was the horizontal velocity of the wind, I was induced 
 to part with a bag of sand of about six pounds' weight, as a proffer to the toll-gate keeper, who very humorously 
 hailed me to pay toll as the balloon passed over his gate. This caused the balloon to rise with amazing rapidity 
 rushing up through the strong horizontal wind, which was blowing with a speed of at least thirty miles per hour, 
 and giving the occasion much the appearance and spirit of that in which a fiery charger is dashing along in mettled 
 pride, heeding no restraint. This soon brought mo in contact with a thick hazy mist, which was entered and in a few 
 moments passed. Above this were a clear sky and brilliant sunshine ; but it was now so cold that my hands became 
 numb, and a painful earache seized me. The balloon was still ascending rapidly, and my next impulse was to 
 discharge gas and descend into a more congenial climate ; but in this I was foiled, and up boomed the buoyant courser 
 with unabated career. The cord by which the valve was worked was sufficiently strong to perform that office, but 
 no allowance was made in its appropriation to unforeseen necessities such as slight entanglements with other 
 
s.n. L886. i:\l-l.MSiJiN OF llli: i:.\|.i.< K >Y !:;:; 
 
 nig int. i folds ..f the flaccid part of the balloon which Lit tor liability occurred on 
 this .vasi,in. and ili |n ivi'il in.' ..(' tho use of tliat all iin]xirtunt regulator. 
 
 ..! I'.ii -aUive tin' mist, ami imt less than three miles above the earth, in n 
 
 ln\inir IN-.-II within twi -nty tiv.- minutes tian-f ml t'mni a warmth of '.it , whirh tin- thermometer indicated when 
 
 I li-t't tin- earth, the world below scam 1\ visible t'ic.m the intervening discoloured stratum of air; my ears l>u/./ing 
 
 like a 1 r -hive, whieh I'm- a while I t.mk to bo a MmtotioB of the ;is in tho balloon endeavouring to escape through 
 
 its tightly .li-: vel.ijM-; tho valvo-ropo broken olV inside tho machine; the aerial ship still bounding and 
 
 tint; upwards, I felt a degree of excitement that can If U-tter imaginod than dcscribod. 
 
 All this difficulty arose from a want of practical knowledge in tho art which must be acquired in thin, as in 
 
 li.-r 1'ii-i'i -s U-f.iro we can avoid consequences arising from such detieiency. In the first place, tho valvo- 
 
 ri.|- was too fmil in this machine : instead of a Kiil.-Mnti.il cord (cod-fish lino 1 find tho boat), this was only common 
 
 I he car was also rigged too near the balloon ; this may have been observed already by the intelligent 
 
 reader, where it is m.-nti. ii.-.l in the account of the first voyage, that the car was so near tho balloon that 1 u.i- 
 
 enabled to untie the neek-pi|f in the lower orifice of it On this occasion I had it hanging at least three feet 
 
 lower from tin- Indium than la-fore: lint when I got to a height in the atmosphere where tho gas sustained but half 
 
 tli. pn-ssure it did at the time of leaving the earth, it naturally dilated accordingly, and all the part of tho balloon 
 
 wa tlaceid when it started was now required for its increase of bulk. For this increase the spaoo within the 
 
 ...r.1- aii.l network l-tweeti the eipiator of tho balloon and tho concentrating hoop above my head, to which tho car 
 
 was ). A.US insufficient. Having no way to let off gas, even the lower orifice of the balloon containing tho 
 
 !>i]f. whieh answers for a safety-valve when properly rigged, was doubled up between tho concentrating hoop 
 
 iitnl the lower Mf of the Kill. KIII. whieh was now swollen to its utmost tension, I endeavoured to reach the lower 
 
 f tin- Killoon with a knife, but, by straddling across with my feet in the open-work of tho basket, it could not 
 
 ..'bed by at least two feet. From the hissing noise of the gas which was making its way through tin- small 
 
 channels of the compressed neck of the balloon, I knew that something must give way soon. As I did not know 
 
 at that tini.- that so large a surface of fabric as is contained in a machine of that size would inevitably meet with 
 
 friction iiinitrh. in falling through the atmosphere, to bring it to a velocity where an acceleration must cease, and 
 
 fin' at a jxiiiit whan its speed will not cause serious consequences from contact with the earth, I was apprehensive 
 
 that it M ."' I*' my last voyage. 
 
 In another moment a report like that of suddenly bursting an inflated paper-bag, such as boys frequently 
 amuse themselves with, informed me that the balloon had rent; and, at the same time, some of tho cords two of 
 them separated from the concent rat in:; hoop; and that side of the balloon at which this took place- as quickly 
 bulged out, and immediately tho atmosphere round tho machine got filled with a whitish filmy vapour. This was 
 the consequence of a mixture of warm hydrogen with cold atmosphere. The hydrogen in a balloon is always 
 warmer than the Mirrounding air. when the sun is shining on its globular surface. The e\]>l..>i..n was caused by 
 the neck-pi)>c ! ing pressed between the concentrating hoop and the lower surface of the balloon, and this pipe 
 being tin, and pressing also against two of the net-cords which were brought to an angle by being forced out a little 
 by the muzzle of it, caused them to break at the same time. Although the breaking of two cords next to each other 
 out of the twenty-four which was the number in this machine did not seem to endanger my situation much, 
 Inn se, in. .1 rather to have relieved me to some extent from tho very precarious condition in which I had been a few 
 moments previously, it still destroyed that mathematical strength existing in its complete state, which made me 
 feel anxious to return to terra Jirma. I looked at my watch, and found the time to be five minutes past four. 
 
 t the explosion of the lower part of tho balloon, it commenced a tolerably rapid descent, and as tho 
 atmospher. had got considerably clearer than it had been when I started, I could more easily distinguish the face of 
 the country l.-ne.ith. On observation I found the balloon was gradually descending on the village of NVomelsdorf. 
 1 a salute from a volley of musketry, by a company of volunteers who were celebrating the National 
 K.-pnlilie.m birthday at that place. Although I had determined to let the balh.oii sink to the ground as soon as it 
 possibly would from its own gravitation occasioned by tho loss of the gas through tho rent, for I had no control of 
 th. \al\e. this salute of firing and shouting insjiin d me to rise again ; and accordingly papers and ballast were 
 thrown overboard. MifhVieiit to send the machine up at least two miles high. No sooner \\.i- thi- h. i^ht attain..!, 
 than it ajrain romm.nod to ,1, >, , n.l v, i y gradually, which brought me to the earth about four miles w-s 
 Readin.. Here an incident ocenrn-d which was as amusing to me as it was terrifying to the individual who was a 
 party thereto. IV ing likely to descend in a cluster of trees. I threw out some ballast to cross them at the samo 
 
 T 2 
 
134 ASTKA CASTEA. A.D. 1835. 
 
 time the grappling-hooks took hold in a branch of one of the trees, which was broken off and dragged along. At 
 this moment I perceived a countryman mounting the top rail of a worm-fence about a hundred paces ahead of the 
 balloon, to which point the wind was driving it. I hailed him to assist, for the balloon was floating the length of 
 the grapple-rope above and dragging the limb of the tree along below. He looked in every direction but upwards, 
 and in another moment the limb and grapple came square up against the panel of fence upon which he was sitting, 
 and threw it down, pitching the man head foremost into the meadow before him, from which he sprang terror- 
 stricken, if fleetness of foot is any evidence of such feeling, for he was soon out of sight, leaving me to manage the 
 best way I could, which was by being driven up against a wood. Here I got the assistance of two women who 
 had been working in the hay-field, and who promptly came to my assistance when I called them, although they 
 were much excited, having never seen such a contrivance before, as they informed me. Had it not been for these 
 Amazonian ladies, I should inevitably have gotten into the wood, for a brisk gale was just passing over at the 
 time. 
 
 Thus ended a voyage, after having been in the atmosphere one hour and a half, full of interest, excitement, 
 and a great deal of instruction. So far were these difficulties from discouraging me, that they, upon the other 
 hand, dictated me to go on and perfect the deficiencies in my apparatus. 
 
 On the 1st October he made an ascent from Lancaster, and thus describes it : 
 
 In about two minutes after I entered the cloud stratum, the balloon emerged from the top. Just as it was 
 penetrating the upper surface of the stratum, I found the cloudy vapour quite warm, and immediately, on emerging 
 from it, this warmth was increased to a degree of temperature above that of comfortable feeling. A pungently 
 stinging sensation was also produced upon those parts of ray person which were exposed to the sun's rays. This I 
 attributed to the hydrogen, which was let off while passing through the clouds, some of which hung to me in 
 passing through it. Having started with considerable ascensive power, and having nearly one hundred pounds of 
 ballast in the car, a considerable quantity of gas was discharged while passing through the clouds, which was 
 intended to counteract, in a measure, the increased ascending velocity the balloon would attain, as soon as she would 
 get under the direct influence of the sun's rays, above the stratum. Notwithstanding this precaution, as soon as the 
 barrier was passed, the balloon, in a few moments after, sped up at a furious rate, until it reached a height at which 
 the barometer stood at 19 inches, and the clouds appeared at an immense depth below me. Not experiencing 
 much warmth by the reflection of heat from the clouds at this distance above them, and the balloon, now moving in 
 an angular direction to that of the clouds, their upper surface lit up in a brilliant white light, gave it the appearance 
 of a vast circular ocean of snow, rolling along in a wavelike motion, in the most majestic grandeur, and the cold 
 frosty state of the atmosphere, from which it was beheld, rendered this snow scene most impressive. 
 
 1 next discharged gas until the barometer stood at 23 inches. At this height, it being but a short 
 distance above the cloud surface, I found the temperature very congenial, and continued the rest of the voyage, 
 varying by barometer from 23 to 22 inches. In the rise and fall of the balloon above the clouds, which 
 occupied twenty minutes, it described a spiral circle ; and, on coming near to the surface of the clouds, I recog- 
 nised a familiar tune of martial music, which I afterwards learned was the very tune played by the musicians 
 of the city battalion of volunteers, who on this occasion formed a cordon around the ascension ground, they being 
 invited to attend and participate in the enjoyment of the spectacle. An opening in the clouds which occurred for a 
 moment also developed to me a watercourse below, which I took for the Conestogo. My course now lay, as near as 
 I could judge, towards the south ; but, in order to be more certain concerning my whereabouts and direction, 
 discharged gas and darted down through the clouds ; but when below them, the country appeared so rough with 
 forest hills, and the space between the hills and the lower cloud surface so shallow, I quickly threw out some 
 ballast, which sent me up again partly into the clouds. Hearing a cowbell and the sounds of a wood-chopper's 
 axe, I hailed in the following manner: "Halloo!" to which I heard the reply, "Halloo!" I next inquired, 
 "How far is this from Lancaster?" which in a few moments was returned by " How far is thin from Lancaster?" 
 Believing this to come in response as an inquiry to know whether I wished to learn that fact, " the distance 
 to Lancaster," I repeated it again in veiy measured accent. This was again responded to in like measured 
 accent, apparently to my mind with an intent of mockery. Being in the clouds, and not able to see things either 
 above or below, I felt somewhat nettled at such clownish display of wit ; and in a very audible tone of voice, while 
 the foregoing was still reverberating on my ear, sung out, " You are a fool ! " which in a very few seconds was 
 
A.I,. I KKFECTS OF ECHO. I.'T, 
 
 in tin equally distinct ;unl measuud tone of. " You art a foot! " when it smlili-nly ll;i-ln <1 upon my mind 
 
 tliat it was tit. echo i.f my own voice, which opinion was ratified by the dying reverberations of "You are a f..l." 
 
 hi. h had M' >w become as numerous as though n whole regiment had caught the watchword and were pimring it in 
 
 ijnii-k sucCTiwion through tin- whole line. Involuntarily I exclaimed to myself, " Fi>l. d. sure enough." Being 
 
 lined t.i timl out my whereabouts, I let off sufficient gaa to get below the clouds, when I olnerved through a 
 
 !.u* ii littlt- clearing iii which was a cottage, and before it a num. His face was turned upwards, apparently 
 drawn in that dircvtioii l.y the dialogue 1 li.el witli myself, ami which no doubt he had heard. 1 ini|iiin-il of him 
 win -ther lie saw in.-, for I was then .standing up in tho car and waving a flag to draw his attention. He answered, 
 Yet; who are you?" I i. pli.il, An .-ing, -1 of light." Ipm which he cried out "Is your name Wise?" To thin 
 I nqionded. " Yes; how far is thi- 1'i.iin Lancaster?" To which he answered, "Sixteen miles." Upon which I bid 
 him - ( ...-1 l.\. ." threw out some ballast and went up through tho clouds again. As I was panning up I heard him 
 ay, " God bless you, man." 
 
 .iig now become interested in this singular phenomenon of echo, I continued making experiments in it. 1 
 
 foniiil when sailing some hundred feet above tho cloud stratum, that the echoing sound was short, not near so 
 
 sonorous ,, r musical to the ear as win n in the clouds or immediately beneath them. Still I could hear the 
 
 ions until they became H. n.l. ! into mere undulatory sounds, \\ln-n at a considerable elevation above 
 
 the el 1>. one or two thousand feet, I could discern no echo, and tho report of a rifle was short and sharp; so also 
 
 tin- sound c.f a 1.11, and the chopping of an axe. From these experiments, I think one loud clap of thunder 
 when a dense stratum of clouds is extended over a great portion of surface, is sufficient to cause that long 
 continued rumbling thunder which we often hear, one echo inducing another, until by multiplication they become 
 so numerous as to blend into a mere rumbling vibration in which it is neutralised and lost, as are the waves which 
 are caused by throwing a stone into water. 
 
 The wind just alpve the cloud region appeared to be vibrating from various points of tho compass, causing the 
 balloon to describe a kind of zigzag course in a southerly direction, necessarily making tho progress in that direction 
 somewhat slow for aerial travelling. 
 
 Knowing my course would carry me on to tho bay shore, and having been aloft nearly two hours, it was 
 
 it that I must be nearing the Chesapeake, unless the balloon was making a different course from that of her 
 first sixteen miles. Con.vquciitly another gradual descent through the cloud stratum, which was still very dense, 
 was made, which brought tho machine over Conewingo Falls in tho Susquehanna River. The roaring noise as it 
 met my ars. while yet in the clouds, gave me some foreboding that I had reached the bay shore, taking the noise 
 of the falls for that of the bay surf. .My anxiety was relieved from this, and increased in another quarter; for, in 
 coming through the clouds, the falls were immediately underneath me, the balloon descending very rapidly, and the 
 opposite side of the river lined with highlands and trees, and it was not until a great quantity of ballast wax 
 discharged that the balloon overcame the obstacles. I hailed some individuals living at the falls, who invited me 
 
 -ocnd and partake of their hospitality, which, however, the position I was placed in compelled me to decline. 
 
 I made this reoonnoissance, the sun was near the hori/on above the clouds, and when my vessel got below 
 them I found the earth shrouded in a gloomy twilight The Chesapeake lay some miles to the south, and the 
 direction tho balloon was making would carry it along its western border. The large quantity of ballast discharged 
 in i Tossing the falls, caused the balloon to rise to a great height above the clouds, bringing, as it were, the sun above 
 the hoii/.on also, which but a few minutes before was sinking behind a bank of clouds, and had now become elevated 
 twelve to fifteen degrees. This phenomenon interested me more than it deceived me, but was still the cause of 
 keeping me aloft until it had got dark U-low, which circumstance cost me my balloon and a most terrific accident 
 
 jig now, tit even that height, that the day-god was fast sinking in the cloud horizon, I commenced a 
 gradual descent, and lieforc I reached the upjicr surface of the clouds the sun was lost behind their western bound. 
 Tin- descent through this vaulted ceiling of tho earth was dark and gloomy in the extreme. A deathly silence. 
 ei|iial!c<l only by the !m]>eiictraUe darkne.ss that surrounded me on all sides, made the descent awful, and yet grand 
 and imposing. As soon as the clouds were el. and, a few scattered lights were visible, which apprised mo that 
 
 - coming on land, and in a few moments after I felt my drag-rope, which was four hundred feet long. 
 glide gently over tree-tops, and in a few moments more I felt^by its motion, that it was dragging apparently 
 
 smooth ground; and. hearing tit tin- same time human voices not far off, the grapple-iron was immediately 
 thrown out, which as quickly brought up the vessel near a fence. Having hallooed considerably while descending 
 from the dor.ds to the earth, ami hearing no response. I next betook myself to loading my car with stones which 
 
13(i ASTRA CASTEA. A.D. 1836. 
 
 were within my reach. Having accomplished this in a manner sufficient to keep the balloon anchored by the car in 
 case the grapple-iron should slip its hold, I commenced hallooing again, which was immediately answered by a 
 coloured man, as I judged from his dialect. He cried, " Where are you ? " I answered, " Here, with a balloon." 
 He replied, " I know dat." This surprised me, and I cried out, " How do you know it ? " He answered, " I smell 
 de balloon." This surprised me still more ; but ho having in the mean time come up to me, informed me, upon 
 inquiry, that ho had helped to fill a balloon at Baltimore the fall previous ; and that as soon as I told him I was 
 there with a balloon, ho concluded I had come from Baltimore with one, having no doubt of what I told him, 
 because he smelled the hydrogen. Uneducated man as he was, I found him one of remarkably quick perceptive 
 faculties, and just such an one as an aeronaut is glad to meet with on his descent. He informed me that I had 
 landed between Belle-Air and Port Deposite, on the plantation of Mr. Stump, in Harford county, Md. By his 
 assistance the balloon was moored near the house of Mr. Stump, when we roused the family, they having retired to 
 bed at an early hour. Here we found plenty of assistance, Mr. Stump giving me a very cordial reception, at the 
 same tune ordering his coloured men to render me all the assistance necessary. As it was drizzling, and the grass 
 was wet, I determined to discharge the gas from the upper valve of the balloon, and thus be enabled to fold the 
 whole machine into the car beneath it, as it gradually collapsed. This process being necessarily slow, and the 
 atmosphere very humid, it became impregnated with the hydrogen for some distance around the balloon. Being 
 some distance from the house, and having a lantern standing at least fifty feet from the balloon, I apprehended no 
 danger from the escaping gas. Things went on in this way until the balloon was emptied to within a thousand 
 cubic feet of gas, her upper end being now drawn down, and one of the men with his hand pressing open the upper 
 valve, while I was standing at the other end carefully folding the loose silk into the car. \Yhile thus engaged, 
 Mr. Stump standing about thirty feet behind me, and some half-dozen more persons near and round the machine, 
 cither the lantern, or some other light which had in the mean time been brought to the scene, ignited the explosive 
 mixed atmosphere that was hovering around the balloon, making a report like a park of artillery, throwing me 
 violently back at least ten feet from the place I was standing, setting fire to the clothes of some, and severely 
 scorching the faces and hands of others, and even Mr. Stump did not entirely escape the eifects of it, although a 
 considerable distance from the machine. 
 
 I quickly sprang upon my feet again, and jumped on to the remainder of the balloon which was burning in 
 the car, and which was thus extinguished by tramping it out the gas that had by the sudden explosion been 
 liberated from the balloon, in the mean time rose rapidly into the air " like a consuming fire," with a rushing noise, 
 until, at a considerable height, it was totally consumed like a dying meteor. 
 
 There I stood in deep reverie, scarcely able to realise the events of the last few hours, with feelings like a 
 person awakening from a dream, in which all the magnificence sublimity solemnity terror consciousness of 
 approaching death, that the human mind is capable of conceiving, agitating my thoughts. For, at the moment 
 of the explosion, the death-pang flitted through my mind. In a few moments I was aroused from my fixed position 
 by an agonising pain through my whole body, which soon concentrated itself in my hands and face. I felt as though 
 the very heart's blood was oozing through the skin, and I was soon made sensible that I was wofully scorched in those 
 parts the watery fluid of the system was oozing out in profuse drops, and some of the poor negroes had fared no 
 better than myself in this respect, which their agonising screams too plainly told. Mr. Stump, who was more of a 
 spectator than an immediate sufferer in this terrific aifair, being a very considerate gentleman of advanced years, 
 came up to me and desired me to accompany him to the dwelling, for, by this time, I had become almost 
 blind 
 
 Medical assistance was obtained, but it was some time before he recovered. 
 
 ASCENTS OF MR. AND MRS. GRAHAM. 
 
 1836. Mr. Graham bad commenced experiments in aerostation in 1823, and Mrs, 
 Graham in 1824. I cannot find anything very remarkable to record of them during this 
 long period, except the extreme boldness of the latter in ascending frequently alone, and on 
 one occasion with another lady (Mrs. Cheese); but in this year she met with a serious 
 accident when descending from a high flight with the Duke of Brunswick. This did 
 

 s 
 
 4 
 I 
 
 I 
 
 j 
 
A. I.. IS3li. 
 
 MI;. AM- MI;S. i. 
 
 .\si I:\TS. 
 
 137 
 
 nut, however. uet,-r li.-r iVoin resuming her experiments. 
 
 nt.> a po.-i thus wrote : 
 
 Of ulic ut Mr-. 
 
 Lo, while sublimely borne upon the pale, 
 ( >ur fate to watchful Providence consign 'd, 
 
 i ''. r tlie blue ether's wide expanse we tail. 
 
 And leave for brighter realms the world behiuil : 
 
 J. 
 As, far beyond the glance of mortal eye, 
 
 While i;eiitl zephyrs waft our floating car. 
 Wo urge our fearleai voyage to the iky, 
 
 And trace the mystic wooden of the air. 
 
 3. 
 
 A mighty region all around us grows, 
 No human skill may its confines explore; 
 
 The Pow'r that fram'd, alone its limits knows, 
 Where time, and space, and nature are no more. 
 
 4. 
 
 Here while our silken sphere serenely glides, 
 iistant earth fades in the awful vast ; 
 We gaze admiring o'er the aerial tic I.-, 
 And the last vestige of the world is past. 
 
 Beneath us far the floating clouds appear 
 In heaps on heaps of misty vapours roll'd, 
 
 Like distant mountains rising on the air, 
 And all the boundless horizon unfold. 
 
 6. 
 As if Omnipotence had form'd a veil, 
 
 When erring man forgot His sacred reign ; 
 That might from sight of Ileav'n a world conceal, 
 
 Where oft His bounteous gifts are giv'n in rain. 
 
 7. 
 
 Ami as we gate we own that Power supreme 
 Who thro' the realms of air our course protects, 
 
 v His mandate <Ii<l thrir winders frame, 
 Ami Nature's latent mysteries directs. 
 
 8. 
 Xo bold presumption now impels our tlitzlit, 
 
 : while these mysteries wo woiilil explore, 
 Where scenes celestial open on our ci-ht, 
 \\ l>end iu rcv'rencc, and His name adore 
 
 9. 
 
 Whose wisdom gave them lx'i:ii, :md whose 
 Still watchful o'er the creatures of His word, 
 
 Ixxiks down in mercy from His throne on high, 
 And suppliant nature owns th' Almighty Ixrnl. 
 
 10. 
 Oh, might we still thro' this bright region soar! 
 
 lint this eternal Providence denies; 
 Thus far we can His will |-rmils no more, 
 
 And we reluctantly forsake the skies. 
 
 11. 
 But still, this much to Graham's bo|ics is giv'n. 
 
 Xo aerial voyagers could venture more ; 
 And still our fate, the care of fav'rini: Henv'n, 
 
 We reach in safety the terrestrial sh. 
 
 Tin's yfnr also Mr. Monck Mason made an ascent from Vauxhall, which is thus 
 
 in a letter 
 
 To THE EDITOR OF ' THE TIMES.' 
 
 SIR, October I- 
 
 !' rhaps I ought to apologise to you and your readers for so soon troubling them upon the Dame subject, mid 
 vhich. fmin the frequency wherewith it has been treated of late, may very reasonably be considered as alum*! 
 exhausted. The great variety, however, of the aspects under which Nature exhibits hcrsc-lf in such situations. and 
 th'- noveltv of the manner in which even her most ordinary features are displayed to those who avail themsclvi * of 
 such a mode of examining them, will at all times leave room even for the most superficial observer to make -nut 
 remarks which have escaped the comments of former aeronauts, and to note some pcciiliaiiti. s which distinguish 
 each successive ascent from all those which have preceded it. Scientific experiments are, of course, out of the 
 question in an ancent which has not been conducted with an especial view to such end*, and when- the el. v.ition 
 .itt.iin.il i which is, in fact, tin- clii.-f grounds for its employment in such purposes) was not calculated to admit of 
 anv lievond those of the- most uMial an.l commonplace description. So manifold, however, arc tin- ..|> -rations of 
 Nature, and so replete with interest even the most insignificant of her works, that no two ascents can ever ! said 
 to be so perfectly alike that something may not remain to be told to interest the , n. ml n-adi-r. .nnl cv-uw tli. 
 recurrence of a >ul'ji-ct which must yd. for a long periinl, continue to ! claased anion^ the must Mrikinv 
 novelties ..f an < -nt' q>rising age. 
 
 A- twenty-tive minutes to four our balloon and car, containing nine persons, rose majestically from tli<- 
 Around, and, assuming at the first a southwesterly direction, rapidly t ravers. -d flic .\tr.niiiy of the (i,-. work 
 
138 ASTRA CASTEA. OCTOBER, 1836. 
 
 gallery, immediately and closely sweeping over the heads of the persons who had collected there for the purpose of 
 witnessing the ascent. As Boon, however, as she had reached a slight elevation her ascensive power quickly 
 prevailed, and in a few seconds she was involved in the clouds which impended at a slight distance above the 
 surface of the earth. 
 
 Although the day might be considered as generally unfavourable to aeronautical display, yet was it not. 
 without its advantages, especially to those whose previous experience in such scenes had been confined to a clear 
 atmosphere or an unclouded sky. The vast extent of vapour which canopied the earth and ultimately excluded that 
 object from our view, if in one point it was calculated to detract from the beauty of our prospect, by depriving us of 
 one great and usual source of admiration, in another contributed to the interest and majesty of the scene by the 
 novel aspect imder which it presented the altered face of nature to our senses. 
 
 Scarcely had we quitted the earth before the clouds, which had previously overhung us, began to envelop us 
 on all sides and gradually to exclude the fading prospect from our sight. It is scarcely possible to convey an 
 adequate idea of the effect produced by this apparently trivial occurrence. Unconscious of our own motion from 
 any direct impression upon our own feelings, the whole world appeared to be in the act of receding from us into the 
 dim vista of infinite space ; while the vapoury curtain, like similar phenomena represented on the stage, seemed to 
 congregate on all sides and cover the retreating masses from our view. The trees, the buildings, the spectators and 
 their crowded equipages, and finally, the earth itself, at first distinctly seen, gradually became obscured by the 
 thickening mist, and growing whiter in their forms, and fainter in their outlines, soon faded away " like the baseless 
 fabric of a vision," leaving us, to all appearance, stationary in the cloud that still continued to involve us in its 
 watery folds. To heighten the interest and maintain the illusion of the scene, the shouts and voices of the multitude 
 whom we had left behind us, cheering the ascent, continued to assail us (long after the interposing clouds had 
 effectually concealed them from our eyes) in accents which every moment became fainter and fainter, till they were 
 finally lost in the increasing distance. 
 
 Through this dense body of vapour, which may be said to have commenced at an altitude of about 1000 feet, 
 we were borne upwards to perhaps an equal distance, when the increasing light warned us of our approach to its 
 superior limits, and shortly after the sun and we rising together, a scene of splendour and magnificence suddenly 
 burst upon our view, which it would be vain to expect to render intelligible by any mode of description within our 
 power : pursuing the illusion which the previous events had been so strongly calculated to create, the impression 
 upon our senses was that of entering upon a new world to which we had hitherto been strangers, and in which not 
 a vestige could be perceived to remind us of that we had left, except the last faint echo of the voices which still 
 dimly reached us, as if out of some interminable abyss into which they were fast retreating. 
 
 Above us, not a single cloud appeared to disfigure the clear blue sky, in which the sun on one side, and the 
 moon in her first quarter upon the other, reigned in undisturbed tranquillity. Beneath us in every direction, as 
 far as the eye could trace, and doubtless much farther, the whole plane of vision was one extended ocean of foam, 
 broken into a thousand fantastic forms; here swelling into mountains, then sinking into lengthened fosses, or 
 exhibiting the appearance of vast whirlpools ; with such a perfect mimicry of the real forms of nature, that, were 
 it not for a previous acquaintance with the general character of the country below us, we should frequently 
 have been tempted to assert without hesitation the existence of mountainous islands penetrating through the clouds 
 and stretching in protracted ranges along the distant verge of our horizon. 
 
 In the centre of this hemisphere, and at an elevation of about 3000 feet above the surface of the clouds, 
 we continued to float in solitary magnificence, attended only at first by our counterpart a vast image of the balloon 
 itself with all its paraphernalia distinctly thrown by the sun upon the opposite masses of vapour, until we had 
 risen so high that even that, outreaching the material basis of its support, at length deserted us ; nor did we again 
 perceive it until, preparatory to our final descent, we had sunk to a proper elevation to admit of its reappearance. 
 
 Not the least striking feature of ours and similar situations is the total absence of all perceptible motion, as 
 well as of the sound which in ordinary cases is ever found to accompany it. Silence and tranquillity appear to hold 
 equal and undisputed sway throughout these airy regions. No matter what may be the convulsions to which the 
 atmosphere is subjected, nor how violent its effects in sound and motion upon the agitated surface of the earth, not 
 the slightest sensation of either can be detected by the individual who is floating in its currents. The most violent 
 storm, the most outrageous hurricane, pass equally unheeded and untl-lt ; and it is only by observing the retreating 
 forms of the stable world beneath that any certain indication can be obtained as to the amount or violence of the 
 
A..,, i- i.n\iM.\ m I.I:K;III-ON ur/./AKi'. i:tn 
 
 motion t-i which thf individual is actually subjected. This, however, was a resource of which wo were unable to 
 .1 ourselves, totally excluded as we were from all view of the earth, r any fixed point connected with it. 
 
 i >ini' ami only once, for a few moments preparatory to our final descent, iliil we obtain a transitory gliraptie of 
 tin- we. i M beneath ua. I'IKHI approaching tlio upper Hiirfiiou of the vapoury strata, which we have described an 
 
 linir in every direction around, a jiurtial owning in the clouds discovered to us for an mutant a portion of the 
 e.irth. ap|*iiring 11* if dimly soon through a vast, ]iirtori:il tube, rapidly receding lx>hind us, variegated with furrowx 
 and intersected with roads running in all directions ; the whole reduced to a scale of almost graphic minuteness. 
 .11. .1 fn>m tin- fleecy vapour that still partially obscured it. impressing the beholder with the idea of a vision of 
 enchantment, whirh some Km. IK genius had. fur an instant, consented to disclose. Scarcely hod we time to Himtch 
 a hasty gluiuv ere we hiid passed over tin- spot, and the eloiubi uniting gradually concealed it from our view. 
 
 After continuing for a short space further, in the vain hope of being again favoured with a similar prospect. 
 the approach of night made it desirable that wo should prepare for our return to earth, which we proceeded to 
 accomplish accordingly. 
 
 It is in the inaiiagi incut of the descent under circumstances similar to those which characterised the present 
 occasion that the utmost skill of the aeronaut is principally displayed. The low position of the clouds, resting 
 almoM u]Min the earth itself, precludes the possibility of observing the nature of the ground until it would, without 
 the e\i reioe of the greatest judgment, bo impossible to avoid completing the descent, however unfavourable tin 
 country might eventually prove- for Mich a purpose. To all this detail, however, Mr. Green proved himself jierfcctly 
 coiu]ietcMt ; the balloon gradually d. -ndi d into tlio cloudy region below us, and became involved for a minute or 
 two iii oUeinity ere we perceived ourselves slowly emerging over a large tract of ploughed hind particularly 
 well adapted to our design. Scarcely had another minute elapsed before the grapnel reached the ground, on which 
 
 j tinned to drag with some resistance for a short space until it took a firmer hold of the soil; when two 
 gcntlenii-n (,.ne of them Mr. CumU-rlege. tho clergyman of the neighbouring district), who were riding with some 
 ladies, perceiving our situation, leaped from their horses, and with a zeal which merited our thanks lent their aid to 
 secure the grapnel more- firmly. More persons shortly after arriving, the balloon was finally brought to the earth. 
 and we effected our landing in a common called Billington Fields, in the parish of Leighton Buzzard, about 
 t\\.. mile> K \oiid tliat town and about forty-eight from the Gardens at Vauxhall ; having employed about an hour 
 and three-quarters in the voyage, upon a nearly uniform course of north-west by north, and at a nearly uniform 
 elevation of al>. .ut .'iixK) feet above the level of the sea. 
 
 M. M. 
 
 We come next to the flight 
 
 FROM LONDOX TO WEILBURO IN THK (TREAT NASSAU BALLOON. 
 
 Mr. M. Mason gives the following account in his ' History of Aerostation ' (1837), of lln- 
 must remarkable trip that has to this day been effected : 
 
 Mr. l.'i.U-rt Hollond, a gentleman who had long cultivated a practical acquaintance with the art of 
 aerostation, resolved to afford an opportunity for a full display and unequivocal determination of the merits of these 
 disc, i\-i ii, -s. l.y undertaking, at his own expense, to fit out an expedition, under the guidance of Mr Green (in which 
 
 is so kind as to include me), for the purpose and with the intention of starting from London and proceeding 
 (in whatever direction the winds at tho time prevailing might happen to convey us) to such a distance as would 
 suttice to answer the .uds for which the voyage was especially designed. In order to give the fullest effect to such 
 an undertaking it was necessary to be provided with a balloon of size and structure superior to those employed 
 upon ordinary occasions. Arrangement?, wen' accordingly entered into with Messrs. Gye and Hughes, the 
 pioprit tors of \aii.\hall (iardens. for tho Use of their large balloon, which they readily conceded,* at the same time 
 placing their premises at our disposal for tho purposes of the ascent This balloon had been but recently built for 
 them 1>y Mr. < lie-en, and combined in its construction all that the art and e\]>erience of the first aeronaut of th- 
 ii>uld contribute to its perfection. In shape it somewhat res. ml.le* a ]-ar; its upright or polar diameter e\c. ediir.- 
 
 It i 1.11: prietnnt to xUite tl.Mt n<> ] .'-iiniiuy conAtlcmtion wu required (cr the lue of the balloon, which, together 
 
 with '.In- Mvouiiu jilaliou of their premiwa, ww ui-.tinit. u-ly t. n.K rud upon thr OCCUHOD. 
 
 I 
 
140 ASTRA CASTEA. NOVEMBER, 1830. 
 
 the transverse or equatorial by about one-sixth ; a form and proportion admitted to be at the same time most 
 consistent with elegance of appearance, and most adapted to the wants and circumstances of aerostation. The silk 
 of which it is formed is of the very best quality, spun, wove, and dyed expressly for the purpose ; the utmost 
 breadth of the gores, which are alternately white and crimson, is about forty-four inches ; down the centre of 
 each, and worked in the original fabric, runs a band or ridge of extra thickness, calculated to give additional 
 strength to the texture of the material, and to arrest the progress of any rent or damage which might accidentally 
 occur. The height of this enormous vessel is upwards of sixty feet ; its breadth about fifty. When fully distended 
 it is capable of containing rather more than 85,000 cubic feet of gas, and under ordinary circumstances is competent 
 to raise about 4000 pounds, including its own weight and that of its accessories, which alone may be reckoned at 
 about one-fourth. 
 
 The car which appertains to this balloon is in proper keeping with its gigantic mate. It is composed of 
 wicker-work, in the form of an oval, about nine feet in length and four in breadth. It is siispended by ten ropes 
 to a hoop of six feet in diameter, and in thickness a like number of inches, formed of two circles of ash, one within 
 the other, forcibly bent by steam, and retained in their position as well as strengthened by a triple tier of cable, 
 which is enclosed between them. At either end of the car are two seats, fully capable of accommodating three 
 persons each ; while across it in the middle, and somewhat raised, is extended a bench about a foot in width, which, 
 besides aiding to preserve the form of the vehicle against its own weight or other external pressure, serves as 
 a frame to stipport a windlass intended for the purpose of raising or lowering the guide-rope whenever it may be 
 required. In addition to these conveniences, the entire bottom of the car was on the present occasion fitted with a 
 cushion, intended to be used as a bed in case adverse circumstances, by keeping us at sea or otherwise, should have 
 compelled us to prolong the duration of our voyage to such an extent as to make it necessary to repose. 
 
 All the preliminary arrangements being now completed, after several unavoidable delays, occasioned chiefly 
 by the weather, the day of departure was fixed for Monday, Kovember 7th, 1836, and the process of inflation having 
 been commenced at an early hour, everything was got ready for starting by one o'clock in the afternoon of the same 
 day. As it had been resolved for special reasons that the ascent should not be made public, very few persons were 
 present on the occasion within the precincts of the gardens. Outside, however, it was far different. Attracted by 
 the prospect of the balloon during the process of its inflation (no pains having been taken to conceal it from public 
 view), a large concourse of persons had been assembling since an early hour in the morning, and by the time that 
 all was completed the multitude had already amounted to several thousands. So anxious, indeed, did they appear 
 to witness the proceedings that serious apprehensions began to be entertained towards the conclusion, lest the 
 fences and palisades which enclosed the gardens might finally give way beneath the unwonted pressure of the 
 numbers with which they were literally crowded. 
 
 The appearance which the balloon exhibited previous to the ascent was, in truth, no less interesting than 
 strange. Provisions, which had been calculated for a fortnight's consumption in case of emergency ; ballast to the 
 amount of upwards of a ton in weight, disposed in bags of different sizes, duly registered and marked, together with 
 an unusual supply of cordage, implements, and other accessories to an aerial excursion, occupied the bottom of the 
 car; while all around the hoop and elsewhere hung cloaks, carpet-bags, barrels of wood and copper, speaking- 
 trumpets, barometers, telescopes, lamps, wine-jars, and spirit-flasks, with many other articles designed to serve the 
 purposes of a voyage to regions where, once forgotten, nothing could be again supplied. 
 
 Amongst the various contrivances which the peculiar circumstances of the case had led us to adopt was a 
 machine for warming coffee and other liquors, in which the heat developed in the process of slaking quicklime was 
 made to supersede the necessity of actual fire. This machine was found to answer the purpose perfectly well, 
 although the dangers which it was intended to obviate are really not such as to require the aid of similar 
 precaiitions. "NY ith that degree of prudence and attention which can at all times be commanded, no absolute peril 
 need be apprehended from the employment of fire under proper restrictions. During the whole night we had 
 a lamp burning constantly, nor did we at any time suffer anxiety on account of its presence, or perceive any occasion 
 even temporarily to desire its extinction. 
 
 To provide against the inconveniences which we might have experienced subsequent to our descent in 
 continuing our journey through a foreign country, we likewise took the precaution to furnish ourselves with 
 passports directed to all parts of the Continent, specifying the peculiar nature of our voyage, and entitling us 
 to exemption from the usual formalities of office. 
 
 Finally, we were also charged with a letter to His Majesty the King of Holland, from Mr. May, His Majesty's 
 
LONDON T< WKII.r.l EW. 111 
 
 il in l...ii.l,.ii. \vhii-li 1,11,1 was ]nit into tho pout-office at r,,l,|. m/. on the evening of the day 
 aooefding niir ili i 
 
 Thus pnparad, and ,lulv accoutred, at Imlf-puM ,,n,- , ',!<" k tin- Kill, <i\ was dismissed l'i- "iind. ami 
 
 rising gently uinl, r the influence of a moderate breemo bore speedily away towards tin- s.mtli . .i-t i M\, t-n:- in ln-i 
 i-ourw- tin- cultiv.it<<d jilains of Kent, and ]u*<ing in succeanon nearly over tin- towns nf Kltham. l!r,>inlrv. l',",tcry, 
 ami iitln TM, whose variegated outlines beautifully diversified tho rich landMcapo that lay ln-m-nth UK. Tho weather 
 was uncommonly tin,- tor tho time of year; a few light clouds alone floated in tin- sky, and at least on us. I'M I 
 ax onmiin-iit.il. served to indicate the existence of different currents at ditli n -nt altitudes: an information ofwhii-h. 
 it will I-- - . n lii>reafter, we were enabled to avail ourselves with much , ll'eet. 
 
 Continuing in a south-easterly direction, at forty-eight minutes past twof wo crossed tin- Midway, at tin- 
 distance of almut six miles to the west of liochestcr, and in little more than an hour after J were in (tight of tin- eit\ 
 of Canterbury, tin- lofty towers of it* cathedral bearing distant about two miles, in an eastcrl}' direction. In honour 
 of tin- mayor and inhabitants of that city, under whose patronage our celebrated pilot hud twice before iiKccndfd, 
 d a small parachute containing a letter addressed to tho mayor, and couched in siu-h t.-rms as our hurrii-d 
 passage would p.-imit us t,, inditaf 
 
 In ,i fi-w minutes nft. T I we obtained our first view of the sea, brightening under the last rays of a netting 
 sun. and occupying the extreme verge of tho horizon, in the direction in which wo were now rapidly advancing. 
 
 1 luring tin- l.itti-r ]*-ri"d of this part of our voyage the balloon, perhaps owing to the condensation occasioned 
 I'v tin- approaching shades of evening, had been gradually diminishing her altitude, and for some time past hail 
 continued so near tho earth as to permit us, without much exertion, to carry on a conversation with mich of 
 the inhabitants as happened to be in our immediate vicinity. So close, indeed, were we at one time as to be a Me 
 distinctly to observe a covey of partridges, which cither our approach or some other equally dreaded apparition had 
 di-!' d-jjed (V.-hi their resting-place, and sent to seek a refuge on the borders of a wood which lay adjacent. A whole 
 colony f rooks, alarmed, no doubt, by our formidable appearance, rose likewise in dismay, and after rending the air 
 tor miles round with their cries and vainly trying tho protection of the neighbouring woods, finally di(*|>ersed, 
 ing themselves in every direction over the surface of the earth beneath. 
 
 l'erhii|iN then' is no situation conceivable from which tho beauties of nature are seen to greater advant;u 
 with mor,- singular effect than that wherein the spectator is placed, when, seated in a balloon, he happens by 
 circumstances to be brought into closer approximation with the earth beneath. The increased distinctness of the 
 different objects, the n.ivi-1 as]x--t under which a vertical examination presents them to the view, the isolated 
 position occupied by tin- Ill-holder, and above all tho exquisite motion which, however undixtinguishable from it 
 absolute effects upon tho person, exhibits to tho eye the ever-varying charms of rapid flight, are all cfl'ects 
 ': vablo under n other circumstances and even denied to the aeronaut himself when occupying a higher range 
 and indulging in a more extensive survey. It is not, in fact, the superior elevation and vast extent of prospect that 
 under any circumstances constitute the real charms of such exhibitions, or contribute most to their enjoyment; and 
 it' we take tin- trouble carefully to examine tho impressions which such scenes under such circumstances are wont t,, 
 inspire, we shall find that, to whatever class they may at first appear to be referable, they are not nearly so much the 
 
 of tli, -In, arrivnl of thi.< letter, and Hia Majorty'i gmcioui t The registry of the time* and distance*, an alio of the dini-liuu 
 
 r..v|,ii..n of it, ,- re.-, iv,--! the followim; testimony in a letter from ofourcouraeby the compoM, during the voyage, was the particular 
 
 Mi Mi. -i;.-rtli ait, r , r, a.-liiil I'urU: province of Mr. I|,,llon,l, to wbocc Journal Uie author U indeMiil 
 
 SM . Ixin-lon Xornnber 28 1836. ' or n " information on theao poinU, a* well ai for many inure 
 
 tr,,,,, ih- a mt i,, the n. '-,,,. -n, that you and ] " c ^"^"^ whiA will be found intenperaed 
 
 -.-:,!- liav, .,rr,-..-l at I'.m-. 1 !.-< no liin, in having tho j 
 atwf:, ,,,ki,,u- y.m I !y for the ran- tak,-,, of the 
 
 letter I t...k <!,. lil.-rtv .f imn..-.!,,,- t,, vol ,r kin-ln,-^, f,.r lh,- ,,,,r- 5 f t " edU ""' 1 " f ' "' ''""'' " We " " 
 
 po of lu,, it fi.r.nnl.,1 t , ,1,, K,,,.M,t il,, H.RUC: it nhed 
 
 tin- li'tl, ..f X..v, -ml. r. tl,r,,,,,.|, the poetoffioe at 
 
 .Mi,.! . r.,, ,iin K a 
 
 v, > a* a balloon. 
 
 The Kini: him writti-n a iiii-iiii>niii<liini nn the li It- r " I- It oinfully 
 .' ihini.' t- k-. ,, it ,,- .-, r, in, i.il.r.m,-,- .,f this. ,,- 
 
 extraordinary omirr<-nci-. I ointrr.itiilut'- \,.u ami y,>ur i ,,ni|>:iiiinii4 
 un tho meoeMof yi,ur rntiTpri,w, ami n-innin with (,-n-iit re-janl. Sir. 
 iii,.-t nlit.lii nt. huiulile si-rviint, 
 
 .1 W. MM 
 
 we raucnUy addrel to the Mayor of Dov. r. , 
 
 h Te . ince **** ^""'^ "'""-'' "'" othe. which we duchuged 
 mean* at diff - r ' '" l--"" " '"" vojge, w. 
 
 believe never reached the hand* for whirli tin \ 
 Jl Fifteen minutes pout four. 
 
142 
 
 ASTRA CASTKA. 
 
 NOVEMBER, 1836. 
 
 offspring of pleasure as of surprise of real critical delight as of that sort of gratification which is indebted to wonder 
 and astonishment for its principal effect. To this conclusion I have been chiefly led by a consideration of the very 
 beautiful appearance which the country presented, as under the influence of a gradual depression we slowly 
 approached the ground, and for some time continued to skim along its surface at the slight elevation of a few 
 hundred feet. The various objects, which, seen from on high, appeared like mimic representations of an ideal 
 world, now gradually developed themselves, and assumed the character and aspect of reality. The forests and 
 parks, no longer an indefinite mass of something green, opened at our approach, separating into individual trees, the 
 leaves and branches of which seemed almost within our grasp as we hurried over them. The houses, roads, 
 enclosures, canals, and other minuter indications of civilised society, before scarcely appreciable, now also began to 
 display themselves in their true colours, adding the charms of particular interest to that which was otherwise 
 but imposing from its general effect ; while the most interesting features of all, the living forms of nature, till now 
 altogether invisible, began to mingle in the scene, and gave life and expression to what was otherwise at best but 
 an inanimate though brilliant landscape. 
 
 About this time the first opportunity occurred of showing how far it is possible for the skilful and experienced 
 aeronaut to influence the course of his aerial vessel by availing himself of the advantages which circumstances 
 frequently place at his disposal. Shortly after we had lost sight of the city of Canterbury a considerable deviation 
 appeared to have taken place in the direction of our route. Instead of pursuing our former lino of south by east, 
 which was that of the upper current, by means of which we had hitherto advanced, it became apparent that we 
 were now rapidly bearing away upon one which tended considerably to the northward, and which, had we continued 
 to remain within the limits of its influence, would have shortly brought us to sea in the direction of the North 
 Foreland. As it had all along been an object to proceed as near to Paris as circumstances would permit,* we 
 resolved to recover as soon as possible the advantages which a superior current had hitherto afforded us : and 
 accordingly rose to resume a station upon our previous level. Nothing could exceed the beauty of this manoeuvre, 
 or the success with which the balloon acknowledged the influence of her former associate. Scarcely had the 
 superfluous burden been discharged proportioned to the effect required, when slowly she arose, and sweeping 
 majestically round the horizon, obedient to the double impulse of her increasing elevation and the gradual change of 
 current, brought us successively in sight of all those objects which we had shortly before left retiring behind us, 
 and in a few minutes placed us almost vertically over the Castle of Dover, in the exact line for crossing the straits 
 
 between that town and Calais, where it is confined within its narrowest limits, f 
 
 < 
 
 Up to the present moment nothing had appeared calculated to confer particular distinction upon our 
 enterprise, or to awaken the impression that what we had undertaken differed in any respect from the usual class 
 of such excursions. The case, however, was now shortly to be changed ; a new and untried element was about to 
 enter upon the scene, producing new relations and requiring the exercise of new resources. The knowledge that 
 whenever we might feel inclined it was in our power to terminate our voyage by descent (which gives such a sense 
 of security to all excursions over land) was about to yield to the conviction that, no matter how urgent the desire, 
 how imperious the necessity, that expedient would in future be withheld from us until it had pleased Providence to 
 convey us to new regions, and afford us once more the circumstances of a solid resting-place. "When or where that 
 might be, was a question as doubtful as the winds by which alone it could be determined : nor was it the smallest 
 of the many charms peculiar to our situation, that it was, and must for some time remain, a matter of the most 
 complete incertitude what portion of the globe was next destined to receive us. Confident, however, in our own 
 resources, I may safely assert that it was to us a matter of the most perfect indifference in what manner that 
 uncertainty should be decided : and I feel convinced that I but speak the sentiments of the whole party when I 
 declare that not a single particle of anxiety as to our own personal safety for a moment disturbed the ardent desire 
 we all felt to push to a creditable bearing the enterprise in which we were embarked. 
 
 It was forty-eight minutes past four when the first line of waves breaking on the beach appeared beneath us, 
 
 * Tlio proprietors of the balloon having contemplated making an 
 ascent from Paris, and Mr. Ilollond having undertaken to transfer 
 the balloon thither, it became a consideration with us not to 
 increase our distance from that capital more than was consistent 
 with the main object of the expedition. 
 
 ( To the circumstances of this transaction, the apparent retarda- 
 tion of our course by the circnitousness of the route, the length of 
 time we consequently remained in sight, and, above all, the recti- 
 
 linear direction of our approach, is undoubtedly to be attributed the 
 observatiou contained in the newspapers, that the progress of the 
 balloon did not exceed the rate of four or five miles an hour : an 
 assertion which a slight consideration of the time we had left 
 London, and the distance we had accomplished, would have been 
 sullicicnt to disprove. According to the above method of calcula- 
 tion, the mean rate of our course, up to the time referred to, was 
 somewhat more than twenty-five miles an hour. 
 
C|{nsslN<; Till: SEA. I I:: 
 
 .mil we mi-Jit le s.iid i.. !:i\. f.iirly quitted the shores of our native soil. ;nnl entiled ii|n tin- liit hi >rto dreaded 
 
 -.- <>f till- 86*. 
 
 It would l>c impossible not to have 1 in struck with tin- grandeur of the prophet at this particular iiiciiin-nt ol 
 ..in voyage: tin- more e-|. cully as the approaching shade* of night ivnd. n d it ;i niiitti-r of certainty that it Would 
 I.- tin' List in which earth would form u prominent feature that we might expect to enjoy for a considerable lapse of 
 time. r.ehind u~. the whole line df Knglish ei-ast. it* white cliffs melting into obscurity, appaied s|>arkling witli 
 tin scattcre.l lights, whii-li even- moment augmented, and among which tli<- UgbthoQH of Dover fonned a 
 conspicuous feature, and for a long time served as a beacon whorewitli to calculate tin- direction of our course. On 
 cither side 1 low us the interminable ocean spread its complies ted tis>u.- of waves without interruption or 
 curtailment, cwpt what arose from tin- im|>cndmg darkness and the limited extent of our own perceptions. 
 Slightly agitat-d l>y a win<l unfc-lt liy us. it.-, jiliant surface glintriifd faintly as it rose and fell, catching for 
 an in-t.mt l'\ tin- niinni-ntary dhliijuity "f its parts the few rays of light that Mill lingered above the horizon, and 
 |c,in thriii again as tin y tiirnrd tln-ir <>]>]Mising outlines towards a darker quarter. < In the- opixwite mde a dense 
 
 r of t loii.U ii>ing fmin the cut-all like a solid wall, fantastically suriiioiinteil. thuiuglKPUt its whole length, with 
 
 a gigantic representation of parapete and turrets, batteries and bastions, and other features of mural fortification. 
 
 ix if designed to bar our further progress, and completely olwtructed all view of the shon-s towanls which 
 
 we were now rapidly drawing nigh. I'jioii the glittering plain which thus lay stretched before us a few straggling 
 
 vessels, sol n. of which had already begun to mount their lights, alone appeared, issuing from bcnutth the dark 
 
 mantle of clouds that rested, as it wcie. up..n the very bosom of the deep. In a few minutes after, we had entered 
 
 within its dusky limits.* and for a while lo-caini- involved in the double obscurity of the Mirrounding vapours and of 
 
 i.l'ul ,i|.|.!oi,'h of night. Not a sound now reached our ears; the beating of the waves upon the British 
 
 < had already died away in silence, and from the ordinary effects of terrestrial agitation our present position 
 
 had rti'cctu.illy excluded 
 
 I scarcely know whether it is an observation worthy of being committed to ]>a]icr, but the sea, unless per/m/a 
 under circumstances of the most extraordinary agitation, does not in itself appear to be the parent of the slightest 
 sound. ruo].].,^d by any material obstacle, an awful stillness seems to reign over its motions. Nor do I think 
 that even under ;. >/ circumstances, no matter how violent, can any considerable disturUince arise from the conflict 
 of its own opposing members. The impossibility of ever having been placed in a situation to bring this fact under 
 tin. m Censes, is no doubt the reason why it has never before liven noticed. On the shore or in tin- 
 
 sea, no one has ever been present, independent of that material Kiipjxirt, the absence of which is necessary to (lie 
 success of the experiment ; it is in the Inlloon alone, suspended in clastic ether, that such a phenomenon could 
 either havi I... n verifii-d or observe. 1. 
 
 rding as we pn-erded. the lower strata of the vapoury bed in which we rested would slowly appear 
 to dissolve, and, ojiening liciicath us, occasionally reveal a partial glimpse of the sea, now rapidly beginning to 
 assume the sable livery of night. Across the field of view which thus became exposed a solitary ship might now 
 and then be seen to pass, entering on one side like the spectral representation in some magic lantern, and, having 
 s]~ .1 its course, silently disappearing on the other. Wreaths of mist shortly after intervening, the whole would be 
 swept from our view, leaving us once more enveloped in the dark folds of the prevailing vapours. 
 
 In this situation we prepared to avail ourselves of those contrivances, the merits of which, as I have already 
 
 1. it was one of the main object* of our expedition to ascertain; and consequently, to provide against the 
 
 increase ,.f weight proceeding from the humidity of the atmosphere, naturally to be expected on the approach 
 
 of night, we iiimmeiici d lowering the guide-rope, with the floating ballast attached, which we had provided for the 
 
 occasion. 
 
 Scarcely, however, had we completed our design, and were patiently awaiting the depression we had 
 anticipated, ere the faint sound of the waves beating against the shore again returned upon our ears, and awakened 
 
 N.iw <lnrk and d.-. | tlie ui^-lit Ix-tfiiui to fall, 
 A shade intmenw, mink in tli. .|ii< nrliing gloom: 
 Magnificent ami vast arv heaven and (iirtli : 
 Order oiiifi.iin.li .1 h. , all Uiuity vnid : 
 
 j.-ti"ii l<t. mill piy vari. \\ 
 I in.- universal l.lc.l : Mii-h tin- fair |>. t 
 nfli-.'lil to kindle unili-r.ut.- tl.. wlml.-. TH.,-. 
 
144 ASTRA CASTBA. NOVEMBER, 1836. 
 
 our attention. The first impression which this event was calculated to convey was that the wind had changed, and 
 that we were in the act of returning to the shores we had so shortly before abandoned. A glance or two, however, 
 served to show us the fallacy of this impression ; the well-known lights of Calais and of the neighbouring shores 
 were already glittering beneath us; the barrier of clouds which I have before mentioned as starting up so 
 abruptly in our path as abruptly terminated ; and the whole adjacent coast of France, variegated with lights, and 
 life with all the nocturnal signs of population, burst at once upon our view. We had, in fact, crossed the sea ; and 
 in the short space of about one hour from the time we had quitted the shores of England were floating tranquilly, 
 though rapidly, above those of our Gallic neighbour. 
 
 It was exactly fifty minutes past five when we had thoroughly completed this trajet ; the point at which we 
 first crossed the French shore bearing distant about two miles to the westward of the main body of the lights of 
 Calais, our altitude at the time being somewhat about 3000 feet above the level of the ocean. As it was now 
 perfectly dark we lowered a Bengal light, at the end of a long cord, in order to signify our presence to the 
 inhabitants below; shortly after we had the satisfaction to hear the beating of drums, but whether on our 
 account, or merely in performance of the usual routine of military duty, we were not at the time exactly able to 
 determine. 
 
 Before dismissing the sea, a word or two seems required to counteract a vague and incorrect impression 
 regarding its peculiar influence upon the buoyancy of the balloon, arising from the difficulties experienced by 
 Messrs. Blanchard and Jeffries in their passage of the same straits in the year 1785, and the apparently 
 unaccountable removal of these difficulties as soon as they had reached the opposite coast. So many, however, are 
 the circumstances within the range of aeronautical experience to which, without intruding upon the marvellous or 
 calling new affinities into existence, these effects can be satisfactorily attributed, that the actual difficulty lies 
 in ascertaining to which of them they are most likely to have owed their origin. Of these the increase of weight 
 by the deposition of humidity on the surface of the balloon, occasioned by the colder atmosphere through which the 
 first part of their journey had to be pursued, and the subsequent evaporation of the same by the rise of temperature 
 to which they necessarily became subjected as soon as they came within the calorific influence of the land, is in 
 itself quite sufficient to explain the difference that existed in the buoyancy of the balloon during the different stages 
 of its progress. Even in the absence of any humidity whereby the actual weight of the balloon could have been 
 increased, the mere diminution of temperature, by condensing its gaseous contents, and their subsequent rarefaction 
 by the altered temperature they were sure to encounter when they reached the opposite coast, is more than enough 
 to account for even much greater effects than those to which it is here intended to apply. As far as we were 
 concerned, certainly no such uncommon impression was observable, nor did we experience any diminution of 
 ascensive power in our transit across the sea beyond what we should have expected under similar circumstances 
 over a similar extent of land. 
 
 Having thus completed what may be termed the first stage in our eventful voyage, we set about making such 
 preparations as the altered circumstances of the case rendered advisable. For this purpose the copper vessels which 
 had been intended to be used at sea if required, but which our rapid passage over that element had left us no 
 opportunity of exercising, were again raised and withdrawn, and a simple guide-rope of aboiit a thousand feet in 
 length substituted in their stead. Our lamp also was lighted, and so disposed as that in case of any appearance of 
 danger, which, however, we neither anticipated nor experienced, it could be lowered instantly to a considerable 
 distance from the car.* These arrangements being over, and nothing for the present appearing to demand our 
 particular attention, we gladly availed ourselves of the opportunity to allay the cravings of an appetite which the 
 incessant occupation of the previous day had hitherto prevented us from regarding. To this effect much preparation 
 was not required. The bench, which we have before described as forming the central division of the car, served us 
 most conveniently as a table, and was quickly spread with the good things which had been abundantly provided to 
 cheer our solitary flight. Cold meats of various kinds, beef, ham, fowl, and tongues, together with bread and biscuits, 
 
 * Beyond the risk attendant upon the use of fire under ordinary 
 circumstances, there is but one situation peculiar to aerostation in 
 which any particular danger is to be apprehended, or any particular 
 precautions are necessary to be adopted : I mean when the balloon, 
 in consequence of its elevation in the atmosphere, has become so 
 much distended as to occasion the partial liberation of its contents. 
 In such cases, which we experienced not unfrequently during the 
 
 night, all that is required is merely to lower the lamp, by means of a the destruction of the machine. 
 
 cord, to such a distance from the car as to place it beyond the reach 
 of the gas issuing from the neck of the balloon. If it should be 
 necessary to discharge gas from the valve, before this is accomplished 
 care should be had to do so by degrees, not all at once ; as the balloon, 
 being at such moments always in the act of rising, would shortly 
 enter into the atmosphere of gas thus created around it, which, if 
 sufficiently impregnated, would ignite and most probably occasion 
 
Ni.\ i MI:I:I:. I 
 
 M!lt.\K;|IT. 
 
 II.-. 
 
 iiinl a (In. admixture of win, and ,,th, r li,|iiors. f..rmed tho bases of a repeat which might in truth have 
 
 acceptable to much iiimv fastidious palates than own, especially tem|>cred us they were by tin: rigorous discipline 
 
 of.. tu,l\e li, .iii> - fast, ami ii pt, .] H ,] t ionatc amount nf limlily exertion. Aowrfinfljr, with many a joke, touching 
 
 "ivoiir and -...(/// iiieritti of our several viands, which, however agreeable under the circumstances, will 
 
 not liear repeating ln-ri-. we contrived to do ample Justin- to the good cheer, not forgetting, amid tho festivities of 
 
 ne. to ill-ink it cordial houlth to the memory of those whom we hail left in uncertainty U-liind us. With iin 
 
 ny. howe\er. which hail in it .somewhat ]>cciiliar, the IN.UCS ami other fragments, instead of being thrown OM-I. 
 
 were carefully collected, in order to be employed Ii, r Udlast when.'ver occasion might require. We also took the 
 
 opportunity of proving the efficacy of our newly invented machine for heating coffee, and found it answer the 
 
 pur] KIM- fully as well as we had eX[>ccted. 
 
 The night having now completely closed in, and no prospect of any assistance from tho moon to facilitate our 
 reseaiehe-.it w.i- only I iv DMUI of tin- li-'ht- w hi, li. , ilh. r -injy Of in HMNHQ a|.|.|i..l -pi. ..iding in ,\.,\ 
 ilireetioii, that we could hope to take any account of the nature of the country we were traversing, or form any 
 opinion of the towns or villages whii-li were continually becoming subjected to our view. 
 
 The scene itN-lf uas one which exceeds description. The whole plane of the earth's surface for many and 
 around, as far and farther than the eye distinctly could embrace, seemed absolutely teeming with the 
 scatter.-.! tin.- of a watchful insulation, ami exhibited a starry spectacle below that almost rivalled in brilliancy 
 the remoter lu-nv of the concave firmament above. Incessantly, during tho earlier portion of tho night, ere the 
 vigilant inhaliit. nits hail finally retired to rest, large sources of light, signifying tho presence of some more extensive 
 community, would ap|-ar just looming above tho distant horizon in the direction in which wo were advancing. 
 Ix-aring at first n faint resemblance to the effect produced by some vast conflagration, when seen from such a 
 - in ]. clinic the minute investigation of its details. By degrees, as we drew nigh, this confused mass of 
 illumination would ap|-ar to increase in intensity, extending itself over a larger portion of tho earth, and assuming 
 a distin, t. i I'. .mi and a more imposing appearance, until at length, having attained a position from whence we 
 could more immediately din ct our view, it would gradually resolve itself into its parts, and shooting out into streets, 
 or spreading into wjuares, present us with the most perfect model of a town, diminished only in size, according to 
 tin ,1, vation from which we happened at the time to observe it. 
 
 It would 1"- very difficult, if not impossible, toconvey to the minds of the uninitiated any adequate idea of the 
 stii]- ml. .us ,.(!' ct which such an exhibition, under all its concomitant peculiarities, was calculated to create. That 
 we were, by such a mode of conveyance, amid the vast solitude of the skies, in tho dead of night, unknown and 
 unnoticed, secretly and silently reviewing kingdoms, exploring territories, and surveying cities, in such rapid 
 succession as scarcely to atVonl time for criticism or conjecture, was in itself a consideration sufficient to give 
 KiiMimity to far less interesting scenes than those which formed the subject of our present contemplations. If to 
 this ! added tho uncertainty that from henceforward began to pervade tho whole of our course an uncertainty 
 that every moment increased as wo proceeded deeper into the shades of night, and became further removed from 
 those landmarks to which we might have referred in aid of our conjectures, clothing everything with the dark 
 mantle of mystery, and leaving us in doubt, more perplexing even than ignorance, as to where we were, whither we 
 proceeding, and what were the objects that so much attracted our attention some faint idea may be formed 
 of the peculiarity of our situation and of the impressions to which it naturally gave rise. 
 
 In this manner, and under the influence of these sentiments, did wo traverse with rapid strides a large and 
 -ting jiiirtioii of the Kur..ian continent, embracing within our horizon an immense succession of towns 
 and village-, wh. !!' those which occurred during the earlier part of the night the presence of their artificial 
 illumination alone enable,! Ms t,, distinguish. 
 
 Among the.-.' latt.r. one in particular, Iwth from its own superior attractions, the length of time it continue* 1 
 within our view, ami the uninterrupted pn>s]>ect which our position directly above it enabled us to command, 
 <-iptr. , t tent ion. and elicited must, nit expressions of admiration and surprise. Situated in the centre of a 
 
 district which actually ap]x-an-d to bla/.e with tin- innumerable fires wherewith it was studded in every direction 
 to tLe full extent of all our visible hoii/on. it s. - m< d to oiler in it.-. If. and at one glance, an epitome of all those 
 
 .,! .neli lovcn of good rhuT a* may in future lie 
 
 temptc.1 to I.P.VI. the pleamiivii of aiTOBtatinn, it may !,. :l , w. 11 t,. 
 
 obwrri- that it is nnt all liquor* tliat run !- .-.nivi-ni. iitly , rnpl.iM .1 
 
 upnn Koch accMioa. Champagne, far inatanc, . ami i-ul,.l |..n. r . 
 
 . soda-water, and all thoac which are gtmnilly termed "up in 
 
 bottle," II..H, v, r nnomnloiu it may appear, arc by no metal adn|,t. ! 
 for aerial t xiur>i,iii: their imtimil U-mli-m-y t. A'jlng being to min-h 
 aooderated l.y the diimnMu-d preMurc which a the conaM|U< i, 
 tin ir ,1, uitii.ii. that they invariuhly fly of altogether almort at aoon 
 u they have ijuitu^l the gruund. 
 
146 
 
 ASTRA CASTRA. 
 
 NOVEMBER, 1836. 
 
 charms which we had previously been observing in detail. The perfect correctness with which every line of street 
 was marked out by its particular lino of fires ; the forms and positions of the more important features of the city, 
 the theatres and squares, the markets, and public buildings, indicated by the presence of the larger and more 
 irregular accumulation of lights, added to the faint murmur of a busy population still actively engaged in the 
 pursuits of pleasure or the avocations of gain, all together combined to form a picture which for singularity and 
 
 NIGHT VOVAGB TO NASSAU. 
 
 effect certainly could never have been conceived. This was the city of Liege, remarkable from the extensive 
 ironworks which, abounding in its neighbourhood, occasioned the peculiar appearance already described, and at 
 the time led to that conjecture concerning its identity, the truth of which a subsequent inquiry enabled us to 
 confirm. 
 
 Almost immediately after we had passed the main body of the buildings, and before we had got quite clear 
 of the outlets of the town, an accident deprived us of the use of our machine for heating coffee, just at the time, too, 
 when, from the increasing rigour of the night, its services were likely to prove most particularly acceptable. 
 Previous to our arrival in the neighbourhood of so extensive an assemblage of buildings, we had thought it advisable 
 to suspend 'the action of the guide-rope, by removing to such an elevation as would dissolve its connexion with the 
 earth, and carry it clear of the houses.* In this manner we had crossed the city, and were about to enter on the 
 
 * It will very naturally be observed that, having once submitted 
 to interrupt the action of the guide-rope at u time when the original 
 equilibrium of the balloon is under the influence of its greatest 
 disturbance (as, for instance, during the course of the night), by 
 dissolving even for a moment its connexion with the earth (which 
 is only to be effected by a rejection of ballast equal to the weight 
 of rope upon the ground), all the advantages which hod been pre- 
 viously obtained by the use of it are forfeited at once, and the 
 aeronaut placed in exactly the same circumstances as if he had pro- 
 ceeded so far without the aid of such an instrument at all. This 
 observation is essentially correct ; nor would we have resorted to 
 such an expedient had the economy of our resources to their utmost 
 been a matter of much importance to us at the time. Such, how- 
 ever, was not exactly the case. The sea, against which the guide- 
 rope was especially intended to provide, had long since been passed, 
 
 and no chance of its recurrence in the least probable. The chief 
 object which we now felt in its continuance was the further trial and 
 proof of the practicability of its employment, which, however, was 
 not so imperative as to prevent us from suspending its action when- 
 ever occasion seemed to require it. It must not, however, be thought 
 that these occasions resulted from any deficiency on the part of the 
 guide-rope, or that we should have been compelled to discontinue 
 the use of it at any time, had particular reasons appeared fur adopting 
 an opposite line of proceeding. Where the alternative was a matter 
 of no moment to us. we considered it best to observe that hue of 
 conduct which we conceived to be attended with the least possible 
 inconvenience to others, and thus in the present instance avoided 
 coming in collision with a town which showed even at that late hour 
 of the night such striking symptoms of activity and occupation. 
 
!>::>;. rrUNACESOFI.il 147 
 
 . when a slight t. i ! n. y t.. .1. pretwion made it neowwary to discharge a small quantity of InlLiKt in order 
 t<> maintain our . 1. vati.>n until wo had arrived at a place where wo could once more conveniently romimo the mo 
 of tin- ^ir For tins pur]H*M-. Mr. (Jreen, licing desirous tn employ tho liino which had already boon lined in 
 
 tin- ri eehvr i if tin- machine, preparatory to its being charged afntJi, and having with that intent opened it over the 
 .-id- of tin- ear. unfortunately let it slip from liis hand. l>.-privcd of tho most essential part of our apparatus, 
 tin- lime whii-h was intended to mipply it, and c.f which wo had a considerable store, became of no uso except for tho 
 jm !]>..* i.f 1-allast to which account wo were subsequently glad to convert it To dispose of tho barrel in which 
 
 : 1. . n contained was u subject of more serious consideration.!!* size and weight rendering it rather a dangerous 
 e\l~ .11. m I.. _' -t rid of it by tho ordinary method f discharge. This difficulty, however, we contrived to overcome by 
 attach in<; it t a small para* -liutc. which served in some degree to moderate itsdewvnt. in which guise it was accordingly 
 committed 1. 1 tho earth, where, I have no doubt, its appearance the following morning within tho private precincts of 
 some geiitli man'* enclosure gave occasion to many a surmise as to tho how or tho wherefore of its unexpected arrival. 
 
 Having now cleared the town, and once more entered upon tho fiery district in which it was embosomed, wo 
 M -urn. ! the use of the guide-rope., which, ns I have just said, on our approach to so considerable a community 
 we had been t. m]...rai ily iniluccd to suspend. This operation brought us once more to a nearer contact with the 
 earth, ami enabled us clearly to distinguish tho voices of many persons whom, notwithstanding tho lateness of the 
 hniir. v. .-.njei tured to be Rtill at work, or else congregated in tho neighbourhood of somo of tho numerous 
 manufactories \\lii.-h illuminated the subjacent country. Desirous to attract their attention, and to enjoy, in idea 
 at least, the surprise with which so novel an apparition was well calculated to inspire them, wo lighted and lowered 
 
 ral liuht nearly over their heads, at tho same time addressing a few words to them through tho speaking- 
 tnimi-t. alternately in the French and German languages, one or other of which we thought it most probable they 
 would understand. Tho effect produced upon them by such an unwonted occurrence was no doubt extreme, as wo 
 could readily perceive l>y tho confusion which appeared to reign among them, the hurried tone and elevated 
 
 ion* which immediately succeeded this unexpected declaration of our presence. What they thought of us, 
 
 . . T. we had no means exactly to determine ; that they were dismayed and perplexed to a considerable degree 
 is neither to Ixj doubted nor wondered at; for in fact, such an appearance, and at such a juncture of time, 
 place, and circumstances, might have struck terror into bolder hearts and wiser heads than those of tho honest 
 
 ii- who formed our audience upon this occasion. Catching alone the rays of light that proceeded from the 
 
 artificial firework that was suspended d,.-e U-ncath us, tho balloon, the only part of tho machine visible to them, 
 
 ispect of a huge ball of lire, slowly and steadily traversing tho sky, at such a distance as to preclude 
 
 tin- ]...-- il.ility of its being mistaken for any of the ordinary productions of nature, a suspicion which, even if it had 
 
 1. the terms and tone of our address must speedily have tended to efface. We did not, however, long remain 
 
 <y their confusion; a consideration of our own convenience more than of theirs inducing us to give them 
 
 rather a sudden conge. Amongst tho other sounds which issued from this Cyclopean region were some which, 
 
 betokening tho presence of a steam-engine at work immediately before us, suggested the propriety of raising 
 
 Ives to such a height as to place the guide-rope beyond the chance of becoming entangled in some of tho 
 machinery. '!' add therefore to their confusion, while lost in astonishment and drawn together by their mutual 
 fears they stood no doubt looking up to tho object of their terrors, a large shower of sand came tumbling down 
 upon their heads, and the tail of tho guide-rope at tho same moment passing right in the midst of them could not 
 fail to raise their perplexity to tho highest pitch. Shortly after, the light expiring, we were lost to their view in the 
 darkness of the sky and the increasing elevation of our ascent This was the last spectacle of tho kind which we 
 were at present destined to enjoy. Scarcely had we passed the confines of tho fiery region that had been tho scene 
 of our late exploit ero an unbroken oliscurity, more profound than any wo had yet experienced, involved us in its 
 folds, and effectually excluded every terrestrial object from our view. 
 
 It was now jkist midnight, and the world and its inhabitants had finally committed themselves to repose. 
 F.very li^lit was extinguished, and every sound hushed into silence; even the cheerful tones of the vigilant watch- 
 dog, which had fritpiently contributed to enliven our course during tho previous portion of tho night had now 
 ceased ; and darkness and tranquillity reigned paramount over tho whole adjacent surface of the globe." 
 
 Alxivc tin- nii-t, :il.uVi- tlir cloud. 
 Al-ivi- tl.e ilarkneiwniHl tin- tlmn.ler, 
 \Vliil. rnnriii;; wilil an.! luinl, 
 
 :n uliinra a wnrlil of Aw !>-r. 
 
 And there U nilvnce oVr tin- tlmii'l. r. HOIV.S.IX 
 
148 
 
 ASTRA CASTRA. 
 
 NOVEMBER, 183G. 
 
 From this period of our voyage until the dawning of the following day the record of our adventures becomes 
 tinged with the obscurity of night. The face of nature completely excluded from our view, except when 
 circumstances occasionally brought us into nearer contact with the earth, all our observations during the above 
 period are necessarily confined to a register of incidents and sensations mingled with vague conjectures, and clouded 
 with the mystery wherewith darkness and uncertainty were destined to involve so large a portion of the remainder 
 of our expedition. The moon, to which we might have looked up for companionship and assistance, had she been 
 present, was nowhere to be seen. The sky, at all times darker when viewed from an elevation than it appears to 
 those inhabiting the lower regions of the earth, seemed almost black with the intensity of night ; while, by contrast, 
 no doubt, and the absence of intervening vapours, the stars, redoubled in their lustre, shono like sparks of the 
 whitest silver scattered upon the jetty dome around us. Occasionally faint flashes of lightning, proceeding chiefly 
 from the northern hemisphere, would for an instant illuminate the horizon, and after disclosing a transient prospect 
 of the adjacent country, suddenly subside, leaving us involved in more than our original obscurity. 
 
 Nothing, in fact, could exceed the density of night which prevailed during this particular period of the 
 voyage.* Not a single object of terrestrial nature could anywhere be distinguished ; an unfathomable abyss of 
 " darkness visible " seemed to encompass us on every side ; and as we looked forward into its black obscurity in the 
 direction in which we were proceeding, we could scarcely avoid the impression that we were cleaving our way 
 through an interminable mass of black marble in which we were embedded, and which, solid a few inches before 
 us, seemed to soften as we approached, in order to admit us still farther within the precincts of its cold and dusky 
 enclosure. Even the lights which at times we lowered from the car, instead of dispelling only tended to augment 
 the intensity of the surrounding darkness, and as they descended deeper into its frozen bosom, appeared absolutely 
 to melt their way onward by means of the heat which they generated in their course. 
 
 Independent of the real obscurity of the night, a combination of two circumstances, peculiar to our situation, 
 contributed to occasion the extraordinary impression of darkness which we have here feebly attempted to describe : 
 in the first place, the total absence of all material objects capable of reflecting the scattered rays of light which 
 might happen to exist in the surrounding atmosphere ; and secondly (a natural consequence of the former), the 
 power of availing ourselves of our own light, without dispelling or diminishing the darkness it was otherwise 
 calculated to display. To the former of these were we indebted for the positive obscurity of the locality in which we 
 found ourselves; to the second we owe the means of appreciating it by the contrast it enabled us to establish. It 
 is evident that these two circumstances can never be made to exist in combination, except in a situation and under 
 advantages exactly similar to ours. However it might be possible, by the most perfect exclusion of light, to effect 
 an artificial obscurity capable of rivalling that to which we were naturally exposed, any attempt to avail oneself of 
 the aid of light to establish the contrast upon which the real strength of the impression depends, must at once subvert 
 the position and nullify the effect it was purposely designed to enhance. 
 
 It was now that the advantages of the guide-rope began to make themselves particularly appreciable, in the 
 indications it afforded of the changes that were continually occurring in the level of the subjacent soil, giving us 
 infallible warning of our approach to ground, the superior elevation of which might otherwise have occasioned 
 us considerable inconvenience. To such an extent did these alterations at times proceed, that frequently a 
 difference in the altitude of the barometric column would manifest a change of several thousand feet in the level 
 of the balloon's course, while the gnide-rope continuing to trail upon the ground, would indicate an uniform distance 
 from its surface of somewhat less than its own extreme dimensions. Several times, under the influence of these 
 changes, did we arrive f so near the earth as to be enabled to distinguish, imperfectly, it is true, some of its most 
 prominent features ; and, as the intensity of the darkness yielded to our approach, obtain some faint idea of the 
 
 * One sun by day, by night ten thousand shine 
 And light us deep into the Deity ! 
 How boundless in magnificence and might! 
 Oh, what a confluence of ethereal fires 
 From urns unnumber'd, down the steep of heaven 
 Streams to a point, and centres in my sight ! YOUNG. 
 
 t To prevent misconstruction, the reader is requested to observe 
 that the expression here used docs not of necessity imply that any 
 change had taken place in the level of the balloon's course to occa- 
 sion its casual interference with the earth the changes whereby 
 such a result became possible being entirely attributable to the 
 
 latter. And yet the phrase is perfectly correct, inasmuch as the 
 action by which it was effected was inherent in the former, which in 
 the course of its onward progress became sensible of these changes, 
 and did, strictly speaking, arrive in contiguity with the surface of 
 the earth, though without any alteration in the level at which it was 
 proceeding. I have been induced to enter into this explanation 
 from observing that a misconstruction of the kind alluded to Las 
 already been put upon the above phrase by the commentator upon 
 the first edition of this little narrative in one of the daily journals, 
 and an inference drawn therefrom prejudicial to the efficacy of the 
 guide-rope by which these supposed depressions, it is alleged, should 
 have been counteracted. 
 

 \ linn: MI>T\KI:\ mi; A i!ivi:u. 
 
 It!. 
 
 .iintry which lay K ncatli us. At th.-e tim< > we appeared to be traversing largo tracts of country 
 .1 with Miow. diversified with forests, and intcrwoted occasionally with rivers, of which tin- M 
 in tin- earlier part i.f the night, nml tin- Hhino towards the coin IUM..H. constituted, as wo afterwards learned, the 
 p!in. ipil tli i.f i .in- admiration ami of our conjectures. Nothing could bo more interesting than the 
 
 lim|we which the*- myst. rii.us approximations would occasionally |- unit na to enjoy. Slowly descending, as 
 !in-l tn us. fr..m a region when- darkness formed t\i>- only Kiilijcct of our contemplations, at first some faint 
 hallucination i Imt whether uf earth or air wo could but doubtfully determine), would appear invading the obscurity 
 <.f the sable vault immediately beneath us. and giving us the first notification of our approach to something that 
 1 a f .nn and acknowledged the laws of the material world. Gradually, as we drew nigh, these mystci i..u* 
 appearances would inneuhibl y . \t. n.l themselves in space, strengthening in their outlines, and becoming more definite 
 in tlu-ir fi.nn. with an effect which, to render it iimrt- intelligible, we can only compare to that produced while 
 looking through a telescope during the process of its adjustment, the confused and shadowy features of some distant 
 
 |,r, ,],.,.,.,. ],, ,,]. I.. ]. ,,, ~1,.\\ U li:!"U_ll . \. ! \ U 1 .1' ! 1 1 i. ! I ' . '1 i-t i 1 1. 1 In -.. , .. | 1 ,, | ,,,,] | |l . 11- ! .l! |i 1 r_: I 1 1 . '1 .1.1 i In \ 
 
 j this indefinite plain, maintain^! in our level by the agency of our faithful regulator, the guide-rope, we 
 
 would continue to glide fur a considerable time, until some equally unexpected depression in the surface of the 
 
 ild gradually abstract it fn.m i.ur view, and slowly reversing all the impressions wo had before 
 
 .I in our approach, once more consign us to the opuquo obscurity that reigned throughout the upper 
 
 regions of tin- air. 
 
 An instance of the cxtraord^ lusions to which the vague and indistinct nature of these repreeentatioiiN 
 
 would occasionally lead us will serve to give some idi-a of the doubt and uncertainty that, even at the best, 
 prevaili-d over all our observations and conjectures during this most interesting portion of our voyage. For some 
 tinii- Kn-k our attention had been particularly directed to an appearance which, in the absence of any grounds for 
 napectinjr the contrary, we very naturally concluded to proceed from some object or other on the surface of the 
 earth below. Seen through the thick gloom of the night, and extended alono in the black space that wrapped every 
 
 object from our view, it K.n- the aspect of a long narrow avenue of fi-eblc light, starting off in a straight line 
 towards the horizon, from some point or source at some distance underneath us. \Yhat it could be, we fruitlessly 
 endeavoured to determine. For a river, its extreme length and regularity united forbid us to assume it ; while the 
 dimensions it must have had to enable it to present so important an appearance at the elevation we then occupied. 
 equally precluded the possibility of its being either a canal or a road, the only other objects to which we could with 
 legree of probability refer it In vain we looked forward out of the car into the deep intensity of the 
 surrounding night, concentrating all our powers of vision to the one spot that we might catch some clearer view to 
 
 nine our conjectures; in vain we racked our imagination, in the absence of the requisite visual testimony, 
 to devise what it could be, that, amid such unbroken obscurity, contrived to make itself alono distinguishable. 
 The more we looked, the more we doubted ; the more we reflected, the more uncertain appeared the result of our 
 speculations ; nor was it till after a considerable lapse of time, induced by observing its long-continued presence in 
 the same position, that we became finally aware that it was only one of the stay-ropes* attached to the summit of 
 tin Uilloon. which, hanging down along the outside at a distance of five-and-twenty feet from the car, and being, 
 in fact, the only material object within our ken, had partially caught the rays of light from our lamp, and returned 
 them to >is under the aspect and impression we have above endeavoured to describe. 1 )' 
 
 In the midst of this intense obscurity an incident occurred which, for the effect it is calculated to produce 
 ujnin the minds of those who experience it for the first time, and in ignorance of its cause, merits particularly to be 
 noticed. 
 
 It was about half-past three in tin- morning, when the balloon, having gained a sudden accession of power, 
 
 Two long end* of moderate dimeiuianf, externally attached 
 to the frame of tl UJ.JM r vnlve, and uwd to ttUndy the podtion of 
 the ballnon during tin- inlliilion, ai well ai after the deteent, durini; 
 the prooex f emptying i!.i pin, to |nvv< nt In r fn.m rolling on the 
 ground. Thme rope*, win n tin- KtlU.u >- lull, will extend to me 
 feet below the ear, and at a distance of half the diameter of the 
 pbere on either tide of the mn< 
 
 t If anr one will cmlpnvnur U> imagine Minx If looking partly 
 fonrard and partly downward fmm tl.. Himmit "f li.lty t 
 vliin theobarar- i at it* highest, and hi-holding a line 
 
 partially illuminated of the real dimetaiomof wl.icli lie i.- i^uomnt , 
 
 vertically upended at a dutance of some yard* before him. be will 
 be able to form a pretty correct eatimaU- of the circumstance* under 
 which the above erroneoui conviction wa* produced. lie will then 
 perceive the impossibility of determining, by the mere aid of the 
 enan, the quection of the real dutance and position of tin' ..l.j. <(. 
 and will be enabled to appreciate the error by mean* of which tl.. 
 judgment was induced to refer the appearance afforded by a vertical 
 rope a lew feet off, Ike pmenrr <>/ irhirl, it did <>/ unlid^il-, u> that 
 of some object on the horizontal plane of tin- earth whirh it teat eat- 
 datlf erpeetny to atetmntrr. 
 
 \ '2 
 
150 
 
 ASTEA CASTRA. 
 
 NOVEMBER, 1836. 
 
 owing to a discharge of ballast, which had taken place a few minutes before, while navigating too near the earth to 
 be considered perfectly safe in a country with the main features of which wo were totally unacquainted, began 
 to rise with considerable rapidity, and ere wo had taken the customary means to check her ascent, had already 
 attained an elevation of upwards of twelve thousand feet. At this moment, while all around is impenetrable 
 darkness and stillness most profound, an unusual explosion issues from the machine above, followed instantaneously, 
 by a violent rustling of the silk, and all the signs which may be supposed to accompany the bursting of the balloon, 
 in a region where nothing but itself exists to give occasion to such awful and unnatural disturbance. In the same 
 instant, the car, as if suddenly detached from its hold, becomes subjected to a violent concussion, and appears at 
 once to be in the act of sinking, with all its contents, into the dark abyss below. A second and a third explosion 
 follow in quick succession, accompanied by a recurrence of the same astounding effects, leaving not a doubt upon 
 the mind of the unconscious voyager of the fate which nothing now appears capable of averting. In a moment after 
 all is tranquil and secure ; the balloon has recovered her usual form and stillness, and nothing appears to designate 
 the unnatural agitation to which she has been so lately and unaccountably subjected. 
 
 The occurrence of this phenomenon, however strange it may appear, is, nevertheless, sxtsceptiblo of the 
 simplest solution, and consists in the tendency to expansion from removal of pressure which the balloon 
 experiences in rising from a low to a higher position in the atmosphere, and the resistance to this expansion 
 occasioned by the tenacious adhesion of the silk in the folds which the comparatively collapsed state of the balloon 
 had previously allowed it to assume. When the ascent and consequent expansion take place slowly, sufficient time 
 is given to the included gas gradually to overcome this resistance, and the balloon is enabled to accommodate itself to 
 the growing dilatation of its contents during the progress of its elevation. When, however, on the other hand, as 
 in the case especially before us, the rapidity of the ascent is such as to anticipate the gradual adaptation of the 
 balloon to the expansive tendency of its contents, the entire extrication of the folds of the silk will not take place 
 until the internal pressure of the included gas has reached a considerable amount, when, suddenly that extrication is 
 accomplished, attended by those effects which wo have already attempted to describe. The impression of the 
 descent of the car in the above description is evidently a false one on the contrary, elevated by the longitudinal 
 curtailment of the balloon in the sudden recovery of its pristine form and breadth, the car, so far from sinking, 
 actually springs up ; it is the unexpectedness of such a movement, and its apparent inconsistency with the laws 
 of gravitation, that occasions the delusion, the reality of which the collateral circumstances essentially tend to 
 confirm,* 
 
 The cold, particularly during this part of the night, was undoubtedly intense, as could be perceived not less 
 from the indications of the thermometer (ranging variously from within a few degrees below to the point of 
 congelation) than from the effects which it produced upon the different liquors wherewith we were provided. The 
 water, coffee, and, of course, the oil in our several vessels were completely frozen; and it was only by the 
 actual application of the heat of the lamp that we were enabled to procure a sufficiency of the latter to supply our 
 wants during the long term of darkness to which we were about to be subjected. 
 
 Of the advantages which in these circumstances we had expected to reap from the use of our machine for 
 heating liquors, we had, as I have before observed, been for some time deprived by the loss of a most material part 
 of the apparatus. In this dilemma we had tried several shifts for supplying the deficiency, but unfortunately 
 without effect. Abandoning, therefore, the attempt, we at first became reduced to the disagreeable alternative of 
 drinking our coffee in a state almost approaching to congelation, and finally, as it became more thoroughly frozen, 
 found ourselves compelled to relinquish the use of it altogether. 
 
 Strange, however, as it may appear, while all around bore such unequivocal testimony to the severity of the 
 cold, the effects produced upon our persons, undefended as they were by any extraordinary precautions, were by no 
 means commensurate to the cause, nor such as even under ordinary circumstances we might fairly have expected to 
 encounter. 
 
 The reason to which may be attributed this unusual exemption from the consequences of a low temperature, 
 
 * In the former editions of this narrative I had attributed the de- 
 tention of the silk in its corrugated (?i form entirely to the agency of 
 the fro.st upon the network of the halloon, previously saturated with 
 moisture during its protracted sojourn at a lower elevation. Having, 
 however, since learned from Mr. Green that lie has frequently expe- 
 rienced the like effects from a rapid ascent without the intervention 
 
 of such a cause, I am glad to have the opportunity of generalising 
 the explanation I had given of the above phenomenon, and of assign- 
 ing to the frost, in the case alluded to, its proper place as merely 
 contributing to enhance the effect by the addditional resistance it 
 offered to the gradual dilatation of the balloon. 
 

 ft-/ 
 
 1864 
 
- fi .'/ I KU 
 
 jr 
 
1- THE DAWN. I.M 
 
 i.s tlir absence of all current of air, the natural result of our situation and one of tho peculiar characteristic* 
 i>f acri.il navigation. 
 
 cm -li H ( iivumstance i fully adequate to the result ascribed to it, ample testimony is afforded in th. 
 accounts recently given to tin- ].uMi.- <>l tho transactions ,<( tho groat polar navigators, Captains Parry, Hack. and 
 others, in pursuit i,f tlir discovery of tho north-western passage, wherein many instances arc related of persons 
 uinli-r similar circumstances not only bearing, but even enjoying, a reduction of temperature many degrees inferior 
 t.. that in which wo were placed. Indeed, from what wo are there given to understand, tho degree to whieli the 
 human frame is capable of being refrigerated without experiencing pain or inconvenience appears to bo almost 
 cntir.lv regulated by tho concomitant amount of atmospheric motion. In tho absence of that motion, there seems 
 to bo no limit in nature to tho extent to which this reduction may bo carried : tho personages in tho above expeditions 
 frequently finding themselves exposed to a temperature 30 3 below zero (or 62 below tho freezing-point of Fahrenheit- 
 with. .ut cv.'ii being conscious of anything extraordinary in their situation until somo change in tho state of 
 ili' surrounding atmosphere occurred to call it to their senses. 
 
 As tho night drew on to a close tho appearance of tho firmament became subjected to a gradual change. 
 The stars, insensibly assuming a more natural lustre, began by slow degrees to " pale their ineffectual fires," while 
 tJii-ir li^ht, which, bound as it were by tho prevailing obscurity, had hitherto appeared concentrated and confined, 
 each to it* own particular disc, gradually became more diffuse, and, illuminating tho celestial hemisphere, tomk-d 
 continually to diminish that intense brilliancy which, as we before observed, had characterised the aspect of 
 tho sky during tho crisis of tho preceding night Among those, tho morning star for a long time shone conspicuous, 
 occupying tho very centre of our eastern horizon, and creating around a halo so unwonted as almost to persuade us 
 into the belief of a premature approach of day. Large masses of fleecy clouds now began to bo imperfectly 
 distinguished, pervading the lower regions of tho atmosphere, and for a while leaving us in doubt whether they 
 were not a continuation of those snowy districts which we so frequently had occasion to remark. 
 
 l'i .in out of this mass of vapours more than once during tho night our cars had been assailed with Hounds 
 bearing so strong a resemblance to tho rushing of waters in enormous volumes, or tho boating of tho waves upon 
 some extensive line of coast, that it required all our powers of reasoning, aided by tho certain, knowledge wo had of 
 tho direction wo were pursuing, to remove tho conviction that wo were approaching the precincts of tho sea, and, 
 transportal l>y the winds, were either thrown bock upon tho shores of the German Ocean, or about to enter upon 
 tho remoter limits of tho Baltic. 
 
 1 1 would be endless to enumerate all tho conjectures to which this phenomenon gave rise, or the various 
 manners by which wo endeavoured to explain its occurrence. Among them those which seemed to obtain the 
 greatest credit were that the sounds proceeded from some vast forest agitated by the winds; some rapid river 
 rushing impetuously over a broken and precipitous channel ; or finally, that tho misty vapours themselves, by the 
 mutual action of their watery particles, or their precipitated deposition upon tho irregular surface of tho earth 
 beneath, had occasioned the murmurs, which, multiplied throughout so largo a space, camo to our oars in the 
 formidable accents to which wo have above alluded. 
 
 According as the day drew nigh these appearances vanished, with much of tho doubts to which they had 
 given rise. Instead of tho unbroken outline of tho sea, an irregular surface of cultivated country began feebly t. 
 display itself, in tho midst of which tho majestic river wo had noticed for some time back appeared dividing tin 
 prospect, and losing itself in opposite directions amid the vapours that still clung to the summits of the hills, 
 or settled in tho valleys that lay between them. Across this river we now directed our course, and shortly after 
 lost sight of it entirely Ix'hind the gently-swelling eminences by which it was bordered on both sides. 
 
 Tin- dawn, which fnr some time back had been continually augmenting, had now become fully established in 
 the upper regions i.f the atiuo.phere, although ite influence as yet was but slightly exerted upon tho humMei 
 districts of tho subjacent earth. All tho celestial bodies hod now entirely disappeared ; even tho morning star, 
 which so long tho subject of our admiration hod continued with waning energy to contest the empire of the sky, 
 had now retired, and we began earnestly to look forward to the arrival of tho groat luminary that was soon t< i 
 supply their place. 
 
 Al.nit ten minutes past fnv one of those casual aberrations occurred, to which we have already alluded, when 
 the balloon rising rapidly wo became suddenly transported to an elevation of about 12,000 feet This was th. 
 highest point we attained throughout tho wholo voyage, and tho effect was, in truth, equally pre-eminent with the 
 occasion by which it was produced. If we only reflect that our position at this altitude was such as to have 
 
152 
 
 ASTBA CASTRA. 
 
 NOVEMBER, 1836. 
 
 enabled us to behold objects at a distance of above one hundred and fifty miles on every side of us, had those 
 objects been sufficiently great or sufficiently striking to fix the attention, some faint idea may be had of the 
 immensity of prospect which at that moment became subjected to our view. We shall then bo seen occupying the 
 centre of a circle, whose diameter, extending to above three hundred miles in length, afforded us an horizon, the 
 circumference of which exceeding an equal number of leagues, comprised within its circuit an expanse of visible 
 surface little short of seventj'-one thousand square miles. In the enjoyment of this stupendous landscape we 
 continued for above an hour, occasionally descending a few hundred feet, and again rising to resume our station 
 upon our former level. 
 
 In one of these latter movements, which took place at about a quarter past six,* the balloon having nearly 
 recovered its highest elevation suddenly brought us in full view of the sun, and for the first time gladdened with 
 the assurance of a speedy return of day. 
 
 Powerful, indeed, must be the pen which could hope to do justice to a scene like that which here presented 
 itself to our view. The enormous extent of the prospect; the boundless variety it embraced; the unequalled 
 grandeur of the objects it displayed ; the singular novelty of the manner under which they were beheld ; and 
 the striking contrast they afforded to that situation and those scenes to which we had so long and so lately been 
 confined, are effects and circumstances which no description is capable of representing in the light in which they 
 ought to be placed in order to be duly appreciated.! Better far to leave it to a fertile imagination to fill in 
 the faint outlines of a rough and unfinished sketch, than by a lame and imperfect colouring run the risk of marring 
 a prospect which, for grandeur and magnificence, has certainly no parallel in all the vast and inexhaustible 
 treasures of nature. 
 
 This splendid spectacle, however, we were not long destined to enjoy ; a rapid descent, which shortly after 
 ensued, for a while concealing it from our view, and once more consigning us to the shades of night, which 
 still continued to reign unbroken throughout the lower region of the air. 
 
 Again we rose within the reach of this delightful prospect, and again did we lose sight of it amid the vapours 
 and obscurity that accompanied our descent; nor was it till we had three times made the sun rise, and twice 
 beheld it set, that we could fairly consider it established above the horizon and daylight complete upon the plane of 
 the earth beneath us. 
 
 From this time forward all our observation was principally directed to the nature of the country and its 
 adaptation to the descent which we had now resolved to effect the first fitting opportunity. To this step the 
 uncertainty in which we necessarily were with respect to the exact position we occupied, owing to our ignorance of 
 the distance we had come, especially determined us. For a long time past the appearance of the country, so unlike 
 any with which we were acquainted, had led us to entertain serious doubts as to whether we had not already passed 
 the limits of that part of Europe where we might expect to find the accommodation and conveniences which our 
 own comfort and the safety of the balloon imperatively demanded. This opinion the large tracts of snow over 
 which we had passed during the latter part of the night, bearing a strong resemblance to all we had hitherto 
 pictured to ourselves of the boundless plains of Poland, or the barren and inhospitable steppes of Russia, 
 considerably tended to confirm ;| and as the region we were immediately approaching seemed to offer advantages 
 which, under these circumstances, we could not always hope to command, we resolved not to lose the occasion it so 
 opportunely appeared to have afforded us. 
 
 * The time referred to here and elsewhere throughout this nar- 
 rative is that of Greenwich. Upon the completion of the voyage, a 
 variation amounting to about thirty-four minutes was found to exist 
 between the times indicated at its two extremes ; the chronometers 
 of Weilburg being so much in advance of those of London. This 
 variation was occasioned by the easterly direction of our course, and 
 the difference of longitude. 
 
 t Yonder comes the powerful king of day, 
 Rejoicing in the East. The lessening cloud, 
 The kindling azure, and the mountain's brow, 
 Illumined with fluid gold, his near approach 
 Betoken glad. Lo ! now, apparent all, 
 Aslant the dew-bright earth and colour 'd air, 
 He looks in boundless majesty abroad, 
 And sheds the shining day, that burnish'd plays 
 On rocks, and hills, and towers, and wandering streams, 
 
 High gleaming from afar. Prime chcerer, light ! 
 
 Of all material beings first and best ! 
 
 Efflux divine ! Nature's resplendent robe ! 
 
 Without whose vesting beauty all were wrapt 
 
 In unessential gloom ; and thou, O sun ! 
 
 Soul of surrounding worlds ! in whom best seen 
 
 Shines out thy Maker. THOMSON. 
 
 t This presumption will not appear so extravagant when we con- 
 sider the enormous rapidity with which the course of the balloon is 
 liable to be affected, and the impossibility of obtaining any indica- 
 tion as to its amount during the long period of darkness which we 
 had just encountered. Had we continued to pursue the greatest rate 
 of motion at which the balloon has been known to be impelled in 
 these latitudes, we should, ere the period of our descent, have ac- 
 complished a distance of above two thousand miles. 
 
N..VKMHKI:. 1.S36. THE DUCHY OF NASSAU. I.V! 
 
 As Boon as wo had como to this determination all preparations were speedily commenced for the descent ; the 
 iruido-ropo was hauled in (an operation of much labour, owing to the bad construction and imperfect action of 
 the windlass), the grapnel and cable lowered, and everything got ready that wo might be ublo to avail ourselves of 
 1)1.' tii -I ami fittest opportunity that might occur. To this intent, likewise, we quitted our exalt,,! station, ami 
 -o>i_;ht a more humble uud appropriate level, along which we continued to range for some time and to a coii.-M' i.il>l. 
 distance; the yet early hour ( the day deterring us from completing the deseeiit, in the fear of not obtaining that 
 ready assistance from the inhabitants wKirh it ix always the main object of the aeronaut, if possible, to secure. 
 
 As the mists of the night began to clear away from the surface of the soil wo were delighted to per 
 a country intersected with roads, dotted with villages, and > nli\. n.-,l with all the signs of an abundant anil 
 industrious population. The snowy covering which so lately chilled us with its forbidding aspect had now 
 disappeared, except a few patches which still lingered in the crevices, or lay spread within the sheltered recesses of 
 t)i< 4 numerous hills by which the surrounding neighbourhood was particularly distinguished. On the summit , !' 
 one of these an isolated edifice of considerable magnitude and venerable antiquity appeared, just breaking through 
 tin' vapours that yet partially concealed the morning landscape. Seated upon the very point of tin- einin,-n. It 
 seemed like som.- .in. i. nt Kironial castle, overlooking the prospect and extending its protection to a cluster - i 
 humHer dwellings that straggled around its base. One or two towns, likewise, of superior pretensions were 
 distinctly to be seen; giving promise of accommodation and advantages which, in our present emergencies and 
 un.ler our present convictions, were not to be neglected. Accordingly, having pitched upon the spot most proper l'..r 
 the pur].. e, the valve was opened and wo commenced our descent 
 
 The place so selected was a small grassy vale, of about a quarter of a mile in breadth, embosomed in hill*. 
 whose sides and summits were completely enveloped with trees. Beyond this, on the opposite side, lay another 
 valley of the same description ; the only one visible for many miles, where we could conveniently efl'ect our landing : 
 .in endless succession of forest scenery completing the landscape in the direction in which wo should have had to 
 |U-.-ei-d. Int.. the former of th. - w. n..u |.iv.-i|.it..t, -.1 our il.-e.-nl. with the d.-M-n of ali^hlin-. if |.,-sil.|,-. in f I,, 
 en-litre, elear of the- woods that enclosed it on all sides. In these hopes we were, however, disappointed: the wind 
 suddenly increasing as we approached the ground, so much accelerated the onward course of the balloon, that before 
 the grapnel could take effectual hold of the soil we had passed the middle of the valley, and, sweeping rapidly over 
 the ground, were borne close against the wooded declivity that flanked its eastern termination. To discharge u 
 sufficiency of ballast to raise the balloon, and carry her clear of the impending danger, was the natural remedy. An 
 unexpected obstacle to this operation here again presented itself; the sand which forms the ballast, frozen during 
 the night into a solid block of stone, refused to quit the bag in the proportion required, and no time remained to 
 search for one more suited to the occasion. Not a moment was, in fact, to be lost; the valley was passed, and the 
 branches of the trees that clothed the opposing precipice were already within a few feet of the balloon ; the grapnel 
 continued to drag, and no chance appeared of arresting her progress onward. In this emergency one alternative 
 alone remained, and the sack itself, with all its contents, to the amount of fifty-six pounds in weight, were at once 
 consigned to the earth. In a moment the balloon, lightened of so large a portion of her burden, had sprung ii|> 
 above a thousand feet, and clearing the mountain at a bound, was soon in rapid progress to the realms above. To 
 counteract the consequence of this sudden accession of power, and avoid being carried beyond the reach of the second 
 valley, which we have already described as the only other available spot for our descent, the valve was again 
 opened, and issue given to a large quantity of gas ; sufficient, as was calculated, to check the course of the balloon in 
 time to enable us to attain the point to which all our views were now directed. 
 
 \ onil time, however, we were doomed to bo di.sappointed. \o sooner had we completed this manoeuvre, 
 than by another caprice of nature, the wind suddenly abating, we found ourselves at once becalmed and rapidly 
 descending into the bosom of the woods that capped the summit and clothed the sides of the intervening eminences. 
 From this dilemma we were only relieved by the timely discharge of a further portion of our weight; not, howev. i. 
 before the accelerated descent of the balloon had brought us within a cable's length of the ground,* and almost in 
 contact with the UJ.JH r surface of th,. w,.*!. Here, for a few moments, we continued to hover; the grapnel 
 struggling with the topmost branch, -s of the trees, and grasping and relinquishing its hold according to the varying 
 impulse of the slight wind that prevail, ,1 at our elevation. 
 
 * The length of tin- raMi- to which tlio gnipnd u attached is about on.- hundred and twenty f.-et. 
 
154 ASTEA CASTRA. NOVEMBEU, 183C. 
 
 While in this situation, we perceived, standing in a path in the wood, two females, the first inhabitants we 
 had noticed, lost in astonishment and seemingly petrified with gazing upon so astounding an apparition. It was in 
 vain we addressed them with a speaking-trumpet, in the hopes of procuring the assistance of some of the male 
 population, which we conjectured could not bo far off; the sound of our voices, proceeding from such an altitude, 
 and invested with such an unearthly character, only augmented their astonishment, and added to their fears ; they 
 fled incontinently, and without waiting further parley sought the shelter of the neighbouring coverts. 
 
 After continuing for a few minutes longer in these straits, we at length reached the confines of the wood ; 
 when, resolving not to be again baffled in our designs by the treacherous inconstancy of the wind, the valve was 
 opened to its fullest dimensions, and the grapnel taking hold shortly after, we came to the ground with considerable 
 though by no means disagreeable rapidity.* 
 
 Too much praise cannot be given to Mr. Green, for his excellent conduct throughout the whole of this 
 intricate pilotage. It is not by reading a mere description of the difficulties encountered, and the manner by which 
 they were counteracted, that a correct judgment can be formed upon the merits of such a case as this ; a further 
 consideration is necessary the knowledge that these difficulties did not proceed from the same source as the 
 remedies by which they were defeated. In this light it is that the conduct of our celebrated captain has a right to 
 be criticised; the impediments were those of uncontrollable nature the victory, and the means employed to secure 
 it, were all his own. 
 
 As soon as the descent was completed, and the power of the balloon sufficiently crippled to permit one of the 
 party to quit the car, the inhabitants, who had hitherto stood aloof, regarding our manoeuvres from behind the trees, 
 began to flock in from all quarters ; eyeing, at first, our movements with considerable suspicion, and not seldom 
 looking up in the direction from which we had just alighted, in the expectation, no doubt, of witnessing a repetition 
 of this, to them, inexplicable phenomenon. 
 
 A few words in German, however, served to dissipate their fears, and secure their services. The first 
 question, " "Where are we ? " was speedily answered, " In the Duchy of Nassau, about two leagues from the town of 
 Weilburg." The second was theirs, " Where do you come from ? " " From London, which we left yesterday 
 evening." Their astonishment at this declaration may bo easily conceived. The fact, however, was not to be 
 disputed. What they had seen was to the full as marvellous as anything we might choose to relate, and certainly 
 enough to entitle us to consideration and command respect. 
 
 At all events, whether from above or below, we were evidently strangers ; a circumstance of itself sufficient at 
 all times to have engaged the sympathy and assistance of an artless and hospitable people, but which, coupled as it 
 was, in our case, with the possibility of one or other of the two preceding alternatives, brought us in for no 
 small amount of homely deference and attention. 
 
 To these kindly feelings we endeavoured to contribute by every means in our power. Our stock of biscuits, 
 wine, and brandy quickly disappeared, with a relish which the novelty of the journey they had so lately performed, 
 tended, no doubt, considerably to augment. The brandy, in particular, so much stronger than any they had ever 
 before essayed, attracted their special admiration ; and as they, each in succession, drank off their allowance, they 
 seemed by the exclamation of " Himmlischer Schnapps " (celestial dram), which accompanied every draught, as well 
 as by the upward directions of their eyes, to denote the quarter from which they now became fully convinced .a 
 beverage so delicious could alone have proceeded. 
 
 With all the willingness, however, which they displayed in their endeavours to assist us, it required no little 
 management, and a thorough knowledge of the peculiar habits and propensities of the animal, to turn their services 
 to a proper account. In the first place, the operation of emptying the balloon, at all times sufficiently tedious, was 
 rendered more so in the present instance from the quantity of frozen moisture it had imbibed in the course of the 
 night, and which we were desirous to get rid of by a little exposure to the sun before we had completely enclosed 
 it. Now Germans, proverbially indolent, require no small degree of excitement to keep their attention and their 
 services engaged to any continued pursuit. The slightest relaxation, therefore, on our part, was sure to be attended 
 with a corresponding relaxation upon theirs, and in the event of our taxing their patience too severely there was no 
 small probability that they would slacken in their efforts, and getting tired of seeing nothing done, eventually 
 abandon us to our resources. On the other hand, to occupy their attention by a liberal distribution of " Schnapps " 
 
 * It was half-past seven o'clock when this occurrence took place, and our descent could be fairly said to be completed. The duration 
 (if our voyage may therefore be calculated at exactly eighteen hours. 
 
NH\ I Mltri:. i 
 
 WKii.r.i i:>.. 
 
 163 
 
 iilv alternative that remaii <* iu>t without it* (.articular iii.t.nv, ni. n<. Gerni.r 
 
 without ]ii|ii-s in th.ii |v..k. ts. and never tliink of eating or drinking without concluding the' o|H-ration l.y 
 aUtractmg tin' said ].i|>cs and indulging in a frii-wlly funiigatinn ; in which case, besides incurring the risk of 
 
 combustion I' i NI many fireworks in exercise .it mi.-.-, we should havi- hail to calculate II|MHI the certain liw of one 
 
 h.tnd to each individual, and the other .1. |ni\. d of half it* energy, when two, well applied, were scarcely enough for 
 tin- ]>ur]>sf. Into this erior we had fallen at first ; tl. was Unit half of our ellieient loir. - 
 
 already laid up smoking, and it was only liy a timely withdrawal of the supplies tliat wo were enabled to oouiinand 
 - of the remainder. 
 
 \Vith all tln-.sfdr.iwli.ieks. it was nearly twelve oVWk l-fore the wliole of our operations were ooni-lnded and 
 tin- lullooii. with all its accompanying a].)iaratus, Kiifely adjusted in the bottom of the car. Our next stop was to 
 procure a cart and horses to convey it to Weilhurg, the nearest place where wo could expect to meet with the 
 aoooiiiiul.iti. .11 which the circumstance* of the case rendered dctiirable. For thin, as then.- was but one in the 
 neighU.iirhood for many mile.s around suitable to the purpose, wo were compelled to submit to a further delay of 
 aU.ut an hour and a half. In the mean time we had some difficulty in inducing our kind and able coadjutors to 
 
 of any remuneration for the timely assistance they had afforded us; nor was it until wo had evinced liy our 
 jN'i-M -M-ranee a determination not to bo refused, that wo finally succeeded in persuading them to come to some 
 definite arrangement among themselves as to what amount of OOB^WMation should 1*- bestowed, and in what 
 manner it should Iw distributed. Accordingly, as the magnitude ,,f tlieir numbeni precluded the possibility of 
 
 ding our liounty to all, fourteen were selected out of those who hud taken a most pruminent part on the 
 occasion, and the sum of half a franc each, equal to about fivej>enoo English, stated as the full amount of their 
 expectations. This sum, with more liberality than prudence, as appeared in the sequel, was immediately doubled, 
 when a scene occurred to which no description is capable of communicating the entire effect Scarcely had this 
 unexpected extension of our bounty been announced to the fourteen fortunate individuals who were to participate 
 in it, ere as many unwashed beards, black and brown, white, yellow, red, and grey, were simultaneously and 
 unceremoniously thrust forward fur the purpose of signifying their gratitude by effecting a salute, in a stylo which, 
 in our country at least, is usually considered one of the peculiar privileges of the gentler sex. To refuse the proffered 
 
 sy might have been construed into an affront, and we were absolutely in the very act of being subjected to 
 
 this agreeable ordeal, when the seasonable arrival of the long-expected vehicle saved us from the full infliction of 
 
 the direful (M-nalty. < Kvrjoyed at our timely deliverance, all hands were summoned to assist in loading the waggon, 
 
 and having mounted thcrc<>n ouix-lves, we quitted this, to us, ever memorable spot,* and attended by an amazing 
 
 arse of persons of every rank, age, and sex, set out for \Veilburg, which a few hours enabled us to attain. 
 
 The fame of our adventure had, however, already preceded us. On our approach we found ourselves greeted 
 with acclamations, and a ready welcome and honourable attentions awaited our arrival. All the resources of the 
 town weie immediately placed at our disposal; the use of the archducal manege was tendered for the occupation of 
 the Kdlooii ; and sentries, more indeed as a guard of honour than of protection, stationed at the doors and avenues 
 leading to the place of its reception. 
 
 then wo resolved to remain until our future movements should be determined by the return of the 
 
 i we had despatched to Paris immediately upon our descent In the mean time, favoured by the peculiar 
 advantages of the building, we availed ourselves of this delay to open and innate the balloon, as well for the 
 purpose of drying and examining it as to make some return fof the obligations we were under, by contributing to 
 gratify the curiosity of our hospitable entertainers. It would be scarcely credible were I to relate the interest 
 wherewith the inhabitant* seemed to regard this, to them, novel exhibition; the numbers that poured in to witness 
 it from all quarters, C >r many a league around, or the grateful acknowledgment* with which they never ceased to 
 whelm us during tin.- fortnight it continued open to public inspection. 
 
 Nothing in fact could surpass the courtesy and attention that we experienced from this simple-hearted and 
 hospitable community, during the wlfMo period of our residence at Weilburg. Every one seemed to vie with each 
 other in conferring favour and contributing to our entertainment Balk, dinners, concerts, and other amusements 
 
 The exact spot whr-r.- the event t.n,k plan- wa in a field adja- 
 cent to a mill, known l.y the iiatm- of Dilllmiixc-n. >ituat.-il in the 
 Tlley of Klln-ni. in the i-..mimme .: ls< .. alxmt tw.. 
 
 leagne* ftwm the town of Wi-ilbtug; already, l.y u ruri..us coinci- 
 
 , imtid in the ammlii of m notation an tin- plin-e wlj. : 
 
 eel.-l.r.lti i\ M. Hlaliclmrd I IV. et. il his Ltndilil.', alter Ull Unvelll whirli 
 
 he made at Francfort in the year IT*:. 
 
156 ASTKA CASTBA. NOVEMBER, 1836. 
 
 were given without intermission ; poems were composed in honour of our adventure, and the congratulations of the 
 city presented to us by a deputation of the principal citizens, headed by their chief civil officer, in the form of a 
 document duly signed and sealed by the competent authorities. 
 
 Among the festive recreations to which our unexpected arrival at Weilburg gave rise, we must not omit to 
 mention the ceremony of christening the balloon, which took place the day previous to our departure, the Baron do 
 Bibra, Grand Maitre des Eaux et Forets, and the Colonel Baron do Preen, being the godfathers ; the Baroness de 
 Bibra and the Baroness do Dungern, the godmothers, on the occasion. The balloon having been distended with air 
 to the greatest size the dimensions of the place would admit, eight young ladies, in company with Mr. Green, 
 entered within the gigantic sphere, and the name of " The Great Balloon of Nassau " having been bestowed by one 
 of their number, Mdlle. Theresa, the lovely and amiable daughter of the Baron de Bibra, accompanied by a copious 
 libation of wine, the ceremony was concluded with a collation, consisting of the remains of our stock of provisions, 
 which had been unconsumed at the time of our descent. 
 
 One other act of honourable attention yet remains to be recorded. On the evening of the same day, the last 
 we had to enjoy in the society of this courteous and hospitable population, it was resolved to signalise the occasion 
 of our visit, and the agreeable intercourse to which it had given rise, by some more flattering display of favour 
 than any we had yet experienced. A grand festival was consequently held in the principal chambers of the chief 
 inn, which had been tastefully decorated for the purpose, and at which all the first personages of the town were 
 assembled to meet us. After the dinner, or rather the supper had been concluded, and the mutual goodwill of the 
 parties established by a general interchange of glasses, occasion was taken to pronounce a short discourse in Latin 
 verse,* composed by M. Friedemann, Principal of the Academic Gymnasium, in which a comparison is instituted 
 between our late enterprise and others of a similar nature ; at the conclusion of which a crown of laurels was placed 
 upon the head of Mr. Green, and his health with that of his companions proposed and drunk amid general and 
 repeated acclamations. 
 
 From such an universal display of hospitality and kindness it would bo difficult to single out any to whom in 
 particular our thanks are due ; among those, however., whose station and circumstances entitle them to especial 
 notice, were the Baron de Bibra, Grand Maitre des Eaux et Forets ; the Baron de Dungern, Grand Ecuyer de son 
 Altesse, pensionne ; the Colonel Baron de Preen, and their respective ladies ; M. Hutschsteiner, Premier Conseiller 
 de Medecin ; M. Giesse, Premier Conseiller de Justice ; M. Friedemann, Superior of the University, and M. 
 Barbieux, likewise attached to the same establishment ; together with a variety of others, the mere repetition of 
 whose names would prove but a little recompense for the kindness we received at their hands. 
 
 Through the Baron de Bibra, likewise, we took the opportunity to present to His Highness the Duke of 
 Nassau the flagsj which accompanied the expedition, as a slight token of the hospitable reception we had experienced 
 in his territories, with a request that th.ey should be preserved, in commemoration of the occurrence, among the 
 archives of the Ducal Palace at Weilburg, where they now lie alongside of that which half a century before 
 M. Blanchard deposited in like manner, to perpetuate the remembrance of a like event. 
 
 On the following morning, November 20th, at an early hour, we took leave of Weilburg and its hospitable 
 inhabitants, and set out for Coblentz on our way to Paris, whither it was now determined we should proceed. At 
 Coblentz, where we arrived late the same evening, it was our intention to purchase a carriage, and, having stripped 
 it of its body, place the car containing the balloon and other accessories upon the springs, and in that guise, availing 
 ourselves of the same conveyance, continue our journey by post. 
 
 This, with some difficulty and the delay of a couple of days, we at length accomplished, and by a proper 
 adjustment of the contents, fixing a temporary seat athwart, and protecting the whole with a covering of oil-cloth, 
 constructed, as we considered (how correctly will appear in the sequel), a very convenient retreat for the 
 accommodation of such of the party as should be destined to enjoy it. Here also we parted from our companion 
 Mr. Hollond, whose business requiring his immediate return to England, I gladly undertook to accompany the 
 balloon to Paris. 
 
 * See Appendix G., No. 1. 
 
 t Besides the usual national insignia, these flags displayed a 
 series of allegorical representations descriptive of the rise and pro- 
 gress of aerostation. Independent, however, of any merit which 
 they might possess from their execution or design, there was one 
 circumstance in their history which rendered them invaluable in 
 
 the eyes of the aeronaut ; they had already performed two hundred 
 and twenty-one voyages in the air, having been the constant com- 
 panions of Mr. Green's excursions ever since his fifth ascent, wherein 
 he had the misfortune to lose his balloon, and all it contained, in the 
 sea off Beechy Head. 
 
MIIKI:. I Till -I MM kBT, 157 
 
 .11 ,.ur arrangements being at length oonipletod, early mi tin- morning of the 24th. Mr. Green 
 mill : iin .--t ..MI. intending to continue our journey night ami ilay until we arrived at its conclusion. A 
 
 - i.f misfortunes, how. \. i. :ip[KMirn to have awaited us from the wry outset. Tho weather which hail hith- it., 
 l-f n particularly line, considering tin- time of year, suddenly and completely broke up, and tum-utH of rain, 
 oooni|>aiiicd by powerful an. I piercing winds, iifthcn-d in the nuiniing of our departure. Its effects were NOOII but 
 t... ]M iveptiblc u|x.n our hastily. 'n.-tructi-d ii|ui]>iigc. In tin- first place our waterproof covering, but ill deserving 
 tin- name, tunuil out no l.-tt.-r than it should U- ; in short, anything but waterproof. Prepared merely with 
 ..nun.. n si,;, instead ..t varnish, tlio first half hour's exposure to the rain completely divested it of every particle of 
 dressing, and discovering a in. iv groundwork of canvass nearly as porous as netting, loft us almost wholly 
 uii|iroti .t.d t.. " abide the ]>clting of the pitilt ,ss storm." ( iuM.s of wind at every step likewise ] mured in from all 
 quarters, shaking our frail t. m m.-nt to its inmost t . and threatening every minute to deprive us (if the 
 
 nominal protection of the little covering which the rain had left us. To complete tho comforts of our situation, 
 scarcely had we quiiti-d the town ere our seat, which had been too slightly constructed for the roads wo were about 
 i'l.leiily gave way beneath us, precipitately consigning us to the bottom of the car, where wo lay for 
 some time |.erdue among the various articles with which that part of the conveyance was plentifully In-stow. .1. 
 
 t was vain to think of trying to remedy these diaastcrs in the country where we then were, our only 
 alternative was to push forward as fast as we coul.l. until wo should arrive at some place where we might obtain 
 materials to iv|iair our shattered vehicle. It was not, however, till the conclusion of the second, or rather the 
 morning of the third day. that wo were able to accomplish this. At tin- village of Thionville, where wo had been 
 1 by the inclemency of the weather to pass the preceding night, we at length procured a quantity of common 
 Mri]il hollaml. the ..nly stuff we could find suited to the purpose. With thix we completely covered in the whole 
 machine, and having caused it to bo stitched down on all sides, except a small opening in front, whereby to creep in 
 and out. extended ourselves at full length upon some clean straw, which nerved to separate us from the balloon and 
 other articles lieneath, and in that condition prosecuted our journey; to the no small delight and astonishment of all 
 the little Iwys and girta that, at every stage we came to, and every village wo passed, flocked in numbers to greet 
 M- : mm -h cditi. d no doul.t by the spectacle wo afforded them, though sadly at a loss to comprehend how a basket so 
 heavy that four horses were scarcely sufficient to draw it, should have been able to convey us through the air to 
 such a distance. Jn this manner, "lieu! quantum mutatus ab illo," wo continued our route to the French 
 
 IN. I is, sorrowfully contrasting our present with our late conveyance, and indulging in many a comparison 
 lie i ween the comforts of aerial and terrestrial travelling, much, it must be confessed, to the advantage of the 
 former. 
 
 After journeying in this way for six long days and longer nights, we at length reached Paris, where new 
 honours and a hospitable entertainment awaititl our arrival.* 
 
 Thus ended an expedition which, whether we regard the extent of country it passed over, the time wherein it 
 was pcrformiil, or the result of the experiment for the sake of which it was undertaken, may fairly claim to be 
 con-ideied among the most interesting and important which have hitherto proceeded from the same source. 
 
 Mg from I.ondun, and traversing tho sea, which mere accident alone prcventi-d from forming a more important 
 
 8 in our route, in the short space of eighteen hours we performed a voyage which, including only those 
 de\ iati.'iis we liave since been enabled to ascertain, rather exceeds than falls short of an extent of five hundred 
 I'.riti-h miles. 
 
 It would be endless, as well as useless, to enumerate all the places of name or notoriety, which a subsequent 
 examination of the map. aided by the reports of our appearance at different stations by the way, showed us to have 
 i ither passed over or approached at some period or other during this extraordinary peregrination. A considerable 
 ]rtioii of five kingdom.-, England. France, Belgium, Prussian (iermany, and tho Duchy of Nassau; a long 
 
 -ion ,,f cities, including London, Uochester, Canterbury, Dover, Calais, Cassel, Yprea, Courtray, Lille, 
 i hidt narde. Toiiinay. Ath. Brussels, with the renowned fields of Waterloo and Jemmapcs, Xamur, Liege, Spa, 
 Malm.'dy. Cobli nt/. and a whole host of intermediate villages of minor note, were all brought within the compass 
 
 * Ar ifi.r t. -tii.r M.iiMl.le tlj.tin.-tii'ti \vliii-li - Acn.l.'mic lie I'liulii-trie Knim;uisi-." fur hi- in^.-iiiuii- <li-<-..v. n 
 
 tin viirimi.- !. I ..tli.r bodie* in tb*t city conferred ii|.n of tlir ^ui.l. -r..p. . witli tlir iiriii.-iple.- nf which tin vi-x|-n-.il tliein- 
 
 11, in r, -|-.-t ..f "iir nii.l.Ttakiiii;. I n.ii-t n.,t fi.riM t.. iii,-iili..n tin- x-lv.-, |.-rf.-.-tly Niti.fliil. 
 ini.l.il wliii-li wubettow. .1 ii|... : , >|i. i, r . .i, In tlir s,-i, \\ , 
 
 v '2 
 
158 ASTEA CASTEA. JULY, 1837. 
 
 of an horizon which our superior elevation, and the various aberrations we experienced, enabled us to extend 
 far beyond what might be expected from a mere consideration of the line connecting the two extremities of our 
 route. 
 
 To all this there was but one drawback, in the time of year in which the experiment was conducted, and 
 which, by curtailing our daylight, devoted to the obscurity of night so largo and interesting a portion of the 
 expedition. Over this, however, we had no control ; the constant occupation of the balloon for the purposes of 
 public exhibition during the summer months, left no chance of its being procurable at a better season of the year, 
 especially for a project such as ours, the determination of which as to time and distance was a matter of complete 
 uncertainty. The excursion must therefore have been undertaken as it was, or altogether abandoned ; of these 
 alternatives Mr. Hollond unhesitatingly preferred the former. 
 
 Ere concluding this hasty narrative, a word or two is required concerning the success of that experiment 
 which formed the main feature, as well as the chief object of the expedition. That object I have already stated to 
 have been the verification, by proper trial, of the power of the guide-rope in determining the course of the balloon 
 within certain restrictions, and the feasibility of its employment under every aspect of circumstances, to such an 
 extent as to render it a valuable and efficient instrument in the hands of the practical aeronaut. In both these 
 respects I have no hesitation in declaring the success of the experiment to have been complete, and the discovery 
 itself one, the entire result of which, on the future progress of the art, it would be impossible at present to 
 anticipate. With such an instrument as this, there now seems to be no limit to the powers of aerostation ; no 
 bounds to the sphere of action. All the theoretical objections which a hasty consideration of the means might 
 otherwise have suggested, experiment has already proved to be erroneous ; and, perhaps, the best illustration that 
 can be afforded of the powerful influence which this discovery is capable of exerting in favour of the art is, that 
 under its auspices and with all other advantages to the extent we enjoyed them on the late occasion, I should not 
 feel the slightest diffidence in committing myself to the conduct of the winds, with the intention of continuing my 
 voyage until I had completed in my course the circuit of the world itself. 
 
 MR. COOKING'S FATAL PARACHUTE DESCENT. 
 
 1837. In August, 1814, Mr. Cocking gave a lecture on the true form of the parachute, 
 before the City Philosophical Society, which was so well received that he was requested to 
 repeat it before the Society of Arts, who, as a proof of their approbation, awarded him 
 a medal. Twenty-three years had now elapsed, when, being doubtless incited by the 
 success of the Nassau flight, he made earnest entreaties to be taken up with his parachute ; 
 and, by his importunity and self-confidence, he at length succeeded in obtaining the consent 
 of Mr. Green, Mr. Hughes, and Mr. Gye, to this arrangement, which ended so unhappily for 
 himself. 
 
 The following letter of Mr. Monck Mason discusses the whole subject in a public paper 
 on the day preceding the ascent 
 
 To THE EDITOR OF ' THE MORNING HERALD.' 
 SIR, 
 
 In consideration of the forthcoming experiment, which I see announced for to-morrow, perhaps the following 
 observations upon the subject of the parachute in general, and the merits of the two different systems which 
 are now about to be practically illustrated, in particular, may not be thought unworthy of notice. 
 
 The principle of the parachute is so extremely simple that the idea must no doubt have occurred to many 
 persons, of whom history, however, has failed to preserve a record. Even in the distant and half-civilised regions 
 of Siam, Father Loubere, in his curious account of that country, published nearly two centuries since, makes 
 mention of one who was wont exceedingly to divert the Court by his exploits in descending from great heights 
 through the aid of such an instrument ; a practice which we have reason to believe was not confined to that alone 
 
.1. n. |.>::7. Till: l'AKA< III I I K.! 
 
 of all tin- .-oiiMtries of ih.- K..M. In llur.-!*'. however, m. notice appears of any attempt to employ the parachute as 
 
 j.iiiLst it t... rapid dewvnt through tin- atmosphere, till tin- year 178:1, when a gentleman of tin- name 
 
 N -111:111.! first praetiealh demoiisti.,t.-d it.-, eftieiciiey, by letting himself ,l,i\vn t'i..in the windows of a high 
 
 house at Lynns. ,.f wlii, -h ,-ity li.- was a native. The vi,-ws ..!' M. I..- \.'Hiiali(l with regard t.. its employment -i< . 
 
 limited. mill ,1.. n..t iip|n-iir to have \t.-n.l.-.l furihi-r than its a,l|ition fut a means of eaoape from fire; 
 
 nor Wits it till some time after. that the ingenious and speculative r.laiu-h.n.1 lii'st r..n. -. i\. .1 the idea of applying it 
 
 as an ailjunrt t.. tin- tin -n ni-w and interesting art of aerostation. This design he endeavoured tn put int.. ,-\. .-ntion 
 
 in an usiviit \\hirh he executed at Hasle, in the year 1793, having previously satisfied himself () f its security by 
 
 letting down dugs and other animals from various heights in tho course of several aerial evulsions undertaken from 
 
 m.;. I. isle, and other plae.-s, during the several preceding years. In attempting to n-|>eat the exju-rimeiit 
 
 upon himself, however, h. \\.,s |, f.,rtuiiatc ; owing to MUne mismanagement, hit) iimehinery hfled in it* pftWt, 
 
 and, eoming to the ground with too great rapidity, his leg was broken in tin- fall. 
 
 M. (JAKNAISIN'X I'AIIACIIL'TK. 
 
 \ndre-Jacque8 Garnerin, who next followed in the career of the parachute, is due the merit, such as it in, 
 of having been the first who ever successfully descended from a balloon by tho aid of that machine. This he 
 accomplished in an ascent from Paris, on the 22nd of October, 1797 (see p. 11 1), in tho presence of the Court of 
 France, and of an immense concourse of people, who had assembled to witness the adventurous experiment. At the 
 ..f about 2000 feet the act of separation was effected, and the balloon and parachute immediately started off in 
 opposite direetiona, The former, however, was soon lost sight of, all eyes being involuntarily directed towards the 
 descending mam, and all interest centred in the individual it contained. For a few seconds tho consummation of 
 his fate seemed to be altogether inevitable, the parachute obstinately retaining the collapsed position in which it 
 had originally ascended. All of a sudden, however, it burst into its proper shape, and the downward progress of 
 the adventurer appeared at once to have been arrested. Tho fears of the spectators now began to assume another 
 aspect: the moment the i>araehute had expanded, the car of the aeronaut, which was suspended about twenty feet 
 U-low it, shot nut on one side with an imjMjtiLs that almost brought it upon a level with the rest of the apparatus, 
 and for an instant seemed to threaten the subversion of the whole. Recovering itself, however, by its force of 
 gravitation, it soon re-descended, and swinging round to the opposite corner, commenced a series of violent 
 id-illations, which for a considerable time seemed to render the issue of the experiment a matter of mm h 
 umi-rtaiiity. As he approached the earth, however, these gradually became fainter, and although they i 
 entirely disappeared, soon ceased to excite tho immediate apprehension of his friends. At length, in about twelve 
 minutes, he reni-lu-d the ground, and was released from the parachute, without having experienced other injury 
 than a fi-ehle sh.N-k at the instant of collision, and a slight nausea which shortly after su]H-rvem .1, oeeasi..ne.! 
 xuppoM-d. by the unsteady nature of the movement to which lie was stilijeet.il in t! 
 
 Shortly after this, (iariierin proceeded to England, when; he made his third essay, in an awxnt from North 
 Audley Street, on tin- '.'1st ,,f S-pteml.T. lsi._>. U-ing the only one of the kind hitherto ever exhibited in this 
 
160 
 
 ASTKA CASTEA. 
 
 JULY. 1837. 
 
 country. Since that period the parachute has frequently been made use of, both by himself and others, in various 
 parts of the continent, always, however, for the purposes of public exhibition ; nor, indeed, am I aware of any 
 iiistance, except one, in which any absolute advantage has ever accrued from its employment : I allude to the case 
 of Jordaki Kuparento, a Polish aeronaut, who, on the 24th of July, 1 804, ascended from Warsaw in a Montgolfiere, 
 or fire-balloon. When at a considerable altitude in the sky, his balloon became ignited ; being provided, however, 
 with a parachute, he was enabled to descend in safety. 
 
 The principle upon which all these parachutes were constructed is the same, and consists simply of a flattened 
 dome of silk or linen, from twenty-four to twenty-eight feet in diameter. From the outer margin all around, at 
 .stated intervals, proceed a large number of cords, in length about the diameter of the dome itself, which being 
 collected together in one point, and made fast to another of superior dimensions, attached to the apex of the 
 machine, serve to maintain it in its form when expanded in the progress of the descent. To this centre curd 
 likewise, at a distance below the point of junction, varying according to the fancy of the aeronaut, is fixed the car 
 or basket in which he is seated, and the whole suspended to the network of the balloon, in such a manner as to be 
 capable of being detached in an instant, at the will of the individual, by cutting the rope with a knife, or, still better, 
 by pulling a string communicating with a sort of trigger or pivot by which it is made fast above. 
 
 In the choice of the form of the parachute its original inventors were chiefly guided by the desire to obtain 
 the greatest atmospheric resistance consistent with a given extent of surface ; and although the form they did adopt 
 may not be that which answers exactly to this description, yet it falls short of it so little as to more than compensate 
 the deficiency by the other advantages which it aifords. 
 
 Two objectionable circumstances, however, are generally found to attend the employment of the parachute 
 as here described, namely, the length of time which is wont to elapse before it becomes sufficiently expanded 
 to arrest the fall of the individual, and the violent oscillatory movement which almost invariably accompanies the 
 descent. 
 
 In order to obviate these deficiencies a variety of plans were proposed at different times, amongst which is 
 that now shortly to be tried, and for which I perceive the proprietors of Vauxhall Gardens claim the merit of 
 originality. The idea, however, is a very old and a very common one, although, from certain inherent deficiencies, 
 
 MB. COOKING'S PAUACIIL T TK. 
 
 the practical cultivators of the art have declined adopting it. It was published in 1'aris nearly forty years ago, 
 revived in England by Sir George Cayley, and communicated by him, with other interesting notices upon aerostation, 
 if I mistake not, to the twenty-fourth volume of ' Nicholson's Journal.' It was subsequently more fully developed 
 and improved by Mr. Kerr, by whom it was in several experiments practically and publicly illustrated, and is 
 finally detailed in the ' Encyclopaedia Edinensis,' at the conclusion of the article headed " Aeronautics." 
 
 The principle of the plan alluded to is simply an inversion of the preceding ones, in which the surface of 
 least resistance is made to descend foremost, and so contrived as at all times to remain in a state of expansion. The 
 precise form of that which is now announced for experiment is an inverted cone, somewhat flattened, to the apex of 
 which is attached the car of the adventurer. The chief objects of this arrangement I have already stated to be the 
 
'HE, ENTERPUIZ1NG LUNAHBIS GBAND AIR fiALLOOK, 
 
 
 l Mlutrrt/,. .,/,.-ritll,l4,: 
 
 1864 
 
" C> . 7 I V I' 
 
 / t K r n ~ r j f s 
 
.In.v. 1837. 
 
 Ml;. 
 
 . ti..n of the iM-illatory ni..ti,.ii. and tho iiisuranco of tho speedy action of tin- machine after its detachment : ! 
 tin- former of thc*-. it* siiiiju. wax intended to conduce ; to tin- i "f ]N-rmaiu-nt expansion. And vi-t. in 
 
 >, t.. ..tivi.it.' tin- irregularities in question by any nioditinttion in the f.iiiu of tho parachute, a great error ha* 
 been committed, which nothing but an ignorance of tlu-ir real cause could <-v. r Inv,- occaNioned. lndi--d. th.-. 
 oMcillations sii-m very much to have puzzled the aeronautical world. Imth ln-ro and elsewhere, and yet the ground* 
 U]M.II \vhirh they are accountable are extremely simple. Kntiivly in.le]>eii.leiit of tin- I'onn, the alierratioiiK in 
 .|u--']..n an- in. i. ly the consequence of a first irregularity impressed upon tin- machine 1>y the unequal expansion 
 ..)' it- ]MI t>. In the act ..f o]N-ning, it is next to impossible that all tho gores of tho capacious dome should in th. 
 same moment attain the same degree of elevation ; the side which in first opened to its full extent iv,-,-i\ , - t he first 
 imprcKMon of resistance; the machine is thrown out of its equipoise; the irregularity which it first assumes becomes 
 quickly transferred to the other side by the gravitation of tho appended weight, and a reciprocal inteivhan 
 
 - thus becomes established, which the atmosphere possesses but too little consistence speedily to millue. Any 
 attempt to correct these derangements by a modification of tho form of tho parachute is extremely futile; l>ut to 
 endeavour to do so in the way proposed is worse than futile: it is really to sacrifice the very principles of the 
 machine to the attainment of an end to which the condition in question does in no way conduce, lly a comxe <,) 
 calculation founded n|m the admitted axioms of dynamics (all of which are, in tact, tho results of actual 
 iment), we learn that the resistance upon the base of a cone (supposing it a plane suilai-.- i is to that UJKUI it- 
 iic pn-M-ntutioii in tho proportion of unity to the sine-squared of half tho vertical angle.* 
 Supjwsing tho apex of the cone to be an angle of 120 degrees (from which, I have heard, it is not tar 
 
 'I'll.- f.. II.. win- investigation of tho comparative resistance of 
 fluids to bodie* of different forms, i by my friend W. C. Ottley, 
 Fi How of Coin* College, Cambridge, and will not be exa- 
 IIIMI. .1 u ithoiit interest, especially, considering the disastrous event, 
 tin- proUtlilt- occurrence of which it was originally undertaken t 
 (.lii.-i.lutu: 
 
 1 1 i- usual to calculate the resistance of fluids on bodies in 
 in.. ti. .11 up. .11 tin. hypothesis of the particles of fluid li-aviug tlie 
 surface of the body without impediment immediately after impact. 
 i- . vi.U-ntly incorrect in practice, iuosmuch as the 
 parti. -I. - .if ..ir r. ilcctcd from tlie surface must more or less iuter- 
 i. !.- with those in progress towards it. It will be easily conceived 
 that tin- . ii. T matt be the greatest when the surface on which the 
 air impinges is concave, and that consequently it must generate a 
 kind of compression in tlie concavity, which inn*! much increase the 
 whole effect of tlie resisting fluid. The increase of resistance 
 .iri*ing from this cause will diminish gradually as tlie concavity 
 diminishes, and will still be considerable when the surface is a 
 plane ; but whenever it become* convex, the effect arising from this 
 source becomes inappreciably small, from the facility with which 
 the particles glide off after impact These observations apply to 
 tii..i part of the effect which is disregarded in the mathematical 
 calculations of the resistance of fluids; but it will be presently 
 shown that even apart from these considerations, tlie resistance of 
 tin- air ii|>on a convex surface is considerably less than that upon a 
 I.!..-.- I . the mathematical reader tliis will be at once apparent ; 
 t'.ir tin in.-tnirtion of others, however, it may be as well to observe, 
 tlmt in the rii.-.- nf tin- plane the impact is direct, and consequently 
 tli.- whole m. .mi mum of the particles of air is exerted in resisting 
 the advance of the lidy ; whereas, in the case of the convex surface of 
 a cone, the impart In-in^ oblique, only a certain portion of that force 
 become* effective in opjxwinn it* progress through the atmosphere. 
 
 It is true tliiit the effect of th. friction of tlie air against the 
 .-onvi-x Mirfiuv of tin- cone would in some measure tend to increase 
 this rcsistHti.-c.und that thi- eff.-ct in a cone with u very acute angle 
 misrhl con-idi ral.ly modify the required calculation ; hut in the case 
 of a cone whose vertical angle is UUM- this effect may safely be 
 di-n ir.rd.-J, as more than counteracted by the rircumstanoes just 
 alluded to. 
 
 I'.,.-.. din K to calculate the difference between the resistance on 
 the convi x MirfiM-c of a cone and on its base, we shall find it con- 
 id.-r:iMt-: and if. beside*, we lak.- into account the effort of t!.. 
 t. rt. r. i,.-. of the reflected with th.- impm-in- |,r- :r , we 
 
 shall see how much there is in favour of parachute. 
 
 Let PQ represent the force of a particle of nir impinging "I"" 1 ""' 
 surface of the cone AIT. in th.- .In, .-lion of its motion. Then dravN 
 
 1-1: at right angles to the surface of the cone, i|it at right anglcx l<. 
 PR, and RS perpendicular to pq. 
 
 Then tlie effective resolved part of the force ",P on tlie surface of 
 the cone = i-it = IM sine IKIP = IV sine i-.\o = iii inc 0; and the part of 
 this force resolved in tin- direction of the motion of the cone, and 
 therefore effective in resisting its advance, will be represented I . 
 i-s - i-ii sine pas = PQ sine *0, sine PR = IM sine * . 
 
 Now, observing that the compactness of the. impinging piirti.-l. - 
 of fluid on any given portion of a surface will be proportion;. 1 to I In 
 sine of the angle of inclination .sine 0;, and putting p to r. p 
 the direct resistance of tlie air on a unit of surface, and </S to n -j.i. 
 sent an elementary portion of the surface of the cone, we have ,t<: 
 =princ*OdB; and if y-ax be the equation to tin- line M-, and 
 the length of tho line, we have d = 2 n y di = 2 n y sec. 9 .// 
 
 . . iln = p sine f 2 n y sec 9dx = 2n p sine -0 //<'./ 
 . . integrating K = n f sine '0 if. 
 
 N.IW the resistance on the base of tlie mne = /> multiplied into the 
 surface of the base, because tlie impact is direct ; . . R = p n>/- . 
 Henet Ot rautmee on the ntrfaoe of Ute tone it to the rttitia,,, 
 the bate at line * } angle of the cone it to unity. 
 
 Thus, if tlie vertical angle of the cone were 90", then i I 
 45; now sine 45 ^^/j; .-. *!. 45 = J; .'. tlie rexi-' 
 tlie tnse of such a cone is doul.l. llmt on th. \ .ain, -ui. 
 
 posing tho vertical angle of the cone to be l'20 : then > :,n-.-l. 
 60; now sine WTzy/j; ... H i, ie 3oo = J : .-. the resistance on 
 the base would in thi- case be to tl.nt upon the surface as < : :i. 
 
1(52 
 
 ASTRA CASTEA. 
 
 JULY, 1837- 
 
 removed), this proportion.'it will be seen by reference to the note below, would stand in numbers exactly as 4 is 
 to 3 ; thus indicating a loss of one quarter of the effect which would have been afforded by an horizontal area equal 
 in extent to its base. Assuming, therefore, the superficial contents of this latter to be 908 square feet (as would 
 be the case were its radius 1 7 feet, than which, however, it is something less), the power of the parachute in 
 question to retard the fall of the individual would only be equal to that of a circular plane whose surface was 081 
 square feet. 
 
 The terminal velocity of such a parachute, or the rate at which it would reach the ground, is easily computed. 
 From the experiments of Ferguson, House, Smeaton, and others, on the accuracy of which the greatest reliance may 
 be placed, we learn that the force exerted by the atmosphere in motion at the rate of one mile per hour, against a 
 plane at right angles to the direction of its course, is in the ratio of 005 of a pound avoirdupois for each square foot 
 of surface ; which force we are further aware increases directly as the squares of the velocities under which it is 
 exercised. It is almost unnecessary to observe, that whether the atmosphere impinge upon the surface or the 
 surface upon the atmosphere, the effect, as far as the question of resistance is concerned, is precisely the same. 
 
 Now, the weight of the above apparatus, inclusive of the individual himself, cannot, I am convinced, be safely 
 computed at less than 500 pounds. I am aware that in the public announcements the weight of the parachute is 
 stated to be but 223 pounds.* From the little acquaintance, however, which I have had with such experiments, I 
 am perfectly satisfied that no machine of the alleged dimensions could be constructed, with the slightest regard to 
 stability, in which the weight was under 350 pounds ; and if to this we add 150 pounds for the individual himself, 
 his ballast, and other equipments, I have no doubt we shall rather fall short of than exceed the reality. Upon this 
 supposition, therefore, and assuming, as above calculated, a plane of 681 square feet to be equivalent to the 
 parachute in question, we shall find a force of '703 of a pound exerted upon every square foot; indicating, 
 according to the scale before laid down, a rate of motion of about twelve miles an hour, or nearly eighteen feet in 
 a second.f 
 
 To those who are not in the habit of forming an estimate of consequences upon data of the above nature, it 
 will serve to give some notion of the force developed in such a proceeding, merely to suggest the consideration of 
 the shock they would receive were they to be launched unprotectedly against a solid wall from the top of a vehicle 
 travelling continuously at the rate of twelve miles an hour. 
 
 Nor is this a result peculiar to the above alone of all parachutes upon the same construction, or one which any 
 arrangement of its condition with regard to weight and size could ever enable it to avoid. Owing to the perverse 
 nature of the principle upon which it is contrived (all the forces which it encounters in its employment acting in 
 direct opposition to the maintenance of its proper form), a degree of strength becomes necessary in its construction 
 totally incompatible with the requisition of weight essential to the proper regulation of its descent. This is an 
 inconsistency which it is impossible to reconcile by any means within our power. There is a certain limit in nature 
 to the strength of materials, compared with their weight, which all the art of man can neither alter nor extend. 
 In some cases this limit is very speedily attained ; and I think it would not be difficult to prove that in this 
 particular instance it falls far short of what would be necessary to answer the purposes in view. 
 
 With such an obstacle to contend with, I have no hesitation in declaring that no parachute can ever be 
 constructed upon the principle in question that shall be capable of retarding the fall of man within the restrictions 
 of speed necessary for his final preservation. No argument in contravention of this position, drawn from a consi- 
 deration of experiments upon a smaller scale, is at all admissible. In comparative experiments of this nature there 
 are certain elements which cannot be made to keep pace with the rest, and which, remaining always the same, 
 utterly invalidate any analog}' which it might be thought proper to institute between them. So long as the service 
 required of them falls within a certain limit, there is no doubt of the success of their employment ; the moment it 
 passes that limit, one or other of these fixed principles begins to give way ; nor can its place be either dispensed 
 
 * Some idea may be had of the loose manner in which a transac- 
 tion, involving no less than the life of a man, was conducted, wlien 
 we observe that in the public announcement, from which alone the 
 world could derive any information on the subject, the weight of the 
 entire apparatus, including that of the individual himself, was stated 
 to be but 393 pounds ; whereas, from the evidence taken before the 
 coroner, in the inquest upon the body of the unfortunate victim, as 
 will be seen further on, it was made apparent that, after deducting 
 170 pounds (which, it seems, was the weight of Mr. Cocking), there 
 
 still remained 413 pounds to be laid to the account of the apparatus 
 alone ; very nearly twice as much as that at which it was originally 
 computed. 
 
 t The calculations, according to the formula of Dr. Hutton, which 
 here followed in the original, give a result so nearly coinciding with 
 that above stated, that we have thought it unnecessary to repeat 
 them here. The terminal velocity, as computed upon these grounds, 
 would have been 19 T ' 5 feet in a second ; somewhat greater than that 
 deduced by the above. 
 
JOIT, 1887, MONCK M.\M>y> I i:i in; n -TIM: M<I;MM; III:I;AU>.' 
 
 with nr supplied by any im-dili'-ation nf tho rest ()n the contrary, any attempt to resort to mich a remedy only 
 tends t.. multiply tin- forces by which that fixed principle il- H' i- really subdued. 
 
 If tlii- i.s triii- in caws where the modifications alluded to are not neoMwrily more than arc require*! fur tin- 
 M.I I.. whi.-li tli. \ an- sought to bo applied, on, for instance, when- an increase in the i|imntity (if inuterinl in merely 
 made tn Mipplv a deticii ncv in its strength, it is doubly Inn- where tin ir introduction alisolutelv gives i 
 ofaoUMlUMH by which a further increase in tlicir amount IK iiujM-nitively required. Tho manner in whieh tliii- 
 operate., iii t lie present CMC will appear the more readily wln-n we consider that all tho modifications in question, 
 involving tin- incroase of weight for the papaM Of tnogtli. an- referable to the great hoop or upjvr fnimework of 
 the iiiiichiiK- tending directly to tho derangement of its cqiii|Niim, and calling for the further addition of weight in 
 anotln-r i|narter. win -iv it not only conduce* nothing towards strength (the want of which it wa originally 
 intriKluced to supply), but actually operates to create a still further demand for it on its own account, necessitating 
 the introduction of a further weight, and thus establishing a reciprocal alternation ..(' cause and effoct, under the 
 o]M-rution of \vlncli tho very deficiencies themselves are augmented by the moans whereby it is sought to repair 
 them. Them arc objections affecting the principles of the parachute in question, from which those upon the old 
 
 uction are entirely free. In them the direction of the forces develii|>cd in the descent in exactly the inimt 
 f.iv.iuralile it is possible to conceive, both as regards tho retention of tho form, and tho maintenance of the 
 i >|iiilibriuni ; rendering unnecessary all accessions of weight, save what are required for strength alone, and 
 reducing even those to the smallest possible amount consistent with the actual cohesion of the parts. In the former, 
 on tin- contrary, the tendency of all them is exactly tho reverse; directly opposed to the maintenance of tho form, 
 the limn- they ii.ntriliiitc to the retardation of the descent, tho more they operate towards the destruction of the 
 machine : while tln-ir chiefest force being exerted upon the outer edges of the superior surface, should the slightest 
 inequality take place in their action, by which one side becomes operated upon more strongly than another, every- 
 thing will favour the derangement of tin- ei]iii]>oise, which nothing remains to check but tho disposition of the 
 weight.- themselves. Tn the present instance, this disposition is the most unfavourable to the exercise of such a 
 restraint that it is possible to imagine. The parachute is stated to weigh 223 pounds; Mr. Cocking 177. It 
 requires Init little judgment to foresee how precarious must be the equipoise of a machine so constructed and so 
 disjM.scd. liven tho advantage which the removal of the centre of gravity (which ought to be within the 
 individual himself) would confer has hero been neglected; placed in the very apex of the cone, the slightest 
 inclination will bo enough to throw his weight into tho body of the parachute, and favour its descent in any way 
 which tin- deranging circumstances may incline it to assume. 
 
 \\ith regard, therefore, to the employment of the parachute in question, or, indeed, of any other that may be 
 ei.iistructcd upon the same principle, I have no hesitation in predicting that one of two events must inevitably take 
 place, according to the special nature of the defect which may happen to be predominant : . iiln-r it will come to 
 tin- ground with a degree of force we have before shown to be incompatible with tho final preservation of tin 
 individual, or. should it be attempted to make it sufficiently light to resist this conclusion, it must give way beneath 
 tlie undue exercise of the forces it will necessarily develop in the descent 
 
 Besides these essential objections to the projected parachute, there are others of minor importance, chiefly 
 regarding its practical application, but which, all taken together, militate greatly against the prospect of its adoption 
 as a convenient mode of regulating a descent Among these, I shall only mention the difficulty in the first instance 
 of attaching it to the balloon, especially if the wind should happen to be at all high, and the great opposition which 
 it must necessarily offer to the ascent owing to the permanent state of expansion upon the principle of which it is 
 constructed. 
 
 All these disad vantages, the necessary consequences of its shape, are incurred for the sole purpose of avoiding 
 a defect which does not dejH'nd upon the shape at all, and which would have been equally avoided by applying the 
 principle of ]>ermanent expansion to tho usual parachute, or even without any further alteration than by merely 
 im -rinsing the interval 1 tw.en the point of suspension of the individual and the piano of tho resisting snr 
 This would not. it is true, diminish the extent of his deviation from the perpendicular; but by transferring it to 
 a greater distancc.it would diminish the angle of oscillation which it subtends, and obviate almost entirely it* 
 influence upon tin- parachute itself. 
 
 More might be said on the subject but that the inutility of the invention does not excuse a further trespass. 
 
 M. M. 
 
164 ASTRA CASTEA. JULY, 1837. 
 
 The newspaper account of the fatal result of Mr. Cooking's parachute descent is as 
 follows : 
 
 We regret to have to state that the experiment of the descent of the parachute has terminated fatally to 
 Mr. Cocking. In consequence of the announcement that he was to ascend in his parachute suspended to the great 
 Nassau balloon, a great number of persons, amongst whom were many of the first nobility of the country, 
 assembled in the Gardens to witness the experiment. Without the Gardens, upon Vauxhall Bridge, and upon 
 Millbank, the crowd was immense. Thousands of persons filled all the streets in the neighbourhood of Vauxhall, 
 and a joyous crowd swarmed on every eminence and open spot that commanded a fair view of the horizon. The 
 Thames was literally covered with boats, and presented an appearance of the most magnificent description. The 
 time fixed for the ascent of the aeronauts was five o'clock ; but on our entering the Gardens at that hour we found 
 that the process of inflation of Mr. Green's Nassau balloon was not yet completed. This afforded us an opportunity 
 of inspecting the parachute in which Mr. Cocking contemplated his awful descent, and we had some conversation 
 with the unfortunate gentleman on the principle of his contrivance, and the altitude at which he proposed to sever 
 his connexion with the balloon of Mr. Green. Mr. Cocking, who was a gentlemanly man, short in stature and 
 somewhat stout, and apparently of the age of fifty-two or fifty-three, gave the most obliging answers to our queries, 
 and explained that his parachute was constructed on a totally different plan from that of M. Garnerin. The latter 
 he described as of the form of an umbrella, closed at the moment of descent, but expanded by the atmosphere as it 
 approached the earth, and forming a sort of canopy over the aeronaut. His parachute, on the contrary, was in the 
 form of an umbrella reversed, the cavity containing the air being uppermost, with the view, he said, of preventing 
 the oscillation which proved so disastrous to M. Garnerin. As the parachute stood upon the ground, we were 
 unable to see very exactly the place to be occupied by the aeronaut ; but shortly afterwards it was raised to an 
 altitude of about four feet, when we perceived a circular orifice of about a yard in diameter, to which a basket or 
 car was attached by several cords. Mr. Cocking expressed by words the utmost confidence in the result of his 
 experiment ; but it appeared to us that it was a confidence which he did not feel. His restless looks and nervousness 
 of manner seemed to belie the bravery of his speech ; and we thought more than once that his mind was ill at ease, 
 and that he would willingly have postponed the attempt until a less hazardous trial had assured him of its safety. 
 When questioned as to the danger, he remarked that none existed for him, and that the greatest peril, if any, would 
 attend the balloon of the Messrs. Green when suddenly relieved from the weight of himself and the parachute (abotit 
 five hundred weight). Notwithstanding the confidence of this assertion, an uneasy twinkle in his eye convinced us 
 that he was not so sure of this as he appeared to be. 
 
 The time which had elapsed since an attempt to descend by a parachute, and more particularly the novel 
 construction of that which was exhibited, added to the perilous nature of the feat intended to be achieved, had 
 combined to cause an unusual excitement in the public mind. Curiosity, however, induced all assembled to bear 
 the delay which occurred with great goodhumour, and to attribute it to the right cause, which, in justice to 
 Messrs. Hughes and Gye, the respectable proprietors of the Gardens, we feel it our duty to state was a laudable 
 anxiety First, That Mr. Cocking should not ascend, if he felt in the least degree doubtful as to his success ; and, 
 secondly, that if he did, every possible precaution should be taken, himself (Mr. Cocking) superintending, that no 
 defect or oversight in any of the minutise should endanger his safety. So averse were they to be considered as 
 urging him to the attempt, that at the last moment, and even for several days previously, they had not only 
 endeavoured to dissuade him, but actually, when the preparations were concluded, offered to make an apology 
 to the company, return the money paid at the doors, and take upon themselves all the consequences which might 
 arise from the disappointment. Mr. F. Gye, who was particularly anxious in his attention to all the arrangements 
 of the experiment, and who is entitled to every praise for the manner in which ho exerted himself to prevent the 
 possibility of accident, advised Mr. Cocking, if he felt the least timidity, to relinquish his attempt. Mr. Cocking, 
 however, professed himself most anxious to carry his announcement into execution ; and after thanking Mr. Gye for 
 his kindness and solicitude, professed himself most eager to ascend. 
 
 Towards six o'clock Mr. Green and Mr. Spencer, the solicitor, entered their balloon, which was allowed to 
 ascend to an altitude of about forty feet, that the parachute might be brought directly under it and securely fixed. 
 It was seven o'clock before all the preparations were completed, at which time the whole apparatus was distinctly 
 visible to every one in the Gardens. Considerable impatience had been manifested at the long delay which had 
 taken place, but, as the position of the parachute became more clearly defined, a general clapping of hands expressed 
 
J.I.Y. i- Tin: FATAL nix I:M. n;5 
 
 tin- j..y i.f tlif miiltiiii.li-. Another lialf li.mr passed away, during which time Mr. Cocking was engaged in oarnoal 
 -II with several i if his friends. Th,- Kind <if tin- Surrey Yeomanry suddenly struck up the National 
 Anthem, which U-ing considered the- signal for the cords to be loosened, a loud huzza proceeded from the Gardens, 
 and was re-echoed by tin- impatient mob outaide. At this moment a tube or pipe of linen was lowered by the 
 Messrs. Green frm tin- e.n- .,f th.-ir balloon through the orifice in the parachute, and past the basket in which 
 Mi. i '.irking was to sit This, we soon discovered, VMS f..r tin- <-. inv.-vance of the lulliist it is found necessary 
 tu discharge on the asceut of a balloon, and which, if it had licen thrown out in the usual manner, would have 
 lodged in tin- parachute. All the preparations having been completed, Mr. Cocking (having previously stripped off 
 his coat as too cumbersome, and put on a light jacket) stepped into the car amid the acclamations of the company. 
 of hi- fi i. i.d- offci-i (1 him a glut* of wiiif, whi.-h he drank, and having shaken them all cordially by the hand, 
 little knowing that it would be for the last time, the cords were loosened, and the balloon and its attendant 
 parachute mounted into the heavens amid the renewed cheering of the crowd. The early part of the afternoon had 
 been remarkably fine and clear, but about this time (half-past seven) the sky hud Ix-como somewhat overcast, and a 
 
 1. !-../ 1, ,.1 -|>!iiti_r ii|i. V' a|'|-i> iii n-i.'ii- h.iwevi-r. were i lit. I t.iin. d. and tin- in- at that iin'iin-lil wasa-iM\ 
 
 and i -hii'iful .1- it is possible to imagine. Above was the majestic balloon, sailing rapidly aloft, its inmates waving 
 their flags in triumph; below was the gaily-dressed multitude, mixing their acclamations with the music of the 
 Kind, and i -la]>]iing their hands to the adventurous voyagers, little dreaming that the death-hour of the principal 
 actor in the scene was rapidly approaching. The balloon, with the parachute, were visible for several minutes, 
 passing directly nver the Thames, and apparently taking the direction of Bayswater and Acton. Shortly afterwards 
 tin y appeared to enter a cloud, and became lost to sight The company began to separate, and, mingling with the 
 ... .1- i oiigregated around and in every avenue leading to the Gardens, formed a tableau vivant of high life and low 
 lift- in not iintViijui-ntly imiiMiig juxtaposition. All, nevertheless, seemed hieing homewards, impressed with 
 dill', i-i nt notions of the result; but the prevailing opinion, particularly amongst the humbler classes, appeared to 
 be that some accident or misfortune would occur. We grieve at being compelled to turn from this scene of 
 amusement and mirth, and record the disastrous conclusion, 
 
 Mr. K. I nderwood, of Regent-street, followed on horseback in the direction taken by the balloon, to witness, 
 if possible, the descent of the parachute, and from that gentleman we have learned the melancholy details which 
 follow. Mr. Underwood was in the neighbourhood of Blackheath when he saw the Messrs. Green sever the cord 
 which attached the parachute to their car. The parachute, thus left to itself, descended with the utmost rapidity, 
 and swayed IV. .in side to side in the most fearful manner. Mr. Underwood immediately anticipated the worst In 
 a ! u seennds. the dreadful oscillations still continuing, the basket which contained the unfortunate aeronaut broke 
 away from the parachute, and Mr. Cocking was precipitated to the earth from a height of several hundred feet. 
 Mr. I nd.-rwood immediately spurred his horse, and arrived in a field near Lee, where several labourers had picked 
 uji the jiaraehute. They would not believe that a man had fallen with it, but on Mr. Underwood's explanations, 
 and an ..tier of five guineas to whoever should find the body of Mr. Cocking, they commenced a diligent search. 
 After traversing four fields they heard groans proceeding from a field called Burnt Ash, near Lee, and on going in 
 that direction they found the unfortunate Air. Cocking literally dashed to pieces! and just as they were loosening 
 he breathed his List in their arms. He was speedily conveyed to the Tiger's Head Inn, where four 
 medical gentlemen attended. Their services were, however, needless. 
 
 A writer in a morning paper says : " I was looking at the balloon with the parachute as it drifted steadily 
 before a gentle wind and rose very slowly. After it was first pointed out to me, the parachute seemed to float 
 without any oscillation, and to hang perpendicularly under the balloon. Shortly afterwards the balloon itself was 
 slightly agitated, and was inclined considerably more to one side than when I first saw it, and the parachute did not 
 a]i]K-ar to hang so perpendicularly as at first While I was referring this to the balloon rising perhaps into a 
 -tratum of air with a somewhat greater velocity than the one it was leaving, the balloon and parachute adjusted 
 t hems. ! v.s into their first jMisition. and floated with as steady and as gentle a motion as before. In an instant 
 afterwards 1 observed tip- Killi.in shooting upwards with great velocity, and the parachute, which had been 
 suddenly separated from it. falling with great rapidity. I lost sight of the balloon, and my eye was fixed on the 
 parachute. Knowing the use and object of a parachute, I was struck with the great velocity of its descent from the 
 instant of its lil* -ration. The sky was serene; the beams of the setting sun fell on the parachute, and every part 
 
 :i tiii.-tly visible ; the bree/.e in the region in which it was descending was so gentle as scarcely to exert any 
 
 z 2 
 
166 ASTKA CASTKA. JULY, 1837. 
 
 perceptible influence in turning it from its perpendicular direction ; and where I stood, perhaps about six hundred 
 yards from where it alighted, the air did not move the leaves of an elm-tree. For a few moments the parachute 
 descended so beautifully, and preserved its position so steadily, notwithstanding its fearful motion, that I thought it 
 would reach the ground in safety ; and I felt relieved from an intense momentary excitement, from an apprehension 
 flashing across my mind, that perhaps some human being was perilling life itself in the experiment. Being 
 ignorant of the real form of the parachute, I speak of it as it appeared from a distance. To my eye it had a round 
 flattish shape, and at this moment it seemed to lean a little to one side : it was not horizontal. It remained for a 
 moment or two in this position, all the while it was descending rapidly. It then fell, as it were, to the opposite 
 side, but with a quicker motion than when it first lost its horizontal position. It now oscillated several times 
 quickly. A sort of flapping motion was then perceptible, and the parachute appeared lessened in diameter. It 
 then apparently turned over, and at this moment something fell out of it at a great height, which, for the instant I 
 could keep it in sight, did not fall much faster than the parachute. The parachute again turned over, and, to me 
 and some others standing near, it disappeared for the twinkling of an eye, and in the succeeding instant it was seen 
 to have changed its flattish circular form to that of a long body, like an umbrella partially opened, or more correctly, 
 perhaps, to a balloon very much collapsed, and descending with a great velocity. Some trees intervening prevented 
 my further observation. I made my way through the fields in the direction in which I had seen it felling, and as I 
 reached a spot at a little distance from where it fell I saw the lifeless body of the unfortunate gentleman placed on a 
 hurdle, to be conveyed by some farm labourers to an inn at Lee." 
 
 MR. GREEN'S ACCOUNT. 
 
 " In consequence of the sad and fatal catastrophe which has befallen the late Mr. Cocking, I feel myself called 
 upon to communicate to the public the whole of the particulars of my ascent with the Vauxhall balloon, taking up 
 with me Mr. Cocking in his parachute. The inflation commenced about twelve, under the able direction of 
 Mr. Hutchinson, the engineer to the London Gas Company, and was completed by five o'clock. Prior to the 
 parachute being attached to the balloon, I caused a trial to be made with a view of ascertaining whether the 
 buoyancy of the latter was sufficient to carry up the former with safety. The result of this trial was, after some 
 arrangements with respect to the ballast of which I was compelled to give out about six hundred and fifty pounds 
 in weight had been effected, satisfactory. The abandonment of this large quantity of ballast I found to be 
 absolutely requisite in order with safety to commence the ascent. The balloon was then allowed gently to rise a 
 sufficient height to be conveyed over the parachute ; but in consequence of the great and unavoidable delay which 
 was necessarily caused in affixing the two machines, the gas in the former became very considerably condensed, from 
 a reduction of its temperature. It thereupon became a matter of compulsion that 1 should get rid of one hundred 
 pounds more of ballast, which I emptied out of a bag through a tube, constructed of canvas and about fifty feet in 
 length. The object in having this tube was, that any ballast I might deem it advisable to throw out during our 
 voyage should take such a course as would entirely clear the broadest expanse of the parachute. 
 
 The connexion between the balloon and parachute was at length completed by the rope of the latter being made 
 fast to the liberating iron by which Mr. Cocking was to free himself from the balloon. It is but justice to myself that 
 I should here state that I had on several occasions expressed my determination not to liberate the parachute from the 
 balloon, upon the ground, setting aside my other considerations, that I might select a moment for the severance when 
 Mr. Cocking was not altogether prepared or ready for his descent, and therefore if any accident were to accrue to him, 
 that I, of course, should be regarded as the responsible party, and the one to whom blame would naturally attach. 
 Mr. F. Gye, everything being in readiness, about twenty-five minutes to eight o'clock, gave the signal for the whole 
 of the apparatus to bo released from its trammels, and we instantly rose very steadily, taking an easterly course. 
 Mr. Cocking had always ardently desired that we should ascend to an elevation of 8000 feet, about a mile and a 
 quarter, at which height he proposed to detach himself from the balloon, and to commence his descent. Finding, 
 therefore, that our upward progress was veiy slow, I requested Mr. Spencer to discharge some more ballast, and he 
 accordingly threw the contents of a bag weighing twenty pounds through the tube already named. This proving 
 of little avail, I directed a second and then a third bagful to be got rid of by the same means. At this period we 
 were floating nearly over the Surrey Zoological Gardens, at an elevation of about 2000 feet. It was at this 
 moment that a portion of the lower end of the ballast-tube became detached, a circumstance which was caused by 
 
JTOT,M MR GUI:I:YS ACCOUNT. H;T 
 
 tin- i.-nisional swiii-ring to and fro of the parachute. This accident led to the inconvenience which I had foranen 
 me days 1- !'!' ill-- .1- ni. .ui'l w hi' h led to the adoption ,.f the tuU-. and of ill it of rendering it i-xtrc-nn ly dilVicult 
 fur us tn dis. harp- tin- ballast without it-, falling into tli.- parachute. < >ur inaliility to do thin, an wo were then 
 sitiiat-d. I mmimioated to Mr. Cocking, adding tlmt. under tin- circumstai ..... s-, it was ini|ssilile for UM to rims any 
 higher unless we were to utt<-ni|>t to throw the ballast in bag* beyond tin- outer spread of hw machine a oourae of 
 dni-e \\ hi, h we considered to be attended with much danger to any persons who might chance to be beneath 
 I. ut that . would. if he wished it, make the experiment M aoon aa we had clean*! tho houses. Mr. Cocking 
 n-pliiil. \ iv w. II .it is of no consequence, if you think I have time to rise aa high an I want, and to descend 
 > dark.' I remarked, 'I think you have, and you will then also have a more open country for the dement.' 
 \\ .- now coiitinn.-d to glide along, guidi il l>y the pleasure of tin- wind, at ncurly tho same elevation, until we hud 
 cleared all the Liuldn,-- I hiring this time Mr. SjN-noer and myself were busily engaged in dividing our ballast 
 into small parcels, so that we might bo able to throw tin m over without injury to the parachute. AH noon an we 
 found that we had arrived over the fields, and presuming that no danger could arise from the falling of the balloHt, 
 we ,|iiirkly began to relieve onraelvei of that essential commodity. In doing thi-. our anxiety respecting any of it 
 l-Lin^ in the parachute was niueh relieved by finding that that miu-hinu continually swung beckwanbi and 
 forward*, evidently occasioned by the o| r.iti..n of the current* through which wo passed, no that wo were enabled, 
 without any difficulty. to cant away the bags without damage to the vehicle immediately below UK. \Ve continued 
 to discharge ballast until we had lewm-d our (|iiantity liy fifty |-.unds. in addition to that already sent over. The 
 Uillixii now began to rise, and boon i m- red a tier of clouds, when we loot sight of tho earth. So great, however. 
 was the resistance offered by the parachute to this denser atmosphere, that wo were again obliged, in order to attain 
 tho elevation Mr. Cm-king pressed for (that gentleman considering that tho greater tho distance ho had to fall the 
 greater would be the atmospheric pressure under tho parachute, and, therefore, tho easier bin descent), to rid 
 ourt* -ir hundred pounds more ballast, and oven then we only arrived at tho height of 5000 foot, which is a 
 
 tritle le-* than a mile. \Ve were still :1000 foot lower than Mr. Cooking's desired elevation. Whilst these operationn 
 
 lining on Mr. SjH-nivr and myself held a conversation with our appended neighbour and friend, which wan 
 entirely routined to the progress we were making upwards, Mr. Cocking manifesting much anxiety and wishing to 
 be infonmd how we were rising, requesting to know when every additional elevation of five hundred feet wax 
 accomplished. As aoon as we had attained the height of ,'AMO feet I told him that it would bo impossible for IIH to 
 p t up as hiiih aa he desired in surlicicnt time for him to descend by the light of day. Upon this Mr. Cocking said. 
 1 Then I shall very soon leave you ; l.ut tell me whereabouts I am.' Mr. Spencer, who had a few minutes before 
 caught a glimpse of th<- . .u;h. an~v%> i. d. \\.- appear to be on a level with Greenwich.' 1 then asked him if In- 
 felt hinist -If i|tiito comfortable, and whether ho found that the practical trial bore out the calculations he had made. 
 Mr. Cocking replied, 'Yes; 1 never felt more comfortable or more delighted in my life.' Shortly afterwards 
 Mr. ( '< king said, ' Well, now I think I shall leave you.' I answered, 'I wish you a very good night and a safe 
 descent, if you are determined to make it, and not to use the tackle.' I should here observe, that with an anxiety 
 to prevent any accident arising in the event of the violence of the wind rendering it impossible for a descent to be 
 .ptitl, an apparatus had been constructed, under the direction of Mr. F. Gye, to afford us the facility of 
 sauting Mr. < '< king to haul himself up into the car of the balloon, and that this is tho tackle to which I thus 
 alluded. Mr. Corking to this ipu-stion made no other reply than 'Good night, Spencer ; good night, Green.' At 
 this instant I desired Mr. Sp.-nr.-r to take fast hold of the ropes, and, like myself, to crouch down in the car. In 
 conac<}uence of U-ing coin| lied to keep hold of the valve-line, of course I had but one hand which was available for 
 
 iqxwes of safety. With that hand, fortunately, in the perilous situation into which we were speedily thrown, 
 I was able to maintain my |n*ition. Scarcely were those words uttered before we felt a slight jerk upon tho 
 litx-niting iron, lint quickly dix-.,v. n d, from not having changed our elevation, that Mr. Cocking had tailed in bin 
 attempt to frii- him.s. If. Another l>ut more powerful jerk ensued, and in an instant the balloon shot upwards with 
 tin- vel.-ity of a skyrocket. The effect upon us at this moment is almost beyond description. The immense 
 machine which suspended u> U-twe.-ii -heaven mid earth,' whilst it appeared to be forced upwards with terrific 
 violence and rapidity through unknown and imtravclled regions, amidst the bowlings of a fearful hurricane, rolled 
 about as though revelling in a freedom for which it had long struggled, but of which until tlmt moment it had been 
 k.pt in utter ipionince. It at length, as if somewhat fatigued by its exertions, gradually assumed tin- tuotioi 
 snake working its way with astonishing Kpc.-d towards a given object. During thin frightful operation the gas 
 
168 ASTRA CASTRA. JULY, 1837. 
 
 was rushing in torrents from the upper and lower valves, but more particularly from the latter, as the density of 
 the atmosphere through which we were forcing our progress pressed so heavily on the valve at the top of the balloon 
 as to admit of comparatively but a small escape by the aperture. At this juncture, had it not been for the 
 application to our mouths of two pipes leading into an air-bag with which we had furnished ourselves previous to 
 .starting, we must within a minute have been suffocated, and so, but by different means, have shared the melancholy 
 fate of our friend. This bag was formed of silk, sufficiently capacious to contain one hundred gallons of atmospheric 
 air. Prior to our ascent the bag was inflated, with the assistance of a pair of bellows, with fifty gallons of air, so 
 allowing for any expansion which might be produced in the upper regions. Into one end of this bag were 
 introduced two flexible tubes, and the moment we felt ourselves to bo going up in the manner just described, 
 Mr. Spencer, as well as myself, placed either of them in our mouths. By this simple contrivance we preserved 
 ourselves from instantaneous suffocation, a result which must have ensued from the apparently endless volume of 
 gas with which the car was enveloped. The gas, notwithstanding all our precautions, from the violence of its 
 operation on the human frame, almost immediately deprived us of sight, and we were both, as far as our visionary 
 powers were concerned, in a state of total darkness for four or five minutes. 
 
 " As soon as we had partially regained the use of our eyes, and had somewhat recovered from the effects of 
 the awful scene into which, from the circumstances, we had been plunged, our first attention was directed to the 
 barometer. I soon discovered that my powers had not sufficiently returned to enable me to see the mercury, but 
 Mr. Spencer found that it stood at lb-20, giving an elevation of 23,384 feet, or about four miles and a quarter. I 
 do not conceive, from the length of time 1 had been liberating the gas, that this was anything like our greatest 
 altitude, for we were evidently effecting a rapid descent. This impression is corroborated by a rough calculation, 
 which leads me to believe, knowing the customary rate at which the gas makes its escape, taken into consideration in 
 conjunction with the length of time I had been pulling the valve-line, that we had lost at least 30,000 feet of gas, 
 or 180,000 gallons, a total of 5000 feet more than my own balloon will contain. It may be regarded as somewhat 
 surprising that not a larger quantity had evaporated, especially when the size of the valves is considered, that at 
 the top being nearly three feet in diameter, whilst the one at the neck of the balloon is upwards of two feet. The 
 reason, however, is easily explained. The extreme rapidity with which we ascended, coupled with the consequent 
 pressure of the atmosphere on the upper part of the machine, necessarily prevented much escape from the top valve. 
 The same cause also forced an extraordinary emission from the opening at the neck, and I am decidedly of 
 opinion, had it not fortunately happened that the proprietors permitted this latter valve to be increased from eighteen 
 to twenty-five inches in diameter, that the balloon must have burst, and my^companion as well as myself been hurled 
 headlong into eternity. As I have stated, we were now rapidly on the descent, having got rid of all the usual 
 annoyance to which I have referred ; and finding that we were proceeding downwards with the ordinary calmness 
 and steadiness, although with much speed, we hastened to empty two vessels of water which we had taken up for 
 the purpose, and to charge them with the atmospheric air through which we were then descending. Our desire 
 was to effect this object at our greatest altitude, but, from the circumstances which I have detailed, we were unable 
 to accomplish that end, and when the vessels were filled the mercury in the barometer had ascended to 17'50, or an 
 elevation of 1 6,632 feet, about three miles. When we had accomplished this matter, finding ourselves suffering severely 
 from cold, we referred to the thermometer, which stood at 28, or four degrees below the freezing-point. We were at this 
 period apparently about two miles and a half above an immense mountain of clouds, which presented the appearance of 
 impenetrable masses of dark marble, whilst all around us was shed the brilliant rays of the setting sun. We continued 
 to descend with great rapidity, and as we approached the clouds that velocity considerably increased. At this time so 
 large had been our loss of gas, that the balloon, instead of presenting to our sight its customary rotund and widely- 
 expanded form, now merely looked like a comparatively small parachute or half dome, without any aperture in its 
 centre. We had parted with at least one-third of our gas, and were as far beneath the balloon itself as fifty or 
 sixty feet. Recollecting the late hour at which we quitted Vauxhall, I now began to be anxious about the time, 
 and, on applying to Mr. Spencer, ascertained that it wanted not more than a quarter to nine o'clock. From this 1 
 was aware, notwithstanding in our then position we were blessed with a magnificent light, that on emerging below 
 from the clouds darkness would have assumed her sable hue over the earth, and that we should have much difficult}-, 
 therefore, in ascertaining the nature and character of the country, supposing us to be over the land, on which we 
 must effect our final descent. I consequently became extremely anxious to make our way through the clouds 
 as quickly as possible ; which having done, we proceeded until we had reached within some three hundred feet of the 
 
SKi-iTMiir.i:. 1 "OPINIONS MAY STII.I. \ AUY." H',!i 
 
 Alien we found it r^iuisite, from unr in:iliility t.. ascertain tho nature of the ground, tho whole ouuntr\ 
 
 thf appearance of thick woods, to oast out every article of ballaMt and moveablo matters, even t. 
 
 - .-unl empty Kill.i-t )..i-^-. ill order to prevent UK from coining ill contact with what WIIH KUpjNiHcd to be tm-K. 
 
 ..illini; "tit for some time, and hanging .nit iln-^ni|iin-l. wi- li.-iinl voices in reply, and the parties speedily druw UM 
 
 to a safe place of landing, which proved to be clow to tho village of Offhaiu, near Town Mailing, seven miles wwrt 
 
 of Miii'Utoiie. .iii.l i. nt\ . i;iht frum London. The Killoon wan packed, and convoyed in a cart to Town Mailing. 
 
 whcr.- we u. re most huspital.lv treated. .in. I provided with beds by tin- l!i-v. Mr. Moin-y, who, singular to n-l.it. . 
 
 tied in., that In. IH the ten of Major Money, tho aeronaut, who, on the 23rd of July, 1780, amended from 
 
 i< li. .-UK! t. 11 into the no* twenty miles off LowestofE At half-paMt ten o'clock this morning we .|uut. .1 Town 
 
 Mailing, and it wa not until our arrival at Wrotham, at which place I in<iuin-.l whether they had hoard wh.i. 
 
 M: ' king h.i.l descended, that I became aoqnainteil with the unexpected and melancholy result of his experiment. 
 
 I trust it is m-edleai forme to say how deeply the filling* of Mr. Spencer and myself were harrowed up by the sad 
 
 intelligent!- thus .-onvejed to us. It is only due to the lat-- Mr. CiH-king I should add, that throughout tho whole 
 
 of our voyage, up to the moment when he released himself from the balloon, he displayed tho greatest courage and 
 
 fortitude ; and tin- expression ,,f liis features, and the light and joyous, although earnest, way in which ho made his 
 
 ""I .-unversed with us, manifested his great satisfaction that at length a theory to which ho had .1. \,.i. .1 
 
 the last twenty-five years of his life was about to be triumphantly put to the tost We were up aKiut <>ne hour and 
 
 y minutes. Individually, my opinion was, that, having withstood the difficulties and severe pressure of tli. 
 
 atmosphere in its ascent, Mr. Cooking's parachute would accomplish its descent with perfect safety." 
 
 In rrfrrence to this unhappy event, Mr. Wise, of America, several years after, expresseK 
 
 himself thus : 
 
 Looking at this contrivance with an unprejudiced eye, it struck me as remarkably ingenious, embracing in.n. 
 l>ut true principles, adaptive t.. the end for which it was intended; and so confirmed was I in this conclusion (and 
 .mi y. t . that I wniilil not havo hesitated to repeat tho experiment with a similar machine, with no other alteration 
 than a tough wooden h.-.p in tho top of it instead of a tin one, as was in his machine. I ventured this opinion in 
 a Philadelphia newspaper at the time, and promised to demonstrate its truth, before tho summer should pass by. l.\ 
 in. nt with a true nnlel of this new invention in letting down, from a great height, a living animal 
 <>n the l>th September I ascended from Philadelphia with both a Ganicrin ami ( 'ocking parachute attached. 
 In the fanner I had placed a dog, and in tin- latter a cat The concave parachute was first dropped, which in two 
 seconds afterwards commenced to oscillate with great violence, to which the dog, its occupant gave the most ample 
 testimony by a yelp, corresponding to each vibration, as far as I could hear him. Seeing it safely in the hands ,.)' 
 one individuals 1. 1,.w. the convex parachute was next put to the test I made particular preparations to watch 
 .ole dtwtvnt. with a spy-glass for the occasion. \\ hen it was dropped it oscillated a little for a few moment... 
 and then commenced describing spiral circles of perhaps a hundred feet diameter (this is a mere guess calculation. 
 however), the parachute all the while revolving on its own vertical axis, which motion was in the same direction 
 as it* spiral motion : and thus it continued gyrating with a double motion, but apparently very smoothly and grace- 
 fully. until it reached the top of a dwelling in Eleventh-street where it lodged safely, and was taken in from the 
 dormer window. 
 
 Mr. \\ i-< :i<lds that, < v. u with the defect in the upper hoop, that caused his parachut*- 
 . M . ' .-kin"; wouM have descended without very serious consequences, by the 
 trim. m <.f this vnst surf-tee tlm>iio-h the atmosphere in a collapsed state, had he not lost his 
 presence of min-l. which <MU-. ( ,1 him to receive the shock all at once. 
 
 I conehi.le this chapter with n relation of some other ascents made in America, by the 
 >auie experience,! aeronaut. The first took place in the presence of certain delegations of 
 Indian trills who were in Philadelphia. 
 
 In October. 1837, every arrangement being completed, the Indians, with the celebrated chief*, Black Hawk. 
 
170 ASTRA CASTKA. A.D. 1837. 
 
 and Keokuk the Prophet, and Black Hawk's son at their head, and the Florida soldiers, together with a numerous 
 company of invited guests, being assembled for the occasion, at a few minutes after one o'clock, preparations for a 
 start were made. Just at this moment the chief Keokuk, -with the characteristic sagacity of the red man, requested 
 me, through his interpreter, to allow him to make an examination of the whole machinery and apparatus. To this 
 f cheerfully assented, offering at the same time to give him such explanations as he desired. It was evident from 
 the manner of his procedure that he had some doubts as to the fairness and reality of what was to be done, appa- 
 rently thinking that it was a sort of a juggle to be played upon them by a " pale-faced medicine man." Everything 
 in the car was observed and scrutinised by him with a keenness that would have done credit to a philosopher. 
 (Indeed, I looked upon him as a great natural philosopher.) A large brass speaking-trumpet that lay in my car 
 elicited from him particular inquiry. Having just before told him that I would sail above the clouds, he asked me 
 whom I intended to talk to there with this instrument. I told him it was intended to talk down, not Tip. He also 
 inquired the particular use of the grappling-iron and the philosophical instruments contained in the car ; the use of 
 the latter he could not satisfactorily comprehend. He next asked permission to make a test of the upward power of 
 the balloon, which was promptly granted him ; several of the cords by which the machine was held down were 
 brought together and placed in his hands. Upon these he gradually brought his weight, at the same time scruti- 
 nising the others that were fast to weights, whereupon he nodded assent and belief in its powers, and at once 
 acknowledged an abandonment of his scepticism upon the affair. Black Hawk, who until then had maintained a 
 sullen silence and apparent unconcern of the whole affair, called me to him and informed me that this affair was very 
 'nteresting to his companions, but that he had seen such things before. This was the truth ; for some years before 
 he witnessed, in company with General Jackson, who was then President of the United States, an ascension from 
 the Battery in New York. The Prophet and young Black Hawk listened and observed very attentively to all that 
 passed, but made no inquiries, being apparently satisfied with what they heard. 
 
 This investigation being got through with, I shook hands, as a farewell, with the chiefs, and started off. At 
 the moment of detaching the balloon the Indians all simultaneously sprang on their feet and gave a wave of the 
 hand, with a faint but shrill shriek, which I took as a parting salute, and responded to it in a similar manner as 
 nearly as I could. 
 
 I noticed on this occasion, while crossing the Delaware River at the height of a mile, that the water appeared 
 much more transparent when viewed from that height than when viewed from a boat, or from its banks. And so 
 remarkable was this phenomenon that, notwithstanding the muddled condition of that river in the vicinity of the 
 place where it was crossed, I could trace the geological structure of its bottom for some distance above and below 
 the point of crossing. After I had crossed the river, the balloon moving south of east, sufficient ballast was dis- 
 charged to raise her 9000 feet high, when her course became due east, with a speed so moderate, that it was only by 
 the change of topographical scenery that I could discern her onward progress. The day was a remarkably pleasant 
 one for the lateness of the season, and at this immense height the thermometer ranged at 42. It must, how- 
 ever, be observed, that the thermometer was not screened from the reflected heat of the sun by the balloon, which 
 I afterwards discovered made a great difference in the indications of this instrument when carried aloft. 
 
 I enjoyed a range of vision from ninety to one hundred miles in diameter. Seeing that Philadelphia was now 
 verging into the western horizon, and that Mount Holly and Vincent Town were passing beneath me in the same 
 direction, and knowing that towards the east scarcely anything but forest and sea could now be expected, I com- 
 menced a rapid descent at half-past three o'clock, some distance to the east of Vincent Town. The first thing that 
 obstructed me in this design was the contact of a whirlwind, which enveloped the whole machine in a cloud of dust, 
 sand, and dry vegetable matter. This so tossed about the aerial ship that I was obliged to take refuge in the bottom of 
 the car, the better to maintain my centre of gravity. After being thus swung about for a minute or two, and carried 
 up and south-eastward for a considerable distance for so short a time, the whirlwind dispersed, and the balloon began 
 to descend again. Having before this seen clouds of smoke ascending from the pines to the south-east of me, which 
 I then took for collieries, I now found it to be the pines on fire, and the balloon fast descending right into it. 
 Knowing the consequences of such a catastrophe from sad experience, the ballast yet remaining in the car was 
 quickly disposed of. Finding this not to check the balloon sufficiently from falling into the fiery desert below, the 
 speaking-trumpet and air-bottles had to follow, which fortunately enabled me to cross the conflagration. The 
 balloon now rose again to the elevation of 3000 feet, and rapidly traversed the pines towards Barnegat Bay, and for 
 a moment I thought of continuing the voyage to the beach ; but when the heaving ocean showed itself in the eastern 
 
A.D. 1 \N I. X PLOSION 171 
 
 horizon, sw. Him ii> boaom, as it were, up into the blue, vaulted heaven, it looked to mo like too much rink fur the 
 
 lik. ly to be gained by a landing on the beach mud. t'oimequrntly I determined to make a descent in 
 
 tin- j'ines. wliirh was accomplished at half-past four o'clock. The descent was made with considerable force ; but 
 
 tin- trees were so close to each other that the balloon did ii"t slide down between until .-In- was half disrhurp-d l 
 
 i-. Having before my descent kept an eye to the necessity of finding my way out of the fcnciw, 1 rolled up 
 
 the Uilloon, stowed it in the car, and then struck to tin- north lor a road I had observed, which I soon reached. I 
 
 al-o met some huiit.-iin n, who assisted me in carrying the machinery to Burr's Saw-mill, which is thirty-eight miles 
 
 fri'in ('^linden and about forty from where I started. 
 
 1838. The next ascent was at Easton, Pennsylvania. 
 
 Tims ].r. ]un d. and tin- 1 1th of August, the day for the ascension, being at hand, nothing remained but to go 
 on with the cxjicrinient. The day was fine in tin- morning, but at noon the heavens indicated an approaching 
 thunderstorm, which, by ton minutes before two o'clock, passed over with no other injury than the wetting of the 
 network of the balloon and the dispersal of a portion of the audience, who, for a brief space of time, were driven 
 to places of shelter. 
 
 At a few minutes before two o'clock the balloon was detached from terra-firma. I had with me two para- 
 chutes containing animals one a cat, the other a dog ; and as the balloon approached a dense body of black thunder- 
 clouds, some vivid flashes of lightning, accompanied by violent peak of thunder, greeted my upward passage. 
 This gave the first part of my voyage a terrific, but grand and imposing appearance. It seemed to me as though 
 heaven's artillery were celebrating the occasion as a progress of the new-born science, and it inspired mo with n 
 determination to try the new experiment of atmospheric resistance as a means of safe descent in the event of explo- 
 sion of the balloon at great heights. As soon as an altitude of about 2000 feet was attained, the conical parachute, 
 with its occupant (this was one on Cocking's plan), was detached, which landed in safety near Lafayette College, 
 at the head of the town. Soon after this the balloon attained an altitude of about 4000 feet, at which point the 
 oiled-silk parachute, with its occupant, was detached. This was to foreshadow the effect of the experiment of 
 exploding the balloon, and was so contrived as to have an apparent disadvantage compared with that of the large 
 machine. This small one was nothing more than a balloon in a collapsed state. When thrown overboard it fell 
 some distance before it expanded completely, and after it had expanded it fell with a very irregular vibratory motion, 
 which was not the case with the other one. Upon this I concluded, however, that the experiment would not be 
 hazardous, if not disagreeable. I was also assured, from my experience, that a balloon in a flaccid state, or only 
 partly so, would invert, that is, the lower part cave into the upper part, and assume a hemispherical shape in a rapid 
 descent 
 
 When an altitude of about 13,000 feet was attained, the balloon became fearfully expanded to its utmost 
 tension, and, having but an inch-diameter tube in the neck, the gas began to issue through this orifice with con- 
 siderable noise. I would here observe, however, that any slight sound, occurring in so perfectly quiet a place as is 
 that of a balloon a mile or two above the earth, makes apparently a great noise. At this period of the voyage it was 
 evident that, unless gas were speedily let off, the balloon must burst from expansion ; for she was still rising, and the 
 >ive cord, being tied rather short, had also become tense, and must evidently be tending towards a rupture at 
 the jioints where it passed through the balloon. 
 
 At this critical moment I became somewhat excited, and as I looked over the side of my car I observed the 
 sparkling coruscations of lightning springing from cloud to cloud a mile beneath me, as the thunderstorm was 
 passing its last remnants below. The storm was moving from S.W. to N.E. and the balloon was sailing from N'.\V. 
 to S.E, passing New Village and Asbury, and I could now see the earth in that direction. I took out ray watch, 
 noted on my log-book the time twenty minutes past two and as 1 was about returning it to my pocket, thinking 
 at the time whether it were not best to relieve the explosion rope, discharge ballast, and abandon, for the present, 
 the idea of this experiment, th* balloon exuded/ Although my confidence in the success of the contrivance never lor 
 a moment fr.->k me, I must admit that it was a moment of awful suspense. The gas rushed from the rupture in 
 the top of the balloon with a tempestuous noise, and in less than ten seconds not a particle of hydrogen remained in 
 it. The descent at first was rapid, and accompanied with a fearfully moaning noise, caused by the air rushing 
 through the network and the gas escaping above. In another moment I felt a slight shock. Looking M\> to .-.. 
 what caused it, I discovered that the balloon was canting over, being nicely doubled in, the lower half into the 
 
 2 v 
 
172 ASTRA CASTKA. A.D. 1838. 
 
 upper ; it had fallen, condensing the column of air upon which it was falling, until it had arrived at a point where 
 it was so dense that the force of the whole weight pressing down on it was arrested, which caused the parachute to 
 tilt over. The weight of the car, however, countervailed the tilting tendency, giving it an oscillating motion, which 
 it retained until it reached the earth. The velocities of these zigzag descents were marked by corresponding notes 
 of the wind as it whistled through the rigging of the balloon. On reaching the point where the lower current of air 
 traversed the upper, another and more violent shock than the first was the result. From this point the oscillations 
 became more severe, each one causing a sensation in me similar to that which a person experiences when dreaming 
 that he is falling. 
 
 The wind from the S.W. drifted the machine several miles in its direction before it fell to the earth. As I 
 neared terra firma, all the ballast was thrown overboard ; but when I struck, it was with a violent concussion, for 
 the machine was just then at its maximum velocity of descent. The car struck the earth obliquely, and I was 
 thrown about ten feet forward from it. The balloon had fallen alongside of me, and so complete was the collapse 
 where the lower part had doubled into the upper, that it was with difficulty separated again. The car had turned 
 bottom upwards, and there I stood congratulating myself on the result of this exciting experiment the perspiration 
 rolling down my forehead in profusion, for the atmosphere below felt oppressive. The landing was made on the 
 farm of Mr. Elijah Warne, about ten miles from Easton. Before many minutes had elapsed after this descent, I had 
 resolved to repeat the experiment in Philadelphia at the first opportunity . 
 
 On my return to Easton, the day after the ascension I received the following letter : 
 
 " ME. WISE, Master of the Aerial : " New Village, August llth, 1838. 
 
 " I hereby certify that my first sight of your air-ship was north of Henry Snyder's ; it then apparently passed 
 not far from William Kinney's, then directly between the inhabitants of New Village and the sun. We saw the 
 gas rushing from the balloon like the steam from a boiler ; it created between us and the sun the colours of a 
 rainbow, and it was some time before we got a second sight, when you appeared to be lowering. As the size of the 
 balloon became larger, we could discover a black spot underneath, about twenty feet. I pursued on foot until I saw 
 
 you alight near Thomas Thatcher's. 
 
 " From your most affectionate, but not acquainted Friend, 
 
 " N.B. And others." " WILLIAM SHARPS. 
 
 From this it appears that spectators on the earth could not see the balloon at the time it was falling during 
 the collapse. Its descent for the first few seconds must have been faster than at any other period of its fall, and 
 during that time it affected me more, too, for the sensation caused a dimness of sight, and 1 closed my eyes 
 momentarily from the effect. 
 
 First Ascent from Allentown : 
 
 On the 8th of September, 1838, I made an ascension from Allentown, Pa. I had resolved, after this one 
 was accomplished, to go to Philadelphia and repeat the experiment of exploding the balloon at a great height 
 in the air. The Allentown ascension was a very complete one. The following extract from the journal, always 
 kept during my ascensions, embraces the most interesting features connected with that trip : 
 
 The balloon was now perfectly stationary over the outskirt of the town. I next concluded on starting a fresh 
 interest to the spectators below. Having all the ballast bags filled with dust, several of them were emptied over- 
 board, which for a moment enveloped the balloon in an artificial cloud, which presented a very interesting pheno- 
 menon to tha lookers-on. This sent the balloon up about two thousand feet more, approaching at the same time a 
 solitary cloud. As I passed the angle of reflection of this cloud a very sensible heat was felt, showing clouds to be 
 good reflectors of heat, as they are of light. When the balloon got in proximity to the cloud it became somewhat 
 agitated, making rotations one way, then another ; at the same time the cloud apparently receded from the balloon, 
 as by repulsion. Here several more bags of dust were discharged, which clung much more to the balloon than did 
 the former ; even the heavier particles were now attracted to the surface of it and remained there some moments. 
 When the machine had risen considerably above this point the dust fell from it in a cloud. This was a very 
 interesting part of the voyage, and convinced me that the sciences of electricity and meteorology would be much 
 improved by the aid of balloons. 
 
I 
 
i- 
 
 o 
 
iMKvnoNAi. BOT8HNG IT- 
 
 II .iving arriv.il at Philadelphia in tin- month of ScptemN r. inim- .lint. -ly following my experiment* at Kaston 
 and All.-ntown, I . ..iiMilt. .1 iwveral scientific p-nilcim-n ii]n my intention to announce that I wi.nl.l in..; 
 ascension, ami explode the balloon when over a mikt high. Although they clitl not worn to doubt the philosophy <-\ 
 atniiwph. ri.- i.-Kutance, nor the theory of converting the balloon into a parachute, Htill, they most earnestly u". p 
 to dissuade mo fnmi my intentions, on they coiit.iil.-n-l it a risk of lif.-. Could they have pentiaded mo with lialf 
 tin- philosophy against it that I ln.l .-..nt. inj.lat.-l fur it. it \\..n|.l never have boon attempted by me. 
 
 n_ r i-oiivinood that all was right, an announcement was mad*' that nuch an experiment would be mail.- .>n 
 tin IM of October, 1838, fn.m tli.' .-orn. r <>f Seventh and Call" whi 11 Strcete. The day wan a remarkably tin.- "in. 
 an.l tin- Uilloon moved in five different directions during her flight The editorial notices of five principal newn 
 
 of I'hila.lclphia will be first given, before I shall give my own account of it. 
 
 Int. "Mr. \\ iso ascended yesterday afternoon, at half-put four o'clock, with his balloon. The sky was 
 l-.-rt.vtly dear, and the balloon passed slowly to the north-went; in about twenty minute* the rich blue of the 
 bteven- was marked will i ihiii tilni\ u Int.. u l,i, !, .,.. il,, ;_..>, >.MJ, in- fi , ,m iln- |..|. of th.- Kill.".!:. Atti\. 
 o'clot'k, ami tor half an hour, wo watched, at a dihtanoe from the city, the balloon for to the west, which rosemUed 
 some large planet pouring out a flood of light This was caused by the rays of the sun. The reflection wan 
 exceedingly brilliant, and the whole balloon seemed a ball of fire, while the hoop in the centre looked like a dark 
 belt (it had no h."|> in tin- centre). This was one of the most beautiful sights wo have ever seen of the kind." 
 
 Jnd. " Mr. Wise yesterday afternoon, as per notice, made an ascension in his parachute balloon, in the 
 haiidt.oine.st i*iblo stylo. There was scarcely a breath of air stirring, and he rose almost JTJN ndi.-nlarly to a 
 great In ijrht. and was out of vi. w at tin- writing of this paragraph, having been up about an li.mr. He went up 
 without any difficulty how ho gets down we'll tell to-morrow." 
 
 3rd. Mr. \\ iso, the aeronaut, made a successful ascension on Monday. The balloon passed over the 
 Schuylkill. ami Mr. \\iso eventually descended, according to hi* promise, by letting off the gas gradually at an 
 
 me height : by moans of a cord and pulley ho converted the balloon into a parachute, and thus camo down. It 
 was a most fearful undertaking, and was anticipated by competent scientific authority as calculated to carry with it 
 destruction of lit'.-." 
 
 Jtli. - Mr. Wise made, yesterday afternoon, one of the most beautiful ascensions that Philadelphia ever 
 witnessed. About half-past four he left ' old mother earth,' and like an arrow from a well-strung bow, reached tin- 
 welkin, cheered in his upward flight by the shouta of the dense mass which filled the neighbouring streets. At nix 
 o'clock he was yet in sight, there being no breeze, and apparently in the stata quo of ten minutes after his dejmrtun-. 
 The explosion which was to make a parachute of his aerial vessel did not take place, owing, wo suppose, to the fact 
 that ho could not get beyond the precincts of dangerous obstructions to such a daring attempt At one time the 
 appearance of the balloon was beautiful: the gas issuing from it seemed like smoke, and the sun shining uj-.n 
 the lower part of the balloon, which was considerably depressed, and exhibited a tremulous motion, gave it ilp 
 appearance of being on fire. We did not learn where ho descended." 
 
 6th. " Mr. Wise's ascension yesterday afternoon from the enclosure, corner of Seventh and Callowhill Street*, 
 was one of the most beautiful we ever saw. We did not witness the process of inflation, as at the time of our 
 . lit. ring the enclosure, half-past four o'clock, the pipes communicating the gas to the balloon had been withdrawn, 
 and the aeronaut having entered the car, was arranging his cords and other fixtures. This was speedily 
 accomplished, and at twenty-two minutes before five o'clock, the cord which confined the voyager to the earth waa 
 cut by Mr. \\ ise, and Lidding the assembled thousands ' good-bye,' he soared aloft almost perpendicularly, though 
 bearing a little south for some twenty minutes; after which, at a height of some several thousand feet, a different 
 .urn nt of air wafted him to the north, until he was brought to a position almost directly perpendicular to the place 
 of starting. At this altitude he encountered another current of air, by which he was rapidly carried in a we*st-lv- 
 north direction for several minutes, when a small cloud of gas was suddenly discovered to have issued from th. 
 balloon, and soon after another of about the same quantity ; after which the object of attention seemed gradually to 
 descend fora short time, until it had arrived at an atmosphere of sunVi. nt .1. nxity to exactly weigh it It now 
 pur.-ued th. .v. n t.-nour of its way in a direct course, W.N.W., until nearly out of sight from the enclosure, when, at 
 about half-past five o'clock, the balloon seemed suddenly converted into a parachute, and commenced a rapid descent 
 \\ ..! ii- ! it> .! ft nt with a spyglass, until BO low that the buildingx hid it from our view, say at an angle of 
 some ten or twelve degrees from the horizon. We know not at what distance from the starting-point the descent 
 
 2 A 2 
 
174 ASTRA CASTEA. A.D. 1838. 
 
 was made, but should judge it to have been several miles. We hope, at least, that the intrepid voyager reached the 
 earth in safety, though we had some fears from the apparent rapidity of his descent" 
 
 Such were the notices of some of the public journals of the day. They all but one agree as to the conversion 
 of the balloon into a parachute, and that one saw it at the time it was forming into such a shape, when he perceived 
 the depression in its lower part. In this last arrangement I had a pulley fixed into the valve disc, on the inside of 
 the balloon, through which a cord passed, whoso one end was fastened to the lower part of the balloon, by which 
 that part might bo drawn up into the upper as the gas rushed from the top. I found this part of the contrivance 
 utterly useless. When the balloon was exploded, the lower part did not immediately invert, as in the former 
 experiment of this nature, for on this occasion it burst open from top to bottom, and caved in sidewise. I was, at 
 the first discovery of this, somewhat alarmed, fearing that it might come down with a continually accelerated velocity, 
 from which anxiety I was, however, soon relieved. It caught the wind like the mainsail of a ship, and slid down 
 upon the atmosphere, in a spiral course, with a uniform velocity. The descent was made a mile or two on the west 
 side of the Schuylkill, and not less than several hundred persons had followed from the city, and were on the 
 ground where and when it was made. The concussion was not near so violent as the apparent rapidity of 
 the descent would seem to have warranted, and was not harder than that which would follow the jumping from an 
 elevation of ten feot to the ground. 
 
 As the machine was descending, the lower part, one-third the length of the whole balloon, hung loosely in the 
 network, swinging to and fro, and occasionally pressed upwards slightly by the current of air. The resistance 
 of the machine against the atmosphere acted on the principle of the inclined plane, sliding obliquely down over it, 
 describing spiral circles, until it struck the earth. 
 
 Since this experiment, balloons have exploded while aeronauts have been aloft with them, and in no instance 
 have their persons been seriously injured ; but every newspaper and periodical account set them down as 
 miraculous escapes. And the miracle is always in the height from which the machine falls to the earth, the 
 resistance that the atmosphere must present to it being never hardly taken into account. We might as well call the 
 descent of the flying-squirrel from the high forest-tree to the earth, without sustaining any bodily injury, a miracle ; 
 for its surface, compared to its weight, is not in a greater ratio than is the weight of a man compared to the surface of 
 a common-sized balloon, whatever shape the latter can assume. 
 
 This is a principle in aeronautics which has never yet been duly considered, although a very ingenious 
 mathematical deduction upon the descent of parachutes has been given in this work. Meteorological and 
 astronomical deductions are yet much to be facilitated by the science and practice of aeronautics. There are things 
 in its philosophy that men have not yet dreamed of. There are sublimities in its practice that the world has not 
 yet been fully prepared to realise. . 
 
 Although the principle of atmospheric resistance is a self-evident thing, and its application to a safe descent 
 from great heights has been demonstrated, there are yet very few persons who are willing to believe it so well 
 established as to entitle it to be practised with impunity. 
 
 1839. Second Ascent from Allentown : 
 
 In the spring of 1839 I was invited to make another ascension from Allentown, Pa., which was readily 
 accepted. The ascension was made on the 27th of April, at about two o'clock in the afternoon, and the following 
 extracts from the log-book of the trip will be found interesting : -At twenty-five minutes past two o'clock my vessel 
 stood over the town of Bethlehem, and had also reached the clouds, and the course changing from E. to S.S.E., the 
 thermometer standing at 30. This temperature felt unpleasantly cold ; my ears began to ache violently, accom- 
 panied by a crackling, noisy sensation ; my nose began to bleed, and I felt very much distressed for a few minutes. 
 The balloon became rapidly distended, and highly electrified, and an open sack of sand lying in the car showed 
 strong electrical effects by a portion of it being drawn up against the balloon, from which it would drop down 
 again, keeping up this motion for over a minute. When the balloon left the earth the gas in it was of a milky 
 colour, but now, when it had risen to a height where the machine had become fully distended l>y diminution of 
 atmospheric pressure, so that I could look in through the nock of it, the gas had become perfectly transparent. 
 While this change of colour in the gas was going on, it gave out water, which dropped freely from the lower orifice 
 of the balloon, and it also emitted a strong sulphurous odour. Some powerful electrical effect must have produced 
 
A.n. i STORM-SCENE ABOVE THE CLOUDS. 175 
 
 these phenomena, and I nlwiivN found strong electrical effects when puring from one currant of Air into 
 
 liT. 
 
 < in this oocMion the wind was very strong when I descended, which was forty-two mile* from Allen town ; 
 .iii.l having tin- explosive apparatus in the balloon, and failing in the first landing to gut a hold with the grappling- 
 iron. I found it very convenient to explode the machine the aeoond time it touched the earth. 
 
 ( in my return t<> All. ntown, the citizens of that place expressed a desire to have a third ascension. This was 
 made on tho last Saturday of May, 1839; and as it was attended by circumstances for a while placing my life in 
 jeopardy, as well as bringing into on a mode of causing tho balloon to descend which would aoem paradoxical, an 
 
 :i of it will be hare given. At the time it happened no particular account of tho circumstances alluded to 
 
 -iv.-n in the papers relating tho voyage, for tho reason that I was fearful it might incncue tho belief that 
 Uill'N.ning was extremely dangerous. 
 
 half-past two o'clock in the afterrfoon, everything being in readiness to detach tho balloon from the 
 
 ing apparatus and prepare for the ascent, and just at the time this was all accomplished, and nothing more 
 remained to be done but to draw the valve-cord out of tho nock of tho balloon, whore it generally remains during 
 th>> inflation, a gentleman IV. m tho South was introduced to me, who commenced a conversation, which drew my 
 attention fr.nn tin- i :i of the valve-rope; and while conversing with him, I being in tho car at the time, the 
 
 balloon was let up the length of the restraining rope, where, aftor a few minutes of adjustment of things in the car, 
 I M<1 him and all others a good-bye, and cut off tho rope. The luwt fibre of the cord which held mo to the earth hud 
 scarcely been severed, before tho thought flashed on my mind that tho valve-rope had not been secured. But it was 
 too la to now to remedy the m intake the balloon was mounting rapidly. For a moment I began to despond, and I 
 would have given everything possessed by mo in the world to bo down on tho earth but one minute. It was an 
 int. iiMely painful moment; but I rallied my spirits quickly, took off my hat and swung it around, which WOH 
 vrously respond* -d t.> from below. 
 
 1 had with mo a parachute containing an animal, and, knowing that tho disposal of this would send mo higher 
 fnmi the earth, I at first felt an inclination not to part with it; but upon reflection of its being announced to be 
 done, and the people of course waiting for its descent, it was at once thrown overboard. I watched its progress until 
 it reached die earth, when it was picked up by some men, and oh, how I wished myself there, toot However, 
 having over a hundred miles between me and tho Atlantic Ocean, I felt hopes that something might bo done in the 
 interval that w..nld onaUe me to get down. My first observation in view of this was to ascertain the velocity of 
 the balloon in her eastward course. This was found to bo about fifty miles per hour, and convinced mo that the 
 Atlantic was likely to bo reached before tho ascending power would give out, so as to let me down. I could nt 
 persuade myself that the balloon was in a bad enough condition to meet such a hope, for it had just undergone a 
 thorough repair, and was in good condition, a quality, in this instance, not very desirable. While thus meditating 
 ii|..n tin- best means of effecting a descent, I found that already a groat portion of Jersey had been traversed, as 
 I'riiKvton was not far a-head of me, Tho current of wind below, just in tho cloud region, was moving from tho 
 south-west, and tho one tho balloon was sailing in was from tho north-west To the north the atmosphere was 
 clear; to the south it was charged with clouds. Tho lower current was carrying in it a thunder-gust, whi.li 
 presented a beautiful phenomenon. As I was over a mile above it, and four or five miles off, it gave me an 
 <i]i|>rtunitY i.i MTutinizc its operations sidewise and above. The storm and tho balloon wore also moving towards 
 the same point, so that I was continually nearing it, but so high above it that no danger was to be apprehended 
 frm it.- effects. The rain was pouring down from it, and made a noise like a mill-dam. The clouds were rolling 
 
 and .i_'i;i.-t i.i.'li other; the lightning flashing in zigzag flashes through them as long as their side-view was 
 ]- n to my sight Presently, it was all overcast below me, tho thunder rattling like small-arms without any of th.- 
 rolling rev.-rU-rations that are heard below. The most splendid part of this scene appeared just where the storm 
 was passing Bom.- d.-n.-e cloud* that w.-re moving in the ii|>i-r current, that had recently made their appearance. 
 Several tim.f the -urta.-.- .if th.- I..W.T stratum swelled ii|> suddenly like a boiling caldron, which was imm.^liai. Iv 
 f..llnw.-d l>y the m.*t William ebullition of uparkling coruscations. Twice it swelled up, or rather shot up, like an 
 immense pyramid, which was also quickly followed by an evolution of promiscuous flashes, and then <|uiekly 
 disappeared again, as though it had dissolved. It was a magnificent sight; but, in recurring to my critical -it nation. 
 its charms passed from my mind with it.- d- jurum- to tin- n..rth of m.-. 
 
 As soon as the storm had passed oil', which \\.u- in about fifteen minutes, the sky became clear to the south 
 
176 ASTEA CASTRA. A.D. 1839. 
 
 and east. Princeton was some distance to the north of me, and I was moving nearly due east. Less than an hour 
 would now take me on to the Atlantic ; it was already in sight to the north-east and the east. The balloon, 
 seemingly, had not yet lost any of her altitude of the last hour. I had plenty of ballast to go up, but no control of 
 the valve to get down. It was an embarrassing moment. First, I looked at my stock of provisions, which consisted 
 of about a half-pound of water-crackers and as much cheese, together with a bottle of porter, which was handed me 
 by a friend at the time of starting. This all seemed well enough to hold out with, even to cross the ocean, for, at 
 the rate I had been moving, less than three days would take me across. But the balloon, good as she was, it could 
 not be reasonably expected that she would hold out, although between forty and fifty pounds of ballast wore to be 
 depended on. The neck of the balloon, as is usual in common aerial voyages, was left open, and the natural affinity 
 of gases for atmosphere must, in less than three days, so deteriorate the hydrogen in it as to bring it down. This 
 hope now fled. What was to be done! A thousand things were running through my brain even that of jumping 
 overboard when on the confines of land, and plunging in the ocean! Faint hope ! it were worse than sticking to 
 the ship. 
 
 The proud and boundless Atlantic was now distinctly seen swelling its mighty crest to the arched roof of 
 heaven, in the east, dashing its angry foam into the face of the clouds. This aroused all my energy, all my fertility 
 of mind. I had been endeavouring to split my little flagstaff, in order to splice it and tie a penknife to the end of 
 it, with which to cut the balloon ; but it would not answer. My next effort was to burst the balloon by violent 
 jerking of the car the explosive rope was not in the machine now but this also failed, and only went to show 
 how immensely strong a network and balloon really were. Now a new idea flashed on my mind / can get down by 
 going up and in another moment one bag of sand after the other went overboard, until half the ballast was gone ; 
 the balloon was mounting rapidly the visible horizon was fast contracting the yawning Atlantic was thus shut 
 out of view. The atmosphere grew extremely cold at the height I had now attained; but the excitement of the 
 occasion kept me warm enough. The balloon was now completely distended ; the gas was copiously discharging 
 itself at the neck, which, having no tube in it, was now open in a circle of eighteen inches diameter. As the gas 
 mingled with the outer air it had the appearance of a white cloud. By violent jerks in the car, impulsive volumes 
 were discharged from the neck, the balloon still rising. In ten minutes after I had commenced this the balloon had 
 attained her maximum height, and immediately after began to sink rapidly. The valve-rope in the mean time 
 partly rolled out of the neck, so that I could reach it with the flagstaff; my peril was at an end, and I felt as happy 
 as Archimedes, when he cried out, Eureka ; and I really did cry out, " Victory ! victory ! " as the threatening 
 Atlantic came to view by the rapid descent. The immense discharge of gas, and the rapid admixture of atmosphere 
 and hydrogen within the balloon, consequent to the free connexion by the large opening of the neck, and a rapid 
 descent, brought the machine down to the earth fast enough without the use of the valve-rope, which had now 
 been brought within my reach. Although the peril of perishing on the ocean was now ended, and I was 
 almost in contact with terra firma, the old proverb of " misfortunes never come single-handed " was yet to be 
 realized. 
 
 On reaching the earth, my grappling-iron took effect in a Jersey farmer's peach-orchard, which so alarmed a 
 negro who was ploughing in the next field as soon to infect his horses, two boys, and two dogs near him, and to 
 create a perfect bedlam amongst them. The horses ran away with the plough, snuffing the air like war-steeds' 
 the boys screamed the dogs barked the horses snorted and reared up in the fence-corner the negro lay on 
 his back looking up in terror the balloon was surging up and down, ripping the grappling-iron from one peach- 
 tree to another. And now the contagion had spread to the house and the barn-yard, the poultry were in a clatter 
 the .matron of the domicile standing before the door of the house, clapping her hands together in anguish for the 
 safety of the boys, who were still screaming. The old man next made his appearance, with gun in hand, and in a 
 
 gruff voice exclaimed, " Where is it, where is the d d thing?" Terror next beset me, for a shot from the old 
 
 man's blunderbuss was more than suspicious, the moment his eye should catch the balloon, to which his back was 
 yet turned, and I made no delay in cutting in twain the grapple-rope. As the balloon rose, the old man cried out 
 in a satisfactory manner, as he stood in a half-stooped position, " There, there it goes ! " and I did go, although the 
 country for two or three miles around was alive to the descent of the balloon, with footmen and horsemen wending 
 their way towards it. 
 
A.D. i 
 
 .M;II:MI:K PKOSEQUOH ALIS." 
 
 177 
 
 KAKTH'I children cleave to earth her frail 
 
 Decaying children dread decay. 
 Ton wreatli of mint that leaves the vale, 
 
 And lessens in the morning ray : 
 Look, how, by mountain rivulet, 
 
 It lingen at it upward cree|, 
 And cling* to fern and oopsewood act 
 
 Along the green and dewy iteepa : 
 Clings to the fragrant kalmia, clings 
 
 To precipices fringed with grass, 
 Dark maples where the wood-thrush sings, 
 
 And bowers of fragrant sassafras. 
 Yet all in Tain it passes still 
 
 From hold to hold, it cannot stay, 
 And in the very beams that till 
 
 The world with glory, wastes away, 
 Till, parting from the mountain's brow, 
 
 It vanishes from human eye, 
 
 THE COAL STRATA. 
 
 And that which sprung of earth is now 
 A portion of the glorious sky. BRYANT. 
 
 They take very unprofitable pains who endeavour to persuade men that they are obliged wholly to despise this world and all 
 that is in it, even whilst they themselves live here : Ood hath not taken all that pains in forming, framing, furnishing, and adorning 
 this world, that they who were made by Him to live in it, should despise it ; it will be well enough if they do not love it so 
 immoderately, to prefer it before Him who made it. LOBD CLARENDON. 
 
 Look, the world tempts our eye, 
 And we would know it all. 
 \V.- map the starry sky, 
 \\V mine this earthen ball, 
 
 i'-i, u. number the sea-sand*. 
 
 \Vi- scrutinize the dates 
 Of long-past human things. 
 The bounds of effaced states, 
 The lives of deceased kings : 
 
 We search out dead men's words, and works of dead men's, hands. 
 
 ARXOLD. 
 
CHAPTEK VII. 
 
 REMARKABLE ASCENTS FROM 1840 TO 1863. 
 
 Im einsamen Luftraum Lo ! where the eagle, his calm wings unfurl'd, 
 
 Hangt nur der Adlei undkniipft an das Gewblke die Welt. Lone-halting in the solitary air, 
 
 Hoch herauf bis zu mir tra'gt keines Windes Gefieder Knits to the vault of heaven this ball the world ! 
 
 Den verlorenen Schall menschlieher Miibe und Lust. And not a wind upon its pinion bears 
 
 SCHILLER. One breath that speaks of human joys and cares. 
 
 BULWER LYTTON. 
 
 FIRST PROPOSITION TO CROSS THE ATLANTIC A DOUBLE BALLOON ASCENT " THE WARMTH OF THE VALLEYS REFLECTED " 
 
 EXPERIENCE SOMETIMES AT FAULT A LADY*S DESCRIPTION A WIND FROM WEST TO EAST CONSTANTLY FLOWING 
 
 AT THE HEIGHT OF TWELVE THOUSAND FEET WIDOW MONTGOLFIER IN GOOD HEALTH AT ONE HUNDRED AND SEVEN 
 
 YEARS COLONEL JOHN M'CLELLAN OF GETTYSBURG THE AERIAL TRANSIT BILL NAMING THE PLACE OF DESCENT 
 
 A TRANSATLANTIC PROJECT A PETITION TO THE U.S. CONGRESS HENRY COXWELL's FIRST EXPERIMENTS MONS. 
 DEPUIS DELCOURT, THE EDITOR OF A PARISIAN JOURNAL THE DANGERS OF A SOLITARY ASCENT THE ' AEROSTATIC 
 
 MAGAZINE ' A GENTLEMAN OF EIGHTY-THREE YEARS ASCENDS MR. GREEN'S SECOND PROPOSAL TO CROSS THE ATLANTIC 
 
 THE LATEST NEWS FROM WEST CHESTER HOW TO CAPTURE THE CASTLE OF VERA CRUZ ALBERT SMITH'S FIRST 
 
 ASCENT, SECOND ASCENT, AND PERILOUS DESCENT A VIEW OF NIAGARA A DESCENT ON LAKE ERIE CROSSING 
 
 THE SLESWI6- HOLSTEIN FRONTIER TWO HUNDRED AND TEN MILES, THREE HOURS AND TEN MINUTES FROM MAR- 
 SEILLES TO TURIN ACROSS THE ALPS THE DEATH OF LIEUTENANT GALE- MR. AND MRS. GRAHAM GRAZING THE 
 
 GREAT EXHIBITION, MEET WITH AN ACCIDENT IN ARLINGTON STREET ME. COXWELL RETURNS FROM GERMANY 
 
 HENRY MAYHEW'S ASCENT KNIGHT'S EXPERIMENTS AT BOMBAY MR. COXWELL's PROPOSITIONS BEFORE THE 
 
 CRIMEAN WAR TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY MILES, LONDON TO TAV1STOCK IN FIVE HOURS THE CRYSTAL PALACE 
 
 COMPANY THE MEETING OF THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION MR. COXWELL's ZEAL IS EQUALLED BY MR. GLAISHEE's, THE 
 
 METEOROLOGIST, AND MEMORABLE ASCENTS FOLLOW THE HEIGHT OF SEVEN MILES IS ATTAINED ' THE TIMES 1 LEADING 
 
 ARTICLE MR GLAISHER's EIGHT ASCENTS IN 1862 WINCHESTER TO HARROW IN SIXTY- SIX MINUTES "COASTING IN 
 
 A BALLOON" BRITISH ASSOCIATION ASCENT AT NEWCASTLE NADAR'S GEANT PARIS TO HANOVER SEVEN HUNDRED 
 
 AND FIFTY MILES, SEVENTEEN HOURS GODDARD*S MONTGOLFIERE AEEIAL NAVIGATION IN CHINA ASCENT AT PEKIN 
 
 1306 THE CHINESE AERIAL EQUIPAGE IN 1860 METHODS FOE DIEECT10N KNOWLEDGE OF THE WINDS ATMOSPHERIC 
 
 SOUNDING-LINES OBSERVATIONS DAILY TRANSMISSION OF METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS MEANS AND INSTRUMENTS 
 
 EMPLOYED BY THE CAPTAINS TO KNOW THE RAPIDITY OF MOTION AND THE DIRECTION TAKEN BY THE AEROSTAT THE 
 
 IMPROVEMENTS THAT MIGHT BE MADE BY A KNOWLEDGE OF ELECTRICITY- PRESUMPTION OF THE CHINESE MY FIRST 
 
 VOYAGE THE AEEIAL TERMINUS OF FOU CHEOU THE TOWING-PATH DESCRIPTION OF THE AEROSTAT AND APPENDAGES 
 
 THE SEAT FOR THE WATCHER THE SEATS FOR TRAVELLERS WE TAKE OUR SEATS THE CENTRAL CABIN WE 
 
 ARE WEIGHED WE ARE HOISTED OUR TACKLE IS ADJUSTED, AND WE LEAVE THE STATION TRAVELLING COM- 
 PANIONS THE PASTIME OF THE LADIES A CONSUMPTIVE MAN A COMMERCIAL TRAVELLER TWO OFFICERS OF THE 
 
 IMPERIAL AEEIAL FLOTILLA THE PROJECTED VOYAGE TO THE POLE FRANKLIN'S OPINION -^ CHINESE AERONAUTS 
 
 FORBIDDEN TO COME TO EUROPE A MOMENT OF ALARM IN THE CLOUDS THE STRIKER AND THE MAEKER CHINESE 
 
 METHOD FOR MAINTAINING AN AEROSTAT AT A GIVEN HEIGHT WITHOUT LOSS OF GAS OE BALLAST: THE SAME WAS 
 SUGGESTED IN FRANCE IN 1783' MANOEUVRES FOE DESCENDING- THE POSSIBILITY OF APPLYING STEAM TO THIS 
 
 OPERATION THE EXPERIMENT OF GIFFORD IN 1852 OUR ARRIVAL AT THE NANT-CHANG TERMINUS THE TOWING 
 
 CHARIOTS THE BUILDING-YARD FOE THE CONSTRUCTION OF AEROSTATS FAILURE OF LENNOX IN 1834 BUREAUX DE 
 
 RENSEIGNEMENTS OUR CENTURY. 
 
 j 840. THIS year Mr. Charles Green announced his readiness to cross the Atlantic, and thus 
 expresses himself with his usual calculation and forethought : 
 
A.H. 1840. 1'IUST I'Kni'nsiTION TO CROSS Till- ATLANTIC. 179 
 
 It having beeu stated in several of the public journals that I had given it as my opinion that it would not 
 be impossible to traverse the Atlantic Ocean in a balloon, and that in fact I was actually engaged in making 
 arrangements to carry such a project into execution, I liave thought it advisable, as well for my own credit as for 
 the satisfaction of the public, to whom I gratefully acknowledge myself indebted for a long course of the most 
 tl.iti. rini; patronage, to offer some explanation of the nature of tho views I admit myself to have entertained upon 
 the subject, and of tho grounds upon which I build my expectations of success. \Vith this intent I shall proceed 
 to point out the I'lin.-ipal obstacles with which I should have to contend in the attempt, applying to each the 
 remedies which I have devised, and which I consider adequate to the occasion. 
 
 Tin -so obstacles, then (which, it may bo as well to observe, are no more peculiar to the voyage in 'question 
 than as being one of unusual extent and duration), naturally divide themselves into two classes ; those, namely, 
 which regard the maintenance of tho power of tho balloon throughout the period for which its services are likely 
 to be required, and those which arise from the difficulty of securing the proper direction of her course. 
 
 \\ith respect to tho first of these, the reader is most probably not unaware that, apart from the leakage 
 of tho balloon itself (which, however, when in perfect condition, is not excessively material), a variety of 
 circumstances attend its progress through tho air by which, in ordinary coses, its power of sustaining itself 
 becomes gradually impaired, and ultimately, of course, completely overcome. Of these ono of the most formidable 
 is tin- ditlicnhy of making the balloon retain the same elevation in the atmosphere, and of avoiding those 
 fluctuation* in the level of its course by which it becomes subjected to the alternate exhaustion of gas by 
 expansion, and consequent loss of ballast in order to furnish an equivalent diminution of weight. The extent to 
 which this condition of the art, exercised in the usual form, is capable of operating, will bo more readily 
 iipi'ivciat. d when we observe that, at an elevation of three thousand feet, the density of the atmosphere is nearly 
 nth less than at the immediate surface of the earth. The gas, therefore, expanding as it ascends, at that 
 alt it iidf occupies one-tenth more space than under its original pressure ; a balloon, consequently, fully inflated at 
 its quitting tho ground must, ere it attain that elevation, part with such a proportion of its contents ; and this, too, 
 without taking into account any unfavourable change in the temperature by which it might, and probably would, 
 be accompanied. To a balloon like that of Vauxhall Gardens, containing about 80,000 cubic feet, this loss would 
 amount to 8000 feet Now the average sustaining power of carburetted hydrogen, or coal gas, which I should 
 employ on the occasion, is about thirty-six pounds weight for every thousand cubic feet ; consequently the loss of 
 power experienced in this slight ascent would be equal to 288 pounds ; much more than would be lost by leakage 
 from a good balloon kept inflated at the earth's surface in a week. 
 
 Again, at the approach of night, upon the passage through clouds charged with vapour, or under tho 
 influence of a shower of rain, a large quantity of moisture becomes absorbed by the balloon netting and other 
 apparatus, frequently to the extent of two or three hundred weight, requiring an immediate discharge of ballast to 
 that amount to prevent her being borne to the ground. As the morning approaches, or the influence of increasing 
 heat begins to be felt, this moisture becomes dissipated, and, there being no means of collecting or recovering the 
 discharged ballast, the balloon, lightened of her temporary incumbrance, rapidly rises in the air, her contents of 
 gas expanding in her course, and rendering its liberation necessary to prevent the consequences we have before 
 i> d. These alterations continuing to operate more or less frequently (at least once in every twenty-four 
 hours), it need scarcely be observed, must very soon put an end to her power, however originally great, and 
 forcibly terminate her progress through the air. 
 
 Such are the principal causes which affect the continuance of aerial voyages for any length of time, and the 
 following is the means by which I propose to neutralise their influence. Across the hoop, to which, most readers 
 know, the netting, which cover* the balloon above and the car underneath are made fast, I have extended a 
 cylinder or windlass, over which, and through a pulley likewise attached to the hoop at right angles to tho 
 windlass, passes a rope of sufficient strength, about two thousand feet in length, and being made fast at one 
 :aity, remains suspended in the air to the extent at the time required. To the lower extremity of this rope 
 are fastened at certain int. r\al- a numl r ..(' small .-tout waterproof canvass bags, the apertures of which are kept 
 open by means of small rings of suitable material, in such a manner as, when drawn through the water, to admit 
 the entrance of tho fluid, but oppose its return. Between these, and likewise as stated distances, are also 
 disposed a number of small conical floats of hollow copper, which are intended to serve the purpose of supporting 
 the length of rope when it reaches the sea by the depression of the balloon. The operation of this apparatus it is 
 
 J i: 
 
180 ASTRA CASTEA. A.D. 1840. 
 
 not difficult to perceive. As the balloon descends, under the influence of any of the causes before mentioned, the 
 lower portion of this rope becomes gradually deposited upon the surface of the sea, lightening the balloon of its 
 weight, until a sufficiency has been so disposed of as to arrest her further descent, when she continues her course 
 at the same, or a very slightly varying elevation, until she acquires, by change of temperature, sufficient increase 
 ' of power to enable her to recover her previous station in the skies. At this point, however, another force comes 
 into operation. The small canvass vessels which, when the balloon began to sink, were empty, have now become 
 filled, and being so much additional weight effectually prevent her, and oblige her to continue her course, even with 
 her whole original power, at an altitude little removed from that to which at the lowest she was confined. How 
 long she would remain in this condition would, of course, depend upon her own perfection : with such a balloon 
 as I should construct for the occasion, I have no doubt that her elevation might be maintained for a period of three 
 months should circumstances occur to require it. 
 
 Besides these advantages accruing from the use of this instrument, which has not unaptly been termed the 
 " guide-rope," and the efficacy of which in its simpler form, even over the land, the reader may possibly recollect 
 was tested in the excursion to Weilburg, there are others of great importance, which it may not be uninteresting to 
 note here, although described in a previous work already communicated to the public. One of these is the means it 
 affords the aeronaut of determining at all times with precision the direction he is pursuing ; a knowledge which 
 when out of sight of land, or of some fixed and definite object, he could by no means otherwise acquire. This it 
 effects by the determinate position it confers upon the balloon in its progress : the guide-rope, retarded in its 
 advance by its motion along the surface of the earth or sea, being always in the rear of the balloon, it is only 
 necessaiy to observe its direction by the compass, and that of the balloon itself becomes at once indicated. 
 
 Another equally valuable indication afforded, and one which likewise is attainable by no other means, is the 
 determination of the distance at which the balloon is at the time from the immediate surface of the earth beneath, 
 when the view is obstructed by clouds or impeded by the shades of night. The importance of this information 
 (which the scientific reader will at once perceive is entirely different from that afforded by the barometer, 
 regarding only the elevation above the level of some fixed place) cannot be more clearly shown than by reference 
 to the nocturnal voyage to Weilburg, when, without such a means of estimating our altitude, we should have 
 inevitably been dashed against the mountains (and from the rate of our course, such a shock would most surely 
 have been fatal) ; the barometer occasionally indicating an elevation of 3000 feet above the level of our original 
 starting-place, while, owing to the rise of the ground over which we passed, the guide-rope, though only 1000 feet 
 in length, was actually trailing upon the earth. 
 
 Having now explained, to the best of my ability, the means by which I expect to be able to maintain the 
 ascensive power of the balloon throughout a much longer period than we have any reason to believe it would be 
 required, even in a voyage of such uncertain duration, how to secure the proper direction of her course becomes 
 the next object of our consideration. And this I propose to effect by taking advantage of the natural currents of 
 air which my own experience and the observations of others nautical men, skilled in the navigation of those 
 particular seas, and men of science whose meteorological studies have enabled them to form conclusions upon the 
 matter justify me in expecting to find sufficiently favourable for my purpose. 
 
 These two sources of information, namely, my own experience and the observations of others, refer, however, 
 to two distinct classes of currents ; the former governing the motion of the atmosphere in its higher i egions, and 
 the latter the ordinary course or courses of the strata more immediately contiguous to the surface of the earth. 
 
 Many speculations having been started, from the first discovery of aerostation, regarding the probable 
 condition of that portion of the atmosphere beyond the reach of our ordinary observations, I early made it an object 
 to note the influence upon the course of my balloon of the currents of air which I might there happen to encounter. 
 The result of my observations was the discovery of an uniformity in their direction so marked as to leave it almost 
 impossible it could be the effect of accident, or otherwise than the natural and prevalent condition of the 
 atmosphere in that portion of the ethereal space. Under whatever circumstances I made my ascent, however 
 contrary the direction of the winds below, I uniformly found that at a certain elevation, varying occasionally, 
 but always within 10,000 feet of the earth, a current from the west, or rather from the north of west, invalidity 
 prevailed ; nor do I recollect a single instance out of two hundred and seventy-five, the number of my existing 
 aeronautical excursions, in which a different result ensued. Now, though I do not mean to assert that such 
 precisely must be the case over all portions of the terraqueous globe, yet I think I am justified in considering that 
 
\ ,,. L84a A DOriILK BALLOON ASCENT. 181 
 
 a i . n.liiioii 11. 1 very dissimilar may characterise the more elevated regions of the atmosphere throughout its whole 
 nit. 
 
 With regard to the current* more contiguous to the surface of the wntli. < -\eepting that zone more 
 
 tipicd by the trade winds, much uncertainty, no doubt, exists. That there are seasons, however, 
 
 when tin- winds are addicted to blow from certain quarters, long experience has distinctly piovod ; and though. 
 
 even at tin- most regular periods of thr year, for any particular current, exceptions may occur to vary it* direction. 
 
 in MI lia|i|i< -ns that such an uniformity prevail* throughout the whole body of the atmosphere, but that 
 
 some part may bo found to favour the particular course in view. 
 
 ialil>- the aeronaut to avail himself of such a combination is one, not the least of the advantages to I.. 
 
 attained by means of the guide-rope. Having already shown its operation, in confining the course of the balloon 
 
 to a certain level, I shall hero only observe that the determination of this level within the limits of the guide-roi>c 
 
 is entirely at his option ; the effect of the windlass in curtailing or letting out the rope enabling him to depress or 
 
 lie the liitllimii at his discretion. 
 
 ;ld the direction o f the atmosphere, however, be altogether unfavourable to the prosecution of hi* 
 intended r. .iite. there is Mill one other expedient to which the guide-rope will enable him to have recourse, and 
 which, though it cannot avail to stem the adverse current, will yet enable him to neutralise much of its injurioux 
 
 -. Thin is th- application of a strong water-drag, constructed on the principle of the umbrella or parachute. 
 attached to the lower extremity of the guide-rope, and raised or lowered by means of a separate communication, 
 wh. i. K\ the speed of the balloon may be considerably checked, and her course delayed until a more favourable 
 opjvortnnity presents itself for once more abandoning her to the full influence of the winds. This water-drag being 
 
 >ed l>v means of it.s own particular cord, and consequently collapsing, may be kept at all times attached to 
 tlie guide-rope ready for immediate use. 
 
 From the foregoing statement regarding the prevailing direction of the winds the reader will now perceive 
 the rca>on why I should have fixed upon America in preference to England as the point from whence the attempt 
 shoultl IK- made to traverse the Atlantic in a balloon. Whether the means I have here described bo such as are 
 calculated to produce upon his mind a conviction of their efficacy, it is not for me to determine. That they arc 
 competent in my estimation, I cannot give a stronger proof than by my readiness to undertake the excursion, 
 shonl.l there be found amongst the wealthy patrons of the art any sufficiently disposed to favour the attempt. I 
 need scarcely add that, for this or any other undertaking in which the interests of science or the advancement of 
 the art I have so long cultivated are concerned, I shall bo ever ready and most happy gratuitously to contribute 
 my service*. 
 
 A double balloon ascent from Philadelphia, in July, and two from the town of 
 ('liiimlii-rsliurg, in the course of this year, deserve to be recorded in .Mr. Wise's own 
 wi >rds : 
 
 \ thing being ready and the balloon filled, at half-past twelve o'clock, I proposed to Mr. Paullin that we 
 .-honld start and detach from the earth at the same time. Accordingly, the signal for the start was given, upon 
 which I cut loose and ascended 500 or 600 feet before Mr. Paullin's balloon followed. It seems he was 
 apprehensive of the balloons coming in contact if started at the same moment, an event which I had anticipated 
 also, but had no fears of its consequence, on account of the elasticity of such bodies as balloons. When about a 
 mile aK \.- the earth. Mr. 1'aullin's balloon approached so near to mine, being about fifty feet below and twenty or 
 thirty feet to the west of me. that we could easily converse with each other. At the start I was standing on the 
 board which served me for a car, but now I was sitting on it with my feet hanging down. Mr. 1'aullin hailed me, 
 and saM he was afraid his balloon would strike against my feet if ho should suffer it to rise higher. It had been 
 announced in the advertisement of the occasion, that the aeronauts would contest which should "stand highest in 
 the estimation of the public." Mr. Paullin was of course desirous to mount above me, and his balloon being larger 
 than mine gave him some advantage in that respect. I told him he should not get above me if I could get hold of 
 lii* ! . nnined to hold it down. It had now got very near my feet, and I was ready to seize it 
 
 with one hand ; the other was required to steady myself with, when it apparently glanced to one side and rose up 
 hy mine thirty or forty feet off. As Paullin passed, he cried out " Wise, it looks dangerous to see you sitting on 
 
 2 B 2 
 
182 ASTEA CASTRA. A.D. 1840. 
 
 that board." I replied, " Never mind the danger, I'll be after you presently." His balloon now stood about 200 
 feet from mine and a little above me. He said, " What do you think of the sight ? " I replied, " It is a 
 magnificent one ; do you see the Liliputians on the Delaware?" Paullin said, " I feel a breeze coming." His 
 balloon now went up several hundred feet above the height of mine, and as I was intently watching its motion, I 
 observed it suddenly agitated, so much that Paullin lowered himself in his car, for he had been standing up until 
 then. His balloon shrugged up in the network, wrinkling it a little above where the network diverges from the 
 silk, as though it had been drawn up under the net ; and in another moment it shot off southward, immediately 
 over the Delaware, at a velocity of a mile a minute, for a distance of five or six miles down the river. This 
 phenomenon was the more remarkable, because my balloon was not in the least affected by it, though not 300 feet 
 from Paullin's. It could not have been a general layer or current just above the place occupied by my machine, 
 as I threw off some ballast, and my vessel rose up at least 2000 feet higher, without being affected by it. 
 
 This circumstance showed that a rapid current of atmosphere existed which was neither wide nor deep, as my 
 machine was not far off in a horizontal direction, and crossed the path of Paullin's balloon at a right angle, but a 
 few hundred feet above it, without falling into the rapid current. This is a meteorological fact that is cot alluded 
 to, if it is known by, the theorists of that science. There is an inseparable connexion between electrical and 
 atmospherical currents. All my experience in passing through these currents traversing each other, has developed 
 this fact. 
 
 While I remained almost stationary over the city for half an hour after Paullin's balloon had been drifted off', 
 I perceived that he made several efforts to land; but as often struck the surface of the river, until, by going up 
 again to a considerable height, he was drifted some distance over the river into Jersey, where he effected a dry 
 landing some distance below Woodbury. Half.an hour afterwards my descent was made near Red Bank, not much 
 over half the distance from the place of departure that Paullin's was. 
 
 The two ascents from Chambersburg, Pa., were in August. 
 
 1st. Here the balloon shifted from a northerly to an easterly direction, the atmosphere becoming extremely 
 cold. At this time the scene presented a sublime appearance. Around and beneath me the clouds rolled in majestic 
 grandeur, occasionally rising into peaked summits, like volcanoes, and then dissolving down again into the mass 
 below. The valley beneath, where it could be seen, presented the most gorgeous landscape scenery that I ever 
 beheld. After rising about a mile and a half above the clouds, a most magnificent prospect of the country on 
 either side of the mountains that enclose the Cumberland valley presented itself to my view. Looking over the 
 North Mountain, the eye was greeted by a succession of valleys, rising up out of the earth as it were by magic, to 
 the view, as the balloon rose higher, beautifully variegating the scene. The valleys had a lively colour, and 
 appeared like circular pea-green bands laid down between dark-green plots of verdure 
 
 Like olive bound with laurels fast, 
 Whose verdure must for ever last. 
 
 Looking over the South Mountain, the scene was entirely different. Here an extensive landscape was 
 presented, circumscribed by rugged and massive clouds, interspersed with numerous roads which looked like so 
 many white lines tortuously spread over its surface, and one which meandered from the base of the mountain 
 upwards, until its further extremity was lost apparently in the clouds above, which formed the horizon of my 
 view, giving to it a magic appearance. This mountain had a very different aspect from the others which were in 
 view. Its dark foliage, interspersed with innumerable whitish-looking tortuous lines, being roads and paths, gave 
 it a very unique but beautiful appearance. All this time I continued ascending by a gradual discharge of ballast, 
 until the clouds had sunk so apparently low, as to hover immediately over the surface of the earth. The cold had 
 now become intense, and yet the rays of the sun coming in contact with my person, caused a piercing sensation, 
 like that from needle points, on those, parts where it shone. I also suffered a violent pain in the ears, and joints 
 of the jaws, followed by a slight dimness of sight. 
 
 At ten minutes before four o'clock, I descended on the farm of Joshua Kanagy. This old gentleman was so 
 crippled with rheumatism that he was obliged to walk on crutches, and on these he hobbled towards the place of 
 descent, where the balloon was fastened to an apple-tree by the grappling-iron, chafing and surging under a brisk 
 
A.D. 1840. THE CRUTi IIKs THROWN A \Y.\V !>:: 
 
 breeze that was blowing at the time ; and the old gentleman teeing this, and also observing mo at the MUIO time in 
 ih.' .-ir. .in.l thinking that his assistance was necessary in the emergency, becoming more excited every jump he 
 made with his cntt.-h.-, until at length he became to impatient from his slow progress, that he dashed hi* crutches 
 .iM.i.-. ami nin the balance of the distance between him and the balloon, with as much mmblonets as a hale 
 young man. 
 
 _'nd. -\\ h.-n I n turned to Chambersbnrg, which was the same evening of the day the ascension was made, 
 having land. .1 ..nly ul>ut twelve miles off, the citizens had already determined to induce me to make a repetition 
 of tin' \i-i ini' nt, being BO highly pleased with the one I had just made for them. This came off a few week* 
 afterwards, the day appointed for it bringing with it ruin, which gave an entire new feature to the voyage. 
 
 At twenty minutes after throe o* clock, the balloon was freed from her moorings, and described a semicin-li- 
 in her upward course, making a half-tour round the town. The borough had a very sombre appearance, caused by 
 the dark shadow which covered the earth objects, however, were more distinctly vixible than in clear weather, 
 and this is always the case when looking down upon the earth from a balloon ; where the sun shines on the earth 
 there is more of a quivering haze covering it, than where it is in shadow. The scene below had a melam-h h 
 aspect all nature seemed to be in a state of mourning. 
 
 re I passed the limits of the borough, a parachute containing an animal was dropped, which <leno-nil.il 
 fast and steadily, and just as it reached the earth my aerial ship entered a dense black body of clouds. T. -n 
 minutes were consumed in ]>enetrating this dismal ocean of rainy vapour, occasionally meeting with great chasms, 
 ravines, and defiles, of different shades of light and darkness. When I emerged from this ocean of clouds a new 
 and wi.inli'rfully magnificent scene greeted my eyes. A faint sunshine shed its warmth and lustre over the surface 
 of this vast cloud-sea. The balloon rose more rapidly after it get above it. Viewing it from an elevation above 
 the surface I discovered it to present the same shape as the earth beneath; developing mountains and vnll. \. 
 corresponding to those on the earth's surface. The profile of the cloud surface was more depressed than that on 
 the earth, and in the distance of the cloud valley a magnificent sight presented itself. Pyramids and castles, rocks 
 and reefs, icebergs and ships, towers and domes ; everything belonging to the grand and magnificent could be aeen 
 in this distant harbour ; the half obscured sun shedding his mellow light upon it gave it a rich and dazzling lustre. 
 They -.v.-re really " castles in the air," formed of the clouds. Casting my eyes upwards, I was astonished in 
 .ilin^ another cloud stratum, far above the lower one ; it was what is commonly termed a "mackerel sky," 
 the Min faintly shining through it. The balloon seemed to be stationary ; the clouds above and below appeared 
 to be quiescent ; the air castles in the distance stood to their places ; silence reigned supreme ; it was solemnly 
 sublime ; solitary and alone in a mansion of the skies, my very soul swelled with emotion ; I had no companion to 
 pour out my feelings to. Great God, what a scene of grandeur I Such were my thoughts; a reverence for tin- 
 works of Nature; an admiration indescribable. The solemn grandeur the very stillness that surrounded me 
 seemed to make a sound of praise. 
 
 This was a scene such that I never beheld one before or after exactly like it Two perfect layers of clouds, 
 one not a mile above the earth; the other, about a mile higher; and, between the two, a clear atmosphere, in the 
 midst of which the balloon stood quietly in space. It was, indeed, a strange sight ; a meteorological fact which 
 we cannot possibly see or make ourselves acquainted with, without soaring above the surface of the earth. \Vhy i* 
 it that the cloud surface corresponded to the earth's surface? What causes two distinct cloud strata, one a mile- 
 above the other, in the sky at the same time ? The elevated towers or projections that appeared in the dist.-in. . 
 on the surface of the lower stratum are common to the cumulus cloud, and on this occasion was beautified 
 by the peculiar light cast through the upper stratum. But the distinct regions or vaults of clouds, and tin- 
 lower one presenting in its upper surface the same irregularities as the earth, are questions for science \ 
 explain. 
 
 I remained in this magnificent heavenly mansion for an hour, and during that time did not move two i; 
 in a horizontal direction, as it was perfectly calm and serene. The day was of a murky character ; warm mid 
 rainy, and at the time the balloon entered the cloud region it was raining slightly, otherwise it had no pcctili.u 
 charart.-rii.tie. The lower stratum of clouds I judged to have been from 2000 to 3000 feet in thickness, as it tcx.k 
 seven minutes in passing through. During the descent, and while in the cloud ocean, the sound of my 
 produced a very distinct echo. 
 
 1 made a final descent about five miles from ( 'hambersburg, at thirty-five minutes post f..ur ..'.1 
 
184 ASTRA CASTRA. A.T>. 1841; 
 
 1841. Tn June. Mr. Wise's log-book has the following experiment : 
 
 At thirty-five minutes past two o'clock I lost sight of Danville, and in a few moments afterwards passed into 
 the clear sunshine above, in which the gas began to expand, and cause the balloon to ascend with increased rapidity. 
 The Susquehanna was now lost to my view by the intervention of clouds, and the country beneath presented one 
 vast wilderness as far as" the eye could reach ; the atmosphere was extremely cold for the height over this extensive 
 coal region. The clouds beneath me were sufficiently broken to afford me constantly occurring glimpses of things 
 below ; and I never before found them so extremely diversified in their upper surface. On this occasion there 
 were two strata, but not of that distinctive character which were met with in a former voyage. The lower bed 
 was mmulostratus, resembling uneven and rugged precipices ; the upper was more of a cirrostratus, and consisted 
 only of patches here and there, but very high above the lower layer. 
 
 At forty-five minutes past two o'clock I crossed the Pottsville road between the Bear Gap and Northumber- 
 land road, travelling at the rate of about fifty-five miles per hour. At three o'clock I crossed Pottsville, and again 
 brought to view the cultivated fields of the husbandman. My altitude was so great that I could not recognise the 
 town until crossing Schuylkill Haven, and coming in sight of Orwigsburg. The cold atmosphere became so 
 uncomfortable (hat it impelled me to descend ; but after lowering some distance, I found the valley in which it had 
 been my intention to descend had been passed, and the chain of Blue Mountains already reached, whioh required 
 me to seek refuge in the clouds again. 
 
 At forty minutes past three o'clock the clouds began to thicken beneath me, so that at intervals I could only 
 see the face of the earth. Perceiving a village, which the balloon was about crossing, I threw from the car a new 
 bread-basket, which had been placed in it at the time of starting, intended to serve me as a temporary seat should 
 I prolong my voyage. As it fell towards the earth it presented a beautiful appearance to my view ; it had not 
 gone far before it assumed a rapid rotary motion, bottom downwards, its upper being the concave side, looking like 
 a beautiful rosette set into a circular motion on its centre. Its descent on the earth, as I was afterwards informed, 
 caused considerable astonishment to several persons who saw it coming down ; they not knowing anything of the 
 balloon above them at the time. At four o'clock I passed the town of Beading a little to the west of it. This 
 place had a handsome aspect ; the white streets crossing at right angles, and the beautiful spires and domes, white 
 as snow, with their glittering balls and vanes, made the prospect highly interesting. 
 
 I found the atmosphere much colder in crossing this mountainous region than it usually is in crossing over 
 a level and cultivated country at the same height. During this voyage I observed a peculiar motion in the balloon, 
 which had on former occasions drawn some attention from me, but which had not been closely investigated. It 
 is this : When a balloon is sailing along with a steady current, while in equilibrium with the atmosphere, it 
 revolves slowly on its vertical axis. This rotation is not at all times a smoothly-continued circulation, but is 
 pulsatory, like the notched wheel in a clock which is actuated by the pendulum. At first I attributed this motion 
 to my breathing, believing the vibration of the lungs sufficient to give a corresponding motion to so delicately 
 balanced a thing as a balloon is when suspended in space. I held my breath as long as I could, and this was done 
 several times ; but the pulsations of the balloon were not interrupted by it ; on the other hand, they seemed more 
 audible during these experiments. Upon timing these pulsations, I found them to be every two and a half seconds, 
 and this seemed to be regular as far as my observations indicated. This left me at a loss to account for this 
 motion, as it seemed not to be caused by my breathing, and did not correspond to the beat of my pulse. 
 
 At twenty-five minutes past four o'clock I descended near the house of Mr. Wm. Mcllvain, near Morgantown, 
 about seventy miles from where I started, in a straight line, where I was cordially received by this gentleman and 
 his hospitable lady. 
 
 My landing here was caused by mistaking the Downington turnpike-road for the Pennsylvania railway, 
 which was some' eight or ten miles farther to the south. During this voyage I also distinctly felt the difference in 
 temperature in crossing large valleys, where a degree of warmth rose up quite congenial to one's feelings while in 
 a frosty region. This, I presume, arises from a greater quantity of the sun's rays being reflected upwards from 
 a valley than from level ground. I forgot to mention that the pulsatory motion of the balloon was not perceptible 
 when it was rising or falling, and is only to be detected when the machine sails a considerable length of time at 
 a great altitude in a steady, horizontal direction. Fluctuations of the balloon by rising and falling from any cause 
 soon neutralise this delicate motion. 
 
: 
 
 " H ll.l,*. ,.,! *i,-/M.<n,,v K t. f /.'* w />//>/ -Ar 
 
 1664 
 
 kl U 
 
! c t; 
 j r z 
 
A.I..1M1. KXl'HUIKNCK SOMKTIMKS \ I FAl'LT. 
 
 This :nv,.unt ff ;i |p.-rili.us .1.-.-, nt i> -iv.-n to show that even the great experience !' 
 Mr. diaii's 1 1 iv. -ii r.iulil not always reinliT liiia proof against such casualties: 
 
 On the occasion of a f6te at Cremorne House, Chelsea, for the benefit of the Polish Refugees, Mr. Green and 
 a gentleman named Macdonnell ascended with the Nassau balloon, and the following description f the aerial trip 
 l.y i gentleman will be perused with interest: 
 
 It was about five minute* after seven when Mr. Green (with his Liberator, as he calls it) finally let loose the 
 
 ilk.- that U.imd the balloon to the earth. We immediately ascended with a swift and steady motion til! - 
 attained tin. height of about 1500 feet, at which elevation we continued to move with considerable velocity till we 
 found ourselves over the Isle of Dogs, when, throwing out some ballast, we row many hundred feet higher, and 
 
 borne in a Math-easterly direction towards the centre of the county of Kent. Here, at Mr. Green's desire, 
 I threw down occasionally several pieces of paper in older to ascertain whether we were rising or remaining at 
 it stationary height. Soon afterwards Mr. Green drew my attention to the smoke of the many steamers which were 
 passing to and fro K-neuthus, and which was evidently blown in a north-east direction, towards the county of Essex. 
 
 dim?ly he thought that by descending into the under-current which was blowing towards that county he 
 
 iniiiht effect a descent where there were fewer woods and orchards to obstruct or endanger our progress. The 
 
 justified his expectations ; for when, by letting out more gas, we had drawn nearer to the earth, we found 
 
 we were approaching .the Kssex side of the Thames. About two miles before us lay a large extent of 
 champaign country, called the Salt Marshes, which appeared to afford the requisite facilities for a safe descent. 
 Mr. (iie.n made his preparations accordingly by letting out the gas from the upper valve, and we descended 
 itwiftly to the earth. In a few seconds we passed over the Thames, and found ourselves about two hundred feet 
 above the ground at the opposite bank. Here Mr. Green cautioned me particularly to take fast hold of a rope, 
 whieh he had fastened across the wicker-car; and luckily I obeyed his instructions to the letter, for presently we 
 i slight check from one grappling-iron let down from the hoop above to the distance of 140 feet towards the 
 earth. A moment after there came a terrific shock ; we were going at the rate of at least sixty miles an hour, and 
 our anchor caught in the side of a dike, and, owing to the extreme speed with which we were travelling, tore its 
 way through the hoop to which it was fastened, and, coming in contact with the car as it snapped, completely 
 upset it, so that 1 and Mr. Green were turned topsyturvy, with our heads towards the ground. The rope which 
 was passed across the car alone prevented our falling out; though so complete was the upset, that most of the 
 contents of the car, such as the ballast, &c., as well as my own hat, dropped to the earth. In another moment 
 the car righted, and the balloon, thus freed from every check, descended, dashing us with terrific force against 
 the ground. 
 
 Immediately afterwards it ascended, and again brought us with a fearful collision to the earth. The wind was 
 blowing with violence, and we were thus carried along for upwards of half a mile, till at last we reached a sort of 
 rrc-ek or small river, through which we were hurried half-buried in its waters, to the opposite bank, over which we 
 bounded like a tennis-ball, and, after a few moments, found ourselves dragged through some acres of marsh and 
 - towards a high mound, which I confess that I contemplated with fearful anticipations of the result But 
 onwards, still onwards, the terrible demon to which we had linked ourselves held its way. Ere long we were 
 dashed against it. and then carried over it right upon a strong paling that lay at the other side ; but nothing could 
 withstand our impetuosity, and we burst through the oaken .timbers as though they were cobwebs not, however, 
 I regret to state, without Mr. Green sustaining some very severe internal injuries. \Ve had now a level plain 
 before us. and the speed of the balloon was beginning to be arrested by the great escape of gas; for we constantly, 
 through all the vicissitudes of our fortune, kept a tight hand on the rope which opened the upper valve. Here 
 a comical sight prevented itself, if anything can be reckoned comical to persons situated as awfully as we WI-M 
 
 were large herds of cattle grazing in the plain, who, when they perceived the balloon approaching, at first 
 formed themselves into a compact body, as though to resist an invading enemy ; but on our nearer approach fled 
 panic struck befoie m N.v.rwas seen such an extraordinary chase : we dragged along the ground fast, m . I 
 to a monster that seem, d to disdain all human guidance, and chasing a herd of cattle, who fled in terror, with their 
 tails in the air, and their heads to th-- L'l'.und. Kre long I found means to throw myself out of the ear without 
 sustaining any material injury, and s.-i/..-d li Id of one of the ropes, which 1 twined round my left hand, an I u.e- 
 apprehensive that the balloon, when lightened of my weight, might bear my fellow advoitinei ..n a second reluctant 
 
186 ASTRA CASTRA. A.D. 1841. 
 
 visit to Nassau. The rope out through my flesh nearly to the bone ; but I managed to hold on till a countryman 
 came to my aid. Need I enter into any more details? Suffice it to say that we found ourselves near Eainham, 
 in Essex, having accomplished that distance from Cremorne House, Chelsea, in less than twenty minutes. The 
 peasantry, who soon congregated about, rendered us every assistance ; and mine host of the Phoenix, in Eainham, 
 contributed all he could to revive and recruit Mr. Green, who was rather seriously indisposed, and is, I am afraid, 
 hurt internally. 
 
 Mr. Green says of this voyage : 
 
 Highgate, August 18. 
 Having been in the atmosphere about fifteen minutes, our descent took place at twenty minutes past seven, 
 
 P.M., in a large marsh in the parish of Eainham, in Essex, after crossing the Thames four times. The distance, as 
 near as may be, from Cremorne House, is about twenty miles. On no former occasion of my numerous ascents have 
 I ever had to contend with so violent a wind as raged in fact, it was only a very short time before we ascended 
 that there was an abatement of its force. Notwithstanding that the spot selected was very well adapted to effect 
 a descent, being extensive, open, marsh land, I never experienced so rough a landing. The first time the grapnel 
 took a firm hold the shock was so violent, in consequence of the state of the weather, that the hoop to which it was 
 attached, and which had been used by me and my son in no less than 313 voyages with success, broke, depriving 
 us of the grapnel and cable, both of which had been left behind firmly fixed in the object to which the grapnel had 
 caught a bank. We were then dragged about a mile and a half over the earth's surface in the space of three 
 minutes, by which time nearly the whole of the gas was expended, in consequence of our never abandoning the 
 care of the valve-line. We received several severe shocks and concussions in passing over dikes, banks, and fences, and 
 a strong paling, through which the car tore its way by the velocity of its motion. This illustrates in a new form 
 that fact in natural philosophy, that a comparatively soft body like our flexible wicker-ear, when in very rapid 
 motion, will force its way through a hard one without itself suffering material injury. I am happy to say we 
 eventually escaped, but not without some severe bruises : we did, indeed, get some hard knocks. Had it not been 
 for the determined courage of my companion, to whom I had the honour of being introduced by Lord Dudley 
 Stuart, who himself made a voyage with me on a former occasion, the descent must have been attended with most 
 serious consequences. I understand that one of the reports in circulation is, that the injuries I have received are 
 of such a nature that I must abandon the profession of an aeronaut. Permit me to say that I hope to disprove this 
 report by making an aerial voyage from the New World to the Old, taking advantage of the prevalence of the 
 westerly winds, as soon as I shall have constructed the kind of balloon which I know to be necessary for that 
 
 purpose. 
 
 CHARLES GREEN. 
 
 A lady wrote this letter to the editor of the ' Weekly Chronicle,' in September, 
 1841 :- 
 
 DKAR SIR, September, 1841. 
 
 Agreeably to your desire, and not without considerable reluctance, I sit down to endeavour to give an 
 account of our delightful voyage, but deeply regretting that my power of pen will produce but a feeble portrait 
 (I am speaking as a portrait-painter) of all that was calculated to command our admiration of nature through the 
 medium of art, and of one so well adapted to effect such an object as that stupendous machine, the Nassau 
 balloon. In pursuing my narrative, you will excuse me if, as the gentlemen of the press, I assume the privilege 
 of writing in the plurality of persons, by using the monosyllable we. The evening was delightfully calm, the 
 heavens beautifully serene, and of that lovely blue which the Italian masters have so delighted in transferring 
 from their own sunny skies, speckled over with numerous light and fleecy clouds, and scarcely a breath of wind 
 stirred. By veterans in aerial voyages it was considered that a more favourable evening for a trip could not have 
 been selected. From some misunderstanding, however, the inflation was but partially performed. It certainly 
 robbed the balloon of a great portion of its majestic appearance ; but whether from parsimony or for other reasons 
 it matters not. It did not rob Mr. Green of his skill, so that he could not bear up and rise above the difficulties 
 thrown in his way. At ten minutes past seven Mr. Green completed the act of separation from our friends, and 
 
A.I.. 1M1. A LADY'S ]>!> KIITIOX. 
 
 we embarked, impressed with L.ftior views and every prospect of a pleasing voyage, taking a north-easterly 
 
 ,,n, which niii.ni, with hut link- variation, bore us throughout It is utterly iiniHmnible for persons on 
 tlx-ir tii-i adventure to -i\,- expression to tboir feelings. There is something awful in the very novelty of tin- 
 situation that, to a great degree, paralyses the language of description, and yet the awe may be considered 
 imaginary . for the balloon that Benjamin Franklin recognised as a boy appears to have reached its manhood. 
 
 i in leaving thu gardens we were somewhat flattered by the cheers of those wo left behind us, and they changed 
 
 in proportion as we towered over the lanea and thoroughfares adjoining. The mution of the machine was HO 
 import. -pi it.lr that it seemed not to us as if we were leaving the gardens, but as if the gardens left us. The 
 
 i.lush of observation presented to us a something like a schoolboy map everything flat, diminished in 
 dimensions, ami curiously compact. The motion of heads, and the turning up of faces, partly indicating 
 animal i'>n, tint more especially reminding us of bas-relief sculpture. We soon triumphantly o'ertopped the 
 orientalists of the metropolis, and then the scene changed shades, and assumed a different shape. Tin- river 
 Thames became like an animated reptile, of ponderous growth, serpentining along, and seeming to encircle in it* 
 coils the mighty London, the mistress of the world. Crossing the river between the Tower and Blackwall, 
 und sun-eying the scene we were passing from, the lights sprung up in rapid succession like glowworms 
 in tin twilight. The object* became more compact, and the bridges bore the semblance of beautiful and 
 sparkling fillets, encircling here and there an immense boa-constrictor, and fettered, as it were, or controlled, by 
 whit.- and riband-looking roads, the inlets and outlets of the great city. Shortly after this we attained our 
 highest altitude six thousand two hundred feet, or nearly one mile and a quarter. We had expected, from 
 what we had often heard, that some difficulty of respiration would have been experienced; but, so far from this, 
 we fancied that it was more free than usual, added to a buoyany of feeling perfectly delicious; and, instead of the 
 cold usually resulting from a great elevation and a rarefied atmosphere, the heat was unusually oppressive. \V>- 
 
 l*ssed over the forest of Epping. We now commenced rapidly to descend, till within two thousand thru- 
 hundred feet of the earth, as indicated by the barometer. For the first time we became sensible of the motion of 
 the balloon, our gradual approach to objects, enabled us, by comparison, to form a judgment of the swiftness 
 of our course. 
 
 The most sublime object that accompanied us throughout our trip, when night had set in, was the moon 
 and its effects on the scene beneath. The reflection of the moonbeams upon the river now bursting upon the 
 
 n, now coquet tidily disappearing leaving this in darkness, and suddenly presenting the same appearance 
 in a thousand different quarters rescuing solitary scraps or sheets of water from obscurity, rather as if it were 
 artificially produced, than the mere result of accident. As an artist, I was delighted with the light and shade of 
 the scene ; and one of the most prominent objects attracting our attention, from its uniqueness of character, was 
 the moon's reflection on the ball, and the mighty shadow of the latter upon the earth. Although at the great 
 elevation at which we then were, we were much surprised to find with what exceeding and clear distinctness we 
 could hear the voices and distinguish the words of these who, attracted by the novelty of the object, were 
 assembled beneath ; the conversation, mundane and celestial, if not very edifying, was at least highly amusing. 
 
 Mr. Green now became anxious to descend but finding, from information afforded by the good folks below, 
 that the ground was not well adapted for his purpose, we rose considerably, but still in the same direction, until 
 we found a fitter spot, as well as the obscurity enabled Mr. Green to judge, being without the guide-line. Our car 
 company had been so exceedingly pleasant, that it was not without regret we heard of his intention to descend. 
 Capt. Cm iy. who is a veteran aeronaut, this being his thirty-third ascent, delighted the company with the 
 
 i rite ballad of " The jolly young waterman," with many other little flashes of amusement, which he called 
 sty-larking. We had " nectar and ambrosia " in abundance. Now to the descent. Mr. Green's anxiety suspended 
 all these pleasing pastimes and, having arrived at a place that he thought would be suitable, he encountered a 
 difficulty from the sudden springing up of a ground breeze. The grappling-iron was thrown out, but, from the 
 nature of the surface, n hold could not be retained, until after two or three attempts, when, with the assistance of 
 the country people, the- iron was properly planted, and we owed especial thanks to sundry little urchins, who 
 bounded over hedge an.l ditch to our assistance. \\'e were sorry to find the balloon considerably injured from 
 having been a short time entangled in the embraces of a solitary ash-tree. Our descent was, however, effected 
 scatheless, barring sundry liiimps and thumps, which however formed but a slight alloy to the pleasure of our trip. 
 The gentlemen of the party then assisted us to alight, precisely at twenty minutes to nine, having been in the air 
 
 2 c 
 
188 
 
 ASTRA CASTRA. 
 
 A.D. 1841. 
 
 exactly an hour and ton minutes. We were now on terra firma at Knavestock, near Brentwood, in Essex, twenty- 
 three miles from Vauxhall. We were kindly invited to the house of Mr. J. Crouchman, by his good lady, who 
 was attracted to the ground ; and to her kindness, and the efficient services of her husband, we were much indebted. 
 Finding we were in a part of the country abounding in cross roads, and the cattle being engaged in the harvest, 
 it was three hours before a conveyance for the balloon could be obtained. A very unpleasant incident occurred 
 after landing, some one having abstracted the ornamental drapery of the car ; but, through the vigilance of the 
 police, a fine young fellow was presented to us manacled as the thief. Mr. Green had previously handsomely 
 rewarded him, to share with his fellows. It was our own opinion that the poor fellow did not wish so much to 
 take it for its value, as to obtain a relic. 
 
 Then comes the price of pleasure. There were Mrs. Green and myself, Dr. Locock, Captain Curry, 
 Mr. Dally, a gentleman whose name we did not learn, and Mr. Green, driven to our wit's end. We called a 
 council of expediency. We found ourselves six miles from any posthouse. The gentlemen were capable of 
 walking six miles ; this was, however, rather too great a distance for two ladies, and, by direction, we sought 
 shelter at a house a mile and a half distant, where, we regret to say through a female oracle, we suppose the 
 landlady admission was refused the party, benighted as we were ; showing not only a want of common 
 courtesy, but a complete lack of humanity, and more especially to those of her own sex. Baffled in this reason- 
 
 EAGLE AND RAVEN. 
 
 He clasps the crag with hooked hands, 
 Close to the sun in lonely lands ; 
 Ring'd with the azure world he stands, 
 The wrinkled sea beneath him crawls ; 
 He watches from his mountain walls, 
 And like a thunderbolt he falls. TENNYSOX. 
 
A.H. 1843. AN iTMOSPHERIO CURRENT FROM WBBPTTO LAST CONSTANTLY FLOWING. 189 
 
 able :i[.].i-;il, we i. traced our steps to the hospitable cottage of Mr. Alexander Doddington, a few minute*' walk. 
 whose wliuli- family vie<l with each other in mini.-.!, ring to our wishes. One of his sons was immediately 
 despatched <m horseback to funiish us with such stores as he was himself deficient in. Our . \. nil'nl career was 
 tinii-h.-.l in cnnir.it before a blazing firo, lighted for our especial benefit, and every other accommodation waa at 
 our service. It is pleasing to contrast the warm-hearted kindness of this worthy family with the unfeeling 
 brutality nf tin- i>ther. A postchaiso was obtained shortly afterwards, and wo reached town in the morning, 
 between nine ami ten n'clock, delighted with our excursion, nothing the worse for an adventure or two, and 
 looking forward wiili inuc-h pleasure to our next trip to the Isle of " Sty." I have, &c. 
 
 JOANNA FORREST. 
 
 Tli. in \v>|.:i].. i- in Niivinl'i-r, gave the following account of the widow of Montgolfier: 
 This lady, who has now iv.-iclx-.l tin very advanced age of 107 years, lately visited the town 
 if Trifl, in tin- Dr|.:irtiuriit of Seine et Oise, for the sake of seeing the fine bridge erected by 
 In r t\\n grandsons, tin- MM. Si-pun. She was accompinifl \<y some of the first people of the 
 t.\\ii. She mu'lt- tin- tour on foot, and seemingly with the greatest ease possible." 
 
 1 < 12. This year Mr. Wise made an ascent from Lewistown, Pa., in April ; and another 
 from (n-tty.-l'ur":. in Septemlx-r. He says: 
 
 After rising to a considerable altitude symptoms of excited electricity were powerfully exhibited by the 
 
 :i\o force of the upper part of the balloon as it passed slowly through the eddy between the upper and 
 r currents of air. Rising above this point by a circuitous ascent, the country for many miles round became 
 visible. The borough of Lewistown represented a figure like the letter V. \\hile still ascending, mountain after 
 valley, and valley after mountain sprung up out of the body of the earth as by magic. The sublime workmanship 
 of Him that made the heavens and the earth burst upon the vision with amazing grandeur, and smiling nature, 
 clad in lu-r vernal garb, looked up toward heaven with a pleasing countenance. For an hour or more new and 
 beautiful scenes were continually developing themselves. The mountains appeared to range in astonishingly 
 exact parallel semicircles, alternated by the gayer-coloured valleys between them. 
 
 The Juniata Kiver, meandering through the mountains, added much to the beauty of the scene ; and ray 
 attention was particularly drawn to that portion of the river which passes through the narrows just below 
 Lewistown. The probability of the impression which has obtained with many persons, that the river has, by a 
 sapping, percolating process, worked ite way through the mountain, is entirely destroyed when the place is viewed 
 from the point where I passed it. From there it has the appearance of an original formation coeval with the 
 earth's adaptation to watercourses ; and, were it otherwise, it might have worked its way through some distance 
 above by a shorter and apparently easier route, or continued seven or eight miles further in the upper valley to 
 where it blends with the one on the other side, into which the river runs. 
 
 A calm and deliberate contemplation of the workmanship of the earth,, when viewed from a high, isolated 
 position, bringing it in view as a whole, leads the mind to very different suppositions and conclusions to what it 
 wi mid arrive at when viewing it from its own surface. It may be properly illustrated by the comparison of 
 looking at a rivulet, or the great river that rises from a number of them ; or in viewing a single house, or the 
 whole city. The earth, viewed from a great height, assumes a regularity of order, skill, and arrangement, which 
 cannot fail to strike the mind of an observer with force and admiration. 
 
 In May following I made an ascension from Bellefonte, Pa. The last paragraph of the log-book of that 
 voyage say* : I have at present in use a black balloon, which creates a congenial atmosphere around itself in the 
 cold upper regions of the air from the radiating superiority of that colour over a lighter one. It is now beyond 
 a doubt in my mind established, that a current from vest to east in the atmosphere it constantly in motion within the height 
 of 12,000 feet above the ocean. Nearly all my trips are strong proofs of this. 
 
 \\hile I was remaining at Wilkesbarrc, a very flattering invitation from Messrs. Glossbrenner and Mon is. 
 of \ork, I'n., who were then on a visit to the Wyoming Valley, was tendered me to come to their borough ami 
 make an ascension, which I cheerfully accepted. The late Mr. Mills, a very successful aeronaut, had made a 
 satisfactory ascension from York the summer previous, and died there while making preparations for a second. 
 
 2 C 2 
 
190 ASTEA CASTE A. A.D. 1842. 
 
 A Mr. Parker, who professed to be an aeronaut, volunteered to make the ascension which Mr. Mills had 
 made preparations for, but he failed in getting up with the balloon ; and shortly afterwards tried and failed again, 
 which exasperated the populace to such a degree that it became necessary for Mr. Parker's safety to put him in 
 the hands of the sheriff of the county. This double failure had a tendency to make the people of that county 
 rather suspiciously inclined towards balloon experiments. Many of the country people believed it to be a plotting 
 humbug in order to delude them into the town ; others doubted the sincerity of balloonists' intentions of going up, 
 looking at it as a dangerous business. These circumstances made it a delicate matter for me, in case I should be 
 so unfortunate as to fail in getting up ; and although I had now acquired a reputation as a " successful aeronaut," 
 it only made it worse for me, in the event of any accident that might foil me in making the ascension according to 
 announcement. The balloon which I had then in use was not throughout of strong material, being made of black 
 silk, a part of which being of a different texture from the other, was very mellow. However, an ascension was 
 determined on, let the consequences be what they would. The last Saturday in August, 1842, was appointed 
 for the experiment ; and as it was one fraught with interest on various accounts, a detailed description of it will be 
 interesting. 
 
 As fate would have it, the day turned out with boisterous and stormy weather. The atmosphere was 
 continually charged with black thunder-clouds, and incessant squalls of wind alternated the strong gale from the 
 west which blew all day. The people, no way daunted from the last summer's failures, poured into town in a 
 continuous stream. Twelve o'clock came, the time for commencing the inflation, but it brought no hopes of 
 success in case it should be attempted. The people began to gather round the enclosed arena, which occupied a 
 large open common on the outskirt of the town, and frequent and determined were the threats from their lips 
 of what would be done in case they should be " humbugged again." As the time passed on, my friends also 
 became uneasy, they thinking I was rather timid. Thus things went on until near two o'clock, the time announced 
 for starting on the voyage, and things were coming to a crisis ; already from eight to ten thousand persons had 
 assembled on the common, and more than threat had already commenced to develop itself in some angry 
 countenances. The last consolatory words from my particular friends were, " You are in danger of violence." 
 I had remonstrated against their advice of going on, as I contended that a failure would be more fatal to all 
 concerned than a postponement to a better day. But they told me a postponement was out of the question under 
 the circumstances. Now, as I had no confidence in the strength of my balloon holding out under such squalls. 
 and as a postponement would not be tolerated, I determined to reason with the people, and at once went to the 
 outside of the arena, mounted a table, beckoned the immense crowd to listen to me for a minute, which, after one 
 very refractory individual had been quieted, was granted. 
 
 I made a brief statement of facts and circumstances, as connected with the occasion, and mentioned to them 
 that God made the weather, while I professed only to make ascensions, and then put the question to them whether 
 I should go on under the circumstances, or postpone it to a better day, with the proviso, however, that they 
 would buy tickets under the risk of a failure, and that they were not to mob me, nor suffer me to be mobbed, nor 
 ask their money back if I should fail on account of the weather. It was unanimously agreed that I should go on, 
 with a loud promise, " We will stand by you through thick and thin." Just at this moment a gentleman stepped 
 up. who I learned was Doctor Xess, and in a proper and terse manner substantiated my explanations. 
 
 In another moment the gas retorts were in active operation, as no time was to be lost in getting the balloon 
 inflated. This process had not gone on long before every one present began to realise the truth of my remarks. 
 
 The balloon stood the blast, and at four o'clock was sufficiently inflated to prepare her for the flight. As the 
 inflation and start are sensibly and graphically described by the ' York Gazette,' its article relative to this occasion 
 may be properly quoted : " Mr. John \\ise, the celebrated American aeronaut, made from an enclosure at this 
 place on Saturday last, one of the most beautiful balloon ascensions ever witnessed in Pennsylvania, or probably in 
 the Union. An immense crowd was assembled to witness the ascension ; the number is variously estimated at 
 from six to ten thousand persons. 
 
 " There was quite a strong breeze early in the morning, and it continued to blow up to, and beyond the hour 
 at which the inflation was to have commenced. This occasioned some delay, as it is exceedingly difficult to inflate 
 a balloon in a strong wind, and in four cases out of five when it is attempted the balloon is torn during the process. 
 At about two o'clock, though the wind had not entirely ceased, Mr. Wise, anxious to gratify the thousands who 
 had assembled, many of them from a considerable distance, to witness an ascension, determined, at the risk of 
 
A.D. l-r.'. A THUNDERSTORM. -191 
 
 destroying hi* new and costly balloon, to commence the inflation. Then the danger became evident to all; for 
 the wind was very slight, yet as soon as the balloon had been swelled by the gas to a height of six or 
 
 IV. -t, so as to present any surface to the wind, it became as fractious as a drunken Mohawk. Mr. Wise fmin.1 
 it necessary to have the assistance of about a dozen of his friends, who were all kept quite busy in preventing it 
 fp .in tearing itself to pieces. 
 
 " The excellent preparatory arrangements, however, of Mr. Wise, and his unruffled temper and systematic 
 method of conducting the process, overcame all the difficulties ; and at about four o'clock ho attached his car to its 
 i.-ri il M.-f.l. entered it as coolly as though about to seat himself for a ride upon an ' ambling pad pony,' and was 
 launched, amid the cheers and shouts of congregated thousands, into the air. 
 
 lie cleared the enclosure by about ten feet, and sank a few feet immediately on the outside; but by 
 throwing out a portion of his ballast he was enabled to rise sufficiently as ho moved off beautifully in an easterly 
 direction. lie seemed, to those who saw him from the point at which he started, to rise as he receded, keeping on 
 in one direction until lost to their view behind a cloud about five miles distant. 
 
 \Yo never saw a more gratified multitude than were assembled on this occasion. All seemed delighted, 
 and to be at a loss for words to express their admiration of the sight presented by the daring aeronaut as he replied 
 from his seemingly perilous height by a graceful wave of his hat to the cheers that continued to greet him as long 
 as his features could be distinguished." 
 
 Narrative of the Journal : 
 
 At fifteen minutes past four o'clock the aerial ship, United States, was released from her moorings under a 
 heavy blow from the south-west, gliding swiftly near the surface of the earth until her ascending power was 
 
 used by a discharge of about forty pounds of ballast : when at a distance of several miles from the common 
 the ascent became very rapid. At eight minutes after the start I passed through some filmy clouds, going nearly 
 parallel with the railroad all the time, and in a few minutes overtook the locomotive, which had started about 
 fifteen minutes before the balloon did. At 4.30 I commenced penetrating a dense stratum of clouds, after having 
 enjoyed a magnificent view of the country for thirty miles round, bringing into view over fifty towns and villages, 
 innumerable streams of water, with the beautiful Susquehanna in their midst. On entering the clouds the 
 atmosphere grew cold ; but after passing through the lower stratum, and getting into the shadow of cloud-patches 
 far above the lower layer, the cold became so intense as to convert my breath freely into hoar-frost. I did not 
 MiffiT much from this cold atmosphere, as the excitement of the day had supplied me with a fervour that lasted 
 through the whole voyage ; and it would be a senseless being indeed that could pass through such scenes without 
 excitement. While passing through the clouds, the balloon rising at a furious rate, I attempted to open the 
 valve to discharge gas, but was prevented by the lower part of the balloon having so closely taken the valve-rope 
 into a fold, it being flaccid, that it became impossible to work the rope through. This would of course become 
 relieved by the expansion of the gas, which would unfold it as it would rise into a rarer region of the atmosphere ; 
 but as the balloon was mounting so rapidly, and the air quite cold enough already, I was determined to arrest its 
 upward progress by a violent tug of the valve-rope, which succeeded in releasing it, and bringing with it a strip 
 of the balloon five feet long and seven inches wide at one end, tapering to a point at the other. This piece came 
 clear out of the balloon and dropped down by the car, so near that I reached for it as it fell past. Being from the 
 lower side of the balloon, it would cause no serious consequence*, unless in case of a rapid descent it might by the 
 rush of air against it cause it to slit upwards, and open the whole side of the balloon, an accident which would not 
 endanger my life. After having risen some distance above the clouds into a clear sunshine the temperature 
 became more congenial, and a most brilliant cloud-scene lay beneath me ; a spacious, snow-white concavity, with 
 here and there a pyramidical projsction jutting from the common surface. To the south-east a violent ebullition 
 in the cloud-ocean indicated the formation of a thunderstorm, which soon developed itself in uprising cloud- 
 columns discharging electric flashes and mutiny thunder. The shadow of the balloon was visible on the surface 
 of the clouds below, and, after getting so high that it became completely distended, I discharged gas from the valve, 
 while it was at the same time copiously discharging from the hole which had been made in tearing out the piece 
 witli the valve -rope. The gas escaping from the rent below assumed a white, milky colour. Looking down upon 
 the clouds at this time a most beautiful phenomenon presented itself, like that on the disc of a camera-obscura. 
 Around the dark shadow of the balloon there appeared a bright blue ring ; and on the outside of this ring, 
 surrounding it, there blazed out a brilliant halo of fiery red. This splendid imago increased and dimim.-h. d in 
 
192 ASTEA CASTEA. A.D. 1842. 
 
 size as the balloon was lowered or elevated above the cloud-stratum. I gazed on it until my eyes became dazzled 
 and painfully affected by its brilliancy, and I could not refrain from ejaculating over the transcendent privilege of 
 viewing such celestial grandeur ; for at this time a combination of scenes and circumstances, never before witnessed 
 at one time, conspired to make the scene grand beyond the power of description. 
 
 When my aerial ship had passed over the thunderstorm, and got some distance ahead of it, I gradually 
 descended, reaching the cloud-ocean in five or six minutes ; and when in this cold, misty sea my feelings became 
 painfully depressed ; the transition from so beautiful a haven assisted in no small degree in producing the gloomy 
 and morbid sensations that followed. I really felt like an expelled intruder, who had been driven from a 
 usurpation. As soon as I got through this gloomy abode of the clouds, and in view of as beautiful a prospect as 
 the eye ever gazed on, the fertile landscape of Lancaster county, my spirits became somewhat revived ; besides, 
 I was now viewing the place of my birth, the town, the street, the pleasure-grounds of my youthful days, dreams, 
 enchantments, realities, doubts, all seemed to have held their sway within the last hour. Such voyages are strange 
 and exciting things. 
 
 After sailing over the city of Lancaster my course was parallel with the Pennsylvania railroad, down which 
 a locomotive was plying with a train of cars, which was soon overtaken and passed, showing that steam cannot 
 compete with balloon speed, when they both move in the same direction. At thirteen minutes past five o'clock 
 I landed on the farm of \Vm. Hiester, Esq., near the village of Newholland, about thirty-nine miles from the 
 starting-point, being at the rate of fifty miles per hour in the horizontal direction. 
 
 When I returned to York the citizens had already contributed an amount considerably over and above the 
 sum demanded by me as an inducement to make a balloon ascension, for another balloon voyage from their place. 
 
 This ascension took place on the 20th of August following, on which occasion the day turned out to be of 
 fine clear weather, and a very calm atmosphere. The ' York Gazette,' in noticing this voyage, indulges in the 
 following remarks : " We considered his thirty-sixth ascension the ne plus ultra in grandeur, but it was far exceeded 
 by the last. Mr. Wise, on this occasion, was favoured by almost a perfect calm ; and having cut his cord, ho 
 ascended almost perpendicularly to a height of four or five thousand feet. He receded from the spectators so 
 slowly that they could distinguish his features for about three minutes, and his form five or six minutes, after his 
 departure. In all this time he was receiving and gracefully acknowledging the reiterated and thundering peals 
 of applause from delighted thoiisands. W r e never witnessed a crowd so completely carried away by their feeling 
 of unmixed gratification. They did not seem to be able to find words commensurate with their enjoyment ; but 
 every moment shouts, spontaneous and simultaneous, would be sent up to the car of the aeronaut from countless 
 throats, and the calm and collected occupant of the apparently frail vessel could be seen, with his head uncovered, 
 returning the salutations as they reached him, from a height so tremendous that his form appeared to be reduced 
 to the proportions only heard of in fairy tales. 
 
 " It is safe to predict, that not one of all the vast crowd assembled on Saturday will ever again witness on 
 earth a spectacle so unutterably grand and sublime as that presented by Mr. Wise in leaving the earth on his 
 thirty-seventh aerial voyage." 
 
 In lieu of the account from my log-book, the above has been quoted. The voyage being over nearly the 
 same course as the one preceding it, and nothing of a new character having occurred in its progress, it would 
 consist of a mere repetition of what has been said. 
 
 In September of 1842 I made an ascension from Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, of which the following account 
 was written at the time. During the preparatory arrangements for my thirty-eighth aerial voyage, made from 
 Gettysburg on the 10th inst., it was suggested by Professor Jacobs, of Pennsylvania College, in company with 
 several other scientific gentlemen, to make some experiments upon the spiral ascent of the small balloons that 
 were to be sent off as pilots. Having noticed that they revolved on their vertical axes when ascending, in a 
 direction opposite to that of the revolutions of the hands of a clock lying with its face upwards, Professor Jacobs 
 proposed that the remaining two pilots should be started with a rotary motion, opposite to that which they 
 assumed when let off uninfluenced. Accordingly, they were started with considerable impetus in that way ; but 
 that motion subsided in a very short time ; and the other, or contrary motion, took effect, and continued as long 
 as they could be seen, which was until they passed into the clouds. The large balloon also revolved in the same 
 way on this occasion ; and in pursuing these experiments, by throwing down when above the clouds substances 
 of different kinds and shapes, they all fell with the same rotary motion. The atmosphere at the time of starting 
 
A.M. 1842 - "i.nNKL JOHN Mt'l.KM.AN, OF GETTYSBURG. \'M 
 
 mt my \-o\ a ::e. twelve minutes before four o'clock, wan perfectly calm, and the upper heaven was completely parti- 
 
 1 off IV..iii the earth by a thin layer of clouds. The height from the earth to the clouds was 3900 feet by mea- 
 sure nt. The atmosphere became slightly colder as I ascended higher until entering the clouds, where it was 
 
 '.vhut wanner than just beneath tin in ; and \vhcn entirely above them the sun's rays had a powerful effect 
 ii|.n inv l....|\- .ii, .1 ii]Min the balloon, as its accelerated upward motion quickly told. 
 
 'I In- phenoim -non of refracted light, which "had so much interested me on a former voyage, made its appear- 
 ance again upon tin- thin layer of clouds beneath, and my particular attention was now directed to its operation. 
 '!!. ;iarMion was this time more perfectly formed in regular prismatic rings, the cloud-stratum being thin on 
 which it was refracted, and consequently did not reflect so much dazzling light as before, when it was thicker. It 
 appeared too on this occasion that the cause assigned to ito production on a former voyage was not altogether 
 essential, being a profuse escape of gas, as on this it originated from the mere diffusion of gas round the balloon. 
 
 iir being very calm, suffered the balloon to remain a longer time in the same spot, and consequently a rarer 
 and more rcfi.i. :\ medium would be formed around it, enhanced by the radiating power of its colour (black). 
 
 The shadow of the balloon was well defined on the clouds, and the prismatic colours forming rings around 
 it were brilliant ; there appeared also another, but dim shadow, immediately opposite the main one, much narrower 
 and fainter; and they each crossed or rather laid on the prismatic rings, reaching from near the centre to some 
 distance over the outer ring. 
 
 -mailer shadow was continually expanding and contracting, sometimes getting nearly as white as the 
 main one, and tip n contracting into a mere line again, resembling in its action the waving motion of the aurora 
 boreal i>. Tlii- motion I thought might have been caused by the different degrees of thickness of the cloud-stratum 
 on which it won formed ; as also the difference of distance between the balloon and the surface on which it acted, 
 as the clouds were moving along, while the air-ship was apparently becalmed ; thin would continually change the 
 
 ion of space between the object and its shadow, as it would the density of the substance that formed it* 
 screen. The parhelion and shadows varied in size as the balloon ascended or descended, which I caused it to do 
 several times to a degree of not less than six to eight hundred feet. What appeared most remarkable to me was 
 the appearance of this phenomenon after the balloon had descended between the clouds and the earth. \Vhile 
 coming down over an open space in the clouds I noticed the parhelion disappear in it, and in another moment 
 discovered it on the green surface below, being a wood, not with its regular rings, but in a red fiery halo, blending 
 all the colours in it ; and when it passed from the wood it was Mill perceptible on the green .fields, but more 
 diffuse than when on the wood. When I got below the cloud-stratum the balloon moved slowly in a horizontal 
 direction, at the rate of about a mile in eight minutes ; and whenever it would pass an opening in the clouds, so 
 that it fell in the sun's rays, the fiery halo made its appearance at the corresponding point on the surface of tho 
 earth. The appearance of the phenomenon on the earth's surface was much like the reflected glare in the sky of n 
 night during a conflagration. 
 
 1 luring tho early part of the voyage there appeared a magnificent sight in the west. No clouds being in 
 that direction, at a point some miles off a portion of the mountain-region was receiving a flood of light from the 
 sun. which gave it a peculiar lustre, such as I had never seen before, though it has often happened that the sun 
 was shining only in spots upon the earth, which were visible to me. While in the clouds I noticed them to have 
 a more milky-looking aspect than is usually the case; and it was noticed by the spectators below, who informed 
 me of it afterwards; and they further remarked that " tho balloon looked white" the moment of its submersion in 
 the clouds, until it vanished from their sight. After 1 had been above the clouds for more than half an hour I came 
 down once so low that the spectators from the town saw it for a moment; and they informed me that it was not 
 fir from the point where it had entered them at the start, making it evident that the balloon was almost totally 
 becalmed while ulove the cloud-stratum. It was a peculiar state of the atmosphere throughout. 
 
 r remaining in the atmosphere eight minutes less than one hour, the greatest part of the time above the 
 clouds, I come down to tti-r-ijin,,,i, two-and-a-half miles from the point where 1 had started. 
 
 These interesting facts were observed and noted with as much precision and deliberation as if they had I 
 observed from my private chamber; and they were submitted to my friend, Professor Jacobs, who had been with 
 me during the inflation, engaged in observing the experiments made before the start; and it was he that took tip 
 altitude of the clouds. 
 
 The people of tlcttysljtirg were so rnnch pleased and interested with this ascension that they determined to 
 
194 ASTEA CASTRA. A.D. 1842. 
 
 have the experiment repeated in a few weeks afterwards. In the mean time, by their particular request, I 
 entertained them with a public lecture on the subject of aeronautics, in the court-house. Touching strongly upon 
 the simplicity of the science during this lecture, and portraying the magnificent grandeur of its developments to 
 the practitioner of aeronautics, it inspired some of the hearers with an indescribable desire of its enjoyment ; but 
 only one of them was willing to believe implicitly what I had said of its non-danger, as practised by me. This 
 individual was Colonel John M'Clellan, of Gettysburg. On the* following day he made me a proposition to take 
 him along with me on the contemplated voyage to be made in a few days from that place. The time being too short 
 to make the extra arrangements necessary to carry another individual besides myself, I mentioned it to the Colonel, 
 and at the same time informed him that if he did not wish to wait for another opportunity he might take my place 
 on the Saturday following for half the price of what I had asked to take him with me, which would make it but fifty 
 dollars instead of a hundred. He answered that he thought he would take me up at that. I did not believe, how- 
 ever, that he would go by himself, inasmuch as we had already spoken of making it suit to take him up at Emmets- 
 burgh. When the day came for the ascension the Colonel made his appearance about half an hour before the time 
 announced for starting ; gave me the fifty dollars, security for the safe return of the balloon, and took some hasty 
 instructions for the management of the machine while aloft, and also to effect a systematic descent. These were as 
 promptly given him ; and after this no persuasion, neither from his brothers and sisters nor from me, would induce 
 him to relinquish his desire for the present ; and so I sent him up, confident that he would come down safe if he 
 did not give up the ship ; and my last injunction to him was, " Stick to the ship." He went up in gallant style, 
 throwing out ballast until he mounted to an altitude of about two miles, and then passed out of sight. He went 
 about twenty-five miles, landing a few miles west of York, Pa., and was from thence escorted into York by some 
 dozen acquaintances, who saw the balloon descending, and finding with it, to their great astonishment, Colonel 
 John M'Clellan, of Gettysburg, instead of the individual with whom they had an understanding to meet, if he 
 would come down near York. Indeed, I regretted that I had to forego the pleasure of paying my York friends a 
 visit via the clouds, when I saw the favourableness of the breeze and the pertinacity of the Colonel's intentions. 
 
 When arrived at York, and surrounded by a host of friends, the Colonel was requested to give a detailed 
 verbal description of his adventure, which he did, and with a great deal of accuracy, showing, that before he com- 
 menced coming down he had been a deliberate observer. Mr. Glossbrenner, editor of the ' York Gazette,' being 
 present, took notes and made a publication of it in his next paper. It is written with some humour, but neverthe- 
 less with a graphicness and accuracy in regard to the appearance of things that could only come through the sug- 
 gestions of an actual observer. This description has already become an historical fact, and is as follows : 
 
 " BAI LOONING EXTRAORDINARY. 
 
 " A daring feat was accomplished on Saturday last by a citizen of our neighbouring town of Gettysburg. Mr. 
 John Wise, the American aeronaut, par excellence, had announced his intention to make his thirty-ninth balloon 
 ascension on that day, from an enclosure in Gettysburg, and, with his usual punctuality, was ready on the day and 
 hour promised. His balloon was inflated ; his ballast, grappling-iron, &c., duly stowed, and he was about to step 
 into the basket. At that moment Mr. John M'Clellan, a young gentleman of Gettysburg, inquired of Mr. Wise 
 whether it would not be possible for two persons to ascend with the power then in the balloon. On receiving a 
 negative reply, Mr. M'Clellan seemed much disappointed ; said he was determined to have a ride, and inquired the 
 price at which Mr. Wise would permit him to make the voyage alone. ' One hundred dollars, sir,' said Mr. Wise, 
 who did not appear to consider the inquirer to be in earnest. ' I will give you fifty dollars ! ' ' Agreed fork 
 over ! ' The joke was ' carried on,' and the cream of it was soon transferred to the pocket of the aeronaut, and his 
 substitute was snugly seated in the car, vociferating his direction to ' cut loose ! ' Mr. Wise thought that matters 
 had now gone far enough, and requested his customer to get out, as the time had arrived at which he had promised 
 to be off. But he refused to do so, and insisted that he had regularly hired and paid for a passage ' in this boat,' 
 and go he would. As Barney O'Keardon said to the man in the moon, when the latter respectable personage told 
 him to ' lave his hould,' ' the more he bid him the more he wouldn't ! ' 
 
 " Mr. Wise then let up the balloon a short distance by a rope, thinking probably that as there was consider- 
 able wind, and the air-horse consequently turbulent, that his substitute would have his courage cooled, and ' give 
 in ;' but this was no go ; and thinking that he had as good a start as ever he would have, Mr. M'Clellan cut the rope, 
 and was off! After he found that it was the determination of Mr. M'Clellan to go, Mr. Wise had but time to give 
 
A.I.. isi:i. Tin: \I:KIAI. TIIANSIT r.ii.i.." 
 
 few h.i-t\ and imp.-:!'.-et instructions in regard to the management of the balloon, and in a few minutes the 
 ilu in'.' ah 'mint had ascended to a height of about two miles. Here he struck a current of air which bore 
 
 ly toward> York. !!< says tlmt the earth receded from him very rapidly after he had thrown a bag or two 
 of sand upon it : that Gettysburg passed off towards Hagcntown, and that he saw Carlisle, Hanover, Abbottetowu, 
 nd r.erlin .strolling about; and that x>n after, just ahead of him, he saw old York coming full tilt up 
 tin- tiirn|.iki- t" uil- him, apparently taking an afternoon walk to Gettysburg. Having determined to stop at 
 Yrk, ami fearing, from the remarkable speed at which our usually staid and sober town was travelling, that she 
 would soon IHIXS nndfT Aw lalloon, and give him the slip, ho pulled the string attached to the safety-valve, in order 
 to l,i off a portion of gas. This valve is DO constructed that when a rope attached to it is pulled the valve opens 
 to tli . and again closes by the force of a spring when the rope is let go. Unfortunately, however, the 
 
 inexperienced aeronaut pulled too violently at the valve-rope, tore the valve-door completely off its hinges, and 
 lnoii^Lt it down into tin- <-ar. When this occurred he was more than a mile high, and he immediately, and with 
 fearful lability descended, or rather/e//, to the earth. When the valve-door came off, the gas, of course, escaped 
 rapidly, but the balloon caught sufficient air to form a parachute, by which the full was moderated ; and we are 
 happy to say that the voyager reached the earth about five miles from York entirely uninjured. He says that as 
 soon as the valve-door came down upon him ho know that something had ' broke loose;' and just then remember- 
 ini: that Mr. Wise liad told him to be on his guard when he descended, and throw out his grappling-iron, he wa 
 i ring to get at it among the numerous things in the basket, ' when the earth bounced up against the bottom of 
 the- .-ar!' 
 
 \\ Ian first seen from York, the balloon was about thirteen miles off, nearly due west. It appeared to be 
 .rectly toward our town, until the valve was pulled and it had fallen considerably. As it fell it 
 seenii'l tin<l a current that bore it rapidly toward the north. The spot at which it landed is about north-west 
 oi' our borough. 
 
 The escape of the gas was distinctly seen from York ; and as the balloon neared the earth it had lost its 
 rotundity, and appeared to the gazers here to come down heavily, like a wet sheet." 
 
 This was another proof of the efficacy of atmospheric resistance in bringing large surfaces falling through it 
 down with a moderate velocity. 
 
 184.'5. This year is noted for the greatest attempt hitherto made to construct an Aerial 
 Ship, <>f which .Mr. Henson, a civil en^im < T, was the designer. It became so popular that, on 
 tin- motion of Mr. Hot-buck, the "Aerial Transit Bill" wa read a first time in March. 
 A trial, hovxwer, soon showed its defects. I leave its description to the Chapter " On the 
 Method of Guiding Aerostats." 
 
 Mr. Phillips, also an engineer, published a circular, called " Aerodiphros," in which a 
 company was proposed for carrying "aerial navigation" into practical effect. At the Royal 
 Adi laiili (lalli-ry also was shown an ellipsoidal balloon, to be propelled by the Archimedean 
 w. d'-Minied I'y Monk Mason. 
 
 Mr. Wi-i-'s a>ecnts in America are related by him as follows: 
 
 The ascension from Carlisle was announced to come off the third Saturday in May, 1843. It turned out to be 
 a very interesting one, as I had promised my friends in Lancaster city to visit them via the atmospheric current that 
 always lt<, ,'nst in the higher regions of the air. 
 
 l.'ev. Mr. Thorn, of Carlisle, a p-ntleinan of the highest integrity, and well-trained scientific mind took u 
 lively interest in the exj>ciiiiicnt. and is the author of the following eloquent description of the first balloon 
 ascension maile from that place: 
 
 halliM.n ascension advertised by Mr. Wise, the celebrated aeronaut of forty aerostations, took pla< 
 this Wough on Saturday last. The day was preceded by clouds and gusts of wind followed by rain, accompanied 
 with the ni">t vivid nVh.-> ,,f lightning and heaviest peals of thunder with which we have been visited fora 
 ii of a time; and indeed, so marked, acconlini; to human calculation, was the appearance of a continuance of 
 
 2 D 
 
196 ASTRA CASTE A. A.D. 1843. 
 
 such weather, so subversive to successful exhibitions of tliis kind, that many persons imagined the feat would be 
 abandoned or deferred. At about nine o'clock in the forenoon, however, the clouds began to disperse, and the 
 sun, that bright orb of day, displayed his Creator's power, by dispelling the mists and density of the atmosphere 
 in which we had been enveloped, and substituted in its stead the most clear and effulgent sky we ever beheld. 
 At ten o'clock, hundreds of persons from various parts of the adjoining country, began to rush into our town, and 
 to collect in various groups in our principal streets, which, together with the appearance and drill of Captain 
 Washington's superior company of U.S. mounted Artillery with their cannon and accoutrements, gave an enlivening 
 and imposing scene to our borough. Soon after twelve o'clock the process of inflation of the balloon was 
 commenced ; at two o'clock, preparatory arrangements were made by Mr. Wise for his ascent, which, in half an 
 hour, were ready. Previous to it, however, he with great politeness came forward, and in a very respectful 
 manner, gave an invitation to the ladies composing the assemblage within the enclosure to approach within the 
 limits prescribed for them, that they might have a more clear and distinct view of the interesting scene they had 
 convened to witness which they accepted. He then proceeded to an interchange of salutations with the friends 
 and acquaintances he observed around him bade Mrs. Wise and his son, a promising lad of six years of age, an 
 affectionate farewell ; but with the entire confidence that the separation would be temporary an absence of a few 
 hours only. After which, making a general obeisance to all around, he stepped into what appeared to us a little 
 brittle and insecure basket, with a fearless, unfaltering, and dignified mien. He then examined with composure 
 the various articles which had been deposited therein, apparently with a view to adjust their balance, and to 
 ascertain whether anything which might be required on his voyage had by any omission been left behind. 
 Perceiving, to use a familiar phrase, ' that all was right,' and that the most intense interest was depicted on the 
 countenance of every beholder, he gradually, but beautifully and majestically, ascended, amid the cheers, plaudits, 
 and acclamations of the surrounding multitude, and the transporting' strains of a fine band of music, discoursing 
 an inspiring tune. Thus did the successful aerial navigator depart from the scenes of terra firma, to indulge 
 from his cloud-skirt height in fancy's visions on the baseless fabrics ' of the world's ideal,' and of the skies 
 unknown. 
 
 " The balloon arose, diverging but little from the direct line with which it set out ; and the aeronaut continued 
 several hundred yards above the spectators for a considerable time, waving his hat in recognition of the cheers 
 which were complimenting him from below. The atmosphere calm and the sky serene, he remained in sight 
 nearly an hour ; some viewing him with telescopes, while he could no longer be seen with the naked eye. The 
 following memorandum, being a description of the voyage, and written by Mr. W 7 ise during his voyage, will 
 doubtless be read with absorbing interest by every one. An incident related by him, relative to his descent at 
 Lancaster, tends to increase the confidence that is already reposed in him as a scientific aeronaut, and of the 
 management and direction he is capable of giving to his balloon. He had informed his friends and acquaintances at 
 Lancaster that it was his intention to land there on this occasion, as it lay east from Carlisle a direction, he says, he 
 can always attain and visit his domicile. The citizens, being thus apprised of his design, were awaiting his arrival, 
 and when he came within a distance of being heard, they called aloud to him and said, ' Wise, you have redeemed 
 your pledge ! ' 
 
 " Such being the favourable circumstances under which this experiment was made and ended, permit me 
 to observe, that the remark is occasionally made in opposition to the science of aeronautics, that inventions of this 
 kind are not to be encouraged or witnessed, because, through the perversion of men, they occasionally lead to 
 vain and pernicious amusements. Admitting this to be the case, is this a reason why it should be decried and 
 condemned any more than many other useful arts ? But the objection usually, if not invariably, arises from persons 
 of narrow minds and contracted views, relative to the progress of the human mind in the enlightening and 
 renovation of mankind. Air balloons are destined ere long to be brought to such a state of perfection, and bo 
 made capable of raising and carrying so much weight, as to be applied to highly useful and important purposes. 
 Let encouragement be given to these experiments ; let ' the sou] of fire, the invention ever new,' the ' lively cheer of 
 vigour born,' and the incitement to continual exertion, both mental and bodily, by the emulation of ingenious men, 
 be patronized sufficient to enable them to conduct their operations on an extensive scale, and time and experience 
 will make them subservient to numerous philosophical uses, and bring to light many things which pass in the 
 atmosphere ; such as the formation of rain, of thunderstorms, of vapours, hail, snow, comets, meteors in general ; 
 and which, for the want of a method of ascending into it, cannot be known with precision. 
 

Uxl84a BALLOONING vertui "Mil. I. i:i;i>.M." 197 
 
 Tli. v in iy tend also to the general improvement and amelioration of mankind, in effecting the design* of a 
 benefi' HI l'r..\i.l-neo to a lout and mined world. Is it not possible, nay, is it not probable, that ore long, if 
 . iu.lu. vim n:s ! li.-M out to the promoters of this science, a contrivance or means of conducting expeditions 
 the atmosphere in a horizontal direction will be discovered, by making these machine* subject to the 
 hrlm of tho m-roniiut ? And if so, may they not be converted to purposes of mercy; by exploring countries 
 hitherto inaccessible; bringing together parts of the earth which are now estranged to each other, and spreading 
 knowledge to all mankind? Many are the good and sensible men, who are of the opinion that every part of the 
 h li'italile globe must yet bo explored, and it* inhabitants visited with tint salvation of God. And who knows, but 
 that by balloons this may be effected ? Who will have the presumption to say that such a consummation will 
 utter be realized ? And if rtalisnl, will it not present a literal fulfilment of * Angels flying through the midst of 
 tin- (aerial) heavens, having the everlasting gospel to preach to them that dwell upon the earth, and to every 
 kindred and nation ' ? 
 
 " To these high and beneficent purposes we may add the gratification of curiosity and pleasure, as a very 
 
 ..nt to an encouragement to the practice of the art, in which, with any tolerable degree of caution 
 
 ami int'..i mution, there appears very little of real danger. Wo have heard from Mr. Wise, and all who have tried 
 
 \|K riment testify to the same, that the beauty and grandeur of the prospect afforded by an aerial excursion 
 cannot bo exceeded, much less described. Nor do aeronauts ever experience the least of that giddiness consequent 
 
 looking from great heights connected with the earth ; nor have they any of that sickness arising from the 
 motion ..fa vessel at sea. Many have been carried by balloons at the rate of thirty, forty, and fifty miles per hour, 
 without foiling tho least im nv. ni,.uce or even agitation of the wind, for the reason that tho machine moves 
 with th<- wind and its velocity." 
 
 The following is an extract of tho most important part of the journal kept on the occasion : Left the earth 
 at t wo o'clock thirty-five minutes ; the lower current of wind from south-west moving moderately. At three 
 
 !>. I passed on the south side of Mechanicsburg, at an altitude of about a mile, and still ascending. When at 
 a considerable height above tho clouds, another current blowing from north-west was encountered. This gave mo 
 an opportunity of making north or south latitude while pursuing my voyage eastward, as the occasion requiied, 
 by sailing with one or the other of these currents. While nearing the Susquelianna River a magnificent view was 
 opened : York, Carlisle, Harrisburg, and even Lancaster, wore embraced in this grand panoramic view, with all 
 it* innumerable villages and variety of splendid scenery. Upon its beauty I will not attempt to descant; it must 
 be witnessed to be appreciated. Although the Creator has allowed mo to enjoy this sublime privilege, he has not 
 endowed my humble capacity with language adequate to express its grandeur. In viewing this scene of earthly 
 glory, I was forcibly struck with the idea, that we are not of near so much importance in the eyes of Deity as 
 man presumes himself to be ; and not more so to tho Creator than the minutest animalcule is to man. And now, 
 in reference to the puerile fanaticism of " Millerism," I would remark that the world, clothed in her verdant 
 summer garb, looked so young and so beautiful, and so far from having the slightest appearance of decay, or an 
 intention of committing suicide by elementary self-destruction, that she reminded me of a gay and blooming 
 maiden just emerging from tho days of her innocence into sober womanhood. If any of the deluded followers of 
 Miller doubt this, let them go aloft of a fine summer's day, and view the earth, and if they then don't abandon thi-ir 
 nonsensical views, nor feel ashamed of their narrow-minded conceptions of the goodness and greatness of the 
 1 !-. they inii.-t indeed be weak in the spirit as well an in the flesh. 
 
 [The Miller fanaticism was raging at that time in the neighbourhood.] 
 
 tuM o'clock twenty minutes, I passed over a vast body of clouds, which reflected a powerful heat against 
 the balloon, causing it to rise to a great height while in the field of reflected rays, and, therefore, obscuring from 
 my vii-w Han i-lmrg, and to the south, as far as York, the whole of the country. The current below, however, 
 being nearly at right angles in its direction to that above, consequently, soon cleared the space beneath me. My 
 course now lay down the west side of the river. Seeing the necessity of making more south latitude in order to 
 reach my port, until a point was reached nearly over the mouth of Codorus Creek, I soon after descended into th>- 
 I..WIT current, coming from the south-west, by which I could reach a point near the city -of Lancaster, which w;i* 
 now in full view. This took me over the town of Marietta a little after four o'clock, and almost in a direct line for 
 Lancaster. At fifteen minutes l.ef ,iv fiveo'clock I reached a point within a few hundred yards of the city bOBBOl 
 where I came down. Seeing the people rushing out of the city, a-foot and a-horse, old and young, great and small. 
 
 2 D 2 
 
198 ASTRA CASTEA. A.D. 1843. 
 
 rich and poor, intermingled with strains of music and the ringing of bells, I was soon encircled by my fellow-citizens 
 of Lancaster, into whose custody 1 most cheerfully submitted myself, and will now let the balance of this interesting 
 experiment be detailed by my old and esteemed friend, John W. Forney, Esq., of the ' Lancaster Intelligencer and 
 Journal," who was an eye-witness of the scene. 
 
 BEAUTIFUL AND INTERESTING SPECTACLE. 
 
 " About a quarter before four o'clock on Saturday last, a black speck, no bigger than a man's hand, was seen a 
 little north-west of this city. Some pronounced it one of Miller's ' signs ' some declared it to be a new and 
 unrecorded phenomenon and while all were thus arguing as to its character the speck grew larger and larger, 
 until, at last, the impression began to prevail that it was no less a personage than the great aeronaut, our 
 townsman, Wise, who had started that afternoon from Carlisle, a distance of some fifty-four miles by railroad ; and, 
 with a precision equal to that of the recent discoverer of aerial navigation in England, he had directed his chariot 
 with such admirable generalship through the regions of space, as to hang suspended, a little more than two hours 
 after his departure from Carlisle, over his native city ! The day was one in which all the clearness and moderation of 
 May were combined, and the whole of the town had an opportunity to enjoy the rare and interesting sight. As the 
 aeronaut gradually approached our ancient city his balloon slowly increasing its dimensions every man, woman, 
 and child was out to watch its movements. At last, after having hung for nearly an hour in full view, he calmly 
 and gracefully descended in his chariot of the clouds a short distance south-west of the city, where he was 
 followed by crowds of horse and footmen. 
 
 " Supposing all to be over, the curious spectators retired ; when, about five o'clock, the whole town was again 
 astir to witness the aeronaut's triumphal entry into his native city. This was a singularly novel and interesting 
 sight. Standing in the car of his balloon, the huge globe above still distended, almost touching the sides of 
 the houses, and apparently eager for flight, he sailed through the streets at a slight elevation from the ground ; 
 his airy chariot drawn, or rather guided, by a number of young men and boys who had attached themselves to the 
 rope which led from his car. In this way, with hat in had, and amid the cheers of his fellow-citizens, Mr. Wise 
 passed through West King Street, and halted in Centre Square, immediately fronting North Queen Street. Here 
 he was again greeted with the cheers of the people ; but the sport was not yet over. After a rest of about fifteen 
 minutes it soon became evident that Mr. Wise was about to attempt an ascension from Centre Square ! a rather 
 contracted area, by the way, and too much walled ia with houses, we should suppose, to make a balloon ascent 
 either safe or pleasant. But Mr. Wise is not one of your holiday soldiers his whole demeanour on Saturday 
 proved him to be cool, collected, and intrepid, even to a fault. Having divested himself of nearly all his clothing 
 but his pantaloons, even to his shoes, and detached the car from the balloon (the gas having been expended so 
 much as to render the balloon incapable of carrying a heavy load), Mr. Wise took his seat on a narrow board 
 attached to the cords of the balloon, and giving the signal to ' let go,' away he shot like an arrow from a well- 
 strung bow, and nearly in a straight line, leaving behind him hundreds who were amazed at the singular boldness 
 of the daring feat. He ascended, we should suppose, nearly a mile, and was fast fading from sight, when he began 
 to descend, and actually alighted about two squares from the place of starting ! This unparalleled performance 
 was accomplished with great ease and rapidity, and proves Mr. Wise to be an able and experienced aeronaut." 
 
 After my Carlisle ascension I again appealed to my friends for their assistance to enable me to carry out the 
 Transatlantic project, but got no further with them than a promise to promote my petition, which I had determined 
 to lay before the next Congress. Believing that something would certainly come out of that, and always looking 
 ahead in matters of this kind, I deemed it advisable to make a sort of a world's proclamation of the contemplated 
 enterprise, which was done for the following reasons. Although I believed, and do still, that the solar current 
 which I have invariably found above, blows clear around the earth, still a voyage across the Atlantic might subject 
 the navigators to local currents and storms, and at best to all the omissions, imperfections, and unforeseen 
 necessities attendant upon all first trials of this nature ; consequently, there should be a general knowledge abroad, 
 before the experiment would be made, so that in case of the balloon giving out from any cause while over the 
 ocean, any ship at sea, being in sight of it, should come to its assistance. 
 
 I prepared the proclamation, and handed it to Mr. Forney, of the ' Lancaster Intelligencer,' who prefaced it 
 with his own remarks ; and a number of speculative commentaries were written by other persons concerning it as 
 
AI>. i \ TRANSATLANTIC PROJECT. I 1 ' 1 ' 
 
 it pawed tlin.n-li the newspapers. Some of these will be related; and it will be observed how difficult it is. in 
 
 looking at n -w project*, to separate the ideal from the . i' nu i .1- of the cose. However, the proclamation has gone 
 forth in tin- world, and ; ; it will follow, just as certain as steam followed homo-power. 
 
 AERIAL VOYAGE ACROSS FEE OCEAN. 
 
 Tin- following announcement of Mr. Wise, the distinguished aeronaut, is one that cannot fail to excite 
 jiulilic attention in a very great degree. Though the scheme may look somewhat Quixotic, we have no 
 doubt Mr. \\ise possesses the nerve to attempt, and, we believe, has the ability to carry it out. Our Vw 
 Voik friends, :h. LI-:., must not be astonished to see our intelligent and scientific aeronaut arrive in their city 
 
 \ear with his -large balloon,' and take his departure thence for the regions of the Old World. Would it not 
 create a stir that would far exceed the reception of a hundred Presidents, though every man were a Tyler ? And 
 then what a sensation ho would produce in Kngland, us, co-ning along the Channel, he made preparations to settle 
 i .un his aerial chariot in the heart of the great London World; or, mitring this, suppose him dropping in ii] n 
 
 i-iiehiueii at Paris, or Calais, or IWdeaux; or, going further still, suppose him wafted into ( 'oii.stantiii'>]ile. 
 
 d.t-hing down unceremoniously, and without notice, to the Sublime Porte! Why, our townsman would become 
 
 more justly renowned tlian di.l t a). tain lions in his voyago to the North Pale, or Lewis and Clarke in steering up 
 
 i :-sissi|,|,i. or the ambitious searcher after the still mysterious source of the Nile ! [Not at all ; for it is too 
 
 easy a thing to accumpli.-h. | 
 
 .Mr. Wise speaks for himself, however, in a tone of easy confidence that will surprise no one who knows his 
 ige and resolution : " 
 
 .1. \S . I : -.[.-- You will confer a favour to the enterprise in contemplation by giving the following 
 
 proclamation publicity for general notice to the civilized world. 
 
 To ALL PUBLISHERS OF N KWM'APKIts OX THE GLOBE. 
 
 " LanrasU'r, June, 1843. 
 
 it is my intention to make a trip across the Atlantic Ocean with a balloon, in the summer of 1844, and 
 
 as die d. sei nt or landing of balloons, in my experience, has almost universally created unnecessary alanir and 
 
 ion to the people near by, I therefore give this general notice to the seafaring community of all cliim i 
 
 that >huld they, .luring any time henceforth, chance to be in the vicinity of a balloon, either on the ocean or in 
 
 the atmosphere, they need not be under any fearful apprehensions, but endeavour to give aid to its adventurers. 
 
 " It must not be inferred from this that its success is considered improbable, but merely to be prepared for 
 all emergencies. 
 
 "Having, from a long experience in aeronautics, been convinced that a constant and regular current <(' 
 air is blowing at all times //MOT wvt to east with a velocity of from twenty to forty, and even sixty miles per Innti-, 
 according to its height from the earth ; and having discovered a composition which renders silk or muslin 
 iiujH -rvi.ms to hydrogen gas, so that a balloon may be kept afloat for many weeks, 1 feel confident, with these 
 advantages, that a trip across the Atlantic will not be attended with as much real danger as by the common mode 
 of transition. 
 
 The balloon is to be one hundred feet in diameter, which will give it a net ascending power of twenty 
 thn*and pounds being amply sufficient to make everything safe and comfortable. A seaworthy boat is to be 
 
 t'.ir the car. which is to be depended on in case the balloon should fail to accomplish the voyage. The bout 
 is also calculated on in case the regular current of wind should be diverted from its course by the influence of the 
 ocean, or through other causes. The crew to consist of three persons viz., an aeronaut, a sea-navigator, and a 
 > i< -untie landsman. 
 
 Tin ! l'..re, the people of Europe, Africa, Asia, and all other parts, on the ocean or elsewhere, who ha\. 
 r seen a balloon, will bear in mind that it is a large globe made of cloth, ensconced in a network, with a .-1..-]. 
 
 nu' underneath it, containing the latest news from the United States, and crew of the world's obedi. Bt 
 servant." 
 
 announcement was generally published throughout tin- I'nion, and throughout civili/.cd Kunipe; and 
 although its substance has n. n accomplished, its postponement is attributable to a single cause -want ..1 
 
'^00 ASTRA CASTRA. A.D. 1843. 
 
 pecuniary means to do it right. If Congress will not give the small appropriation necessary ten or fifteen thousand 
 dollars to give it effect (I will not say to make an attempt, because its consummation is as certain as that a 
 sail-ship can do it), our wealthy merchants of Philadelphia and New York cities should take it in hand, since it 
 would enhance their facilities so much. 
 
 The following is another among the many commentaries that were elicited by the announcement, and, 
 although it breathes a progressive and well-tempered spirit, it is nevertheless strongly tinctured with that 
 inseparable sentiment so common to human nature, which undervalues projects that emanate from persons whom 
 it is intimately acquainted with, and who have never yet accomplished great undertakings. However, 1he article 
 contains so much good sound sense along with its humour and irony, that I will cheerfully bear the latter in 
 consideration of the former, and publish it for what it is worth. 
 
 BALLOONINQ EXTRAORDINARY. 
 
 " That daring and (as the phrase goes) intrepid aeronaut, Mr. John Wise, of Lancaster, has issued a formal 
 proclamation to the world, announcing that in the summer of 1844 he contemplates making a balloon voyage across 
 the Atlantic, having from long experience in aeronautics become persuaded that such a mode of transition is not 
 only feasible, but attended with fewer risks than those in ordinary use. He deems this timely notice due to the 
 seafaring community, who, in looking aloft, may chance to descry him in the clouds, and who might otherwise be 
 induced to class his ' coming ' among the many mysterious ' signs and wonders ' of the age. 
 
 " But, pray, why should not a trip across the Atlantic, in one of these silken cloud-coaches, be entirely 
 practicable ? To us, it is true, the project may look like the effervescence of a disordered intellect, and we may 
 decry the undertaking as part and parcel of the impossible ; but how many years is it since the man who first 
 threatened to cross the ocean in a simple steam-carriage, with no sails, but a kettle filled with boiling water, was 
 laughed at as a creature fit only for the friendly ministrations of the keeper of a mad-house ? A shaved head and a 
 strait-waistcoat were the promised rewards of the original projector of that most noble enterprise. And yet the 
 foaming billows of the great deep are at this day hourly plied by the rushing steamship, bounding and puffing reck- 
 lessly along, as though it were itself the victim of the madness ascribed to its projector ; but landing, nevertheless, its 
 precious freight unharmed upon the distant shores. Now, if such stupendous and astonishing results have been 
 realised, what may not man, under the irresistible dominion of the great master-spirit of the age, Progress, what 
 may he not accomplish? If the one event has been taken out of the narrow bounds which encircle the diminished 
 catalogue of impossibilities, and has only, like the rising and setting of the sun, ceased to astonish because of its 
 familiarity, why may not the exercise of human effort also consummate the other ? And then, after Mr. \Vise shall 
 once have successfully pioneered the perilous pathway, and demonstrated that fewer lives are lost by travelling in 
 balloons than by steam and canvass, why should it not ultimately become the universal means of locomotion ? 
 Why not, under the guidance of skilful and experienced air-navigators, also adapt balloons to the uses of commerce, 
 as a means of import and export ? If men, women, and children can be suspended for weeks over land and sea, 
 in vessels of silk upheld by gas, and ultimately reach in safety their places of destination, why not also thus convey 
 the chosen product of every land and clime ? Why not balloon a load of cotton at Charleston, and in a few days 
 receive the vessel ' bock agen,' freighted with British cloths or a cargo of teas from the ' Celestial Empire.' And 
 then, too, such a ' reform ' would spare to our trusty and well-beloved benefactor, Uncle Sam, the necessity of 
 maintaining at such a heavy expense the Navy, there being no longer any use for ships and the like, although it 
 might in turn almost subject him to the almost constant tricks of smugglers, owing to the uncertainty of the 
 landing-places. If, therefore, wo have not ourselves been all this time engaged in building ' air-castles,' Mr. Wise 
 may yet be destined to soar above the fame of such common men as Eobert Fulton and Oliver Evans." 
 
 Another writer says : " We publish below an announcement of the enterprising and intrepid aerial voyager, 
 Mr. Wise, proclaiming his intention of crossing the Atlantic in a balloon ! We are not prepared to express an 
 opinion as to the feasibility of this project, but we do not doubt that Mr. W. is ready to attempt it." 
 
 Such were some of the numerous commentaries and opinions upon this contemplated expedition, which is 
 yet to give the art an impulse that will waken it to its real merits. The following letter, received by due course 
 of mail, post-marked "Newcastle, Delaware, June 28th," shows that there were not wanting proper persons 
 necessary to fit out the expedition under skilful management : 
 
A.D. is I.: i:\CLOSED IN A STORM-CLOUD. 201 
 
 ;\I,. \VI-K . riiilndclphU, Jane 27th, 1843. 
 
 ing by tho newspapers that you meditate an attempt to cross the Atlantic Ocean in a bnll,m 
 year, and that it is your intention to have with you a scientific person and a navigator, and as we heartily 
 int.. tin- >i>uit of your cnterjirise, and at the same time place every confidence in your ability to complete 
 i liu undertaking, we cheerfully offer yon our services in the latter capacity (that is, as navigators'). 
 
 If you chnuld conclude on accepting of our company, we are in hopes you will inform us at as early a period 
 as possible, so that wo may signify our wishes to, and obtain the necessary permission from tho Navy Department. 
 
 . respectfully, your obedient servants, 
 
 ARCH. M'RAK, 
 SILAS BUST, 
 Passed Midshipmen, U.S. Navy. 
 
 On my return to Carlisle it was determined that I should be requested to repeat the experiment, as tho finst 
 had only < -nhanced the desire for a second in those that witnessed it; and many people from the surrounding 
 . uiintry who had not seen it were now very anxious for an opportunity of witnessing such an achievement. 
 Consequently the 17th of June was appointed for the occasion. 
 
 One of the newspapers prefaced tho narrative of this voyage in the following terms : " Our own thought* 
 were a good deal bent toward Hunker Hill on Satin. lay, but nevertheless we had on tho same day in our own town 
 a spectacle of an elevated character, and of a thrilling and exciting interest As upon tho former occasion, Mr. Wise'* 
 
 lirst ascension with his balloon drew together an immense concourse of the ' beauty and chivalry ' of 
 'iinilierland and Perry counties. It is not necessary to say more than that it went off with tho greatest eclat, and 
 seeme<l to have given tho highest gratification to all who witnessed it. 
 
 \\c are iiuli-htfil t<> Mr. Wise for the narrative of his aerial voyage, which is subjoined. It will bo seen 
 that ho encountered insuperable difficulties, and not a little danger, which brought him back to earth again after 
 a trip of a few miles. Mr. Wise is to be congratulated on his safe and fortunate escape from the dangers of that 
 long, low, black' cloud, which from his description one might judge to be the very dominions of the evil ' prince 
 <>f tho powers of the air.' The narrative possesses much interest." 
 
 NARRATIVE. 
 
 According to announcement, I started on Saturday last on my forty-first aerial excursion, from the Centre 
 Square of Carlisle, at precisely fifteen minutes past two o'clock in the afternoon, it being the 17th of Juno, IM:I. 
 A slight breeze from the west wafted me a short distance in its direction horizontally, after which the ascent 
 became nearly perpendicular until the height attained was about 2500 feet, when tho balloon moved off towards 
 the east with a velocity much greater than that of its ascent The first thing that drew my attention was the 
 immense ocean of heads that was presented in the square below. There appeared to be infinitely more people "ii 
 the immediate ground than was usually the case; and the whole scene was rendered highly animated and imposing 
 by tho fine appearance of the military, and their repeated salutes of thundering artillery at the departure of tho 
 " Comet." \\hen I had reached a point about two miles east of the town, there appeared, a little distance beyond 
 and above me, a huge black cloud. Seeing that tho horizontal velocity of the balloon would carry it underneath 
 and K-yond the cloud, rising slowly as it did, and being desirous to gratify the spectators with tho novelty of 
 seeing a balloon pass through a cloud, preparations were at onco made to effect it by throwing out some ballast 
 as eoon as its border should bo reached. Harrisburg was now distinctly in view, and tho balloon moving directly 
 f..r it ; I was hesitating, with the bag of ballast in my hand, whether I should throw it out for tho purpose 
 
 ned, or continue straight on as I was then going, to the place just mentioned. At thin time I had reached 
 a point uinlernruth the el. mil, which was expanding, and immediately felt an agitation in tho machinery, and presently 
 an upward tendency i.f tin- balloon, which also commenced to rotate rapidly on its vertical axis. I might n..\v 
 have discharged gas, and probably passed underneath it; but, thinking that it would soon be penetrated, and tin i. 
 might be passed above, as it appeared not to be moving along itself, I made no hesitation in letting the balloon go 
 on its own way. This part of tho feat, however, I had reason to regret soon afterwards ; although at the present 
 time it gives more real pleasure in contemplating its terrific grandeur and reality, than anything that has ever 
 transpired in my aerial adventures. The details that shall here be given of this terrible scene may be n li-,l <,n. 
 
202 ASTEA CASTEA. A.IX 1843. 
 
 as I was sufficiently composed to appreciate its grandeur and observe its physical operations. The cloud, to the 
 best of my judgment, covered an area of from four to six miles in diameter ; it appeared of a circular form as I 
 I entered it, considerably depressed in its lower surface, presenting a great concavity towards the earth, with its 
 lower edges very ragged, and falling downwards with an agitated motion ; and it was of a dark smoke colour. 
 Just before entering this cloud, I noticed, at some distance off, a storm-cloud, from which there was apparently a 
 heavy rain descending. The first sensations that I experienced when entering this cloud were extremely 
 unpleasant. A' suffocating sensation immediately ensued, which was shortly followed by a sickness at the 
 stomach, arising from the gyrating, swinging motion of my car, causing me to vomit several times in quick 
 succession most violently, which, however, soon abated and gave way to sensations that were truly calculated to 
 neutralise more violent symptoms than a momentary squeamishness. The cold had now become intense, and 
 everything around me of a fibrous nature became thickly covered with hoar frost my whiskers jutting out with 
 it far beyond my face, and the cords running up from my car looking like glass rods, these being glazed with ice 
 and snow, and hail was indiscriminately pelting all around me. The cloud at this point, which I presumed to be 
 about the midst of it from the terrible ebullition going on, had not that black appearance I observed on entering 
 it, but was of a light milky colour, and so dense just at this time that I could hardly see the balloon, which was 
 sixteen feet above the car. From the intensity of the cold in this cloud I supposed that the gas would rapidly 
 condense, and the balloon consequently descend and take me out of it. In this, however, I was doomed to 
 disappointment, for I soon found myself whirling upward with a fearful rapidity, the balloon gyrating, and the 
 car describing a large circle in the cloud. A noise resembling the rushing of a thousand mill-dams, intermingled 
 with a dismal moaning sound of wind, surrounded me in this terrible flight. Whether this noise was occasioned 
 by the hail and snow which were so fearfully pelting the balloon, I am unable to tell, as the moaning sound must 
 evidently have had another source. I was in hopes, when being hurled rapidly upward, that I should escape from 
 the top of the cloud ; but, as in the former expectations of an opposite release from this terrible place, disappoint- 
 ment was again my lot, and the congenial sunshine invariably above, which had already been anticipated by its 
 faint glimmer through the top of the clouds, soon vanished with a violent downward surge of the balloon, as it 
 appeared to me, of some hundred feet. This only subsided to be hurled upward again, when, having attained its 
 maximum, it would again sink down with a swinging and fearful velocity, to be carried up again and let fall, which 
 happened eight or ten times all this time the storm raging with unabated fuiy, while the discharge of ballast 
 would not let me out at the top of the cloud, nor the discharge of gas out of the bottom of it, though I had 
 expended at least thirty pounds of the former in the first attempt, and not less than a thousand cubic feet of the 
 latter ; for the balloon had also become perforated with holes by the icicles that were formed where the melted 
 snow ran on the cords at the point where they diverged from the balloon, and would, by the surging and swinging 
 motion, pierce it through. 
 
 I experienced all this time an almost irresistible inclination to sleep, notwithstanding a nauseating feeling 
 of the stomach, causing me to vomit several times, and the terrible predicament I was placed in, until after eating 
 some snow and hail mixed, of which a considerable quantity had lodged on some canvass and paper lying in the 
 bottom of the car. After this I felt somewhat easier in mind and in body (for it is no use to say that I cannot be 
 agitated and alarmed), and I grasped a firm hold of the sides of the car, determined to abide the result with as 
 much composure and observation as the nature of the case would admit ; for I felt satisfied it could not last much 
 longer, seeing that the balloon had become very much weakened by a great loss of gas. Once I saw the earth 
 through a chasm in the cloud, but was hurled up once more after that, when, to my great joy, I fell clear out of it, 
 after having been belched up and swallowed down repeatedly by this huge and terrific monster of the air, for a 
 space of twenty minutes, which seemed like an age, for I thought my watch had been stopped while in it, till 
 a comparison of it with another afterward proved the contrary. I landed in the midst of a pouring rain, on the 
 farm of Mr. Goodyear, five miles from Carlisle, in a fallow-field, where the dashing rain bespattered me with mud 
 from head to foot, as I stood in my car looking up at the fearful element which had just disgorged me. 
 
 The density of this cloud did not appear alike all through it, as I could at times see the balloon very distinctly 
 above me, also, occasionally, pieces of paper, and whole newspapers, of which a considerable quantity were blown 
 out of my car. I also noticed a violent convolutionary motion or action of tho vapour of the cloud going on, 
 and a promiscuous scattering of the hail and snow, as though it were projected from every point of the compass. 
 
 Such is the history of this short but magnificent trip ; and I can assure my readers, that when I again meet 
 
A.I.. i A PETITION TO THE UNITED STATI> < >\< ;i;KSS. 
 
 cloud.s ,.f this , [,.,! , i, r i which I shall name the "cloud nf tiTr.ir"i, 1 will endeavour with all ray skill to avoid 
 th- in. 
 
 r this account had been published, and found iU way into the newspapers, I received the following letter 
 
 from IWosor l^i'.v. at Washington City, which was promptly answered : 
 
 .. 1 ) KU: > " WaliinKton City, July Sth. 1843. 
 
 " I was much interested with the account you gave in the public papers of your balloon ascension, on the 
 17th of Lust iiicnith, from Carlisle. 
 
 \ ..ii will confer a great favour on me if you will answer the following questions: \Vastheroany rain or hail 
 
 at tie surface of the earth under the cloud which you Did you descend through Iho base or lower part 
 
 of tin- . !..ii.l. ..r did \oii get out of the (loud and descend in the clear air? Was the cloud into which you ascended 
 
 -.tinlcd l>y dear sky, or was the whole sky covered with clouds? Have you any reason to think there was an 
 
 upiuovin^ current of air guing up into the base of the cloud, and Continuing in the cloud itself, or did the velocity 
 
 : motion ; rrespond with tin- buoyant power of the balloon? What was the caunjofyour 
 
 ling and descending eight or ten times, and how did you judge that this ascending and descending really 
 
 uccunvd ': I lad you a barometer? Do you suppose the cloud was colder than it was on the outside of the cloud 
 
 at the Mime height ? Or not so cold ? Are you sure your balloon was torn by the hail ? Or might not you have 
 
 ascend, d much hr.rh.-r by a very rapid motion than you supposed, and your gas have escaped by expansion through 
 
 u of the Uilloon? 
 
 If there was a strong current of air under the cloud and in the cloud upwards, might you not in the time 
 have gone so high as to diminish the pressure on your body so rapidly that part of the noise which you heard was 
 the ringing of your ears ? And might not the sickness have been from the same cause? 
 " If you find time to answer any of these questions, I shall bo much obliged to you. 
 
 " Yours, very respectfully, 
 
 " JAMES 1'. Esnr." 
 
 When Congress bad assembled at Washington, the following petition was submitted to their consideration ; 
 and when we take in view the small amount (15,000 dollars) it would have taken to prepare the experimental 
 outfit, backed as it was by competent authority, it seems little encouragement is to be expected from that quarter, 
 in any new enterprise, no matter how plausible, unless it carries with it some partisan force and object, calculated 
 t... promote aspiring and factious individual interests in some political fortune. 
 
 To Tin: CoxunEss OF THE UHITED STATES. 
 To the Honourable the Senate and Home of Rejiresentatives of tite United Mates of America in Congrtss astemUed : 
 
 The j-:itiiiii of the subscriber, citizen of Lancaster, Pa., most respectfully showeth, that, from an experience 
 of a number of years in the practice of aeronautics by the subscriber, it has been fully demonstrated that there 
 - in the atmosphere a constant current of wind, moving from west to east, with a velocity of from twenty, 
 forty, and ev.-n sixty miles per hour, according to its height from the earth. 
 
 This current is moving in thut direction, while the local currents may be, and are, moving in various other 
 directions. This ai>ttr,i,-<i current is governed by a great general cause, blowing at all times, making it feasible to 
 travel the globe in that direction by aerial machinery with great facility. 
 
 ^ ..iir petitioner would further state that the art of making aeronautic machines has been so far improved that 
 they may be kept afloat fur any reasonable length of time, even for years, and as long as a ship can be made to 
 endure the sea for common purposes. 
 
 The main object of your petitioner is, to bring into useful requisition, for the purposes of speedy and safe 
 transition of persons and merchandise, that great natural and unoccupied element, the atmosphere. 
 
 r petitioner doM not pretend to have discovered or solved any great, newfangled problem; but would 
 most earnestly press upon your consideration known facts, which must be explored before any great l>enefits can be 
 derived therefrom. 
 
 From the improved sintc to which aeronautic machinery can bo perfected, and the advantages continually 
 at hand from the local currents of air, it is even now feasible to travel eastward with a velocity that will circuiu 
 navigate the globe in from thirty to forty days, with an ability to vary from a straight course thirty or forty 
 
 2 K 
 
20-i ASTRA CASTRA. A.D. 1844. 
 
 degrees from the latitude of departure, which would enable us to leave despatches in Europe and China, and 
 return by way of Oregon Territory to Washington City. 
 
 This has been demonstrated by experiments made by your petitioner, in reaching points sixty and ninety 
 miles distant from the place of departure, with a precision not surpassed by ship-sailing, aided by the local currents 
 in varying from the great eastward current. 
 
 From these considerations, your petitioner is induced to ask your honourable bodies to make a naval 
 appropriation to carry this project into practical operation; its practicability having already received the 
 confidence of scientific men, and an earnest and voluntary offer by several officers of our navy to accompany the 
 first experimental adventure. 
 
 Your petitioner, therefore, prays you to make an appropriation for an outfit to this effect, viz. : The 
 construction of an aerostat of 100 feet in diameter, of substantial domestic cotton drilling; a sea-boat capable of 
 enduring the ocean, for a car, and so constructed that the masts and rigging may bo stowed away, ready for 
 erection into sea-service at any time that emergency might require. The sea-boat to be of 10,000 or 12,000 pounds 
 weight ; an aerostat of 100 feet diameter, having an ascending power of over 25,000, which will be sufficient 
 to carry the outfit and crew. 
 
 Should this meet with your Congressional approbation, your petitioner will readily submit a plan in detail, 
 and will cheerfully superintend the construction of the machinery at his own expense, asking nothing more than 
 the command or directorship of the first experimental aerial voyage round the globe. 
 
 The whole cost of the experiment will not be more than a fraction of that of the late " Exploring Expedition ; " 
 and promises, at least, greater results. 
 
 For a favourable decision of your honourable bodies, your petitioner feels in duty bound to pray. 
 
 Lancaster City, Dec. 20, 1843. JoHX ^ ISE - 
 
 This petition was received, read, and referred to the Committee of Naval Affairs, where it sleeps, soon to be 
 awakened up again by the unconquerable force of human destiny. 
 
 1844. Depuis Delcourt, an editor of a Parisian journal, having made his first ascent in 
 1824, zealously pursued his experiments till 1850, when he published the best history of the 
 subject that has yet been written. He proposed to attempt an experiment this year with a 
 large copper balloon, but never got beyond its construction. The necessary calculations were, 
 I think, made by Mons. Marey Monge. This year also saw the first ascent of Mr. Coxwell, 
 under the name of " Mr. Wells," to prevent anxiety among his relatives. He is the son of 
 the late Captain Coxwell, R.N., and was born near Eochester, 2nd March, 1819; received 
 his elementary education at Chatham, and was intended for the army ; but, being disappointed 
 of his commission, at the desire of his mother he became a surgeon-dentist. Finding his atten- 
 tion strongly attracted to aerostation, he thenceforth gave his whole mind to the subject. 
 
 The 'Register' newspaper of Hollidaysburg, Pa., thus records an ascent by the 
 indefatigable Ameiican aeronaut, Mr. Wise, in May of this year : 
 
 " The ascension of Mr. Wise, in his new and beautiful balloon ' Vesperus,' took place on Saturday last 
 according to notice given. The day was entirely too stormy for an undertaking of the kind, and, in the opinion of 
 every reasonable man, would have justified Mr. Wise in postponing the adventure ; but, trusting in the excellence 
 of his vessel and his skill as an aeronaut, he determined to make good his appointment and to satisfy every 
 individual of his numerous audience. He accordingly, after a most laborious and oftentimes discouraging effort, 
 succeeded in sufficiently inflating his balloon, and getting ready for the voyage, and at the hour appointed cut 
 loose. 
 
 " The ascent, although evidently hazardous, from the rupture in the network by which he was attached to 
 the balloon, and from the unsteady and squally state of the atmosphere, was sublime beyond description. When 
 the cord was cut, he rose slowly from the arena, barely clearing the top of the enclosure, and taking a northern 
 
A.I.. i-i i. -Tin: vi>ri:i;i BL" 
 
 i. i! 1..- swept acn>s> tin- town, jiitit escaping the house-tops; but, discharging a couple of neks of ballast, he 
 soon iii'.nnt, d lii^li in:.. the a< i i;il i, .;t .n- i.. mingle with, as we supposed, the leas angry elements abore. Hut in 
 this i i..i-, long before the ' Vesperns ' was out of night, she was observed to bo rooking strangely, 
 
 as if tin- element* were no more friendly with her in ) .1 |-iti..n than when bound to earth. The 
 
 account subjoined, by Mr. Wise, gives a full history of this part of the ad\ ntm .-. 
 
 TIio .,-,!, of a balloon is a spectacle that to be realised must be witnessed. No description can convey a 
 
 just idea of its sublimity and beauty, as, like some creature of life, it smoothly and silently, and steadily mounts 
 
 i!|..i:.i-. .. - golden sides glitteiing in the rays of the sun, and its tiny basket and well-arranged cordage 
 
 .itli. And then as thr intrepid aeronaut waves his luit at a fearful altitude and sends 
 
 down a faint response to the lu<] huzzas below, and every breast heaves deeply with the conflicting emotions of 
 admiratio: :.i|uth\. and desire for like adventure, a thrill runs through the soul that no description can 
 
 produce, however inn- and vivid. 
 
 \\e need only add hen-, as the i-vidence will be given again, that .Mr. NViso's conduct on the occasion was 
 highly satisfactory to all concerned, and most greatly increase his reputation as an aeronaut ; for we venture to 
 say no otln r individual ever atti -nipt, d an ascension under like unfavourable circumstances. 
 
 At alx.ut eijjht o'clock in the evening we heard of his return, and, repairing to the U. S. Hotel, we found 
 Mr. \\ U.-, somewhat di.-ht .nt. n.-d al-.iit the loss of his balloon, and looking rather worse for the trip his outer 
 man having suffered considerably from his adventure among the branches of the tree on which he lodged." 
 
 MR. ,IU:AMVK. 
 
 The process of inflation was commenced at eleven o'clock A.M., nnder very disparaging circumstances, as the 
 had combined from all points of the compass to a general and boisterous storm. Nothing, in short, but 
 the most indefatigable energy and perseverance on the part of Mr. Downy and Mr. Woods, who had taken a most 
 important charge under their hands, that of keeping the " Vesperns" to her place, could have enabled me to have 
 made an ascension under such a war of the elements. During the process of inflation in the beginning, the 
 reaction of the gas from the balloon, caused by a sudden flaw of wind, blew off the gasometer, which was soon 
 replaced by my energetic friend Mr. II inkle, and the inflation resumed, but under so much violence of the 
 apparently frantic gamboling of the " Vesperus," surging to and fro the persons who were holding on to it, that 
 I began to fear of their ability to endure the rough usage they were labouring under all the time, sometimes being 
 partly raised up and then dashed to the ground, as by a maddened steed. However, after getting the assurance of 
 those gentlemen that they would hold on, to use their own words, " to the last ribbon," I retained my confidence 
 in accompl inning the ascension, until I received the heart-sickening information from my friends that the network 
 waa fast giving way about the top of the balloon. I now began to give up hopes of getting up, and even feared 
 that the balloon would break through her trammels and escape; but Providence sent a gleam of sunshine, with a 
 short abatement of the storm, during which time a good supply of gas was worked into the " Vesperus," sufficient 
 for a long voyage. 
 
 At precisely three minutes past two o'clock, I mounted the car, and having ballasted the vessel while it was 
 restrained by a cord, feeling, as I supposed, the rupture in the network increasing at every surge, which by this 
 tini.- had got so large, that a bulb as big as a hogshead was protruding through it, my preparations were speedily 
 oomph-ted. Knowing now that time was precious, I cut the rope and gave my friends below a parting salute, 
 which was heartily responded to by a thousand voices. 
 
 u .-n afloat, 1 began to congratulate myself upon the victory that was gained over such formidable obstacles 
 below, and felt a composure that the network would stand it safely now, as the balloon was free in the air. 
 took a northerly direction, ascending rapidly all the while, until an altitude of about a mile was attained, where a 
 .t jisile was encountered which made the balloon surge off in an easterly direction, swinging the car to and 
 fr... and making the netwmk crack at every surge, which alarmed me about ra\ personal safety. Looking over 
 the edp- of my ear at th- imiif n-e depth to the surface of the earth, my heart began to sicken at the idea of falling 
 that immense distance with nothing but the network and car to rely on; and my sensations were rendered still 
 m..r. glc.my by the lowering appearance of the heavens in every direction, as around and beneath the clouds 
 could be seen discharging torrents of rain and wind, with, a* I siippo>. -d. the moral certainty of the balloon's 
 
 2 i 
 
200 ASTRA CASTRA. A.D. 1844. 
 
 escaping from the network in a very few more surges. I could see the valleys west of the Alleghany Mountain, 
 on which the sun was shedding its beams of light and life. 
 
 I looked up at the balloon, and it appeared to nie that the car was receding from it gradually, by the giving 
 way of the network, and at this crisis an expedient flashed across my mind the valve-rope would bear the weight 
 of a hundred pounds, and the top of the balloon was equally strong -my weight was thrown upon it at once. 
 This necessarily opened the valve to its full extent, and must soon bring the machine down to the ground. The 
 velocity of the wind was about fifty or sixty miles per hour, and, between this and a rapid descent, terra fa-ma 
 was reached about sixteen miles east of Hollidaysburg. As soon as practicable an anchor was thrown out, which 
 grappled in a fence and capsized it, when the machine bounded across the field, where it caught in the next fence, 
 but broke it, carrying with it a fence-rail, causing the car to bound and rebound from the earth and dashing 
 headlong into a very rugged piece of mountain woodland. At this juncture I clasped several of the net cords in 
 my one arm and made a spring overboard for a fence that was intercepting my path, and unfortunately for me, at 
 the same time the rail was loosened from the anchor, when the balloon rose with a sudden bound my body 
 outside of the car one foot fast in the rigging, and my arm clasping several of the net cords. My right hand was 
 still free, with which I quickly grasped the valve-rope which had been tied to the rim of the car, and secured it 
 in my teeth, holding the valve open, when in another moment I found myself dashed into the top of a high tree, 
 where I quickly grasped the limbs, still clasping the cords in my left arm. This brought the balloon to for a 
 moment, when with my right hand a hitch round one of the limbs was taken with the anchor-rope. This was 
 followed by a squall of wind which warned me to release my arm-hold of the cords, one foot still in the car, when, 
 to my utmost dismay, I found my foot tangled in the rigging. There I was, holding on to the top of the tree with 
 a death grip head down and feet up, the balloon surging and drawing the top of the tree which I was holding to 
 in the direction of the squall, only abating momentarily for a more violent surge ; and I could no longer keep the 
 valve open with my teeth, the rope had become too long, and I could not take a shorter hold, in the dilemma, 
 without incurring another risk that of letting one hand loose from the tree-top ; but things were growing 
 desperate, and I made a violent but successful effort to loose my foot, at the same time grasped the valve-rope in 
 my hand, and in another moment a terrible crash indicated the balloon was off having broken the anchor-rope, 
 and jerked through my hand the valve-cord, burning it as though a hot wire had passed through it. and I left 
 hanging in the top forks of the tree where I had fallen. 
 
 As soon as I had recovered a reasoning position, I looked upward and just saw the balloon dashing furiously 
 off and upward into a dense black cloud, some distance to the north-east. In referring to my machinery, I found 
 that I had taken unnecessary alarm ; the cracking noise of th network must have arisen from the surging motion 
 of the balloon, for the network had gone through double the force since landing, and not torn off yet, proving that 
 it was all-sufficient to have borne its load to its destination ; which greatly enhanced my chagrin, since the wind 
 and weather were so favourable to have reached Philadelphia before dark. I began to reproach myself with 
 unnecessary fear, until I saw my hat, map, newspapers, canvass, handkerchief, &c., scattered about below, when I 
 began to think it might have been worse, though I should never see the " Vesperus " again. 
 
 After soliloquizing in the tree-top a while upon the day's adventure, I thought it time to come down, for I 
 was near a hundred feet from the ground, leaving part of the anchor-rope dangling in its top, as a port of entry for 
 the next aerial traveller who may chance to land there. 
 
 Within a few weeks afterwards I learned that the " Vesperus " had landed, the same day of her departure 
 from Hollidaysburgh, at half-past six o'clock, on Mr. Van Valkenburg's field in the Catskill Mountains in the Stato 
 of New York. I repaired thither and recovered the balloon. The persons in the neighbourhood were much 
 astonished at its arrival, and it was under considerable apprehension they were induced to examine it. Mr. Van 
 Valkenburg's son was out in the field ploughing round the hemlock -stumps when the balloon was coming down, 
 and upon seeing it in the air thought it was an immense bird of prey pouncing down upon him, which alarmed him 
 to such a degree that after he had. fled to the house he was affected with violent spasms. The balloon was suffered 
 to roll and toss about the hemlock-stumps for some time before it was secured. The next wonder to the persons 
 that secured it was, the newspapers that had remained in the car, they bearing the date of the day on which they 
 found it, and Hollidaysburg was a place they know nothing of, until they looked over their geographies ; and then 
 its being several hundred miles off over the mountains and rivers, puzzled them still more. The balloon was cut 
 in six sections when I got it, Mr. Van Valkenburg informing me that an individual who had come along that way, 
 
A.I.. IM.VJ;. LATE81 NEWS FROM WEST CHESTER 207 
 
 and who professed to bo well informed in Mieh matter, cut it up in that manner for them. Tho shrubbery which 
 
 hut IM---II twined around tin- ear Iwt'oro it started, had tunml -ntiivly Hark, .-ho\\ in^ that it had Ken in .1 high 
 
 Tlio balloon had no doubt burst from tho cxpaniiioii of the gas, which cauhcd it to come 
 
 down So - 
 
 re I took it away, nil these wonderment* of the people were explained to them, aixl they cxproMod a 
 
 1:1 1 .1' ': -'. ! In liavc in exhibit! U of N '. i ii * 1 kni'l in tin ii i i'j.lct'"U: l>< < !. Ti.U in < h u. Wtt Bztd Op >_ i n 
 and after making a number of trips with it, two from the city of Columbia in South ('aiolina, 1 >ld it to a 
 gentleman of that State. 
 
 .Mi Co.xwell having !ni\v come forward publicly, turned the energies of his mind 
 to this scienc.-, and, with rhaniri. i Utir industry, started 'The Balloon or Aerostatic- Ma^a/.ine,' 
 to elicit opinions and suggestions from any one, as well as to communicate his own. His 
 ondertakffig nn-t with tin- ftpprobation and encouragement of the press, and his journal 
 appi-aml occasionally till l v 
 
 In an ascent th Mr. Charles (Iiv.-n's fatln-r, a gentleman eighty-three; years of age, 
 
 was one of the party. 
 
 I MI'.. -Mr. (Jr. -M made his second proposal to cross the Atlantic. The following an- 
 the notes of an ascent from Mr. Wi>.-'.- log-book in this year: 
 
 AEBUL LOO-BOOK OF Firry-FoDKTH ATMOSPIIERJC VOYAGE. BALLOOX " BOUGH AND KtuDt." 
 
 Wort Cluxtcr. Pa., Augiut 8th, 1848. 
 
 Four o'clock fifteen minutes, started witli a southerly breeze, at the rate of twenty-five miles per hour. 
 
 1 ir o'clock twenty minutes, atmosphere to tho south and east perfectly clear. Can see Philadelphia an 
 liistiin'tly now as it has been seen at oth.-i tinu .- \vh, n not inoro than three miles off. The rain in that direction 
 has cleared the atmosphere. See some sails on the Delaware sun shining against them gives them a golden hue 
 vessels as .listinot to iny view as though 1 were on tho river bank. Four o'clock thirty-five minutes, rumbling 
 t'ltii: fur north. Four o'clock forty-five minutes, crossed Pennsylvania railroad. 
 
 [It may be here observed tliat the balloon was sailing toward* the north-east, and a thundcrgust wa moving 
 from tli.' iiortli-w.-st. alxnit fifty or sixty miles to the north-west of me thus moving at right angles with each 
 other, and the remarkable result of tho balloon meeting the storm at the point of intersection.] 
 
 i'Ksk, lost *\\n of West Chester. Came down now within good speaking distance of the earth, and 
 HO low tli.it the Delaware vanished from view. Thunder pealing louder now, but no lightning pern-ptililc. 
 Talking to the people below as I passed along. Dogs barking at the balloon, and poultry dismayed in the barn- 
 yards, keeping an alarming clatter. Distributing newspapers to persons below, who run and pick them up. 
 Balloon moving rapidly. A man on horseback in hot pursuit " Come on, come on, I'll give you the latest news 
 from \\<.-st r heater." Several papers were dropped now. There, he grasps atone from hia horse. " Have you 
 got it? " " Yes, fir," " Good-bye, sir," said J. " Come down," says he. 
 
 o'clock ten minutes, crossed Schuylkill above Norristown threw out ballast and ascended very high. 
 Can see all around to a great distance. Phoenixville, a little up tho river. Going too much east to reach Heading, 
 i 'oiue down again to within good speaking distance of tho earth. 
 
 Five o'clock twenty minutes, near the Trappe, and over the Reading and Philadelphia pike. Invifci 
 from aU around me to ' come down ; " threw over some newspapers to the people inquired if I could get supper 
 tnere - JO" "" " To cap the climax, ono of them sang out" Come down, and J unil give you. a 
 
 Hunk yon, sii enough ; I believe I'll go a little further." 
 
 Five o'clock thirty -fiv,- minutes, thundergust approaching the track of tho balloon. Low enough to hear th. 
 wind nistlin- in the trees. A great many persons following tho balloon. Some give up the chase ; others htrik. 
 in with fresh vigour. 
 
 Fiv- ,.YU k forty five minutes, moving parallel with the Norristown and Sumanytown road. Storm and 
 balloon converging to tho same point vivid flashes of lightning were now occasionally to be seen in the north. 
 
208 ASTEA CASTRA. A.D. 1846. 
 
 Five o'clock fifty-five minutes, a man on a black horse in hot pursuit up the road horse's head and tail in a 
 straight line. The race is beautiful and exciting. He is losing ground every jump. Now he holds up a mile 
 behind. 
 
 Six o'clock, and moving over a thick wood. Here I ceased taking notes the car was near the tree-tops 
 thick woods underneath, and a roaring thunderstorm just ahead. Already its commotion was acting on the 
 balloon, and it would not do to seek shelter among the trees below, and yet the alternative was to do that or sail 
 right into the teeth of the storm, for there was not ballast enough left to ensure an ascent above it before getting 
 into its midst. Indeed, it required all my ballast to keep above the tree-tops until the woods were passed, and 
 this brought me right into the thundergust. A number of persons were following me from the woods afoot, but 
 they could not keep pace with the balloon, falling back three-quarters in the mile. As soon as a clear spot was 
 attained the anchor was thrown out, and the moment it struck the ground a vivid flash of lightning hurled the 
 balloon against a tall oak-tree. What appeared to me remarkable in this was the absence of a report, but the fire 
 flashed from my car and flag, the latter hurled out of the basket where it had been stuck in the wicker-work. 
 This flash reminded me of the sparks that fly off from a piece of white-hot iron just taken from the forge on the 
 anvil, and struck with the blacksmith's hammer ; and the noise was very similar to that also. Just at this 
 moment a young man was running to my assistance, intending to catch hold of a drag-rope which I had thrown 
 out and requested him to take and make a hitch to a tree with, of which there were plenty around. But the flash 
 brought him up suddenly, and made him stand aghast, and immediately retire. The balloon was now tangled in 
 the oak-tree, and the smoke I had observed at the time of the flash, which, with the sulphurous smell, had alarmed 
 me, was the gas issuing from the breaks it received against the scragg}' branches of the tree. Fortunate it was, 
 that there was no escape of gas at the time of the electrical flash, or an explosion might, and would, in all 
 probability, have been the result. 
 
 The persons who had followed me from the woods, now came up, and before we could roll up the balloon, 
 the gas having escaped readily from the breaches in it, we were enveloped in a terrible storm of thunder, 
 lightning, and pouring rain. 
 
 When I returned to West Chester, arrangements were made for another ascension from that place, on the 
 24th of the same month, but nothing of importance was elicited in its adventure. 
 
 In the beginning of the following September I made an ascension from the city of Utica, in the State of New 
 York, having received an invitation from there. It was the first ascension ever made from Utica. The ' Daily 
 Gazette ' of that place spoke of it in the following terms : " All who witnessed this ascension, agree to its being 
 one of the most beautiful, interesting, and sublime sights that can be seen. Its peculiar attractiveness, however, 
 cannot be described. There is something in the rise of any inanimate body in the air, that always singularly 
 interests us ; witness the kite and ordinary paper balloon. The philosophy of this feeling we do not profess to 
 understand ; perhaps it is the satisfaction of overcoming the usual course of nature. Be that as it may, this 
 feeling is immeasurably heightened on beholding a body of the size of Mr. Wise's balloon, some twenty feet in 
 diameter, cleaving its way through the air to the skies. Even without the additional interest of a person ascending 
 with it, the ascension of so large a body would at any time fix the attention of a whole population for hours. But 
 when there is connected with it the idea of a human being carried by its resistless power thousands of feet into 
 mid-air, and suspended over the earth at this dizzy height, with nothing but a slender willow basket between him 
 and inevitable destruction, the excitement and interest become almost painful by their intensity. No one will 
 forget the sight till his dying day. 
 
 " The ascension of Mr. Wise was an unusually beautiful one. He rose from the garden at an angle, moving 
 off north-westwardly, and at the same time rapidly ascending, so that before he had passed the city limits he was 
 greatly above our highest steeples. Having gone perhaps a couple of miles in that direction, continually increasing 
 his distance from the earth, the balloon, taken by another current of air, was borne: more northwardly, and for a 
 short time seemed bound for Trenton Falls, till an eastwardly current took it and passed it, hovering over the 
 Deerfield hills, in review of the city. In less than thirty minutes this great fabric, which had gone out of the 
 garden with such a rush, having gradually diminished to a mere speck against the clouds, went down out of sight 
 beyond the hills. 
 
 " Mr. Wise says that, immediately on rising, the whole country around was visible to him ; the villages, the 
 streams of water, the fields and forests ; the whole appearing as if scattered upon a vast plain, and like an immense 
 
A .,, i*| (i . HOW TO r.\rni;i: Tin: < .\>n.i: nr \T:I;A cur/. 209 
 
 -.udeii of inde.M -i iliable beauty. He was so much elated by tho richness and beauty of the prospect, that ho could 
 
 in-,' out with enthusiasm, ' Hurrah for old Oneida!' His field of vi.-i \tciided about thirty miles 
 
 each way. The south was everywhere full of the evidence* of a fertile and thickly-settled country, the distant 
 (earing like dots on the surrounding verdure, tho roads traceable for miles like yellow threads, the 
 
 in a thoii-and places flashing in the sunlight. To use his own expression, 'If the felicity of heaven w 
 
 i-.niijiaralile t<> tlie pleasurable enjoyment experienced when thus viewing the earth beneath one.it is worth a 
 
 lifetime'* d, -\otion t .1 it.s attainment" Ho says that he was surprised at the appearance of Uticu, which from his 
 
 ground-view ho had taken to be a very regular place, but from his elevation, it was tho most singular place ho had 
 
 -een. The streets wore a perfect marl, the plan of tho city exhibiting entire irregularity and its boundaries 
 
 tiling several sharp points. To the u. >i lie oould see part of a lake (Oneida), and along tho north ca.-t, for an 
 
 immense extent, lay an unbroken wilderness (' .Mm I'.rown's tract'). Tho fear of getting into this region, and 
 
 thus unal.le to fulfil his engagement at the Garden, at eight o'clock the same evening, kept him from going 
 abo\ -ids, which ho reached at one portion of his vovage. 
 
 The course of his voyage he describes aa being something liko tho letter S. \Vhon ho appeared to us 
 sailing along this side of the summit of the Deerfield hills, he was, in fact, three or four miles the other side, and 
 the descent wo witnessed was made at about that distance beyond tho top of the hill where ho appeared to land. 
 Hi- liLl,. -t point was made as he was coming from the north, eastward towards the railroad. Ho then attained a 
 : about five thousand feet, or nearly a mile. As he passed along he could hear tho shouts from tho 
 farmhouses below, l.iit could not di*iingiii*h persona. At the easternmost point of his trip, seeing a village 
 -in i, with a convenient steeple for him to descend upon, ho discharged some of the gas and commenced 
 descending, but, as !>< thought probable, he came again into the westerly current of air which he took on first 
 ascending, and \<y which he was carried three or four miles, at the height of a few hundred feet only from the 
 earth. In this way he passed over a largo forest, and coming to a suitable field, he throw out his lino and drew 
 his balloon towards the ground, and finally catching hold of a stake in the fence, made fast, forty-fivo minutes 
 from the time he left the Garden, ten miles from the city. Ho employed a couple of men to tow him bick to I'tica, 
 intending to make hi* first landing in the City Garden, but a stonu coming on when ho had got within sight of the 
 town, he discharged the gas and packed up his balloon." 
 
 In two weeks, another ascension was made from Utica with about the same success and details. 
 
 Our Government 1* ing now at war with the Mexican nation, and hostility between ihc two countries 
 growing stronger eveiy day, it was determined by our War Department that the formidable Castle of San Juan de 
 I'Hoa should lie reduced. Various projects were under consultation at Washington designed to such an end, upon 
 which I thought it proper to submit the following to our government: 
 
 Easy Method of Capturing the Cattle of Vera Cruz. 
 
 The present condition of the way with Mexico will require our forces to reduce Vera Cruz. And it is 
 acknowledged on all sides to be an extraordinarily well fortified point of defence, almost impregnable to the 
 common mode of warfare, and at best cannot be taken in that way without a great sacrifice of life and ammunition. 
 I will therefore suggest a plan to our War Department, which will render tho capture of the Castle of San Juan 
 de Ulloa as feasible and easy as the launching of a frigate. 
 
 Although the plan I shall propose may seem novel to many, still a brief detail of it, I think, will satisfy the 
 most incredulous of its efficiency. In the first place, it will require a balloon of common twilled muslin, of about 
 a hundred feet in diameter. This machine, properly coated with varnish, will retain its buoyancy for many days 
 ..i weeks. It will be capable, when inflated, to raise over 30,000 pounds. Say 20,000 independent of it* own 
 weight, network, car, and cable. It can be inflated in a day, or less time if necessary. The process of inflation 
 may be accomplished on land, or on board a man-of-war at sea, as circumstances may require. The car to be 
 laden with perrussioncd bombshells and torpedoes to the amount of 18,000 pounds, which will leave two 
 thousand pounds for ballast and men. Thus it will be ready to be placed in a position for deadly action, in a very 
 short time. The cable by which it is to be manoauvred may be at least five miles long, so that tho balloon at a 
 mile of elevation would leave the vessel, or land position, which act as the retaining point, out of the reach of the 
 castle guns, and under the cover of our own batteries. The man-of-war balloon hovering a mile above the 
 like a cloud of destruction, would be entirely out of danger of tho enemy's guns, since they could not be made to 
 
210 ASTRA CASTBA. A.D. 1846. 
 
 boar on an object immediately above them. The position of the balloon as to height, and distance from the 
 retaining point, could be maintained by keeping a proper eye to its ballasting. As it would become lightened by 
 the discharging of shells and torpedoes, an adequate quantity of gas can also be discharged. 
 
 If a gun from the castle could bo ever made to bear upon the war balloon, it would soon bo silenced by the 
 rapidity, precision, and certainty with which the deadly missiles could be showered down upon them. 
 
 With this aerial war-ship hanging a mile above the fort, supplied with a thousand percussioned bombshells, 
 the Castle of Vera Cruz could be taken without the loss of a single life to our army, and at an expense that would 
 be comparatively nothing to what it will be to take it by the common mode of attack. 
 
 Through the medium of your journal I woiild most respectfully suggest this plan to our Government, and 
 will tender my services for its construction, and when constructed, will, if necessary, most cheerfully undertake its 
 
 directorship into actual service, at a moment's warning. ,, 
 
 lours, respectfully, 
 
 Lancaster, Oct. 22nd, 1846. JOHX WlSE. 
 
 The proposition drew out a great many opinions and commentaries upon the plan, one of which we will 
 state, taken from the ' Philadelphia Public Ledger.' " The public have been amused by the many comments 
 upon Mr. Wise's plan of taking San Juan de Ulloa by balloons, lading them with men and explosive bombs, raise 
 them over the devoted castle, and let the bombs fall upon it and blow up by concussion. This new method of 
 besieging a fortress has been discussed in every vein of seriousness, wit, or contumely, as the idea seemed feasible, 
 funny, or absurd to various minds. At a recent party in Frankfort, Ky., the subject became a topic of conversation. 
 After a number of persons had said their say, pro and con, a distinguished wit an ex -governor of the State was 
 called upon for his views touching the same. With great dignity he pronounced the plan an admirable one, and 
 the inventor a man of military genius ; but, he added, ' I think it will be a very troublesome matter to enlist 
 volunteers for that service.' " 
 
 Soon after this, the following note was addressed to the War Department : 
 
 Ex-Governor Marcy, Secretary of War of the United States. 
 Sm, Lancaster, Deo. 10th, 184G. 
 
 You have no doubt seen, and perhaps somewhat considered over the plan and proposition I suggested 
 through the public prints, for the reduction of the Castle of San Juan de Ulloa by balloon. Were it not for the 
 incredulity and prejudice that invariably meet new ideas and projects, I should from the commencement have 
 submitted it to the War Department, for scrutiny. But believing that it would best be tested by " public opinion " 
 in bringing out serious objections to its feasibility, I chose the course of having it first analysed in the popular 
 crucible. By this course I should be enabled to discover, what in my first conceptions of the plan might have 
 been overlooked, and thereby save myself the trouble of further urging its merits towards action, as also any formal 
 application for its consideration by the War Department. 
 
 So far from any well-founded objections having as yet been urged against its practicableness, I have some of 
 the best minds in the country to sustain the project. And upon a mature and deliberate review of the whole 
 subject, in its minutest details, I write to you with a most unwavering conviction of not only its practicability, 
 but my ability to give it the desired effect. It will be unnecessary for me at present to enter into any detailed 
 account of the necessary requisites to its consummation ; but I will state, that the cost of outfit, independent of the 
 war projectiles, would bo but a trifling matter, compared with the magnitude of the work it would be capable of 
 accomplishing. As to the objections that may or can be urged against its feasibility, I am ready to rebut them with 
 mathematical and philosphical demonstrations. Should the War Department desire to have further explanations 
 of its character, or to have any objections to its practicability refuted, they will be explained and met by mo upon 
 the first intimation of such a request. The novelty, or chimericalness of its character, will, I trust, have but little 
 weight upon the minds of the intellect composing our Government in deterring them from a fair and impartial 
 scrutiny of a subject so pregnant with national welfare. 
 
 It has been hinted that it would be difficult to get men that would act in such an enterprise. This belief is 
 as unfounded as any other I have yet urged against it. It would require but nine assistants in the bomb-car, and 
 that number I will guarantee to secure from our own city. 
 
 With an earnest solicitude for its early consideration, I remain your fellow citizen, 
 
 JOHN W-ISE. 
 
,-*^s* 
 
 \ ^f. _ * 
 
 
 ////. (hl 
 
 '"/ "/// .*. AV. / /.' > V, //,/YV**: 
 
 
A.I.. IM7. ALBERT SMITH'S rn>r ASCENT. 211 
 
 I -IT. AlluTt Smitli ofiv.-s two graphic accounts of liis ;isn-nts tliis ycicr. Tlio first is 
 
 lati-.l . I iily ."i ; 
 
 Tli- \. teran aeronaut, Mr. Green, made ono of the beat ascents, in his Nassau Balloon, that has been 
 witeMMd fur nomc years; taking with him no lew than ten companions for a journey through those paths of air 
 with whi.-h ho only may be presumed to be intimately acquainted. 
 
 The evening was very fine. There was scarcely any wind; and what there was, blow, in tho general 
 towards the east; but this was hardly perc< |>tiU. . the leaves on the trees being perfectly still. A vast 
 number of spectators surrounded the Gardens; and the grounds themselves wore crowded by holiday-makers, as 
 much in . \| . . lation of witnesi>ing the ascent, as to enjoy the beautiful foliage and freshness of Cremornc. \\ itliin 
 tin- ring we observed Lord Adolphus Fitzclarence, Mrs. Milner Gibson and party, Sir George Wombwell, ('apt. 
 T\ i whitt, Mr. Henry Vill. K.i.-, \c. : and many popular ttrtutes of the day, including Mdlle. Carlotta Grim', Mdlle. 
 IVtit Stepliaii. M. I'errot, Mr. T. I 1 . Cooke. Mr. I'.uxton, and others. 
 
 -oven o'clock the travellers took their places in high niirth, tho car being occupied by Mr. Ibbetson, .Mr. 
 
 Ison (nf the Garrick Club), Mr. .Shirley l!r..oks, Mr. Drew, Mr. Morris Power, and Mr. Green himself; whilst, 
 " ti. ihe netting, some four or five feet above them, were perched Mr. Albert Smith ; Mr. .Mm Lee a 
 
 gentleman well known in tho theatrical circles; Mr. 1'. Thompson, of Guy'* Hospital: Mr. Spenser who 
 accompanied Mi*. Green when poor Cocking lt his life, and who now liad the command of tho " butterfly-valve." 
 which 1 il>un>toa the gas; and it friend. Everything being pronounced "all right," the word was given to "cast 
 
 iV." ami the Balloon rose. We will now adopt the account of a traveller on the occasion : 
 
 " The first sensation experienced was not that we were rising, but that the balloon remained fixed, whilst 
 all tho world below was rapidly falling away, until the cheers with which they greeted our departure grow fainter, 
 and the cheerers themselves began to look like the inmates of many sixpenny Noah's arks grouped upon a billiard- 
 table or perhaps, rather, the distinguished company who are assembled round the model Indian palace in tho 
 I'ul.lie Dining-room at Hampton Court. Then they grew smaller and smaller, and we thought of tho Colosseum 
 view ; until at last the coup (fail got too grand in its diminutiveness to liken to anything. 
 
 " There was but one idea, at the same time, dominant in the minds of everybody. Was it possible that the 
 Miiall specks who moved along the thread-like scratches that wo knew were streets, or scuffled about on carriages, 
 
 videiitly from the mews of the industrious fleas, were fellow-creatures? Why, our hats would have held millions, 
 and an emmet . ,.uld have walked amongst them like a Megatherium! Wo never felt so humiliated as when . 
 were forced to admit that we were of them that we had appeared in tho same contemptible light to other aerial 
 travellers hundreds of times before. 
 
 " No one, who has not seen London from a balloon, can form the weakest notion of its vast extent its 
 interminable suburbs, stretching on and on, in all directions its large enclosed fields, and gardens, and pleasure- 
 grounds, where none were supposed to exist, by ordinary passengers. And mont strange is the roar of the eit\ . 
 as it comes surging into the welkin, as though tho whole metropolis cheered you with one voice. You would 
 imagine that mighty crowds below were huzzaing you on your way : and yet none beyond the ordinary passengers 
 are to be been. The noise is as inexplicable as the murmur in the air at hot summer noontide. 
 
 " You are not conscious of any motion ; neither, going with the wind, do you perceive its slightest breath ; 
 and the only way by which we could tell we were moving was by throwing bits of paper out. The neck of tin- 
 balloon, however, collapses when it is sinking ; and it is always open, to allow the escape of the gas, which 
 expands on reaching a more rarefied atmonphcre otherwise it would burst 
 
 "The new Houses of Parliament presented very interesting objects the entire pile having tho appearance 
 of a delicate card-board model. The steamers on the river made, also, a very beautiful effect, leaving two long 
 wings (if we may so call them) of foam behind them, similar to the trains of a table rocket those fireworks which 
 riM like liinls. without sticks; and the rowing-boats looked like caraway-seeds. 
 
 " The balloon did not take a perfectly straight direction, but changed its line according to the currents. Our 
 
 -e was over Chelsea, the Penitentiary. St. George's Field-, S.mthwark, Hotherhithc, the Isle of Dogs, Black wall. 
 
 I'laiwtow, then Hearing Woolwich, going northwards slightly to Barking Levels and Dagenham Marsh, again 
 
 keeping over the river, and finally descending on Wellington Level, near Rainham, in Essex, opposite Krith 
 
 having crossed and recrossed the Thames several times. 
 
 ' It was curious to see the four railways the Blackwall, Greenwich, Brighton, and Eastern Counties all at 
 
 '_' I 
 
212 ASTEA CASTRA. A.D. 1847. 
 
 once, with the specks of trains moving along them in both directions. As we passed Blackvvall, the murmur of 
 London grew fainter and fainter, until a deep and almost awful silence reigned. We were then 5200 feet high. 
 The rich ground about the river Lee, with the Limehouse Cut; the Park at Greenwich, the grounds and woods of 
 Charlton, and the vast expanse of the Essex marshes, all formed pleasing objects. We had not eyes enough to 
 look about us, nor tongues sufficient to call each other's attention to fresh points of interest. Here we had some 
 champagne which appears to be an indispensable adjunct to a balloon voyage and then, whilst crossing the 
 river, threw down the empty bottles. Their disappearance, far below us, had an odd effect. 
 
 " The view of the country is not so interesting as that of the metropolis. Those who know the prospect 
 from the top of the Rigi, in Switzerland, have seen a much finer bird's-eye panorama than can be got from a 
 balloon. It has simply a map-like appearance very like what the view would be coloured, which was the frontis- 
 piece to Tombleson's Rhine. 
 
 " A spot having been selected to descend upon, Mr. Green threw out the grapnel a tolerably substantial 
 affair and we were ordered to ' hold tight.' It was as well that we did so ; for every time the iron catches in the 
 ground the balloon is pulled up suddenly, with a shock that would soon send anybody from his seat a jerk like 
 that which occurs when fresh carriages are brought up to a rail way- train, but more violent. At last it held firm, 
 and then the car touched the ground, with a bump that somewhat disconcerted the passengers, as the occupants of 
 the hoop, at the same time, came down upon their heads. But some labourers appeared from an adjacent farm, 
 and, holding on, we were soon enabled to get comfortably out, and stand once more upon the ground which 
 belonged to Mr. Blewitt, of Rainham. 
 
 " The strangest feeling of all, after our imperceptible journey, was to find ourselves on the Essex marshes, 
 with the shouts of Cremorne still ringing in our ears. We assisted to pack up the balloon, which goes into the car 
 as a travelling-case, and then the question arose as to the means of return to London for the marshes are not 
 places where you can call a cab or wait for a train. We had to walk on to Rainham a good three miles and 
 there at the inn we found an omnibus and three horses. 
 
 " We could see that the rustic inhabitants scarcely looked upon us as mortals. They regarded us with open 
 eyes and mouths, and appeared disinclined to believe in the proffered hospitality of beer, which we offered them. 
 But after a time their misgivings vanished, and we formed a merry party until the horses were put to which, at 
 Rainham, is a process occupying three-quarters of an hour. At length, engaging a cart for the balloon, we started 
 off for London, and arrived safely again at the West-end about one o'clock. 
 
 " From the delight we all experienced, we counsel everybody to go up in the balloon, and enjoy the 
 journey which they are sure to do as much as we did. In spite of the apparent frightful fragility of cane and 
 network, nothing can, in reality, be more secure. Mr. Green is a steady, cool-headed gentleman : the stories of 
 pressure on the ears, intense cold, and the danger of coming down, are all fictions, invented by those who must 
 make ' adventures ' out of everything that befalls them ; and the sensation is one of the most novel that can be 
 experienced, and, at the same time, deliciously agreeable. Indeed, we almost wanted a few perils to give a little 
 excitement to the trip ; and have some notion, if possible, of going up the next time at midnight, with fireworks, 
 in a thunderstorm, throwing away all the ballast, fastening down the valve, and seeing where the wind will 
 send us." 
 
 Albert Smith's account of his second trip, in Mr. Gypson's balloon, and its perilous 
 descent, is thus given : 
 
 Since the loth of October, 1 783, when the daring Marquis d'Arlandes and M. Pilatre de Rosier first trusted 
 themselves to a fire-balloon, there have been few ascents made which terminated in so nearly fatal a manner as 
 that from Vauxhall Gardens on Tuesday night. Setting aside the hapless attempt of the latter aeronaut and his 
 companion, M. Remain, whose balloon caught fire at an elevation of 3000 feet, and who were dashed to earth, and 
 killed on the rabbit-warren at Wimereux, near Boulogne, (he adventure which comes nearest to the one on 
 Tuesday night was that of Signor Carlo Brioschi, the Astronomer Royal at Naples, and the Italian aeronaut, Signer 
 Andreani. Trying to rise higher than M. Gay-Lussac had done a year or two before, they got into an atmosphere 
 so rarefied that the balloon burst. The remnants checked the velocity of the descent ; but Brioschi was so injured 
 that it ultimately brought him to his grave. 
 
 When I stated, half in joke, a fortnight ago, in the account of a trip in the Nassau Balloon, written for the 
 
vi,. 1847, .\i.m:in >Minr> an ONE \-r.\i 218 
 
 111 \ w.,, 1 tint, for further excitement, I would next ascend at midnight, with fireworks, without ballast, 
 
 .111,1 ili.- \al\e dosed. I littl.' thought how soon three of these conditions w.,nl.l ho realised the fourth being 
 
 ,1 .,ut in an i ntir.lv opposite manner. Anxious to see a view of London by night from a groat height, I 
 
 ..ith Mr. (iypwm for a seat in hi* car; and, finding tliat Mr. \Viir.l.-ll, the proprietor of Vuuxhall, had 
 
 ti\.-,l tin- evening t',,r Tuesday last. I went t<> tin- Hardens iilniiit eleven o'clock. Tin- night was uncommonly close 
 
 Miid snltiy. :ind .scarcely a breath of wind was Mining ; whiit there was blow lightly fmm tho south-east j and the 
 
 lightning was repeatedly flashing about the skies, preluding the thimdenitorm with which, our readers may 
 
 leinenihcr. the metropolis wan visited mi the rv.-niiig in question. 
 
 I found that two gentlemen, besides the owner of the balloon, were to be my companions Mr. Coxwell and Mr. 
 1'ri.lmoie. The hallo, n it-. If was a very fim- machine not so large as the Nassau, hut higher, 1 should conceive, 
 than any of th. others used for single ascents. It had lifted seven people from tho ground just before I got there, 
 and appeared in every way calculated to make a good ascent. 
 
 fireworks the frame of which resembled a very large skeleton drum were to bo hung some thirty or 
 
 I., low it, and fired from the car by a fusee a most dangerous method, by tho way, as the neck of the 
 
 halloou is I. MI a few feet overhead. I must confess that the pn Dilutions gave mo some uneasiness; there was too 
 
 niiicli confusion too much noise too many suggesting and interfering all at once ; altogether different to the 
 
 tranquil ami collected manner in which .Mr. (ireen had taken us up a week or two before. 
 
 At hist, however, everything was pronounced ready to start \Ve took in some "stores" for the trip, as, had 
 
 II ,|iiitc .lark, it was the intention of .Mr. <;\p.-,n to have remained up all night; and with six or eight bags 
 of sand for ballast, gave the command to " let go." The baud played "Off she goes!" tho View of Venice waa 
 lighted up with MIL- tin- : the people huzzaed, and tho balloon rose with extreme velocity, shooting straight up at 
 
 but turning round as it ascended. Tho first attempt to light the match of the fin-works failed : but it caught 
 
 !y at tho second, and then they began to shoot out cascades of coloured fires, which had a very beautiful 
 effect, .in.l must have looked exceedingly imposing from the Gardens, as they tinged the air round us. 
 
 It is impossible to form the feeblest idea of what the appearance of London is, soon by night, from the 
 elevation we had now attained as nearly as could bo judged from the apparent breadth of the liver at the bridges, 
 al>out four thousand feet. In the obscurity all traces of houses or enclosures are lost sight of. I can compare it 
 
 iiing eNc than floating over a dark blue and boundless sea, spangled with hundreds of thousands of stars. 
 These stars were the lamps. We could see them stretching over the river at the bridges, edging its hanks, forming 
 squares and long parallel lines of light in the streets, and solitary sparks further and further apart, until they 
 were altogether lost in the suburbs. The effect was too bewildering too novel and extraoidinary to allow any of 
 us oven to speak ; we could only gaze on them in rapt and deep attention. 
 
 The fireworks had commenced at Vauxlmll, and we saw the blaze of light about the gardens very distinctly. 
 as well as the explosions of the rockets; and a flash of lightning now and then illuminated tho entile panorama, 
 but too transitorily to catch any of its features. Above us the sky was deeply blue, studded with innumerable 
 stars; in fact, above, below, and around, we appeared sailing through a galaxy of twinkling point* of light, 
 incalculable and interminable. The impression made on my mind in these few minutes will never be effaced ; 
 neither will the scene by which it was so speedily followed. 
 
 \\e wen- still going up, higher and higher, until the gentlemen assured us we had attained the height of 
 7000 feet nearly a mile and a quarter perpendicular when Mr. Coxwell, who had charge of the valve line, 
 and was sitting ou the hoop of the netting above us, informed Mr. Gypson that the balloon was getting very tense, 
 from the extreme rarefaction of the external air at the elevation we hod attained. An order was immediately given 
 for him to " ease lu-r," by allowing some of the gas to escape by the top valve. It may be necessary to explain 
 that the top of a balloon is furnished with what is termed a "butterfly valve" a eircular t dul>lc-flap trap, 
 opening duwnuards hy a cord which passes through the interior of the balloon, and closing again with a spring 
 when sufficient gas has escaped, which it readily does by reason of its buoyancy. Mr. Coxwell pulled this line, 
 and immediately afterwards we heard a noicc. similar to. hut not so loud as, the escape of spare steam in u 
 locomotive: and the l..w- f the balloon collapse, 1 rapidly, and appeared to fly up into the upper portion 
 
 Mr. Cypson cried out inim. diatcly, "Good heavens! what has gone?" lo which Mr. < oxwell answered, " Th. 
 valve is gone! we are all dead men!" or words to that effect; and that same instant the balloon began to fall 
 with appalling velocity ; the immense mass of loose silk, surging and rustling frightfully over our heads, as it 
 
 2 K 'I 
 
214 ASTEA CASTRA. A.D. J847. 
 
 flapped to and fro, like the sails of a ship when tacking, between the network and cords by which our car was 
 slung, retreating up away from us more and more into the head of the balloon. 
 
 Two of our party directly gave way to exclamations of extreme terror, in the midst of which the suggestion 
 was made to throw everything over that might ease the balloon. I had two sandbags in my lap, which were cast 
 away directly, and Mr. Coxwell lowered himself from the hoop into the car, when we all began to hunt about 
 amongst our feet for whatever we could find. There were several bags of ballast, and some bottles of wine or 
 brandy, and these were instantaneously thrown away ; but no effect was perceptible. The wind still appeared to 
 be rushing up past us at a fearful rate; and, to add to the horror of these few moments, we came amidst the 
 expiring discharge of the fireworks, which floated on the air ; so that little bits of exploded cases and touch-paper, 
 still incandescent, attached themselves to the cordage of the balloon, and were blown into sparks. The lightning, 
 which so shortly merged into the storm of Tuesday night, was playing about us uninterruptedly it had done so 
 during our ascent and the whole machine soon began to oscillate frightfully. I afterwards gave a rude sketch of 
 our position at this time to one of the gentlemen connected with the artistic department of this paper, and he has 
 reproduced it in a graphic and faithful manner in tho accompanying engraving.* I presume we must have been at 
 this period upwards of a mile from the earth ; but the only way I had of judging, was by comparing the 
 boundaries of familiar localities with what I had before seen when up with Mr. Green. 
 
 " What were your feelings at this moment ? " is a question that I was asked scores of times on Wednesday 
 by friends who called to hear about the accident ; and my readers also may wish to know. After the first start, 
 then, when the valve gave way, I felt collected and tranquil, to a degree almost preternatural; but every 
 impression, of the most trivial kind, appeared to be made with tenfold intensity. I have still the appearance of 
 the lights on the earth before my eyes, almost as vividly as when I was looking at them as though their forms 
 had been so forcibly impressed on the retina that they were retained there. I could see the fireworks still going 
 on at Vauxhall, and I looked after the river, in a wild hope that we might fall into it, when there would still be 
 the chance of a swim for life. But this, as we shall afterwards see, must have terminated fatally. 
 
 How long we were in descending I have not the slightest idea; but two minutes must have been the outside. 
 At one position I threw away an envelope from my pocket, to judge, in a vague manner, of our speed ; and the rapidity 
 with which we left it floating behind proved that our velocity was frightful. The parallelograms of light, too, 
 formed by the squares, got visibly larger and larger, like an image in a phantasmagoria ; and the oscillation of 
 the balloon did not appear to be so violent, although the car was still swinging. I attribute our preservation 
 alone to the fact of the upper netting of the balloon having kept firm, preserving the empty silk in an umbrella 
 shape, which acted as a parachute. We now saw the houses, the roofs of which appeared advancing to meet us; 
 and the next instant, as we dashed by their summits, the words " Hold hard ! " burst simultaneously from all the 
 party. Calculating the distance as closely as possible, as the car took the ground on a slant, I caught hold of 
 the hoop, and jumped towards it, thus breaking the first shock, which, it need scarcely be said, was very 
 violent. 
 
 We were all directly thrown out of the car, along the ground, and amidst the cordage and silk of the balloon, 
 part of which, I think, had caught upon a scaffold pole ; but it appeared to be entirely emptied of its gas. We 
 were so entangled in the netting, having got our arms, heads, and legs into the meshes, that at first we could not 
 move ; and I then saw that a fall in the Thames would have ended in certain death. There was a large crowd of 
 people immediately about us, and they assisted us out of our embarrassment, testifying in a very hearty and 
 impulsive manner, their joy at our extraordinary escape. For, incomprehensible as it now appears to me, nobody 
 was seriously hurt. Torn clothes, crushed hats, and a few grazes and bruises, were all the evils that resulted from 
 a descent of a mile, without gas. We found we were in one of the new streets a very small thoroughfare 
 between the Vauxhall and Bolgrave roads, and not above a mile from the Gardens, if so much. As my brother 
 and a great number of friends were still there, I was anxious to get back before any other account of the occurrence 
 reached them ; and tny three fellow-travellers having the police to aid them in packing up the balloon, I availed 
 myself of a cab, kindly placed at my disposal by a gentleman who drove up at the moment, and drove quickly back 
 to Vauxhall, where I met a friend at the gate in great alarm, having just heard that the balloon had fallen, and 
 that we were (of course) all dashed to pieces. Mr. Gypson and the other gentlemen soon after arrived, with the 
 
 * See ' Illustrated London News.' 
 
A.I,. i*i7. Tin; I'F.mi.nrs IKSI-I:NT. 
 
 balloon; ami th cheering that greeted the return of tho party thus providentially rescued, wan far more hearty 
 linn that whi. h hud accompanied the ascent. 
 
 Atul now a lew words in conclusion to aeronauU in general, as well as the proprietors of alfrtsco places of 
 amusement. I hope that no more night ascents will be permitted. Nothing is gained by thorn. If tho great 
 
 linn i* tin' view of tho fireworks in tho air, they could be sent up by themselves, with a pilot biilloon, and 
 present an equally brilliant effect possibly a superior one. Should they still bo persisted in, some frightful 
 
 nt, ami succeeding inquest, will certainly stop them, by authority. 
 
 The question put t<> us by Mr. \Vanldl, just before the ascent, which was, "Gentlemen, do you go up by 
 your own free will, and have you confidence in the arrangements?" almost inclines one to believe that some 
 danger it might have been but slight was apprehended. I speak perfectly disinterestedly. Tho accounts 
 hitherto furni.-hi.-tl of tin- night ascents have usually been given by tho aeronaut* themselves to tho reporters; and, 
 therefore, tho real risk of the venture has never been made known. 
 
 And I would recommend Mr. Gypson to have his balloon thoroughly examined by competent persons before 
 
 in l>ts another ascent. He stated, on his return, that the state of the atmosphere affecting tho gas, produced 
 
 inn. h inil"i' -e. n inconvenience; but something must have been mechanically wrong in the arrangement of the 
 
 valve, or tho mere pulling of tho lino would not have led to a catastrophe so nearly terminating in the loss of 
 
 f.nir lives. 
 
 Since the above was written, Mr. Coxwell has published an excellent statement of tho manner in which the 
 accident occurred. He says that tho balloon burst before the valve-lino was touched, the valve being found 
 unmoved upon subsequently examining tho balloon ; and it is also ascertained that ho remained on tho hoop until 
 the concussion. In other respects, his account agrees with tho above ; the first impression of all the parties being 
 
 that the valve itself had gone. 
 
 ALBERT SMITH. 
 
 Mr. ( 'cxudl's account is as follows : 
 
 Various rumours, in addition to conflicting written statements, having boon circulated as to the cause and 
 result of the precipitate descent of Mr. Gypson's balloon on Tuesday evening, near tho Belgravo-road, Pimlico, an 
 explanation of tho circumstances of the mishap may probably prove interesting. After rising from tho Gardens 
 with an ascending power calculated to ensure a clear start, and to give full effect to the firoworks, which were 
 suspended by means of a line from the hoop, the balloon took a course at first across the river, in the direction of 
 the new Houses of Parliament. A few seconds had scarcely elapsed, before the first whiz and flash indicated the 
 combustion of the pyrotechnics. 
 
 * . 
 
 For an hour and a half before we started the lightning was incessant, which elicited from our friends and 
 several of the spectators apprehensions for our safety ; and no sooner had the fireworks been discharged than a 
 vivid flash occurred, and for the moment it appeared as if the heavens were on fire, and that our destruction was 
 tin. Tho appearance of the regions above was awfully grand. Tho expansion that succeeded was 
 immense, and we all were convinced that the gas was escaping from the neck. Mr. Gypson immediately took the 
 valve-line, with a view of relieving the upper part of tho balloon. That operation was unfortunately delayed a 
 few seconds too long ; for, notwithstanding that tho lower valve was fully open, the silk sustained a fracture, which 
 occasioned us to drop and hang a considerable distance under tho balloon. The responsible, and, indeed, critical 
 position I filled, provoked the charge of my having done something that was uncalled for; and in consequent <,f 
 its being groundless I state thus much. In an instant the ballast was discharged, and tho line connecting the 
 lower valve to the hoop immediately cut. The silk then formed, as it were, into a spacious and perfect parachute, 
 and we descended with gyrations indicative of rapidity and also danger. Presently myriads of the gaslights 
 which shono so brilliantly but a moment before, appeared to be rising to us, and instantly the car and the grouml 
 came into fearful collision. The spot where we descended was close to some unfinished houses and building 
 materials in tho Bclgrave-road, Pimlico, about a mile from the Gardens. Our course having been semicircular, 
 providentially we all escaped without injury, and the balloon is but slightly damaged. I have no hesitation 
 in .-tating that had the valve lx.cn opened sooner the accident would not have happened. 
 
216 ASTRA CASTE A. A.D. 1847. 
 
 On the 24th July, Mr. Wise made an ascension from Auburn, in New York State. He 
 says : 
 
 Auburn is a flourishing and beautiful town, situated about twenty-five miles west and a little south of Syracuse, 
 making it a favourable point to reach Syracuse from, by the upper current which always blows from west to east. 
 It was a magnificent voyage, and the main part of the journal is worth a perusal here, to wit : Up, up I soared, 
 almost perpendicularly, until an altitude of at least a mile and a half was reached, when I began to look around 
 me, and then, great God ! yes, I made the exclamation again as I was sitting with my pencil and log-book in 
 hand, riveted to the sight great God ! what a scene of grandeur ! Oft have I enjoyed and revelled in the intel- 
 lectual indulgences of nature's luxuries. Many, many beautiful and magnificent scenes have I witnessed, but 
 this surpasses all. Such were my involuntary exclamations. I looked around again and again, still the reality 
 seemed like a splendid dream an enchantment it was too rich a scene to be deprived of by a short trip. After 
 I had viewed and reviewed the vast panoramic plain, and wondered at and admired the handiwork of the Cre- 
 ator its amplitude and order, I would try to settle my mind down to a cool and descriptive standard, but 
 admiration and amazement had enchained my thoughts alone for nearly one hour, and ejaculations flowed over the 
 glorious spectacle beneath me. The vastness of the scene, extending nearly a hundred miles each way (the atmo- 
 sphere was very transparent), beautifully interspersed with lakes ; the innumerable villages, many of them glitter- 
 ing with silvery domes and spires ; the tiny and tastefully decorated prison-house at Auburn ; the thousands of 
 variegated grass-plats ; the golden tinge of the waving grain-fields ; the glossy surfaces of the lakes dazzling in 
 the sunbeams ; the lights and shadows over the general surface caused by a partly clouded sky ; the huge preci- 
 pices of clouds lying to the east and partly beneath me ; the wide mirror-like surface of Lake Ontario, with its 
 fringed southern border ; the cities in the evanescent distance decorated with brilliant specks, with a thousand 
 other things, so completely absorbed my mind that when I looked at my watch I found that I had been aloft one 
 hour and ten minutes. 
 
 Looking up at the balloon, I found her discharging gas at the safety-valve. Although but half-filled when 
 she left the garden at Auburn, the immense machine was now full and distended to the utmost tension, showing 
 that my altitude was over two miles. A cluster of detached clouds was hanging between me and Syracuse, some 
 distance off. Here I took another observation of the lakes, and counted thirteen in view Lake Ontario looked 
 like an immense sea, its northern boundary lost in the distant heavens. After being aloft one hour and a half I 
 found myself crossing Onondaga Lake, having northed too much for Syracuse, and making direct for Liverpool, 
 a village five or six miles above the latter place, near which I made a landing, breaking the Oswego telegraph 
 wires with the grappling-iron. 
 
 The balance of the account is best told by the ' Syracuse Journal.' 
 
 A SPECK IN THE HORIZON. 
 
 " When Mr. Wise had determined upon making an ascension from Auburn on Saturday he assured several of 
 his Syracuse friends that should the weather prove favourable he would endeavour to pay them a flying visit, and 
 possibly take tea with them on Saturday evening. This was thought a very good joke. 
 
 " A few minutes before five o'clock Saturday afternoon, as a number of the more credulous were on the ' look 
 out,' they thought they espied something far at the south-west that might be a balloon. It was no bigger than a 
 man's hand, to be sure, but it moved ' like a thing of life ' through the vast expanse, guiding itself majestically 
 like some proud ' Lord of the boundless realm,' and gradually increasing in size as it approached. Ere long all 
 doubt was at an end. The balloon and its voyager were now fairly in view. It was a glorious, a beautiful sight ! 
 and thousands in all directions were wrapped up in its admiration. The course of the balloon was to the north- 
 east, and it passed directly over Geddes, thence over Onondaga Lake to Salina, when Mr. Wise began to descend. 
 In lowering his ship a sub-current of air carried him towards Liverpool ; and at thirty-five minutes past five o'clock 
 he landed on Mr. Waterbury's farm, about six miles from this village. There he was soon met by numerous 
 friends, in carriages, from Syracuse, who had followed his course. 
 
 " In making his descension, Mr. Wise still kept the balloon inflated, and soon made his appearance in our 
 streets, seated comfortably in his car, ready for another trip to the ' ether blue.' A farmer's waggon piloted the 
 aeronaut and his apparatus through Salina-street to the Syracuse House. Heie, as may readily be supposed, a 
 
A.I.. 1847. DESCKM OH I.AKI! KIJIi:. -JI7 
 
 largo crowd gathered. Mr. Wise was evidently much pleased with the success of his journey, and the welcome 
 ho ha<l n-e.-ived. To gratify curiosity, and at the request of niuny, he prepared and made an ascension from tin- 
 .. IK 'ii .-[-aee iii front of the Syracuse House about seven-and-a-half, amid the shouts of the crowd. Ho travel]. .1 a 
 short distance west, landing somowhcro in the vicinity of Geddos. At half-past eight o'clock he re-turn 
 
 UM>, and nHleeined the promise to take tea with his friends." 
 
 My next ascension was made from Buffalo, and the first successful one that had ever been made from that 
 place. ;i> 1 was informed. 
 
 AERIAL LOO-BOOK OF SIXTY-SECOND VOYAGE. 
 
 Memoranda. Bllffillo City Morril> Qardeni July 81it> 1M7 
 
 Four P.M. j.i.-cisely, started with aerial ship Rough and Ready,' under ballast and brisk gale from the S.S.\\ .. 
 
 wind in \ in- .it the rate of a mile per minute. Started with considerable ascending power; but the current wax 
 
 li.it in order to make a more perpendicular rise thirty pounds of ballast were thrown overboard, which 
 
 having lightened the vessel, and a strong gale blowing against it as it rose, caused it to pitch and gyrate with a 
 
 motion, which turned the balloon about one-third round in the network, and made the valve parti v 
 
 unmanageable. 
 
 My first observation was the place I had left, which was five minutes afterwards. The city, although 
 covering much territory, seemed compressed into an area of a hundred miles square. Lake Erie appeared tapci. : 
 tV t<> a narrow ragged pond on its eastern extremity ; then it diverged into two narrow silvery threads, which 
 .unit. .1 .i-iain around a small'green plat. Upon reflection I concluded this must be the Grand Island, and immediately 
 my attention was drawn to a search for Niagara Falls, as I heard a slightly rushing noise of waterfall. My -y 
 noon rested upon it ; and after scanning it for a few moments I involuntarily cried out, " Is that the Falls? " Ami 
 no won ' 1 T, t r it looked like a cascade, such as we see in pleasure-gardens. I was disappointed; for my iniml 
 had been bent upon a soliloquy on Niagara's raging grandeur, but it was a bubble ; it looked too small. 
 
 Tbe scenery of the great panorama surrounding it could only absorb my mind. The little frothy bubble had 
 too much the appearance of a foaming glass of London brown stout ; and it was insufficient of itself to excite an 
 Mi-. i tayond that. It looks like a little humbug when viewed from the clouds. The scenery around was not 10 
 
 ng as that presented around Auburn, and Syracuse, and Utica. Here the country appeared dry when viewed 
 
 from Lake Erie. A vast plain well wooded, with few roads and less villages, it was altogether of a barren cant. 
 
 I made a landing at \Yilliainsville, and was within a few feet of grappling into their church-steeple, which 
 might have caused serious consequences to it, at the rate the balloon was moving, had it caught into it. This is 
 distant from Buffalo twelve miles. 
 
 The Buffalo ' Express ' says of this experiment : " The ascension was made under disadvantageous circum- 
 stances ; but so perfect and so beautiful was it as to settle in the minds of the people of Buffalo a Urge concourse 
 of whom honoured the occasion with their presence on the outside of the Garden the fact that this aeronaut never 
 
 A week after this another ascension was made from this place. 
 
 AERIAL LOO-BOOK OF SIXTY-THIRD VOYAGE. 
 
 Huffulo City. Augnit Cth, 1 s 1 7 
 
 Lett M..ni>' Garden at precisely six minutes past four o'clock with the aerial ship 'Rough and Ready.' 
 \\ind from the north. Walloon rising slowly. Threw over some ballast men, women, and children scrambling 
 out of the "ay. A - nl U-eam.- more rapid. Rising, and moving along parallel with Main-street a little M 
 it. As I rose, the current bore for the lake; began to feel chilly upon the thoughts of a ducking. One mile out 
 on the lake, threw ,,ut more ballast to reach the great eastward current Got up a mile and struck a current at 
 the rate of twenty miles per hour up the lake. This won't do; I shall get out ten or twelve miles before I can 
 reach it, and then probably be blown into Canada, where I should stand a chance of arrest for contraband. Opened 
 valve and came down within speaking distance, just over a brig going into Buffalo. " Ahoy ! what vessel ? " 
 "Brig Eureka, Captain Burnell." "Will you lower a boat, Captain, if I come down?" "Certainly, sir,' 
 answered Captain I'.urnell. " The,, I'll be down presently." Came down with all despatch the brig laid to, l.ut 
 I got astern of her several mil, s l,ef,,re her boat was lowered, and by that time my car struck the wa 
 
 The balloon first rebounded and glanced over the water in a ricochet manner, until Miftieicnt gas was <li- 
 
218 ASTRA CASTRA. A.D. 1848. 
 
 charged to sink the car some depth in the water. This retarded its progress up the lake, and 1 found the yawl, 
 sent from the brig, was gaining on me. In a half-hour longer the boat was alongside, and took me in tow. The 
 gas was soon all discharged : and in another half-hour I was safely aboard of the brig ' Eureka,' in company with 
 the generous Captain Burnell, who took me into port that evening. 
 
 The Buffalo ' Daily Courier ' made the following notice of the ascension : " Yesterday afternoon, according 
 to previous announcement, Mr. Wise made his sixty-third ascension from Morris' Garden, corner of Main and 
 Tupper streets. Great interest was evinced throughout the length and breadth of the city to see it. All sorts, 
 sizes, and conditions of people were assembled to witness his flight. We were glad to see a good number on the 
 inside of the Garden. The outside, and indeed the adjacent streets and lanes, were filled with carriages, and a mass 
 of human beings, all anxious to see what they could. After there had been several pioneer balloons sent up, and 
 the curiosity of such as chose to examine the principal one had been satisfied, Mr. Wise prepared himself in the 
 car for his lofty voyage. About four o'clock, after some preliminary trials, he gave the word, ' Let go,' and amid 
 the cheers and hurrahs of the enthusiastic assemblage, he floated off most grandly. The ease and self-possession 
 which he evinced, the confident air he assumed, showed to our mind conclusively that he was master of his pro- 
 fession. After he was up he went immediately over the city, in the direction of the lake, thus affording an 
 excellent view of the ascension to the thousands on the housetops, etc." 
 
 Ascensions were made from Eochester and Oswego, N. Y., the same summer; both of these trips were of 
 short duration, owing to the proximity of the lakes. In the account of the one from Eochester, the following, in 
 relation to sounds, occurs : There is but one point of peculiarity in the circumstances of my voyage made on 
 Saturday the 14th of August, which is worthy of particular notice. I have always noticed that certain sounds, 
 produced at the surface of the earth, have a remarkably peculiar effect upon the ear of the aeronaut when imme- 
 diately over them. Waterfalls are of this kind in their noise. Even a common mill-dam produces a wonderful 
 noise to one's ears when a mile above it. The Genesee Falls made a noise to my ears, when above them over a 
 mile, a hundred times louder than did Niagara when I stood upon its brink. 
 
 I noticed the same peculiarity, particularly in the returning echo of my own voice, when over Lake Erie. 
 There, the sounds of voice from the persons on board the brig ' Eureka ' were remarkably clear and distinct to my 
 ears when immediately over them, but still not so much so as was the echo-soivnd of my own words. This appeared 
 even louder than the original utterance, and the enunciation quite as distinct. In the case of the words spoken 
 from the brig they became fainter, and very indistinct, after I got at an angular position from them. From this 
 it appears that the occasional sounds which greet my ears so distinctly when sailing along at great heights must 
 arise from points immediately underneath me. The same peculiarity holds good in vision. Immediately below 
 one, objects appear very distinct but very diminished from their real size, while at a great angular distance they 
 appear diffused. 
 
 In my voyage from Auburn there appeared a very striking phenomenon regarding vision. I noticed in the 
 account of it the lucidness of the atmosphere. But there appeared also a looming up of objects in the distance. 
 Lake Erie, which was over a hundred miles off, seemed elevated ten or twelve degrees above the horizon, and yet 
 composed part of the visible horizon. 
 
 Sound and vision are propagated distinctly in perpendicular lines from the earth's surface ; when heard and 
 viewed in angular directions the resulting effects are diffused in both cases. This I have also noticed in the music 
 when ascending. The tune played by a band of music as I ascended perpendicularly above them was distinct and 
 clear ; and when moving off in a rapid horizontal direction, it became very diffuse in a short distance. The firing 
 of cannon, when it is done immediately underneath the balloon, agitates it violently, often with considerable 
 depression in its lower side ; but when the firing is at an angular distance, though much nearer than the perpendi- 
 cular position just mentioned, it is not near so perceptible. 
 
 1848. Mr. Coxwell went to the Continent, and ascended from Brussels, Antwerp, 
 arid Eberfeld. At Berlin he showed the use of shells for destructive purposes. At forty feet 
 below the car a wicker battery was slung ; to this he descended by a rope ladder, dis- 
 charged grenades, or petards, and then reascended to his companions. I much regret that 
 he should not have favoured me with fuller details of these experiments from the accounts in 
 
A.K IM:I. I I COM MARSEILLES TO TURIN ACROSS THE ALP& 219 
 
 tin- (iernian papers, l>iit his many engagements will not now permit him to do so. Among 
 tin- narratives he gave me vivd voce was one of crossing the Sleswig-Holstein frontier in this 
 year, when he was shot at by the German sentries, who took him for a Danish spy. On 
 another occasion ho went from Berlin in tin.- direction of Dantzic, a distance of 170 miles, in 
 three hours and ten minutes. 
 
 lie aseeinleil also from Vienna, Prague, Breslau, Leipsic, Hamburg, and nearly all the 
 chief towns of Germany, and did not return to England till 1852. 
 
 1849. The passage of the Alps was effected this year by M. Arban, in a balloon excursion 
 from Marseilles to Turin, a distance of 400 miles, in eight hours. M. Arban gives this account 
 of it : 
 
 " I ascended from the Chateau de Fleurs on Sunday evening, the 2nd instant, at half-past six. At eight I was 
 UVIT the wood at Esteret, where I ascertained I was at the height of 4000 metres. The temperature of the air was 
 cold, but dry ; my Centigrade thermometer marked four degrees below zero. The wind was south-west, and sent 
 mo over Nice. For nearly two hours I was surrounded by very dense clouds ; my cloak no longer sufficed to keep 
 mo warm ; I suffered much from cold feet I nevertheless determined to proceed and traverse the Alps, from 
 which 1 knew I was not far distant. 
 
 " My provision of ballast was enough to raise me above the highest peaks. The cold gradually increased ; 
 the wind became steady ; and the moon lighted me like the sun. I was at the foot of the Alps ; the snows, cas- 
 cades, rivers, all were sparkling ; the ravines and rocks produced masses of darkness which served as shadows to 
 the gigantic picture. The wind now interrupted the regularity of my course ; I was occasionally obliged to ascend, 
 in order to pass over the peaks. I reached the summit of the Alps at eleven o'clock ; and as the horizon became 
 clear, and my course regular, I began to think of supping. I was now at an elevation of 4600 metres. It was 
 indispensably necessary for me to pursue my journey and reach Piedmont. Chaos only was under me; and to 
 alight in these regions was impossible. After supper I threw my empty bottle into the snow beneath, where 
 possibly some adventurous traveller will one day find it, and will be led to conclude that another before him had 
 explored the same desert regions. 
 
 half-past one in the morning I was over Mont Yiso, which I knew, having explored it in my first 
 journey to Piedmont. There the Durance and the I'o take their source. I reconnoitred their position, and dis- 
 covered the magnificent plains of the mountain. Before this certainty a singular optical delusion, occasioned by 
 the shining of the moon upon the snow, made me at first think myself over the open sea. But as the south-west 
 wind had not ceased to blow, I was convinced by this fact, as well as by others I had noticed, that I could not 
 be over the sea. The stars confirmed the accuracy of my compass ; and the appearance of Mont Blanc satisfied me 
 that I must bo approaching Turin. Mont Blanc to my left, on a level with the top of which I was, being far above 
 the clouds, resembled an immense block of crystal, sparkling with a thousand fires. 
 
 " At a quarter to three Mont Viso, which was behind me, proved to me that I was in the neighbourhood of 
 Turin. I determined to alight, which I did without much difficulty, having ballast enough to go much farther. 
 I alighted near a largo farmyard, where I was surrounded by several watchdogs, from whose caresses I was pro- 
 tected liy my cloak. Their barking awakened the peasants, who were more surprised than frightened at seeing 
 me. They admitted me to their house ; informed me that it was half-past two, and that I was in the village of 1'ion 
 Kortc, ii. i! Suibini. six kilometres from Turin. I passed the remainder of the night in the farmhouse; and in the 
 morning the peasants accompanied me to the mayor, who delivered mo a certificate, attesting my arrival, <fec. 
 After packing up my balloon and car, I set out for Turin, where I arrived at nine in the morning." 
 
 In this voyage the aeronaut sailed from west to east, from Marseilles to Nice, a distance of about a hundred 
 miles. Crossing the mountains at a point where the Cottian Alps meet and form an angle with the Maritime Alps, 
 he was swept along their eastern side in nearly a northern direction. Had he ascended higher ho would no doubt 
 have been carried towards Genoa. 
 
 1850. Mr. P>ell atu-iiiptod an improvement in the form of the balloon, which he 
 
 2 o 
 
220 ASTRA CASTRA. A.D. 1851. 
 
 endeavoured to propel by means of screws and fans. Mr. Poitevin attracted 150,000 people 
 in Paris, to look at an exhibition of himself ascending on horseback. Mr. Gale met with his 
 death at Bordeaux during an ascent ; for, as was sometimes the case with him, intoxicating 
 liquors robbed him of the full use of his faculties, which are more than ever essential on such 
 extraordinary occasions. 
 
 1851. An accident that befell Mr. and Mrs. Graham, attracted particular attention, from 
 occurring in the metropolis. After grazing the Great Exhibition building, the balloon did 
 some damage to Colonel North's house. The following is Mrs. Graham's account, whilst still 
 suffering from the eifects of the ascent : 
 
 S (B) Walworth, June 17, 1851. 
 
 May I beg to forward you as correct an account as possible respecting the ascent of the balloon from the 
 Hippodrome yesterday ? It is well known that the wind blew almost a hurricane at times during the day ; so 
 much so that, whilst the inflation was proceeding, upwards of thirty men, who were holding on, were constantly 
 blown to various parts of the circle by the power of the wind on the balloon. At such times it is totally 
 impossible to ascertain the buoyant power at the time of starting by the usual method of weighing. AMien we 
 arose the wind carried us against a high mast or pole in the ground, before we had time to cast out ballast, and a 
 long rent was caused in the upper part of the balloon. We cast out sand to clear the trees in Kensington Gardens, 
 and finding ourselves approaching the Crystal Palace, we gradually discharged the ballast with our hands, so 
 that no great weight should fall in any one spot. We succeeded in quite clearing it, and then made for a descent 
 in the park, which we effected on the grass, and threw out the long line of our safety-bag (without anything 
 being attached) to some men who were running. Two of them caught this line, and held on for some time, but 
 being dragged along by the force of the wind they let go, and we directly rebounded, the wind carrying us on to 
 a house in Arlington Street, and from thence to one in Park Place, where the car rested between a stack of 
 chimneys and a roof, where we remained until some policemen of the C division and some gentlemen's servants 
 came to our assistance, and aided us with ladders to descend through a trap-door, when two eminent medical 
 gentlemen of the neighbourhood promptly attended, and rendered us the most kindly aid professionally at such a 
 trying moment. Allow me to add that the grapnel-iron we never let from the car, as can be proved by those 
 who assisted us on the roof, it never having been untied from the side of the car, as we were too anxious to 
 prevent any accident occurring to the men who were running after us. Neither did we touch any part of the 
 Crystal Palace. With regard to any accidents that have occurred to myself in my numerous ascents, I have only 
 confidently to declare that I have met with no more than the most experienced aeronaut of the day all being 
 
 liable to mischances, particularly on such a boisterous day as yesterday. 
 
 M. GRAHAM. 
 
 1852. Mr. Coxwell returned to England, where he met with a hearty welcome. 
 A scientific balloon ascent was made this year by Mr. John Welsh, of the Kew Observatory. 
 Henry Mayhew gives the following account of his experience of an ascent : 
 
 " Is THE CLOUDS;" OR, SOME ACCOUNT OF A BALLOON' TRIP WITH MK. GREEN. 
 
 I am naturally a coward constitutionally and habitually timid I do not hesitate to confess it. The 
 literary temperament and sedentary pursuits are, I believe, seldom associated with physical courage. Fear, or 
 the ideal presence of prospective injury, is necessarily an act of the imagination ; and the sense of danger, 
 therefore, closely connected with a sense of the beautiful and the aesthetic faculties in general. Your human 
 bulldogs are mostly deficient in mental refinement, and perhaps if there be no class of characters more fancyless 
 than the rest of the world, they are those who are said to belong to the "fancy" My creed is that all imaginative 
 men are cowards ; and that I am one I have at least moral courage and honesty enough to acknowledge. 
 
 Then why go up in a balloon ? 
 
LA 1853. IIKNKV M \VIII.\\ - \M i:.\T. -'-I 
 
 why? These are times when men's principles of action are rare to be canvaMed ; o, to proven! the 
 imputation of any I',!-. m,,tive.s, 1 will make a clean breast of it, and confess that it wan merely " idle curio-ity." 
 ! ! i. ills it. that took me into tin- air. 
 
 1 had seen tin- ^reat metropolis under almost every aspect. I had dived into holes and corners hidden from 
 the honest ami well t. >-!<> iHirti..n ,,f the Cockney community. I had visited Jacob's Island (the plague-pot) in 
 tli, height (if tin- ch.dera. win n, to inhale the very air of the place was almost to breathe the breath of death. 
 I li i,l sought out the haunts of beggars and thieves, and passed hours communing with them as to their histories, 
 hal.it.-. natures, and impulses. I had teen the world of London below the surface, as it were, and I had a craving 
 plate it far above it to behold tin- immense maw of vice and avarice and cunning, of noble aspirations 
 mitl humble heroism, blent into one black spot; to take, as it were, an angel's view of that huge city where, 
 ps, there is more virtue and more iniquity, more wealth and more want huddled together in one vast heap 
 than in any other part of the earth ; to look down upon the strange, incongruous clump of palaces and workhouses; 
 , hi nmcys and church steeples, of banks and prisons, of docks and hospitals, of parka and squares, of 
 - and alleys to look down upon these as the birds of the air look down upon them, and see the whole 
 dwindle into a heap of rul>lii>h mi the green sward, a human anthill, as it were ; to hear the hubbub of the 
 restless sea of life be-low, and hear it like the ocean in a shell, whispering to you of the incessant struggling*! and 
 ,-i; ilium's of the distant tide to swing in the air far above all the petty jealousies and heartburnings, and small 
 ambitions and \ain parade*, and feel for once tranquil as a babe in a cot that you were hardly of the earth, earthy ; 
 and to find, as you drink in the pure thin air above you, the blood dancing and tingling joyously through your 
 veins, and your whole spirit becoming etherealised as, Jacob-like, yon mounted the aerial ladder, and beheld the 
 world beneath you fade and fade from your sight like a mirage in the desert; to feel yourself really, as you had 
 ideally in your dicams, floating through the endless realms of bpace, sailing among the stare free OR " the lark at 
 heaven's gate : " and to enjoy for a brief half-hour at least a foretaste of that elysian destiny which is the hope of 
 all. To see, to think, and to feel thus was surely worth some little risk, and this it was that led me to peril my 
 bones in the car of a balloon. 
 
 It is true that the aerial bulls and ponies of late had taken nearly all poetry from the skies, reducing the 
 ancient myths to the mere stage trikceries of an ethereal Astley's ; true that the depraved rage for excitement 
 that species of mental dram-drinking which ever demands some brutal stimulant had given a most vulgar, 
 prosaic character to a voyage which, when stripped of its peril, is perhaps one of the purest and most dignified 
 delights that the mind is capable of enjoying; still, quickened with a love of my own art, and heedless of any 
 -illy injmtations of rivalry with quadrupeds and mountebanks, I gladly availed myself of a seat in the car which 
 Mr. Green had set aside for me. 
 
 At about a quarter to seven o'clock, six of us and the " veteran aeronaut" took our places in the largo deep 
 wicker-work basket of a car attached to the Itoyal Nassau Balloon, while two gentlemen were seated immediately 
 above onr heads, with their backs resting against the netting and their legs stretched across the hoop to which 
 the cords of the network are fastened, and from which depends the car. There were altogether nine of us a 
 complete set of human pins for the air to play at skittles with and the majority, myself among the number, no 
 sylphs in weight. Above us reeled the great gas-bag like a monster peg-top, and all around the car were groups 
 of men holding to the sides of the basket, while the huge iron weights were handed out and replaced by largo 
 squabby bags of sand. 
 
 In the course of about ten minutes all the arrangements for starting were complete; the grapnel, looking 
 like a bundle of largo iron fish-hooks, welded together, was hanging over the side of the car. The guide-rope, 
 longer than St. Paul's is high, and done up in a canvas bag, with only the end hanging out, was dangling beside 
 the grapnel, and wo were raised some fifty feet in the air to try the ascensivo power of the machine that was to 
 bear ns through the clouds. Then, having been duly dragged down, the signal was at length given to fire the 
 cannons, and Mr. t liven loosening the only rope that bound us to the Gardens, we shot into the air or rather 
 the earth seemed to sink suddenly down, as if the spot of ground, with all the spectators on it, and on which wo 
 ourselves had been lately standing, had been constituted ,'ii the same principle as the Adelphi stage, and admitted 
 d at a moment's notice. The last thing that I remember to have seen distinctly was the flash of 
 the guns, and instantaneously tin B da multitude of upturned faces in tip - l>elow, the greater part 
 
 with their months wide 01*11, and a cfci-aux^Je-frue of hands extended above them, all signalling farewell to us. 
 
 2 a 2 
 
ASTRA CASTKA. A.D. 1852. 
 
 Then, as we swept rapidly above the trees, I could see the roadway immediately outside the Gardens, stuck all 
 over with rows of tiny people, looking like so many black pins on a cushion, and the hubbub of the voices below 
 was like the sound of a distant school let loose. 
 
 And here began that peculiar panoramic effect which is the distinguishing feature of a view from a balloon, 
 and which arises from the utter absence of all sense of motion in the machine itself. The earth appeared literally 
 to consist of a long series of scenes, which were being continually drawn along under you, as if it were a diorama 
 beheld flat upon the ground, and gave one almost the notion that the world was an endless landscape stretched 
 upon rollers, which some invisible sprites were revolving for your especial enjoyment. 
 
 Then, as we struck towards the fields of Surrey, and I looked over the edge of the car in which I was 
 standing, holding on tight to the thick rope descending from the hoop above, and with the rim of the wicker-work 
 reaching up to my breast, the sight was the most exquisite delight I ever experienced. The houses below looked 
 like the tiny wooden things out of a child's box of toys, and the streets like ruts. To peer straight down gave you 
 an awful sense of the height to which the balloon had already risen, and yet there was no idea of danger, for the 
 mind was too much occupied with the grandeur and novelty of the scene all around to feel the least alarm. As 
 the balloon kept on ascending, the lines of buildings grew smaller and smaller, till in a few minutes the projections 
 seemed very much like the prominences on the little coloured plaster-models of countries. Then we could see 
 the gas-lights along the different lines of road start into light one after another all over the earth, and presently 
 the ground seemed to be covered with little miniature illumination lamps, such as may be seen resting on the 
 grass at the edge of the gravel walks in suburban gardens of amusement. The river we could see winding far 
 away, undulating, as it streamed along, like a man-of-war's pennant, and glittering here and there in the dusk like 
 grey steel. All round the horizon were thick slate-coloured clouds, edged with the orange-red of the departed sun ; 
 and with the tops of these we seemed to be on a level. So deep was the dusk in the distance, that it was difficult 
 to tell where the earth ended and the sky began ; and in trying to make out the objects afar off, it seemed to be as 
 if you were looking through so much crape. The roads below were now like narrow light-brown ribbons, and the 
 bridges across the Thames almost like planks ; while the tiny black barges, as they floated up the river, appeared 
 no bigger than insects. The large green fields had dwindled down to about the size of kettle-holders, and the 
 hedges were like strips of chenille. 
 
 When we were about a mile above the ground some of us threw pieces of paper into the grey air, and these, 
 as we rose and left them below, fluttered about like butterflies as they fell. Then some of the more noisy of the 
 crew struck a song ; while I heard a dyspeptic gentleman immediately behind me, as I was kneeling down (for 
 there was but one seat), and stretching my head over the side of the car, contemplating the world of wonder 
 below, confess to feeling a little nervous ; saying that he was a man of natural moral courage, but his body overcame 
 it, as he was subject to fits of indigestion, and as a preventive to extreme nervousness had taken nothing but 
 vegetables for dinner that day. And I must confess myself that, poised up high in the air, as we were, with but 
 a few slender cords to support us, I could not help thinking of the awful havoc there would be if the twigs of the 
 wicker car were to break and the bottom give way. 
 
 On what sharp church-steeple, thought I, should I be spitted ? and as I looked down the beauty of the scene 
 once more took all sense of fear from my mind, for the earth now appeared concave with the height, and seemed 
 like a huge black bowl as if it were the sky of the nether regions. The lights of the villages scattered over the 
 scene were like clusters of glowworms, from the midst of which you could here and there distinguish the crimson 
 speck of some railway-lamp. 
 
 " There, I've thrown over a letter, directed to my house," said one of the passengers, " telling 'em we're all 
 safe up here " and as I stretched over the car I saw the little white fluttering thing go zigzagging down the air 
 while we still mounted the sky. 
 
 Then some of the passengers, who had supplied themselves with an extraordinary stock of courage previous 
 to starting, by means of sundry bottles of " sparkling champagne," which had the effect of making them more 
 noisy than agreeable in such a situation, must needs begin quarrelling with a rose-water Captain in the hoop, as to 
 whether they belonged to the " Snobocracy " or the " Nobocracy," and at one time their words were literally 
 so high that, could the pair have got to close quarters, the dispute would certainly have assumed a more serious 
 character ; for, jammed tight together as we were in the car, the least attempt at violence would certainly have 
 ended in discharging the whole human cargo into the railway-station below. But as it was, it certainly did 
 

 Mfe 
 
 
 LI. li Hill, 
 
 IDHJiniit 
 
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 * 
 
 Co I' NT ZAMBECCARTl It.M.l.oON. 
 
 w,ufnAatr tnkai up Hiin/'rir./ J ^//-. /// 
 //>//// Tt-t>.-ti/i,un /','t/ff Kim,.' but /nit hfi\ui4j tifiif 
 
 hltufit f, i ,/f( ,>ut .aSifr ///,;> // it.t, ; -/,,/fd wifJi Sirfa/it'iiri/ arti/ the ( bit/// 
 and detrotdft/ r,f,tr Hvrs/nuti HI Jjy/fvu \--:6MitfJ tfisfiuU. in '/// J/,>nr, .lla/vh yt'.' 
 
 
A.P. 1852. lir.NKY MAYIIKWS ASCKNT. 223 
 
 appear most ludicrous that two rational beings must choose that place of all others for engaging in some paltry 
 squabble as to the vulgar division of tho human family into " Nobs " and " Suobe." 
 
 Silence, however, was soon restored by Mr. Green reminding tho disputants that wo were descending at a 
 rapid rate, and it was time they began to look out for their safety. 
 
 Tho dyspeptic passenger, who during the dispute had evidently been suffering from another attack of 
 nervousness, was at length terrified beyond human endurance by the gentleman who was rather the worse for 
 champagne indulging in oven warmer language than ho had yet given vent to. 
 
 in. r. y siik.' .lon't swear up here, my good man ! " shivered out the poor invalid. " Wait till you got down 
 below, if you must swear. We are always in the hands of IVovidenoe ; but, up hero, it strikes mo that our lives are 
 
 literally liiiirjjiujj 1-y a thread." 
 
 Tho collapsing of tho bottom part of tho balloon, to which Mr. Green here drew our attention as evidence of 
 the rate at which wo were descending, soon restored ordor, and made every ono anxious to attend to tho directions 
 nf the aeri'irmt. We could now hear the sounds of " Ah bal-loon! " again rising from the ground and following in 
 onr wake, telling us that at the small villages on our way tho people were anxiously looking for our descent A 
 bag of ballast was intrusted to one of the passengers to let fall at a given signal, while Green himself stood with 
 j-rapnel ready to loose immediately he came to a fitting spot. Presently the signal for tho descent of tho ballast 
 wan given, and as it dropped it was curious to watch it fall ; the earth had seemed almost at our feet as the car 
 
 ..ver the fields hut so long wai tho heavy bag in getting to tho ground that, as tho eye watched it fall and 
 full, the ininil wan fill.il with amazement at the height the balloon still was in the air. Suddenly tho sound as of 
 a ;:MII anii"iin.i-d that the bag had struck the soil, and then we were told all to sit low down in tho car and hold 
 last. Scarcely had we obeyed tho orders given than tho car was suddenly and fiercely jerked half round, and all 
 within it thrown one on top of another; immediately after this, bump went tho bottom of tho car on the ground, 
 giving us so violent a shake that it seemed as if every limb in tho body had been simultaneously dislocated. Now 
 the balloon j.it.-h.-.l on to its side, and lay on the ground struggling with tho wind, and rolling about, heaving like a 
 huge whale in the agonies of death. 
 
 " For Heaven's sake! hold last," shouted Mr. Green, aa wo were dashed up and down in tho car, all rolling 
 one on tho other, with each fresh lurch of tho giant machine stretched on the ground before us, and from which we 
 could hear the gas roaring from tho valve, like tho blast of a furnace. 
 
 Si* -till, all of you, I say!" roared our pilot, as ho saw some one endeavouring to leave tho car. 
 
 Again we were pitched ri^ht on end, and tho bottom of tho car shifted into a ditch, the water of which 
 bubbled up through the wicker-work of tho car ; and I, unlucky wight, who was seated in that part to which tho 
 concussions were mostly confined, soon began to feel that I was quietly silting in a pool of water. 
 
 To move, however, was evidently to peril not only one's own life, but that of all tho other passengers, but still 
 no one came to us ; for we bad fallen in a swamp, which we afterwards found out was Pirbright Common, situate 
 some half-dozen miles from Guildford. 
 
 Presently, however, to our great delight, some hundred drab-smocked countrymen appeared, almost as if by 
 magic, around the edges of the car ; for some little time they were afraid to touch, but at last they got a firm hold 
 of it, and we were ono after another extricated from our seats. 
 
 To toll the remainder of tho adventure would bo tame and dull : suffice it, after some two hours' labour, the 
 aerial machine, car, grapnels, and all, was rolled and packed up in a cart, and thus transported, an hour after 
 midnight, to Guildford ; the voyagers journeying to the same town in a tilted cart, delighted with their trip, and 
 listening to tho many curious adventures of the veteran aeronaut who had successfully piloted them and some 
 hundred others through the air ; and who, now that tho responsibility of their lives rested no longer in his hands, 
 seemed a thoroughly different man : lieforc he was taciturn, and almost irritable when spoken to ; and now he was 
 garrulous, and delighting all with his intelligence, his enterprise, his enthusiasm, and his courtesy. Indeed, long 
 shall we all remember the pleasant night we passed with the old ethereal pilot on his oOUth ascent with the Royal 
 Nassau Balloon. 
 
 1853. In this year Mr. Knight made an ascent, and tried experiments, at Bombay. 
 1854. A pamphlet appeared, containing an imaginary conversation between an 
 aeronaut and a general, written with much spirit and humour, by .Mr. Cuxwcll, who hoped 
 
224 ASTRA CASTRA. A.D. 1857. 
 
 that balloons might be used in the Crimea. Several of his letters appeared also in the 
 ' Times.' 
 
 1857. On Monday, June 15, Mr. Coxwell made an extraordinary balloon voyage of 
 250 miles in five hours. 
 
 This extraordinary voyage, which is perhaps unprecedented for speed and distance combined, commenced 
 from the Pavilion Gardens, North Woolwich, and terminated about three miles beyond Tavistock, in Devonshire, 
 just on the borders of Cornwall. A day ascent was announced from these beautiful gardens, but the strong wind 
 which blew prevented the inflation until a late hour. Mr. Coxwell, sooner than allow the visitors to be 
 disappointed, volunteered to make a night ascent ; and at half-past eleven o'clock the aeronaut took his seat in 
 the car, and invited Mr. J. Allan, of Wellclose Square, and Mr. Youens of Poplar, to accompany him. The balloon 
 at this moment presented a magnificent spectacle, as it was surrounded by coloured fires ; and it immediately 
 afterwards took flight amidst huzzas and a salvo of garden artillery. The voyagers traversed the southern portion 
 of the metropolis, and the view of London by night was most wonderful and beautiful, and by means of the gas- 
 lights every bridge and main street could be traced. They crossed directly over Eichmond, where the aeronauts 
 came to a consultation on the propriety of a descent, but agreed to make a night of it. At twelve the aeronauts 
 were over Windsor, where they drank the health of Her Majesty and sung " God save the Queen," in the most 
 novel and exciting situation it is possible to imagine. 
 
 About one A.M., the famous aerial captain instituted as careful a survey as possible of the country beneath. 
 The moon, which had now risen, assisted the search. The well-known sound of the waves on the sea-shore soon 
 caught the aeronautic ear ; but Mr. Coxwell expressed a belief that althorjgh the balloon was approaching the 
 coast, it was only in a skirting direction -and such appeared to bo the fact, as it was afterwards ascertained that 
 they were over Hampshire. As daylight broke, the calculations were found to be correct, the intrepid party 
 finding themselves hugging the coast, and going along at considerable speed. The river Exe was crossed over 
 Htarcross Station, between Exeter and Exmouth, when the sun just appeared, and the voyagers simultaneously 
 exclaimed, " See ' the rosy morn tips the hills with gold,' " as in appearance it did ; it was beautiful in the extreme, 
 and never to bo forgotten. Dartmoor was traversed, when Mr. Coxwell determined to avail himself of the shelter 
 afforded by the hills, and descended in a valley, about three miles from Tavistock, where a suitable meadow 
 presented a good landing-place. 
 
 It was some time before the particulars of the journey obtained credence. At Sidmouth the alarm-bell was 
 rung by the night watchman ; but before the inhabitants were astir the balloon was out of sight, and the man 
 laughed at, until the Devonshire papers were published with an account of the voyage. At Newton Abbot the 
 balloon was declared to be the comet ; but the railway-guard stopped the panic, by declaring the aerial visitor to 
 be Mr. Coxwell's balloon. The aeronauts walked to Tavistock, and put up at the Queen's Hotel, where they had 
 some difficulty in persuading the worthy host, Mr. Northway, that they were in London the night before. 
 After partaking of a hearty breakfast, the balloon was brought into the town, amidst the cheers and congratulations 
 of the major part of the inhabitants. 
 
 EXPLORATION OF AUSTRALIA BY BALLOONS. 
 
 1858. The following letter appeared in the ' Times ' of January 23 : 
 
 SIR, 
 
 A short time since a paragraph appeared in ' The Tunes,' to the effect that it was " gravely proposed in 
 Victoria to explore the interior of that country through the agency of balloons." 
 
 As I am the aeronautic designer and constructor of the balloons which were ordered in this country by the 
 Honourable George Coppin for use in Australia, it may not be uninteresting to state how far the rumour of an 
 aerial voyage is correct, and in what way a survey is contemplated of apparently so hazardous a nature. 
 
 Firstly. The balloons which are now at Melbourne were never built for the purpose of scientific experiment 
 or exploration, but simply for public amusement. The aeronauts, however, who went out in accordance with my 
 recommendation, were particularly requested to make frequent meteorological observations, both in the higher 
 region and lower currents, especially with a view of observing how far it is likely a balloon would be influenced 
 
A.D. 1858. Mi;. m.\\\ i:i.!> ri;t >]'oHTK>N>. 
 
 by inliiinl and return breezes. Mr. ('. II. Brown, a gentleman of acute observation, assisted by Mr. Dean, are 
 n<>\v nuking the necesxai v iii'iuiiies, and from the accounts already received, there appears to be good grounds for 
 believing tli.it certain i. 'liable current* will facilitate the undertaking. As a matter of course, expressly built 
 machines, of ample dimensions, will ! requisite, together with every conceivable appliance, to afford a retun. 
 journey by a diametrically opposite wind to that embraced at the outset. The party will also be provided with 
 mi improved ami gigantic fire-balloon, in a collapsed state, which can be inflated in the most desolate interior 
 locality without gas; a reserve expedient, which, in the event of injury or exhaustion to the parent machine, will 
 provide the means for a second trip. 
 
 1 am a!-, maturing a totally novel apparatus, calculated to regulate the altitude of the exploring balloon, mi 
 as to avoid tin- continual loss of gas and power resulting from extreme variations in tho atmosphere; and 1 trust 
 that this contrivance will bring tho aerial vehicle under a larger amount of mechanical control, and thereby prove 
 > in advance towards real utility. 
 
 The expedition will IHJ provided with a photographic apparatus to stamp, with truthful and indelible outlines, 
 a series of bird's-eye views, the indisputable correctness of which will bo invaluable, with written records of 
 passing scenes. Viewing calmly the danger likely to accompany such an attempt, I do not think it can fairly bo 
 pronounced greater than that which attends an Arctic voyage, or any other which originates from a desire to attain 
 ti-eful knowledge by intrepidity and ]>er8onal risk. 
 
 This may l>e the language of enthusiasm, for which the more sober portion of mankind feel no sympathy and 
 i.igemcnt. The voyage, however, will not depend upon the public voice to order tho liberating iron 
 
 pulled, but upon the inspiriting motive-power resulting from careful calculations, in which the odds, coupled 
 with the promised advantages, are in favour of the trial. 
 
 I remain, Sir, your obedient servant, 
 
 T..tu.nluun.Jn MI.SBT Coxwm.i.. 
 
 (from the 'Aerostatic Magazine.') 
 
 The following is a brief outline of my plan, which is, no doubt, susceptible of improvement. Operation the 
 first must be the building of a large shed, somewhat resembling tho covering to the ships in our dock-yard*, 
 where the balloons could be constructed, inflated, and protected from the weather. I would prefer two distinct 
 balloons to one leviathan air-ship, as, to a certain extent, tho balloons might be made serviceable, the one to the 
 other, and in the event of an imperfection or rupture in one, the other might be resorted to ; and this would be 
 rendered practicable, as the two would be connected by a spar, although distinct in their position and floatage. 
 The size of these balloons I estimate at 100 feet in diameter, which would give, calculating for the globular 
 
 . a surface of 31,416 square feet each balloon, and a capacity of 523,590 cubic feet. Thus do these few figures 
 clearly show the advantage of ample dimensions, as the yards of silk required are infinitely less in proportion to 
 the capacity, than is the case with ordinary-sized balloons, because tho surfaces of spheres are as the squares of 
 the diameter, whilst the contents are as the cube*. Over two-thirds of the exploring balloons, outside and free 
 from tho netting, I would employ a hood or overcoat of silk, so as to keep off rain or humidity from the gas-bag 
 itself, tho effects of moisture producing disagreeable consequences, both to the voyagers and to the balloon. As 
 the power of tolerably good-burning gas of the specified quantity would raise more than 40,0.00 pounds weight, 
 the machines could take every available requisite, with four persons in each car, and two horses in separate cars 
 slung underneath. If pure hydrogen were used, the power would be greatly increased ; but, all things considered, 
 I should prefer coal-gas generated expressly, at a specific gravity of about 350. 
 
 It would be well to have the cars waterproof, something after tho fashion of a seaport-car I invented some 
 years since, which was eo constructed to act as a lifeboat in case of being driven out to sea. 
 
 Supposing tho balloons to bo fully equipped, and the wind in the desired point, two courses would be open 
 to the commanding aeronaut ; either a bold, reckless dotdi for the interior, leaving it to chance, or a return breeze, 
 to get back ; or else a mode of procedure based upon reasonable inferences, by which the course of the balloon 
 oould be traced, and by which tho aerial party could steer their way back. This latter is the plan I should 
 advise, "discretion being the U-tter part of valour." 
 
 After inflating the balloons, it would be advisable to connect them by means of a wooden or iron rod, say 
 150 feet across, made in pieces like a fishing-rod. Hopes on cither side would form an additional security, and 
 
226 ASTKA CASTEA. A.D. 1858. 
 
 a special foot-rope would prove instrumental for a personal transfer, if needed, in the manner seamen travel the 
 yards on board a man-of-war. 
 
 Secondly. Trail-ropes, to restrict the altitude to about 500 feet, not being objectionable in an uninhabited 
 country, would prove immensely serviceable. Indeed, without some means of confining the balloon to a limited 
 altitude, either by machinery to cause a succession of ascents and descents, or by trail-ropes, the horizontal course 
 of the balloons would be limited, probably, to twenty-four hours' duration ; the variation, both in temperature and 
 in atmospheric pressure on the surface of the balloons, would otherwise occasion a continued exhaustion of gas ; 
 whereas, by connecting the machine with the earth's surface, the loss of power and increase of weight at night, 
 or during rain, would be counterbalanced by an increased deposit of rope to drag ; and subsequent expansion by 
 heat would restore the balance, leaving it to disposable power or ballast to settle the difference. 
 
 Thirdly. The most important provision of all remains to be considered, viz., how to leave behind, from the 
 very place of starting, sure indication of the course pursued, so that the aerial party might steer homeward by, 
 in case they could keep afloat no longer, or a searching party might be directed by, if called upon to look for the 
 aeronautic expedition. 
 
 It appears to me that the simplest and most effectual way to accomplish this would be as follows : 
 
 To be provided with an abundant stock of paper messengers containing the printed words, " The Balloon 
 Way." At stated intervals of time, say every half-minute, it would be the duty of the Watch to cast out these 
 bills, which would soon reach the ground, and would serve as a clue to the course taken. Then, again, at spaces 
 of about ten or twenty miles, a flag and staff might be let down with a waterproof bag of corn and provisions near 
 the pointed extremity, which would cause it to fall straight and enter the soil ; the flag would prove a landmark, 
 and the provisions might accommodate either horses or wayfarers out or home. 
 
 By taking ballast of corn and hay, besides sand, and discharging it in bags, the balloon would be relieved 
 when requisite, and numerous places of refreshment established, with signposts to denote them. 
 
 As the country is described to us as " thickly wooded, and abounding with good natural pasturage," the 
 aeronauts could plant their landmarks on high open ground, and as an india-rubber covering would shield the 
 provisions from rain, so would it, perhaps, from the interference of animals in search of food. A wire cage would 
 be a useful addition. 
 
 In the pioneer trip it would be advisable not to penetrate too far, but rather to return with good tidings, and 
 photographic views. 
 
 As we are led to suspect the existence of plains and open localities, the balloons could be brought up 
 and moored if desirable, until the wind chopped round, as indicated by the compass, for the homeward 
 voyage. 
 
 The immense capacity of balloons one hundred feet in diameter, just constructed of thick new silk, would 
 enable the aeronauts to anchor them in shady spots without experiencing, any considerable loss of power. I am 
 at the present time giving attention to a contrivance to supersede, in some measure, the use of the trail-ropes, or, 
 at any rate, to prevent any unpleasant results in case of these ropes breaking. The possibility of suddenly 
 parting with a great weight, calls for counteracting machinery, and I trust I have hit upon a plan by which the 
 upward flight of the balloons would be checked. 
 
 If the worst happened, the horses must be mounted and baited occasionally at the sign of the flagstaff. 
 The bills would point out the route. 
 
 Here, then, is a short sketch, in which the probable dangers and emergencies are considered and 
 provided against. 
 
 BALLOONING IN AUSTKALIA. 
 (From the 'Aerostatic Magazine') 
 
 This year will ever be memorable in Melbourne and Sydney for the first introduction of ballooning by 
 Messrs. Brown and Dean, the Aeronauts from London. The Honourable George Coppiu conceived the idea of 
 attracting public attention to them at Cremorno Gardens, and a goodly number of ascents, both by day and by 
 night, have taken place with great eclat. The following accounts from Australian papers will bo read with 
 interest : 
 
 " We have to acknowledge our obligations to the aeronauts for the following narrative of last night's voyage 
 
A.I,, i r.vi.i DOMING IN iUSTRAL] \ 
 
 in tin- .in . lui .tscent yesterday evening from ( 'n moim- Caidi-ns \vitli tin- An-imlian " Balloon, was the most 
 
 i.-ide, and terminated in a manner m-\.i l.:-i.- jn-i-i.mi.lMi.il |.\ .ii.\ .1. i. I...MV \\.-iiKccnded 
 
 with a considerable- apparatus of - Mispcndid from the car, which the calm state 
 
 V.I us to display over the heads of our patrons in Crcmonie. \\i- linvi-ri-d over the garden- 
 
 : 1.- It-iijiih i>f tiiin-. ami thi-ii moved off towards the Botanical GardenH, over which we were at 
 
 y three minutes pa.st ten. After following for some tinn- tin- meandering* of tin- river Yarra, we met with 
 
 .1 .1. . i'li -.1 i -iiiTi-nt which carried us over li'ichmond 1'addoek, Imt nt a-vcry K!OW rate. T\MI w,- descend) d, and 
 
 i>eil with the people helow, who were very pressing in their solicitations f.r us to descend; but, as there 
 
 were great numbers of them, we were afraid the balloon would IHJ injured, and resolved to continue our course, 
 
 to as to descend mi the ..ppo-it.- side i.f tin- ] -omcwhcre near Battam's Swamp. Our greatest allitudo was 
 
 al.iit it mile iind a half. At that height the air was quite warm, and we were obliged to lay aside our greatcoats. 
 
 1. |-..siti..n . f m.-i-tui.- on tin- liitlloon and netting was BO great as to oblige us almost continually to 
 
 throw out ballast The booming of the fn.w..ik ut ( 'rcmnrne was distinctly luaid by us. and the 
 
 ik- pre-i-nt. d one of the grandest sights imaginable. The moon shone so bright that wo could see our 
 
 i ..n linns and watch, and even read a newspaper we had with us an well as at noonday. After passing over the 
 
 i.iil\\.i\ x _.-ui and came down gently near the gasworks at Battam's Swamp, among a large crowd ; but as 
 
 some person* in the crowd behaved rather rudely. I :. .king some of the apparatus and shaking the car violently. 
 
 .ut ballast, and ti. u eiidcavoiiied to n-tain the balloon, which reasccnded to an elevation of 
 
 1500 feet. In iea>. ending, a current brought tin back over the railway, and we finally came down at five minutes 
 
 past eleven, between Emerald Hill and the railway. The balloon was immediately Mirrounded by hundreds of 
 
 f whom seemed determined to have ns conveyed to Emerald Hill, contrary to our desire. A 
 
 in. ui in the crowd called out with a loud voice, 'Gentlemen, remember Collingwood don't disgrace Km. nl.1 
 
 Hill.' This had the effect we desired, and when our wish to return to C'remorne Gardens was made known four 
 
 !> and some, other parties towed the inflated balloon, with us treated in the car, over Prince's Bridge, along the 
 
 h'iehmond and I'unt Koads, through Swan Street and I'ltinmne Sti.-et, and deposited us at twelve o'clock on the 
 
 identical t-pot from whence we bad ascended amidst immense cheering." ' Melbourne Evening Mail,' Man-It 30, 
 
 The Balloon Ascent in the Domain. 
 
 large and splendid balloon which, under the name of " the Australasian." has already made numerous 
 
 ssfol ascents in Melbourne, rose, with Messrs. Brown and Dean in it car, from the Cricket Ground in the 
 
 ; Domain, yeM- .moon, at five o'clock. A very large concourse of people amounting to upwards of 
 
 7000 persons, attracted by the great novelty of the thing were present on the occasion, and hailed the entire 
 
 success of the undertaking with shouts of pleasure and approbation. The weather had been during the day of a 
 
 somewhat uni>ro]>itious character, and the wind (which blew pretty smartly from the southward) was considered 
 
 by many to be in every way unfavourable to the enterprise. In spite, however, of every sinister prediction, the 
 
 fh-t balloon ascent in New South Wales was happily accomplished. 
 
 tedious and difficult process of inflation took place in an open space nearly opposite the Government 
 
 iiffi.es, not far from the gate of the Inner Domain. It was skilfully managed with gas laid on from one of the 
 
 mains of liV- Au-tiiilian Gaslight Company, and commenced at about two o'clock, in the presence of numerous 
 
 >t. is. After having been continued for about two hours, during which the enormous monster absorbed 
 
 ',000 and 40,000 feet of gas, the " Australasian," beginning to oscillate somewhat considerably from the 
 
 in- wind. wan carefully escorted by a numerous and eager number of volunteers to the arena prepared 
 
 for the display of its powers. To avoid the difficulties inseparable from the road, the balloon was brought by a 
 
 short cut across the western corner of the Government I'addock, about one hundred yards below >ii b'ichard 
 
 I'.ourke's Statue, into tl - n. where it was temporarily moored safely enough a few minutes after four 
 
 o'clock. About a half-hour afterwards a salute of four guns, fired from a six-pounder by some of the corps of 
 
 ilery, aim. ui.i . -d the arrival of his Excellency the Governor-General and suite, who were roiidin -t< ! 
 
 to a handsome iv-d with flags, and standing within the spacious enclosure. Some apprehension waa 
 
 now i \< it. .1 .n ac. ..nut of the wind, and, although held down and kept steady as far as possible, the 
 
 Australasian" swayed about a good deal. Mis Kxcelh ncy himself left the tent provided for him, ami. having 
 
 honoured the balloon with a clot* and personal inspiction, concurred in the opinion of some other persons of 
 
 1 II 
 
228 ASTRA CASTKA. A.D. 1801. 
 
 high scientific attainments, that the inflation was quite sufficient. After a short delay, everything was promptly 
 cast oft', and the balloon at once rose steadily and majestically from the spot amidst loud and general cheering. 
 Although the wind was rather strong, not the slightest oscillation was perceptible. The aeronauts responded to 
 the greetings of the crowd by waving their caps, throwing out bills, &c., becoming rapidly less and less distinctly 
 visible as the balloon took a northerly direction. Having reached a considerable altitude, the balloon crossed the 
 harbour ; and, after the lapse of a few minutes, was observed to be slowly descending near the gulley, Neutral 
 Bay, a short distance from Mr. Severn's residence. ' Sydney Morning Herald' Dec. 14, 1853. 
 
 1859. The Crystal Palace Company engaged Mr. Coxwell's services for ascents from 
 their gardens. 
 
 1861. Depuis Delcourt thus wrote to Dr. Pierre Moreaud, to encourage him in the 
 successful experiments he was making with regard to the application of steam to captive 
 balloons : 
 
 SlR, Paris, March 2nd, 18G1. 
 
 I thank you for writing, and I urge you to carry out your project of publishing a resume, or rather an 
 exposition of your system. 
 
 Whilst waiting for the successful issue of aeronautics, when the fields of air will be traversed with freedom, 
 you may demonstrate what can be actually done with aerostation even in its present state. 
 
 Your method of directing captive aerostats appears to be without a flaw; that is something! Their con- 
 struction will assist general locomotion. 
 
 By experiments made on a larger scale than those already attempted you will force the savans not yet 
 convinced to come and discuss the subject with you. Let the public also have knowledge of it : capitalists will 
 appreciate the resources of your system ; and when the day shall have arrived for the final experiment they will 
 not fail to supply you with the funds. 
 
 The idea expressed sixty years ago by Thilorier will at length be put in practice. His reasoning was just ; 
 but at that time they had neither steam, electric telegraph, nor many of the other resources of which you intend 
 to make so judicious a use. The means of application and the realisation incontestably belong to you. 
 
 As to me, Sir, who for many years have sacrificed much to the art of aerostation, I shall be happy if my 
 personal assistance can be of use in the work you have so courageously undertaken. 
 
 The best commencement, as I have already told you, will be to make the first regular transport by the aerial 
 line from Paris to St. Cloud. Napoleon III. likes great undertakings, and protects them as an enlightened man 
 and powerful monarch, as soon as they are brought to his knowledge. 
 
 Your idea, in thus rendering homage to him, would be placed to a certain extent under his patronage. 
 
 Publish your book, Sir, and by this means aid the spread and development of the aerostatic question. 
 
 Accept at all times my devoted services. 
 
 Your obedient servant, 
 
 DEPUIS DELCOURT. 
 
 1862. At the meeting of the British Association, a Committee was formed for the 
 purpose of determining the temperature and hygrometric condition of the air at different 
 elevations above the earth's surface. It consisted of 
 
 Colonel Sykes. Lord Wrottesley. Dr. Robinson. 
 
 Professor Airy Sir J. Herschel. Mr. Gassiot. 
 
 Sir D. Brewster. Dr. Lloyd. Mr. Glaisher. 
 
 Admiral Fitzroy. Dr. Lee. Dr. Tyndall. 
 
 Mr. Fairbairn. Dr. W. A. Miller. 
 
 They secured the services of Mr. Coxwell ; but, not having sufficient funds for the 
 construction of a balloon of a suitable size, this aeronaut, with true professional zeal and 
 
A.M. i i:\TK.\rr n:o\i urn nsii vssoriATiovs m:r<WT. 
 
 liU-nilitv. declared hi- readiness to construct tin- required machine entirely from bis <P\VII 
 It was completed by June; ;unl thru commenced thr scientific ascents of .Messrs. 
 (ihii.-her ami ('"\\vrll. which liavr become so memorable. Tin- following is Mr. Glaisher's 
 nut, |iulilishr.l 1-y tin- rdjiiest uf thr Committee, I'm- thr ei^ht ascents in 1802, extracted 
 t'ruiii thr Urjiurt nf thr I?riti-h Association.' There is in addition a mass of figures, of which 
 iily those for the highest ascent, on September ;", 1'roin Wolverhampton, when these 
 aeronauts attained the unprecedented <!. \ation of seven miles. 
 
 f J. OBJECTS or THK i:\i-i IUMKM-. 
 The primary object* were 
 
 iiiii,.iti.-ii ..! tin- temperature of the air, and its hj grometrical states, at different elevations, as high 
 M |. - i/. 
 
 The Mamdary objects wen 
 
 To detc-imine the temperature of the dew-point by Darnell's dew-point hygrometer, by Itcgnault's condenhiiij; 
 r, and by dry- and wet-bulb thermometers an ordinarily used, as well an when under the influence of thu 
 aspirator ; HO th.it . le volumes of air were made to puss over both their bulbs, at different clevatioiiH, as 
 
 1. iji as possible, but particularly up to those heights where man may be resident, or where troops may be located, 
 as in tin- h;_i. lands and plains in India, with the view of ascertaining what confidence may be }>li< id in the use of 
 thr dry- mid wet-lmlb thrrmumeters at thm>e elevations, by com]iarison with the results as found from them, and 
 with those found directly by Daniell's and Itegnault's hygrometers, and to compare the results as found from the 
 
 meters together. 
 
 To compare the readings of an aneroid barometer with those uf a mercurial barometer up to 5 miles. 
 To determine the electrical state of the air. 
 
 determine the oxygenic condition of the atmosphere by means of ozone papers. 
 To determine the time of vibration of a magnet on the earth, and at different distances from it. 
 
 llei t itir at different elevations. 
 To note the height and kind of cloud*, their density and thickness. 
 
 tniiio the rate and direction of diffeient currents in the atmosphere, if possible. 
 To make obnervations on sound. 
 To note tttmosplMrioftJ phenomena in general, and to make general observations. 
 
 Instruments and Apparatus. 
 
 The instruments used were mercurial and aneroid barometers ; dry- and wet-bulb thermometers ; Daniell's 
 ill u point hygrometer ; Regnault's condemning hygrometer ; maximum and minimum theimometers ; a magnet fur 
 horizontal vibration ; hermetically sealed glass tubes from which air had been exhausted; ozone papers; and an 
 electrometer lent by Prof. W. Thomson of Gtagow. 
 
 liaromftent. The mercurial barometer employed in all the accents was a Gay-Lnesac's siphon barometer by 
 Mr I'. Ai.li. . and is one of those used by Mr. Welsh in the year 1852 in his experiments. The inner diameter of 
 its tube is n-i':, im-h. The graduations were made on a brass scale, from its middle point upwards and downwards ; 
 each divifiii'ti was alniiit "-n.'i inch in length, representing twice that value, so that an observation of either tin- 
 lower or ujipi : tin- in.-irtiry would give the approximate length of the column of mercury. 
 
 readings of the upper i ml were alone taken, and the corrections applicable to this end have been applied 
 
 to all nli-i-M:itionS. 
 
 barometer was furni*hfd with its own thermometer, whose bulb was immersed in a tube of mercury of 
 the same diameter RH that uf tip Kii-ir. 
 
 'lliih in.stnni. -lines read more than 20' in excess of that of the sensitive air-thermometer. 
 
 The aneroid barom mail, l.y Messrs. Negretti and Zambra ; one was graduated to i:t inches, and the 
 
 ..thcr to .'i incht* tin- l.-itti -i instrument ha\ in-: I" n UM (1 in the ascents on August 18 and [September 5, and the 
 former on July 17. In I a difl'eienee of reading between the aneroid and mercurial barometers on 
 
 J n 2 
 
230 ASTEA CASTRA. A.D. 18G2. 
 
 July 17 (and as both instruments were broken, it was impossible to say which was in error), and as the correctness 
 of the siphon barometer at low readings is dependent upon the evenness of the tube, another barometer was used 
 in addition on September 5, made by and at the suggestion of Messrs. Negretti and Zambra, as follows : 
 
 A tube 6 feet in length was filled with mercury and boiled throughout its whole length ; a glass cistern was 
 blown on the bottom of the tube, and bont upwards in the form of a siphon ; a stopcock was placed between the 
 tube and cistern, and whilst the mercury filled the entire tube, a mark was made on the cistern, at the level of the 
 mercury in it, for zero ; the stopcock was then gradually opened, and the mercury allowed to descend one or more 
 inches. The rise which consequently took place in the cistern was carefully marked on the same side as " " 
 (zero) ; the stopcock was again opened and the same operation was repeated until 30 inches of mercury had left 
 the upper part of the tube, and the successive levels of the mercury in the cistern had been accurately marked. 
 
 In finally making the barometer, the upper portion only of the tube was used ; the cistern which had been at 
 the end of the lower portion was removed and joined on the upper ; and in graduating the scale of the barometer, 
 the rise which took place in the cistern at every inch was deducted, and the scale reduced in its entire length, by 
 the exact amount of the rise of the mercury in the cistern. This instrument was therefore probably as accurate at 
 low readings as at high. 
 
 'Dry- and Wet-Bulb Thermometers. Two pairs of dry- and wet-bulb thermometers were employed ; one pair as 
 ordinarily used, their bulbs being protected from the direct rays of the sun by a double highly-polished silver shade, 
 in the form of a frustrum of a coue, open at top and bottom. A cistern was fixed near to them, from which water 
 was conveyed to the wet-bulb thermometer. 
 
 The bulbs of the second pair of dry- and wet-bulb thermometers were enclosed in two silver tubes placed 
 side by side, and connected together by a cross tube joining their upper ends, and over both were placed double 
 shades as in the other pair of thermometers. In the left-hand tube was placed the dry-bulb, and in the right-hand 
 tube the wet-bulb thermometer. Towards the lower end of the left-hand tube there was an opening ; l>y means 
 of the aspirator a current of air was drawn in at this aperture, then passed the dry -bulb in its upward passage 
 into the small horizontal tube, and from thence into the right-hand tube, passing downwards over the wet-bulb, 
 and away by a flexible tube into the aspirator. These instruments were made by Messrs. Negretti and Zambra. 
 
 Regnaulfs Condensing Hygrometer. This instrument was made with two thermometers, as described by liegnault 
 in the ' Annuaire Meteorologique de la France' for 1849, page 221, excepting that it was furnished with silver-gilt 
 cups. The scale was of ivory, and the two thermometers were fixed in their cups by means of cork, for ready 
 packing up. The instrument was made by Messrs. Negretti and Zambra. 
 
 Daniell's Hygrometer was of the usual construction, by Messrs. Negretti and Zambra. 
 
 Exhausted Tubes for collecting Air. These tubes were partly constructed by Messrs. Negretti and Zambra, and 
 partly by Mr. Casella. 
 
 The thermometers employed in the observations were exceedingly sensitive ; the bulbs were long and cylin- 
 drical, being about fths of an inch in length, -^tli of an inch in diameter. The graduations, extended to minus 40, 
 were all on ivory scales. These thermometers, on being removed from a room heated 20 above that of an adjoin- 
 ing apartment, acquired the temperature within half a degree in about 10 or 12 seconds; but in passing from a 
 heated apartment to one of a lower temperature, it took more than double the time to approximate to within half 
 a degree of the latter. They were so sensitive that scarcely any correction is required to be applied to them on 
 account of sluggishness ; and this was found to be the case by the very near agreement in the temperatures at the 
 same height in the ascending and descending curves, in those cases where there was reason to believe that there 
 had been no change of temperature at the same height, within the interval between the two series of observations. 
 
 2. OBSERVING ARRANGEMENTS. 
 
 One end of the car was occupied by Mr. Coxwell; near the other, in front of myself, was placed a board or 
 table, the extremities of which rested on the sides of the car; upon this board were placed suitable framework to 
 carry the several thermometers, hygrometers, magnet, aneroid barometer, &c. ; a perforation through it admitted 
 the lower branch of the mercurial barometer to descend below, leaving the upper branch at a .convenient height 
 for observing. A watch was set to Greenwich time, and placed directly opposite to myself. The central space of 
 the table was occupied by my note-book. The aspirator was fixed underneath the centre of the board, so as to be 
 conveniently workable by either my feet or hands. Holes were cut in the board to admit the passage of the flexible" 
 
A.I.. I MR GLAIS! II :i;s ACCOUNT. -j:!| 
 
 liicli passed to Itcpiaul- . and the other tn the place of the dry- and wet-bulb tin-mi.. 
 
 1 to, both the tabes being furnish. 1 with 
 
 inntaiirft of tin Aurrnts, and (!tnral OlaervatioM. 
 
 The accents. were all made 1 swell's largo balloon, three fr..m \\olveihampton, four from tli<- Crystal 
 
 Palace, Sydcnham. and one fr..m Mill Hill, near ll.ii<l..ii, where the ball.M.n had fallen the evening previous, and 
 eeii anch .it .1 during tin- night. 
 
 Ascent from Wulverhanifiton, July 17. The balloon was inflated at tin- Stafford I; iks, \\olvi-ilminp- 
 
 t.iii. \vi'li rail. in, tied gas, most carefully pi p.in-d by tin I \li. Thomas 1'ioiid, and fic<|uently kept u long 
 
 time f.i nir use, ti the <iu.s t 'onipanv having most liberal ly, to their great inconvenience, placed a 
 
 gason >ir dis]M>sal fur as long a time u we needed it. To tin- I>irecturs of the < '..mpany ami to Mr. I'mud 
 
 .in best thinks art' due : t'..i ..n all occasions they sh. .wed tin- utniust anxiety to eonti ibute to the success of tin- 
 :it.s. in which Mr. Joseph Walker, Mr. Joseph < 'oo| r, ami Mr. 1'roiul took great intei- 
 
 weather previously had been bad fora long time, and the ascent had IHHMI ik-layi-il s, ..,,, ,l.,y> in i-onae- 
 H'lriice: the wind wan still Mowing utron^ly from tin- wost ; and oonHiili-ntlilc ilitiiculty wa-, . \|"-i-ietirMl in tin- 
 rangementa, an<l n in-ti um. >,- waa placed in ita position before starting. Tin- a-. ml i....k ]>lucu at 
 v.M. ; at once the balloon waa quiencent. A height of 3800 feet was reached before an obaervation could 
 be taken ; at 4000 fot-t clouds were entered, which wore left at 8000 feet. The teni|>eraturo of the air fell I. 
 and a ..I been pamed before all the inatrumcnU wen: in working order. Tin- -k \ 
 
 wan then ;. be of a <1. rlmut a cloul of any kind II|MMI it.- MHI 
 
 .. t.-iii|H-nitiin- of the air was . r >9\ and dew-point 55 ; at 4000 feet it was 4'> . dew ]>.iu,- 
 li-scemled to 20 at 10,000 feet, dew-point 1'J ', and then there won no variation of temperature butwn-n thin 
 height and 13,000 feet. During the time of passing through this KJIUCO, both Mr. < 'ox well ami myself put on addi- 
 clotltin^. feeling cei tain that we ghould cx|x-i ienci- a terajJcrature Iwlow zero before we reached ."> mile* hi^h : 
 but to my Mii-prix-. at the height of 1 ."i,;>00 feet, the tein|K.-rature, a shown by all the sensitivn instruments, was HI' , 
 ; and at each successive reading, up to l'.>," ..... feet, the temperature increased, and was here ut !'_' . 
 dew-j \\ e had both thrown ofTall extra clothing, \\ithin two minutes nfti-r this time, when we had fallen 
 
 somewhat, tin' tein|ieratuie a^.iin l'^an to decrease with extraordinary rapidity, and waa 16 or 27" less than it 
 waa 2(- minut' at this lime a height of ,"> miles had ! i at .il. .ut 11 A.M. 
 
 When the )>alloon had attained u height of 4 miles I wi.-hed to descend for one or two miles, and then i., 
 nMcrnd : b f it Mr. ('xwell. who had 1 n watching its progress with reference to the clouds below, felt certain 
 that wo were too near the \Va*h ; pnideiico, then-fire, caused IIH to abandon the attempt. 
 
 < iiu- descent l>egan a little after 11 A.M., Mr. C'oxwell expei iem-ing considerable uneasiness at our too 'I. 
 
 vicinity t.. ii . \\ ,-h : we came down quickly, passing from a height of 16,300 feet to one of 12,400 feet betw n 
 
 1 1 h. .:- in. and 1 1 h. :t'.i m. : dipping into a dense cloud at this elevation, which proved to be no less than KIMMI i. ,-i 
 
 in iliickness. and whilst passing through this the bqlltHin was invisible from the car. Mr. i 'ox well had reserved a 
 
 large amount of billast, which he di-ch.-irged as ijuii-kly i~ p ~-ibl.- to chi-ek the rapidity of the descent; but not- 
 
 with- ill his exert ions, as we collected weight by the condensation of that immense amount of vap-nn 
 
 thn.ugh whii-h we were pus-ing, t lie descent wia necessarily very rapid, and we came to the earth with a vi-rv c.in- 
 
 .. whii-h bi-.iki- nearly all the instruments. All the sand was discharged when we were at a 
 
 inn : the [umnmt we had at our disposal at the height of 5 miles waa fully '>"<) 11.-. : this seemed to 
 
 re than ample, and. when . om pared with tint retained by Gay-Lussac, viz. :W Ibs., and by Rush and I '< n. 
 
 wh.n the birometer reading was 1 1 inches, vi/. TH llxi., seemed indeed to be more than we could possibly need, yet 
 
 it p- insufficient. 
 
 desi-ent t.Mik place at Tjingham. nearOakhnm in Rutlandshire, in a meadow near the residence of Air. 1." i , 
 r, fr..m whom we reci-ived the utmost attention. 
 
 A table was fixed to the side of the ear. partly within and partly 
 
 without. 'Hie in-tnim. d on a framework, fixed to the part of the table outside. HO a* to \ 1- \..n.l 
 
 the influence of tin .(.- car: nn n tte-bo (If, watch, and aneroid barometer rested on tin- inner part of 
 
 The air was in gentle motion from the -,,inli west, en:il>ling tin- instruments to ! made i-advt..r 
 vati,.n I. -f.,re starting: and a- Ih 4"m. i-.v. the ballo.,ti ]. fi lie earth. 
 
232 ASTEA CASTRA. A.D. 1802. 
 
 The temperature declined instantly. Observations were taken every minute or half-minute from the time of 
 ascent to as near as possible the time of descent. 
 
 The readings of one barometer were kindly made by Mr. W. F. Ingelow ; and he also assisted me in observing 
 the first appearance of dew on the hygrometer. 
 
 A height of 7000 feet was reached at about 6 o'clock ; and the descent began about a quarter past 6 : it was 
 rather rapid, but quite under control, and we reached the earth at the village of Singlewell, near Gravescnd, at 
 6 h. 30 m. 
 
 Ascent from Wdverhampton, August 18. The weather on this day was favourable : there was but little wind, 
 and that blowing from the N.E. By noon the balloon was nearly inflated ; and as it merely swayed in a light wind, 
 all the instruments were fixed before starting ; and at 1 h. 2 m. 08 s. P.M. Mr. Coxwell pulled the spring-catch. For 
 a moment the balloon remained motionless, and then rose steadily, almost perpendicularly : this ascent was all 
 that could be desired. In about 10 minutes we passed through a fine cumulus cloud, and then emerged into a 
 clear space with a beautiful blue sky dotted over with cirrus clouds above. When at the height of nearly 12,000 
 feet, with the temperature of 38, or 30 less than on the ground, and dew-point 26, Mr. Coxwell discharged gas, 
 and we descended to a little above oOOO feet at 1 h. 48 m. ; a very gradual descent then took place till 2h. 30m., 
 when a height of about 24,000 feet was obtained ; and here a consultation took place as to the prudence of dis- 
 charging more ballast or retaining it, so as to ensure a safe descent : ultimately it was determined not to go higher, 
 as some clouds, whose thickness we conld not tell, had to be passed through. The descent began soon after, and 
 we reached the earth a little after 3 o'clock at Solihull, about 7 miles from Birmingham. 
 
 Ascent from t/ie Crystal Palace, August 20.- The air was almost calm, the instruments were all fixed before 
 starting, and the balloon left the Crystal Palace at 6 h. 2G m. P.M., the temperature at the time being 66, dew-point 
 54. By 6 h. 35 m. we were half a mile high, the temperature being 56. At h. 37 m. the height of three-quar- 
 ters of a mile was attained, and the air was so tranquil that we were still over the Palace. At 6h. 43 m., when 
 at the height of nearly a mile, a thick mist or thin cloud was entered, the earth being just visible. The tempera- 
 ture at this time was 40, dew-point 46 : this elevation and temperature were maintained for about five minutes, 
 and we then descended 200 or 300 feet. Kennington Oval was in sight. At 7 h. 9 m. St. Mark's Church, Kenning- 
 ton, was exactly underneath us. We were now about a mile in height, with a temperature of 48, and dew-point 
 46 ; the hum of London was heard, and there was scarcely a breath of air stirring. 
 
 A descent was gradually made to 1200 feet by 7 h. 20 m. ; the lamps were being lighted over London, the 
 hum of London greatly increasing in depth. At this time shoiiting was heard of people below who saw the 
 balloon : a height of between 1500 and 2500 feet was maintained till 7 h. 40 m., (he temperature varying from 57 
 to 54, and dew-point about 47. The river appeared dull, but the bridges that spanned it, as well as street after 
 street as lighted up, and the miles of lights, sometimes in straight lines, sometimes winding like a serpent, or in 
 some places forming a constellation at some place of amusement, constituted a truly remarkable scene, associated 
 as this appearance was with the deep sound, or rather roar yf the traffic of the metropolis. 
 
 For a considerable time Kennington Oval and Millbank Penitentiary were in sight, and it seemed as though 
 we could not get away from them. At 7 h. 30 m. Mr. Coxwell determined to ascend above the clouds. We were 
 then about 2500 feet high, and the temperature was 53, dew-point 40. At 7h. 42 m. a height of 3500 feet 
 was attained, the temperature being 51. At 7 h. 47 in. a height of one mile had been reached, and the temperature 
 was 45, dew-point 42. It was very dark below, but there was a clear sky above, and a beautiful glearn of light 
 appeared. We still ascended till the clouds were below us, tinged and coloured with a rich red : the temperature 
 had now fallen to 43; we were soon enveloped in a fog again. At 7h. 52m. the striking of a clock and the 
 tolling of a bell were heard. It was quite dark below; but the sun tinged the tops of the clouds. At 8 h. 5 m. we 
 were quite above the clouds, and it became light again ; the hum of London gradually died away. By this time 
 the temperature had increased to 55, the barometer reading 23 inches, corresponding to a height of 7400 feet. 
 After this we descended, and it became too dark to read the instruments. London again was seen, very different, 
 indeed, in its appearance from when we could pick out every square, street, bridge, &c. by its lights ; now, as seen 
 through the mist, it had the appearance of a large conflagration of enormous extent : and the sky was lit up for 
 miles around. After a time the lowing of cattle was heard, and we seemed to have left London, so Mr. Coxwell 
 determined to pass through the clouds and examine the country beneath. Wo passed from the comparative light 
 above to the darkness beneath, rapidly becoming darker, and found ourselves some little distance from London, 
 
A.... i vw i:\r n;M MII.I. mi i 
 
 and sh..i th- ai't.-i-w , 1 tli- ground, > gently that we were scarcely aware of the contact, in tho centre of 
 
 i li.'ld at Mill Mill, il-.ut ono mile aud a half from 1 1. n I..M, and it was resolved to Anchor the blloon fur tho night, 
 with tii. \ .. A ..f unking an early morning ascent. 
 
 Ascent fi-um Mitt //ill, near / Jl. -By half-pant 4 A.M. tho instruments were replaced, and the 
 
 at th was again left. It was a dull, warm, cl.mdy morning, still rut he r dusk, the sky overcast with cirrostratus 
 
 I.. iid. I :uj.. r.itiiro waa nearly an high as til , and .lew -point .'.'.< . There were in the car, beside* Mr. Cox- 
 wi-ll and mxM'lf, Captain IVii-U.d, ,.f the ronimiight Rangers, Mr. lii^.-low, and my sou. 
 
 \\ I at first rose very slowly ; at 4 h. :!s ni. we were 1000 foot high, and the temperature was 58, dow-p..int 
 
 \ ) h. 41 m. there was a break in tin- clouds to the cant, and a beautiful lino of light with i;old and silver 
 
 tints. II. i.- and there the morning mist wan sweeping. At 4 h. M m. tho temperature was 60, and dew-].int 
 
 scud was bulow us. and the clmnl nf night was in a transition state into cumulus, or tlu< eloud of day, at tho 
 same level as we were, viz. alnni; black clt.iids were above, and wist waa creeping along tho ground. 
 
 At ) h. .".."i m. we were above a mile high; the temperature wax 43- 1 , dew-point 4:t ; we wore just entering cloud. 
 
 .. .".7 in. we were in rl.nl. .surrounded by white mist; the te.mpor.ism.. ..f tho air and the dew-point were 
 alike. \ i/. '. ' .' . The light rapidly increased, and gradually wo emerged from the dense cloud into u basin sur- 
 1'v immense black mountains of cloud rising fur above us; shortly afterwards we were looking into dei-p 
 of grand proportion, bounded with beautiful curved linoH. Tho sky immediately overhead was blue, dotted 
 with cirrus . ', u.l>. 
 
 As we ascended, the tops of the mountain-like clouds became silvery and golden. At 5 h. 1 m. we wore 1<'\ <! 
 with them, .in.1 the -un ap]>cared, flooding with golden light all the space we could see for m.mv degrees, lioth 
 ii_'ht and I.-t't. tinting with orange and silver all the remaining space around us. It was a glorious sight! At .'. h. 
 in in. a height >f SOOO feet had been attained, and the temperature had increased from 38i in the cloud to 1 1 . 
 We still ascended, rather more quickly, as the sun's rays fell upon the balloon, each instant opening to us ravines 
 
 :ulrrt'ul i-\t nt. .ui. I {.resenting to onr view a mighty sea of clouds. Here arose shining masses of cloud in 
 mountain-chains, some rising perpendicularly from tho plain, dark on one side, and silvery and bright on tho other, 
 with .summits of dinting whiteness; some were of a pyramidal form, and a largo jxutinn undulatory or wavy, in 
 some places subsiding into hollows, and in one place having tho appearance of a huge lake; on the extremity of 
 tin 1 1: >wy peaks bounded tho view, resembling Alpine ranges. Nor w.ts the scene wanting in light mid 
 
 shade : each large mass of cloud cast a shadow, and this circumstance, added to the very many tints, formed a 
 beautiful scene. At 5h. 16m. we were nearly two miles high, the temperature was 32, and dew-point 1U ; tho air 
 was therefore dry. At ."> h. 18ra. we were above two miles in height ; the temperature was 31, and dew-point 10. 
 ; m. we were something less than three miles high : the temperature was 2:, and dew-point 15, and 
 it decreased to 19 by .1 h. :'.4 m. This elevation was maintained for half an hour, during which time the tempo 
 raturc in. i, a.-. ,1 :, or 6 as the sun's altitude increased. Shortly after 6 o'clock it was determined to descend ; the 
 tenip.-ra!ur.-. which had been as high as 27 had fallen to 23. At6h, 13m., at the height of 2f miles, we heard a 
 train. At 6h. 20m. we were two miles high, and the temperature had increased to 39', and dew-point to 19 3 : at 
 thir. iced the loud ticking of a watch. Captain Percival said he could not hear it ; ho was seated and I 
 
 was standing : and some experiments were made, when it was found that when the ear was at the same level as 
 
 /.h no sound was heard, but it was remarkably distinct on the ear being situated abovi it. 
 
 i:e height of two miles the barking of a dog waa heard ; the temperature at this time (0 h. 24 m.) was 4;t \ 
 
 ami d'-w-j.. .111' lo lower. The shadow of the balloon, with an encircling oval of prismatic colours, was here very 
 
 .:kalile; and it increased in dimensions and vividness of colour till we entered a cloud at 6 h. 29 m. The 
 
 use of ten i whieh had been in progress during the descent, was immediately checked, and on emerging 
 
 from the cloud ; m. the t. ni|.erature was 4:t. dew-point 38. The earth was now in sight, without a ray of 
 
 sunlight falling ujH.n it. The temperature gradually increased to 50, and dew-point to 50 at 1000 feet in height, 
 and 62' on reaching the ground, ;LS gently as on the preceding evening, at Dunton Lodge, near Biggleswade, on 
 the estate of Lord I'.n.wnl.m. where we received every attention and assistance from his agent, Mr. Paulger. 
 
 Atcentfrom the Cryntal / 'ember 1. The wind on this day blew from the I I.N.I-:., the sky was almost 
 
 covered with cirrostratus i loud, l.ut the- horizon was moderately clear. The ascent took place at 4 h. 40m. P.M. ; 
 the temperature was 64'; the balloon rose to the height of half a mile in 4 minutes, the teniicrature decreasii 
 Jl, and dew-point to 4.T. At this time the whole of the river Thames, from its month to beyond IJi.-hmond. was 
 
234 ASTEA CASTRA. A.D. 18C2. 
 
 in sight. At 5h. 31m., when wo were about 4000 feet high, clouds were observed forming and following the 
 whole course of the Thames, from the Kore up to the higher parts, and extending but little beyond its sides : the 
 clouds were parallel to the river, following all its windings and bendings. The Astronomer Royal has often seen 
 this phenomenon over the part of the river commanded by the Eoyal Observatory ; but it was scarcely expected that 
 clouds throughout its whole course would have formed so simultaneously and uniformly. On referring to the state 
 of the tide, it was found to be just high-water at London Bridge about this time, connecting the foimation with 
 the warm water from the sea. After 5 h. 40 m. we were higher than all clouds near us, excepting the uniform 
 stratus cloud above us, which we never approached ; and it was noted that the upper surface of the lower clouds 
 was bluish white, the middle portion the pure white of the cumulus, and the lowest a blackish white, and from 
 which rain was falling, and, as we afterwards learned, had been falling all the afternoon. AVe descended to 1300 
 feet nearly, but were still above the clouds : we then rose to 3000 feet, and rain fell upon the balloon from the 
 upper stratum of cloud, and no difference of temperature from 54 was observed in the stratum between 1300 feet 
 and 3000 feet, although a short time before, in passing downwards through this distance, the temperature had 
 increased from 48 to 54. The falling rain equalised the temperature. The balloon began to descend after 
 this, and fell at 6 h. 15 m., near Woking in Surrey. The evening looked so unpromising, and rain was still falling, 
 that it was thought unadvisable to fasten the balloon for the night, and attempt a high morning ascent, as was 
 contemplated. In this ascent the observations of the barometers and Daniell's hygrometer were made by Mr. J. 
 MacDonald, Assistant Sectetary to the British Meteorological Society. 
 
 Ascent from Wolverhampton, September 5. This ascent had been delayed, owing to the unfavourable state of 
 the weather. It commenced at 1 h. 3 m. P.M. ; the temperature of the air was 59, and the dew-point 50 : at the 
 height of one mile it was 41, dew-point 38 ; and shortly afterwards we entered a cloud of about 1100 feet in 
 thickness, in which the temperature of the air fell to 36i, the dew-poiiit being the same; thus indicating that 
 the air was here saturated with moisture, On emerging from the cloud at 1 h. 17 m. we came upon a flood of 
 strong sunlight, with a beautiful blue sky, without a cloud above us, and a magnificent sea of cloud below, its 
 surface being varied with endless hills, hillocks, mountain-chains, and many snow-white masses rising from it. I 
 hero tried to take a view with the camera, but we were rising with too great rapidity, and going round and round 
 too quickly to enable me to do so ; the flood of light, however, was so great that all I should have needed would 
 have been a momentary exposure, as Dr. Hill Norris had kindly furnished me with extremely sensitive dry plates 
 for the purpose. We reached two miles in height at 1 h. 21 m. ; the temperature had fallen to the freezing-point, 
 and the dew-point to 26. \Ve were three miles high at 1 h. 28 m., with a temperature of 18, and dew-point 13 ; 
 at 1 h. 39 m. we had reached four miles, and the temperature was 8, and dew-point 15; in ten minutes 
 more we had reached the fifth mile, and the temperature had passed below zero, and then read 2, and at this 
 point no dew was observed on Kegnault's hygrometer when cooled down to 30 ; but a dew-point obtained from 
 the readings of dry and wet gave 30. 
 
 Up to this time I had taken observations with comfort. 1 had experienced no difficulty in breathing, 
 whilst Mr. Coxwell, in consequence of the necessary exertions he had to make, had breathed with difficulty 
 for some time. At 1 h. 51m. the barometer reading was 11-05 inches, but which requires a subtractive 
 correction of 0'25 inch, as found by comparison with Lord Wrottesley's standard barometer just before 
 starting. I afterwards read the dry thermometer as -5: this must have been about 1 h. 52m., or later. 
 I could not see the column of mercury in the wet-bulb thermometer, nor afterwards the hands of the watch, 
 nor the fine divisions on any instrument. I asked Mr. Coxwell to help me to read the instruments, as I experi- 
 enced a difficulty in seeing. In consequence, however, of the rotatory motion of the balloon, which had continued 
 without ceasing since the earth had been left, the valve-line had become twisted, and he had to leave the car and 
 mount into the ring above to adjust it. At this time I looked at the barometer, and found it to be 10 inches, still 
 decreasing fast; its true reading, therefore, was 9f inches, implying a height of 29,000 feet. Shortly afterwards 
 I laid my arm upon the table, possessed of its full vigour, and on being desirous of using it, I found it powerless ; 
 it must have lost its power momentarily. I tried to move the other arm, and found it powerless also. I then 
 tried to shake myself, and succeeded in shaking my body. 1 seemed to have no limbs. I then looked at the 
 barometer ; and whilst doing so my head fell on my left shoulder. I struggled and shook my body again, but 
 could not move my arms. 1 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 this position my 
 
>ir .*/v/" '<4 
 
 1864 
 
 
r r i' r r, - i j r 
 
A.,,, i nrn;iiT 01 BEYEB MILES ATTAINED. -\:> 
 
 eyes wer.. dim-ted towards .Mr. < '..xwell in the ring. When I shook my body I seemed to have full power over 
 the muscles of the bock, and eonsidorablo power over those of the neck, but none over eitlior my arms or my legs; 
 in I'.i.-i I M in. .1 to I..IM- none. As in tin- ease f tho arms, all muscular power was lost, in an instant from my 
 back and nock. 1 dimly saw Mr. (Joxwell in tho ring, and endeavoured to speak, but could not; when in un 
 instant intense black darkness came, the optic nerve finally lost power suddenly. I was still conscious, with as 
 :u-ti\v a brain as at tho present moment whilst writing this. I thought I had been seized with asphyxia, and tliat 
 I should f\].. ri. n.' no more, as death would come, unless we speedily descended : other thoughts were actively 
 enterini: my mind, when I suddenly became unconscious as in going to sleep. I cannot tell anything of tho sense 
 of hearing; the perfect stillness and silence of the regions six miles from tho earth (and at tin- time we were 
 between six and seven miles high) is such that no sound reaches the ear. 
 
 Mv last observation was made at 1 h. 54m. at 29,000 feet I suppose two or three minutes fully were 
 iM-eupied lictw. 11 my eyes becoming insensible to seeing fine divisions and 1 h. 54 m., and then that two or three 
 minutes more passed till I was insensible; therefore I think this took place at about 1 h. 50m. or 1 h. J7 m. 
 Whilst |... \\.-ile.ss I heard the words, "temperature" and "observation;" and I knew Mr. t'oxwell was in the 
 car s]>eaking to me, and endeavouring to arouse me ; therefore consciousness and hearing had returned. I then 
 heard him speak more emphatically ; but I could not see, speak, or move. I heard him again say, " Do TRY NOW 
 
 Th-n I saw tho instruments dimly, then Mr. Coxwell, and very shortly saw clearly. I rose in my seat and 
 looked round, as though waking from sleep, though not refreshed by sleep, and said to Mr. Coxwell, " I have been 
 insensible ;" he said, " You have ; and I, too, very nearly." I then drew up my legs, which had been extended 
 before me. and took a pencil in my hand to begin observations. Mr. Coxwell told mo that he hod lost the use of 
 his hands, which were black, and I poured brandy over them. 
 
 I resumed my observations at 2h. 7m., recording tho barometer reading at 11-53 inches, and temperature 
 2. I suppose that three or four minutes were occupied from the time of my hearing the words " temperature " 
 and " observation " till I began to observe ; if so, then returning consciousness came at 2 h. 4 m., and this gives 
 seven minutes for total insensibility. I found the water in the vessel supplying the wet-bulb thermometer, which 
 I had by frequent disturbances kept from freezing, was one solid mass of ice ; and it did not all melt until after we 
 had been on the ground some time. 
 
 M ; . (,'oxwell told me that whilst in the ring he felt it piercingly cold ; that hoar-frost was all round the neck 
 of the balloon. On attempting to leave the ring he found his hands frozen, and he had to place his arms on th<> 
 rin^ ami drop down ; that he thought for a moment I had laid back to rest myself; that he spoke to me without 
 eliciting a reply; that he then noticed my legs projected and my arms hung down by my side ; that my counte- 
 nance was serene and placid, without the earnestness and anxiety he had noticed before going into the ring, and 
 tli. -n it struck him I was insensible. He wished to approach me, but could not, and be felt insensibility coming 
 over himself; that he became anxious to open the valve, but in consequence of having lost the use of his hands he 
 could not, and ultimately did so by seizing the cord with his tenth and dipping his head two or three times until 
 the balloon took a decided turn downwards. This act is quite characteristic of Mr. Coxwoll. I have never yet seen 
 him without a ready means of meeting every difficulty, as it has arisen, with a cool self-possession that has always 
 left my mind perfectly easy, and given me every confidence in his judgment in the management of so large a 
 balloon. 
 
 N.I inconvenience followed the insensibility ; and when we dropped it was in a country where no conveyance 
 of any kind could be obtained, so that I had to walk between seven and eight miles. 
 
 The descent was at first very rapid : we passed downwards three miles in nine minutes ; the balloon's career 
 was then checked, ami we finally descended in the centre of a large grass-field belonging to Mr Kersall, at ( 'old 
 \\ ston, seven-and-a-half miles from Ludlow. 
 
 I have already said that my lost observation was made at a height of 29,000 feet; at this time (1 h. 54 m.) 
 we were ascending at the rate of 1000 feet per minute ; and when I resumed observations we were descending at 
 the rate of L'IMM) feet per minute. These two positions must be connected, taking into account the interval of time 
 between, viz. 13 minutes, and on those considerations the balloon must have attained the altitude of 36,000 or 
 37,000 feet. Again, a very .Idi.-atc minimum thermometer read 12, and this would give a height of :57,000 
 feet. Mr. Coxwell, on coming from the ring, noticed that the centre of the aneroid barometer, its l.lue hand, and 
 a rope attached to the car, were all in the same straight line, and this gave a reading of 7 inches, and leads to the 
 same result. Therefore tin-, independent means all lead to about the same elevation, viz. fully Seven Milet. 
 
 2 I 
 
236 
 
 ASTRA CASTEA. 
 
 A.D. 1862. 
 
 In this ascent six pigeons were taken up. One was thrown out at the height of three miles, when it 
 extended its wings and dropped as a piece of paper; a second, at four miles, flew vigorously round and round, 
 apparently taking a dip each time ; a third was thrown out between four and five miles, and it fell downwards as 
 a stone. A fourth was thrown out at four miles on descending. It flew in a circle, and shortly alighted on the 
 top of the balloon. The two remaining pigeons were brought down to the ground. One was found to be dead ; 
 and the other, a " carrier," was still living, but would not leave the hand when I attempted to throw it off, till 
 after a quarter of an hour it began to peck a piece of ribbon which encircled its neck, and was then jerked off the 
 finger, and flew with some vigour towards Wolverhampton. One of the pigeons returned to Wolverhampton on 
 Sunday the 7th, and is the only one that has been heard of. 
 
 Ascent from the Crystal Palace, September 8. The sky was for the most part obscured by clouds; the ascent 
 took place at 4h. 47m. 28s. r.M., the temperature on the ground being 67; at 4h. 52m. we were half a mile high, 
 with a temperature of 59, and dew-point 54; at 4 h. 55 m. we reached the clouds, with a temperature of 5l, 
 dew-point 49, at the height of 4300 feet; we rose to 4800 feet, were still in the cloud, and then fell, passing out 
 of the cloud downwards at 5 h. 1 m., with a temperature of 49, and dew-point 46 ; we descended to 3300 feet by 
 5 h. 7m., where the temperature was 52, dew-point 50 ; we then ascended and again reached the cloud at a little 
 over 4200 feet, and with the same temperature as before, viz. 51 J ; we passed out of the cloud at a little over 4500 
 feet, into a basin, with blue sky above, and the sun shone beautifully ; the balloon rose quickly, and the temperature 
 increased from 51 on leaving the cloud to 57 at a mile in height, and to 59 and dew-point 40 at 5400 feet ; we 
 then descended, met with the cloud again at 5 h. 25m., at the height of 5000 feet nearly, and experienced a tem- 
 perature of 51, dew-point 45, whilst passing through it ; we left the cloud at 4400 feet high, and the temperature 
 rose from 51 to 61, dew-point to 59, at the height of 800 feet, and to 62 at the height of 700 feet, where we 
 were at 5 h. 55 m. ; at this time we were crossing the river Thames, near to Gravesend, and we passed from bank 
 to bank in 121 seconds ; we then rose to nearly half a mile, and passed Tilbury Fort at the distance of 
 2 miles ; and with a telescope I examined the Fort, and could have drawn its plan and counted any guns within it. 
 We fell at about 4 miles from the Fort at 6 h. 10 m. P.M. 
 
 In this ascent Mr. W. C. Kash, of the Magnetical and Meteorological Department of the Eoyal Observatory, 
 Greenwich, took the observations of the barometer and Daniell's hygrometer. 
 
 TABLE I. METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS MADE IN THE BALLOON ASCENT KKOM WOLVEKHAMPTON, SEPT. 5, 1862. 
 
 
 
 Siphon Barometer. 
 
 
 
 Dry and Wet Thermometers (free). 
 
 Xegretti 
 
 Dry and Wet Thermometers 
 (aspirated). 
 
 Hygrometers. 
 
 ferences to 
 Notes. 
 
 Time. 
 
 
 Aneroid 
 Baro- 
 meter, 
 No. 1. 
 
 Height 
 above 
 Sea-leveL 
 
 
 and 
 Zatnbra's 
 Gridiron 
 Thermo- 
 meter. 
 
 
 
 Reading 
 corrected 
 and 
 reduced to 
 
 Att. 
 Therm. 
 
 Dry. 
 
 Wet. 
 
 Diff. 
 
 Dew- 
 point. 
 
 Dry. 
 
 Wet. 
 
 Din. 
 
 Dew- 
 point. 
 
 Daniell's 
 Dew- 
 point. 
 
 Reg- 
 
 nauli 5 
 
 point. 
 
 a 
 
 
 32 Fahr. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 H. M. S. 
 
 inches. 
 
 o 
 
 inches. 
 
 feet. 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 
 1 5 30 P.M. 
 
 28-57 
 
 58-0 
 
 28-60 
 
 1,290 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 (1) 
 
 1 5 50 
 
 . . 
 
 
 
 
 56-5 
 
 52-5 
 
 4-0 
 
 47-9 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1 6 
 
 28-38 
 
 57 : 
 
 28-35 
 
 1 ,'480 
 
 55-5 
 
 51-1 
 
 4-4 
 
 46-9 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1 10 
 
 26-19 
 
 55-0 
 
 26-20 
 
 3,660 
 
 45-5 
 
 43-5 
 
 2-0 
 
 41-2 
 
 
 46-0 
 
 43-8 
 
 2-2 
 
 41-3 
 
 42-0 
 
 
 1 11 
 
 
 
 25-82 
 
 4,116 
 
 44-2 
 
 42-5 
 
 1-7 
 
 40-4 
 
 44 : 2 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1 11 30 
 
 25-491 
 
 54 : 
 
 25-62 
 
 4,388 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 43-3 
 
 41-5 
 
 1-8 
 
 39-3 
 
 
 38-5 
 
 
 1 12 
 
 24-9!)4 
 
 53-0 
 
 
 4,920 
 
 42-0 
 
 40 : 5 
 
 15 
 
 38 : 7 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1 12 30 
 
 24-894 
 
 
 
 5,011 
 
 41-0 
 
 39-8 
 
 1-2 
 
 38-3 
 
 40-7 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1 13 
 
 24-30 
 
 
 24-45 
 
 5,675 
 
 39-5 
 
 38-2 
 
 1-3 
 
 36-5 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 38-0 
 
 
 (2) 
 
 1 13 30 
 
 24-25 
 
 52 : 
 
 
 5,722 
 
 38-0 
 
 37-2 
 
 0-8 
 
 36-1 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 (3) 
 
 1 14 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1 14 30 
 
 23-70 
 
 
 23-90 
 
 6,330 
 
 36-5 
 
 30-5 
 
 0-0 
 
 36-5 
 
 36-5 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 (5) 
 
 1 16 
 
 23-35 
 
 50-0 
 
 23-40 
 
 6,729 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 (6) 
 
 1 16 30 
 
 
 
 
 
 36-3 
 
 36-3 
 
 o-o 
 
 36-3 
 
 36-0 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1 17 
 
 23-20 
 
 50 : 
 
 
 6,914 
 
 
 .. 
 
 
 
 
 36-0 
 
 36-0 
 
 o-o 
 
 36-0 
 
 t t 
 
 35-5 
 
 (7) 
 
 1 17 20 
 
 
 
 
 
 38-2 
 
 36-1 
 
 2-i 
 
 33 : 3 
 
 39 : 5 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 (8) 
 
 1 17 40 
 
 22-' 658 
 
 49-0 
 
 22 ; 71 
 
 7,575 
 
 39-0 
 
 35-2 
 
 3-8 
 
 30-2 
 
 40-0 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 (9) 
 
 1 21 
 
 20-717 
 
 46-0 
 
 20-60 
 
 9,926 
 
 33-5 
 
 31-1 
 
 2-4 
 
 26-6 
 
 32-1 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 (10) 
 
 1 22 
 
 20-070 
 
 45-0 
 
 20-17 
 
 10,770 
 
 31-1 
 
 30-5 
 
 0-6 
 
 28-9 
 
 31-2 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 25-0 
 
 (1) Misty. (2) In cloud, wholly obscured. (3) Lighter. (4) Much lighter, still in cloud. 
 
 (5) Gun heard. (6) Dense cloud. (7) Out of cloud. 
 
 (8) Tried Camera upon beautiful clouds failed ; the balloon was spirating and ascending too quickly. (9) Deep blue sky. 
 
 (10) The ice not properly formed on Wet-bulb thermometer. 
 
Tin-: nii;m>r \s( r.xr ON m-:mi:n. 
 
 287 
 
 Tun I I M I TOROLOOICAI, OBSERVATIONS MADE IN TIIK 15.U.I.'*>N A SCENT Ot SEPT. 5TH. 
 
 Ttm. 
 
 Ophoa BuvwMr. 
 
 v - i 
 Btru- 
 
 KS 
 
 ]' . 
 .'- 
 
 - . 
 
 Dry and Wt TbnMwMn (&). 
 
 XltTTUi 
 
 Zainbr.'. 
 
 ... ; . 
 
 i m 
 
 Dry ud Wet ThOTMMtan 
 (uplnud). 
 
 ".'-" '' 
 
 and 
 
 ! . 1 
 
 3f> Kmbr. 
 
 Alt. 
 
 1 
 
 Dijr. 
 
 W. 
 
 DIC 
 
 Dew- 
 potoL 
 
 Dry. 
 
 WM. 
 
 DUE 
 
 DMT. 
 poOL 
 
 DM n 
 
 DM 
 potou 
 
 A 
 
 DC*. 
 
 potDU 
 
 1 
 1 
 
 an 
 
 i 
 
 (5) 
 
 (6) 
 
 (7) 
 (8) 
 
 () 
 (10) 
 11 
 11 
 
 (13) 
 
 'I 
 
 a 
 
 16) 
 
 IT 
 
 H. H. I" 
 '-'I 
 
 j ; o . , 
 
 27 ,, 
 27 : 
 -'* ,, 
 -'< 30 ,, 
 -' ,. 
 -.-.i -!" .. 
 30 ., 
 
 - 
 
 L8-7I7 
 
 17- i.:l 
 
 1,; ,:-,; 
 
 te'otf 
 
 O 
 
 42-0 
 
 S8 : 
 M 1 
 
 32 : 
 
 Inch**. 
 
 18 -10 
 16 : 90 
 
 ir.-'ia 
 
 i:. -j 
 
 I9.S68 
 13,715 
 
 15.184 
 15,510 
 
 !: .VJ.i 
 
 
 
 25 : 5 
 
 n j 
 
 17-2 
 
 n; : 5 
 
 16-5 
 
 
 
 25-'o 
 M ' 
 
 23-0 
 
 19 : 
 17-0 
 
 o 
 : 5 
 
 
 
 Jj'.l 
 
 M'fl 
 
 18-0 
 17-9 
 
 17-8 
 16-2 
 
 24-5 
 
 17-0 
 17-0 
 
 23-0 
 
 24-0 
 13-2 
 
 1-5 
 3-8 
 
 14-5 
 -15-7 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 25-0 
 
 10-5 
 -5-5 
 
 -15-0 
 
 -15-0 
 -20-0 
 
 (no dew. 
 \-30-0 
 
 30 15 ., 
 30 30 , 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 16-0 
 
 13-1 
 
 2-9 
 
 - 9-2 
 
 - .. 
 ::t ., 
 
 15-38 
 
 30-0 
 
 
 17,590 
 
 15-0 
 
 12 1 
 
 2-9 
 
 -10-3 
 
 15-5 
 
 35 .. 
 36 .. 
 
 <> .. 
 
 - 111 ,. 
 
 ::: 
 
 14-651 
 
 :i :,,: 
 
 28-0 
 27 : 
 
 14-90 
 14-80 
 
 
 
 IMM 
 19,068 
 19,008 
 
 15-0 
 
 ii : i 
 
 3 ; 9 
 
 -is"- 1 
 
 15-6 
 15-8 
 
 15-5 
 
 11-3 
 
 4-2 
 
 -21-1 
 
 - 8-0 
 
 -10-0 
 
 - 9-0 
 
 > ,, 
 10 ,. 
 
 n M ,. 
 
 :!> n 
 
 ii M 
 
 
 14-80 
 14-40 
 
 i i.'n 
 
 14-5 
 
 10-2 
 
 4-3 
 
 -13-0 
 
 
 14-2 
 
 10-5 
 
 3-7 
 
 -18-1 
 
 38 10 .. 
 38 20 ,. 
 ::- -' . . 
 88 :w ,. 
 38 35 ., 
 38 40 ,. 
 38 50 ,, 
 
 14-947 
 13 : 947 
 
 30 : 5 
 
 14-28 
 14-00 
 
 1 , : , 
 
 n.ua 
 
 1 .; J 
 
 10-0 
 
 3-2 
 
 -14-8 
 
 12-9 
 
 8-0 
 8-5 
 9-2 
 
 39 .. 
 
 40 n 
 
 13-76 
 
 
 
 
 
 20,393 
 
 8-0 
 
 4-5 
 
 3-5 
 
 -22-7 
 
 40 15 ,, 
 40 30 ,, 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 10-2 
 
 8-1 
 
 2-1 
 
 - 8-2 
 
 11-0 
 
 9-5 
 
 7-8 
 
 1-7 
 
 - 5-3 
 
 
 11 20 ,. 
 11 30 ,, 
 
 13-35 
 
 26-0 
 
 
 
 21.182 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 41 40 ,. 
 41 50 ,, 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 4-5 
 
 7-8 
 
 4-5 
 
 2-8 
 
 -17-3 
 
 
 11 ,, 
 
 !.' 
 
 12-754 
 
 
 
 
 22.380 
 
 8-1 
 
 4-2 
 
 3-9 
 
 -26-0 
 
 48 .. 
 50 ,. 
 51 ,. 
 53 .. 
 270,, 
 280.. 
 2 8 30 ,. 
 2 8 45 .. 
 290., 
 :W ,. 
 
 to ,. 
 
 1 M ., 
 -'11 ,. 
 - 12 30 ,, 
 
 11-954 
 11-254 
 10-803 
 9-753 
 
 14 -354 
 
 1 J .V.I 
 
 13-154 
 14-054 
 16-374 
 
 17-074 
 
 17-71 
 
 25-0 
 26 : 
 
 11-53 
 12-80 
 
 16-45 
 
 15.889 
 
 0,000 
 
 25,318 
 13.081 
 
 22,054 
 21.650 
 20, HIM 
 16.015 
 14,938 
 
 14,012 
 
 0-0 
 -5 : 
 -2-0 
 
 17-0 
 22-5 
 
 -4-0 
 
 ii : o 
 
 15-8 
 
 4-0 
 
 6-0 
 6-7 
 
 -35-2 
 
 -34 : 7 
 -27-0 
 
 
 - 2-0 
 - 5-0 
 
 - 2-0 
 
 + 2-0 
 11-0 
 
 18-0 
 
 23-2 
 24-5 
 
 24-8 
 
 18-0 
 
 6-8 
 
 -19-6 
 
 
 2 14 ,, 
 2 11 .10 ,, 
 
 18-05 
 
 
 
 
 13,520 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 2 15 .. 
 2 if. ., 
 2 !: M .. 
 _ I.; 211 ., 
 -' !' 50 ,, 
 J IT 30 ,, 
 2 18 .. 
 
 18-455 
 
 10 -"753 
 
 20-688 
 
 21 131 
 
 27 : o 
 
 19 -10 
 19-90 
 W23 
 
 20-65 
 21-55 
 
 12,900 
 12.250 
 11.150 
 10.780 
 10.070 
 9.370 
 
 26-5 
 
 31-1 
 33-0 
 
 18-2 
 
 23-1 
 25-0 
 
 8-3 
 
 8-0 
 8-0 
 
 -22-4 
 
 + 2-5 
 9-3 
 
 31-1 
 
 1 r.irth viable in patcbe*. (2) The Wct-l>ulb read* oorrecUy. (3) Ozone : Hoffiit 2 ; Moffnt 2 ; Schi'mU in n. 
 
 I Mr. i'..\.ll penb for breatb. . (5) Blcrcnry of Daniell's hygrometer invisible. 
 
 (6) Oane : M..:f,i :; : M .|E.t acoond paper 3; Scb^nbcin 1. (7) Sand oat (8) Aspirator difficult to work. 
 
 IK : MnfTit 4. lo S^- witli ditlit-ulty. (11) Experienced a difficulty in tvnding the imttruiii' ntr. 
 
 1. A-pir.itnr tnmbleaome. I:: Sand out. 11 Ixwt myself ; ooald not BOO to reod the inntnimento. 
 
 i;, 1 1/ .:,. M..lTat .1: Moflat second paper 5: S,-I.., T ,1. in 2. |.; Wind east. (17) Gun beard. 
 
 _' I -2 
 
238 
 
 ASTRA CASTRA. 
 
 A.D. 1862. 
 
 TABLE I. METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS MADE IN THE BALLOON ASCENT OF SEPT. OTH. 
 
 2 
 
 Time. 
 
 Siphon Barometer 
 
 Aneroid 
 Baro- 
 meter, 
 No. 1. 
 
 Height 
 above 
 Sca-leveL 
 
 Dry and Wet Thermometers (fret) 
 
 Negretti 
 and 
 Zambra's 
 Gridiron 
 Thermo- 
 meter. 
 
 l>ry and Wet Thermometers 
 (aspirated). 
 
 Hygrometers. 
 
 Reading 
 corrected 
 and 
 reduced to 
 32 Fahr. 
 
 Alt. 
 Therm 
 
 Dry. 
 
 Wet, 
 
 Diff. 
 
 Dew- 
 point. 
 
 Dry. 
 
 Wet. 
 
 Ditr. 
 
 Dew- 
 point. 
 
 Daniell's 
 Dew- 
 point. 
 
 Reg- 
 
 nault's, 
 Dew 
 point. 
 
 (i) 
 
 (2; 
 
 (3) 
 (*) 
 
 (5) 
 (6) 
 
 (7) 
 
 H. M. S. 
 
 2 19 OP.M 
 2 19 30 ,, 
 2 20 , , 
 2 20 20 
 2 20 30 ,, 
 
 inches. 
 21-845 
 22- 041 
 
 o 
 
 31-0 
 33 : 
 
 inches. 
 21-90 
 
 feet. 
 8,530 
 8, ',310 
 
 34-2 
 35-2 
 
 o 
 25-9 
 
 27-0 
 
 o 
 8-3 
 
 8-2 
 
 
 
 11-3 
 13-9 
 
 o 
 35-2 
 
 O 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 14-0 
 
 o 
 
 20-0 
 27-0 
 37-5 
 
 2 20 40 , , 
 2 21 30 
 2 22 , , 
 
 22-241 
 
 33-0 
 
 22-20 
 
 8,090 
 
 40-1 
 42-2 
 
 29-2 
 31-0 
 
 11-9 
 11-2 
 
 15-2 
 
 17-3 
 
 40-0 
 
 
 
 
 
 2 22 10 ,, 
 
 
 
 
 
 2 23 20 , , 
 2 23 30 , , 
 
 22-637 
 
 35-0 
 
 22-76 
 
 7-625 
 
 42-0 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 40-0 
 40-0 
 
 41-5 
 45-5 
 
 47-1 
 
 44-1 
 
 3-0 
 
 40-7 
 
 29-5 
 
 2 23 50 , , 
 2 24 ,, 
 2 25 ,, 
 2 26 , , 
 2 26 10 , , 
 2 26 15 , ; 
 2 27 , , 
 2 29 , , 
 
 22-932 
 23-028 
 23-326 
 23-473 
 
 37-0 
 39-0 
 40-0 
 41-5 
 
 23-20 
 23-00 
 
 7,260 
 7,150 
 6,810 
 6,640 
 
 42-0 
 
 42-0 
 45-2 
 
 34 : 2 
 
 11-3 
 
 21 : 5 
 
 2 29 30 
 2 30 30 , , 
 
 24-512 
 
 46-0 
 
 
 5,500 
 
 49-2 
 
 36-0 
 
 13-2 
 
 21-8 
 
 2 31 , , 
 2 31 30 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 49-0 
 49-2 
 
 50-5 
 51-1 
 
 35 : 
 36 : 
 37-0 
 
 14-2 
 14 ; 5 
 14-1 
 
 19 : 7 
 20 : 8 
 22-3 
 
 47-0 
 48-0 
 
 2 32 , , 
 2 32 30 
 2 33 ,: 
 2 33 30 
 2 36 , , 
 
 25-401 
 25-' 800 
 
 50-0 
 50 : 
 
 25-55 
 
 4,521 
 4,'ilO 
 
 2 38 , , 
 2 38 10 , , 
 
 26-399 
 
 50-0 
 
 26-35 
 
 3,484 
 
 53-0 
 
 45-0 
 
 8-0 
 
 37-0 
 
 51-5 
 53-0 
 
 54-0 
 57-5 
 
 53-5 
 
 
 
 
 
 2 38 20 , , 
 2 39 , , 
 2 39 20 , , 
 2 39 40 , , 
 360,, 
 
 27-598 
 
 50-0 
 
 28-10 
 29-02 
 
 2,260 
 
 54-0 
 57-2 
 
 48-0 
 52-8 
 
 6-0 
 
 4-4 
 
 42-1 
 48-8 
 
 (1) Sand out. (2) Wet-bulb seems to be free from ice. 
 
 (3) After this observation I pressed the bulb of Wet thermometer between my thumb and finger, for the purpose of melting any ice 
 remaining on it, or on the connecting-thread. (4) Ozone : Moffaf s test 6. 
 
 (5) Wet-bulb seems to be correct ; it has decreased from the reading I drove it to by the action of the heat of my thumb and finger. 
 
 (6) I do not think Aspirated Wet-bulb is correct. (7) Ozone : Mofiat's paper 7. 
 
 TABLE II. SHOWING THE ADOPTED BEADING OF THE BAROMETER, CALCULATED HEIGHT ABOVE THE SEA, TEMPERATURE OF 
 THE AIR, AND TEMPERATURE OF THE DEW-POINT IN THE SEVENTH BALLOON ASCENT FROM WOLVERHAMPTON. (See p. 234.) 
 
 September 5. 
 
 Time of 
 Observation. 
 PJI. 
 
 Reading of the 
 Barometer 
 reduced to 
 32 F. 
 
 Height above 
 the level of the 
 Sea. 
 
 Temperature 
 of the Air. 
 
 Temperature 
 of the 
 Dew-point. 
 
 Time of 
 Observation. 
 
 P.M. 
 
 Reading of the 
 Barometer 
 reduced to 
 32 F. 
 
 Height above 
 the level of the 
 Sea. 
 
 Temperature 
 of the Air. 
 
 Temperature 
 of the 
 Dew-point. 
 
 H. M. 8. 
 
 inches. 
 
 feet. 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 11. M. H. 
 
 inches. 
 
 feet. 
 
 o 
 
 
 
 000 
 
 
 490 
 
 59-5 
 
 48-4 
 
 14 30 
 
 23-70 
 
 6,330 
 
 36-5 
 
 36-5 
 
 1 5 
 
 29" 17 
 
 720 
 
 59-0 
 
 50-5 
 
 16 
 
 23-36 
 
 6,729 
 
 
 
 5 20 
 
 28-97 
 
 909 
 
 57-2 
 
 50-1 
 
 16 30 
 
 
 (6,821) 
 
 36-1 
 
 36-1 
 
 5 50 
 
 
 (1,340) 
 
 56-5 
 
 47-9 
 
 17 
 
 23-21 
 
 6,914 
 
 36-0 
 
 35-7 
 
 6 
 
 28 '-38 
 
 1,480 
 
 55-5 
 
 40-9 
 
 17 20 
 
 
 (7,245) 
 
 
 33-3 
 
 10 
 
 26-19 
 
 3,660 
 
 45-5 
 
 41-5 
 
 17 40 
 
 22-66 
 
 7,575 
 
 39-5 
 
 30-2 
 
 11 
 
 
 4,116 
 
 44-2 
 
 40-4 
 
 21 
 
 20-72 
 
 9,926 
 
 32-1 
 
 26-6 
 
 11 30 
 
 25-49 
 
 4,388 
 
 43-3 
 
 38-9 
 
 22 
 
 20-07 
 
 10,770 
 
 31-2 
 
 26-9 
 
 12 
 
 24-99 
 
 4,920 
 
 42-0 
 
 38-7 
 
 24 
 
 18-73 
 
 12,568 
 
 26-5 
 
 19-7 
 
 12 30 
 
 24-89 
 
 5,011 
 
 40-9 
 
 38-3 
 
 25 30 
 
 17-93 
 
 (13,875) 
 
 25-5 
 
 22-3 
 
 13 
 
 24-30 
 
 5,675 
 
 39-5 
 
 36-5 
 
 26 
 
 
 (14,312) 
 
 23-2 
 
 
 13 30 
 
 24-25 
 
 5,722 
 
 38-0 
 
 36-1 
 
 27 
 
 16 : 94 
 
 15,184 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 | 
 
A. I.. 
 
 mi: IIK;IU:ST vsi i.vr ON i;i:mi;i> 
 
 TU-.M. II. SHOWING THE ADOPTED READING or THE BAROMETER OF SEPT. 5ra 
 
 TIM Of 
 ObMTHlta. 
 
 Mb 
 
 ***?* Hrt^trtOTt 
 
 J5 *.iirffc. 
 
 nF. 
 
 %ST 
 
 T -ysr 
 
 ! ' 
 
 Tbtof 
 
 ,:-.... ,- 
 KB, 
 
 BMth^of tbt 
 
 ." nil 
 
 3ff. 
 
 llfckl (boT. 
 
 Iht 1ml of UM 
 
 ta. 
 
 '.. 5 
 
 Dnr^oM. 
 
 ... 
 
 Mi. 
 
 o a 
 
 ... 
 
 . . 
 
 
 e 
 
 a 
 
 1 47 30 
 
 (15. 
 
 1-7 
 
 
 10 
 
 t 
 
 (14.706) 
 
 22-5 
 
 
 28 
 
 16-63 15.510 
 
 18-0 
 
 
 11 
 
 17-71 
 
 14,012 
 
 
 
 28 80 
 
 (16,015) 
 
 17-9 
 
 
 14 
 
 1- ...; 
 
 13,520 .1 :. 
 
 
 I 
 
 16-05 
 
 17-9 
 
 
 1! H 
 
 .. 
 
 (13,210) 24 -8 
 
 
 2920 
 
 (1.640) 
 
 17-8 
 
 10-5 
 
 15 
 
 18-46 
 
 12.900 
 
 
 0-0 
 
 so n 
 
 .. 
 
 (16.875) 
 
 16-2 
 
 
 16 
 
 , . 
 
 12,250 
 
 26-5 
 
 
 :;.. ;:, 
 
 ff 
 
 (16,965) 
 
 16-0 
 
 
 !: M 
 
 20-65 
 
 10,070 
 
 31-1 
 
 
 8030 
 
 .. 
 
 (17.045) 
 
 16-0 
 
 
 19 
 
 
 (8,800) 
 
 M| 
 
 
 S3 
 
 15-40 
 
 17,590 
 
 15-5 
 
 
 !. n 
 
 21 : 85 
 
 8.530 
 
 
 
 34 
 
 .. 
 
 (18, ISO) 
 
 .. 
 
 - 5-5 
 
 20 
 
 . . 
 
 (8.400; 
 
 35-2 
 
 
 37 
 
 14-55 
 
 19,068 
 
 15-6 
 
 -21-1 
 
 20 20 
 
 j-j ..i 
 
 8.310 
 
 
 
 37 JO 
 
 .. 
 
 (19,290) 
 
 15-8 
 
 - 8-0 
 
 20 40 
 
 jj-ji 
 
 8,090 
 
 40-1 
 
 15-2 
 
 38 
 
 ,, 
 
 (19.735) 
 
 14-2 
 
 
 22 
 
 .. 
 
 (7.860) 
 
 42-2 
 
 17-3 
 
 88 10 
 
 .. 
 
 (19,847) 
 
 TJ : 
 
 
 23 20 
 
 --' l 
 
 7.625 
 
 40-0 
 
 20-0 
 
 88 
 
 14*05 
 
 19.960 
 
 
 
 2350 
 
 22-93 
 
 r.sn 40-0 
 
 
 38 25 
 
 13-95 
 
 20.126 
 
 
 
 24 
 
 23-08 
 
 7.150 
 
 
 
 88 50 
 
 
 w,m 
 
 8-0 
 
 - 5-0 
 
 25 
 
 M 
 
 6.810 
 
 42-0 
 
 
 89 
 
 13-76 
 
 _..,:,.; 
 
 8-5 
 
 
 26 
 
 J.: 17 
 
 6.640 
 
 
 
 40 
 
 .. 
 
 -'.:.:.: 
 
 : _ 
 
 - 9-0 
 
 26 10 
 
 .. 
 
 (6,590} 
 
 
 
 40 15 
 
 .. 
 
 J.'Nl- 
 
 .. 
 
 -15-0 
 
 H !.' 
 
 .. 
 
 (6.560) 
 
 45-2 
 
 21-5 
 
 40 30 
 
 
 ,,,.,; 
 
 11-0 
 
 
 29 
 
 . . 
 
 5,655) 
 
 45-5 
 
 27-0 
 
 41 20 
 
 13 : 35 
 
 21.182 
 
 . . 
 
 -15-0 
 
 29 30 
 
 24-51 
 
 5,500 
 
 47-0 
 
 21-8 
 
 41 50 
 44 
 
 
 (21.407) 
 22.380 
 
 4-5 
 
 
 30 30 
 81 30 
 
 
 (5.110) 
 
 (4.720) 
 
 47-1 
 49-2 
 
 35-1 
 19-7 
 
 48 
 
 
 , m 
 
 0-0 
 
 -30-0 
 
 32 
 
 25-40 
 
 4.521 
 
 48-0 
 
 
 50 
 
 11-25 
 
 25.382 
 
 - -J -.. 
 
 no dew 
 
 32 30 
 
 .. 
 
 (4.315) 
 
 50-5 
 
 20-8 
 
 51 
 
 1 
 
 26,350 
 
 
 
 33 
 
 25-80 
 
 4.11(1 
 
 
 
 53 
 270 
 
 9-75 
 
 29,000 
 25.318 
 
 - 5-0 
 - 2-0 
 
 S3 30 
 36 
 
 
 (4.050) 
 
 (3.735) 
 
 51-1 
 
 22-3 
 37-5 
 
 - M 
 
 12 : 55 
 
 
 + 2-0 
 
 38 
 
 , , 
 
 B.4M 
 
 52-2 
 
 87-0 
 
 845 
 
 13-15 
 
 21,650 
 
 11-0 
 
 39 
 
 27-60 
 
 2.260 
 
 
 
 9 
 
 14-05 
 
 20,018 
 
 17-0 
 
 39 20 
 
 
 .. 
 
 54-0 
 
 42-1 
 
 9 30 
 
 ] :;: 
 
 16,015 
 
 18-0 
 
 360 
 
 .. 
 
 on the grand 
 
 M 
 
 48-8 
 
 9 40 
 
 17-07 
 
 14.938 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 The reading of Regnanlt's hygrometer at Ih. 45m was reduced to - 30, without any deposition of moisture ; the temperature of the 
 dew-point wat therefore at a lower degree. At Ih. 48m. the temperature of the dew-point, ai determined by the Dry- and Wet-bulb 
 thermometers, wat 35, at ihown below. 
 
 From the general agreement of the result* at obwrred by Begnanlt'i hygrometer and thote of the dew-point ai found by the Dry- and 
 Wet-bulb thermometer*, there can be no doubt that the temperature of the dew-point at height* exceeding 30,000 feet mutt hare been 
 a* low at - 50. 
 
 Mr. Glaisher's general remarks and conclusions, as derived from the eight balloon ascents 
 here recorded by him in the Association Reports, are too important to be omitted : 
 
 These eight ascents have led me to conclude, firstly, that it was necessary to employ a balloon containing 
 nearly 90,000 cubic feet of gas ; and that it was impossible to get BO high as six miles, even with a balloon of this 
 magnitude, unless carbnretted hydrogen, varying in specific gravity from 370 to 330, had been supplied for the 
 purpose. 
 
 It is true that these statements are rather conflicting when compared with the statements made by one or two 
 early travellers, who professed to have reached some miles in height with small balloons. But if we recollect that 
 at 3} miles high a volume of gas will double its bulk, we have at once a ready means of determining how high a 
 balloon can go ; and in order to reach an elevation of six or seven miles it is obvious that one-third of the capacity 
 of the balloon should be able to support the entire weight of the balloon, inclusive of sufficient ballast for the 
 descent. 
 
 The amount of ballast taken up affords another clue as to the power of reaching great heights. Gay-Lussao's 
 ballast, as before mentioned, was reduced to 33 Ibs. Rush and Green, when their barometers, as stated by them> 
 stood at 1 1 inches, had only 70 Ibs. left, and this was considered a sufficient playing-power. We found that it was 
 desirable to reserve five or six hundred pounds ; and although we could have gone higher by saving less, still on 
 every occasion it was evident that a large amount of ballast was indispensable to regulate the descent and select a 
 favourable spot for landing. 
 
240 ASTRA CASTEA. A.D. 1862. 
 
 Secondly, it was manifest throughout our various journej's that excessive altitude and extended range as to 
 distance are quite incompatible. The reading of the instruments establishes this; and it has been pointed out 
 what a short time the balloon held its highest place, and how reluctantly it appeared to linger even at a somewhat 
 less elevation. This was not owing to any leakage or imperfection in the balloon itself, for its efficiency has been 
 well tested ; and it remained intact a whole night without the least perceptible loss of gas. 
 
 It has been stated by an aeronaut of experience that strong opposing upper currents have been heard to pro- 
 duce an audible contention, and to sound like the "roaring of a hurricane." Now, the only deviation we experienced 
 from the most perfect stillness was a slight whirring noise in the netting, and this only when the balloon was 
 rising with great rapidity, and a slight flapping on descending, when the balloon is in a collapsed state. 
 
 I may also state that the too readily accepted theory as to the prevalence of a settled west or north-west wind 
 was not confirmed in our trips. Nor was the appearance of the upper surface of the clouds such as to establish 
 the theory that the clouds assume a counterpart of the earth's surface below, and rise or fall like hills or dales. 
 
 Perhaps the most important conclusions which can be drawn from the experiments at present are : 
 
 1. That the temperature of the air does not decrease uniformly with increase of elevation above the earth's 
 
 surface, and consequently the theory of a decline of temperature of 1 in every 300 feet must be 
 abandoned. In some cases, with a clear sky, the decline of 1 has taken place within 100 feet of the 
 earth ; and for a like decrease of temperature it is necessary to pass through more than 1000 feet at 
 heights exceeding five miles. 
 
 The determination of the decrease of temperature with elevation, and its law, is most important; 
 and the balloon is the only means by which this element can be determined ; but very many more 
 experiments are, however, necessary. 
 
 2. That the humidity of the air decreases with height in a wonderfully decreasing ratio, till at heights 
 
 exceeding five miles the amount of aqueous vapour in the atmosphere is very small indeed. 
 
 3. That an aneroid barometer read correctly to the first place, and probably to the second place of deci- 
 
 mals, to a pressure as low as seven inches. 
 
 4. That dry- and wet-bulb thermometers can be used effectively up to any heights on the earth's surface 
 
 where man can be located. 
 
 5. That the balloon affords a means of solving with advantage many delicate questions in physics ; and, 
 
 6. That the observations can be made with tolerable safety to the observer ; and therefore that the balloon 
 
 may be used as a philosophical agent in many investigations. 
 
 The ascents which are most worthy to be compared to these in point of interest, are the 
 ascents of MM. Biot and Gray-Lussac, made in 1804, for the purpose of scientific experiment, 
 already given in this work. In reference to the eventful ascent of Mr. Glaisher and his 
 companion, the following remarks are extracted from the ' Times ': 
 
 SCIENTIFIC BALLOON ASCENT. 
 (Leading Article from the ' Times,' Sept. 11, 1862. 
 
 Poetry has described some famous descents, and the facilis descensus Avertii comes back with a familiar school 
 twang to us. These dips into the subterranean world do not, indeed, belong to the region of historical truth, nor 
 do they even profess to have been made for scientific purposes ; yet, perhaps, they symbolise a certain spirit of 
 discovery appropriate to those ages. The two chief adventurers into those parts, the two epic heroes, were great 
 travellers, the explorers of their day. Science has just now, however, surpassed all the fancy of poets. We have 
 just had an ascent such as the world has never heard of or dreamed of. Two men have been nearer by some miles 
 to the moon and stars than all the race of man before them. It is true they do not bring back a very glowing 
 report of their approach to the region of the empyrean, yet their voyage upwards is not without poetical features. 
 On reaching the clouds they find themselves among strange phenomena. They cut through a dense mass of 
 moisture 2000 feet in thickness, after which the scene changes, they are received out of the thick fog into the clear 
 blue vault of a liquid sky, and see the landscape of clouds beneath them. Mr. Glaisher attempts a photograph of 
 the beautiful scene, but the rapidity of the flight defeats the process, and as the car mounts upwards the paper 
 
A.I.. I I r.MMMJ AKTICLE OF TIIK -TIMKS.' -.Ml 
 
 refuses to receive the constantly vanishing impression from below. They now reach a fearful altitude, v 
 
 the tinhapp} victims t ,f nil experiments cannot lly. and where, at last, the rarity of the air is too great 
 lor the physical stun -tun ,,f man, and one of the explorers faint* and becomes unconscious. Yet such in the 
 determination of men when they are in the act of expciimcntizing, and at the very climax of their feat, that they 
 will not spoil it l.y a check so long as progress is possible ; on they will go, and grndge forestalling their vertex 
 I iy a foot. f,,r every foot is so much gain and no much triumph. For ten whole minutes Mr. r,,\\\,ll ..-..nded 
 alone, or rather worse than alone, with his companion insensible before his eyes, in a region six miles diMunt 
 li. ni the earth. That is a -very extraordinary ten minutes if we think of it, that solitary command without a rival, 
 of tin 1 lioundless regions of space, when, for once, to be " alone in the world " was not a metaphor, and one head 
 was working in the infinite void. It deserves to take its place among the unparalleled junctures and the critical 
 an-! striking moments of war, politics, or discovery. But the feat was almost too audacious, and was carried on 
 to th. ge of fate. Mr. Coxwell was only just in time to take the step which was necessary for a return to 
 
 the lower world; another minute and he would have been stretched by the side of his companion, and a car, 
 containing two human bodies, would have been mounting to worlds unknown, and encountering aerial storms and 
 shipwrecks so removed from all our sublunar} 1 experience that we can hardly form the faintest image of the reality. 
 We know enough of the geography of the heavens to know that it would not have been even dathed upon the 
 bleak shore of a planet, or found a resting place upon some Ararat in the moon. But Mr. Coxwell's mouth 
 pel formed the task which his paralysed hands were unequal to, and the release of the gas procured u descent, and 
 gave u safe termination to the most audacious aerial feat ever performed. 
 
 The courage of men of science deserves to have a chapter of history devoted to it. It has been observed 
 that coin-ago is a very capricious and inconsistent virtue, and we all of us know the old anecdote of the gallant 
 m of a hundred battles who durst not snuff out a candle with his fingers. Courage is a thing of habit, and 
 sometimes it fails altogether immediately it is out of the field of its habit. Your bold rider is one who has begun 
 young and becomes a sort of Centaur, only with the convenience of dropping off the animal part of his figure 
 when he chooses; his whole body, with its muscles and sinews, has accommodated itself to the back of a horse, 
 and acquired an intuitive and unconscious balance. But take him off his horse and, unless he has the principle of 
 courage within him, ho is an ordinary mortal, aad no more likes breaking his neck than a quiet humdrum citizen. 
 
 A soldier is accustomed to courage in company with gallant fellows around him ; but that makes an immense 
 difference. Company is both inspiring and relieving ; it divests courage of its horrors and gloom. It is therefore 
 much easier to be bold in company. But send your bristling warrior a nocturnal walk along a lane, and he sees 
 ghosts peeping from behind haystacks, and hears supernatural voices in every gust of air. The feats of a man of 
 science give you a better guarantee for real courage because they are solitary, deliberate, calm, and passive. It is 
 tme he has his enthusiasm which helps him, and he has his field of courage to which he has accustomed himself. 
 But everj- new venture, every fresh essay upon this field is a solitary effort and impulse to him. He has to fight 
 alone and by himself against the fnintness of nature, without men shouting or flags flying, or trumpets clanging 
 around him. He faces the invisible forces of nature, the gas that explodes or the poison that penetrates, with the 
 countenance of a student and philosopher, and is at the disadvantage of having to be fully conscious and self- 
 possessed, instead of having the aid of the swing and impetus of passion. The cool feats of our scientific men are 
 known to us all snch as that of Sir Humphry Davy inhaling a particular gas, with an accurate report every 
 minute or two of its successive effects upon his brain and senses- The aerial voyage just performed by Mr. Coxwell 
 and Mr. Glaisher deseives to rank with the greatest feats of experimentalizers, discoverers, and travellers. It is 
 true thcM- gentlemen h.iv. not brought down a very comfortable or inspiring report of the upper world into which 
 they ha\v penetrated. > i, n. . and poetry are unhappily rather at variance upon the subject of the air and sky. 
 
 Poetiy points upwards to the sky with glowing rapture as the scene of brightness and glory, and a residence 
 there figures as the leward of heroism and greatness. I '.\ < i \ thing is happy and splendid that is connected with tin- 
 sky. But science penetrates with its material eye into these vast upper spaces, and simply reports a great difficulty 
 of breathing there, that the Mo, d stagnates, the limbs become benumbed, the senses evaporate, and nature faints in 
 unconsciousness. The very liiids will not fly in that sky which is their poetical home. The distinction is that 
 poetry looks up to the sky from U-low, and science examines and feels it on a level. The sky is the emblem of 
 poetry the fact of science. Both aspects of it are , ,|iially true, but the point of view from which they are taken 
 is quite different. But, though our recent explorers of the sky do not add to its brilliancy as a picture, they have 
 
242 
 
 ASTKA CASTKA. 
 
 A.D. 1862. 
 
 furnished one more striking and impressive scene to the history of science. They have shown what enthusiasm 
 science can inspire and what courage it can give. If the man, as the poet says, had need of " triple steel about 
 his breast " who first launched a boat into the sea, certainly those had no less need of it who first floated in the 
 air six miles above the surface of the earth. 
 
 When science from creation's face 
 Enchantment's veil withdraws, 
 
 What lovely visions yield their place 
 To cold material laws. 
 
 CAMPBELL. 
 
 On the 14th October, a pleasant party ascended from Winchester Barracks. To each of 
 the members the idea that Schiller has so well expressed might be applied : 
 
 Wie sprang, von kiihuem Muth befliigelt, 
 BeglUckt in seines Traumes Walm, 
 Von keiner Sorge noch gezugelt, 
 Der Jungling in des Lebens Bahn ! 
 Bis an des Aethers bleichste Sterne 
 Erhob ihn der Entwiirfe Flug ; 
 Nichts war so lioch und nichts so feme, 
 Wohin ihr Fliigel ihn nicht trug. 
 
 DIE IDEALE. 
 
 Light, as by valour wing'd for air, 
 
 On life illumed by morning beams, 
 Sprang youth, as yet uncurb'd by care, 
 
 And blest in error's happy dreams (?) : 
 Up to the ether's faintest star, 
 
 Did wild design adventurous soar 
 Oh, nought too high, and nought too far 
 
 For those strong pinions to explore. 
 
 SIR BULWKR LYTTOX. 
 
 THE WINCHESTER ASCENT. 
 
 Two of the party wrote the following accounts : 
 
 70 MILES IN 60 MINUTES. 
 To the Editor of the ' Times: 
 
 A most successful aerial journey has this day been accomplished from Winchester to Harrow, travelling at 
 the rate of a mile a minute. 
 
 Colonel M'Donald and six officers of the Bine Depot Battalion accompanied Mr. Coxwell in his mammoth 
 balloon. Before this could be realised great anxiety had been felt by all concerned, the distance from the 
 gasometer being half a mile and the last hundred yards of piping having to be laid above ground through the 
 passages to the inner quadrangle. As the pipe was only four inches in diameter, the filling had to commence at 
 nine o'clock on Monday morning. The weather was tempestuous, and strong equinoctial gales blowing from the 
 south-west, bringing heavy clouds with rain almost precluded any hope of our aerial voyage being either pleasant 
 
A.,,. !>.;_'. II.K.HT riniM \\IM iii:sii:i; m IIAI;I;<>\\ 
 
 ihc /.ul <.f Mi. Timicy, the gu manager, who spared no labour in providing the 90,000 cubic 
 
 ! -a- linary task imd nU> to M : . \ well's knowledge of tin- . hangoableness of the weather, the 
 
 enterprise was not alun.l.'ii. 1. All the arrangements made with calculation and forethought by Colonel M'Donald 
 fiilU , , .in].l. -t. '1 : cvciy preparation for tin- coii\cnicncc of sp. ctators had been made; and the an<-i-nt 
 I'.il ... of ( 'hai-les 1 1. assumed the appearance of a Human amphitheatre. It was hoped that a large sutn of money 
 \\,,ul,l have been thus collected forthe Lancashire Distress Fund, Imt on this point wo wore somewhat disappointed, 
 as aomo thousands preferred to keep their shillings in their pockets and enjoy a surreptitious \ ir\\ li.iin a distance. 
 Still, owing to frequent squalls, it was iindccidt <l at three o'clock whether tho ascent should IK- made this day 
 or postponed. A Urge crowd was, as usual, clamorous, and foolishly careless of any risk, but it would have had 
 no .-licet in induein..; Mr. t 'oxw.-ll to proceed" had not the sun come out and the heavy clouds dispersed. Then 
 he d.-eideil, and the soldiers, obeying his signals with military exactness, drew tho balloon to tho windward side 
 of the square ; and at five minutes past four let go the rope, when we instantly rose in a majestic manner clearing 
 the coiner we had so much feared by l.'ai feet to a height of two miles. By passing over the Grange (Lord 
 Ashl.urton'si eight minutes later we per.-. i\. .1 that we were going at the rate of a mile a minute. Tho white and 
 broken clouds were on this occasion between three and four miles from the earth. Our direction was E.N.K. \Ve 
 h t < 'amp two miles to the 8.K., Virginia Water a milo to the N.\V.. and with great pleasure recognised 
 the friendly shelter of Harrow-hill for a quit-t descent. This, however, we passed by arnile, and landed in a grass- 
 tiehl 1 Mi. Henry Mill. Merc, in the gentlest manner possible, the grappling iron anchored us in the 
 
 centre of the field, and, thanks to Mr. ('oxwell's judgment, without the slightest concussion. With the hearty 
 goodwill of the villagers, and the obliging assistance of -Mr. Mill, we packed up and carried our balloon to the 
 railway station. It was :,.\."> o'clock when we descended, and the distance we had travelled in one hour and ten 
 minutes exceeded seventy miles. As we reached the ground Mr. Coxwell was kind enough to show us the manner 
 in which he performed the almost incredible feat of opening tho valve with his teeth when seven miles above the 
 
 earth (see p. 234 i 
 
 C. F. T. 
 iMidon, Oct. 11. 
 
 Mr. Coxwell having stated to me that our flight in his balloon from Winchester to Harrow, on Tuesday last, 
 was one of the most successful and interesting which have been made, I am disposed to offer a few additional 
 observations to those of your previous correspondent. 
 
 Me made a slight mistake as regards the time in which the journey was performed, the distance being got 
 over in one hour and six minutes four minutes less than he computed. 
 
 It being necessary to move upwards with great velocity, an additional interest attached to the ascent. The 
 moment tho roj>e was loosed by our guide, we felt first a gentle movement, then a bound into space, almost a 
 -ition of the tianslation" of good men of old. It is hardly possible to describe how this movement 
 outstripped thought. A fleeting vision passed the mind, of friends near becoming instantly distant, amid the 
 waving of handkerchiefs, the strains of music, and the cheers of the crowd ; we wore high in air, however, before 
 we could return these salutations. 
 
 At this period our velocity could not have been less than at the rate of three miles a minute, our course 
 describing a parabolic curve, tho balloon being moved by two forces upwards by the dense masses of the lower 
 air, and northwards by the wind. This pace gradually lessened till we reached our extreme altitude, upwards of 
 two miles, when we took the more moderate rate of about seventy miles an hour, and travelled at the same 
 
 ion until almost over Cheit.-ey, when we descended, in a parabola of less inflection, upon Staines. This 
 descent was of great velocity, although the only effect felt by the aeronauts was the rotation of the balloon slowly. 
 
 was rapidly cheeked by the delivery of a sandbag, when for some time we preserved an altitude of about 900 
 
 -ui'M -i|u, -utly it bi-eaine necessary to ascend to 1000 feet to clear Harrow-hill with the grapnel, which hung 
 100 feet below us, and was a scale by which we could estimate height ; and our altitude was now gradually 
 lessened until the descent was accomplished. 
 
 It was interesting to note the .litter, nee of the aerial currents. Until we passed over Staines, rippled waters 
 were obseivable, and we anticipated a rough descent ; near there, however, some smoke was seen to blow towards 
 
 '1 :.-it.-I .,f (V.lon,! M.-U.nuM. M:ij,.r N. w,li-at. . C. Itnmnbottom, W. M. llnri.-ll. C. K.mli, 1.1. II. Tumor. >( tli<- 1'rince 
 
 Contorts Own 1M1. Kri-mle. and J. S. Algar ..I ii., i:ml, i;ul, ~. 
 
 "2 K 
 
244 
 
 ASTRA CASTRA. 
 
 A.D. 1863. 
 
 the west, although our direction was northerly, indicating a lower and different current of wind. After our 
 descent upon Staines we noticed our pace was diminished, and that we were probably moving at the rate of about 
 thirty-five miles an hour, which pace appeared uniform until half a minute before touching .ground, under the 
 shelter of Harrow-hill. 
 
 London was to be seen, a great bank of fog, with buildings in its outskirts, which we left on our right. 
 
 I ought not to forget to mention a very brilliant effect produced by the sun striking on a cloud over the Isle 
 of Wight. The cloud shone with an intensity equal to electric light. Nor should I forget our passage over the 
 familiar scene of much military pomp in which we had figured the great dust plain and hideous huts of Aldershot. 
 There a solitary bugle call was detected by the sharp ears of our helmsman, who pointed out the value of balloons 
 in military reconnaissance. Although at the height of two miles, any manoeuvres upon the dust plain could have 
 been easily seen. Even troops secreted behind the Eeservoir, 1 or in the hollows of Caesar's Camp, would have been 
 
 unable to hide from the searching eye of the aerostatic observer. 
 
 A. M. 
 
 A Winchester poet takes advantage of the occasion to refresh the mind by apt 
 
 comparisons : 
 
 ON THE ASCENT OF A BALLOON. 
 
 Tis well for man that his aspiring mind 
 
 Should limits to his boundless wishes find ; 
 
 The loftiest angels fell for lack of this, 
 
 And changed for endless woe their seats of bliss. 
 
 With genius all expansive, and a skill 
 
 Prompt to perform wh'ate'er may be his will ; 
 
 And more than all, a heart to do, and dare 
 
 His duty, or his pleasure, careless where, 
 
 Wliat would his restless, tow'ring spirit stay, 
 
 Uncheck'd by laws 'twere death to disobey ? 
 
 He threads the bottom of the briny deep, 
 
 He climbs up snow-clad summits drear and steep 
 
 And midst the icebergs of the Esquimaux 
 
 Steers with a fearless helm his fragile prow ; 
 
 Nor yet to roam on earth and sea content, 
 
 Up to the clouds he ventures an ascent ; 
 
 And thus determined, lo! the means at hand 
 
 For this new voyage, which his bold thought hns plaun'd. 
 
 Behold yon silken web so finely spun, 
 
 Tho' worms prepar'd the skeins that thro' it run ; 
 
 With wondrous life inspir'J, aloft it rears 
 
 Its form, as buoyant as the starry spheres, 
 
 And like a courser fretting at the rein ' 
 
 That serves awhile its spirit to restrain, 
 
 See how above those weights, that bid it stny, 
 
 It heaves, and rolls, and strives to soar away. 
 
 At length the word is giv'n, and with a bound 
 
 It surges up, and giaceful leaves the ground. 
 
 Then upward, upward, with majestic flight 
 
 It soon ascends beyond the reach of sight, 
 
 View'd and admir'd by twice ten thousand eyes 
 
 That eager watch'd its blending with the skies. 
 
 But in that soaring globe the muse would see 
 
 An emblem of a glorious immortality ; 
 
 Tho' now careering on, ere launching forth, 
 
 It seem'd a cumbrous mass upon the earth. 
 
 Lifeless it lay, as tho' unfit to rise, 
 
 And sail in triumph thro' the lofty skies. 
 
 Thus fallen man is seen laid dead, and down, 
 
 Beneath a load of trespass all his own. 
 
 But when the Spirit of the living God 
 
 Breathes in, ar.d fills with life that mortal clod 
 
 No longer dead, it moves, and straight begins 
 
 To rise above the burden of its sins. 
 
 It sees the blood from Jesu's side that flow'd, 
 
 And reads all cancell'd there the debt it ow'd. 
 
 And as those weights that hung upon the net 
 
 Did still forbid its upward soaring yet, 
 
 Until the signal, iull of deep suspense, 
 
 Was given to bid the voyagers mount from hence ; 
 
 Thus humbled still with many a weight within 
 
 Th' imprisou'd soul laments its state of sin, 
 
 Yet by the power of prayer and faith made strong 
 
 It learns to bear and lift itself along ; 
 
 Lab'ring with constant struggles to be clear 
 
 From all those trammels that detain it here ; 
 
 Till the last hour of life and then are seen 
 
 Those deep librations, faith and sight between, 
 
 When fully conscious of its near release 
 
 With trembling hope and joy, and deep-felt peace, 
 
 Freed from each earthly tie, each sin forgiv'n, 
 
 It soars sublimely to its blood-bought Heav'n 
 
 Whilst weeping friends look on, and praise the Lord 
 
 For His abounding grace and faithful word. J. C. P. 
 
 1863. Mr. Glaisher continues to make many interesting and useful scientific experiments 
 with regard to the atmosphere, hy the assistance of Mr. Coxwell. Jn one of these pleasant 
 excursions, on the llth July, the author accompanied them, and the following is the account : 
 
 COASTING IN A BALLOON. 
 
 To the Editor of the ' Times.' Chichester, July 12, 1S63. 
 
 On a former occasion you did me the honour to insert an account of a balloon trip till then the most rapid 
 on record ; and I now hope that you may again find room in the valuable space of your journal for an account of a 
 
\.i.. IN;::. C0.\>ll.\; IN A 1JALLOON. 
 
 made \, st, id.i\ 1'v Mr. (iluitdier and Mr. Coxwoll, in which, by their kind permission, another gentleman and 
 myself were allowed to join. 
 
 Having j.ie\ i,,ii.sly obtained the knowledge, from observation of the clouds and a paper-pilot, that the lower 
 .mi, 'iii was flowing almost due west, while the upper was from north to south, we rose quietly from the Crystal 
 I'alaee at -l.-lii r.M. 
 
 Mr. Glaisher, with a variety of instruments surrounding him, commenced at once his observations, which I 
 hope may bo published. Tho lower current carried us towards London, and we almost hoped to back Eton with 
 our cheers, but unfortunately we reached the upper current, and were carried slowly past Croydon, where we 
 observed tents, and a large concourse. We passed immediately over a beautiful park near Epsom, which Mr. 
 ( , l.iishei photognpbed. We crossed the South-Eastern Railway, between Duckland and lieigate Town. Hero the 
 rail, following the curves of the chalk-hills and Bletchworth, drew attention. Between this and Ilortiham wo 
 attained our greatest elevation, not much over a mile, as we wished to go distance, not height, hoping to cross the 
 Channel ; but the sluggishness of the atmosphere disappointed us. After once enjoying the pleasure of seeing the 
 fields contracting, we allowed them to expand, and remained at a lower altitude. Passing immediately over 
 Horshain, Mr. (ilai.sher took another photograph. We saw the sea, and from the inlet perceived that wo were going 
 straight !',,r New Shoreham. 
 
 " The sea looks tempting," we all exclaimed ; but, alas ! it is seven o'clock, and our pace not rapid, so this 
 must be postponed. 
 
 Mr. ( '..\\vel! drops us into the lower current, and we coast about five miles from the shore, at not more than 
 1500 feet, and sometimes only 600 feet from the ground. Nothing could be more enjoyable. Villagers shouting 
 to us to come down, and occasionally answering our questions ; the cheery cries of children ; sheep flocking on the 
 Downs, not knowing which way to go ; geese cackling and scuttling off to the farms, other birds remaining in 
 trees ; while a pack of hounds was in the wildest excitement within their kennels, trying to get out. We passed 
 immediately over the parks of Arundel and Dale, hearing the pheasants crowing as they went to roost. 
 
 Mr. ( 'oxwell thought at this time <,f mo-Miii; the S.di nt. and landing in the l>le ,.f \\ 'jjjht ; 1'iii tin- wind 
 getting a little more southerly, and knowing the inconvenience of the country near Portsmouth for landing when 
 dark, we took advantage of an open piece of grass near the house at Goodwood, and descended soon after 8 P.M. 
 
 Mr. Coxwoll, after throwing a rope to a cricketer, landed us so gently that we could not have crushed a 
 daisy. We were afterwards drawn by a rope to the front of the house, for the benefit of a few gazers. I had hoped 
 that Mr. Coxwell would here tether his balloon and continue our journey next day ; but it was Sunday, and so 
 he resolved to pack it up ; otherwise, the upper current being again north, our wishes might this day have been 
 happily accomplished. 
 
 Our thanks are due to Captain Valentine, and other good people there assembled, for the assistance they gave 
 
 us in packing up. 
 
 C. H. T. 
 
 MR. GLAISHEK'S TWELFTH BALLOON ASCENT. 
 
 To the Editor of the 7Im.' BUckhe.tli. July 14, 1863. 
 
 This ascent was intended to have combined both extreme height and distance, and almost until the time of 
 leaving the earth there seemed to be a promise that both purposes in these respects could be realised. As the 
 direction of the wind was almost due east, the paths of the pilot-balloons were such as to indicate that our course 
 would have been towards Devonshire. 
 
 The bky was nearly covered with cirrus and cirro-stratus clouds, and the air was in very gentle motion. The 
 earth was left at 4h. 55m., the Iwilloon moving towards the west till 4h. "/Jim., when, in a moment, we came 
 under the influence of a north wind, and moved almost due south. At this time the balloon was 2400ft high. 
 At Mi. I'.MU. we were nearly over Caterham, where a large number of persons was collected celebrating some 
 festival. At :, h. .'.lira, wo were near Epsom Downs; at 5h. 49m. near lieigate; at Ch. 3! m. over Horsham; at 
 7h. 14m. within five or six miles of I'.righton. Up to this time we had frequently consulted together, with the 
 view of ascending higher, but it did not seem prudent to attempt extreme elevations, as we were moving so 
 directly towards the sea, and therefore we kept low, with the prospect of crossing the Channel to France, and then 
 ascending to four or five miles; but on approaching the Channel the circumstances did not promise success; we 
 
 2 K 2 
 
246 ASTEA CASTKA. A.D. 1863. 
 
 therefore abandoned the attempt. On descending when at the height of about 2400 ft. we again fell in with an 
 east wind, being exactly at the same elevation as we lost it at five o'clock. After this time we were compelled to 
 keep at a low elevation, and moved very nearly parallel to the coast, at the rate of about fifteen miles per hour, at 
 elevations varying from 1000 ft. to 2000 ft., till at 8 h. 35 m. we were over Goodwood Park, the seat of the 
 Duke of Richmond, where Mr. Coxwell determined to descend, and managed the balloon so that finally it had to 
 be pulled down, and we were not aware when the car touched the earth. 
 
 The temperature at the time of leaving at the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, was 75i deg. ; at the Crystal 
 Palace it was 74 deg. ; in the balloon it declined to 59 deg. by 5 h. 4 m. at the height of 3COO ft. We then entered 
 a warm current, the temperature increasing to 61-5 deg., then decreased to 60 deg. at the height of 4300 ft. We 
 determined to descend to repeat these observations, and found all temperatures down to 3000 ft. nearly 5 deg. 
 higher than at the same heights on ascending. We then turned to ascend at 5 h. 35 m., and the temperature 
 decreased gradually, agreeing with those at the same elevations as last taken, and continued to a height of 
 6200 ft. at 6h. 28m., where the temperature was 52i deg.; we continued at this elevation with very slight 
 variations for half an hour, during which time the temperature fell from 1 deg. to 2 deg. 
 
 At 7h. we were nearing the coast, and we descended to 900 ft. by 7h. 20m., the temperature gradually and 
 constantly increasing to 65-J deg. From this time we were moving westward, almost parallel to the coast, and 
 were compelled to keep below 2000 ft. to avoid approaching the sea ; and the temperature at these elevations 
 varied from 63 deg. to 65 deg., and was 68J deg. at Goodwood at 8 h. 50 m., about ten minutes after we had 
 touched the ground. At this time, at Greenwich, the temperature was <>4 deg. ; at Brighton, as communicated to me 
 by Mr. I. 0. N. Rutter, it was 68 deg. 
 
 On comparing the successive temperatures at the same elevations, taken after 5 h. 8 in. with those at Green- 
 wich a corresponding decrease was shown, but somewhat less in amount. 
 
 At 5 h. 27 m., when at the height of about 3000 ft., the ' Times ' newspaper, folded four times, fell over the 
 car. Its descent was watched. After a time it looked like a gull. It reached the ground at 5 h. 35 m., passing 
 over seven or eight fields in its descent. 
 
 While passing from Brighton to Chichester, without any sense of motion ourselves, at an elevation of less 
 than 2000 ft., over so beautiful a county, in all respects like Devonshire, with its fine parks of forest-trees, noble- 
 men's mansions, and all the features of rural landscape, a moving panorama, in fact, of great extent, appearing 
 in quick succession, like a fairy scene, the prospect was most enjoyable ; and I must confess it was with some 
 regret that we were compelled to conclude this aerial voyage. 
 
 The currents of air on this occasion were remarkable : there was no transition state from one to the other ; 
 the stratum of air moving from the north must have been in contact with that from the east. After nearing 
 Horsham the north wind must have been compounded with some west ; that is, at heights exceeding 5000 ft., 
 which was lost on falling below this height, for then for a time we were moving towards Worthing. When near 
 the south coast the smoke was frequently moving in a different direction to that of the balloon : at Arundel it was 
 moving in the opposite direction. It was this uncertain state of things which prevented us from passing to the Isle 
 of Wight, as I very much wished to have some observations over the sea. 
 
 At the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, the horizontal movement of the air between the hours of five and nine 
 was at a rate less than two miles an hour ; while during three hours and three-quarters the balloon had passed 
 between 60 and 70 miles. 
 
 It is very evident that our instruments on the earth do not give any indication of the real velocity of the air. 
 A similar result was shown last year in Mr. Coxwell's rapid journey from Winchester, of 70 miles in 65 minutes, 
 while the anemometer at Greenwich registered 14 miles only; and every occasion on which the actual motion of 
 the air has been measured by the balloon it has been a multiple of that determined by instruments. The difference 
 between the two is so large that it seems scarcely to be accounted for by the uudulutory nature of the surface of 
 land, and implies that our hitherto estimated velocities of the air are erroneous. 
 
 Shortly after we left, the sky was overcast, mostly with cirro-stratus clouds of such density that at times there 
 were faint gleams of light from the sun ; but for the most part the sun's place was only just discernible, and for 
 some time before sunset there was no trace whatever of the sun. 
 
 These clouds, when viewed from a height exceeding 6000 ft., seemed then to be as far above as they did when 
 viewed fiom the earth : they must have been four miles high at least. The atmosphere was thick and misty, very 
 
CA L& AS< I:\T \\ M:\\V\M i i -JIT 
 
 were invisible; :nnl the earth, nut being lighted up liy llu> Min at all, wa dull, the fact of <-lmuU 
 reaching to four miles high, where tko temperature of the dew-point must be some degrees below zero, aa in th> 
 preceding ascent, implying the presence of very littlu water; yet there was enough in both cases not only to be 
 viable, lint t e\elude everything beyond them. This fact is important, and indicates that our theory of vapour mtut 
 
 I.' ,:,- -,:..: I 
 
 \\ | . : ' * \.iiired on this occasion with tho company of Mi. 1'ivderiek Xorrirf, nf the Conservative < lub, and 
 I. i. -MI. n. in: II. Turnor, of tho Rifle Brigade. 
 
 'I'll.- ].l.i. , . t descent was Goodwood Park, the seat of the Duko of itichmond ; and our best thanks are dm- t.. 
 iin Valentine for the assistance he kindly gave us in everything not only in having my instruments properly 
 taken care of, packing up the balloon, <ko., but also for his kind hospitality. 
 
 JAMES GI.AIMIM:. 
 
 An ascent in Mr. (V\\\vll's Maiiiiimth Balloon was made on August 31, from tin- 
 rrirkrt (irouml at Nr\\v;istlf. during the Meeting of the British A^Micijitimi. The account is 
 < \tracted from the ' Newcastle Daily Chronicle': 
 
 This ascent took place yesterday, and the popular interest evinced was decidedly greater than that excited by 
 any other event connected with the Association. Everybody could share tho pleasure uinl excitement produced 
 1>> a balloon ascent; and the great mass of our townsfolk did share in it. Tho Mayor, on tin- requisition of a 
 niimU-r (.four leading firms, had wisely appointed that the afternoon should Ixs holden as a general holiday. The 
 consequence was that all the positions surrounding tho Cricket Ground, from which a view of the balloon could lie 
 obtained, were occupied earl}' in the afternoon. In the enclosure itself, some hundreds of the members of the 
 P.ritish Association were assembled. The inflation of the balloon began about Imlf-paKt one in the afternoon, and 
 was not completed till nearly six in the evening. The balloon employed on this occasion, \ve believe, was 
 constructed by Mr. Coxwell specially for scientific ascents. It is of immense size and beautiful form, and require* 
 '.'.">. "no feet of gas to inflate it. Messrs. Coxwell and Glaisher usually perform their journeys alone ; but on this 
 occasion they were accompanied by Master G. W. Lee Glaisher, a son of Mr. Glaisher, about sixteen years of ge, 
 Captain llond. Mr. Smith, and Mr. J. Pullan, one of our reporters. When Mr. Glaisher had arranged his delicate 
 instrument-, and Mr. Coxwell had adjusted his still more important machinery, the aerial monster, amidst the 
 plaudit* of the spectators, swiftly and steadily left the earth. The clouds were low at the time, so that the 
 balloon was speedily hidden by them. As it rose higher, however, it was seen and lost again repeatedly as a 
 diminishing object in the heavens. Glistening in tho sunlight, it was not entirely lost to view for half an hour 
 after it left the earth. The ascent was made so near to the coast that the direction of the wind was a matter of 
 some moment, and several " pilots " were despatched to ascertain it. As the great balloon itself ascended, it took 
 a southerly direction, but diverged slightly to east as it got into higher currents of air. The proceedings were 
 enlivened by the performances of the bands of tho 1st Newcastle and the Northumberland Artilleiy Volunteers, 
 permitted to be present by tho kindness of the commanding officers. The balloon was the " Mammoth " with which 
 Mr. Glaisher and Mr. Coxwell have made all their scientific ascents. 
 
 Having described the balloon as seen from the earth, we will now describe the earth as seen from tho balloon. 
 
 TIIK VOYAGE. 
 
 The following is tho account of our own reporter, who was favoured with a place in the balloon : 
 At twelve minutes past six o'clock, and cheered by the hurrahs of the assembled people, we rose smoothly 
 from the earth. The sight of a thousand up-turned faces, all evincing astonishment and delight, was a fair parting 
 scene, and omened well for our evening voyage. The first glance around showed that not only was tho Cricket 
 Ground thronged with spectators, but in the adjacent, streets people appeared to be closely packed. The town 
 lay below us. tho streets, squares, towers, spires, and monuments spread out as we see them in those old engr.-n 
 grey with the apje of centuries. The novelty Of the situation, however, prevented me from comprehending at one 
 .rlanee the whole extent of NVwea.-tle and the surrounding district. There was so much more to see from this 
 unmterrui>ted point of view, that the eye acquainted with even the widest ranges obtained from mountain 
 could not at once grasp the clearly-defined landscape that lay beneath. There was much to admire, but still 
 
248 ASTEA CASTRA. A . D . 1863. 
 
 to confuse the mind, and before my thoughts were sufficiently collected to allow me to take a systematic survey, 
 we were into a cloud. The idea of being so soon amongst the clouds did not at the moment occur to me, and my 
 first impression was, that we were passing through a -volume of Newcastle smoke purified by its ascent from the 
 chimneys of Tyne-side factories. Happily this filmy shade did not shut out our view entirely, and one could still 
 see the throng in the Cricket Ground, and gather a vague idea of the town, which, however, seemed to be turned 
 wrong end foremost. People and terrestrial objects, animate and inanimate, became smaller and smaller; we were 
 Brobdignagians, sailing over Lilliput. Mr. Coxwell having got now clearly into his own favourite element, 
 having reached his realms of space, began to point out, like an agreeable host, the beauties of his domain. First, 
 however, he seemed anxious to know the direction in which the winds of heaven were wafting us, and therefore 
 requested us to look out for the High Level Bridge. The search for this little object was almost as hopeless as the 
 proverbial difficulty connected with the needle in the bundle of hay ; but having ranged visually about the Tyne 
 for some time, and somewhere between Newcastle and Shields, our gaze travelled up to the Old Bridge, the dry 
 light road of which arrested the attention. Knowing that on earth the High Level was not far removed from this, 
 and scarcely expecting to find it turned upside down, we at length observed a black line of railway threading its 
 course through the house-rows, and on more careful inspection, discovered the exact position of the High Level. 
 
 This was directly beneath us, and as we remained over it for several minutes, it was clear that we were not 
 making much onward progress. Upward, not onward, was our present aim. The breeze that had rocked the 
 " Mammoth " balloon to and fro as she swung at anchor on the green in the Cricket Ground, had been an under- 
 current, and we seemed to have little chance of drifting far from home. Looking up the Tyne from the High Level, 
 the Annie and Meadows Islands formed useful landmarks that could not be mistaken, and that served to aid us in 
 comprehending our position in the clouds. But so different was the appearance of the great factories and familiar 
 objects of the town when looked down upon, to that which they present when viewed in the ordinary way, that 
 it was quite impossible to point out even Sir William Armstrong's ordnance sheds and yards, although the 
 west end of Newcastle could be clearly defined. Clouds interrupted the view further west, but an opening in the 
 light grey film floating beneath the balloon gave us an uninterrupted range eastwards. 
 
 The Tyne from Newcastle to Tynemouth was so short that the pleasant watering-place appeared to have 
 become a close suburb of Newcastle ; and had not Mr. Coxwell assured me of the fact, I should not have supposed 
 the little town a stone's throw behind us to be the Tynemouth of one's terrestrial airings. The froth of the sea, 
 however, as the waves broke on the shore, fringed the outline of the coast, and set the position of Tynemouth 
 beyond cavil. Fiom this white border the sea apparently of darker blue than it seems from land could be 
 observed for a small space only before it was lost in its imion with the horizon. It was satisfactory to learn that 
 the little wind that did prevail with us drove the balloon, at all events, from the sea. We were going gently south ; 
 and on again turning the gaze to the now familiar lines of the High Level Bridge, we saw that we had crossed the 
 Tyne, and were hanging over Gateshead, a town which does not improve in appearance when viewed from aloft. 
 These were about the limits of our sightseeing for the present. Sounds reached our ears distinctly, and until we 
 entered the cloud the cheers of the people we had left were audible enough. After this the puffing and whistling of 
 steam-engines, the clang of steam hammers, and a hoarse commingling of miscellaneous noises came up -from below. 
 
 The easy and imperceptible sailing of our aerial carriage was a luxury that has no parallel on earth. Perfect 
 freedom from all resisting substance gave us something of the feeling that may be imagined to belong to a lark 
 soaring on the wing or buoyed motionless in the air. The sense of danger was not at all strong, and any fears that 
 might arise were checked rather than increased by the reflection that if the balloon collapsed or the ropes broke, 
 nothing could save us. 'J here we were, and, being there, the only thing to do was to make the best of our position. 
 The fact of depending on a few small ropes and a bag of gas, a mile from the earth, was not, however, one that a 
 timid person would long contemplate with any great degree of satisfaction. The only effect the ascent had upon me 
 physically was a pressure on the ears as we passed through some of the denser clouds ; but this never approached 
 to ringing, and was not at all alarming or inconvenient. Mr. Coxwell himself experiences a similar sensation on 
 some occasions, though not usually. The composure of the aeronaut himself was equalled by the quiet and steady 
 application of Mr. Glaisher to his apparatus. Tho latter seemed infleed to be as perfectly at home as a chemist in 
 his own laboratory ; while his son, a boy of sixteen, tuok his notes with much more readiness and facility than I 
 could jot down mine. This was not the first ascent of Captain Bond, who was therefore acquainted with the 
 working of the balloon, and was both able and willing to render assistance. He and Mr. Smith, who has made 
 
A.n. 1 T11E CL()UD-S< \H 
 
 il voyages, applied themselves, under Mr. Coxwell's diiccti..ns, to the throwing out of ballast when required ; 
 l.iii dot of all to tho im|x>rtant work of disengaging the heavy iron grapnel from the car, and lowering it to tin- 
 :<]. It then swung in the region below UN, and served, by its inclination from the course taken 
 by tho balloon, to indicate the direction of our progress. Pit limiiuiry duty done, wo refreshed ourselves with 
 ginger-l>eer, and prepared to ascend higher. Mr. Coxwell directed my attention to tho descent of a cork which he 
 tlnvw ..u! of tin* car. and which could be seen decoendin;.; through tlic space below UK for several minutes after it. 
 had left his hand. Scraps of paper thrown out of the balloon served by their ascent or descent to show whether 
 the balloon itself waa ascending or descending, and we frequently had recourse to these flickering agent*. 
 
 'I If . f ill seen from tho height of a mile and a half presented the appearance of a vast bowl. Rivers could 
 be distinguished and traced, towns and villages were clearly visible, but could not be identified, while cultivati d 
 lands were dist in>j;uishable by their various shades of colour, from the yellow hue of the cornfield to the brown of 
 ploughed land and the green of the meadows and pastures. Trees appeared as low and stumpy as tho hedgerows ; 
 but the sombre, solid, and massive grouping of extensive woods rendered them easily distinguished. Trains could 
 be seen running on the lines of railway in almost all directions ; and should people ever travel in balloons, and 
 leave locomotives to convey goods only, they will assuredly believe, that with trains following so closely after cadi 
 oilier as they appear to do when seen from above, balloons are asafer means of conveyance. The observations 1 have 
 roughly recorded were the results of scarce one-tenth of the time now occupied in writing them.' Turning the gaze 
 upward, a clear blue sky overarched us ; below, fleecy clouds were thickly closing in, and thus shutting out from 
 our view all tern-stria! prospects. Having passed through clouds, the effects of tho sun in expanding the volume of 
 
 bt inexpert management of which resulted in the death of Mr. Chambers at Basford, were clearly illustrated. 
 
 The balloon was swollen to its fullest extent, and from tho safety-valve at the mouth of the neck the gas 
 could be seen rushing out in a strong current The gas thus given off did not affect the voyagera at all. nor 
 did Mr. Coxwdl. whose face was almost in the midst of it, experience any ill effects. This fays a good deal for 
 the present purity of the gas of the Newcastle Company. While tho neck was open a look into the interior of the. 
 balloon was not without interest. The gas in it derived a yellowish hue from tho colour of the skin of the balloon, 
 and was so transparent that the valvular apparatus at the top could be plainly distinguished. One of tin-. 
 pictures of celestial beauty that well repay the risk of a balloon ascent was vouchsafed to our party. The scenes 
 of earth had not been so varied or extensive as they frequently arc ; while the state of the at ni' inhere and the low 
 situation of the clouds, tended to diminish what little of the picturesque belongs to the rather prosy district . i 
 Newcastle and its environs. But the scenes of the sky were truly celestial. The balloon swung in the centre of 
 one vast and hollow globe. The concave section beneath us was composed of light grey cloud-land, as it might 
 be termed, for the components of this substance of our world were not now separate or in groups, but united in 
 one compact mass excluding us entirely from the earth, and tendering us for the time recognised and natural!- d 
 habitants of the sky. While in this station any apprehensions that might have been entertained when the hard 
 earth was in sight were dissipated, and one felt as though the laws of gravitation were suspended on our behalf, 
 and that in this world above all was rest and peace. The wool ly floor beneath looked soft and yielding, and 
 s.-cin-'d siri-n-lik'- to n,\ : oa !. i- !ii ri tti u' 1 Btl> -! p--~ .md ti:. ! '!i. II j>. M- t> i! npOM. 
 
 Above our heads the noble roof of unbeclouded sky formed a vast dome to this palace of enchantment, \\ hose 
 gorgeous furnishings were even more splendidly imposing than was its wide expanse of ethereal space. In the tar 
 east the delicate hues of a fading rainbow streaked the azure walls. In the west the sun fringed with silver groups 
 of clouds that shone like lurid wool. Below these a range of mountain-clouds, " the Apennines of the sky," rose peak 
 over i>eak from the lowlands of our fairy country until the summit of the highest was tipped with the rays of the 
 
 _: sun. Some of these hills were of rugged and rock shape, if words so hard can be justly applied to form> si, 
 
 ' )thers were great K.ld cones, and some again were rudely angled pyramids. Fitting that this glorious view of 
 the novel realms of Nature should be contemplated with awe as well as admiration. Stillness, not indeed opprc- 
 but grandly imposing, reigning around. No sound of motion emanated from the softly-borne balloon, not even .1 
 creak of the car disturbed the solemn silence. Fain would we have dwelt long in such a gorgeous scene : but the 
 weakening rays of that sun which gilded our celestial mountain-tups warned us of the claims of earth, and slowl\. 
 as we descended, the mountains n-i-m.-d to rise above us; the massy expanse beneath divided first, then separated 
 into fleecy groups, again became like filmy shades, and once more the earth burst upon our view. The temp- i.itun- 
 had varied perceptibly. At the \\>r, an overcoat was a hot incumbrance. A little higher, ami in the 
 
250 ASTRA CASTRA. A.D. 1863. 
 
 clouds, the air was chilly, the temperature, Mr. Glaisher informed us, being twenty-nine degrees lower than in the 
 Cricket Ground we had left. No breeze was felt, but at one time the balloon slightly varied its course, and 
 Mr. Coxwell was not inapprehensive of a storm. Steadily we went down, and as steadily, when required, did we 
 remount the air. " Let us just pop through these clouds," says Mr. Coxwell. The sand is poured from the bags, 
 through the clouds we pop, and on the other side of them begin to descend. A castle surrounded by luxuriant 
 woods and furnished with spacious gardens and well-kept lawns, is the first landmark that gives us an indication 
 of our position. Eavensworth suggested itself to me, but on seeing that additions to the castle were in course of 
 building, I concluded that we had reached Lambtoii Park, and were going towards Durham. The appearance in 
 the distance of the Cathedral towers of that city confirmed our impressions, and on finding that we were near a 
 line of railway, a station was pointed out, and we prepared for 
 
 THK DESCENT. 
 
 Leamside Station was on our left, and our grappling-iron was swinging so near the earth that Mr. Coxwell was 
 apprehensive lest it should catch the telegraph-wires. Villagers for miles around had watched our flight, and we 
 had frequently heard their cheers. They now rushed towards the descending balloon as if anxious to render 
 assistance. Mr. Coxwell, looking out for a favourable position, thought at first to pass a range of hills right ahead 
 of us ; but finding a favourable field nearer at hand, he lowered us quickly, and warned us how to avoid injury by 
 bumps. In accordance with his directions we cowered down in the car and, holding fast the ropes on each side, 
 were ready for the bumps when they should come ; and come they did. In avoiding the wires on the North- 
 Eastern Railway we got out of the pan into the fire, as the phrase goes, and caught the telegraph-wires on a 
 waggon- way that had been quite unobserved. The " Mammoth," impatient of restraint, swayed her immense bulk to 
 and fro, and dragged most monstrously against the resistance of the grapnel on Ihe wires. " Bravo wires ! " said 
 one, and bump went we against the ground. Up for an instant, and then down again with a bump bigger than 
 ever, and most vilely stunning in its effects. The huge balloon flapped and tore in front of us, and suddenly 
 carried us right off from our hold. Looking over the edge of the car, it was seen that she had torn up two of the 
 telegraph-posts, and brought them over the hedge iuto the field of shorn and sheaved corn. \\ orse than this, an 
 exclamation from Mr. Smith told us that the rope had broken, and that the grapnel was left hanging to the wire. 
 Mr. Smith shouted to the peasantry who, like the Britons of old when alarmed at the appearance of Cajsar, had 
 congregated on the adjacent heights, and requested them to come to our assistance and seize the rope. 
 
 They came down fast enough, but, not understanding what was required of them, and being perchance appre- 
 hensive of being carried off into the heavens, did not seize hold of either car or rope. Mr. Coxwell, with a degree 
 of promptitude and energy which proved him to be equal to any danger, applied himself to the valve-rope and pulled 
 with might and main. Nevertheless the balloon had still power to drag the car and us along the field of corn. First 
 by slight and occasional elevations, then by regular dragging, the car lying on its side, and the monster balloon 
 tearing along at an uncomfortable rate ; Mr. Smith taking the string relieved Mr. Coxwell, and obeying his rapid 
 orders with all his strength. Yet on we went, the car creaking and straining heavily, while we crouched in it 
 were bumped, and knocked, and thumped, and once or twice fairly covered up with sheaves. A thick and high 
 thorn fence was right in front of us, and it seemed likely that we should be into it. Mr. Coxwell knew better, 
 and through his generalship and the activity and strength of Mr. Smith, aided also by our friends of the country, 
 who had at length seized hold of the car, we pulled up just at that point where a clever hunter would have risen 
 at the fence. The balloon, indeed, was quite over the hedge, the car still on the right side, when the people seizing 
 the network helped to hold her back, and so saved us from a scratching. 
 
 Inquiries as to our whereabouts elicited the intelligence that we were near the village of Pittington, and that 
 wo had come to earth on the farm of Mr. Newby. The Pittingtonians male and female, old and young, gathered 
 rapidly round, and rendered all the assistance in their power. The Rev. H. Stoker, the vicar, hospitably invited 
 us to his manse to take refreshment, and several other gentlemen were equally kind. Mr. Newby, on hearing of 
 the unexpected descent on his ground, hastened to Mr. Coxwell and offered to render him all the assistance he 
 could, and to provide a horse and cart to carry the balloon to Leamside Station, a distance of rather more than 
 two miles. Beyond the shaking, no one was injured by this unusually rough descent. The balloon was slightly 
 damaged, and will be easily repaired. It was found that the telegraph-wires were on the waggon-way of Lady 
 Londonderry, and though we could not ascertain that they were broken, we fear the damage may be considerable. 
 
A.I.. i lil.AlsiiKirs BEPOBT TO THE i:i:irisn \-xtri.\Tlo\. _:.! 
 
 i li.nl Mil.si,!. .1, Mr. i ',. \ \\t-l I. Mi. (ilnisher and the reporter fuiind themselves hatless, and each 
 Med home iii l-.iiowe.l (.billies. Mast. -i tiluir-her. who has ascended six times, and thought |. -vimis ascent* 
 (> th.ir : i'lom danger, seemed to relish tin' ju< ~ nt Lending as a stirring change from 
 
 tli.- in. ii,.:. my .flu- |.,- The greatest altitude attained was about two miles. 
 
 ': Tli.- liill.i\\iun- is tlic |,Y|.<irt tn tin' I'ritish Association, of the five most interesting 
 ascriits inaili- 1'V Mi. < ll;ii.-lirr iii the course of this year: 
 
 were in principle the same as those of the preceding year, the only alterations made being those necessitated by 
 
 tin- use of new instruments. 
 
 Ciu. rMsr.xxi t.- <u IKK AS.-JAIS, AXI> (;KXKKAL 
 
 '1 In' ascents were all made by Sir. Coxwell's large balloon, as in the preceding year, four from the Crystal 
 Palace, Sydenham, and on.- IV., in \\olverton. 
 
 Aicent from Ifie Crystal Palace, March 31. The day was favourable, the wind was from the East, in gentle 
 motion, the sky was blue and almost cloudli . \\ left the earth at 4" 16" P.M., and passed upwards with a very 
 nearly i-ven motion to the height of 19,000 feet; continued above this level for some little time, and then 
 gradually ascended to a height of 24,000 feet, which we attained at 5 h 28", or in l b 12" after starting. On opening 
 tin- \al\i-, though it seemed to be but momentary, we descended 1J mile in 4 minutes; this rapid descent was 
 checked by parting with sand, and for half an hour we kept very nearly upon a level, between l.'i.OOO and 
 16,000 feet high; after this we gradually and almost continually declined, and reached the earth at O k 26", the 
 de.-retit having been accomplished in 58 minutes. 
 
 Tho temperature of the air was 50" on the ground, and the air was more nearly in a normal state than 1 had 
 ever before seen it ; almost every successive reading of the thermometer was less than the preceding in ascending, 
 and greater on descending ; the departures from these necessary conditions in a normal state were very small on 
 this occasion. Tho temperature was just zero at its highest, point, and 4'2 n on the ground. There had, therefore, on 
 the earth been a decline of 8 during the 2 h 10" we were away ; and if the numbers on the same level be compared, 
 it will he seen that all those when descending are lower than those ascending, indicating that the whole mass of 
 air was declining in temperature as that in immediate contact with the earth, though possibly to a loss degree. 
 
 Almost free as this day was from disturbing causes, yet there existed both warm and cold currents 
 of air. 
 
 The temperature of each layer of air was different according to its direction of motion, and there were 
 several different currents met with. Within 2 miles of the earth the wind was East ; between 2 and 3 miles high 
 it was directly opposite, viz. West ; about 3 miles it was N.E. ; higher still it changed to the opposite, viz. S.W. ; 
 and about 4 miles, including the highest point, it was W. 
 
 On descending at 6 h 15" we fell into a S.E. current, and moved towards London. 
 
 When nearly four miles high we traced the smoke from a furnace-chimney moving towards the West ; after 
 a time it turned more towards the East, then changed its direction two or three times, and finally followed us on 
 our level. 
 
 At the greatest height the sky was of the deepest Prussian blue ; the streets of London could be picked out 
 as lines, and the squares could easily be seen, having all the appearance of an engineer's plan. 
 
 The river wound like a serpent: passing the eye down it, ships looked like little boats to beyond the 
 Medway, when- they were lost ; the white cliffs of Margate were plainly seen ; the sea beyond Deal and Dover 
 was visible, but not the French coast. The coast-line was seen passing down the northern side of the Thames to 
 llarwi.-h and up to Yarmouth, with the sea beyond. Mr. Coxwell said he could see Ipswich. Looking South, 
 Brighton was vi>il.]e, iho sea beyond, and all up to Dover; the North was obscured by clouds and mist. The 
 \\ . -t was not as clear as the East ; but the sun shone on the Thames at Windsor, giving it the appearance of 
 burnished gold. 
 
 At Putney the rij.j.ling of the water at its edges was like molten silver, and all the country within these 
 limits was map-like, every field being distinct in the suburbs of London, gradually diminishing in size as the 
 
 2 L 
 
252 ASTRA CASTRA. A.D. 18(53. 
 
 distance from London increased. Greenwich Park was visible, the Observatory apparently a grey speck. We 
 touched the ground at 6'' 30 m in a field belonging to Mr. G. Browii, Gaysthorn Hall, Barking Side, Essex. 
 
 Ascent from the Crystd Palace, April 18. The'balloon was partially filled during the evening of April 17, with 
 the view of starting early the following morning. The atmosphere was at this time thick and misty ; the wind 
 on the earth was N.E. ; but pilot-balloons, on attaining a moderate elevation, fell into a north current; the wind 
 was moving at an estimated velocity of 40 miles an hour, and the ascent was delayed hour after hour in hopes that 
 the upper current would change to N.E. 
 
 At l h P.M., when the sky was nearly covered with clouds, and there were occasional gleams of sunshine, the 
 ascent was decided upon, although it was evident it could not be one of long duration, unless the wind should 
 change its direction, or we crossed the Channel. Mr. Coxwell, however, did not think it prudent to attempt the 
 latter without other and special arrangements. Whilst discussing this, the rope, our only connecting-link with 
 the earth, broke, and at l h 17 we started very unceremoniously, the balloon taking a lurch : Mr. Coxwell was 
 partly jerked over the side of the car, and I was thrown among my instruments, and unfortunately both Darnell's 
 and Eegnault's hygrometers were broken. Within 3 minutes we were more than 3000 feet high ; at 4000 feet 
 cumulus clouds were on our level, and a thick mist rested everywhere on the earth. At I 1 ' 20 we were 7000 feet 
 high, in a thick mist which almost amounted to a fog ; the temperature of the air continued at 32 nearly, whilst 
 that of the dew-point increased several degrees ; on passing out of the cloud these two temperatures very suddenly 
 separated, the latter decreasing rapidly ; the sky was of a deep blue, without a cloud on its surface. 
 
 At l h 30 m we were 10,000 feet high; directly under us was a sea of clouds; the towers of the Crystal Palace 
 were visible, and by them we found we were moving South. The temperature before starting was 61 ; it decreased 
 to 32 on reaching the cloud, and continued at this reading whilst iii it, then suddenly fell to 23J- on leaving the 
 cloud, and was either less or the same at every successive reading till we reached the height of 20,000 feet, when 
 the lowest temperature was noticed. 
 
 On passing above 4 miles the temperature increased to 14i, and then declined to 12i at the highest point, viz. 
 24,000 feet, in 1 hour and 13 minutes after starting. When we were just 4 miles high, on descending, Mr. Coxwell 
 began to reflect that possibly we might have been moving more quickly than we expected, and that it was necessary to 
 descend till we could see the earth ; he opened the valve rather freely at 2 h 34, and we descended a mile in 3 minutes. 
 We descended quickly but less rapidly through the next mile, and reached the clouds at 12,000 feet from the earth 
 at 2 h 42 m . On breaking through them at 2' 1 44 m still 10,000 feet from the earth I was busy with my instruments, 
 when I heard Mr. Coxwell exclaim, " What's that ? " he had caught sight of Beachy Head. I looked over the 
 car, and the sea seemed to be under us. Mr. Coxwell again exclaimed, " There is not a moment to spare ; we 
 must save the land at all risks ; leave the instruments." Mr. Coxwell almost hung to the valve-line, telling me 
 to do the same, and not to mind cutting my hand. It was a bold decision, and was boldly carried out. 
 
 When a mile high the earth seemed to be quickly coming up to us, and we struck the ground at 2 h 48, at 
 Newhaven, very near the sea ; but the balloon, by the very free use of the valve-line, was so crippled that it did 
 not move afterwards. Nearly all the instruments were broken ; and, to my great regret, three very delicate and 
 beautiful thermometers, specially sent to me for these observations by M. A. d'Abbadie, were broken. 
 
 Ascent from the North- Western Railway Works at Wolverton, June 26. In this ascent the Directors of the North- 
 Western Eailway provided the gas, and gave every facility to Members of the Committee of the British Association 
 and their friends to be present. 
 
 The gasometers at Wolverton are too small to hold gas enough to fill the balloon, it was therefore partially 
 inflated the night before, and remained out all night without being influenced by the slightest wind ; the morning 
 of the ascent was also calm ; the sky was of a deep blue, implying the presence of but little vapour ; the atmo- 
 sphere was bright and clear, and all circumstances were of the most promising kind. The time of ascent was fixed 
 to take place some little time after the express train from London should arrive, or at a little after noon ; and the 
 completion of the filling was somewhat delayed, the extraordinary fineness of the morning promising its completion 
 in a short time. Between 11 and 12 o'clock all these favourable circumstances changed ; the sky became covered 
 with clouds, some of them of a stormy character ; the wind rose and blew strongly, the balloon lurched a great 
 deal. Much difficulty was experienced in passing the gas into the balloon, and sufficient could not be passed in 
 by 1 o'clock. The wind was momentarily increasing, and it became very desirable to be away. 
 
 The greatest difficulty was experienced in fixing the instruments, which would have been broken but for 
 
A.n. 1 flLABHEOT REPOHT TO THK 1U11T1SI1 ASSOCIATION. 
 
 .Mr. N egret ti. who had conu> from London to assist mo, and who protected tliom even at the hazard of being hurt l.y 
 tin- \ioli-nt ..\va\iiigoftlie lull. .on, ami tho incessant striking of the car upon the ground, notwithstanding the 
 united exertion* of many men to hold it. 
 
 At the time of leaving, the .s]u ing-catch was jammed so tight by the pressure of tho wind that it would not 
 act; and we were let free by tho simultaneous yielding of tin- mm, and had to part instantly with ballatit to avoid 
 striking adjacent buildings. 
 
 It was 3 after l k P.M. when we left the earth, with a strong W.S.W. wind. The temperature was 05. In 
 4 minutes we were 4000 feet high, and entered a clnd with a temperature of 50, experiencing a most painful 
 feeling of cold, particularly Mr. Coxwell, who at the moment of leaving was over-heated from his groat exertions, 
 and, owing to his anxiety about the change in the weather, had left without any extra clothing. As on all previous 
 occasions, we expected soon to break through the clouds into a flood of strong sunlight, with a beautiful blue sky, 
 without a cloud above us, and with seas of rocky clouds below ; but, on the contrary, when we emerged all looked 
 dark both above and below ; we could see the earth, but it was dark and dull, and without colour ; above us there 
 were clouds. At 9000 feet high we were both struck with a sighing, or rather moaning of the trim/, such ax 
 precedes a storm : it was the first time that either Mr. Coxwell or myself had ever heard such a sound in the air. 
 We satisfied ourselves that it was in no way attributable to any movement of the cordage about tho balloon, but 
 that it was owing to conflicting currents of air beneath. At this time we saw tho sun very faintly, and momen- 
 tarily expected its brilliancy to increase ; but instead of this, although we were now 2 miles high, we entered 
 a fog, losing entirely tho sight of the sun ; shortly afterwards fine rain fell upon us. We then entered a dry fog, 
 passed out of it at 12,000 feet, saw the sun again faintly for a short time, and then entered a wetting fog. 
 
 At 15000 fet we were still in fog, but it was not so wetting; at 16,000 feet we entered a dry fog; at 
 17,000 feet saw faint gleams of the sun, and heard a train. We were now about 3 miles high ; at this time we 
 were not in cloud, but clouds were below us ; others on our level at a distance, and yet. more above us. Wo 
 looked with astonishment at each other, and said as we were rising steadily, we surely must soon pass through 
 them. At 17,500 feet we were again enveloped in fog, which became wetting at 18,500 feet; we left this cloud 
 below at 19,600 feet. At 20,000 feet the sun was just visible. We were now approaching 4 miles high ; dense 
 clouds were still above us ; for a space of 2000 to 3000 feet we met with no fog, but on passing above 4 miles our 
 attention was first attracted to a dark mass of cloud, and then to another on our level; both these clouds had 
 fringed edges ; they were both nimbi. Without the slightest doubt both these dark clouds were regular rain- 
 clouds. Whilst looking at them we again lost sight of everything, being enveloped in fog whilst passing upwards 
 through 1000 feet. At 22,000 feet we again emerged, and were above clouds on passing above 23,000 feet. At 
 6 minute* to 2 o'clock we heard a railway train ; the temperature here was 18". I wished still to ascend, to find 
 the limits of this vapour; but Mr. Coxwell said, "We are too short of sand, I cannot go higher; we must not 
 even stop here." I was therefore most reluctantly compelled to abandon the wish, and looked searchingly around. 
 At this highest point, in close proximity to ns, were rain-clouds ; below us dense fog. I was again reminded that 
 we must not stop. With a hasty glance everywhere, above, below, around, 1 saw the sky nearly covered with dark 
 clouds of a stratus character, with cirri still higher, and small spaces of blue sky between them : the blue was not 
 the blue of 4 or 5 miles high, as I had always before seen it, but a faint blue, aa seen from the earth when the air 
 is charged with moisture. 
 
 Hastily glancing over the whole scene, there were no extensive, fine, or picturesque views, as in such 
 situations I had always before seen. Tho visible area was limited ; the atmosphere was murky, the clouds were 
 confused, and the aspect everywhere dull. I cannot avoid expressing the surprise I have felt at the extraordinary 
 power which a situation like this calls forth, when a few moments only can be devoted to note down all 
 appearances and all circumstances, and if not so rapidly gleaned they are lost for ever. Under such circumstances, 
 every appearance of the most trivial kind is noticed ; the eye seems to become keener, the brain more active, and 
 every sense increased in power to meet the necessities of the case ; and when we look back after the lapse of time, 
 it is wonderful how distinctly at any moment scenes so witnessed can be recalled, and made to reappear mentally 
 in all their details. 
 
 \\ , then began our downward journey, wondering whether we should meet tho same phenomena; soon 
 were enveloped in fog, but passed below it when at 22,000 feet, and saw tho sun faintly. At 20,000 feet we \\ t> 
 in a wetting fog, and passed beneath it at 19,500 feet, experiencing great chilliness; fog was then above and 
 
 2 I. L' 
 
254 ASTEA CASTEA. A.D. 1863. 
 
 below. I now wished to ascend into the fog again, to check the accuracy of my readings as to its temperature, 
 and the reality of the chill we had felt, so we reascended. The temperature rose to its previous reading, and fell 
 again on descending. From the same level, for a thousand feet, we passed down through a thick atmosphere, but 
 not in cloud or fog. Looking below, all was dark and disturbed ; looking upwards, not much better. At the 
 height of 18,000 feet we were again in fog. At 3 miles high we were still in fog, and on passing just below 
 ;i miles, rain fell pattering on the balloon. This was 1 mile higher than we experienced rain on the ascent, and 
 it was much heavier. On passing below 14,000 we entered a snow-storm, and for a space of nearly 5000 feet we 
 passed through a beautiful scene. There were no flakes in the air ; the snow was entirely composed of spiculse of 
 ice, of cross spiculae at angles of 60 and 90, and an innumerable number of snow-crystals, small in size but 
 distinct, and of well-known forms, easily recognisable as they fell and remained on the coat. This unexpected 
 circumstance of snow on a summer afternoon was all that was needed on this occasion to complete the experience 
 of extreme heat of summer with the cold of winter within the range of a few hours. On passing below the snow, 
 which we did when about 10,000 feet from the earth, we entered a murky atmosphere, which continued till we 
 reached the ground ; indeed so thick, misty, and murky was the lower atmosphere, that although we passed 
 nearly over Ely Cathedral, and not far from it, we were unable to see it. When 5000 feet high we were without 
 sand, and became simply a falling body, checked by the dexterity of Mr. Coxwell in throwing the lower part of 
 the balloon into the shape of a parachute. 
 
 The place of descent was in a field on the borders of the counties of Cambridge and Norfolk, 20 miles from 
 the mouth of the Wash, and 8 miles from Ely. 
 
 Ascent from the Crystal Palace, July 11. This ascent was intended to have been one of extreme height; and 
 the promise of success in this respect was held out until near the time of starting, as pilot-balloons had passed 
 nearly due east, and indicated that our course would have been towards Devonshire ; but so doubtful is the course 
 a balloon will take that no certainty can be felt till the balloon has actually left. However, on this occasion 
 pilot-balloons, though at first moving towards the west, soon met with a north wind, and went south. Under 
 these circumstances the attempt to ascend five miles was abandoned, and we resolved to ascertain, as far as 
 possible, the thickness of the stratum influenced by the east wind, to profit by the knowledge, and have as long 
 a journey as we could. 
 
 At the time of leaving (4 b 55 m P.M.), the sky was nearly covered with cirrus and cirrostratus clouds, and the 
 wind was blowing due east. In about 4 minutes, and when at the height of about 2400 feet, the balloon suddenly 
 changed from moving towards the west to moving due south. At 8 minutes past 5 we were over Croydon, at the 
 the height of 4600 feet, in mist, but could see the Green Man Hotel, Blackheath ; we then descended, passing 
 downwards through a thick atmosphere, till, at 5 h 32 m , we were 2200 feet high over Epsom Downs, and again 
 within the influence of the east wind. We then turned to ascend, and at 5 h 52 m were 3000 feet above Eeigate ; 
 here we could see Shooter's Hill and the Crystal Palace, by the two towers of which we found we were again 
 within the influence of a north wind. We then continued to ascend, with the view of ascertaining if we could 
 pass above the north wind ; at 6 b 16, when at 5400 feet, the wind shifted to N.N.W., and the atmosphere became 
 very thick and misty, the sun's place being just visible. At 6 h 28 m we were 6600 feet high, and the sun was 
 wholly obscured; we descended somewhat, but did not get below the mist. At 6 b 40 we were 6200 feet high, 
 and directly over Horsham. 
 
 We then ascended to 6600 feet, again to repeat the observations I had made, and found that the temperature 
 in the half-hour had declined 2 or 3. At this time (6" 56" 1 ) cirri and cirrostratus were very much higher than 
 ourselves, and we saw the coast near Brighton. 
 
 A consultation had been held while at this height with the view of crossing over to France ; but our progress 
 being so slow, and the circumstances not promising success, wo came down with the view of again falling into 
 the east wind, supposing it still to be prevalent. We met the north wind again at about 5000 feet, and the east 
 wind at exactly the same height, viz. 2400 feet, at which we lost it on ascending. We descended to within 
 1000 feet of the earth, and were near Worthing, at about 5 miles from the coast ; we then ascended to 2700 feet 
 found ourselves moving towards the coast, and within the influence of a north wind ; evidently, therefore, if we 
 wished to continue our journey we must keep below 2400 feet, otherwise we should be blown out to sea. W hen 
 again at the height of 2400 we turned to move parallel to the coast, being at this time over Arundel. Sheep in 
 the fields were evidently very frightened, and they huddled together. We now descended to 800 feet, and thus 
 
run * 
 
 |.. 
 
 "' 
 
 ' 
 
 Q 
 
 '//e atitx at 
 
 
 
 ut .ut* 
 
 
' ,V I I' 
 
 r rr r n - r J / 
 
A .,,. i N LDA1T8 M-:ANT. 
 
 jourm-yed at height* varying from 800 to 1600 feet villagers frequently shouting to us to oome down, and 
 now and then answering our questions as to the locality we were in. The cheering cry of children was frequently 
 . other sounds. Geeae, cackling and frightened, scuttled off to their farms. 1'huamnta crowed as 
 ih. \ were going to roost; and as we approached the end of our journey, a pack of hounds bayed in the wildest 
 state i>t' i Ai-iti-ment nt the balloon. 
 
 Thus journeying, all motion seemed transferred to the landscape itself, which appeared when looking one 
 way to U rising and coming towards us, and when looking the other, sinking and receding from us. It was 
 charmingly varied with parks, mansions, white roads, and, in fact, all the constituent* of a rural scene of extremely 
 IH .uitifiil chiirai -it -r. The place of descent was Goodwood Park, the seat of the Duke of Richmond. 
 
 Ascent from the Cryttal Palace, July 21. The weather on this day was bad, the sky overcast and rainy. 
 Although in every respect a thoroughly bad day, it was well suited to investigate, if possible, some point* con- 
 ci-Hiing the formation of rain in the clouds themselves; to determine why a much larger amount of rain is collected 
 in a gauge near the surface of the earth than in one placed at an elevation in the same locality ; whether during 
 rain the air is saturated completely, or if not, to what extent; to discover the regulating causes of a rainfall some- 
 times occurring in large drops, at others in minute particles. 
 
 So long back as the years 1842 and 1843 I made many experiment* in order to ascertain why so great a 
 difference in volume was found to exist in the water collected at lower stations as compared with that collected at 
 higher. The experiments which yielded the best results were those in relation to temperature. I always found 
 that when the rain was warm, with respect to the temperature of the air at the time, no difference existed in the 
 quantities of rain collected at different height*; but when the temperature of the rain was lower than the 
 temperature of the air, a considerable difference always existed. From this circumstance it would appear 
 probable that the difference in the quantities of rain collected at different heights is owing (at least in part) to the 
 great condensation of the vapour in the lower atmosphere, through being in contact with the relatively cold rain. 
 
 It was also desirable to confirm, or otherwise, Mr. Green's deductions; this gentleman believing that, 
 whenever a fall of rain happens from an overcast sky, there will invariably bo found to exist another stratum of 
 cloud at a certain elevation above the first We left the earth at 4 h 52" P.M., and in 10 seconds had ascended into 
 the mist ; in 20 seconds to a level with the clouds, but not through them. At the height of 1200 feet wo passed 
 out of this rain, and overlooked a range of surrounding clouds, so dazzlingly white that it was with difficulty I 
 could read the instruments furnished with ivory scales. At the height of 2800 feet we emerged from clouds, and 
 saw a stratum of darker cloud above; we then descended to 800 feet over the West India Docks, and saw rain 
 falling heavily upon the earth. None was falling upon the balloon ; that which we saw, therefore, had its origin 
 within 800 feet of the ground ; we ascended again, and this time passed upwards through fog 1400 feet in thickness. 
 
 M) feet we passed out of cloud, and again saw the dark stratum at a distance above ; clouds obscured the 
 earth below. On descending, at 2700 feet we entered a dry fog, but it became wetting 100 feet lower down. 
 At'i.-r passing through <>00 feet the clouds became more and more wetting, and below were intensely black. At 
 -" we were about 700 feet high, or about 500 feet above Kpping Forest, and beard the noise of the rain 
 pattering upon the trees. Again we ascended to 2000 feet, and then descended, passing into squalls of rain and 
 wind at the height of 500 feet, with rain-drops increasing in size as we descended, till they were as large as a 
 l'oiir|>eimy'piece, those on reaching the ground being of the same size as when we left it. On descending we found 
 rain had been falling heavily all the time we were in the air. [Mr. Green's deduction is therefore confirmed by 
 this experiment.] 
 
 The following description of " Le Gre'ant" of M. Nadar, is extracted from ' L'Aeronaute,' 
 a periodical started by him, to promote the interests of aerial navigation. His balloon wu> 
 for some time exhibited at the Crystal Palace: 
 
 TIIK GIANT BALLOON. 
 
 ral persons who do not follow from day to day the columns of the newspapers, have asked me, " I'.nt 
 why do you make a balloon, you who affirm with such assurance that the first condition, in order to move oneself 
 in the air, is to suppress balloons, and that in order to contend against the air, it is necessary to be heavier, and 
 not lighter than th>- li] 
 
256 ASTEA CASTRA. A.D. 1863. 
 
 To these people I reply, I have profound faith that the screw will be our aerial motor ; but I am ignorant of 
 what the experiments of this first motor will cost. 
 
 I have no great merit of intuition in suspecting that it will always be necessary to commence with something 
 twenty thousand pounds or four hundred thousand pounds ! 
 
 Now, if 1 had bethought myself of going and holding out my hand to the public, to demand a small million 
 in order to experiment, to make, perhaps, a machine that mil try to fly in the air, the public would not have failed 
 to utter cries of alarm, and those who do not care to look on, those who cannot see, those who, above all, hold by 
 their sovereigns, would have cried out in chorus, " This man is certainly a madman ! We were somewhat doubtful 
 until the present, but here he makes open confession of it. What ! He has the coolness to ask us for a million in 
 order to .................... 
 
 He is an impertinent fellow, who makes fun of us ! " They would have abused me with their tongues, which is 
 more economical than untying the purse-strings ; and some, in the greatest hurry not to put their hands in their 
 pockets, would have treated me, at least, as a thief. 
 
 As I do not like to ask, and as I do not intend to allow any one the possibility of uot passing very obliging 
 judgments on my account, I said to myself that I would give myself the first million, the first hundred thousand 
 francs, if you will, to my dear screw. 
 
 And as I had not this million precisely under my hand, I have resolved to procure them for myself by means 
 of a spectacle always irresistible. I shall make a balloon the last balloon in proportions extraordinarily gigantic, 
 twenty times larger than the largest, which shall realise that which has never been but a dream in the American 
 journals, which shall attract,, in France, England, and America, the crowds always ready to run to witness the 
 most insignificant ascent. In order to add further to the interest of the spectacle which, I declare beforehand, 
 without fear of being belied, shall be the most beautiful spectacle which it has ever been given to man to 
 contemplate I shall dispose under this monster balloon a small balloon (lalloneau), destined to receive and 
 preserve the excess of gas produced by dilatation, instead of losing this excess, which has hitherto been the case, 
 which will permit my balloon to undertake veritable long voyages, instead of remaining in the air two or three 
 hours only, like our predecessors.* I do not wish to ask anything of any one, nor of the State to aid me, even in 
 this question of general and also of such immense interest. I shall endeavour to furnish myself the two 
 hundred thousand francs necessary for the construction of my balloon; and the said balloon finished, and by 
 public ascents and successive exhibitions at Paris, London, Brussels, Vienna, Baden, Berlin, New York, and 
 everywhere, I know beforehand that I shall collect the first funds necessary for the construction of our first 
 aeromotive. 
 
 The balloon can only therefore be, and is only, but the prologue ; the true piece is the aeromotive, which 
 supersedes the balloon. 
 
 I have set to work immediately, and after many difficulties and vexations, which I have kept to myself alone 
 to this hour, I have succeeded in establishing my balloon, in founding at the same time this journal this indis- 
 pensable Moniteur to the aerial automotive ; and in laying the basis of that which shall be, perhaps, the greatest 
 financial operation of the age. 
 
 However, if I demand nothing of any one, I had about me brave and good friends, who, having at first 
 dissuaded me, finished by accepting my will, although it was so absolute, and by aiding me with all their powers. 
 I wish, I repeat, to relate all this when our more pressing business shall be finished. It is by this active 
 intervention of those about me, who have been pleased to render me the affection which I have for them, that I 
 have been able to obtain from the Administration, without even, so to speak, having had to ask for it, the place 
 necessary for my first ascents. 
 
 This little explanation finished, I arrive at the description of our " Giant." 
 The " Giant " is composed 
 
 1. Of two balloons, one within the other, for greater strength, of white silk of the first quality, and 
 absolutely identical. Each of these balloons has 118 gores of forty-five metres in length, which gives a 
 
 * The first idea of a compensator belongs to Louis Godard. I have limited myself to making the practice of it more easy, by placing 
 the small balloon in the vertical, winch ho disposed laterally against the large balloon, and whose non-automatic management was hence 
 less simple. 
 
A.M. I 
 
 CONSTRUCTION OF THE CAR 
 
 267 
 
 . irr-iiniti r. IK-.- of ninety metres (one metre equal to 39^ English inches). These gores are entirely hand-sewn, 
 with a double M-iiiii. 
 
 j. of ., small biilloon, called comptntator, placed beneath the find double balloon, to receive the excess of 
 gas, and win. -h gauges only 100 metres (3531 cubic feet). 
 
 Tin- < iiant " can mid ought to raise a weight of 90 quintals (4 tons). 
 
 The total height of the, entire machine attains, if it does not exceed, CO metres (196 ft.), 14 metres (45 ft) 
 l.-ss- than the towers of N6tro Dame. 
 
 Its construction employed 20,000 metres (22,000 yds.) of silk, at about St. 4d. per yard. 
 
 Tli-' car has two floors (ground-floor and platforms). Its height and breadth are 2 metres 20 centimetres 
 t.\ 4 metivs. These dimensions, which are somewhat rigorous in face of the weight the aerostat ought to carry up, 
 
 CAR or NADAR'S BALLOON. 
 
 h:iv.- l.oeii imposed by the necessities of the return. The car had to be reduced to the strict proportions of the 
 gauge of a railway, so as to be able to be transported by rail. The liand-rails of the platform fold down upon it, 
 in the return. 
 
 It is eonstniet.d of a-h-braiiehes, ratans, and osiers, traversed beneath and on its walls by twenty cables, 
 intcrlarin^ tln-ir fabric, which are attached to the hoop. 
 
 4. It is i-arrird upon two axles and four wheels, which are fitted on after the descent, which gives us every 
 facility of returning, supposing a decent far from the centres of population. Canes disposed to act as springs are 
 placed underneath and round tin- middle to protect the car from concussions. Besides internal buoys, an immense 
 girdle in e,. inpayments, of inflated india-rubber, defends it against every possible immersion. The ground-Hoi >i 
 e., mains a cruciform passage and six divisions. At the two extremities on the one part the cabin of the captain, 
 with a bed seventy-five c< ntinu -tres in breadth, and underneath a compartment for luggage ; on the other a -abin 
 for passengers, three beds, one above the other, of sixty centime) i< 
 
258 
 
 ASTRA. C ASTRA. 
 
 A.D. 1803. 
 
 The four other divisions are intended for 1, provisions ; 2, a lavatory ; 3, photography ; * 4, printing press. 
 
 We shall take up with us Eaguenaut's small lithographic press, which will be more than sufficient for 
 printing off the abridged account of our expeditions, to distribute above localities which we pass over. 
 
 Eegarding this, an English company a month ago our neighbours are marvellous in not losing time 
 appreciating the bustle which the sight of a balloon excites in every inhabited place, and judging rightly that 
 papers would 'never be better received and more greedily read than those thrown overboard by us despatched to 
 me a messenger, to propose to me to accept in like manner commercial prospectuses. We shall never have too 
 much money for the construction of our first aeromotive. I have accepted and made a contract. 
 
 To return to the description of our " Giant." It is useless to add that we have endeavoured to forget 
 nothing calculated to assure the wellbeing and security of our excursions provisions of all sorts, instruments 
 for scientific observations, games, means of defence in case of descent among an inhospitable people, and even to 
 two cages of carrying-pigeons sent from Liege. 
 
 It only remains for me to return my thanks to my numerous fellow-labourers of every rank, whose extreme 
 willingness to aid me throughout has alone enabled me to arrive at the end of this great work in the time I 
 thought I should be able to do so. 
 
 Superintendence of Works 
 
 Geometrical Draughts 
 
 Cutting and Sewing 
 
 Car and Wickerwork 
 
 Hoopwork .. 
 
 Joinery, Valve 
 
 Varnish 
 
 India-rubber and Bedding 
 
 Barometers 
 
 Optical Instruments 
 
 Eifles 
 
 Decorations and Equipment 
 
 MM. Louis & Jules Godard. 
 
 MM. Tisseron & Abeillon. 
 
 Mme. Louis Godard, superintendent. 
 
 M. Fortune. 
 
 M. Guillaud. 
 
 M. Laurain. 
 
 M. Leleu. 
 
 M. Guibal. 
 
 MM. Eichard & Breguet. 
 
 M. Eichebourg. 
 
 M. Devismes. 
 
 M. Godillot (Delessert & Co.) 
 
 The firm of Fantin, Thirion, and Daydon, has supplied us in two hours with the required 20,000 metres of 
 silk. 
 
 When I shall have thanked after these, which I most heartily do, the humble workpeople, 300 women 
 and men, for their modest and indefatigable day and night labours during this painful month, it will be 
 permitted me to add, to leave nothing behind, that the firm of Potel and Chabot have kindly presented us 
 with all their products, and that more kindly still, if that is possible, the Director of the firm Courmeaux has 
 already sent us six baskets of wine of the first quality, and even Siraudin, a supply of confectionary enough for 
 three boarding-schools. 
 
 I have finished LET Go ! KADAK. 
 
 The first ascent of Nadar's " Geant" was made on the 4th October, from the Champ de 
 Mars : 
 
 The whole plain was filled by spectators, anxious to see the departure of the aeronaut and his companions. 
 The balloon, when inflated, was exactly fourteen yards lower than the tower of Notre Dame. 
 
 * We are not about to amuse ourselves, as one may well suppose, 
 iu making portraits in the air. The balloon " le Geant " will be 
 employed in various works of aerostatic photography, for which I was 
 the first to take patents in France and abroad seven years ago, and 
 the results of which will be so valuable for all planispheric, cadastral, 
 strategical, and other surveys. M. Negretti, the celebrated optician 
 of London, has obtained this year, according to what has been stated, 
 some beautiful negatives, of which it affords me great pleasure to hear, 
 since it has ended in demonstrating experimentally that I was right. 
 I shall only permit myself to observe to M. Negretti, that he deceives 
 
 himself in claiming priority. The dates of my patents prove it, on 
 the one hand ; and besides, I have myself obtained, in spite of most 
 detestable materials, results (a simple positive upon glass, it is true), 
 above the valley of the Bievre, at the beginning of the winter in 
 1858. If I have not made any claim against the assertions contained 
 in the two letters of MM. Simon, of the Greenwich Observatory, and 
 Negretti, published successively in the ' Daily Telegraph,' it is only 
 because I had not time. But I do not at all mean that there should 
 be prescription in that case. 
 
A.... i i in: iiAMr m; MAKS. 
 
 ms. . .-in h an unusual event was calculated to have its reconlii in tin- various Kiiru]H>an journals. \\ . 
 cannot .|u..:.- tin- h-h- of tho reports, valuable as they are from having been written by eyewitnesses, and will 
 limit ourselves to a few <>f the more impurtant. 
 
 .ignani ' \vriii-s thus: 
 
 "Tho departure of this Leviathan of the airy regions attracted immense crowds to the Champ do Mars, 
 yesterday afternoon. Considering that the avenues encircling that vast space wore filled to suffocation, so that 
 we found it extremely difficult to force our way to tho open ground reserved for tickets, and that all tho house-tops 
 'I >icd by spectators, we think tho number of persons present may fairly bo stated at 80,000. Ample 
 .utioiw had been taken to prevent disasters; a strong police force, supported by a company of infantry and 
 some cavalry, being present to maintain order. The balloon, which is ninety yards in circumference, and has 
 oiisnmi-d upwards of 'JO.OOO yards of silk in its manufacture, was hold down, while filling, by about 100 men, 
 itml the weight of at least 200 sandbags. The car was of wickerwork, comprising an inner surface of about 
 tifty-foiir square feet divided into three compartments, or small rooms, surmounted by an open terrace, to whicli 
 tin- lalloon was braced. Outside, grapnels, wheels, and fowling-pieces, four of each, besides two spcaking- 
 truuijM ts, were lashed to the sides of the car. The wheels were intended to bo put to tho car after alighting, in 
 oiiU-r t.. c. nvev it Kick with horses. The preliminary operations took considerable time, putting the patience of 
 the spectators to a severe trial, a circumstance which perhaps prevented them from cheering when the words 
 ' L&chez t: given, and the immense machine rose slowly and majestically into the air. 
 
 U'o were rather surprised at the silt-nco of the public, considering the very remarkable feat in aeronautics thus 
 successfully performed. There were fifteen persons in tho car, or rather cabin M. Nadar, captain ; MM. Marcel, 
 Louis and Jules Godard, lieutenants ; tho Prince de Sayn-\N ittgenstein, Count de St Martin, M. Tournachou 
 
 ir's brother), MM. Eugene Delessert, Thirion, Piallat, Robert Mitchell, Gabriel Morris, 1'anl de St. Victor, 
 Do Villemessant, and one lady, the Princess do la Tour d'Auvergne. Tho Princess was taking her usual drive 
 to tho Bois de Boulogne, when, observing an unusual movement in the neighbourhood of the Invalides, and 
 having inquired the cause, she ordered her coachman to drive to the Champ de Mars. Having seen tho balloon, 
 she expressed a wish to make the ascent, and although Nadar had to the last moment refused to take any lady, 
 and even his own wife, he could not resist tho entreaty of the Princess. On starting, M. Nadar climbed up the 
 network and took off his hat to the spectators. Tho balloon took a north-easterly direction, and was visible for 
 some time. At the moment of going to press, a communication has reached us signed by the captain, M. Nadar, 
 and all those who had taken places in tho balloon, stating that on alighting yesterday evening at nine o'clock, at 
 Barcy, near Meanx (Seine-et-Mame), three severe shocks were experienced, which hud the effect of completely 
 capsizing the balloon, and inflicting on its occupants several rather severe contusions. 
 
 " Interesting details of the ascent of the Nadar balloon, said to have been narrated by Prince Wittgenstein. 
 are given by the ' France." The most extraordinary is, that at half-past eight, when the balloon attained the 
 height of 1 500 metres, the aeronauts saw the sun, which had set for the earth below upwards of two hours before. 
 The effect of the light upon tho balloon is described as something marvellous, and as having thrown the travcll. is 
 into a sort of ecstasy. Although they met with no rain, their clothes were all dripping wet from the mist which 
 the v passed through. The descent was more perilous than at first reported. The car dragged on its side for nearly 
 a mile, and the passengers took refuge in tho ropes, to which they clung. Several were considerably bnii 
 though, as before stated, no one sustained any very serious injury. Everybody behaved well. Nadar, visibly 
 uneasy about his fair charge, the young Princess de la Tour d'Anvergne, was told by her to attend to his duty us 
 captain. \'.\< iv ..no at his post,' said she, 'I will keep to mine.' Notwithstanding all the shaking whicli tho 
 car underwent, the thirty-seven bottles of wine provided for the journey were all found unbroken, and they weie 
 most joyously broached when the party got on terra firma. The rifles, the crockery, as well as a cake and thirtci i, 
 ices, presented to Nadar by Siraudin, of the Hue de la Paix, were all uninjured. When tho descent was effi 
 the lights and the speaking-trumpet* soon attracted a number of peasants, who brought carts and helped the party 
 to the village of Barcy, where most of them passed the night; but M. Nadar and the Prince de Wittgenstein, with 
 two or three others, came to Paris by the first train from Meaux. It is said that the descent was resolved upon 
 in consequence of tho advice of the brothers Godard, and contrary to tho wish of M. Nadar, who, as captain, had 
 maile every one <>f his companions sign an agreement to act upon his orders, even though the vote should be 
 unanimously against him. II.-. however, yielded his opinion, in deference to that of these experienced aeronauts. 
 
 2 M 
 
260 ASTRA CASTEA. A.D. 1803. 
 
 A truly extraordinary statement is, that they fancied the wind was blowing them to the sea, and certain 
 destruction, whereas they were going due east, with no sea at all before them nearer than the Caspian. 
 
 " There was great disappointment in the receipts at the Champ de Mars, which arc said to have realised 
 only 27,000f., whereas 150,000f. had been calculated upon. The papers say that the public broke down the 
 barriers and got in for nothing, instead of paying their franc. It is quite certain that at the moment of the ascent 
 there could not have been less than 50,000 people on the Champ de Mars, and on the terraces and heights around 
 there must have been four times that number." 
 
 Before proceeding further, wo may just quote the rules laid down by M. Nadar for his first ascent. 
 Circumstances have not allowed them to be carried out to their full extent. The rules have not yet appeared in 
 any English journal. We extract them from the ' Moniteur,' which published on the day after the ascent a very 
 clever article from the pen of M. Gustavo Claudin. 
 
 "1. Every traveller on board the ' G6ant' must take, before mounting, knowledge of the present rules, and 
 engages himself upon his honour to respect them and to make them respected, both in the letter and in the spirit. 
 He accepts and will obey this obligation until the descent. 
 
 " 2. From the departure to the return there shall be only one command, that of the captain. That command 
 shall be absolute. 
 
 " 3. As legal penalty cannot be enforced, the captain, having the responsibility of the lives of the passengers 
 decides alone, and without appeal, in all circumstances the means of assuring the execution of his orders with the 
 aid of all under him. The captain can, in certain cases, take the advice of the crew, but his own authority is 
 decisive. 
 
 " 4. Every passenger declares, at the time of ascending, that ho carries with him no inflammable materials. 
 
 " 5. Every passenger accepts, by his simple presence on board, his entire part and perfect co-operation in 
 all manuoauvres, and submits himself to all the necessities of the service ; above all, to the command of the captain. 
 On landing, he must not quit the balloon without permission duly acquired. 
 
 " 6. Silence must be absolutely observed when ordered by the captain. 
 
 " 7. Victuals and liquors carried up by the travellers must be deposited in the common canteen, of which 
 the captain alone has the key, and who regulates the distribution thereof. Passengers have no claim to victuals 
 and liquors except when on board. 
 
 " 8. The duration of the journey is not limited. The captain alone decides the limitation ; the same 
 judgment decides, without appeal, the putting down of one or more travellers in the course of the voyage. 
 
 " 9. All gambling is expressly prohibited. 
 
 " 10. It is absolutely forbidden to any traveller to throw overboard ballast or any packet whatever. 
 
 "11. No passenger can carry up with him luggage exceeding 30 Ibs. in weight, and occupying more space 
 than an ordinary travelling-bag. 
 
 " 12. Except in very rare cases, of which the captain alone shall be judge, it is absolutely forbidden to smoke 
 on board, or on land within the vicinity of the balloon." 
 
 Of course, various opinions have been expressed by the English journals on this aerial voyage. The interest 
 in England was general. There were suspicions in the English mind that the French navigator could not rival 
 the aeronauts of England. There were prophecies of disaster. The ascent was made, however, but under 
 special disadvantages, as many of the details of the project were new, and the public has not yet been made 
 acquainted with all the ingenious devices of M. Nadar. There was sympathy for the aeronaut, but in the 
 English journals, which in matters of science did not represent the English mind so completely as in matters of 
 politics, adverse judgment has been given against many of them. Sneers and jests are not arguments. 
 
 " Sunt verba et voces, prsetercaque uihil." 
 
 We approve, however, of the tone in which the ' Morning Post ' writes : 
 
 " The Champ de Mars yesterday was occupied by a crowd of not less than 100,000 persons, of all classes of 
 society, to witness the ascent of the largest balloon ever yet constructed, with the novelty of a small square house 
 instead of the ordinary car. The newspapers have for some time contained accounts of the ' Geant,' and scientific 
 papers have been read on the ' Giant's ' power to navigate the air, and carry a heavier weight than has hitherto 
 sailed through the cloud world. The public, therefore, were worked up to an excited pitch ; and as the first 
 
A .,, i PIMM BBS i'i: LA Toru i-.\rvi:i;i;xi-:. -M\\ 
 
 trip ' ,.f tin- balloon took place on Sunday, a most numerous mob of spectators not only covered the immense 
 
 (pace nf the military icvi.-w Around, l.nt Ma, k. n. d tin- house-tops, and crowd. >! < vi-iy :ippi..ach to the Champ de 
 
 . ath, r was favourable, without tain, the sky being covered, so that the upturned eyes of the 
 
 thousand- could gaze at the inflated leviathan without inconvenience. The 'Giant' is made of ycllwi.-h white 
 
 silk, and present* the usual graceful form. M. Nadar, the presiding aeronaut, in giving the statistics, say* that it 
 
 is ninety yard* in < -ir- umferenoe, and consumed 20,000 metre* of silk. We are told that the larger class of 
 
 _'enrrally contain,,! about 2500 metres of gas, whilst the new Giant' holds 0098 metres. The car, 
 
 , I wick erwork, is a square construction, on the roof of which the passenger stand*, as on the deck of a vessel. 
 
 1 Mow is a first and second floor, with saloon, a compartment for scientific instruments, three cabins for repose, 
 ami provibion and baggage compartments. Outside, round the house, were grapnels, wheels, and fowling-pieces, 
 besides tw,, s| ^king-trumpets, and provisions. The wheels were intended to be put to the car after alighting, 
 in order to c.mvey it back with horses. In fact, one might suppose that the travellers expected to descend in 
 
 wild distant land, wh. ^1 could bo obtained. However, all this 'get-up' pleased the French 
 
 amazingly, and formed the subject for conversation as the 'Giant' heaved and rolled about, and gave signs of 
 anxiety to l>c oil. .Military bands enlivened the crowd until four o'clock, when MM. Nadar and Godaid, aeronaut*, 
 received the passengers, amongst whom was a lady in a pretty hat and ordinary morning toilette. This was the 
 romanti. event of the day. The Princess de la Tour d'Auvergne, whilst driving in the Champs Elyseen, was 
 suddenly cci/cd with a desire to take a sail in the regions of air, and accordingly presented herself as a passenger. 
 M. Na.lar refused for some time; but, of course, the fair Princess eventually prevailed, as all clever women do, 
 and was admitted to the car. 
 
 "The travellers on this extraordinaiy occasion ought to appear, perhaps, amongst the 'departures' in the 
 fashionable columns of the 'Morning Post' We may, therefore, say that on Sunday hist the following nobility 
 and gentry left this earth (destiny unknown) : M. Nadar, captain ; MM. Louis and Jules Godard, Marcel, 
 lieutenants; Tournachon, Prince de Sayn-\Vittgenstein, Comte de Saint-Martin, Eugene Delessert, Thirion, Piallat, 
 Robert Mitchell (newspaper reporter), Gabriel Morris, Paul de Saint-Victor, do Villemessant, and the Princess 
 de la Tour d'Auvergne. When fireworks are let off, and a balloon leaves the earth, no matter in what country. 
 the crowd make use of the same expressive, wonderful (0-o-o-c-o-o !) All eyes are upturned, many a mouth 
 opens, and a stupid expression generally possesses the most intelligent face. All this took place as the ' Giant ' 
 ascended from the Champ de Mars, and slowly sailed off in an easterly direction, growing smaller and smaller, 
 as balloons do in fact, as ' it is their nature to.' The crowd then dispersed quietly. There was no drunkenness, 
 no swearing. Might not a Sunday afternoon bo worse spent? It was in the year 1783 that Moutgolfier first 
 astonished the Parisians and the Court of Versailles with an ascent in a balloon filled by hydrogen gas. 
 
 " The inflammable nature of this gas rendered it a most dangerous experiment, and it was not until the 
 general employment of the ordinary illuminating gas that aeronauts ventured on the airy voyages which are now 
 so common. Garnerin was the first person who made an aerial voyage in London, on which occasion the whole- 
 population poured out to wonder at this rcmaikable event. It has been said that his Majesty George 111. was 
 holding a Cabinet Council at St. James's, when the attention of his advisers was directed to the movements of a 
 balloon. 1 1 is Ma j. My w eiit to the window, observing that he knew the people in Franco often made themselves fools, 
 but he thought his subjects in England were wiser than to attempt or patronise such hazardous experiments. '1 he 
 brothers Gamerin were the first who descended in a parachute. Eliza Garnerin, daughter of the aeronaut, was 
 the first female who ventured to quit the balloon in the frail parachute, and afterwards performed the perilous 
 experiment no less than thirty-nine times. It has been supposed that the first time a balloon was emploj'ed 
 to assist in the art of war was in the late campaign in Italy, when the Emperor Napoleon 111. availed himself of 
 it for siirv, ving purposes. His great uncle, however, considered that the balloon might be rendered useful ; and it 
 had been employed at the 1 attle of Fletirs to watch the movements of the enemy. Pilutre de Kozier attempted to 
 cross the Channel in 1785, but he unfortunately had made use of hydrogen gas, which took fire, the balloon 
 exploding, and he was dash, d to the earth and killed upon the spot. A monument has been erected to his memory 
 at Boulogne. The famous Nassau balloon made, some years since, a sail across the Channel, and was the wonder 
 of the .lay, the aerial voyage lasting many hours. A journal has appeared in Paris called ' L'Aeionaute.' which, 
 in future, is to record the latest scientific intelligence from the high heavens. In fact, tin- (iiant ' promises to 
 inaugurate a new era in the art of navigating the air." 
 
 2 M 2 
 
262 ASTKA CASTEA. A.D. 18(53. 
 
 Nadar, on his return to Paris, wrote briefly thus : 
 
 " Paris, Oct. 5. 
 
 " Here, as briefly as possible, is the account which you asked me to send. Yesterday evening, at nine 
 o'clock, the ' Giant ' was compelled to descend near the Barcy Marsh, two leagues from Meaux, after three violent 
 shocks, the last of which completely turned everything in the car topsyturvy, and it descended on its side. The 
 rupture of our valve-pipe rope, while travelling by night, forced us to throw out, our anchors. One of the prongs 
 of the first anchor having broken, the principal anchor fortunately took hold of the ground. We were able to let 
 out the gas, notwithstanding the violence of the wind, and the car was set up at half-past one in the morning. 
 Some slight contusions and a concussion of the knee of one of the passengers that is our receipt in full. It is 
 
 not too dear. .. 
 
 "(Signed) A. ISADAU. 
 
 This short account was followed afterwards by a more detailed statement, which we give : 
 
 " Allow me to add some explanatory details which appear to me to be necessary. My principal 
 anxiety was, whether the double covering of silk, supported by the network, would be strong enough to bear 
 the terrible pressure of 6098 metres of gas. There had never before been any experiment made in those 
 proportions, except that of the famous ' City of New York,' which burst like a bomb before it went up. 1 do not 
 speak of other secondary difficulties in an operation of such considerable proportions and of such a novel character. 
 Those multiplied difficulties prevented us from starting until five instead of four, and then without having time 
 to attach the compensating balloon, which would have required another hour. For some of the spectators it is, 
 perhaps, well to add, that the interest of the spectacle did not lose much, as they would only have seen the balloon 
 look a little longer, and not quite filled. The compensating balloon is, in fact, only a prolongation of the other, 
 and would fill when the gas in the larger one dilated. The name it bears sufficiently shows the purpose for 
 which it was intended. I have been informed that some of the spectators calculated on seeing the balloon 
 steered ; this is an additional proof that the same thing cannot be too often repeated. 
 
 " It nevertheless appeared to me that all the journals had at great length explained that the theory of the 
 steering of balloons was an absurdity ; that to contend against the air it was necessary to decide on being like a 
 bird, heavier, and not lighter than the air; that the screw appeared to solve the problem; that, in order to make 
 the costly experiment of a first aeromotive in practical proportions, 1 had resolved to procure the necessary 
 resources, not by a public subscription, but by a spectacle interesting enough to secure the desired result ; that I 
 had, as the first subscriber to the screw which will conduct us in the air, incurred at my own risk and peril the 
 expense of this gigantic balloon, which will, I hope, be the last ; that this balloon is not, therefore, an object, but 
 a means ; not the piece, but the prologue. 
 
 " I am willing, for the benefit of my beloved screw, to pledge myself to risk my bones as many times as 
 may be necessary, but as to steering balloons, never ! Many persons were not able to enter the ground for 
 want of a sufficient number of paying-places. Those persons might have secured tickets, which were to be 
 had two days before all over Paris. This does not prevent me from offering them my excuses, begging their 
 indulgence for an unskilled director of spectacles, who is the first to suffer from their non-admission. Some of the 
 spectators, I am told, also complain that the reserved enclosure had no seats provided. I am not aware that 
 chairs were ever placed in the Champ de Mars for any public exhibition, any more than at Longchamps or at 
 Vincennes. I thought I was doing a great deal in placing 2000 metres of seats for the ladies who first entered. 
 The posting-bills and tickets did not promise that. In order to satisfy every one, I shall endeavour to have seats 
 
 for the second ascent, which will take place on the 1 8th insi. 
 
 " NADAR. 
 
 Nothing daunted by the accident already explained, M. Nadar made another ascent on the 18th of October. 
 Again the ascent was made from the Champ de Mars ; the Emperor and the young King of Greece being present. 
 The Emperor manifested a special interest in the enterprise, and remained on the ground until the balloon had 
 left terra firma and soared into the skies. 
 
 The first news that reached England was a telegram to the following effect, dated Paris, 18 October, 6.45 P.M. : 
 
 " Monsieur Nadar made a most successful ascent in his giant balloon at five o'clock, from the Champ de 
 Mars. The Emperor, the King of Greece, and a vast crowd witnessed the ascent. The Champ de Mars was 
 kept by the military. Nino ladies and gentlemen ascended in the balloon, but it first made a short ascension with 
 thirty-two persons." 
 
. 
 
 .*,-.. KK 
 
 A'f I /.' " '. 
 
 1864 
 
 kk.l 
 
A.I.. i- i'\i:is TM iiANovr.i; IN Tin: "G&NT. M8 
 
 excitement of the Parisian public, of course, was great, and all the representatives of the French and 
 :M i-iii n.ils were present to witness what was passing, and to transmit their impressions to their respective 
 paper*. '!' <jnoto all that wa- \\int. n to English and Continental newspapers would bo superfluous. Wo give, 
 tln-ii. those which reached London on the Tuesday following, and which were read with avidity by all 
 
 classes of the community. \Ve take, to begin with, the ' Daily Telegraph,' who dates 
 
 "PMii, Sunday NiKlii. 
 
 M. N ,.Ur made his second ascent to-day at 5 P.M. I told you last time that all Paris was present. To-day 
 I '.n is must have invited all its country cousins to the last degree, and they must all have accepted the invitation. 
 I have never seen here so dense a mass of people as were crowded round the Champ do Mars. The Emperor 
 was present for nearly two hours before the balloon started. He arrived in a simple open carriage and four, and 
 an aide-de-camp in the carriage, and an equerry and two outriders with it. When he entered the Champ du 
 Mars he ordered the postilions to walk their horses, and entered the ground at foot-pace. Ho was looking extremely 
 wi-Il. and was more warmly received than I have ever seen him by his own subjects. The Emperor had a long 
 conversation with M. Nadar, and examined everything, from the car to the ropes which held the machine to earth. 
 
 " The ' trial ' or ' contrast ' balloon was the Godillot, used in the Italian campaign, and the Emperor wuti-hfd 
 with a very natural interest a sort of ascent in 'leading-strings' made by this smaller balloon, which rose high 
 enough to enable maps of any enemy's position to be taken without leaving head-quarters. Just as the Emperor 
 had finished his inspection arrived the young King of the Greeks, and ho also examined everything, and oven 
 entered the car after it was attached to the globe. Imagine if the ropes had given way, and George I. had been 
 wafted to Greece, unattended, in a balloon ! Another great man was present Meyerbeer. After an experimental 
 rise of about 100 yards, with twenty-seven men on board, the ' Geant ' returned to earth, and proceeded to prepare 
 i"..r the real start. I think there were only eight firsUclass passengers, and, this time, no princesses. At o.lo IMI. 
 1 Le Geant' ascended, with a strong north-westerly wind, the little Godillot fluttering up by ita side." 
 
 It was only natural, that after the balloon had left the Champ de Mars, and disappeared in the shades of 
 night, that much anxiety should be felt as to the course the balloon and it* living freight had taken. Of course, 
 speculation was rife. Some talked of England; some of Belgium ; some of Moscow, or even Siberia. Inquiries 
 were made at the house of M. Nadar, in the course of the following day, by parties interested in his project, ami 
 more than that, in the safety of himself and his friends. The Emperor himself, who had shown so much sympathy 
 ami inti-ii-i in tin- ascent, sent repeated messengers to ascertain whether any news respecting the "Giant" hail 
 reached Paris. 
 
 The greatest uncertainty existed, and anxiety prevailed until the afternoon of Monday, when a telegram 
 was received that at half-past eight on the previous evening Nadar was over Compidgne, seventy-eight miles from 
 Paris. He sent a message down, " All goes well," and continued his journey towards the north, having descended 
 near the ground to speak. 
 
 Nothing more was heard of the balloon until a second telegram was received in Paris, stating that Nadar's 
 Giant Balloon passed over Erquelines, on the Belgian frontier, at midnight on Sunday. The aerostat was moving 
 not far from the ground, and the customs' officers called out to know if the aerial voyagers had anything on which 
 duty should be paid ! No attention was paid to the question, and the balloon kept on its course towards the 
 German frontier. 
 
 Meanwhile curious Parisians flocked to M. Nadar's home to ascertain if any further tidings had been received. 
 It was hoped he had not foundered in the German Ocean ; it was then forty-eight hours since this dangerous 
 navigation had commenced, and so long a sojourn in the clouds was believed to be unprecedented in aerostatic 
 annals. 
 
 At last came a telegram from Bremen, dated the 21st: 
 
 N adar's balloon descended near Eystrup, in Hanover. There were nine persons in it, of whom three were 
 seriously and two slightly injured." 
 
 Other telegrams were published in Paris shortly afterwards, and also circulated in London, where the 
 interest taken in Nadar's ascent was as great as that in I':iris. 1 lure follow two of them : 
 
 "Pan*, Got. -.'1. 
 'v\ - descended near Nienburg, in Hanover, at noon on Monday. Our balloon was dragged for several 
 
264 ASTRA C ASTRA. A.D. 1863. 
 
 hours, the anchors having been broken. St. Felix, my wife, and I, are rather seriousl} 7 hurt; the others are 
 better. We owe our lives to the courage of Jules Godard. More detailed news to-morrow." 
 
 " Hanover, Oct. 21. 
 
 " The wounded persons from M. Nadar's balloon have been conveyed to this city, and placed under the care 
 of the French Legation. The King of Hanover sent an aide-de-camp to inquire after their wants. M. St. Felix 
 has sustained a fracture of the left humerus, besides contusions on the face. M. Nadar has both legs dislocated. 
 Madame Nadar has sustained a compression of the thorax and contusions on the leg." 
 
 That an accident had happened was manifest from the tenor of these various telegrams, and the greatest 
 anxiety prevailed to have a fuller account of the voyage of Nadar and his companions, and the nature of the 
 injuries they sustained. At this moment English curiosity was exceeded by English sympathy. It had been 
 stated that two medical men had been summoned from Paris to attend the wounded, and that Dr. Richard had 
 actually left for Hanover, taking with him the young son of Nadar. Dr. Eichard took the telegraphic despatch to 
 serve as a passport. It was stated that the travellers would probably have all perished if Jules Godard had not, 
 at the risk of his life, climbed up by the network and cut a hole in the silk with a hatchet, so as to allow the gas 
 to escape. By so doing he stopped the furious course of the balloon, which was making bounds of from forty to 
 fifty yards, with a violence that would soon have knocked the car to pieces. A despatch received at a later hour 
 stated that M. and Madame Nadar, whose injuries are not so serious as at first stated, were going on well, as was 
 also M. St. Felix. 
 
 Details at last began to arrive of the ascent and descent, although as yet they did not enter much into 
 particulars. The ' Northern Gazette ' of Hanover published the following letter : 
 
 " Nienburg, Oct. 19. 
 
 " At a quarter-past nine this morning a large balloon passed over this town, coming from the left bank of 
 the Weser, with the wind at south-west. The lower part of it appeared to be emptied of its gas, and was moving 
 about within the network which surrounded it. It passed at a height very little above the houses, and the persons 
 who were visible in the car appeared to have the intention of descending, for when the balloon passed over the 
 railway a grapnel was thrown out, but did not quite reach the ground, and the workmen on the line who ran to 
 the spot could not succeed in laying hold of it. The balloon then rose and went in the direction of the village of 
 Wcelpe, which is surrounded by marshes. Another grapnel fell on the roof of a small summer-house, but did not 
 find a solid hold, and tore away one of the rafters. The balloon afterwards struck against the house of the 
 watchman of the railway station at Nienhof, and against the telegraphic wires, which nearly turned it over. The 
 car was dragged along the ground for a length of time, the persons in it calling for assistance, which could not be 
 given to them, by catching hold of the ropes which hung from the car, the wind being too high. \\ hen near 
 Wcelpe the balloon rose high enough to pass over the trees and to proceed in the direction of the desert countries 
 of Lichtenmoor and Kolhem. Since that time no accounts have been received of the unfortunate persons in the 
 car. Several ropes fell during the violent plunges which it made, and also two large pieces of iron seeming to 
 be axle-trees, and a speaking-trumpet. Every one asked where did the balloon come from from Paris or the 
 Rhine, but as a hat was also found which had been purchased on the Boulevard Sebastopol at Paris, the probability 
 is that the aeronauts are Parisians." 
 
 It is as if we were writing of some great battle, so various and sometimes so conflicting are the accounts 
 which reached us. This circumstance, however, only proves the great curiosity which was everywhere manifested 
 respecting the balloon, and the great interest taken in its fate. Special reporters were sent by some of the German 
 papers to the spot where the " Giant " had met with his disaster. The editor of the ' Weser Zeitung ' went 
 himself to Nienburg and published an account of the voyage, in which there are many interesting details. 
 
 The ' Zeitung fur Nord Deutschland ' also enters into many curious and minute particulars, and says : 
 " The unknown aerial travellers evidently wished to descend at Nienburg, and threw out an anchor, which 
 caught the roof of the cottage of M. Kapp, hatter, but not finding hold, went away with a rafter. We do not 
 know whether the rope of the grapnel, about an inch in diameter, broke or was cut off, as probably was 
 the case; the giapnel, together with eighty feet of rope, remained in the house, and hundreds of people 
 flowed in to see it. The same is about two-and-a-half feet high, of steel, with five flukes, and weighs sixty pounds. 
 It can be screwed together in six or seven pieces. A second and similar grapnel is to be seen at Nolle's, the 
 
A.,,. I THK ITXCONTROLABLE "GEANT." 
 
 gardcm r. The balloon, after having blown over the high road to Hanover, tripped against some telegraph wires, 
 uiul nr.irlv overturned. Four wirea were broken in consequence of the shock, and three telegraph-posts torn 
 
 d..wu." 
 
 Other Gorman papers say that 
 
 " In the course of the balloon there were picked up several pieces of rope, some bits of iron, a 
 speaking-trumpet, and a hat, with the maker's address in it, ' Boulevard do Sobastopol.' The latter piece 
 of evidence suggests to the German intellect that possibly the people in the balloon might bo Parisians." 
 
 At last we come to the narrative of one of the travellers, M. Eugene Arnould, reporter of the French 
 newspaper, ' La Nation.' If this narrative is not, perhaps, strictly correct in all its details, as wo may infer 
 from a k-ttcr subsequently written by M. Nadar, it is, nevertheless, so graphic, that it ought to find place 
 
 : 
 
 "Ml DUB E..ITOR, 
 
 You saw us leave the Champ de Mars on Sunday. You were a witness of the majestic ascent of 
 the ' Geant ' rising into the air amid the applause of the crowd. They cried to us from below, ' Bon voyage ! ' 
 
 
 
 " At nine o'clock at night we were at Erquelines ; we passed over Malines, and towards midnight we were 
 in Holland. We rose up very high, but it was necessary to come down to see where we were. Ignorant of that, 
 our iition was a critical one. Below, as far as wo could see, were marshes, and in the distance wo could hear 
 the roar of the sea. We threw out ballast, and, mounting again, soon lost sight of the earth. What a night ! 
 Nobody slept, as you may suppose, for the idea of falling into the sea had nothing pleasant about it, and it was 
 necessary to keep a look out in order to effect, if necessary, a descent My compass showed that we were going 
 towards the east that is to say, towards Germany. In the morning, after a frugal breakfast made in the clouds, 
 we redescended. An immense plain was beneath us; the villages appeared to us like children's toys rivem 
 seemed like little rivulets it was magical. The sun shone splendidly over all. Towards eight o'clock we arrived 
 near a great lake ; there I found out our bearings, and announced that we wore at the end of Holland, near the sea. 
 
 We were compelled to think of landing, in order to take in a little ballast. Unhappily, the heavens had 
 made us forget the earth, over which blow a wind so violent that in a few minutes our anchors, enormous fulcrums 
 of iron, were broken. The valve was shut, and the balloon, which would carry us no longer, began a giddy career. 
 We rose from twenty to thirty metres, and fell with incredible force. Little by little the balloon ceased to rise, 
 and the car fell upon its side. Then began a furious, disordered race ; all disappeared before us trees, thicket*, 
 walls, all broken or burst through by the shock : it was frightful. Sometimes it was a lake, in which we plunged ; 
 then a bog, the thick mud of which entered our mouths and our eyes. It was maddening, ' Stop ! stop ! ' we shouted, 
 enraged with the monster who was dragging us along. A railway was before us a train passing ; it stopped at 
 our cries, but we carried away the telegraphic posts and wire. An instant afterwards we perceived in the distance 
 a red house I see it now, the wind bore us straight for this house. It was death for all, for wo should be dashed 
 to pieces. No one spoke. Strange to say, of those nine persons, one of whom was a lady, who were clinging to 
 a slender screen of osier, for whom every second seemed counted, not one had any fear. All tongues were mute, 
 all faces were calm. Nadar held his wife, covering her with his body. Poor woman ! Every shock seemed to 
 break her to pieces. 
 
 .lules Godard then tried and accomplished an act of sublime heroism. Ho clambered up into the netting, 
 the shocks of which were so terrible that three times he fell on my head. At length he reached the cord of the 
 valve, opened it, and tin- gas having a way of escape tlio monster ceased to rise, but it still shot along in a horizontal 
 liin- with prodigious rapidity. Thnv WITH wo squatting down upon the frail osier car. 'Take care!' we cried, 
 when a tree was in the way. We turned from it, and the tree was broken ; but the balloon was discharging its 
 gas, ami it' tiie immense plain we \\eic CT. t-.-ing hud yet a few leugues, we were saved, lint suddenly a forest 
 appeared in the horizon; we must leap out at whatever risk, for the car would be dashed to pieces at the iii>t 
 collision with those trees. I got down into the car, and raising mytelf, I know not Low, for I suffered from a 
 wound in my knees, my trousers were torn. I jumped, and made, I know not how many ievolmion, and fell 
 upon my head. After a minute's dizziness I rose. The car was then far off. By (he aid of a stick 1 di 
 
266 ASTEA CASTRA. A.D. 1863. 
 
 myself to the forest, and having gone a few steps I heard some groans. St. Felix was stretched on the soil 
 frightfully disfigured ; his body was one wound ; he had an arm broken, the chest torn, and an ankle dislocated. 
 The car had disappeared. After crossing a river I heard a cry. Nadar was stretched on the ground with a 
 dislocated thigh; his wife had fallen into the river. Another companion was shattered. We occupied ourselves 
 with St. Felix, and Nadar and his wife. In trying to assist the latter I was nearly drowned, for I fell into the 
 water and sank. They picked me up again, and I found the bath had done me good. By the assistance of the 
 inhabitants the salvage was got together. Vehicles were brought ; they placed us upon straw. My knees bled ; 
 my loins and head seemed to be like mincemeat ; but I did not lose my presence of mind an instant, and for a 
 second I felt humiliated at looking from the truss of straw at those clouds which in the night I had had under my 
 feet. It was in this way we reached Rethem, in Hanover. 
 
 " In seventeen hours we had made nearly 250 leagues. Our course infernale had covered a space of three 
 leagues. Now that it is over I have some shudderings. It does not signify ; we have made a good journey, and 
 I marvel to see with what indifference we may regard the most frightful death ; for, besides the prospect of being 
 dashed about on our way, we had that of gaining the sea ; and how long should we have lived then ? I am glad 
 to have seen this happier yet at having to narrate it to you. These Germans who surround us are brave 
 people, and we have been as well cared for as the resources of the little spot will allow. 
 
 "P.S. I have just reached Hanover with my companions, and reopen my letter to tell you so. The King 
 has sent an aide-de-camp to us. Are we at the end of our reverses ? At any rate, I am consoled to think they 
 can no longer laugh at us in Paris. We have kept our promises, and more." 
 
 A fuller account of the adventures of the balloon in Belgium, Holland, and Germany, was given by the 
 same writer in a second letter. It is so graphic that we cannot think of abridging it. Nevertheless, perhaps 
 others of the travellers might tell the tale and the various incidents in a different manner : 
 
 " We passed, I know not how much time, in contemplating the enchanting scene around us but at length 
 we all felt the necessity of going downwards to see where we were. Presently the balloon came so near to the 
 earth that we could readily distinguish the tall chimneys of a great many flaming furnaces. ' If we were to fall 
 upon some of them ! ' said Montgolfier, anxiously. These furnaces told us very clearly that we were in Belgium, 
 and, besides, the Flemish songs that continually reached our ears left no doubt upon the point. Godard, Nadar, 
 all of us, called out frequently to the people below, 'Where are we?' but we got no other answer than shouts of 
 laughter. There were two bells in the car, and Yon and myself rang them as hard as we could, while Nadar 
 roared through his speaking-trumpet. I had an opportunity of observing that the purity of the air in no degree 
 attenuates the quantity of false notes lodged in the throats of certain individuals. Our aerial charivari at length 
 provoked a corresponding one on earth, and we could hear dogs barking, ducks quacking, men swearing, and 
 women screaming. All this had a droll effect ; but time went on, the wind blew hard, it was dark night, and 
 our balloon drove on with prodigious rapidity, and we were not able to tell exactly where we were. I could not 
 see my compass, and we were not allowed to light a lucifer-match under any pretext whatsoever. 
 
 " From the direction in which we had passed over Lille, we judged that we must be going towards the sea ; 
 Louis Godard fancied that he could see lighthouses. We descended again to within 150 yards of the earth. Beneath 
 us we saw a flat marshy country, of sinister aspect, and indicating plainly the neighbourhood of the coast. Every 
 one listened with all his ears, and many fancied they heard the murmurs of the sea. The further we went on the 
 more desert the country became ; there was no light whatever ; and it became more and more difficult to guess 
 where we were going. ' I am entirely out of my reckoning,' exclaimed Louis Godard, ' and my opinion is that 
 the only thing we have to do is to descend at once.' 'What, here in the marshes?' remonstrated all of us; 'and 
 suppose we are driven into the sea.' The balloon went driving on still. ' We cannot descend here,' said Jules 
 Godard, ' we are over water.' Two or three of us looked over the edge of the car, and affirmed that we were not 
 over water, but trees. ' It is water,' Jules Godard persisted. Every one now looked out attentively, and 
 as the balloon descended a little, we saw plainly that there was no water, but without being able to say positively 
 whether there were trees or not. At the moment when Jules Godard thought he saw water, Nadar exclaimed, 
 ' I see a railway.' It turned out that what Nadar took for a railway was a canal running towards the Scheldt, 
 which we had passed over a few minutes before. Hurrah for balloons ! They are the things to travel in rivers, 
 mountains, custom-houses all are passed without let or hindrance. But every medal has its reverse ; and, if we 
 were delighted at having safely got over the Scheldt, we by no means relished the prospect of going on to the 
 
A.M. !>.;::. \i;N< TLD'S NARRATIVi:. 2(57 
 
 Xuyder Xee. Shall wo go down?' asked Louis Ooditid. There was a moment's pause. We consulted together : 
 suddenly 1 uttered a eiy !' joy; the position nf the needle of my COIIIIMUJK indicated that (ho balloon had made 
 a half turn to tin- li^ht, nnd was now going due east The aspect of the stars confirmed this assertion. Forward! 
 was now the cry. \Ve throw out a little ballast, mounted higher, and started with new vigour, with our backs 
 turned tu the deprecated Xuydor Zee. It was now three in tin- morning, and none of us had slept. Just as we 
 
 to try to sleep a little, my diabolical compass showed that the balloon was turning back again. 'Where 
 an- you going to take us to?' cried out Yon tu tin- immense mass of canvas which was oscillating above our heads. 
 I.oui^ i iodurd again proposed to descend ; but we said 'No! forward, forward!' 
 
 Two lumrs sped away; and at five o'clock day broke, broad daylight coming on with marvellous rapidity. 
 It is tnii- that wo were at a height of 980 metres. Novel-writer* and others have so much abused descrip- 
 tions of sunrise on mountains and on the ocean that I shall say little about this one, although it is not a 
 i-i minion tiling to see the horizon on fire below the clouds. The finest Venetian paintings could alone give an idea 
 of tin- luxuriant tones of the heaven that wo saw. Such dazzling magnificence led me to wonder that there is no 
 
 (I of sun-worship, since men must necessarily have borne material representation of the Divinity. It is true 
 that the sun is not made in man's image. Wo now had beneath us an immense plain, the same probably that we 
 had passed over in the night There is nothing more pleasant at first sight, nor more monotonous, in the long run. 
 th. in the sort of country which forms at least one-third of Holland. There are miniature woods the size of 
 bouquets, fields admirably cultivated and divided into little patches like gardens, rivers with extraordinary 
 windings, microscopic roads, coquettish-looking villages, so white and so clean, that I think the Dutch housewives 
 must scour the very roofs of their houses every morning. In the midst of every village there is a jewel of a 
 ehiin h with a .shining steeple. While riding along at a height of 700 metres, we had beneath us a picture of 
 Paul Potter's fiftv leagues square. All at once the tableaux became animated. The people below had perceived 
 the balloon. We heard cries expressive of astonishment, flight, and even of anger; but the feeling of fright 
 seemed to predominate. Wo distinctly saw women in their chemises look hurriedly out of windows and then 
 rush back again. We saw chubby boys looking at us, and blubbering as if they were mad. Some men, more 
 determined than the rest, fired off guns at us. I saw several mammas pointing us out to stubborn babies, with an 
 attitude which seemed to say that our balloon was Old Bogy. Old women raised their hands against us, and at 
 their signal many ran away, making the sign of the Cross. It is evident that in some of these villages we were 
 taken to be the devil in person. On this point it is apropos to cite a letter communicated to me which has been 
 addressed to the ' Courrier de Hanovre.' I translate it literally : 
 
 " ' This morning, at about six o'clock, we saw passing over our heads, at a prodigious height, an immense round 
 form, to which was suspended something which looked like a square house of a red colour. Some people pretend 
 to have seen animated beings in this strange machine, and to have heard issuing from it superhuman cries. W hat 
 think you, Mr. Editor? The whole country is in a state of alarm, and it will be long before our people recover 
 their equanimity." 
 
 * At 7 A.M. we crossed over a lake near Yssel ; the wind then again drove us in a new direction, 
 nearly at right angles with that which we were taking before. In less than a quarter of an hour the balloon got 
 into Westphalia, near Kenhcim, then we crossed the great river Ems, the towns of liheine and Ibbenbnrrhen, and 
 
 M-d t.> Hanover a little above Osnabruck ; we traversed, without deigning to take notice of them, a little chain 
 of mountains, and by way, no doubt, of relaxation after so long a journey, went all round a lake, which is called in 
 (iennaii I Mmini'-rsee. We then got into a great plain, through which runs a road. At this time the balloon 
 
 M alnio.st motionless. The reason of this was, that the heat of the sun had caused the gas to expand. The 
 thermometer was then at 14^' (about 59 Fahr.). Louis Godard was very uneasy about this dilatation. After two 
 or three oscillations, our aerial courser decided upon going off rapidly in an eastern direction, with about two 
 degrees variation towards the north. This course would have taken us to Hamburg and the Baltic, but we wi i- 
 all so completely absorbed by the splendour of the tableau before us that we took little note of the change. Our 
 hippogriff passed over Wagenfeld-Steyerberg, where there is a river which flows into the Weser. We came within 
 sight of the great river and Nienburg, a considerable town on one of ita banks. AVo saw a steamboat going down 
 the river from the town. The view here was charming. A rustling of the silk of our balloon made us look 
 upwards; the monster, under the influence of the sun, now very hot, was palpably swelling. As it would have 
 been supremely ridiculous, after having made such a first-rate journey, to have treated the inhabitants of Nienburg 
 
 2 x 
 
268 ASTEA CA8TBA. A.TX 1863. 
 
 with the spectacle of seeing us blown up to say nothing of the consequences of such a catastrophe to our own 
 limbs we resolved to come down. The remaining bags of ballast were got in order, the ropes and the anchors 
 prepared, and Godard opened the safety-valve. ' The monster is disgorging ! ' exclaimed Thirion. And the 
 balloon did vomit forth its gas with a tremendous noise, which may be compared to the snoring of some gigantic 
 animal. While our companion made this observation, we were descending at the rate of two metres to the second. 
 ' To the ropes ! to the ropes ! hold on well ! ' cried the brothers Godard, who seemed quite in their element, ' take 
 care of the shock ! ' Every one climbed up to the ropes which attach the car to the circular handles underneath 
 the balloon. Madame Nadar, whose sang froid was truly magnificent, grasped two large ropes with her delicate 
 hands. Nadar did the like, but at the same time put his arms round his wife so as to protect her body. 
 
 " I was on one side towards the middle of the sort of hurdle which serves as a balcony. I was on my knees 
 and clinging to two ropes. Montgolfier, Thirion, and Saint Felix were near me. The balloon descended so rapidly 
 that it gave us the vertigo. The air, which we had left so calm above, became a violent wind as we neared the 
 earth. ' We are going to throw down the anchors,' said Godard, 'hold tight.' Then the car struck the earth with 
 tremendous violence. I cannot imagine how it was that my arms were not broken. After the first terrible shock the 
 balloon went up again, but the safety-valve was opened it again fell and we suffered a second shock, if not more 
 violent, at least more painful to us than the first. Up we went again ; the balloon dragged its anchors. Several 
 times we thought we should be thrown out. ' The anchors are broken,' exclaimed Godard. The balloon beat 
 the ground with its head, like a kite when it falls down. It was horrible. On we went towards Nienbnrg, at 
 the rate of ten leagues an hour.* Three large trees were cut through by the car, as clean as if by a woodman's 
 hatchet. One small anchor still remained to us. We threw it down, and it carried away the roof of a house. 
 
 " If the balloon had dragged us through the town we should, inevitably, have been cut to pieces. But fortu- 
 nately it rose a little, and then bumped against the ground again with as much violence as before. Every one of 
 these shocks wrenched our limbs ; to complete our misfortunes the rope of the safety-valve got loose from us, and 
 the safety-valve shutting up we lost all hope of the balloon emptying itself. It went on by bounds of twenty-five, 
 thirty, and forty metres from the earth, and continued to fall upon its head. Everything that stood in the way of 
 the car was dashed to pieces. Every minute brought a new danger, and what danger ! Now we are terrified to 
 think of it ; but I declare upon my honour that at the time not one of us entertained a thought of saving his own 
 life at the expense of the community. Several times some one of us might have jumped out, but then the balloon, 
 being lightened of a considerable weight, would have ascended to the great peril of the others. Madame Nadar 
 was supported by her husband, and I can affirm that our greatest moral suffering was to see her frail form so 
 terribly knocked about and yet this pour woman never uttered a cry. During these terrible moments when all 
 our bones were cracking, she looked at her husband and at us so calmly and so sweetly that we would all willingly 
 have been crushed to have saved her." 
 
 We complete the narrative of the second ascent by giving here Louis Godard 's own account : 
 
 The departure presented nothing remarkable until Erquelines was reached. If the balloon did not attain 
 any great elevation, it was because the aeronauts wished to avoid all dilatation, in order to make a long voyage ; 
 if they had wished to have produced an effect upon the public, they could have attained the highest elevation by 
 throwing overboard 60 Ibs. or 80 Ibs. of ballast. 
 
 The balloon used on fete days, belonging to MM. Godard Brothers, decked with flags bearing the initials of 
 His Majesty the Emperor, and the " Giant," met four or five times in the air, and the aeronauts of the latter, 
 thinking they were addressing the inhabitants of a town, received the replies of M. Godard, senior, who directed 
 the small balloon. This pursuit did not cease until St. Quentiii was reached, where the latter descended. 
 
 The " Giant" continued its route. Signalised at Lille, it proceeded in the direction of Belgium, where a 
 fresh current, coming from the Channel, drove it over the marshes of Holland. It was there that M. Louis 
 Godard proposed to descend to await the break of day, in order to recognise the situation and agaiu to depart ; it 
 was one in the morning, the night was dark, but the weather calm. 
 
 Unfortunately, this advice, supported by long experience, was not listened to. The " Giant" went on his 
 way, and M. Louis Godard no longer considered himself responsible for the consequences of the voyage. 
 
 * The letter of M. Louis Godard, given below, says, iu two places, that the balloon, when descending, was driven by the wind at 
 the rate of sixty leagues an hour; but tin's is probably a misprint. 
 
A.I.. IM;::. 
 
 
 'S A< ( n| \ l. 
 
 Tin- UilU.oii coa-t.d tin- Xtndi-r Zee, and entered Hanover. The sun began to appear, drying the netting 
 ami tlm sides of the balloon, \vi-t from its passage through the clouds, and produced a dilatatiun which elevated the 
 
 ii.T..li:illt.s to !.">. 
 
 At eight o'clock, tlic wind, hi., wing suddenly from the west, drove the balloon in a right line toward* tin- 
 i. It was necessary, at all hazard*, to effect a descent. This was a perilous affair, OH the wind wax 
 Mowing with extreme violci. 
 
 Tin- brothers Godard (Louis and Jules), assisted by M. Gabriel, opened the valve and got out the am i 
 lnit. unfortunately, the horizontal progress of the balloon augmented from second to second. The first obstacle 
 which tin- anchors encountered was a tree : it was instantly unrooted, and dragged along to a second obstacle, a 
 
 . whuse roof was carried off. At this moment the two cables of the anchors wore broken without tin- 
 voyagers being aware of it, such was the prodigious speed attained, sixty (?) leagues an hour. 
 
 seeing the successive shocks tliat \\.-ro about to ensue the moment was critical, the least forgetfulm -.-s 
 might cause death. M. Louis Godard did not cease to give to all repeated encouragement ; the balloon still went 
 on at the rate of sixty leagues an hour; through opening the valve it had lost a certain quantity of gas, and could 
 not ascend. To add to the difficulty, its inclined position did not permit of operating on the valve, except on the 
 hoop, 
 
 At the request of his brother, Jules Godard attempted the difficult work of climbing to this hoop, and, in 
 spite of his known agility, he was obliged several times to renew the effort. Alone, and not being able to detach 
 the cord, M. Louis Godard begged M. Yon to join his brother on the hoop. The two made themselves master- of 
 the rope, which they passed to M. Louis Godard ; the latter secured it firmly, in spite of the shocks he received. 
 
 A violent shock shook the car and entangled M. de Saint-Felix under it, as it was ploughing the ground ; 
 it was impossible to render him any assistance, notwithstanding M. Jules Godard, stimulated by his brother, 
 leaped out to attempt mooring the balloon to the trees by means of the ropes. M. Montgolfier, entangled in the 
 same manner, was reseated in time and Hived by Louis Godard. 
 
 At this moment MM. Thirion and D'Arnoult leaped out in their turn, and escaped with a few contusions. 
 The car, dragged along by the balloon, broke trees more than half-a-yard in diameter, and overthrew everything 
 that opposed it. 
 
 M. Louis Godard made M. Yon leap out of the car to assist Madame Nadar, but a terrible bhock threw out 
 
 L'.UGLE " 1.1804). 
 
 _' X '-' 
 
270 ASTRA CASTEA. A.D. 1864. 
 
 MM. Nadar, Louis Godard, and Montgolfier the two first against the ground, the third into the water. Madame 
 Nadar, in spite of the efforts of the voyagers, remained the last, and found herself squeezed between the ground 
 and the car, which had fallen upon her. More than twenty minutes elapsed before it was possible to disentangle 
 her, in spite of the most vigorous efforts on the part of every one ; it was at this moment the balloon burst, and, 
 like a furious monster, destroyed everything around it. 
 
 Immediately afterwards they ran fo the assistance of M. de Saint-Felix, who had been left behind, and whose 
 face was one wound, and covered with blood and mire ; he had an arm broken, his chest grazed and bruised. 
 
 I terminate this true relation, in thanking the inhabitants of Eethem, particularly our ambassador and the 
 king's envoye, for the care and attention they showed us. 
 
 (Signed) Louis GODARD. 
 
 M. Nadar, dating from Hanover on the 26th, wrote 
 
 " All goes on better. We are about to return to Paris on our backs ; but in a far better state than eight 
 days ago. 
 
 " As it is impossible at this moment to write to all the journals which have been pleased to mention our 
 second voyage, with a sympathy which profoundly affected me, I shall bo grateful to them to reproduce the present 
 
 explanation. 
 
 " NADAR." 
 
 I cannot omit to insert in this history a few extracts from the ' Oraison Funebre ' on 
 Depuis Delcourt, given by M. Nadar in the preface to his ' Me moires du Gre'ant.' Though 
 we are not accustomed to such discourses in our own country, yet in this instance it is my 
 desire " to show how much the zeal of one man in a good cause can effect": 
 
 To-day, Sunday, 3 April, 1864, thirty persons were assembled at a small house in the Eue de Soureine, 
 Paris. From thence we proceeded in the rain to inter the patriarch of French aeronauts, Jean-Baptiste Depuis- 
 Delcourt, born 25 March, 1802. Depuis Delcourt was known both in the literary and the scientific worlds ; but 
 the success he obtained as a dramatic author could never turn him from aerostation, his ruling passion. He had 
 known J. Montgolfier and Charles, and was present at the experiments of Deghen, Lennox, Garnerin, Robertson, 
 Le Berrier, and had witnessed the death of the unfortunate Madame Blanchard. He had himself made many 
 ascents, and been presented to Louis XVIIL, from whom he received the gift of a beautiful diamond. 
 
 The Academy on five occasions named commissions to examine the scientific communications he sent in to 
 them with indefatigable zeal. 
 
 He laboured with Arago in the construction of the " electro-subtracteur," an instrument that could at will 
 deliver us from hail, not only in its falling but even its formation. 
 
 In the Orangery of the Luxembourg he had made public experiments with the aerial screw ; and among the 
 most attentive of his auditors was Geoffrey Saint-Hilaire. 
 
 He founded the " Aerostatic and Meteorological Society of France," of which he was the soul ; and in 
 recognition of his services they named him their Perpetual Secretary. 
 
 Even after the anathema of Marey Monge against metallic gasholders he completely ruined himself by the 
 construction of a copper balloon ; but for the want of a few hundred francs to supply accessories it could not be 
 used, and he was obliged to sell it. He published twenty books and pamphlets; among others the ' Manuel de 
 1'Aerostier,' one of the best volumes of the useful Encyclopasdia of Eoret. 
 
 He leaves almost finished an important work, entitled, ' Traite coniplet, historique et pratique des Aerostats' Of 
 this he said, " Ce sera probablement la grande affaire de ma vie!" 
 
 He founded a Journal of Aerial Navigation; and, full of fervent faith in the future of this science, he 
 collected, with his scanty purse, under many privations, the best Aerostatic Museum that exists. 
 
 Now, this man, gentle and brave, modest, laborious, and disinterested, after having devoted himself to an 
 idea that may have the grandest practical effect on the human race, lived with resignation and confidence in 
 extreme poverty, and died yesterday, leaving his collection as his sole legacy to the aged companion of the last 
 thirty years of his life. 
 
 This worthy woman, who, with the faith a wife has always iu a husband, had followed him everywhere, 
 
Ai:i!l\I. NAVIGATION IX CHINA. 
 
 J7I 
 
 -.lint: t> the Gospel, and even beyond the code, as fur as the clouds, now preserves with a pioua respect the 
 C..i 1 1. 11. IN that will hereafter be well known as that of DEPUIS DELOOUKT. 
 
 To complete this chapter I here annex some extracts from a curious work entitled 
 4 La Navigation Aerienne' (of which, however, I do not guarantee the authenticity). 
 
 'La Navigation Aerienne en Chin.-, relation d'un Voyage accompli en 1860, entiv 
 Fout-cheou et Nant-chang,' by Delaville Dedreux. This work, which appeared in Paris in 
 I MI.'!, contains many ideas that are novel. The author reminds the reader of a book called 
 the Merveilles du Genie de I'Homme,' by Am&le'e de Bast, wherein it is stated that Father 
 Vassou, a missionary at Canton, in a letter dated September 5, 1694, mentions a balloon that 
 ascended on the coronation of the Emperor Fo-kien, in 1306. He found this recorded 
 in authentic official documents. M. Dedreux then states that, having gone far into the 
 interior of the Celestial Empire, he thinks it his duty to publish what he there saw; but not 
 a scientific man, he can give only an account of the facts. 
 
 N aerial equipage one morning coming suddenly in sight 
 gave rise to the following conversation between the Man 
 darin Kie Fo, his protector, and himself. 
 
 The Asiatic sarcastically remarked to his queries, 
 " Are you not so far advanced as to have these things in 
 Europe ? " 
 
 " Oh, yes," answered the European, " but they are of 
 smaller dimensions, our engineers devote their attention 
 chiefly to the study of the methods for destruction, and 
 you have seen what they can do." 
 
 " As it is evident," replied Kie Fo, " that you do not 
 know much about these aerial ships, I shall be glad to 
 make a trip with you." 
 
 " I shall be delighted, and am ready to run all risks." 
 " No courage is required," continued the Chinaman, 
 " as aerial locomotion is the most agreeable and least 
 dangerous that exists." 
 
 " Can the Chinese guide balloons at will?" 
 " Not altogether, but it is seldom that the captain 
 does not follow his proposed route, and return within a 
 pivi'ii period. This is effected chiefly by a knowledge of 
 the atmospheric currents, and of the meteorological cir- 
 cumstances that change their direction. The knowledge 
 of the winds is a science that is enriched by daily observu- 
 .1 Umpire possesses a great number of observatories, which send their reports of the cur 
 at ill.- various heights to the captains of aerostats, who are guided accordingly." 
 I'.ut how tin you know the direction of the cum-nts?" 
 
 " By sounding, as we have an instrument called the atmospheric sounding-line which is only a small balloon 
 connected by a string to a tower thirty feet in height, which contains a large wheel that marks the number of I'.-.-t 
 unrolled. The top forming n horizontal circle is divided into 400 degrees, the first corresponds to the north, Ac., 
 the direction ( ,f the current carries the string in a direction marked by one of these lines, and no mistak.- i> 
 
 "I understand that jierfectly, lint how do you transmit the intelligence to the place from whcix c tin- 
 aerostat starts ? " 
 
272 ASTRA CASTE A. A.D. 1860. 
 
 " It is in this that the inventive genius of the Chinese is shown, for many are employed with a variety of 
 trumpets that give different sounds for each line, which are repeated at smaller stations till it arrives at the place 
 of departure." I spoke to him of the telegraph, hut it was useless. 
 
 This conversation recalled to my mind what I had seen in the London Exhibition of 1851 (called Universal, 
 at which, however, China showed nothing). A map of England was shown on which needles were placed on all 
 the principal ports, and were arranged each day according to telegrams ; one was thereby able to see at a glance 
 the direction of the winds all along the coast. I have thought that such a map adapted for Europe would speedily 
 give us such knowledge of atmospheric currents that we should at once be able to turn balloons to account. I 
 observed that " many sides of an irregular polygon must be described in an aerial voyage ? " 
 
 " That is the case," replied the Mandarin, " it seldom happens that one can travel in a straight line. The 
 talent of the captain consists in finding out the quickest route ; often when the north is the goal you may see him 
 making for the east or west according to his directions. He carries sounding-lines that acquaint him with the 
 currents above and below, and of these he can take advantage." 
 
 " I can understand the method for raising and lowering the machine, as one of our engineers explained it in 
 theory seventy-five years ago ; but no use has yet been made of it. What still puzzles me is this : On the sea a 
 captain by the assistance of the log and compass knows the rapidity and direction of his route, but the captain of 
 an aerostat cannot make use of these." 
 
 " I beg your pardon, the compass is used ; as long as the earth is in sight it is not much required, but above 
 the clouds, or at night, or in an unknown country, it is of the greatest use." 
 
 I had formed my opinion from the works of Louis Figuier, called ' Exposition et Histoire des principales 
 Decouvertes scientifiques Modernes,' who in his remarks on balloons says, " the form of the ship enables the 
 captain to judge of the direction when looking at the compass, but in the air there is no line to guide the eye of 
 the aeronaut." 
 
 " To you, your author may seem right," said Kie Fo, " but he is wrong in our view. I will explain the 
 Chinese method. Our oblong aerostat that keeps its stern to the current has an imaginary line passing from stern 
 to prow. Now you know that a boat in a current without oars or sails will turn any wa} - , but the least resistance 
 caused at the stern will make it keep lengthwise with the stream. It is by resistance at the stern that we keep 
 the aerostat even with the current." 
 
 " How can you produce this resistance ? " 
 
 " Simply by the rotation of a screw at the stern. A man turning a handwheel would suffice." 
 
 " Well, I understand ; but how can you make up for the log, for determining your swiftness ? " 
 
 " By a hammer." 
 
 " What do you mean by a hammer ? " 
 
 " By a hammer and a lamp this will explain it. You did not see, this morning, a single one but two 
 aerostats rise ; this is always the case. A complete eqiiipage always consists of two. They are connected by a 
 silken cable. The one nearest the wind turns the screw that impedes its march, while the one in front, not 
 doing this advances more rapidly. The cable then takes a curve which the experienced eye of the captain 
 soon recognises to be correct. The two balloons are 300 metres from one another ; this is the distance as you 
 know that sound travels in one minute. At the bow of the second aerostat there is a man with a hammer called 
 the 'striker; ' at the stern of the first there is a marker, having before him a large disc with divisions, like a 
 clock face, with only one indicator, and divided in 360 degrees. This needle is put in motion by pressing a 
 button, and stops directly the pressure is taken off. It can make the turn in one second. From time to time the 
 marker makes a signal to the striker, who lets his hammer fall on a metal plate, and instantaneously a burning 
 lamp is unmasked. The marker, the instant he sees this, presses the spring till tho sound reaches the ear; he 
 removes the pressure and the indicator stops. In a perfect calm this would be always one second, or one turn of 
 the indicator, but if the aerostats are in movement, it varies according to the rapidity of motion. For instance, 
 supposing this to be thirty-six kilometres (twenty-seven miles) an hour, this would be ten metres (thirty-two feet 
 six inches) a second ; and the indicator would make a complete circle, and not stop till ten lines beyond." 
 
 " I understand ; but it must require a quick man as marker." 
 
 " They are in great demand, and their pay is high. The lamp is required by night, and also on account of 
 the rapidity with which light travels. Hold yourself in readiness to start to-morrow morning." 
 
A.I.. I860, 
 
 MKTlinns rn|{ DIKIK Tli\. 
 
 2T8 
 
 astounded with the conversation, and at learning in a few minute* so much about principles that are 
 i. ]iutl in-.'lui.l.' in Kurope, or at least very doubtful of realisation, while in the Celestial Empire they are solved 
 rui.l :i|i(>li.'il on a large scale. Yet it did not appear to me that the art even hero had reached it utmost perfection, 
 
 1-iit that tin' appliances i.f Kurope could afford many improvements. 
 
 Tin- Mandarin infoniis Mons. Dedreux that their sovereign being the son of Heaven, is 
 intalliiil.', ami that of necessity his ministers partake of his infallibility. 
 
 If. therefore, electricity (mentioned in the conversation of yesterday) could have been of use, it would have 
 been adopted. It is not likely that you who are ignorant of the first principles of this science could suggest an 
 improvt-mi'iit." 
 
 " Take," he continued, " this silk dress, well suited for changes of temperature, and let us start." 
 
 The freshness of the morning was enjoyable whilst we walked down a glade through a wood that extended 
 along the valley and up the sides of the hills on either side. It gradually narrowed till we saw it end in an 
 amphitheatre less than a mile in circuit, with almost perpendicular sides, evidently altered by the hand of man. 
 Here we found ten aerostats of snowy whiteness, all turned in one direction. Eight glades converged, starlike 
 thr..H-h the wood, and met at an opening whereon were as many platforms, so arranged as to slide down these 
 glades by their own weight A circular staircase gave access to what may bo called the ramparts of the 
 amphitheatre. 
 
 " ThK" sai.l Kie Fo, after enjoying my surprise, " is the starting-place. Many towns have similar stations 
 arranged by rules that the experience of centuries has rendered permanent. Their form you will observe 
 protects them from all winds. Those well worn slopes are for the descent of the towing-machines ; that open 
 space is the landing place ; for descending pipes convey water in all directions, as it is required in dry weather.' 1 
 We ascended the staircase and looked down the valley. As two aerostats are always joined together we arrived 
 opposite one, and saw several pedestrians arriving by the various glades (the Chinese word for the aerial starting- 
 
 THE CHINESE AEROSTAT. 
 
274 ASTKA CASTRA. A.D. 1800. 
 
 place corresponds with our word terminus). We noticed that it was not adapted for holding more than five 
 equipages (that is ten aerostats, as two are always connected). We arrived opposite one and found a waiting-room 
 that opened on a level square. (See vignette.) 
 
 About the centre of the court I saw a chariot, low and massive, on four wheels, bearing a basket somewhat 
 similar to the car of an European balloon. From this basket there ascended four ropes attached to a horizontal 
 mast ornamented at prow and stern by the head and tail of a dragon. This appeared immovable about thirty feet 
 overhead. On examining the balloon above I found that it was not egg-shaped as I had thought at first sight, but 
 has a cylinder terminated at each end by a cone it was attached to and almost touching the mast. In addition to 
 the ropes that bound the mast to the chariot were twenty others, attaching the ten cars, and one reached to the 
 ground from each car. At the centre of the mast was attached a car larger than the rest, somewhat like a large 
 sentry-box, which was quite the centre of everything, as a funnel of glazed silk connected it with the aerostat. 
 
 " That man in the chariot," said Kie Fo, " is the watcher." 
 
 " What is he watching?" 
 
 " To see that the aerostat always keeps lengthwise to the wind. He effects this with the four cords it is 
 thus that in an open country, with a strong wind, we can land with little risk. Kemark, he added, that the first 
 rope descending from the prow is almost vertical, it is the axis of rotation (or the stem of the weathercock), whilst 
 the fourth rope represents the hypotenuse of a right-angled triangle, of which the mast forming one of the sides is 
 always horizontal. The intermediate ropes are more especially intended to prevent the mast from bending, from 
 the ascensive force of the aerostat." 
 
 The captain whistled, and the cars were lowered, each containing two seats. Two men who managed 
 the machine first took their seats in the central car. Two ladies were then admitted. We got into the second 
 car from the prow, the first being occupied by the captain and lieutenant, whilst the car nearest the stern conveyed 
 the marker and his assistant. We were weighed, as each car must carry 160 kilogrammes (400 Ibs.), the difference 
 is made up by water being earned in the double bottom of the car. The total weight carried by the aerostat was 
 1600 kilogrammes, excluding the cars and tackle. This has to be equally distributed. We were then hoisted and 
 made fast. After waiting a few minutes to see whether any one was coming to occupy the vacant car, it was 
 filled with water and hoisted also. 
 
 " Our aerostat," said Kie Fo, " is the one that leads, and carries, therefore, the captain and marker; whilst 
 the other carries the striker and the ' sondeur ' (or the carrier of the sounding-lines)." 
 
 " Will not our watcher also be hoisted?" 
 
 " No, he always remains thirty feet below us; his duty is to throw the anchor, and when the equipage 
 reaches the ground he becomes the towing-machine ; he it is also who, at the signal of the captain, starts us." 
 
 I heard near my ear the movement of a rope, and saw one sliding along the mast. " They are making the 
 tackle fast," said Kie Fo. 
 
 A prolonged whistle from the rear balloon was answered by our captain to the watcher to " Let go." We 
 ascended rapidly several hundred feet, then moved in a horizontal direction. I shall not endeavour to describe 
 my feeling. 
 
 " Well," said Kie Fo, " do you think it requires much courage to travel in our aerostats? Do you not feel 
 in perfect security ? " 
 
 " Yes, and the air is most refreshing." 
 
 " All feel this ; and for this reason it is that those ladies are enjoying this excursion, being a more pleasant 
 airing than can be found on land or water. We have here neither jolting, nor dust, nor sea-sickness, no danger 
 of founding, nor of being upset or impeded." 
 
 " The only danger is that of being precipitated to the ground." 
 
 " No, that danger does not exist ; what could cause our fall ? There is no friction, it goes with the wind. 
 Being always full there is no risk of tearing. It is painted white so that the sun's rays should not affect it. 
 As it never approaches nearer than thirty feet to the earth there is but little chance of damage ; it is besides 
 carefully inspected at starting. You shall, however, see them in process of building, and I trust that you will 
 then be reassured." 
 
 " I am already. Who is that traveller ? " 
 
A.I.. I 1'KOJECTED VOYAGE TO THE POLE. 178 
 
 " A consumptive man who makes two journeys a week ; when he has strength to make three he will probably 
 be cured." 
 
 ial voyages have then medicinal virtues?" 
 
 < Vrtainly. nil our doctors agree on this, and their opinion is based on excellent statistics. The only 
 drawback is that it is an expensive cure, which only th rich can afford." 
 
 Who is that little <lried-up man? Ho has not the air of being here for his own amusement." 
 
 II.- U a commercial traveller of a large house that docs business in jewellery, gold and silver filigree, 
 
 Hi: i'ii rice-paper, and other merchandise of great value and little weight Small thin men are usually 
 chosen for this situation, so that weight may be economised. I am sure that ho does not weigh fifty kilogrammes. 
 As there will not I am sure bo a drop of water at the bottom of his stall, the difference is made up by his wares." 
 
 " Who are the two in uniform ? " 
 
 " They are two officers in the Aerial Service of the State, going most likely to join their aerostat at Nant- 
 i hang. The distance from where we started being 300 miles, we shall arrive about noon if the wind in 
 favourable." 
 
 lla> the State then an aerial flotilla?" 
 
 " Certainly. Scientific research is the chief object of the State aerostats ; the officers being trained in schools 
 for the purpose ; and it is a service much in vogue : geography, geology, astronomy, meteorology, natural history, 
 and other sciences have been enriched by it There is not one of our mountains that has not been explored by 
 Chinese saoam by means of these aerostats. There are many narratives of voyages far to the south, but their 
 progress has been stopped by the excessive heat An excursion has even been projected to the Pole. I have 
 here a copy of the ' Fekin Gazette ' that contains an interesting article on this subject, shall I read an 
 extract ? " 
 
 " I shall be much obliged." 
 
 " ' Among the travellers who have endeavoured to reach the Pole, but have been stopped by the ice, have been 
 some who have proposed sledges carrying boats to cross the unfrozen seas. If men are found hardy enough to 
 attempt such a project, would it not clearly bo easier to accomplish this by the aerostat in order to reach tin- 
 point of the globe that must awaken the utmost curiosity from the novel appearance of the heavenly bodies and 
 the altered relations of magnetism ? The distance is not 1200 miles to the Pole and back in startingfrom the point 
 where the ice stops us ; favourable winds could conduct us there and back in two days ; and if there are in this 
 region horizontal currents (superimposed) flowing to and from the Pole, where is the impossibility of the attempt 
 that at first sight appears chimerical ? ' 
 
 " Thus you fee," said Kie Fo, folding up the paper, " that the idea of visiting the Pole by an aerostat 
 traraffle let esprits, and I shall not be surprised if it is soon tried." 
 
 " Whatever may be the result, the nation that first tries it would deserve honour ; but as your aerostat 
 makes such long voyages, how does it happen that none of them come to Europe ? " 
 
 " Your little country is hardly worth the trouble. Barbarians (without any intention of offending you) are 
 not esteemed by our government, who are certain the Chinese would only import pernicious ideas from Europe. 
 Aeronauts are therefore forbidden, under penalty of death, to visit that small agglomeration of evil-disposed and 
 fighting men, that Providence has collected into a corner of the earth, of which the Celestial Empire occupies the 
 centre." 
 
 " The Europeans, believe me, are neither so vicious nor fond of fighting as your government would make you 
 1 lieve. If th.v would allow you to visit us and study our manners, you would certainly change your opinion." 
 
 " To speak frankly, I agree with you, but I dare not proclaim it for fear of punishment ; a day will doubtless 
 come when the present ideas will be changed." 
 
 " I trust it may arrive quickly, for the benefit of mankind." 
 
 Whilst talking in this way, we were moving rapidly, as from the lowness of our altitude the country appeared 
 to fly along beneath us : a whistle interrupted our conversation. 
 
 " The captain," said Kie Fo, " is ordering le tourneur (fhelice, posted in rear of the aerostat that follows us, to 
 begin working. Since our start the two aerostats have been at an intermediate distance. Not having lost sight of 
 the ground, the captain, who well knows this country, has not required the instruments for steering; but it 
 appears to me that we are going to higher regions to find another current. He will then require both the coni].a.-s 
 and the ' speed-marking disc.' You can just see from here the action of the screw that retards the movement 
 
 2 O 
 
276 ASTRA CASTliA. A.D. 1860. 
 
 of the second aerostat. The cable is stretched as it should be ; the two aerostats are now 360 metres from one 
 another." 
 
 All at once a prolonged hissing caused me an instant's alarm. 
 
 " Do not be frightened," said my friend, " some of the atmospheric air that was emmagasine in the aerostat has 
 been allowed to escape. We are about to ascend some 3000 feet." 
 
 In a few minutes we were in the clouds. The striker was at his post in the second aerostat, as from time to 
 time I saw the flame of the lamp, and an instant after heard the blow of the hammer. 
 
 The marker at the stern of our aerostat called out the speed indicated by his disc, and the lieutenant beside 
 the captain at the prow took note of the measurement. 
 
 The telegraph would be better, I thought; but, aloud to Kie Fo : " We ascend therefore, on account of the 
 escape of a certain quantity of atmospheric air enclosed in the aerostat; and when descent is necessary the air is 
 again pumped in, I suppose, at the central cabin." 
 
 " That is it : but who has instructed you in this?" 
 
 " I have already told you that what I have just noticed was imagined and proposed in France eighty years 
 ago. It was even tried ; but, not succeeding, the experimenters were satirised, and they took care not to risk 
 their lives again ; as my good countrymen often forget that unhappy mortals only arrive at success through 
 failures. These two lines of our immortal fablist apply admirably to the first realiser of a new idea : 
 
 ' II s'y prit d'abord mal, puis un pen mieux, puis bien, 
 Puis enfin il n'y manqua lien.' " 
 
 Now our aeronauts, among whom was a royal prince, the Duke de Chartres, were unsuccessful, and were 
 ridiculed instead of encouraged. The idea they endeavoured to apply had been the subject of a clever memoir 
 presented by its author to the French Academy, and was very favourably received by that illustrious assembly. 
 
 The check these courageous men met with at starting caused the project to be laid aside for half a century, 
 till in 1840 the distinguished author of ' Histoire des principales Decouvertes scientifiques Modernes ' again brought 
 it to light. 
 
 I will here suspend my narrative and give the 'Memoir du General Meusnier, Membre de 1'Academie des 
 Sciences.' 
 
 This is worthy the attention of all who have time to devote to this science ; but, as it will 
 not interest the general reader, it need not be inserted here. M. Dedreux continues: 
 
 ********* 
 
 I will point out the relation of the Chinese aerostat to the foregoing calculations by the description of the 
 aerostat in which I made the ascent. 
 
 This aerostat, as I have already said, was a cylinder terminating at both ends in cones, it was 1 6 metres in 
 diameter, 40 metres in length, and its volume about 7000 cubic metres. 
 
 In the interior running the whole length of the aerostat there is a light impermeable canvas that divides it 
 in two compartments; the upper for containing pure gas, and the lower for the atmospheric air that constitutes 
 the ballast. At starting the lower compartment is full of air, and the canvas division takes the form shown at A, 
 representing a transverse section of the aerostat. 
 
 At low altitudes the canvas separation floats between the gas and the air, as at 13. 
 
 At the highest altitude the balloon can reach, all the air is forced out bv the expansion of the gas, and lie 
 canvas division rests on the exterior covering of the aerostat, as at C. 
 
A. ... 
 
 MAN(KIYi;i:s FOB DESCENJUM.. -J77 
 
 I ..mil the c:tlrnl;itimis which M. Dflnville Dr.hvtix .-rives to show the powers of tin's 
 
 iiim-hiiir. iin tvlv aililiiii: the conclusion: 
 
 ****** 
 
 Let us now remark to what height this aerostat can ii-<-. It lias reached its greatest altitude when there in 
 no air in ill. lower compartment The gas contained at starting within a space of 46C7 metres, fills at this height 
 a volume of 7 ...... metres. Its density is therefore dimishcd one-third. and this is always equal to that of the 
 
 " atmospheric layer" in which the aerostat is suspended. The barometer at this height is at 51 centimetres (t" 
 thirds of 7i. i. Now, one knows by calculation confirmed by experiment, that this height of the column of the 
 meter corresponds to an altitude of 3000 metres, and " to this height our aerostat can go," said Kie Fo. 
 
 U I ilul not reach this height ; but we remained long in a thick mist, and I was not sorry-at length to hem 
 !!: iMiptain order the two men in the central cabin to work the ventilator, so as to cause descent. This 
 " ventilator" looked like a horizontal funnel, two metres in diameter, that takes in the air from below, and throws 
 it into the aerostat by a vertical pipe of impermeable canvas, by this means no force is wasted. Besides, by the 
 position of the funnel it causes the vessel to descend by sucking in the circumambient air. Nevertheless the 
 descent is slow, as I remarked to Kie Fo, who answered, " Our ventilator is only worked by two men ; four is the 
 complement : in State aerostats eight men work it. It is no light affair to pump in the 2333 cubic metres required 
 to make an aerostat descend from a height of 300 metres." 
 .mi-power would assist you." 
 
 " What ! put fire under an aerostat ! Are you a fool ? That is not possible ! " 
 
 " It is, as I saw it in Paris, where an engineer rose with a steam-engine of 3-horse power, hoping to find a 
 method of direction ; but not succeeding, he did not try a second time." 
 
 Whilst lost in reflection, Kie Fo showed me in the distance a black spot which was the terminus of Nant- 
 chang. In another half-hour we were over the plain for the towing-machines. As the aerostat kept on descending 
 as we approached I saw that we should soon land. 
 
 On the plain were two chariots with four horses similar to those I had noticed at starting. They appeared 
 to be waiting for us, and near each of them was a man on horseback. The nearest chariot followed us whilst the 
 other kept as close as possible to the second aerostat, no longer connected to us by the cable. When within 
 30 metres the watcher allowed a rope to fall to the ground ; the man galloping after us, seized and threw it 
 adroitly on the chariot, where it was attached to a windlass that two men began at once to turn till they had 
 drawn the car of the " watcher" to the chariot. We were at our moorings. When we were securely attached the 
 s drew us at a gallop towards the terminus, and left us ut the slope, down which the chariot ran of its own 
 weight. At the bottom another relay of horses awaited us, and we were conveyed to the platform for descent, where 
 porters attached the chariot and successively let down the stalls. The second aerostat had reached at the same 
 time a neighbouring platform, so that the forty pa&engers were again united before dispersing. 
 
 1 i yon observe," said Kie Fo, " the necessity for placing the terminus in the centre of a vast plain, with 
 a hard and level soil that will allow horses and chariots to move in all directions?" 
 
 w YM, 1 noticed the wind did not take us direct to the terminus, and that if we had not been towed we 
 should have passed to one sidu of it. You rectify, by towing, the inexactitude of the winds. It is well contrived, 
 I understand now the use of the ehariot and four horses." 
 
 \ "tice also that they are heavy and low to prevent being upset. When the wind is contrary or too violent 
 they remain stationary. l"ck the wheels, and wait till the weather is more favourable." 
 
 \\ jiasscd the rest of the day and part of the next at Nant-chang, and went to the building-yards where the 
 tuts are constructed ; but their description would fill a volume. I admired with what economy and rapiditv 
 these enormous machines can be constructed, when all is provided by suitable contrivances indicated by long 
 experience. 
 
 I remarked that in <'hina a new aerostat rises from its building-yard, instead of what has hitherto 1 en tin- 
 custom in Europe of dragging a machine inflated, or half inflated, to the place of ascent, much to its injury ; as was 
 the case in 1834, when the famous aerial ship, " L'Aigle," of M. De Lennox, with the greatest difficulty was brought 
 to the Champ de Mars; where it arrived almost in tatters to the discontent of the multitude, who tore it to 
 pieces. 
 
 _' <> 2 
 
278 ASTRA CASTRA. A.D. 1860. 
 
 To come from Fout-chou to Nant-chang, we had left in the morning, in order to profit by the sea-breeze that 
 reaches far into the interior ; to return, therefore, we were to leave in the evening to take advantage of the land- 
 breeze. 
 
 Whilst waiting for a repast, Kie Fo took me into an office of the Terminus, where on a table I saw a map, 
 similar to the one I had seen in London in 1851, with the observatories marked by black circles, on which were 
 four needles superimposed on each observatory : these showed the directions of the wind throughout a vast tract of 
 country at the respective heights of 2000 metres, 1500 m., 1000 m., and 500 m. 
 
 The clerk without hesitation named the hour of our departure. 
 
 I shall not give the description of the return voyage, but M. Delaville Dedreux ends 
 his hook with this wish, that our engineers will be able " En combinant les precedes Chinois 
 avec les decouvertes modernes de notre hemisphere, ils doteront sans doute 1'humanite' d'un 
 nouveau et puissant moyen d'investigation de diffusion des lumieres et de civilisation. 
 
 " Ils feront de notre siecle le veritable Grand Siecle." 
 
 THE UTILITY OF ART. 
 
 Two men I honour, and no third. First, the toilworn craftsman, that with earth-made implements laboriously 
 conquers t!ie earth, and makes her man's. Venerable to me is the hard hand crooked, coarse wherein, notwith- 
 standing, lies a cunning virtue, indefeasibly royal, as of the the sceptre of this planet. Venerable, too, is the 
 rugged face, all weathertanned, besoiled with its rude intelligence ; for it is the face of a man living manlike. 
 Oh, but the more venerable for thy rudeness, and even because we must pity as well as love thee ! Hardly-entreated 
 brother ! For us was thy back so bent ; for us were thy straight limbs and fingers so deformed : thou wert our 
 conscript on whom the lot fell, and fighting our battles wert so marred. For in thee, too, lay a God-created form, 
 but it was not to be unfolded ; encrusted it must stand with the thick adhesions and defacements of labour, and 
 thy body was not to know freedom. Yet toil on, toil on ; thou art in thy duty, be out of it who may ; thou toilest 
 for the altogether indispensable for daily bread. 
 
 A second man I honour, and still more highly : him who is seen toiling for the spiritually indispensable, not 
 daily bread, but the bread of life. Is not he, too, in his duty, endeavoiiring towards inward harmony, revealing 
 this by act or by word through all his outward endeavours, be they high or low ? highest of all, when his outward 
 and his inward endeavour are one when we can name him artist; not earthly craftsman only, but inspired thinker, 
 who with heaven-made implements conquers heaven before us! If the poor and humble toil that we have food, must 
 not the high and glorious toil for him in return, that we have light, have guidance, freedom, immortality ? These 
 two, in all their degrees, I honour; all else is chaff and dust, which let the wind blow whither it listeth. 
 Unspeakably touching is it, however, when I find both dignities united ; and he that must toil outwardly for the 
 lowest of man's wants, is also toiling inwardly for the highest. Sublimer in this world know I nothing than 
 a peasant saint, could such now anywhere be met with. Such a one will take thee back to Nazareth itself : thou 
 wilt see the splendour of heaven spring forth from the humblest depths of earth, like a light shining in great 
 darkness. CAELYLE. 
 
 All things are full of labour ; man cannot utter it. ECCLES. i. 8. 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 WMMIA 1.1,00X8. 
 
 " YVLit. \ . r is o.mi]>licatl, fails in producing good re*ulu in warfare; the promoters of systems forget always that the object 
 f pri.-r.-ss ..ii_lit to be to obtain the greatest possible effect with the leant poMible effort and expense." XATOLBON HI. lYtatitc 
 </ Uu Pott and Prtttnt Utt <f Artillery. 
 
 III! I 1:1 v II KM'ol.riloN \i:Y WAR FORMATION OF AN AEROSTATIC CORPS AEROSTATION WITH THK AHMIKS OF THK SAMIIKK 
 \M> MEUBE AND THK RHINE A MARCH FROM MAUBERGE TO CRARLEROI CROSSING THK MEL'SK, ANIiTHK MAI 1 .' II In 
 BRUSSELS OAI.I . \Ml:V OF THE AU8TKI \ s ..INITIALS THE RECONNAI" \ V I. OK M\Yi:N;E THK iXIMPANY MADK 
 
 M:I.-INKI:S OF WAR AT WUERTZBOURO FOURCROY'S REPORT TO THE CONVENTION M. LOMET'S MEMOIRK o\ mi: -i .i:vi< KS 
 
 THAT CAN BE RENDERED TO TOPOGRAPHY THE MOSCOW AEROSTAT PROPOSITIONS I.IIIIN.; THE CRIMEAN WAR THE 
 ITALIAN WAR SOI.FERINO AND CASTIOLIONE AUSTRIAN ENGINEER COMMITTEE OBJECTION'S AM' IHKIK REFUTATION 
 AMERICAN WAR-BALLOON EQUIPAGE TOPOGRAPHICAL REMARKS THE BATTLE OF HANOVER COURT-HOUSE TELE- 
 GRAPHIC COMMUNICATION FROM BALLOON MR. LOW'S PROPOSITION FOR CROSSING THE ATLANTIC. 
 
 
 Iv the early part of the Revolutionary War, when 
 ingenuity and science were so eagerly called into 
 active exercise, the sawns of the French Academy 
 recommended the use of balloons as a means of re- 
 connaissance. Under their auspices an Aeronautic 
 School was established at Meudon. 
 
 It was formed with the utmost secrecy (says Mr. Wise), so that 
 the powers opposed to the French could not avail themselves of 
 its advantages, until the first projectors had already used it in 
 such an effective manner as to greatly paralyse them. In order 
 to have it at once facile and useful, it was necessary to reduce it 
 to systematic practice. The management of the Institution was 
 committed to the most eminent philosophers of Paris. GUM <n 
 do Morveau, the celebrated French chemist, and Colonel Coutello 
 superintended its operations. Fifty young military students were 
 admitted to this school for training. A balloon of thirty-two feet 
 in diameter was constructed, of the most durable materials, as a 
 practising machine for these pupils. Although the original plan of 
 
 generating hydrogen gas was by decomposing water with the aid of oil of vitriol, and iron filings and borings, 
 De Morveau introduced an. .tin T method in this case. For this purpose, six iron cylinders were fixed by masonry in 
 -,\ ximple kiml of furnace, each of their ends projecting, and covered with an iron lid. Two sets of metal tubes were 
 also inserted into those lid-. <>ii. f..r e.mveving in the water, and the other for carrying off the gas which was formed 
 from the water. Tin- cylinder.- U-ing charged with iron turnings, and brought to a red heat, the humidity nf the 
 water was instantly converted into steam, whose expanded particles were soon decomposed, by the oxygen uniting 
 with the n-il-lmt iron. f< inning an oxide of iron, while the hydrogen was thus freed, anil fore.-d out by its own pre- 
 from the othi-r tnlv ; and finm th.-nce it passed through a washer of liiuo-water, to make it ilejiMt its rarlnii- ai-id 
 gas, that might adhere to it. when it was p-rfectly pure and ready for the balloon. I'-y this m.-tli.l th.-y IH-.H-UM ,1. 
 at a very moderate e\|*-nsc, a quantity of gas suflu-ient to inflate a balloon thirty-two feet in diameter, whieh In .Ids 
 17,000 cubic fwt. in the space of four hour.-. The practising balloon was kept constantly full, so as to be at all 
 
280 ASTRA CASTRA. A.D. 1794. 
 
 times ready for exercise ; and, when not in use, it was fastened to the terrace of the lodge, in the open air. Whenever 
 the weather was fair the colonel of the corps and a pupil seated themselves in the car, when the machine was 
 suffered to rise five or six hundred feet, arranged by cord and windlass. This primary movement became an object 
 of great interest, from the advantages it seemed to possess. Paris, at this time being the great military focus of the 
 world, could by these means view with Argus eyes the movements around the great metropolis. Telegraphic 
 communication was greatly facilitated to the governmental centre by the aeronautic observers. A balloon was also 
 constructed for this school, which, when filled with hydrogen, required the strength of twenty men to keep it to the 
 earth. It could, after the lapse of two months, without, in the mean time replenishing it with gas, raise into the air 
 two men, with necessary ballast and all the instruments of observation. Colonel Coutelle constructed balloons . 
 specially appropriated to the different divisions of the French army, viz., the " Entrepenant " for the army of the 
 north, the " Celeste " for that of the Sambre and Meuse, the " Hercule " for the army of the Rhine and Moselle, and 
 the " Intrepide " for the memorable army of Egypt. 
 
 In June, 1794, Coutelle ascended in the war-balloon " Entrepenant," to reconnoitre the hostile army, just before 
 the battle of Fleurus, accompanied by an Adjutant and General. They rose to a height of several thousand feet, 
 with their windlass-machinery so arranged that they could make it stationary at any given altitude. They 
 mounted twice in the course of that day, and remained up each time about four hours. During the second aerial 
 reconnaissance, they were discovered by the enemy, causing consternation and surprise within their lines. A brisk 
 cannonade upon the aerial man-of-war ship, however, soon followed ; but the observers, not being very high at the 
 time, soon elevated themselves to a point at which they finished their observations, in defiance of the enemy's 
 cannon. They descended safely, and by the signals communicated to General Jourdan, he was enabled to gain a 
 speedy and decisive victory over the Austrian forces on the plains of Fleurus. 
 
 The following is the report of Colonel Coutelle on military aerostation with the armies of 
 the Sambre and Meuse and the Rhine (1794-5) : 
 
 The Committee of Public Safety assembled " a Commission de Savans," among whom were Monge (the inventor 
 of descriptive geometry), Berthollet, Guyton de Morveau, Fourcroy, Carnot, &c. Guyton proposed to make the 
 aerostat useful to armies as a means of observation. This proposition was accepted by the Government, on 
 condition that sulphuric acid should not be used, all sulphur being required for the manufacture of gunpowder. 
 The Commission then suggested the use of decomposed water. 
 
 This experiment, made by the celebrated Lavoisier, and repeated in our laboratories, only gave small results. 
 An experiment on a large scale was necessary, as twelve or fifteen thousand cubic feet of gas was required on the 
 shortest notice. 
 
 The experiment succeeded. I made five or six hundred cubic feet in presence of the Commission ; who were 
 so satisfied, that I received the order next day to go with utmost speed to Mauberge, and propose to General 
 Jourdan the employment of an aerostat for his army. 
 
 I arrived at Beaumont, covered with mud ; for I was obliged to go eighteen miles without drawing rein, by 
 such bad roads that artillery would have sunk to the axle-trees. The officer * to whom I delivered my order could 
 not understand my mission, nor the resolution of the Committee of Public Safety, and still less an aerostat in the 
 middle of the camp. He threatened to have me shot, as a suspicious character, before listening to me ; but ended, 
 however, by relenting and complimenting me on my devotion. 
 
 The army was at Beaumont, eighteen miles from Mauberge, from which post the enemy were only one league, 
 and could attack at any instant. The General made me observe this, and ordered me to return and report it to the 
 Committee. I arrived at Paris after spending two days and a half on this expedition. 
 
 The Commission were then aware of the necessity of some preliminary experiments with an aerostat fit to take 
 up two people, so they put at my disposal the chateau and garden of Meudon. Conte assisted me ; after some 
 months all was ready, and I gave notice to the Commission that they might witness the first experiment of a balloon 
 held by two ropes. 
 
 * Tliis was Duqucsnez, who held the office of Commissioner of j 
 the Convention with the Army of the North, and whose singular 
 duty it was to " see that soldiers went into battle, and to force the 
 generals to conquer under menace of the guillotine." Duquesnez 
 was at dinner when Coutellc arrived, he knew nothing of the 
 
 orders of the Committee of Public Safety. " Un ballon ! " said he, 
 ' un ballon dans le camp ! Vous m'avez tout 1'air d'un suspect, je 
 vais commencer par vous fairc fusilier.'* This hot-tempered Com- 
 missioner at length listened to reason, and sent Coutelle to General 
 Jourdan. 
 
A. i.. !7!U. 
 
 A M. 
 
 ri,'<M M \n:i:iii;i: TO rn.\i:i.r.i:m. 
 
 281 
 
 \\li.n .-..LI..I !u tln> i-.ir. the Commission gave mo directions as to the signals and observations to bo ma- 1., 
 ami I rose to tin- limit of the roj.es i .Vui yards). Being at the time about 7(JO yards above the Seine, I could 
 I- ito'ilv ili-iiii-^iiisli with the glass tho seven lieiiils of th(< river as far as Mculan. On descending, I impressed 
 mi th<- i '<iiniiiiiwiun the necessity of two peoplo niuking tlie ascent, one of whom tihould bo the ebkf dfawtiag tbt 
 op-rations. Three roped arc useless. 
 
 \ t. w days uft.-r. th. t i,.\. nun. 'tit Committee gazetted me Brevet-Cuptaiu commanding the Aerostatic < '"i|'- 
 in tin- Artillery-service attached to the ( ' n. i.il Stall'. I received at the same time orders to organise a company ..1 
 thirty men. in. lu. ling a captain, lieutenant, ensign, and non-commissioned officers, the sergeant-major to act an 
 
 |M\ in 1-1. r. .11 i.l t" ]: I to \l ml rp without .! l.i\. 
 
 The eighth day I left with an offie.-r. al't.-r giving the directions to the few soldiers I could collect to start for 
 
 MaillHTge. 
 
 Arrived at Mauborgo, iny fir*t care vnM to select the spot, construct the kiln, find firewood, and arrange 
 . verything, whilst awaiting the arrival of the aerostat I had tri. .1 at M. u.loii. 
 
 Tin- .litV.Tent branches of the service knew not how to regard soldiers, who were not apparently of the army, 
 and of whose use they were ignorant The < leneral commanding at Maubergo ordered a sortie to bo made on the 
 AiiNtriuiiK inlreiiehe.1 within gunshot of the place. I asked to be employed with my troops in this attack. Two 
 of mine were severely womnled, and the ensign shot; we re-entered the place with the rank of soldiers of the aiiuy. 
 A few days afterwards, my equipages arrived. I lit the tire of the kiln, and the aerostat was filled in less than 
 fifty hours. I then rose as often as ordered by the General, with an officer of the Staff, to examine the works of the 
 i n. my. his position, and his forces. 
 
 \\ > observed his daily progress, till, on the fifth day, a 17-pounder, masked in a ravine within easy dixtan. . . 
 tin .1 at the balloon as soon as it rose above the ramparts. The ball passed over our heads, the second was so near I 
 thought the aerostat was perforated, and the third fell below us. 
 
 When I gave the signal to haul'down, my company did it with such vigour, that only two more nhots coulil 
 be fired ; next morning the piece was no longer in position. 
 
 Occupied during twenty days with incessant work, night and day, from the number of observations, nothing 
 wa prepared for carrying such light and delicate equipage over ramparts and ditches, and enter on a campaign ; yet I 
 received an order at midday to proceed next day to Charleroi, a distance of twenty-four miles by the road I should 
 have to follow, to avoid the narrow streets of the villages. 
 
 Experience had shown me that it required both force and dexterity to resist the wind and prepare for gusts. 
 
 mr-*f^ 
 
 FKKNCII WAR-BAIXOOX 
 
ASTEA CASTKA. A.D. 1794. 
 
 I employed the night in arranging twenty ropes around the equator of the netting, which I made as firm as 
 possible (see figure on page 281), and to each of my men I gave a rope, which he was to tighten or loosen according 
 to signal. We started at daybreak, passing close to the enemy's videttes. 
 
 I kept the balloon at such a height that the cavalry and military equipage could pass underneath the car ; my 
 men holding the ropes marched on either side of the road. 
 
 The car contained two ropes for ascension, a large sailclotV that served to keep the balloon on the ground 
 during the night (see figure'), also to lower the balloon when the wind was too strong ; some pickets, mallets, and 
 pickaxes, with sacks and signals. The balloon could raise in calm any weight under five hundred pounds ; so I 
 carried in my car from ten to twenty pounds of sand, and diminished the weight according to the wind, or threw 
 out if a gust surprised me. At Maubergo a gust carried me on to the point of a church-spire ; but a bag of sand, of 
 the weight of twenty pounds, thrown quickly out, caiised me to rise above it. 
 
 After making a reconnaissance on the road we arrived at Charleroi at sunset, I had time before dark to 
 reconnoitre the place with a General officer. The next day I made a second reconnaissance in the plain of Jumet, 
 and the following day the aerostat was in observation with a General officer from seven to eight hours. 
 
 At 3 P.M. (the attack had commenced at 3.30 A.M.), General Jourdan ordered me to rise and observe a point 
 he noticed in his plan ; whilst I was making the observation with an officer in my company (there being no Staff 
 officer at the General's disposal), a battalion passed between the ropes of the balloon, and I heard several say in 
 joke that they were beating a retreat, and a voice, " If we are beating a retreat the balloon will not long be there." 
 
 Many Austrian officers, who were at the battle of Fleurus, have subsequently assured me that many shots 
 were fired at the balloon. After a few more reconnaissances we followed the movements of the army. 
 
 Near the heights of Namur a gust carried the balloon against a tree and tore it. I returned to Mauberge, a 
 distance of twenty-four miles, and when the new balloon arrived I filled it. 
 
 After many more reconnaissances with the Generals who commanded the different corps d'armee, we crossed 
 the Meuse by boat and directed our course to Brussels. Here a new incident awaited us at the gates of that town : 
 a gust of wind carried the balloon against a stack of wood, and slightly tore its lower hemisphere ; but little gas 
 escaped, so I entered the Park, and with a rope made a circle which was respected by the curious spectators. The 
 accident was there repaired, and I rejoined the army on the fourth day. Afterwards, at Borcette, near Aix-la- 
 Chapelle, a sojourn of some months allowed me time to construct a new kiln, which I had hardly completed when 
 I was recalled to Paris to form a second company, which I was ordered to conduct to the army of the Ehine, where 
 the reconnaissances had the same success. 
 
 The Generals and officers of the Austrian army failed not to admire this method of observing them, which 
 they said was as ingenious as it was bold ; and I received the most hearty congratulations whenever I was with 
 them. " It is only Frenchmen," they repeated, " who are capable of imagining and executing such an enterprise ;" 
 when I told them they could do as much. 
 
 I received the order to reconnoitre Mayence, and I posted myself between our lines and the place, within easy 
 distance of its guns ; the wind was strong, and to offer more resistance I rose alone, with a diminution in my favour 
 of two hundred pounds. I was at more than two hundred and thirty yards from the ground, when three successive 
 squalls knocked me to the ground with such force that many of the bars that strengthened the bottom of the car 
 were broken. On each occasion the balloon rose with such force and rapidity that thirty-two men at each rope 
 were dragged some distance. It is therefore clear that had the ropes been fixed to anchors they would have 
 broken. 
 
 The enemy did not fire. A General and some of the Staff came out of the town, waving white handkerchiefs, 
 which I signalled to our head-quarters, and our General went out to meet them. "\V hen they met, the Austrian 
 General said, " Monsieur le General, je wus demande en grace de fairs descendre ce brave officier; le vent va le Jaire 
 pe'rir ; il nefaut pas qifil soit victime d'un accident etranger a la guerre : c'est moi qui aifait tirer sur lui a Mauberge." 
 
 The wind fell. I was able to ascend again, and on this occasion without glass I could count the cannon on 
 the ramparts, and see the people walking in the streets.* 
 
 The enemy's soldiers, when they saw some one observing all they did, were discouraged by the thought that 
 each movement was remarked ; our soldiers, on the other hand, found new courage from what excited both their 
 admiration and their confidence. In our toilsome marches none of my corps could be allowed to leave the ropes, 
 
 * See note in Appendix of the use of a balloon in the passage of the Rappahannock, I8G3. An extract from Colonel Macdougall's 
 ' Modem Warfare.' 
 

 
- ^ 
 
A.M. 17:'... FOURCROY s KT.I'OKT TO THE CONVENTION. 
 
 >> it hap|iciii-d th.it wi- found refreshments pre]>ared fur \w, nnd frequently tin- li^ht infantry soldiers brought 
 
 U8 
 
 \\ , u, i,. encamped l f..rc Mannlii-iin. mi the Kinks of tin- li'hinc. \vln-n tin' o neral in coiniiinnil ordered me 
 to crow over witli a flag of tnuv. An soon an the Austrian officer knew that I wa.s in rnmumiul of tin- aerostat, I 
 WM <i\. iwln lin.^1 with .|uetions and compliments. " Momitur fJitgenieur Ae'rien" said a sii|icrior officer, "to 
 Aiitrichieiu invent honortr let talents tt la bravoure ; vans tent* trait f aoec distinction. (Tut moi qui wits ai aper^u et lignait If 
 premier, )<rn<lnnt la bataille da Ftetirut, au Princt Coburg, dontjt suit Taide-tle-i-aip. 
 
 I oKservi-d in him that I ought not, according to custom, to be prohibited from entering tlie fortress, as I could 
 by rising on tlie other bank survey the whole. The General in command sent mo leave next day to see the place, if 
 I had my (icneraTs consent. 
 
 Tin- rucking is troublesome, and increases with the force of the wind, and sometimes prevents the use of 
 glasses ; but I must remark that one can see the movements of infantry, cavalry, and artillery with the naked eye : 
 and at Mauberge, Mayence, and Mannheim I could count the pieces on the redoubts and ramparts without any 
 meous assistance. 
 
 One has also to accustom oneself to the noise the balloon makes after the wind has blown one side concave, 
 ami it assumes again with rapidity its globular form, from the ela.stii-ity of the gas. I am not aware of any accident 
 from thin cause. During one reconnaissance on the banks of the Rhine, ague seized me for the first time, follow..-.! 
 by a violent fev.T. from which I nearly died at Frankenthal, where I had a kiln. My lieutenant took command of 
 my comjwny, and passed the llhinc ; on the first night it wan torn nnd rendered useless. The aerostat commanded 
 by Captain Hammond (or No. 1 Company of the Aerostatic Corps), that many shells and balls could not compel t. 
 descend at Ehrenbrcitstein, was riddled by bullets near Frankfort. This coiu|>aiiy were made prison. -rs of war at 
 Wurtzlmrg. in Franconia, and then joined the expedition to Egypt 
 
 I'.eing obliged to take sick-leave, I was hardly convalescent when I returned to Paris. 1 was raised to the 
 rank of " < 'hef de Bataillon," and continued my duties at Meudon. 
 
 All the movements of an aerostatic corps should be done in silence. The correspondence 
 is effected hy signals attached to the sides of the car, and was devised by Conte, director of 
 tin.- aerostatic establishment at Meudon ; the aerial observers being instructed by signals 
 stretched on the ground. 
 
 EXTRACT OF A RETORT OF FOUBCKOY TO THE CONVENTION NATIOKALE (1795). 
 
 One of the discoveries which has had the most astonishing effects, and strikes the imagination by the position 
 it gives to man, by raising him on the wings of the wind, is the aerostatic machine, which to the inventor has only 
 been worth a decoration since become ridiculous l>v your laws, but tlie discovery of which has always received the 
 homage of your words ; and has since become f. >r your Committee a new instrument of war, which our enemies have 
 recognised as the pioneer to victory. The Convention will learn with interest that many savant have devoted 
 ten months of zealous study to perfecting the art of aerostation, and to render it of easy use in camps, fortresses, 
 and even on the theatre of war. Their researches have furnished a new means to produce at little cost, and with 
 materials that are universal, the light fluid that expands aerostats, and even fills those of the largest dimensions. 
 
 Their foresight hits caused them to take advantage of the latest mechanical discoveries, and also of those 
 improvements in manufactures that enable silk to bo made at Lyons of quality hitherto unknown, combining 
 lightness wit h strength. The Aerostatic Corps lias many companies ; new manoeuvres for the regular service of 
 these new instruments of war have been devised, and the Republic possesses at this time a new Institution that 
 thirty -four ascents have already compelled our enemies to admire, without having yet been able to imitate, 
 
 The Committee are occupied incessantly with the necessary measures for multiplying these precursors to 
 victory, and soon all our armies will have, complete aerostatic companies, with tents and rigging, which will be as 
 necessary to them as parks of artillery. Their construction is now being pushed rapidly forward, and j-oung 
 citi/ens from the military school are instructi-d in the manoeuvres necessary for military aerostation. All will 
 soon bo ready to show tlie enemies of the South, like those of tin,- North, what strength is given to Liberty by tho 
 Genius and Art of France. 
 
 2 i- 
 
284 
 
 ASTEA CASTE A. 
 
 A.D. 1803' 
 
 The following is an extract from a ' Me'moire ' published in 1'An X. (1803), by M. Lomet, 
 on the use of balloons for topography as well as for military reconnaissance : 
 
 Aerostats afford at will, in presence of the enemy, one or many points of observation, from whence one may 
 reconnoitre the position he occupies, study his movements, judge of his numbers, and perceive the smallest details in 
 his manoeuvres. 
 
 One may conclude that these machines will become of indispensable use in war, as they have there established 
 a method, till recently unknown, of gathering those observations that can instantaneously determine the success of 
 the battle, aid the dispositions for a vigorous defence, or at least make known the favourable moment for retreat. 
 To recall to mind the use that can be drawn from aerostats by the army, I need only mention the happy 
 experiment on the field of Fleurus. 
 
 The Committee of Public Safety, and after them, the Executive Directory, thought the use of aerostats for mili- 
 tary reconnaissances should be studied and practised in time of peace. They desired also their employment in the 
 construction of geographical maps, or, at least, in filling in the intermediate details of surface between points 
 geometrically determined. Ordered to make experiments relative to these various uses, I give an account of the 
 chief results : 
 
 On ascending, the aeronaut's first object is to measure the angles between the different points on the ground. 
 This cannot be done with the theodolite, on account of the motion of the aerostat ; another instrument, suspended 
 like a mariner's compass, was next tried. It was expected to measure not only the angles from the centre, but also 
 the inclination with the horizon ; it did not however succeed, so the sextant was tried. This instrument left 
 nothing to be desired, not only for the celerity, but also for the facility and precision of the observation ; but it has 
 this drawback, it gives no indication of the angles with the horizon. 
 
 In military reconnaissance, however, and other maps, in which the outline of the surface suffices, simple 
 observations with the sextant are enough, as it furnishes the means of easily taking in a great extent of country ; 
 but it is not the same with observations that require more exactness, in which it is necessary to know the inclination 
 of the angles from the horizon as well as from the centre. 
 
 This is how I have endeavoured to accomplish these requisites. * 
 
 The instrument, arranged as we have described, has produced in our experiments all the effect that could be 
 expected. This invention is as simple as it is successful. * * 
 
 In conclusion, M. Lomet states that much experience is necessary, and that the art 
 of aerostation combines properties as valuable as they are undeniable for the use of topography 
 and military reconnaissance ; that its improvement may cause new and unthought-of benefit 
 to other sciences ; and that it would also be impolitic to neglect these machines, or not to throw 
 all the light derived from meditation and experiment upon them. 
 
 We end our memoir with a remark on their military use. The enemy will not fail to oppose to the creative 
 industry of France an industry of imitation ; they also will have their aerostats and aerostatic corps.* The influence 
 of this innovation to war is of a kind that is rapidly developed, and soon it will not bo exclusively in favour of any 
 nation ; but the art of aerostation will then have acquired a more general interest, because at that time it will have 
 become one more element in the hands of men for opposing brute force with genius and industry. This cause 
 should therefore excite all the friends of humanity to aid its improvement. 
 
 Two of Colonel Coutelle's balloons may still (1856) be seen, the one in the Kaiserliches 
 Zeughaus, in Vienna, and the other in the riding-school at Metz. 
 
 * An instance occurred in 1812, when, on entering Moscow, the 
 French soldiers found in the Castle of Voronzoff a large aerostat, 
 bearing many thousand pounds of gunpowder, which was to have 
 been launched upon them. General Count Philip de Segur says, 
 " This prodigious balloon was constructed, by command of Alexander, 
 not far from Moscow, under the direction of a German artificer. The 
 
 destination of this winged machine was to hover over the French 
 army, to single out its chief, and destroy him by a shower of balls 
 and fire. Several attempts were made to raise it, but without suc- 
 cess, the springs by which the wings were to be worked having 
 always broken." History of the Expedition to Ituttla undertaken In/ 
 the Emperor Napoleon. 
 
A.K IM,J. I sKS OF BALLOONS IN MIJ.ITAKY < >I'|.|; vTIONS. 285 
 
 Many of the Austrian soldiers at Fleunis said, "How can we fight against these 
 ivpiiMieaiis, who, out of reach, see all that paMM beneath?" 
 
 Carlyle has given a humorous description of this scene. " Hangs there not in heaven'* 
 vault some proiligy seen l>y Austrian eyes and Austrian spy-gla->e-. in the similitude of 
 an enormous wind-bag? .... By Heaven! answer spy-glasses, it is a Montgolfu-iv, a 
 Lalloon, and they are making signals! Austrian cannon battery barks at this Montgolfi. n . 
 harmless as dog at the moon." 
 
 Napoleon did not, however, give this branch of the service much encouragement; for, 
 alter making use of them in Egypt, he allowed the Meudon establishment to exist without 
 sii]i]>ort till ISO 1 .' or !*<> I. and tla-n abolished it. The French historian of aerostation 
 ( Ie].ui* 1. leourt) nays that he had an antipathy to it ever since the remarkable omen at his 
 coronation. An attempt was made to recreate this corps in the African campaign of 1830, 
 I 'in no opportunity occurred for its use. The Austrians are said to have employed 
 reconnoitring balloons before Teuice, in 1849, and the Russians in observing from 
 
 Sevastopol. 
 
 The following is an extract from the 'Royal Engineers' Papers,' vol. xii., New Series, 
 " On the Uses of Balloons in Military Operations," by Lieut. G. Grover, R.E., read at 
 Chatham, 23rd April, 1862: 
 
 There appears no reason, however, why balloons should not be used at moderate elevations to assist recon- 
 noitring officers (by virtually extending their horizon) in obtaining the reqniml information concerning the nature 
 "f the surrounding country and the movements of the enemy. They need not necessarily bo within range of the 
 .n. lay's projectiles, and a slight elevation would probably be found sufficient, when it is remembered that at the 
 .dtitude of about 500 feet objects may be plainly distinguished on a clear day at a distance of twenty miles. This in 
 particularly pointed out by Sir William Ki-id, who, when Governor of Malta in 1855, forwarded to the War Office a 
 l>n,]M*ial from a Dr. Ceilings, to use "spy balloons" (as he called them) in the Crimea. This gentleman proposed 
 to attain an elevation of 9000 feet, and though only one retaining rope was allowed for, the buoyancy required for 
 this purpose would necessitate the use of a balloon seventy feet in diameter, if inflated with hydrogen gas having a 
 specific gravity one-sixth that of atmospheric air. 
 
 Sir William Reid writes, " As balloons were successfully used more than sixty years back by a French army, 
 they may perliapa be made of some use in the Crimea just now. To raise an observer even 200 or 300 feet above a 
 fortified position might enable assailants to form more correct ideas on inner intrenchments than when only viewing 
 such a position from a height of equal altitude." 
 
 On the same day that the above letter was written by Sir William Reid, a similar proposition was made to 
 the War I>e]iartment by Mr. Shepherd, C.E., who designed the balloons and their inflating apparatus used during 
 the search for Sir John Franklin's expedition. He states that he " can fit up a portable apparatus which will fill u 
 balloon in about an hour, capable of taking up one man to a height of 600 or 700 feet, with rope to pull him down 
 again." 
 
 Though the princi/iie of these schemes was highly approved of by the officers to whom they were referred, and 
 though similar propositions have been repeatedly made since that time, it is hardly necessary to mention that bal- 
 loons have hitherto never l.-en used for military purposes in the British service. Their absence from our ti>-M 
 i|iii]nnent is probably more attributable to an over-estimate of their defects, than to a non-appreciation of th.ir 
 advantage* in military operations. That these defects are less serious than is generally supposed, I trust to bo able 
 
 Mi. 11, v, in u |.:ini|,lilc-t aiMreseed to the Eight 
 II : .arable Chiirli-s York", Lmiiloii, 1*03, suys: "There are few 
 ini-ii. Sir, in this country wlm knuw U-tU-r than myself what tue 
 
 times up with OIH-, and expressly for that purpose. There i 
 was 11 ilniilit in my mind ou the subject; you nee from them every- 
 thing you wish to see." 
 
 can be made of balloons in military operations, baring been three 
 
 2 P 2 
 
286 ASTRA CASTRA. A.D. 1862. 
 
 to demonstrate in a future portion of this paper ; but it is first proposed to examine the experience afforded from 
 past tests of the use of balloons in actual warfare, so as to ascertain whether failure of precedents can be assigned as 
 the reason for their not having been hitherto adopted in the British service. 
 
 An attempt was made to revive them in the African campaign of 1830, but there was no opportunity for 
 making use of them. The Austrians are said to have employed reconnoitring balloons before Venice in 1849, and 
 the Russians in observing from Sebastopol. The French again made use of them in the late Italian campaign of 
 1 859, but this time the service was in charge of civilian aeronauts, the MM. Godard. Ascents were made from 
 Milan, Gargonzola, Castenedolo, and the Castiglione Hills; and, according to the 'Times' Paris correspondent (in a 
 letter dated llth January, 1862), they proved great failures, as judged from a military point of view. However, 
 the ' Times ' special correspondent in Italy, Carlo Bossoli, thus writes concerning the balloon reconnaissance of the 
 Austrian position at Solferino : " On the day before the battle of Solferino, 23rd June, 1859, even with the best 
 glass, nothing was seen at Solferino, which is ordinarily visible from the hills near Castiglione. In the afternoon, 
 however, the brothers Godard tried from these hills a balloon ascent on a larger scale than some days before from 
 Castenedolo. And on the Austrian side, where this ascent was seen, it is supposed that their plans were discovered 
 by the Messrs. Godard." 
 
 The French reconnaissances in Italy do not seem to have effected any very great success, apparently in conse- 
 quence of some official blunders or mismanagement. M. Prevet. who was commissioned as the Emperor's mandataire 
 to organize the military balloon-service for the French army in Italy, applied to the aeronauts Godard for their 
 assistance in the undertaking. Though they were anxious to construct a war-balloon especially adapted to the 
 requirements of the service, yet (according to their own account) the mandataire, who wished to use as little as 
 possible of the 50,000 francs with which he had been supplied for the necessary expenses, desired them to set out at 
 once with such simple apparatus as they happened to have by them. However, the experiments they conducted at 
 Milan induced the Emperor to order the construction of a regular war-balloon, and in the mean time the Montgolfiere 
 in the aeronauts' possession accompanied the army. It was this balloon which made the ascent from Marshal 
 M'Mahon's head-quarters at Castiglione on the day before the battle of Solferino, and (as the Godards express it) 
 the results were quite insignificant, though the moral effect upon the troops was great. It is probable that Marshal 
 M'Mahon would have been better pleased with less moral effect and more tangible realities ; the actual war-balloon 
 only arrived at Solferino when the articles of peace were being signed. This machine appears to be well adapted 
 to the purpose for which it was made, and it is unfortunate that no opportunity was afforded for a practical test of 
 its utility in the field. It is made of silk, holds about 30,000 cubic feet of gas, has buoyant power sufficient to raise 
 three men to an altitude of from 1000 to 1200 feet, will retain its gas for a whole month, and photographs have 
 been often taken from it on a calm day by M. Nadar. It can be inflated in one hour by the ordinary illuminating 
 gas (carburetted hydrogen) when near a town, and in the same way by hydrogen manufactured from a special 
 apparatus for field -service. After being inflated at Milan, it was moved to Gorgonzola, a distance of twenty miles, 
 and it then remained for two days at the artillery park without suffering any perceptible loss of gas. These details 
 have been supplied me by the MM. Godard themselves, to whoso courtesy I am indebted for much information on 
 the subject generally. 
 
 One of the most interesting points of consideration with reference to the employment of military balloons is 
 the question concerning the respective merits, for the purpose, of Montgolfieres (smoke-balloons), or Charlieres (gas- 
 inflated balloons). The French reconnaissance at Castiglione was made from a Montgolfiere, as has been already 
 .stated, but the MM. Godard, who made this ascent, and have practically tested both methods, express a strong 
 opinion against this species of balloon. Without a cumbrous furnace in the car it will remain stationary in the air 
 only for about five minutes ; and even then it is scarcely capable of sustaining one aeronaut, in consequence of the 
 high specific gravity of the inflating gas. If it be freed from the weight of a retaining rope, and consequently 
 untcthered to the earth, a reconnaissance of about twenty minutes' duration would be possible, supposing the wind 
 to blow in a direction from the enemy. The least wind hinders its inflation, which may, under ordinary circum- 
 stances, be made in about twenty minutes. This rapidity of inflation is unquestionably a strong point in favour 
 of Montgolfieres ; but the MM. Godard say that out of six ascents recently advertised to take place from the Pro 
 Catalan at Paris, only two ultimately succeeded. Of course the objection on the score of low buoyant power might 
 be obviated by increasing the dimensions of the machine, but then it would be of an almost impossibly gigantic 
 size. The Austrian Engineer Committee state that a Montgolfiere, of the very slightest useful power, must have a 
 
A.I,, i TIII: I;I:>I*LT OF TNI: \r>n;i \\ EXPERIMENTS. 
 
 diameter .>f sixty foot, the contents being upwards of 113,000 cubic feet* At the same time they consider it 
 iiitiiiit.lv preferable for military pnr|><Mwii to the Charliero. A report on tho subject by Lieutenant-Colonel Baron 
 i:i.n. v. . .f tl>. I in] -rial Kngineer Staff, thuH specifies what ho conceives to be tho MIX Decenary conditions of the war- 
 balloon se>-\i.v: 1st Tho balloon should be able to make an ascent won after the order has been rood ved. It 
 would 1 nf little use in the field il' the preparations necessarily occupied half or even a whole day. 'Jnd. The 
 ascent should not bo prevented by a wind of average force (about 1 Ik upon the square foot). A free a* . m 
 is then out ..f the question, since tho slightest breeze would drive tho balloon from the plan' \\h. -re it is wanted t.. 
 oliwrve. .-.nl. Aii average height <.f HM) klaftcr i may bo assumed as tho projM-r altitude, whii-h is limit.. I 
 
 in tho oaae where tin- Iwlloon is attaclu-d to the ground, by tho weight of tho retaining rope. At thin height u 
 surface of ground of about twelve miles diameter < forty milcH English) can bo diHtinetly examined with a g<>d 
 field glass. 4th. Tho number of pel-norm making tho aaoent should be two at least Only in tho company ..f an 
 experienced aeronaut is it possible for an officer t.. make a reconnaissance with tho proper confidence. Tin r. ;- 
 iil\\.i\- .l..ii_'. r ..f a Midden gust of wind or a bullet fi .111 the enemy tearing asunder the ropo tliat retains the 
 Kill. -.n, and thus changing its captive state int.. one of freedom ; one at least, therefore, of the persons making the 
 ascent should In- fully capable of managing a balloon thus liberated. A trustworthy and experienced aeronaut is. 
 ther.fore, an essential condition of the whole undertaking. 5th. Tho balloon should bo in ttlegrajJuc eommuniciiti.m 
 with tin- _!! n i.l. si nee it would take too much time to send written questions and answers up and down tho retaining 
 two skilled telegraphists must bo employed during the reconnaissance. (5th. Ascents should finally 
 be praetieal.le at any given spot, and as often as required. And these conditions, llaron Ebncr considers, would not 
 ! prop.-1-ly fulfilled by the, employment of < 'harlieros, or gas-inflated balloons. Tho production of sufficient 
 hydrogen l.y the ui-tioii of sulphuric acid upon zinc or iron would be a complicated, unsafe, costly, and dilatory 
 
 operation, K\eii th nvi-yanoo of hydrogen in a compressed state would be objectionable, since (if it were oom- 
 
 preesed to one-twentieth its ordinary volume) the metal casks would require at least 800 cubic feet of contents, and 
 they must be strong enough to resist a pressure of twenty atmospheres. In this case there would be a saving in 
 time, but a very considerable increase in expense. 
 
 .No notice seems to have been taken by the Austrians of another method of generating hydrogen, viz., by 
 p:i--in:: M.-.iiu i.ver r. d hot el:. n. ...,! n iion tin niir _>, l"it th. y Iiave evidently d.-eided. as far as thmr\ ^~. in 
 favour of M on tgol fierce as the proper species of balloon for military service. For the inflation, however, they 
 propose hot air in place of tho smoke of straw, wool, Ac., as used by the first aeronauts. For the purpose of heating 
 the air they employ a wrought-iron stove, something after tho fashion of the boiler of a steam-engine; into this the 
 air is driven by ]>owciful bellows, and, after being brought to the proper temperature in parallel flues, it enters the 
 balloon. To counteract the refrigeration which evidently would take place over the surface of the machine, either .1 
 lamp apparatus must be carried up in the car, or else an additional supply of hot air must be conveyed to the 
 machine by means of a flue communicating with the earth. 
 
 The more then that we examine the investigations into the subject that have been conducted by foreign 
 ofluvrn, the more do we learn, not of ichal hat been done, but of uhat hat not been done ; the more do wo become 
 mn\ in.vd that there lias not been yet discovered a satisfactory system of military ballooning, one fit (that is to say 
 to satisfy all the evident exigencies of actual warfare. 
 
 The most recent instance of a successful balloon ascent for the purposes of military reconnaissance (oondm t. .1 
 l.y the 1-Y.leial Ameri.-ans at Island No. 10) is thus noted by the ' Times ' of April 14, 18C2: "A balloon recon- 
 naissance was made on the l'7th March by Professor Steiner, accompanied by Colonel Buford and Captain Maynardicr. 
 which established the fact that shells had been thrown at too great a range to be sufficiently effective against the 
 Confederate K-itteries. This defect in mortar-practice has since been remedied." According to a miliscqiicnt 
 account, this balloon was filled on a flatrbottomed boat and confined by a single rope. It attained an elevation 
 ..f aU.ut ''.'"i fe.-t. and the reconnaissance is described as having been " eminently satisfactory." I think it mav l 
 d.-du.-.-.]. th.-n. from the foregoing historical account, that a very fair average of success has attended the n.-.- of 
 reconnoitring balloons l.y different armies during the hut seventy years. 
 
 M .iiiintli " IMl.-.n. |.r.l.:il.ly the largest cubic feet of gas, having a longitudinal diameter of (JO feet, und a 
 
 Chnrl jstructed, in i;;i f, ! iu ImiKitinmiiil .limn. ! r. und transverse diameter of 50 feet. It can raine 4000 llM., iiicln.linj: i^ 
 
 : in tniosverae diiim. t. r. It is compnood of 48 gore*, cadi own weight and Hint of all the nccaawrics ,nl>..ut KXKt llw. . TU 
 
 4 i in.-h.-rt will. . und contains 95.000 cubic feet of gal. Mr. Green s extreme breadth of inch gore i* 44 incite*, 
 celebrated "N'Mwiu" Balloon, also a Clmrliir,'. contain* 85,000 
 
288 ASTRA CASTRA. A.D. 18G2. 
 
 The following are some of the objections most frequently urged against such a practical application of 
 them : 
 
 1st. The chance of their being struck by the enemy's projectiles, and caused to fall suddenly in consequence 
 of the escape of gas through the holes thus formed in the silk bag. 
 
 2nd. The size, weight, and consequent difficulty of transport attendant upon balloons with sufficient buoyant 
 power to admit of their being attached to the earth by guy-ropes. 
 
 3rd. The difficulty of providing gas for their inflation when in the field. 
 
 4th. The difficulty of attaching to the army experienced aeronauts for the purpose of inflating the balloon, 
 regulating its ascents and movements in the air, and taking general charge of it on service. 
 
 5th. The danger incidental to balloon ascents in general, even when undertaken by experienced and pro- 
 fessional aeronauts. 
 
 1. In answer to the first of these objections, it may be stated that, even supposing the balloon to come within 
 range of the enemy's fire, its descent upon being struck would not be efi'ected so instantaneously or completely as is 
 generally imagined. When the great Xassau balloon fell into the sea near Sheerness, in 1850, sixty rounds of ball- 
 cartridge had to be fired into it before any perceptible effect was produced in its size by the escape of gas ; each 
 bullet passing right through the balloon, and thus forming two holes in the bag. If it were struck by shot below 
 the level of the gas (and balloons are seldom perfectly full), of course not the slightest effect would be produced ; and 
 jinyhow it is apprehended that, wherever the hole be formed, the balloon would retain sufficient buoyant power to 
 admit of an easy and safe descent to the ground. In addition, it should be borne in mind that the aeronauts, if 
 exposed to fire, could at pleasure descend to the earth, or ascend until out of range (as at Fleurus), provided 
 that the length of guy-rope were sufficient for this purpose, and in all probability there would be few 
 < iccasions in a campaign when it would be necessary to reconnoitre in this manner in exposed positions. 
 
 2. The size of the balloon depends of course upon two conditions the nature of the gas with which it is 
 inflated, and the weight it has to lift. A scheme has been already alluded to in this paper, which proposed to 
 employ a balloon to elevate reconnoitring officers to a height of 9000 feet. To support one retaining rope of this 
 length, a balloon seventy feet in diameter would be requisite ; but if (as is proposed in this paper) an elevation of 
 merely 600 to 700 feet be considered sufficient, a balloon with diameter of about twenty-eight feet will be found 
 large enough for the required purpose, if filled with hydrogen gas having specific gravity -166. The exact manner 
 ill which this dimension is calculated for the proper ascending power will be described afterwards ; but, with refer- 
 ence to the portability of the machine, it may be remarked that the whole apparatus, together with that for the 
 generation of gas, could be easily conveyed in a single Field Train waggon. 
 
 3. A specific gravity one-sixth that of atmospheric air has been allowed for the hydrogen to inflate the balloon 
 (its specific gravity, when perfectly pure, being about one-fourteenth). That of coal-gas, which is usually employed 
 in ordinary balloon ascents, is -4 ; but, notwithstanding, its superior merits for the purpose are strongly advocated 
 by the amateur aeronaut, Mr. Monck Mason, in his ' Aeronautica,' in consequence of " the greater subtlety of the 
 particles of hydrogen, and the stronger affinity which they exhibit for those of the surrounding atmosphere." * Its 
 greater lightness renders it, however, preferable in the present case, and the method of producing the gas in the 
 field has now to be considered. Undoubtedly the quickest manner of doing so would be to obtain it by the action 
 of dilute sulphuric acid upon zinc or iron, but the danger of carrying about large quantities of sulphuric acid is so 
 great, that another method is preferable. The French evolved hydrogen for their war-balloons by passing steam 
 over red-hot iron-turnings, but probably an improvement would be effected in this process by the substitution of 
 charcoal, at a very low degree of red heat, for the iron-turnings,^ the interior of the tubes having been previously 
 
 * For, since the rates of diffusion of gases vary inversely as the | H 53'2 vols. 
 
 roots of their densities Co 40'3 
 
 Therefore, the diffusive power of coal gas : diffusive power of 
 
 Mr. Bloxam, of King s College, informs me that by passing steam 
 
 pure hydrogen : : V'069 : V'45 
 or : : '255 : -G7 
 
 or : : 1 : 2'627 
 
 t The production of hydrogen in large quantities by this process 
 
 over red-hot coke in an iron tube (whose interior had been previously 
 oxidised by a current of steam) he obtained a gas composed of 
 
 H 81-6 vols. 
 
 Co 8-4 
 
 Co, 10-0 , 
 
 is described by the French chemist, M. Deville, in the ' Annales de ! but even this gas (before being purified) would have a specific 
 Chirnie et de Physique,' for January, 18(il, but his gas contained i gravity almost double that required for the present purpose. 
 
A.D. 
 
 THE CAUSE OF ACCIDENTS. 
 
 288 
 
 \\vll . .\i.li- .1 l>y a current of steam ; the charcoal presents several advantages, being easy to obtain in well-wooded 
 countries, and rec[iiirmg a lower degree of heat in order to prevent the formation of carbonic oxide. After the 
 
 pn.lucti f the gas, it would have to be (unified by lime from any taint of carbonic acid ga, and it mu-t I.. 
 
 pro|-rly cooled before entering the balloon. \Vithmit . \] rimnit, it i almost impotwilil.- to form any definite i.l. .1 
 ..f the time which would bo occupied by this process in the production of gas in miHicient <|iiantities, lint it in 
 ].r..KiMf that two or three hours would bo found enough; and it is certainly preferable to the /.inc and -ul 
 phurie acid method,* being safer both in use ami tiansi>ort, und requiring far less weight both of apparatus .iml 
 materials. 
 
 4. Fi>r the management of the balloon about five or six Sappers would probably be sufficient, having IHVH 
 previously instructed in all the practical details necessary fur the service, such as the method of putting togrthci 
 the gas-supplying apparatus and inflating the balloon, the management of the guy-ropes, repairing the balloon (in 
 case of accident), fce. They should also make a few ascents with some experienced aeronaut, to be taught the 
 lu.-thud of using the valve, ballast, grappling-anchor, &a, in case they had ever to make an independent voyage ; but 
 all this I.I.H tical knowledge might be easily acquired in two or three weeks, and the balloon service would then l 
 solely in military charge. 
 
 5. The accidents that occasionally happen in balloon ascents are attributable mainly to the negligence and 
 f'lly of the owners. The envelope or bag is often, for the sake of economy, constructed of cotton instead of silk, and 
 thi> material (not being very durable in the first instance, and still more weakened afterwards by the action of the 
 varnish and gas) wears out after a few seasons' use, and the slightest strain on the balloon tears open the stun". 
 The ropes too are frequently used in wet weather, packed up carelessly, and consequently rot ; the result being that 
 the netting or grappliug-ropes, though sound in appearance and sufficient for moderate purposes, give way on any 
 extraordinary tension, and the machine is no longer under the aeronaut's control. To some of these causes may be 
 generally traced the occasional accidents that occur in balloon voyages; and as the ascents are generally advertised 
 several weeks beforehand, in order that the spectators may not be disappointed, the aeronaut has to ascend at the 
 fixed hour, frequently in a hurricane of wind, or under adverse circumstances, which would deter him from the 
 attempt if he were in an independent position. 
 
 1 1 . 'wever, the percentage of accidents is excessively low in proportion to the number of balloon ascents made. 
 It is conceived, therefore, that careful superintendence and examination should entirely preclude the possibility of 
 any accident in the use of military balloons ; and, as an instance of what proper care and attention will effect, it 
 may be mentioned that the two aeronauts, Messrs. Green (father and son), have made between them some .>:;" 
 ascents, in none of which have they met with any serious accident or failure. 
 
 In the consideration of the proper size, nature, Sec., of a balloon fit for reconnoitring purposes, the wind may 
 be assumed to exert the same pressure upon the balloon as it would upon a circle of similar diameter ; for though 
 theoretically a solid sphere presents only three-sevenths of the resistance to the air opposed by its generating 
 circle, yet practically, in the case of a balloon, there would not bo much difference, since it often collapses under the 
 force of the wind, and presents a flattened surface, and at the same time the network of cordage in which it is 
 med cat<-h<-s the wiadaad iaonuwtb ranfaamwj o MidonUy. 
 
 Balloons also are usually constructed of a pear shape (having the longitudinal axis about one-sixth greater 
 than the transverse), so that the network may be properly adjusted upon it, and consequently the surface 
 presented to the action of the wind is somewhat larger than a hemisphere. Taking these points into consider- 
 ation, the resistance of a plane circle twenty-eight feet in diameter may be allowed for, as sufficiently accurate 
 t'..r all practical purposes, this dimension having been stated in a former portion of this paper as being suffi- 
 cient for a lull. nn to fulfil all the required conditions. 
 
 In 1855 Mr. Abel, Cliemwt to the War Department, designed 
 and contracted mirli an apparatus to gi-ntmte Imlrcgen for balloon* 
 from tine and oil !' vitriol. II,- writes: "Possibly the so-called 
 water-gas process, of American origin, might be modified so as to 
 yield a gaa sufficiently light fur inilatiiiK balloons without the 
 necessity of very extensive armns' m.'iits." In a hit r memorandum 
 (extracts from which Sir John Uurgoyuc wan i_""l enough to com- 
 municate to me) Mr. Abel says : " Portable apparatus have been 
 
 constructed within the last few" yean for the production of nil or 
 resin gas for illuminating purposes, and I have little doubt tlutt 
 some similar and efficient arrangement could bo contrived for 
 generating gas suitiMf fur b.illon inllation." Ho also alludes to 
 the perfection of Wheatstone's method of magnetic telegraphy an 
 being applicable to Uic communication uf information from w.ir- 
 bolluona. 
 
290 
 
 ASTRA CASTBA. 
 
 A.D. 1862. 
 
 The area of this circle being 61 of square feet, the following Table shows the pressure it would have to sustain 
 from different winds : 
 
 Gentle, pleasaut wind 
 
 Velocity Perpendicular furce I 
 per hour. on 1 sq. ft. 
 
 Miles. Ibs. av. 
 5 - -193 
 
 'ressure on u helicon 
 28 ft. in diameter. 
 Ibs. av. 
 
 75-73 
 
 302-95 
 1211-80 
 2727-117 
 4847-82 
 
 Brisk gale 
 
 10 
 
 .. .. -492 .. .. 
 1-968 .. .. 
 .. .. 4-429 .. .. 
 7-873 
 
 Very brisk 
 
 20 
 
 High wind 
 
 30 
 
 Very high wind . . 
 
 40 
 
 One-inch round wire-ropes might be employed with advantage as guy-ropes to retain the balloon to the 
 earth, since they correspond in strength to the 2|-inch hemp-ropes, and weigh exactly half as much. The 
 breaking strain of this rope being two tons, its safe working power may bo taken at half this weight, or one 
 ton.* 
 
 Consequently," supposing there to be two guy-ropes, each 550 feet long (to allow for the curve and inclination 
 cawed by the buoyancy of the balloon elevated between the two), as the weight of each rope would be about 
 92 Ibs., we have 4296 Ibs. as the total available resisting force f against the pressure of the wind upon both balloon 
 and guy-ropes, a degree of strength sufficient to resist even a wind blowing at the rate of thirty miles an hour. As 
 this is considered the maximum velocity of wind in which a captive balloon can be safely used for observation 
 (in consequence of the violent rocking and swaying of the car), there can be little doubt but that these guy- 
 ropes would be sufficiently strong for their purpose. The following Table, then, details the weights to be 
 lifted : 
 
 Ibs. 
 
 2 guy-ropes (of 1-inch wire-rope) each 550 feet long 184 
 
 2 men (at 11 st.) 308 
 
 Silk bag of balloon 40 
 
 Car, network, &c 150 
 
 Instruments, &c 18 
 
 Total weight^ 700 
 
 And as the 28-feet balloon may be considered as a sphere, for the gas seldom fills the lower portion, its 
 cubical contents may be taken at 11-494 cubic feet; and if inflated with hydrogen one-sixth the weight of 
 the surrounding air, the ascensional force will be 11-494 x 62-5 = 718 Ibs. (as 1000 cubic feet of air weigh 
 about 75 Ibs.), and consequently the balloon would rise with an ascending power of 18 Ibs. J 
 
 The above calculation of the suitable size for a reconnoitring-balloon has of course been made upon the 
 .supposition that hydrogen is obtainable from the proposed gas-apparatus with a degree of purity equal to a specific 
 gravity of one-sixth. This could be only definitely determined by experiments, whose results might possibly 
 modify the above figures, though not, it is anticipated, to any very considerable extent. 
 
 The balloon itself should be constructed of silk, and payed over with an elastic varnish. Cotton is sometimes 
 used instead of silk, being less expensive, but it is not so durable, and soon wears out from the action of the gas 
 
 * It has been objected that this is too liberal an estimate of the 
 safe working load of an iron-wire rope, in proportion to its breaking 
 "train. It is the usual allowance to make tor hempen ropes, but 
 Messrs. Newall aud Co., the patentees of the iron-wire ropes, allow 
 only one-sixth in consequence of the uncertainty attached to the 
 working of iron, which cannot be relied upon, being seldom per- 
 fectly homogeneous. Fairbairn, however, in treating of iron girders, 
 allows as a safe load two-thirds of the ultimate breaking weight. 
 
 t Since force = 2 (1 ton 92 Ibs.) 
 
 = 2 (2240 Ibs. - 92 Ibs.) 
 = 4296 Ibs. 
 
 t This ascending power would be sufficient for calm weather, but 
 must evidently be increased (by diminishing the weight or other 
 means) in proportion to the strength of the wind. For the pressure 
 of a strong wind upon the balloon would obviously force the rope so 
 much out of the perpendicular, that the balloon would attain a very 
 
 slight elevation without considerable buoyant power and a great 
 length of rope. Supposing 45- 1 to be the maximum angle to be 
 safely allowed for the rope's deflection from the perpendicular, in 
 this ease ascending power must = force of wind, and (strain on 
 rope) 2 = 2 (force of wind) 2 . The guy-ropes previously described 
 are of considerable strength, chiefly in order to resist the violent 
 jerks on the rope caused by sudden gusts of wind. Since the 
 above was written, an account has appeared in the 'Times' (of 
 April 29th) of an accident happening to an American recon- 
 noitring balloon, at Yorktown, in consequence of the breaking of 
 the retaining rope. This shows the advantage of providing guy- 
 ropes of even an excessive strength. 
 
 A silk balloon of the above dimensions, with all its accessories 
 complete, would cost about 2501. A cotton one would probably not 
 cost one-third tins sum. 
 
A i, l CAPT. BEAUMONT ON BALLOON RECONNAISSANCES. 291 
 
 and varnish. It entails also a considerable loss of ascending power, being in itself heavier than -ilk. and requiring 
 xK'Mi d'.iiHe thf .|ii.-intity of varnish, which increases its weight; besides, the nubile nature ..)' hydrogen gas renders 
 it advisable to use a material of a closer texture than cotton. 
 
 A- the lull. 'ii is t.. ! used for ni-nnnoitring, the colour of the silk should be such as to render it invisible at 
 a distance. Grey is the bent fur this jmrjiow, but as the varnish would turn it almost black, it would In- 
 advisable to employ a white silk, ami the varnish would then render it of a light-brown colour. Experiment alone 
 .an. hiiwi-viT. determine ii]>.in many iin]xirtaiit ]Hiint eonneclcd with the balloon-service, such as 
 
 Istly. The m<*rt desirable arrangcmc-nt of the gas-generating apparatus, and the quality as well as the quantity 
 of gas which it wcmld evolve in a given time. 
 
 L'n.lly. The best way of attaching a balloon to the earth, ami of managing the guy-ropes. 
 lly. The n-sistan. ofl'ered to tho wiml by the captive balloon ami its retaining ropes. 
 
 4thly. The greatest velocity of wind in \\-liieh a balloon can be safely retained to the earth and conveniently 
 used for reconnoitring. 
 
 In conclusion, I would briefly recapitulate the different heads nf the subject upon which this jiajier has treated. 
 It firstly eniinieratiil the various propositions which have been from time to time entertained for the employment of 
 balloons for military purposes ; these having been considered and reduced to one (that of reconnoitring), the various 
 in--. met* were deecril-d <>t' their actual use in this cajKu-ity, and their employment in the English service advocated 
 on the Mi]i]>osition that they would bo found of similar utility to our armies.* The most customary objections to 
 them were then considered, an inquiry made into the dew-rip) ion of balloon best suited for the purpose, and th"s. 
 experiments noticed which appeared most necessary to ensure their efficiency and success. 
 
 I now add a Paper from the same volume, " On Balloon Reconnaissances as practised l>v 
 the American Army," by Captain F. Beaumont, B.E., read at Chatham, 14th November, 
 1862 :- 
 
 I have been asked to give some account of my ballooning experiences in the States of America, and I ill i s. . 
 the more readily firstly, because I believe that the art, even as it at present stands, is capable of being 
 v turned to practical account; and secondly, because the practice of ballooning, with reference to military 
 manoeuvres, being so little known, any remarks on the subject based on actual experience must, from that 
 cause alone, be of some value ; the nature of the art, moreover, is such that, to form a just appreciation of i t - 
 applicability, one must turn, I may say entirely, to the results of experience on the subject, rather than to theoretical 
 considerations connected with it. Lieutenant Grover's paper, which I have read, for all practical purposes exhausts 
 the theory of ballooning; as, indeed, after having compared the specific gravity of the atmosphere within and 
 without the balloon, and referred the result to the work to be done, there is little more to be said ; always bearing 
 in mind that to be on the safe side it is well to allow, for various reasons, a considerable excess of buoyancy over 
 the weight to be lifted; the difference being made up with ballast adjustable at pleasure. In the case of a free 
 ascension this is absolutely necessary, and circumstances may, at any time, render it imperative, even on a recon- 
 naissance, to cut away the guys that hold the balloon to the earth. In the remarks 1 have to make I shall, 
 therefore, with the exception of a few notes on details, at the end of this paper, confine myself to an account 
 of the apparatus used by the Americans, and my own experiences in connexion with the reconnaissances I 
 made. 
 
 There were two sizes of balloons used: one of small size, with a capacity of 13,000 cubic feet, corres]H,ndiii;i 
 American *" tn:lt ' weiity-eijrht feet in diameter, mentioned by Lieutenant Grovcr as suitable for the general ;mr 
 Apparatus. pggeg o f a reconnaissance ; and the other of alxmt double this size. This 13,000 cubic feet gives about thirtv 
 
 ! the diameter of the corresponding sphere; and to fulfil the requirements properly laid down by Lieutenant 
 i i rover, this is not too much. In practice he would find that his calculations on the assumption that two people 
 
 It is due to Mr.Coxwoll to state tli.it, ilinnuiliout liig aeronautic when In- invented and used hU telegraphic waragnals, raffloi. nlly 
 
 career of twenty years' standing, lie lias steadfaMly a.h.,, .i-i ii,. att.-,t I..- /. .1 in i!,i- limnch of aerostation. In fail lectures and 
 
 iii]il"\iii> nt .'t lallaons for military an well un ~'i. ntilic puruoxi*. writings Mr. Coxwcll has constantly 8[K>k'ii <>! at rial reconnaissance 
 
 Hi- Utters in the Timet on ti.i- .-ul.jvct, and his ascenU in 1854, as a useful and practicable operation. 
 
 2 Q 
 
292 
 
 ASTRA CASTRA. 
 
 A.D. 1862. 
 
 were to bo lifted would not allow sufficient buoyancy, for tho following reasons : No allowance is made for ballast ; 
 three in place of two guy-ropes should be used, and they should be 1000 feet long at least, as that is by no means an 
 unnecessary elevation to provide for. The larger sized balloon was, however, the one that the Americans decidedly 
 preferred ; it was constructed because tho power of the other was found to be insufficient, and was used exclusively 
 in place of the smaller one, which it superseded. I myself should decidedly think the larger size the best, for many 
 reasons : amongst them, tho extra cost is not nearly proportional to the increased size, nor is the trouble and expense 
 of management ; while size gives steadiness and safety when in the air, which is a great point to those using it ; it 
 is also frequently desirable to take up more than two persons, which the smaller one will only do (take up two 
 persons), when quite full of gas, a condition happening even in its most perfect state only periodically, /. e. after it has 
 just left the gasometer. 
 
 
 AMERICAX WAR-BALLOOH. 
 
 Balloons. 
 
 The balloons were made of the best and finest description of silk, double sewn, and prepared with the greatest 
 care ; the summit of the balloon containing the gas-valve being made of either three or four folds of 
 cloth, to ensure sufficient strength in that part subject to the greatest strain. The varnish, on which the 
 success of the apparatus much depends, was a secret of Mr. Low's, the chief aeronaut ; his balloons kept in their gas 
 for a fortnight or more, and their doing so he laid to the fact of the varnish being particularly good ; there was 
 always a small amount of leakage, still at the end of a fortnight sufficient gas remained in the balloon to enable him 
 to make an ascent without its being replenished. In balloons for military purposes this is an important point, as 
 they must be kept ready to ascend at any moment. I have little doubt, however, that many well-prepared varnishes 
 could be found to answer the purpose as well ; the network covering the bag was gathered in, in the usual manner, 
 and ended in a series of cords attached to a ring, hanging about level with the tail of the balloon, and from this hung 
 the wickerwork car, the ring being about level with a person's chest when standing upright in the car. 
 The string for working the valve passed through the centre of the balloon, and coming out at the tail was 
 loosely tied to the ring, to which were fastened the guys, three in number ; thus the car, though swayed about by 
 the motion of the balloon, hung always nearly vertically beneath it. 
 
 The gas generators, two in number, were nothing more than largo tanks of wood, acid proof inside, and of 
 sufficient strength to resist the expansive action of the gas ; they were provided with suitable stopcocks for 
 regulating tho admission of the gas, and with manhole covers for introducing the necessaiy materials. 
 The gas used was hydrogen, and indeed for practical purposes, all things considered, there is none other that is 
 nearly so suitable ; its low specific gravity makes it a sine qua non for a military aeronaut, as, independently of the 
 ease with which it is produced, when a balloon is attached to the earth, it is of the first importance that it fchould 
 
 Generators. 
 
\. i.. i MTI,I:I.I.AN> r.\i. ..... \ STAFF. 
 
 .1- little IVM-I.,],. . to the air as possible, M its stability dej>.-nds \i|H>n this point. Tin- hydrogen wan general. ! 
 liy using dilute sulphuric acid and iron; an\ old inm, such as bit of the tires of wheels. ..1.1 shot broken up, AT.. 
 was used; ao that it was necessary to provitlc only tin- -ul|.huric acid. which in largo quantities is cheap, and with 
 pt"p. i precaution- \. i\ otsy to carry. 
 
 The gas generated pasw.1 through a leathern tube into a linu> purifier. ami thence in a similar manner 
 into a second, the action of tin- lime simply absorbing the carbonic acid and other i-xtraneows gasi- 
 sending the hydrogen quit.-, or vi-ry nearly. ]>un- into tin- balloon. On leaving the generator it* teni]icra- 
 tuiv was high. even the leathern pipe being so hot that tin- liand could hardly bear to touch it. but after passing the 
 1 purifier it was delivered, barely warm, into the balloon. The whole of the apparatus was so simple tlint 
 nothing more remains to be said about it. 
 
 In using it, (lie halliini is unpacked and laid in well onlereil folds on a carjH-t spread on the gronnd to n 
 
 it : the t.iil is then placed ready for connexion with the last purifier. proj>crly charged with lime ami 
 
 water, and the connexion liy leather pi)ies l*-tw. .-n the purifier and the generator having lieen establish! d. 
 
 the latter i-- charged; care most be taken not to complete the communication between the hist purifier and the 
 
 t.iil of the balloon until a clear Ktream of hydrogen in obtained, so as to avoid getting foul air into the machine. 
 
 I'nder ordinary circumstances, in three hours from the time of the machine being halted, it can U- 
 
 prepared for an ascent : but this, should circumstances require it, might bo shortened by employing two 
 
 generators, and making a suitable alteration in the purifying arrangement. Such alteration, however, would rarely 
 
 be necessary, ss the lill..n. when inflated, can. unless in very windy weather, ! very readily carried ; twenty live 
 
 or thirty men lay hold of cords attached to the ring, and march along, allowing the machine to rise only sufficiently 
 
 to de.ir any obstacle that there maybe in the way. I have frequently seen it carried thus without the least 
 
 difficulty. 
 
 The balloon-staff wit li M < 'h-llan consisted of one chief aeronaut, whoso exact rank I could never quite make out, 
 
 Balloon- nllt it was no * lower than a captain, nor higher than a brigadier; he was a civilian, and by profession 
 
 an aeronaut; he was very highly paid, the same as a brigadier; and as the military rank, I believe in. 
 
 America, is in some way attached to, and determined by, the pay received, I fancy Professor Low must have been a 
 
 brigadier ; at any rate he was a very clever man, and indefatigable in carrying out his work. By night or day, 
 
 whenever the weather gave a chance of seeing anything, ho was up, engaged on his observations ; under him was a 
 
 captain of infantry, who had been instructed previously at \Vest Point (the American VNoolwich) in the art of 
 
 Ixillooning. The captain commanded the men, some fifty in number, attached to the machine, and superintended 
 
 generally every arrangement in connexion with its inflation and use; ho was also responsible for its transport, and 
 
 that a due supply of materials was kept ready. The captain never went up himself; indeed he informed me that 
 
 he liked the work below best, and confined himself entirely to it. Under the captain were a proportion of 
 
 non-commissioned officers, who knew more or less of the management of it, and the men, who, besides having a sort 
 
 of reverential awe of the machine, knew nothing whatever about it. Either one or two sentries were always on 
 
 guard detailed from the captain's party, who had the strictest orders to allow no unauthorised person to approach. 
 
 Each regenerator required four horses to draw it, and each balloon, with the tools, Ac., four horses. The 
 
 sulphuric acid it is essential to keep in a carriage to itself, but two horses will draw a sufficient quantity 
 
 of concentrated acid to last for a long time. The undermentioned is a resume of the balloon-corps and 
 
 apparatus with General M'Clellan's army : 
 
 BAI-LOON-COBPS. 
 
 1 Chief aeronaut, 1 
 
 1 Captain, assistant do., > Requiring 2 instructed men. 
 50 NoD-Commissioned Officers and Privates, J 
 
 APPARATUS. 
 
 2 f u-ntratora, drawn by 4 horses each. 
 
 2 Balloons 4 horses each (including tools, spare ropes, &c.). 
 
 1 Acid-cart 2 hones. 
 
 Whether the acid-cart was considered as part of the equipment of the balloon, or whether it was put into the 
 first waggon that came to hand, I cannot with certainty say ; but, of course, in a well-organ ised apjmrutus one 
 
 2 y "J 
 
294 ASTRA CASTEA. 
 
 would bo necessary. When the machine is inflated it is kept to the ground by a series of sand-bags, which are 
 hooked on to the network, so that they can be disengaged at a moment's notice ; thus confined, with the sentry to 
 guard it, the machine remains unhurt in any weather short of a very violent wind-storm, in which case it should be 
 hauled down altogether. 
 
 When it is required for an ascent, the captain and some thirty of his men get round the balloon, and carry it 
 Application to *^ e a PPi nt ed place. The weight to be lifted having been put into the car, the ballast is so adapted 
 of Appa- that, including a couple of bags of sand, which it is not safe to go up without, there should be a buoyancy 
 
 of, say, twenty or thirty pounds ; the three guy-ropes having been attached, the men leave go of the 
 car together and seize the ropes, one of which is led through a snatch-block attached to a tree, or some securely 
 fixed object ; the ropes are then paid out, and the machine rises to the required height ; the motion of the guy-ropes 
 is regulated by the aeronaut through the captain on the ground. Of course on the proper manipulation of the 
 ropes, the convenience and safety of the aeronaut depends. I have been somewhat lengthy in the details of 
 the working, but I have done so for the reason I have stated at starting, viz., that of the actual practice of balloon 
 reconnoitring, little is, I believe, known. I will now say a few words on the application of the apparatus, and the 
 results obtained from it. 
 
 At the time I joined M'Clellan's army it was encamped on the Pamunkey River, one march below the now 
 Remaikson ce l e l> rate( l White House ; it was pushing its way slowly up the Peninsula, driving the Confederates 
 icsults before it. The character of this part of Virginia is much the same as that of most parts of the agricultural 
 
 districts of our own country, except that it is somewhat more undulating, and not nearly so hio-hly 
 cultivated, including woodland ; perhaps not half the land is under cultivation ; thus the character generally of the 
 country is such as to render all reconnaissances, though the more desirable, very difficult to make. My first 
 acquaintance with the balloon was made during the advance of the army ; I had ridden forward from the main 
 body, and joined General Stoneman's command, then occupying, for the first time, the west bank of the 
 < 'hickahominy River. I found the balloon snugly ensconced in a hollow, protected from view by the hill in front, 
 from the top of which a convenient position for an ascent was gained ; the Professor's tent and those of the rest of 
 the balloon-corps were scattered round, forming a small distinct encampment. I received from them great 
 civility, and was afforded every opportunity for obtaining the information I desired. It may be thought somewhat 
 odd that such a thing as a balloon should accompany the advance of an army, but there appeared to be no difficulty 
 in its doing so, and, of course, it was more likely to bo of use there than further to the rear. It was employed in 
 making continual ascents, and a daily report was sent by the principal aeronaut to M'Clellan, detailing the result 
 of his observations ; of course in the event of anything very unusual being noticed a special report was made. The 
 observer, by continual ascents, and by noting very exactly each time the position and features of the country below 
 him, soon knows it, as it were, by heart, and a glance is sufficient to assure him that no change has taken place in 
 the occupation of the country. 
 
 The balloon never got more than about a mile nearer to Richmond than when I first saw it ; it may therefore 
 
 be interesting to describe generally the position of the army, and to state what the balloon did, and what 
 l>hical it did not do. At that point the Chickahominy runs within about seven miles of Richmond ; its nearest 
 
 point is four miles and a quarter, at the village of Mechanicsville. It is in dry weather a sluggish 
 stream, fordable at almost any place ; but in wet weather it requires bridging, and sometimes, overflowing its 
 banks, converts the valley in which it runs into a swamp a mile wide. High wooded ground borders the valley on 
 either side, one of which was occupied by the Confederate army, with Richmond in its rear, it having retreated 
 across the Chickahominy in front of M'Clellan's advance-guard; and the other bank by the main body of the 
 Federals, who, with an army of one hundred thousand men, were extended over a front some twelve miles in 
 extent, about the centre of which the balloon was stationed. So near to Richmond, the wished-for goal, it may be 
 well believed that the results of the balloon ascents were looked for anxiously. From them were obtained the first 
 glimpses of the Confederate capital, the capture of which, it was hoped, would virtually put an end to the war. 
 Independently though of curiosity, most anxious inquiries were made from the observers in the balloon, as to the 
 difficulties that lay on the road to Richmond. Were there any fortifications round the place? Where were the 
 camps, and for how many men ? Were there any troops in movement near the present position ? and many other 
 questions of equal importance. Now these questions were difficult to answer ; and even from the balloon many of 
 them could only be replied to with more or less uncertainty. From the balloon to the (,'hickuhominy, as the crow 
 
A. i.. i ><;_. Tin; r.ATn.i: or IIANOVKI; ronn-HOUSE. 29. r > 
 
 was aK.ut t,, mil. , . tli, nee on to Richmond. eight more. At the altitude of one thousand fevt in tint 
 w. -.iilier an el). ,ge of vision of ten mill* could be got; tints the ground on the opposite side of Kirhniond 
 
 oiil.l 1. .-.. n : tli.it i- to Hay, housed, and the general occupation of the land lierame known. Richmond itself wan 
 ili-tim -fly seen. iiinl tin- three camps of the Confederates could bo distinguished surrounding the place. 
 
 l.i-.king cl..s.-r tin- wooded nature of tin- muntry prevented the possibility of Haying whether it were occupied 
 
 ,., liy tr,.|vs ,,r not, Imt it could bo confidently asserted that no large body was in motion. In the same way, 
 on Beeing the oini]>* round tin- place one could form a very rough estimate of the numlx-r of men they 
 
 for, but it was im]>oHsible to say win tli. T th.-iv were men in tlu-in or not Karthworks, even at a distance of 
 right milrs. i-oiild Iv seen. lnit their diameter uo far off could not ] distinctly .-ttited, though one could with 
 certainty Hay win tli, T they were of tin- nature of (i,-l,l ,,r permanent works. The pickets of the enemy could 1 
 made out unite distinctly, with supports in rear, thrown forward to the banks of the stream. The country, from its 
 thickly wooded character, WHH pe. uliarly unfitted for Kil loon -reconnaissances; had it been a pbiin like LoniKmly. 
 the | noil ion of any consider., 1,1,- Kly ,.f troops would have been known : as it was, it was only possible to say that 
 they were not in in. .tion : thin could be confidently asserted, as, though they might remain hid in the woods while 
 v. in numbing they must, at some time or other, come into open ground and be seen. 
 
 During the battle of Hanover ( 'ourt-hous.-. which was the first engagement of importance before Richmond, 1 
 rr happened to be din- to tin- Kill. .in when the heavy firing begun. The wind was rather high, but I .i- 
 
 Court- anxious to sev, if jiossible, what was going on, and I went up with the father of the aeronaut The balloon 
 was, however, tdiort of gas, and, as the wind was high, we were obliged to come down. I then went up by 
 
 the diniiiii.-hed weight giving increased steadiness, but it was not considered safe to go higher than five 
 hundred feet on account of the unsettled state of the weather. The Killoui was very unsteady, so much so tliat it 
 \\ .1- ditVicult to fix my sight on any particular object; at that altitude I could see nothing of the fight. It turnd out 
 afterwards that the distance was, I think, over twelve miles, which from one thousand feet, and on a clear day 
 would in a country of that nature have rendered the action invisible; liad the weather, however, been such as to 
 have allowed the balloon to remain at its usual altitude the position of the engagement, from the smoke created. 
 could have been shown : and it could have been said that no retreat had reached within a certain distance of tho 
 point of observation. It is quite possible, too, that with an altitude of two thousand feet the action might have 
 been indistinctly seen. e\. n at the distance of twelve miles. 
 
 At York Town, where the Federals were attacking the line of works thrown across the Peninsula, bct' i 
 the York and James Rivers, the balloon was used continually. I was not there during the siege, but 
 1 did not hear that it was there attended with any particular benefit; as, though the works could IN- 
 overlooked, irrespective of the indefinite feeling of satisfaction in being able to do this, no direct good actually 
 accrued. This might have been imagined, as the prolongations of the various faces of the fortifications were known 
 from the ground, and any movement in front of the works could, of course, be similarly made out In the cat-. 
 siege, I am inclined to think that a balloon-reconnaissance would be of less value than in almost any other case 
 whore a reconnaissance can be required ; but even here, if useless, it is at any rate also harmless. I once saw the 
 fire of artillery directed from the balloon; this became necessary, as it was only in this way that the picket, which 
 
 it w. is ileMi.,1 i,, ,lj.|. ,.]-... .,.]. ||,. . , n ||, . n , v. !. I HBBOl -.ivth,; I t]i-.':_;!i; th. til. !'.. it il !. i \ u .1 - < .t' !n'i. ii 
 
 effect against the unseen object; not that this was the fault of the balloon, for, had it not told the artillerists whieh 
 way the shots were falling, their fire would have been more useless still. 
 
 During the first two days of the heavy fighting by the left of the army before Richmond, which ended in 
 Telegraphic its retreat from the Peninsula, a telegraph was taken up in the car, and the wire being placed in connexion 
 wif l' tno l' ne '" N'a.-hington, telegraphic communications were literally sent direct from the balloon 
 above the field of Kittle, to the government In place of this the wires should have gone to the 
 Commandcr-in-< hiefs tent. or. indeed, anywhere K-ttrr than to Washington, where the sole report of the state of 
 affairs should have K en r,e, iv, d fi,,m no one but the officer in command of the army. If balloons or telegraphs are 
 to be tinned into means for dividing authority, every true soldier will look iijx.ii them as evils hardly unmitigated : 
 iiiit this with us need not be the case, for, as military machines, they would be solely under the control of the 
 ( '..niinander-in-l hief. 
 
 General Barnard, the Commanding Engineer with M-Clellaii. of whom 1 particularly asked the i|iiesti..i,. 
 that he considered a balloon-apparatus as decidedly a desirable thing to have with an army; but at the wnue 
 
296 ASTRA CASTRA. A.D. 18G2. 
 
 time it was one of the first incumbrances that, if obliged to part with anything, he should leave behind. I myself 
 Opinion on think that it is a thing which, if properly organised and worked, may be occasionally of considerable 
 advantage, and occasions might occur when the absence of such information as the balloon gives an 
 opportunity of obtaining, would be very bitterly felt. The observer from the balloon might, and most probably 
 would, often enough, have nothing to report that the General did not know ; but the time, on the other hand, might 
 come when his report would contain facts, or satisfactorily confirm other information received, of snch a nature that 
 it would be invaluable. Nothing ought either to be accepted or condemned by its utility alone, but rather by its 
 utility as compared with the cost of obtaining it. Now, of the utility under certain circumstances of overlooking a 
 tract of country from a height of one thousand or two thousand feet, if necessary, there can be little doubt ; at the 
 same time the cost of being able to do so is so trifling that it would appear unwise to neglect the necessary steps to 
 secure the advantage. 
 
 It may be of interest to mention that the Mr. Low referred to previously, is a man celebrated in America 
 as a very daring aeronaut. He has performed the quickest journey on record, going by balloon from New 
 York (I think it was) to near New Orleans, at an average rate of something like fifty or sixty miles 
 an hour. 
 
 Ho is now building, and he told me he had very nearly completed, at Philadelphia, an aerial ship, with which 
 
 he intends to attempt the passage of the Atlantic. From the earnest way in which he spoke, I felt con- 
 Aerial sh'p. . 
 
 vinccd that he intended to try to carry out his scheme. His appointment to the army, and the distracted 
 
 state of the country, obliged him to put it off for a while. If the Atlantic is ever crossed in a balloon, it will be the 
 greatest feat by far in the shape of ballooning ever done, and may open a new era in the art. The theory that he 
 goes upon appears to be correct, but he is a bold man who risks his life on an unsubstantiated idea. Mr. Low's ship 
 is capable of taking up some ten or twelve persons, with provisions for a considerable time. It will be provided with 
 all necessary apparatus, including a lifeboat, in case of his being obliged to change his element of support. The 
 main part of his invention consists in a mechanical means of altering his elevation at pleasure, without an 
 expenditure of ballast or gas ; thus allowing him to remain an unlimited time in the air. If he is able to do this, 
 and the apparatus holds together, I do not see how he can help making a wonderful voyage somewhere, whether 
 across the Atlantic, or not, is another thing ; nor do I think the venture would be so hazardous as I daresay most 
 persons would consider it to be. 
 
 Mr. Low's theory respecting the direction he is likely to take appears correct; he, in common, I believe, 
 Theory of with other aeronauts, has noticed that at various altitudes there are currents of air running in various 
 currents. directions. This is only probable, as a current in a fluid in one direction induces a compensating one in 
 another. He proposes, therefore, to rise through successive currents of the atmosphere, as it were, until he finds 
 one setting the way in which he wishes to go. These theories are somewhat visionary, and decidedly apart from 
 the present question. 
 
 I shall conclude with a few remarks on the apparatus I would recommend for experimental purposes. 
 Though for actual use I think the larger sized balloon the best, a capacity of thirteen thousand 
 proposed S cu bic feet would give sufficient buoyancy for experiment. I would alter, however, the shape of the 
 envelope, as the one commonly used is the worst that could be devised for the purpose. In the case of a 
 free ascent, shape matters little, as the machine must go with the wind ; but when the balloon is anchored, it is of 
 paramount importance to present the least possible surface to the action of the air. I would therefore give to the 
 balloon a cylindrical form, and to the car a boat shape ; and I believe that with the decreased resistance offered, 
 such stability might be obtained as to allow of ascents being made in weather that, with the old shape, would 
 preclude their being thought of. I would also have the whole of the network and the guys of silk, for the sake of 
 lightness. Comparatively speaking, the first cost would be unimportant, and with care they would last a long 
 time ; while, if it were thought desirable, common cord might be used for ordinary ascents, and the silk ones brought 
 out only in case of great altitude being required. A very thin wire would enable telegraphic communications to be 
 kept up, if necessary, with the ground, and an alphabetical instrument would place the means of doing so within 
 anybody's reach. The cost of an apparatus, perfect in every respect, would be about five hundred pounds, and one 
 for experimental purposes might be got up for much less. The officer in charge of it would require to have 
 practical experience ; but his assistants might be men taken from the ranks, and a few hours would make them 
 sufficiently acquainted with their duties. 
 
-". 1 i:\lT.KIMr.NT OF ORDNANCE SELECT COMJIITTEE. 297 
 
 management of a balloon would seem to be a simple operation, and in perfectly culm weather, wli.-u 
 everything goes well, BO it is; but to ft-el confident under adverse, circumstances, and to know exact ly 
 \\li.it to do, and how to do it when ditVu-iiltioa arise., can be tin- result only of experience. It haw U-en 
 Mipi>o.s,tl tliiit tin- .-waxing mi -tion of a Killoon when tied to the earth would occasion a nausea in Home people akin 
 to oarockneas ; I do not think thi- would be the case (with me it certainly wa.s not so); an, if the motion were HO 
 would in all probability overcome any other feeling, and at the same time under Mich circiimstancos it 
 would IN- uroloaa to think of observing. 
 
 I hojK> that the ca]abilitics of Killooiis for military reconnaissances may receive a fair test with properly 
 prepaii-d should it }* suddenly required to use them, it is quite possible that want of practice would 
 
 turn what .-hoiild have U-cii a .-ucce.-s int,, a t'ailuie. and the faults of the executive would l>e borne by tlie system. 
 1 am conlideiit myself. that under certain circumstances, balloons would !>< found useful ; and no one could suy after 
 all. m. He against them than that, like the tiftli wln-el to the couch, they were uscleaa. 
 
 Simv writing the above Paper, an e\| linu-nt has been carried out under the direction of the Ordimiu S. I. < i 
 t'ommitte. . a )>rief account of which is siilijoin.il. Should tin- matter bo proceeded with 1 shall lie glad, on the 
 oomph-lion of the cx| rimc-nts. to furnish a coni]ilete account of them. 
 
 i in the i|UcMion being brought In-fore the Committee, the points they wished to establish were, first, that the 
 iblc to overlook a tract of country fiom a great elevation really conveyed the advantages it was 
 
 -. -iit.il to do; and secondly, that there was nothing in the abstract situation which made it impracticable to 
 in the car of a balloon. 
 
 With this object only in view, an ordinary balloon inflated with coal-gas would suffice; for, though unfitted 
 for the purposes of a reconnaissance, still by chousing a calm day it could bo used. Arrangements were therefore 
 made for the hire of one of Mr. Coxwell's balloons, the necessary guy-ropes, gas, &c., being provided Im- 
 
 minent. Aldershot was the place appointed for the ascent, as the gasworks happened to bo convenient h 
 situated, and, lieing a camp, there would lie no difficulty in obtaining the concurrence of the military. 
 
 The authorities at the lloi-s.- i iuanls sent down orders to Aldershot that on a suitable day for the ascent the 
 triN,|is should lie marched out in different directions, so that the value of the balloon as a point of observation, could 
 lie practically determined. 
 
 The first time appointed proved a failure, owing to the boisterous state of the weather, and the experiment 
 u.i> put otl till the i:(th of July. A field day, however, for the Prince of Wales being fixed for the day after, the 
 ascent took place on Tuesday the 14th. This so far modified the experiment, that no observations could bo made 
 on tni]>s at the extreme distance at which it was anticipated they would bo visible from the balloon. 
 
 The inflation was completed Ijefore eight o'clock in the morning, as the ropes and men being new to their 
 tasks, it was considered advisable that a few preliminary ascents should be made. Mr. Coxwell had been no higher 
 than about six hundred feet in a partial ascent; so that, except myself, no one had before been to the height of one 
 thnUKind feet, which it was now proposed to attain; and, in a matter where any accident would in all probabilitv 
 carry with it serious consequences, it was proper to take every precaution. After inflation the balloon was carried 
 to Thorn Hill, some three hundred yards from the gasworks, where the ascents were made. Three guy-ropes were 
 used, one of which, stronger than the other two, was {Kissed through a snatchblock fixed to the ground. The rojics 
 
 niaiim d by a ]ui ty of engineers entirely new to the work. No difficulty was experienced in either raising or 
 lowering the lialloon, the latter operation being done in about fifteen minutes from the height of one thousand feet. 
 II" - vation reached was one thousand two hundred feet, and varied from that to one thousand feet, the 
 
 Uilloon remaining for upwards of an hour and a half hovering over the camp. It was raised and lowered at 
 
 are, to enable the observers to be changed, and made some eight or ten ascents before it finally left the ground 
 for its free flight. 
 
 As to the practical results obtained, the whole apparatus being unsuited for a war-balloon, the experiment 
 afforded no criterion of the difliculty, or otherwise, of inflation on active service, where the gasometer would have 
 to ) i-arried, or, indeed, of the amount of stability a captive balloon might be capable of attaining. It was shown. 
 however, that the ti-an-].,.,t of a balloon wh.-n filled was simple, and that it could be easily raised and !., 
 A tract of country alt..p-th.-r unseen from the ground In-low was brotight under observation, and the mov.iii.nt-- ..| 
 troops on tin- top ,,t '( Vsar's c ;i m,,. oth. rwi~. ,,ut of sight, \\vre clearly discernible. From the top of Thorn Hill. 
 
298 ASTBA CASTHA. A.n. 1864. 
 
 the range of hills known as the Hog Edge, of which Csesar's Camp is a part or adjunct, bounded the horizon on that 
 side at a distance of somewhat less than two miles. From the elevation of one thousand feet, such a boundary no 
 longer existed, the slopes of the opposite sides of the hills even being visible ; in fact, an effective horizon of twenty 
 miles' diameter was obtained that is, no large movements of troops could take place within a radius of ten miles 
 without being seen. 
 
 The day of the ascent was very still, exceptionably so ; and how far it may be possible to overcome the 
 difficulties which arise when the air is in motion, can only be determined by experiment. 
 
 My own idea, however, is, that with a properly constructed apparatus, balloon-reconnaissances may be made 
 in a wind moving at any rate up to twenty miles per hour. The higher the wind, the less would, of course, be the 
 altitude attained. However, a height of even two hundred feet is more than that of the spires of most churches 
 points of observation eagerly sought for when on the march in an enemy's country. 
 
 It would appear, therefore, that, under certain circumstances, the balloon affords means to an army of carrying 
 with it a lofty point of observation ; and, so far as the experiment went, it bears out the opinion I expressed on the 
 matter in the paper to which this is an addendum. 
 
 With reference to the general subject of ballooning, I believe that some useful results might be obtained by 
 photography applied from a balloon. A series of panoramic views might be taken by moving the machine along, 
 which would be sufficiently intelligible to enable a draughtsman to make a sketch from, and which would have 
 been taken far more rapidly than any survey on the ground could have been executed. This, however, is somewhat 
 M matter of speculation ; but I hope, should an experimental reconnoitring apparatus be got up, to be able to make 
 some experiments in the matter. 
 
 The ' St. James's Magazine ' has an amusing article " On Three Months with the 
 Balloons in America," giving an account of how General Fitz-John Porter, when appointed 
 to command the siege of York Town, was carried alone, and in a helpless plight (owing to 
 an accident), above his army; the balloon, luckily, descended within his own lines. 
 
 A very able article " On the Defence of England against Invasion," by Lieutenant 
 Steinmetz, of the Queen's Own Light Infantry, in ' Colburn's Magazine' for December, 1864, 
 states: " Nor should the service of aerostatics be beneath our attention. In spite of the 
 opinions recently expressed as to the inutility of the contrivance, we contend that balloons 
 can be made serviceable for reconnoitring purposes by a skilful eye and ready pencil, as 
 demonstrated by Baron Keveroni de Saint Cyr, in his curious work before mentioned. A few 
 hundred yards of elevation will be sufficient for all occasions, and the appliances of art can 
 render the ascent safe and secure at pleasure." 
 
 Were half the power that fills the world with terror, 
 
 Were half the wealth bestow'd on camps and courts, 
 Given to redeem the human mind from error 
 
 There were no need of arsenals and forts. 
 The warrior's name would be a name abhorr'd, 
 
 And every nation that should lift again 
 Its hand against a brother, on its forehead 
 
 Should wear for evermore the curse of Cain. 
 
 LONGFELLOW. 
 
 If Europe should ever be ruined, it will be by its warriors. 
 
 MONTESQUIEU. 
 
 FROM WHENCE COME WARS AND FIGHTINGS AMONG YOU? 
 
 JAMES iv. 1. 
 
 THEY HAVE BLOWN THE TBUMPET, BUT NONE GOETH TO THE BATTLE.* 
 
 EZEK. vii. 14. 
 
 See ' The l)ny after Armageddon, ' a poem of Horatius Bonur, U.D. 
 
ClI Al'TKI! IX- 
 
 METHODS OF DIBECTIXG AEROSTATS: WHAT HAS IlKKN IIITIIKIITO DONE. WITH SUGGEST!' 
 
 FOB, Ft ii KI: i.xn.ia.Mii.vrs. 
 
 " If we reason by induction, we arrive at one conclusion ; if we reason by deduction, we arrive at another. Tliis diflVrrnce in 
 the results is always a proof that the sul.jix-t in which tin- dilTcr. nee exists is not yet capable of scientific treatment, and that some 
 preliminary difficulties have to be removed before it can pass from the empirical stage into the scientific one." BUCKLE'S JJitlory uf 
 
 DR. LAKDNER'S OPINION OF STEAM-NAVIGATION THE ATLANTIC STEAM-NAVIGATION THE FUTURE ANTICIPATED now i> 
 
 EELS AND SNAKES MOVE III). II WVTEB? A CLASSIFICATION OF EXPERIMENTS HANSON'S AEKIAL CARRIAGE THE 
 
 \U.-IMI\- Hi: liKVll W'ON AERIAL NAVIGATION ELECTRO-MAOSET1SM AND GUN-COTTON HEDGING Till n Ix'RUM 
 MEUSNlli:, \N I V.IMI.l: OKHCKU THE ERRONEOUS CALCULATIONS OF MONCK MASON "THE RESISTANCE OP FLUIDS IS 
 IN PROPORTION TO THEIR DENSITY " (NEWTON) THE HELM THE CENTRE OF GRAVITY THERE ARE INSTANCES IN 
 WHICH WE MUST CEASE TO IMITATE NATURE A TABULAR SYNOPSIS OP THE KI.KVKN DIFFICULTIES TO BE OVERCOME 
 
 MAREY MONGE'S ' ETUDES' A COPPER BALLOON AEROMOTIVES THE OPINIONS AND IDEAS OF NADAH, BAiiiNEr, AND 
 
 BARRAU 
 
 As an example of the manner in which scientific men may 
 sometimes err in their calculations, I will, preparatory to 
 pointing out the errors of Mr. Monck Mason, who has hitherto 
 been the most generally accepted authority in England on 
 aerostation, cite a proverbial instance in the case of Dr. Lardner, 
 the author of the well known Cyclopaedia. The following 
 extract appears in his ' Treatise on Hydrostatics,' edition of 
 1836, where he boldly asserts the impracticability of steam- 
 navigation* : 
 
 The resistance arising from the quantity of fluid displaced by tin- 
 moving body may, therefore, be always greatly diminished, and in Home 
 oases rendered almost insignificant, by a proper adaptation of its shape. The 
 accumulated resistance arising from the increased speed of motion is, however, an impediment which no art can 
 remove. The fact that the resistance of a liquid to a body moving in it increases in a prodigiously rapid proportion 
 in respect of the increase of velocity is one which seta an impassable limit to the expedition of transport by vessels 
 moving on the surface of water. This property has long been well known, but it has received greatly increased 
 importance from the recent improvements in the application of steam. If a certain power be required to imjx-1 n 
 vessel at the rate of five miles an hour, it might, at first view, bo thought that double that power would cause it to 
 move at the rate of ten miles an hour ; but, from what has been already proved, it will be perceived that !' nil- 
 times the power is necessary to produce this effect In like manner, to cause the vessel to move at the i 
 lift. I-TI mill* an hour, or to give it three times its original speed, nine times the original power is necessary. Thus 
 it follow* tluit tin- f.\] iielitiire of the moving principle, whether it be the power of a steam-cngiin- or the strength 
 of animals, increases in a much larger ratio than the increase of useful effect. If a boat on a canal be carried thn-<- 
 miles an hour by the strength f two horses, to carry it tux miles an hour would require four times that numl- 
 eight horses. Thus ilmM,- tin- work would be executed at four times the expense. 
 
 * In 1706 the Earl Stanhope himself |.|.-L'. .1 the gum of 9000?. for the success of some experiments in steam-navigation. Sec 
 correspondence between him and the Lords of the Admiralty. iv. n iti Lord Stanhope's ' Life of Pitt.' vol. ii. p. 397. 
 
 2 R 
 
300 ASTRA CASTEA. A.D. 1838. 
 
 These considerations place in a conspicuous point of view the advantages which transport by steam-engines on 
 railroads possesses over the means of carriage furnished by inland navigation. The moving power has in each case 
 to overcome the inertia of the load ; but the resistance on the road, instead of increasing, as in the canal, in a faster 
 proportion than the velocity, does not increase at all. The friction of a carriage on a railroad moving sixty miles 
 an hour would not bo greater than if it moved but one mile an hour ; while the resistance in a river or canal, were 
 such a motion possible, would bo multiplied 3600 times. In propelling a carriage on a level railroad the expenditure 
 of power will not be in a greater ratio than that of the increase of speed or of useful effect, entailing an 
 enormously increased consumption of the moving principle. 
 
 But we have here supposed that the same means may be resorted to for propelling boats on a canal and 
 carriages on a railroad. It does not, however, appear hitherto that this is practicable. Impediments to the use of 
 steam on canals have hitherto, except in rare instances, impeded its application on them ; and we are forced 
 to resort to animal power to propel the boats. We have here another immense disadvantage to encounter. The 
 expenditure of animal strength takes place in a far greater proportion than the increase of speed. Thus, if a horse 
 of a certain strength is barely able to transport a given load ten miles a day for a continuance, two horses of the 
 same strength will be altogether insufficient to transport the same load twenty miles a day. To accomplish that, a 
 much greater number of similar horses would be requisite. If a still greater speed be attempted, the number of 
 horses necessary to accomplish it would be increased in a prodigiously rapid proportion. This will be evident if the 
 extreme case be considered, viz., that there is a limit of speed which the horses under no circumstances can exceed. 
 
 The astonishment which has been excited in the public mind by the extraordinary results recently exhibited 
 in propelling heavy carriages by steam-engines on railroads will subside if these circumstances be duly considered. 
 The moving power and the resistance are naturally compared with other moving powers and resistances to which 
 our minds have been familiar. To the power of a steam-engine there is, in fact, no practical limit, the size of the 
 machine and the strength of the materials excepted. This is compared with agents to whose powers Nature has not 
 only imposed a limit, but a narrow one. The strength of animals is circumscribed, and their power of speed more 
 so. Again, the resistance arising from friction on a road may be diminished by art without any assignable limit, 
 nor does it sustain the least increase to whatever extent the speed of the motion may be augmented ; on the 
 contrary, the motion of a vessel through a canal has to encounter a resistance by increase of speed, which soon 
 attains an amount which would defy even the force of steam itself, were it applicable, to overcome it with any useful 
 effect. 
 
 As there is some analogy between the opening of the Atlantic steam-navigation and the 
 future we anticipate for aerostation, I will here give extracts from an article in the ' Quarterly 
 Review' of October, 1838, which is an adieu to the American "Liners," and a prospective 
 view of the benefits that would arise from steam-navigation : - 
 
 The effect of this achievement is by no means easily to be described or foreseen. Even the Americans, with 
 all their reputation as a self-possessed and considering people, have displayed unwonted raptures and antics on 
 occasion of the first arrival of the " Sirius " and " Great \Vestern " at New York quite as much so as our Bristol 
 neighbours on their return ; and we are not sure that either party is to be blamed for it. We are not sure that the 
 former are far out of their " reckoning " when they speak of this as a new epoch in the history of the world. \\ e 
 can enter into the feeling of the myriads who crowded the wharfs at New York when the English boats were hourly 
 expected when, finally, after days of almost breathless watching (which, to fearful spirits, might well have afforded 
 some pretext for disbelieving the new scheme some excuse for casting even ridicule on it after all), at length, on 
 the morning of St. George's Day, the doubts, the fears, the scorn, were alike destined to be removed for ever from 
 the mind of every living creature (even, we dare say but let us say it with due deference from that of Dr. Lardner 
 himself) : for now appears a long dim train of distant smoke, in a somewhat unaccustomed direction ; it rises and 
 lowers presently, like a genius in the 'Arabian Nights,' portending something prodigious; by-and-by, the blade 
 prow of a huge steamboat dashes round the point of some green island in that beautiful harbour 
 
 " Against the wind, against the tide, 
 Steadying with upright keel." 
 
 It was worth something to be a passenger in one of these fortunate boats at this moment. We have before ns the 
 
Ln.ll l.\i;i'M.i;s OPINION OP STEAM-NAVIGATION. .101 
 
 journal kept l.y i.n>- of tin- fiv<mn-l f<-w on board the "Great Western." From tin- time of crowing tho bar of the 
 hail. .111, all hrr " ]x)lc" wore set aloft, and flags gaily streaming at each, the foreign ensign at the gaff, ami ut 
 ill. I'.... a combination -I' tho Hriti-.li and American, and "at 3 P.M. (tho narrative continues) we paired the 
 
 svs, o]M-ning tin- l'iv ..(' Ni-w York, sails all furled, and the engines at tin-it- topmost speed. Tin- city n>|xMed 
 in tin' distance scarcely discernible. As wo proceeded, an exciting scene awaited us; coming abreast of llradlow's 
 Maud, we were saluted l>y the fort with twenty -MX guns (the numlicr of the States); we wen- taking a festive 
 glass on deck. The health of the British Queen had just been proposed the toast drunk and, amid the eh. .T> 
 that followed, the arm was just raised to consummate the naming, when the fort opened its fire. Tin- effect was 
 clivtri. -:tl : down came the colours, and a burst of exultation arose, in the mi. 1st of which the President's health wax 
 proposed. The city now grew distinct: masts, buildings, spires, trees, streets were discerned ; the v\ hail's 
 appeared black with myriads of tho population hurrying down, at tho signal of the telegraph, to evi-i \ |.int of view. 
 Ami then came shoals of boats tho whole harbour covered with them; and now the new-comer reaches the 
 'Sirius,' lying at anchor in North Uiver, gay with flowing streamers, and literally crammed with spectators her 
 decks, paddle-boxes, rigging, mast-head high. We passed round her, giving and receiving three hearty cheers ; 
 then turned towards the Battery. Here myriads again were cnlleet. .1 ; boats crowded round us in countless n.n 
 fusion ; flags were flying, guns firing, and bolls ringing. The vast multitude set up a shout a long, enthusiastic 
 cheer echoed from point to point, and from boat to boat, till it seemed as though they never would have dona" 
 
 So mueh for the tirwt transports : we cannot doubt that time, experience, and reflection will confirm tho general 
 estimate of the importance of this achievement, which, wo may say, is now barely beginning to lie made, and that 
 ehii-tly in a mere mercantile and immediate view. This view itself, however, it must bo allowed waiving for the 
 present all further projections into futurity is sufficiently exciting, especially to tho Americans, who in many 
 respects have more to gain by the now arrangement than ourselves. Tho intelligence from the Old World, for 
 example, must of necessity bo of more general, various, and lively interest to them, than that of the New World to 
 us. Tho balance of resources, indeed, is immensely in our favour. Not only does America occupy the western 
 hemisphere by herself, while all the other continents are pitched against her in OH re, but on that side civilisation 
 has yet made so little progress, things are so literally ew, that tho " United States of America" might with some 
 plausibility assume to bo " America " at large, according to the complimentary phraseology usual amongst us. The 
 feeling with which we (unless on extraordinary occasions) watch for news from America is exceedingly different 
 from that with whieh foreign tidings are awaited by the people of the United States, whoso situation, nationally, in 
 this respect, may be almost compared with that of an individual exiled as poor Crusoe says, " out of society's reach." 
 i it" the interest toe have in tlum, indeed, too much can hardly bo said. The great effort employed in this steam 
 achievement itself, and the extraordinary sensation which the issue of it has excited, sufficiently proclaim a just 
 appieciation of the vast commercial importance, at least to us, of the movement in qucHtion. 
 
 Whether the greater despatch of news now about to bo effected by tho Atlantic steamboats will essentially 
 modify this state of things, may admit of some debate. Should it bo carried very much farther than wo at present 
 witness or anticipate, the result is clear enough 'In Americans would become European*. We remember certain 
 ominous hints of Dr. Lardner's on this head. "Philosophy," lie nays, in his book on the steam-engine, "already 
 directs her finger at sources of inexhaustible power in the phenomena of electricity and magnetism, and many causes 
 combine to justify the expectation that we are on tho eve of mechanical discoveries still greater than any which have yet 
 appeared ; and that the steam-engine itself, with the gigantic powers conferred upon it by the immortal Watt, will 
 dwindle into insignificance in comparison with the hidden poteen of nature still to be revealed; and that tho day will 
 come win n that machine, which is now extending the blessings of civilisation to the most remote skirts of tho globe, 
 will i -ease to have existence except in the page of history." 
 
 This is liHiking f.ir ahead, especially for one who has disputed till this moment the practicability of what was 
 accomplish. .1 twenty years since (as we shall show) the passage of the Atlantic by steam. But great men have 
 made great mistak. s 1-1", .K- this: and we are not sure but the learned Doctor may be in this passage making 
 amends f..r l-ing thu- c.-iught napping, by avowing at the same time, as in the paragraph just <|iiot. il. h..w wide 
 awake he can be when occasion requires, going ahead of tho age on one tack as much as he was drifted In-hind it 
 on the other. At all events, these mysterious predictions maybe fulfilled. Let us disbelieve nothing. All preo 
 generations have missed it l.y disl* -lie\ -ing. 
 
 Steam to cay nothing of electricity or magnetii-in " is no respecter of romance. It reduces things to an 
 
 '1 K 2 
 
302 ASTRA CASTRA. A.D. 1838. 
 
 appalling regularity. The British and American Steam Company, who have just launched at Blackwall a ship 
 thirty- eight feet longer than any in Her Majesty's navy, with accommodations (as they advertise) for 500 passengers, 
 notify to us, moreover, that next year they mean to have boats like this running on either side the 1st and 16th of 
 every month. This is but one company one which has not yet moved, we believe ; for we understand the " Sirius " 
 to have been sent out by another, and the " Great Western," it is well known, belongs to Bristol. Both these, un- 
 doubtedly, intend to keep the field, and to meet all competition with spirit. Bristol is said to have already invested 
 a million sterling, and there can be no doubt that the renowned old city of Cabot, though dozing a little of late 
 years over a sort of aldermanic repletion, yet possesses the means, and we dare say the spirit, which more than four 
 centuries since sent out merchant-ships of the burthen of 900 tons. Glasgow, too, will no doubt bestir herself. 
 And, above all, we must leave room for Liverpool : the sole marvel is that Liverpool has waited so long a secret 
 only to be explained by the extent of the interest there invested in the American " Liners." We see that a company 
 is now started at that port, who announce immediate operations. At New York again where the same remark 
 just made of Liverpool applies even during the short stay of the first steamboats, a scheme was started of a joint- 
 stock of a million and a half of dollars, in which, by the way, it was stated the Bristol Company (with a liberal 
 view to the interest of that port) would participate to the extent of about one-sixth. 
 
 We were speaking, however, of the first sensation the achievement has produced, and which, we venture to 
 predict, will, at some future day, be a matter of no little historical curiosity. The New York editors seem scarcely 
 able to contain themselves. " Side by side at last with the Old World," says one. " Now then for the Coronation," 
 cry half-a-dozen more. And then the files of European Journals unrolled ! Fifteen days from Bristol sixteen from 
 London eighteen from Paris less than a month from Constantinople from Bombay itself only between sixty and 
 seventy days ! A Norfolk (Virginia) editor remarks that they are now as near England as they were the greater 
 part of last winter to Detroit ; and a Bostonian, we suppose, might say much the same as to New Orleans. A revo- 
 lution this, indeed, such as the world rarely sees even in our changeful age; a revolution thoroughly overturning 
 the old systems of most of the business world at least yet effected, as it were, instantaneously, and without the loss 
 of a drop of blood. The Americans themselves, not more in the transports of their exultation over the first thought 
 of the effects of it, than in their admiration of the thing itself and of the style in which it was carried through, 
 seem to have been too much otherwise excited to feel their wonted chagrin at appearing to be ever taken by surprise 
 in matters of practical adventure. Nay, cherishing, we do believe, the honour of their fatherland next to that of 
 their own (for we have often noticed that, although Jonathan gives us a gruff, grumbling, family growl of a lecture 
 now and then partly, perhaps, to prove himself our descendant lie is never easy in seeing it done by anybody else), 
 they " quite forgot their sorrow in their pride." No wonder they have done so ; no wonder that a hundred thousand 
 New Yorkers turned out on the 7th of May to behold the departure of the " Great Western " on her first voyage home- 
 ward, and to cheer the brave ship on her way ; no wonder, again, that when, at the end of a fortnight, she hoisted 
 the British colours in King's Eoad, the burghers of old Bristol, roused at length from their Kip Van Winkle nap 
 of half a century, broke out with firing cannons, and raising flags, and bell-ringing, and vehement eating of turtle ! 
 
 Here, at length was an " electric effect " in England a sensation number two, at the least. One of the pass- 
 engers in this ship brought over a splendid bouquet of American flowers, which he was able to present to the lady of 
 .Mr. Manager Claxton it seems almost as fresh as if the dew were still on the leaves ; and again at the jubilant dinner 
 of the burghers on the 24th, specimens of flax and cotton yarn were exhibited, manufactured in the new Bristol 
 factory (a sign of the times that too), which had only been shipped in the raw state, in America, on the seventeenth 
 or eighteenth day before. Some one has predicted that, presently, we shall have Covent Garden market stocked by 
 the other continent. As to the floral department, there may bo something in it, for aught wo know, and indeed in 
 some others too; for if the "Liners" could bring the Duke a present of fresh forest venison from his western admirers, 
 we certainly get a clear vision hero of divers good things yet to come. We say nothing, however, even of Yankee 
 ice, dropped at sunrise, in dog-days, upon every door-step in London as in Boston not one word ; nil admiran, we 
 repeat, is our motto ; " keep cool," that is ice or no ice dog-days and all. 
 
 Biit, transports and jesting aside, let us summarily consider a few of the more obvious consequences of some 
 moment which may be expected to spring immediately from the achievement of which we have spoken : to some 
 of them wo have already made a hasty allusion. 
 
 The improvement of the instrument itself by which this work has been done may be counted on, perhaps, as 
 the first. Without being over-sanguine on the subject, it is reasonable to bear in mind that, while sailing-vessels 
 
.n. i TIII: (jr.MHT.i.'i.y I;I:VM:\V AND THE FUTTKI:. 881 
 
 li.iv. I. . ii iii e\i>;. no .in.1 I- n nion or Ic " nuJcfal pngfl -- .1- -i- im- n~ t'..M. dniia| ili..>is.in.U . ,t \. .,:-. \v, u , 
 .-till iii tin- infancy of MI-.HH navigation. It is only lliirty years sine*! Fulton ascended tin- Hudson with IMK Ixiut. 
 In isln there was no Mich thing in all England ; and so late as 1820 there were but thirty live-. The most important 
 improvements also have been very recently introduced; and, without particularising these, it is Huflirirnt. to my tlmt 
 the' Ic.irnid Ir. Mionysius l.aidncrV miscalculations on this subject of Atlantic navigation luivt< evidently l-cn 
 caused l.\ almost wholly overlooking those same improvements even BO far as some past yean are coixvni^l { and a 
 
 .n MI. li a progress as this agent is making is not a matter to be overlooked), or regarding them too much an 
 mere speculations, not likely, or not yet fully proved, to be capable of great practical effects (as they have already 
 been); while, as relates to what may yet be established, though now it is but expei-inn ntal. or what may be dis- 
 covered, of which uow nobody dreams, the calculations in i|iic.stiuu Iwve apparently left no leeway for the ingenuity 
 of ciiir successors, or even our contemporaries. It was taken for granted that all had been done which could lie done 
 that there were not even any " hidden powert " hereafter to be brought to bear upon steam-navigation, us well an 
 iijicin c.ihc r things, and to supersede steam itself altngctht . I l.<w grand a mistake this was wo need not say ; let 
 ns beware of ita being made again. Indeed, there is little danger of it, since scarcely a week now passes without 
 tin- appearance of some new scheme. We have a case in point before us as we write, in the account given by the 
 daily papers of a model-boat, lately constructed on the plan of doing away with the use of paddle-boxes a most 
 ciiiiilinni.s. c-lnin-y. ami uncouth .i|.| ndage to the vessel, as everybody knows by what is called a patent propeller. 
 
 \\.i\Y- Condi users, again, will have a fair trial on the route. It is well known that lie claims with these to 
 in. ; Hi til- s|. . '1 Ott ! it "ii. lit'tli. .1! UMti I" \ :.! it- . .,|..|. It\ u it), OOBBOI in.i.-i,in. iv ; .m.l . see tli.il .1 |M'I. k 
 >ilver boat, on the plan of M r. I Ic iward, is going out to America from Liverpool for a trial. \Vo do not say wliat faith 
 we have in these schemes, or many others that might bo named : we mention them as illustrations of the restless, 
 miiti-iving. venturing spirit of the times, especially in this almost new department of action, excitement, keen com- 
 ix-tit ion. and high hope. It cannot bo doubted, wo think, that the passage of the Atlantic by steam will, even in 
 the coming ten years, be brought to a state of (so to speak) artistical luxury and perfection of which those who 
 have started the enterprise themselves little think. The characteristic spirit of the two great nations chiefly 
 interested is now fairly roused to a generous emulation, as it never was roused before; and all that science, skill. 
 enterprise, patriotism, genius, or a love of money, or a love of distinction, can accomplish in such communities, on a 
 subject nutter offering almost unparalleled temptation and stimulus to them all, we shall now bo sure to have. 
 
 The extension of steam-navigation to other new, vast, and most important regions of the globe, where it has 
 been hitherto unknown, with corresponding influences wherever it is introduced, is a sequel, and an early one, to 
 the ].;.-. nt an<l fast-coming state of things on the Atlantic; as much so as is the continued improvement of this 
 medium ..f trans|rtaticiti the one follows, as of course, from the other. Steam-navigation will bo extended became 
 it will I... improved : it will be hereafter, in other words, as it has been heretofore. Ten years ago, or five years, or 
 two. the notion of navigating the Atlantic by steam, as a permanent, practical, profitable thing as a trade, we 
 mean had never entered the public mind, if it had that of individuals. And there was good reason for it : Fulton's 
 boat would have cut but a sorry figure steering for Bristol instead of Albany ; and some of the much more modern, 
 Inn now i|iiitc obsolete craft, employed within four years by the Admiralty, and upon whose performances demon 
 st rations of the impracticability of the Atlantic scheme have been more or less based these craft might have 
 little lictter than Fulton's had they rashly attempted what, by better vessels, has now been attained. 
 
 1 mlced, setting aside improvements, supposing us to stop short where we now are just ready to begin, that is 
 nothing could prevent the extension of the plan, as it stands all over the waters of the globe, to an indefinite and now 
 almost incredible extent. It requires no gift of prophecy to see that such, speedily, will be one of the effects of the 
 i point gained within the last three months. The mere announcement of that scheme was sufficient almost for this. 
 Fie .m the date of that anin nincement, and of the excitement, discussion, speculation, and ambition which it awakened, 
 it mattered comparatively little to the world at large whether the Atlantic project itself was executed at once or 
 not. The movement, at all events, was begun. The grand idea of the rtvolution had entered into the public mind and 
 taken deep hold of it. and created a thirst for execution which nothing but execution could satisfy, or can. As 
 
 rs have tunnel out. undoubtedly, the public conception and determination are immensely confirmed. The 
 idlest reader of even tin- daily journals cannot fail to see this. The community teems with projects for the extension 
 of steam commerce and trade, in all directions. Some of these must be crude and shallow, for various reasons : such 
 is the necessary fruit of a sudd, n excitement. I'ut the excitement will soon sul-side. while the inducement and the 
 
304 ASTEA CASTEA. A.D. 1838. 
 
 opportunities will remain, and become daily more and more urgent and distinct. This revolution is one of all others 
 that " cannot go backwards." It must advance with an energy, kindred, in the moral world, to that of the physical 
 power itself on which it is founded an energy to which history aifords no parallel. It is scarcely too much, we 
 believe, to say that the whole race of man is destined to see and feel the phenomena and the influence of its all- 
 conquering progress from clime to clime. 
 
 So much for the improvement and extension of this instrumentality itself. And now, what of its use ? to 
 what purposes will it be available? what changes will it work in existing arrangements other than its own? Here 
 we come to questions of some " pith and moment." We cannot go into them in an article like this with any pretence 
 of an adequate discussion, even could it be expected to be in the power or the expectation of any party, in the present 
 stage of such an enterprise, to do justice to the theme. Let us glance, however, at a few points, rather in the way 
 of illustrating the impracticability of the subject than of fairly discussing it. 
 
 As regards, then, what may be called the mere mercantile interests concerned and chiefly the immediate (not 
 prospective) ones between the two countries, particularly, which seem to have taken up the enterprise in good 
 earnest. These, of course, will experience in this, as in every department, its first and greatest effects. To a vast 
 extent steam-vessels will take the place of sailing-vessels, and that at once. This is not a case, be it understood, in 
 which most people can do as they please. A gentleman, taking a honey-moon excursion with his bride, may possibly 
 prefer some other conveyance to a stage-coach, or even a railroad, and he may even be allowed to humour himself 
 in his fancy ; but not so the merchant, his agents, his letters, or many of his goods. What one does must be done 
 by all. The whole of the mercantile world (with scarcely noticeable exceptions) will from this moment adopt the 
 new conveyance, so far as accommodation is provided for them ; their entire correspondence must go the same way. 
 The " Great Western," on her first trip, has brought home twenty thousand letters perhaps three times as many as 
 any sailing-packet on the same route ever carried. 
 
 The reason of this transfer in each case is too obvious for explanation ; but it may not be known to all our 
 readers to what a degree the uncertainty as well as the length of a sailing-voyage to New York, as compared with a 
 atea-nvid one, is an argument for this new arrangement, and a proof of the necessity of its universal adoption. From 
 the very high and well-deserved reputation of the " Liners " the most perfect conveyance of the kind and the 
 greatest advance in merchant navigation ever known up to the spring of 1838 it is perhaps a common impression, 
 that a passage between France or England and the United States in one of these superb vessels might be counted 
 on as much for a tolerably well -settled period of time, as for the comforts and luxuries to bo enjoyed in the course 
 of it, or for the nautical management. The fact is entirely otherwise, as every man in the business well knows. 
 Some seasons are more unfavourable in this respect than others ; and the winter months are none of the best, we 
 allow. Neither is the return- voyage so uncertain or so long, we should remark, as the voyage out : it is notorious 
 that the " Liners " have always had smaller fare coming than going, in about the proportion of twenty-eight guineas 
 to thirty-five, and that even the steamboats (without so much reason for it) have thus far continued the custom. But 
 to take a case at hand : during the last winter at the very time when we were continually getting " late " American 
 intelligence by unusually short and quite regular passages the corresponding packets going westward were en- 
 countering the full face of the same winds and currents by which those coming eastward were propelled. All the 
 " Liners " which left the three European packet-ports during six weeks were baffled and beat about in such a manner, 
 that at one time about eighteen of them were due at New York ; and thirty out of fifty belonging to that port were 
 then supposed to be on the ocean, working their way home. The average length of this passage is about thirty-two 
 days. One of the Liverpool ships, which sailed January 4, was spoken, fifty-five days out, in long. 43 some 1000 
 miles from her destination ; the others were fifty, sixty, or even seventy days on the voyage. That this is no fault 
 of the packets, we need not say ; in fact, how they make headway at all is the wonder. Consider, for instance, this 
 paragraph, which we take from a New York journal of the period referred to : 
 
 " We have been shown a chart on which the track of the ' Cambridge ' was pricked off, coming from Liverpool, 
 and it is a matter of some astonishment how the ship has reached port at all. She sailed from Liverpool on the 
 10th January, and on the 29th was in the longitude of 138. From that day till the 27th February she encountered 
 continued westerly winds, sometimes blowing a severe gale ; and for the last seventeen days she made but about 
 500 miles of westing. During that time she crossed the Gulf-stream three times, was for sixteen days to the south- 
 ward and eastward of Sable Island, and a part of the time could make no better than a S.S.E. course. The distance 
 between Liverpool and this port is about 3080 miles, but the ' Cambridge ' has, on this passage, sailed upwards of 
 
A.I.. 1 \ll.\NTir STKAM-NAYKJATION. 
 
 ved one of the stanohert TOMt 1 n which ever breasted the ocean wave. A copy of the track i w hich 
 lnok.s very much like .. -pid. r'> urln may ! s4i>n," &O. 
 
 }' w sailing-ships, i!" .my. we |in-.siiiiii-, would have done to well under these eireumstanoes U a " Lin- i. " \\ 
 red, alh.ut this v. rv ]H-riod, in the chip-lints, that a vowel from Demerara, bound for Halifax, was blown int.. 
 LiverjKiil ( M:u vh L'"th), having bfn Javen out of her count tht entire breadth of the Atlantic Ocean ! It is MTV seldom we 
 hear of a I.iin-r" returning into port without making her voyage, but with other vessels it in of common occui i 
 uii this route. Ships are out sometimes six weeks, and even more, trying to make headway westward, and obliged 
 to come back and begin again after all. It is not many years since a Belfast craft, txmnd for New llrunswick. 
 rrtimn-d t.. ]>rt, at the end of two months' voyage, after having got within 100 miles of her destination ! 
 
 Mere. again, is a striking illustration from one of our provincial journals, referring to the last winter : 
 
 \Vo cannot more clearly show the uncertainty of passages across the Atlantic than by stating that the 
 ustant' frigate left Cork on the 6th January, and returned to Plymouth on the 24th February, having been t" 
 Halifax in that time forty -nine days ; at the same ppriul the 'Samson,' New York packet, which left Portsmouth 
 on the 5th January, was sixty-two days getting to New York ; and the ' President,' which left on the 12th .lanuan . 
 was fifty-seven days in reaching that capital ; some days, therefore, must elapse before wo may expect the return of 
 the l'ii|iie ' frigate, which left ( 'ork on the 23rd January, as she may have been upwards of sixty days making her 
 outward passage, and may also bo detained by severe weather in Halifax harbour." 
 
 Some readers, little versed in currents of wind or water, and other contingencies incidental to the navigation 
 of this route some of them quite peculiar to it might be ready to infer from this statement tin- reverse of what 
 we have just said. Hut much more striking cases of the same kind have often occurred ; as, for example, where the 
 difference between two packets of leaving the same port in the evening of one day, or the morning of the next one, 
 has caused quite as great a diversity as any mentioned above in the length of the voyage. Two ships may oven 
 sail at the same moment from New York, and one shall presently in the Gulf-stream or elsewhere fall into some 
 flaw of wind or straggling current, the effect of which shall be that the far better sailer of the two reaches Liverpool 
 a week in the rear of her rival. \Ve do not say this is usual, but that there is such a liability. As for the general 
 uncertainty of the length of the voyage, that is notorious. 
 
 In die ordinary passenger-ships (commonly called "transient" vessels) as well as other merchant-craft, going 
 westward particularly, while now and then a fortunate one may beat even the " Liners " (as has been done this 
 season), paasages of even distressing length may occur, far beyond anything of the sort which has ever happened to 
 them. In February, 1837, the British ship " Diamond " arrived at New York from Liverpool, having been out hundred 
 days from port to port. There were one hundred and eighty passengers, of whom seventeen died, not from any dis- 
 order, but from mere starvation. The principal suffering was among the steerage passengers, the crew having ! i, 
 put upon allowance and supplied to the last with food, though in small quantities. The description of the ap]>< .u 
 ance of these poor wretches on their arrival, given by an eyewitness, is heartrending our informant himself had 
 lived nine days on potato- peelings soaked in his scanty allowance of water. For any ordinary voyage the supplies 
 in this case were abundant. Some, who had extra quantities, sold out, it seems, "to their leas provident fellow 
 passengers, first at moderate rates, but, as the scarcity more fully developed itself, at enhanced prices, until finally 
 half a sovereign was asked for a pint of meal. Before the arrival of the vessel a sovereign has been offered and 
 refused for a potato, as it was roasting before the fire." 
 
 Once more : the bark " Ellen," from Leghorn, with a cargo valued at a hundred thousand dollars, after a 
 I- n Ions voyage of one hundred and three days her crew having subsisted for fifteen days on maccaroni and sweet 
 oil arrived within three or four miles of Sandy Hook on the 1st of January last, and hoi-ted signals. " Aftei 
 waiting four hour*, in live fathoms water, and finding no pilot, she was obliged to stand off to sea; and in conse- 
 queiice of the storm which came on, with the disabled state of the crew, she was the sport of the winds, in the s. 
 state of the weather, without fuel, and short of provisions, for an entire month!" Such is the general mir, rtainu 
 together with the contingent hard-hips, which belong to the old mode of navigating the Atlantic. Nor have we 
 alluded to a tithe of them : this last account, for instance, shows plainly the delay and damage which may follow from 
 the failure of pilotage at a particular place or time; which failure, for various reasons, must happen sometimes with 
 these vessels, though it scarcely ever could, or w..iild be of much moment if it did, if steam were used. Before coming 
 to pilotage, too, it often occurs, even with the Liners," that great difficulty is experienced in making port, owing to 
 the necessity j rhaps of changing directions in order to get in, or to a sudden shift of wind, or a calm, forsooth! 
 
306 ASTRA CASTEA. A.D. 1838. 
 
 Packets have arrived off Cape Clear from New York in ten or twelve days, and then been nearly or quite as much more 
 in making Liverpool and the same as to Havre all this time, to say nothing of the delectable situation of the 
 passengers as far as comfort goes, the whole floating correspondence of the two great commercial communities con- 
 cerned it may be at a period of most critical importance bobbing up and down, and off and on, almost within 
 sight of the shore. It reminds us of a remark made the other day, at the opening of the Great Western Kailroad to 
 Maidenhead : a gentleman present said that within twenty years he remembered waiting for twenty-two nvtils at one 
 time from Holyhead, a distance of some sixty miles from his own town ! The unfortunate breaking-up of the groat American 
 merchants in London, last year, was immediately brought on by delays of packets, by which largo remittances had 
 been made to them, and which were hourly looked for during the prevalence of extraordinary east winds for something 
 like two months. It seems really incredible, indeed, looking back now on what has been suffered in this way, that 
 the remedy for it should have been so long postponed. That the remedy will be heartily used, now that we have 
 it, no man in his senses can doubt. 
 
 How far this must be done at once between ourselves and the Americans, we have shown in some detail. 
 Almost all mercantile travel and correspondence must be transferred at once. All light, rich, and seasonable mer- 
 chandise must speedily go in the same way : it will never do for one man's silks, as the fashionable season comes on, 
 to be sixty days on the voyage, while his neighbour's are fourteen ; neither will it do to buy long in anticipation of 
 the market. As to travel and business not mercantile, these, like the heavy articles of commerce, will linger, more 
 or less, for some time, with the " Liners " and other sailing-craft. Some people, on sea as well as land, are shy of 
 your newfangled steam things to this day, and would rather stick by even a two-horse coach, a French diligence, a 
 Mississippi ark, or a Newcastle coal-sloop, than trust themselves to the tender mercies of this second " infernal 
 machine " in any of its shapes, especially for the awful distance of three thousand miles. We respect the caution of 
 this class, but they will gradually disappear, and so will those who profess to prefer a longer passage, and abhor doing 
 things in a hurry, as much as if they were on half-pay. In fact, there will remain, speedily, no opportunity for the 
 indulgence of these fears, whims, or tastes. We shall have to do, like the merchants, what everybody else does. 
 
 To be sure, accidents will occur ! more or less these are to be expected, as things are at present. By-and-by 
 we trust among our "improvements" this liability will be very essentially lessened; meanwhile, however, we 
 anticipate some trouble. The competition will soon be of the keenest description ; the race-ground is most luxurious ; 
 the prize tempting ; and even passengers themselves too often enter so much into these feelings as to become greatly 
 chargeable with the blame which is commonly laid on others. We confess we are alluding to the case of the 
 Americans rather than to our own; and we hesitate the less to acknowledge it as we consider that their own 
 interest, evsn more than ours, in the steam- navigation of the Atlantic, is likely to be affected by what we must take 
 leave to call the abominable and disgraceful recklessness in the management of this kind of vessels, which prevails 
 to such an appalling extent among them. We are aware that it is not a universal, a national trait, as some late 
 writers have asserted broadly. The New England and New York boats rarely meet with an accident, though they 
 adopt the high-pressure system like the others, and run at the greatest rate of speed which is known ; neither is the 
 community at large either of the South or West directly blamable. 
 
 The horrid disasters we hear of every few months or oftener peculiar to the United States, and to this part 
 of them in their awful extent, and by which it is estimated at least a thousand Uvts a year are lost these are almost 
 always caused immediately by gross misconduct on the part of a few persons in authority, who, for the sake of a race 
 with a rival, or with some other pretext equally cogent, run the most imminent hazards without the slightest hesitation. 
 We have seen accounts of these races on the Western rivers for a distance of a hundred miles or more much of the 
 time neck and neck the whole ship's company on either side meanwhile desperately engaged, and wrought up to the 
 highest pitch of excitement in the murderous struggle. In this way the " Ben Shersod " got a-fire on the Mississippi, 
 two years ago, when hundreds of passengers perished ; and such is the secret of most of the " accidents " which, in nine 
 cases out of ten, are no accidents at all, but ought to be criminally visited by the law of the land as much as murder 
 in any retail shape. We have heard an American friend of ours allege that no countryman of his would hesitate 
 running the risk of his life for the sake of getting anywhere half an hour before anybody else. Matthews, we 
 remember, made it apparent, in his way, that the Yankees do everything in " twenty minutes." These are caricatures 
 of course the one no more than the other ; but both, we fear, are too well based on fact. The Americans carry 
 their energy a little too far ; they retain too much still of the wild impetuosity of youth ; they want a new infusion 
 of old John's steady and regular blood. We like not such driving fashions such helter-skelter haste, in steamboats 
 especially on Atlantic voyages least of all. Congress we sec has the matter in hand, and we trust it will be with 
 
A.I,, i TIM: . \Ti..\NTi' -n:\M-\\vn.\Tinx. m 
 
 effect : ami mean while as oven legislation (twntviaHy in that country) will not do every thing without public n|iiiiii>n 
 as the manager* and masters of steamboats, wh<> have vct\ often Iwen set on. and always tolerated, may al* 
 awed by that public t.> whom they owe their character and their bread we earnestly hope that the general 
 may make itself heard, and trust tluit arrangementa of the most solid and effective n.itur.- may I. |u..ni|itly ;n|..|.ti-.l. 
 
 'I'lius much for a plain hint, which, we an' sun-. must }* taken in gcxxl pirt ; fur, when we hoar, liy a single 
 arrival, of one hundred ami seventy human lyings destroyed in one boat, and one hundred an.l twenty in another. 
 it i- high tiiif for all parties who have to do and deal with such a catastrophe-working ((immunity, am) arc likelv 
 to liavc miicli mart, to Kpeak out. And yet, we were going on to say, when thin hint occurred to us, that, accident* 
 or no accident*, nothing ii])|>un<iitly can stand in the way of the complete triumph of the new dynasty of the seas. 
 Even granting which God forbid ! that these disasters are to be regularly continued on board the boats from t In- 
 ane side- just as regularly as if. like friction in machinery, they were an indispensable incident to the navigation 
 Mill, we Knglish can patronise British boats which do not blow up three hundred people every three mouth*, while 
 tin- Americans, on the other hand, can, if they so choose, go on being blown up just us before. If the}' have more 
 accidents, so they have leas fear. "Practice makes perfect" " There 'is nothing like taking things coolly" even 
 hot water, or steam. And, as this is their system at home, so may it bo abroad. As they art- the great steaming 
 |x -oplc of the age, surely this trifle of merely crossing three thousand miles over sea, instead of running about as far 
 up a river, will never alarm them.* 
 
 ( if. ..in-.-. those 111 iguilic. nt - Liners." of whi.-h w, h.ive s].,k.-n res], -el fully so often i f,,r we know them u , 11 .. 
 will speedily "foil from their high estate." Thinking of the proud part they have played now for some twenty 
 years of the great reputation they had fairly gained of the eminent commercial services they have rendered during 
 far the most im]x>rtant jH-riod of our connexion with the United States we cannot see them thus made, as it were. 
 instantaneously obsolete, without almost such a sensation of regret as might be due to living creatures old. faithful. 
 sensitive servants dishonoured, mortified, and basely set aside ! We have in mind now sundry dry paragraphs . if 
 a line and a half, which have appeared in the daily papers of late, much like this : . 
 
 "Two packets, the 'North American' and 'Siddons,' have arrived at Liverpool, bringing old dates from New 
 York!" 
 
 Presently they will cease to be named at alL And look at the " Great Western," the inhuman monster, on her first 
 three days out, overhauling a brave old " Liner" seven days from Liverpool with the black ball, "the badge of all 
 her trilio." in her fore-topsail, under top-gallant sails, careering and plunging to a lively foam and a fair wind. Hut 
 all would not do as once it might have done. We quote again from the ' Passenger's Journal ' : " This new-comer 
 is none of your old sort. See how she comes vapouring up, flapping her huge wheels like an eagle's wings, and 
 snorting, as it were, with tin- thought of victory and the sight of game. She comes on apace. All her colours are 
 strung out. The ship is almost caught. but sin- leaps ahead and escapes once more. The steamer, with a dignified 
 air of conscious supremacy, disdaining pursuit, wheels round windward, and passes the 'Liner' on the other side, 
 witli ' three hearty cheers.' Then dashing ahead, as if satisfied, she hauls in her toggery, and presses her helm hard 
 a-starboard, and the 'Liner' the brave old 'Liner' is no more seen. Her owners will scarcely know her when 
 she reaches port at hist. She brings no news. She will soon bear no letters no specie. Nobody will watch fi >r 
 her, nor speak of her. Alas ! her day is gone by. Who can think of her sufferings without a sigh ? " 
 
 I'.'it the steamers will have not merely all that is worth having (to them) of the business of the " Lin- 
 their effect on the amount of business must be considered. On this point our notions, at present, must be vague ; Imt 
 it is easy to foretell that the usual operation of increased facilities in the locomotion of persons and the transactions 
 of trade will ! felt in this case, and that most remarkably. We have seen that a few millions of passengers yearly 
 go up or down the Thames, since steamboats have plied on it : the travelling by the first boat established between 
 Kdinhurgh and London was greater, it is said, than that by all other conveyances together, during even the first 
 year. Mr. IWtcr states that it has almost invariably happened, where railroads for passengers have been opened. 
 that " the amount of travelling between the extremities of the line has been quadrupled" The income from this source has 
 enabled the I.iver]Mil and Manchester ( 'ompany to meet many extraordinary expenses and still regularly divide 
 10 per cent on the capital, although the cost of construction was more than double the sum first allowed for it So 
 
 A rtcamboat Mnmded the Muninppi and Ohio a few weeks rince, UUtn hundred or wvi-ntoen hundred miles in six day* and 
 seventeen boon, a* we learn from a gentleman then on the po(. 
 
 2 8 
 
308 ASTRA CASTKA. A.D. 1838. 
 
 we believe it will be, and much more, between America and Europe. We shall associate with each other as in 
 neighbouring counties. Our tourists will visit Niagara in swarms, as they now do Loch Lomond. People will travel 
 who never did before : it will be literally easier, and take less time, as some one has said, to travel than to stay at 
 home. 
 
 A word of explanation on one historical point of some interest which it is well should be settled in season -and 
 we have done. We have alluded to the/ac< that the late passage of the Atlantic by steam was by no means the first 
 achievement of the kind. When we have spoken of the success of these new boats in strong terms, it has not been 
 with the thought of encouraging such an impression ; and we certainly do not think it of the least moment, so far 
 as British honour is concerned, that such an impression should prevail. All admit that the mere fact of a solitary 
 steam-vessel crossing the ocean some twenty years ago whether by steam, or by sails, or both, and with whatever 
 purpose in view is of little importance as compared with the undertaking and the establishment of such an enter- 
 prise, in such a manner as to make it the grand regular medium of communication, and the growing source of 
 immense results, never before dreamed of, between America and Europe. This is the credit claimed in the present 
 instance by British courage, energy, and skill. This the Americans allow us ; and they may afford to do it. They 
 have themselves, even in the same field, done enough to content ambition. They have taken up this scheme, in its 
 present stage, with their usual spirit, and without a moment's hesitation or delay. Unseasonable circumstances in 
 their pecuniary situation, more perhaps than anything else, may have prevented them from snatching this last honour 
 from British hands. The conception itself was no new, crude, chimerical notion to them. 
 
 They have been too much accustomed to steam-movements on a grand scale to be taken by surprise with this. 
 Not only did Fitch, of Philadelphia, half a century ago, predict, with perfect confidence, the establishment of Atlantic 
 steam-navigation, but performances of substantially much the same character, as regards risk, have for many years 
 been actually going on before the eyes of the American public (as, indeed, to some extent also of ours). A few 
 months since we noticed this paragraph in a New York journal : 
 
 " The British steamer ' Sir Lionel Smith,' for which so much anxiety has been felt, reached this port yesterday, 
 in fifteen days from St. Thomas." 
 
 Along the extensive coasts and up the vast rivers of the United States the nature of their steam-operations is well 
 known. At New Orleans they were talking, a year or two since (as well as at New York), of establishing this con- 
 nexion with Europe by steam, and the project seemed to have been abandoned merely on account of the " crisis." A 
 British passage across was made last winter by the " City of Kingston," intended for a Jamaica and Carthagena mail- 
 packet, we think. She, too, was much talked of as the first which had crossed. It seems, however, that she put in 
 at Madeira on her way. It is also well ascertained that three steam- vessels, at least, had crossed all the way 
 before her. Two of these were the " Royal William," built at Quebec, for the trade between that port and Halifax, 
 which was sold some years ago to the crown of Portugal for 12,OOOZ. (and which we ourselves happened to see in 
 Boston harbour, five or six years ago, wh'en just arrived from Liverpool via Halifax), and the " Cape Breton," which 
 was built at Greenock or Glasgow, and sent out to Pictou for the use of a mining company. But the vessel to which 
 the honour of first crossing, such as it is, must doubtless be awarded, was the " Savannah," thus alluded to in the 
 'Times' of May 11, 1819: 
 
 " Great Experiment. A new steam-vessel, of 300 tons, has been built at New York, for the express purpose of 
 carrying passengers across the Atlantic. She is to come to Liverpool direct ! " 
 
 And she did reach Liverpool, accordingly, on the 20th of June coming, moreover, direct from Savannah in twenty- 
 six days. We have seen it stated that this vessel used her steam only when she failed to make four knots the hour 
 by sailing ; but these particulars, as we said before, are hardly worthy of notice. After a somewhat enthusiastic 
 reception at Liverpool, she proceeded to Stockholm, where Bernadotte went on board and made the captain sundry 
 presents, significant of his royal gratification. The Emperor of Itussia visited her also at Cronstadt and gave his 
 host a silver tea-kettle, which he retains, as a trophy of his adventure, to this day. 
 
 To these, we believe, might be added the " Curacoa," which is said to have gone over direct from Holland to 
 Surinam, in 1828, making the voyage from off Dover in twenty-four days. 
 
 And this, as far as we know, is the whole history of Atlantic steam-navigation. Its history, a hundred years 
 hence, will be more worth telling, though perhaps it may contain nothing more interesting to the men of those times 
 than the early experiments of which we have now finished an humble sketch. 
 
A i. 1788 i > HIO. PROPOSITIONS FOR GUIDING BALLOONS. BOO 
 
 With minds thus prepared let us come to the question of aerial navigation after 
 n.. tier of wliiit has been tried. We will present the difficulties in a tabular form, wherein 
 we shall find that they may be all included under eleven heads. 
 
 The experiments of Blanchard, of Guy ton de Morveau, and other aeronauts, prove that 
 oars can only slightly affect a l>alloon in a perfect calm. The celebrated Monge, the inventor 
 of descriptive geometry, and Member of the French Academy, in 1783, proposed a method of 
 directing acm-tats. As many as twenty-five spherical balloons were to be attached to each 
 other, like beads in a necklace, so that they could either lie in a straight line, or bend in all 
 directions. Two aeronauts might be attached in a car to each, and receive their orders 
 by signals from the captain for ascending and descending. He supposed that in this manner 
 the movement of a serpent in the water would be imitated ; but this singular project was never 
 put into execution. 
 
 General Meusnier, a distinguished officer of the French Engineers, has given the best 
 calculations that have yet been made towards the progress of aerostation, in a work published 
 in 17v"> ; hut his figures were neglected till Mons. Marey Monge embodied them in his able 
 work in 1817 
 
 He proposed a spherical balloon of ordinary dimensions, with an exterior cover, to 
 contain compressed air. By means of a pump he was to fill or empty this, thereby rising 
 or falling without valve or ballast. As to horizontal movements, Meusnier trusted to 
 atmospheric currents, and therefore devised such a plan as would enable the aeronaut to 
 move from one current to the other. It was by means of cross sails like a windmill, which 
 could be contracted and expanded with all the power the aeronauts possessed, and with this 
 he calculated on obtaining a movement of three miles an hour. 
 
 The 'Times,' in the spring of 1840, thus chronicles the success of one of Mr. Charle* 
 Green's models at the Polytechnic Institution : 
 
 A miniature balloon, of about three feet diameter, was filled with common coal-gas. To this were attached 
 the hoop, netting, and ear, and in the car a small piece of spring mechanism was placed, to giro motion to the fans. 
 The balloon was then balanced : that is, a sufficient weight was placed in the car to keep it suspended in the air, with- 
 out the capacity to rise or inclination to sink. Mr. Green then touched a stop in the mechanism, which immediately 
 communicated a rapid rotary motion to the fans, whereupon the machine rose steadily to the ceiling, from which it 
 continued to rebound until the clockwork had run out Deprived of this assistance, it immediately fell The 
 -4.- of this experiment was then performed. The balloon was first raised into the air, and then balanced. A 
 similar motion was imparted to the fans, the action of which in this case was, however, reversed, and the balloon 
 was imnifiliiitely pulled down to the ground by their forces. A more interesting effect still was then exhibited. 
 Tin- balloon, with the guide-rope attached to it, was balanced as before, the guide-rope having a small brass weight 
 fixed to tin; end of it. The fans were then removed from under the car, and placed sideways upon it, by which th. it 
 action became vertical. Upon motion being communicated, the balloon floated in a horizontal line, dragging the 
 guide-rope after it with the weight trailing along the floor, and continued to do so until the mechanism ceased, 
 when it iniinrdiately became stationary again. These experiments were frequently repeated with complete success. 
 Mr. Green states, that by these simple means a voyage across the Atlantic may be performed, in three or four 
 days, as easily as one from Yuuxhall Gardens to Nassau. 
 
 " The vast number," says M. Depuis Delcourt, " of propositions for guiding balloons may 
 be thus classified : 
 
 "1st. The reaction of heated air on -the atmosphere by the means of valves on the sides of a M outgo): 
 
 " 2nd. Chemico-physical agents, and agents purely mechanical, for Charlieree. 
 
 " 3rd. By towing-macliines, a method thought of by Thilorier, which is susceptible of receiving in certain 
 instances important and useful application. These different methods may be subdivided into fourteen classes : 
 
 2 8 2 
 
310 
 
 ASTRA CASTEA. 
 
 A.D. 1783 TO 1840. 
 
 CLASSIFICATION OF THE VARIOUS METHODS PROPOSED FOR THE DIRECTION OF AEROSTATS. 
 
 CHARLIEBES. 
 
 MONTGOLFIERES. 
 
 Chemico-physical Agents. 
 
 Mechanical Agents. 
 
 1. Openings for heated 
 air. 
 
 2. Reaction on the at- 
 mosphere. 
 
 3. Compressed air or gas. 
 
 "Eohpyli, or| T[rm . or 
 4. Steam . . direct jet > ... ," 
 pumps. 
 
 ["Simple fusees. 
 Composite fusees. 
 5. Gunpowder ^Cannon. 
 |" Mortier a recul." 
 (Shells. 
 
 6. Inclined planes. 
 7. Groved surfaces. 
 8. Archimedean screw. 
 9. Sails. 
 10. Reversed parachute. 
 11. Oars. 
 12. Wing-like win-' Is. 
 13. Blasts of wind. 
 
 Trained and harnessed birds. 
 Atmospheric currents. 
 14. Towing-machiues. 
 
 " Some of these will not stand the slightest investigation, and others are repeated with so many modifications 
 that it is difficult to form an opinion of their merits. Patents are frequently taken for nearly the same invention, 
 inventors having neglected to remark what has already been done." 
 
 The engravings herewith given will suffice for samples of some of the attempts already 
 made, and need no further explanation. 
 
 THE GROUP OF EXPERIMENTS. 
 
 No. 1. A Flying Globe made by an engineer named Blainville. It 
 is not explained how these wings were to be used ; but it gives the idea 
 of weighting and lightening a balloon with air by means of a pump. 
 
 No. 2 18 July, 1784, Abbe' Molan's Montgolfiere. A lateral 
 opening from which it was expected the heated air would rush and 
 force the balloon in the opposite direction. The machine catching 
 tire, the experiment was not made. 
 
 No. 3. A balloon with a reversed parachute by Mr. Henin. This 
 parachute was to slacken the ascent of the balloon, and allow the 
 action of the wind on the sails, thereby guiding it at pleasure. 
 
 No. 4. Sir George Cayley's Navigable Balloon, 1810. 
 
 No. 5. Samson's Aerostat furnished with fins made of feathers ; 
 but, like Julien's, a motive power is required. 
 
 No. 6. 
 
 No. 7. The Aerial Ship " 1'Aigle," of Mr. Lennox. It proved a 
 failure in the Champs de Mars, August, 1834. 
 
 No. 8. Systeme Pctin, 1850. 
 
 No. 9. Julieu's Aerostat. This aerostat, made in a model, 25 feet 
 in length, succeeded in the experiment made at the Hippodrome at 
 Paris, and went against the wind. Its movement was by clockwork 
 suspended below. This invention deserves encouragement. , 
 
 No. 10. November, 1851, Aerial scheme of Mr. Hellc not yet 
 tried ; consisting of a combination of sails and screws moved by the 
 strength of two men. 
 
BENSON'S AERIAL CARRIAGE. ::il 
 
 M. Dcjiuis Dclctiiirt says : 
 
 /:.,"-. i. c. aerostats of spherical form, CM ntvtr bt guided, as it in only possible for them to turn on tin ir 
 own pivots. Tli. ir progress in by fiU and start*, swaying backwards and forwards. 
 
 uidable aerostat can bo made, but then it iihould bo ship-like, with wood and metal in iU construction. 
 inviilving a serious attempt, for which money is required. The value of one iron-clad, if spent on a proper course 
 ..! , \|>criiiieii!s, mi-lit have decided the form and construction of a serviceable aerostat, and the stake to bo won is 
 far greater than the cost would bo." 
 
 The most complete aerostat of this description hitherto tried was Henson's Aerial 
 , which is thus briefly described by Mr. Wise : 
 
 M.-inv i-Tsons were sanguine in the belief that his machine was destined to perfect the art of aerial navigation. 
 ami it was seriously contemplated to build one after his model, with which to cross the Atlantic. Indeed, it was 
 \v. 11 calculated to inspire such a belief in the mere theoretical mind; but to the practical man it at once occurs, 
 \Yliat is to keep it from tilting over in losing its balance by a flaw of wind, or any other casualty, and thus tumbling 
 to the ground, admitting that it could raise itself up and move forward ? 
 
 Tin' princi|>al fmturo of the invention is the very great expanse of its sustaining planes, which are larger, in 
 projiortion to the weight it has to carry, than those of many birds; but if they had been still greater, they would 
 not have sufficed of themselves to sustain their own weight, to say nothing of their machinery and cargo; sun-ly. 
 tin nigh sli i\vly. t hey would have come to the ground. The machine advances with its front edge a little raised ; the effect 
 i >f whii-h is to present its under surface to the air over which it is passing, the resistance of which, acting on it like 
 a Btnmg wind on the sails of a windmill, prevents the descent of the machine and its burden. The sustaining of 
 the whole, theref ire, depends upon the speed at which it is travelling through the air, and the angle at which it 
 mid' r .-url'.iee impinges on the air in its front; and this is exactly the principle by which birds are upheld in their 
 flight with but slight motion of their wings, and often with none. 
 
 Hut tin n this result, after the start, depends entirely on keeping up the speed, and there remains beyond that 
 the still more formidable difficulty of first obtaining that speed. All former attempts of this kind have failed. 
 because no engine existed that was at once light enough and powerful enough to lift even it.- own weight tlm-ugh 
 the air with the necessary rapidity. Mr. Benson lias removed this difficulty partly, by inventing a steam-engine of 
 in- lightness and efficiency, and ]uirtly by another and very singular device, which requires particular notice. 
 The machine, fully prepared for flight, is started from the top of an inclined plane, in descending which it 
 attains a velocity necessary to sustain it in its further progress. That velocity would be gradually disiroyd by 
 the resistance of the air to the forward flight; it is, therefore, the office of tho steam-engine and the vanes it 
 actuates simply to repair the loss of velocity ; it is made, therefore, only of tho power and weight necessary for that 
 small effect Here, we apprehend, is the chief, but not the only merit and originality of .Mr. \\< -n-in's invention : 
 and to this happy thought we shall probably bo indebted for the first successful attempt to traverse at will another 
 domain of nature. 
 
 The editor of ' Newton's Journal of Arts and Sciences,' speaks of it thus: "Tho apparatus consists of a car, 
 containing tho goods, passengers, engine, fuel, (fee., to which a rectangular frame, made of wood or bamboo-cane. and 
 covered with canvass or oiled silk, is attached. This frame extends on either side of the car, in a similar manner to 
 the oiitstreteln d wings of a bird; but, with this difference, that tho frame is immovable. Behind the wings are 
 two vertical fan win-. -Is, furnished with oblique vanes, which are intended to propel the apparatus through the air. 
 These wheels receive motion, through bands and pulleys, from a steam or other engine contained in the car. To an 
 axis at the stern of the car a triangular frame is attached, resembling the tail of a bird, which is also covered with 
 canvass or oil. d silk. This may be expanded or contracted at pleasure, and is moved up and down for the purpose 
 of causing the machine to ascend or descend. Beneath the tail is a rudder for directing tho course of tho machine 
 to the right or to the left; and, to facilitate the steering, a sail is stretched between two masts which rise 
 from the car. 
 
 Tho amount of canvass or oiled silk necessary for buoying up tho machine is stated to be equal to ..... 
 square foot fur each half-pound weight, tin- whole apparatus weighing about 3000 Ibs., and the area of M: 
 spread out to support it 4500 square feet in tho two wings, and 1505 in tho tail, making altogether 6000 square 
 
312 ASTEA CASTRA. A.D. 1845. 
 
 feet. The engine is proposed to be of from twenty-five to thirty horse-power. It is stated in the specification 
 that, on launching the machine into the air, an elevated situation must be selected, and the machine allowed to run 
 some distance down an inclined plane, for which purpose vertical wheels are attached to the bottom of the car 
 or boat. When the machine has thus acquired a momentum, the rotary fan- wheels are put in motion to raise it into 
 the air and propel it ; the rudder appended to the car is then used for regulating its course. 
 
 " The photozincograph of this machine represents the aerial steamer flying. The bat-like wing, or sail, is the tail, 
 which turns on joints, answering the same purposes as the tail of a bird, and can be depressed, elevated, contracted, 
 or expanded, at the will of the commander. The car, containing the steam-engine, cargo, conductors, and passengers, 
 in suitable compartments, is represented by windows, and three wheels upon which the carriage can run on 
 land. Aerial goes foremost, and is a little raised : to the middle of the other is jointed the tail. The carriage is 
 two hundred and fifty feet by thirty, and the tail is fifty feet long. The rainbow-like circular wheels are the 
 propellers, answering to the wheels of a steamboat, and acting upon the air after the manner of a windmill. The 
 car is seen at one side, owing to the difficulty of representing it in an engraving underneath the surface of the 
 carriage, where it is located, between and below the propelling wheels." 
 
 This invention drew the attention and commendation of the scientific both of Europe and America. It 
 certainly comes nearer to the construction and consequent physical action of the bird than any that has ever 
 preceded it. It, moreover, embraces all the most rational conceptions and fine mechanical contrivances, without 
 the inefficient incumbrances, of all other flying machines that have ever been brought before the public. "VVc 
 might go on and multiply the description of plans and models that have been suggested of late years ; but as the 
 ones we have here given seem to embrace every valuable discovered feature of mechanism, it seems useless to waste 
 time in their further investigation. 
 
 The propulsion of the spheroidal balloon by steam or any other power, applied to the windmill-like paddle- 
 wheel, was first shown by a working model, put in motion by a clock-spring, by Charles Green, of England, one of 
 the most experienced aeronauts in the world, before the Society of Arts of London, ten or twelve years ago. By 
 reference to the London papers of that period a description will be found concerning it. 
 
 I here annex an article on the same subject from the 'Westminster Review': 
 
 The problem of aerial navigation is, of course, not completely resolved by the invention of a machine 
 or apparatus capable of sustaining the human body in the air. It is necessary to discover, likewise, the means of 
 guiding or propelling such a machine in any direction. It would, perhaps, at first sight appear probable that, if 
 means of floating in the air be discovered, a method of propulsion could be readily found ; yet it has proved in practice 
 a far more difficult attempt than had, at first, been imagined ; and the numerous schemes for effecting this object 
 have all proved abortive, or been attended with success so insignificant as not to warrant the further prosecution of 
 them. The balloon invented, the art of guiding or propelling it appears thus to be almost as far from our grasp, 
 and as distant of attainment, as ever. 
 
 Since the invention of the gas-balloon by M. Charles, of Paris, but few improvements of importance have been 
 made in it ; and, as might be foreseen from the original simplicity of the invention, what improvements have been 
 made are not improvements in the principle, but in minor matters of detail. The most important improvement 
 since introduced is one effected in the early part of the present century by Mr. Green, well known for the many 
 successful public ascents which he has since made. This improvement consists in the use of coal-gas instead 
 of pure hydrogen, which latter gas was employed in the ascents of M. Charles, and the subsequent ones of Lunardi, 
 Gamerin, and other aeronauts. 
 
 One of the principal advantages arising from the employment of coal-gas is economy, the saving of expense 
 being very great ; at the same time, from the greater density of the gas, its use entails this disadvantage that the 
 1 >;tlloon is required to be of somewhat larger dimensions than when pure hydrogen is employed for inflation. The 
 original expense of construction is thus increased, but the disadvantage of the greater cost and size of the balloon is 
 more than counterbalanced by the economy and convenience attending the use of coal-gas ; and, what is of great 
 importance, if balloons are eventually to become of practical utility, the period which a balloon retains its ascending 
 power is considerably prolonged, when coal-gas is substituted for pure hydrogen. 
 
 Since the introduction of the use of coal-gas in aeronautics, but few, or rather, perhaps, we oiight to say, no 
 improvements in the construction of balloons have been made; minor improvements have indeed been -made in the 
 
c 
 
 
 
 I 3 
 
 
 
 
A.U. is I:,. Till! \\IMMINSTKI! IJKVIKW ON AKKIAI, NAVK JATIOX. ::i:: 
 
 1'iirtii and arrangements of some parts of the machine, or apparatus connected with it, MI, h us tin- ingenious iin-ili-l 
 ..I lil.-i.itin^ tlu> lull. >.. n employed i .-II, \\li.iin we have already mentioned; but these are all hini|.l. 
 
 c..iitrivaiices nf ili-tail, which in no respect alter tin- jirini'i]ili- of the machine. 
 
 \\nli tin- invention ..f tin- balloon wo had then obtained the means nf floating in the air, and acquired 
 possession of a r..nti ivano- I'. .r this purpose; which, except its inability to Mi]i]Hirt very great weights, l.-ft but little 
 to bo desired, when oonMdi-ri-d a* .1. -tin- .1 m. i. l\ t.i Kit]i|>ort tin- hum in body in the air and to move fn- Iv with 
 ih- wind. I'.ut tin- <-ui]il. .vnp-iit of such a contrivance can scarcely bo called aerial navigation, and, in fact, only 
 half the work had been done : the Hhip for navigating the air had been invented ; the art of Moiling in .si ill nnkn. >\vn. 
 \\ .wn scarcely consider ourm-lves to have succeeded in discovering tlio art of aerial navigation until the aeronaut 
 has at his command the means of varying the elevation of the ball<x>n above the earth, and of causing it to move in 
 any hoii/,,ntal .lii.--tic.ti at will. Two inethodH of effecting this naturally suggest themselves; indeed, the art ..f 
 aerial navigation may be considered (as that of ocean navigation now generally is) as divided into two great ami 
 iliMinet liranches: the one, comprising the manner of directing the machine by the agency of the wind itoelf in any 
 i. in. either e, .incident with or different from that of the wind ; the other, the employment of artificial means of 
 I-- I -i.l-i-. n. such it* ].r. .]H-ll,-is ilrivi-n by steam-engines, or machinery of a similar nature. Of the attainment of a 
 -.illy iiM-fnl method of propelling balloons by the motive power of steam we fear there is little h,.|- : ami 
 were tin- attention of projectors directed to a method of sailing balloons, ruther than pro|H-lliiig them, it in probable 
 Home ii.-eful ]iructical progress might soon bo made in the art of aerial navigation. Attempts ut guiding balloons 
 imhtxl been made, but, being ill directed, have always failed ; ami, in fact, the application of the steam-engine 
 t<> loeoinotion not having been made at the time of the invention of balloons, all the early attempts at guiding 
 balloons or increasing tln-ir K]M ed were directed by the analogy, real or supposed, of a balloon and a sailing-vessel. 
 
 The supposed identity of the two cases led immediately to the trial of sails and rudders applied to balloons ; the 
 I-\]M rinientalists not perceiving the considerable and important difference existing between the two a balloon an. I 
 a ship appear to have fancied that the two cases differed merely in that of tin- balloon floating in a medium of far 
 less density than water. The similarity of the two oases is, however, apparent rather than real. In the eagerness 
 of the attempt, it was entirely overlooked that whilst the balloon, entirely surrounded by and immersed in the tluiil 
 which Mijijic.rt.s it. moves necessarily at the same rate as the current of air in which it happens to be, a vessel floating 
 on the surface of the water is impelled by the force of the air, which, moving at a much greater velocity than anv 
 current, cither in the river or tin- ocean, has, notwithstanding its much less density, sufficient power to give motion 
 to the vessel. Sails and rudders, then, when applied to balloons, were found useless ; the first did not increase the 
 speed of the balloon, the second had no effect in guiding it Sails were, of course, useless, since there was no w in. I 
 to fill them a balloon moving as fast as the wind ; and for the same reason, there being no current, the rudder had 
 no action on the direction of the motion. 
 
 The more recent attempts made of late years have almost invariably been founded on schemes for proj>elling 
 balloons ; and, in a great number of these, the employment of the steam-engine is a princijial feature. The object i< m* 
 to the employment of this motive power, even if it should be found possible to avail ourselves of the force of steam 
 for this purpose, would probably prove of such force as to prevent its introduction to any extent It may, no 
 doubt, lie urged that, in a medium of so small a density as air, the actual force required to propel a balloon would lie 
 -mall, and that this being the case, the size and weight of the machinery necessary to impel a balloon ntx-d in.t 
 be very considerable ; and that, therefore, it would bo found possible to construct balloons of sufficient size and 
 Sing j lower to carry the necessary machine. But, were it even so, the necessity there would be of eith.-i 
 relinquishing the use of the profiler after a very short period, or of descending to obtain supplies of fuel ami v 
 would U- found to render its practical application of but little value. If it be also remembered that to workasteam- 
 engine it requires not only an engine and boiler, but a heavy weight of water and fuel, even if the engine work but 
 for a very short time, and also engine-men and stokers to work the machinery and feed the fires, the uselessness of 
 the attempt is so evident as to render numerical calculations unnecessary for exposing its fallacy. The lightest 
 form of marine steam-engine in HM- weighs al>ont thirteen hundredweight ]n-r horse-power ; and when to this we 
 add the weight of fuel and water contained in the boiler, and that of the men necessary for attending the macliin. - \ . 
 we arrive at a sum total for the weight whatever horse-jiower we may assume as necessary, entirely beyond the ]K.\\. > 
 of any balloon to support For, though we may imagine a balloon of such vast dimensions as to IK- alile to Mijijiort 
 such a weight, yet the construct i..n of such a balloon would be difficult, and its inflation almost impose Me. 
 
 I'.ut. hereafter, one means of obtaining motive power may be discovered which will enable UH to dispense 
 
314 ASTRA CASTEA. A.D. 1845. 
 
 with the cumbersome appendage of a steam-boiler, and the weight of fuel and water necessary for it. Electro- 
 magnetism may, perhaps, stand us here in good stead ; but, at the present moment, the recently discevered 
 gun-cotton offers, perhaps, the best hopes of success. The enormous force of this substance, compared with its 
 weight and the space it occupies, the abolition of the boiler and all fuel which it will effect, and the fact of no 
 water, either for feed or condensation being required, are advantages which make us look forward to a trial 
 of gun-cotton as offering a prospect of greater success than has hitherto attended attempts at balloon propulsion. 
 Gun-cotton might be tried, probably with some effect, on the recoil principle of the rocket and the fumific impeller 
 of Mr. Gordon, as well as with machinery similar to the ordinary steam-engine, such as has recently been patented 
 by Mr. Talbot. The force of steam not being in this case applicable as a propelling power, if that of gun-cotton 
 should not be found available, we must seek in another direction for a motive power, which, with a small weight, 
 gives an intense force. The great object of the inventor will evidently be to get rid of a heavy incumbrance, such 
 as a steam-boiler, and to confine his machine within the most narrow limits possible as to space and weight. The 
 use of gun-cotton in lieu of steam, would certainly reduce the size and weight of the machinery, as far as wo can 
 reasonably hope to reduce it. Our propelling machinery would then, in short, be a steam-engine working without 
 water, without a boiler, and with but a very small weight of fuel ; but, until this substance has been successfully 
 applied as a motive power, its application to ballooning must, of course, be mere conjecture. 
 
 There can be no doubt that if a motive power fit for the purpose could be found, some form of propeller 
 would soon be invented capable of applying this power, with good effect, in the propulsion of balloons. The 
 numerous experiments which have been made during the last few years with submerged propellers applied to 
 steam-vessels, make it certain that a similar form of propeller might be used for balloons with a fair chance of 
 a successful result, if only a moderate velocity be required. We have ourselves seen a model balloon furnished with 
 a screw-propeller, worked by clockwork, perform in a satisfactory manner in a small room, the air being still. The 
 employment of a propelling power applied to the car of a balloon would, however, experience a difficulty of a 
 peculiar nature, which presents itself in all balloon experiments : this is a constant, though slow, rotation of 
 a balloon round its vertical axis. The use of the guide-rope, which we shall presently describe, almost, if not 
 entirely, destroys the tendency to rotation ; but one effect of the guide-rope is to retard the motion of the balloon, 
 while the object of the employment of a propelling force is, of course, to increase the velocity of the balloon, so that 
 the cotemporaneous employment of the propelling force and the guide-rope is scarcely feasible ; but until, by some 
 alteration in the form of balloons, or by the application of some mechanical contrivance destined to that effect, the 
 tendency of a balloon to rotate round its vertical axis be destroyed, the application of propelling machinery to 
 balloons can be followed but by little or no useful effect. 
 
 The want of success attending the early attempts at guiding balloons appears to have deterred adventurers 
 from repeating these experiments or devising new methods for effecting this object ; and, since the beginning of the 
 present century, nothing of practical utility has been tried. However, Mr. C. Green, whom we have already had 
 occasion to mention, has broached an idea which appears to be in the right direction, and which will possibly, when 
 modified, be found to be feasible. Mr. Green having remarked, during his numerous balloon- voyages, that at 
 various heights above the earth he met with currents of air which earned him in a direction different from that in 
 which the wind was blowing at the time of starting, conceived the idea, if it be possible to keep a balloon at a 
 constant elevation above the surface of the earth, that advantage might be taken of this circumstance ; for, by 
 increasing or diminishing the altitude of the balloon, a current of air might be found to carry the aeronaut in any 
 direction he might desire. It has, indeed, been long known that the wind, observed at the surface of the earth, 
 does not blow in the same direction with the current of air moving at some distance from the earth. This 
 phenomenon occurs not only in our latitudes, but also in the regions of the trade- winds ; and several observers, 
 amongst them Sir James Boss, in his recent voyage, have noticed, when in the trades, small clouds moving at a 
 considerable height above the sea in a direction contrary to that of the trade-winds. It is obvious that if it bo true 
 that, at some height or other above the earth, we may find a wind blowing in any given direction, and supposing 
 we can cause the balloon to remain invariably at the same height, we might be enabled to move a balloon in any 
 direction merely by ascending or descending until a current of air having the required direction is met with. 
 
 Various methods of causing the balloon to remain at an invariable height may, doubtless, be supposed ; but 
 the one actually in use, namely, that of discharging gas or ballast according as it may be necessary to check a 
 tendency of the balloon to rise or fall, is of very limited application, for the quantity of ballast and gas which can 
 be employed in this manner is very small. The power of varying the elevation, or remaining at the same height, 
 
A.I.. is i.-,. KEl'i:i\<:. 
 
 ) pvatly cxt. n.l.-d by the nso of condensed or liquefied gas; a small receiver containing li<iuid coal-gas 
 niiirht ! taken up in tin- <-ir, ami. K-ing connected with the balloon by a tulx> and stopcock, tho aeronaut would be 
 able. by tin- siiiijilc opening of tho stopcock, to permit tho entrance into tho ballixm of a largo quantity of gas. 
 
 would iin.l..iil>te<Uy be a few practical difficulties in its application, but untie such as could not bo readily 
 overcome ; but the danger attending the use of gas in thin form is but slight, liquefied gas having been in common 
 use for some yean past for lighting apartments and railway carriages in France, 
 
 M-. <!reon, however, proposes Mr. Baldwin's method, which is very different from tho above. He supposes 
 the aeronaut furnished with a ropo of sufficient length to reach from tho balloon, when hi the desired current of air, 
 to the earth: one portion of tho rope resting on and trailing along tho surface of the earth or sea, as the case 
 may IN , while (lie ..tber end is attached to tho balloon or car. If the balloon, from tho effects of tho sun's rays on it, 
 riw to a greater elevation, a corresponding length of rope will be rained off tho surface of the ground and supported 
 in the air : and in the same way, if tho balloon sink, an additional length of rope will bo plunged in tho water or 
 drag along tho earth. The result will be that, in tho one case, the same effect will bo produced as if an additional 
 quantity of ballast were added to, or a small volume of gas allowed to escape from, tho balloon ; in the other, the 
 effect will be similar to that of the discharge of ballast from tho balloon. It is evident that by this contrivance the 
 balloon will remain at nearly the same height from the ground, the effect of any expansion or contnieti..n 
 of the gas created by increase or decrease of the temperature of the surrounding air being counteracted by the 
 
 i imi in the weight which tho balloon has to support, and that without any loss of either Imllaat or gas. This 
 nieth. -1. however, could scarcely be practicable except at sea, on account of tho damage and difficulty its employment 
 would occasion by the entanglement of tho rope in trees and buildings ; but at sea no difficulty arising from these 
 circumstances could be experienced, and tho experiment is certainly well worth a trial. At great elevations above 
 the earth tho weight of the rope would also become so considerable as to require for its support a large portion of 
 the ascending power of any balloon. 
 
 One thing is clear, that the friction of the rope on the earth or in the water would occasion a degree of 
 resistance sufficient to retard in some degree the speed of tho balloon ; and this would lead us to hope that, this plan 
 being adopted, it would be found possible to guide or steer balloons. We have already observed that, to guide or 
 steer balloons, it will be necessary to find out some method of creating a relative velocity between the balloon and 
 th. wind which impels it; or, in other words, we must arrange matters so that the balloon move either slower or 
 more rapidly than tho wind. Now this is effected by the proposed guide-rope of Mr. Green ; and we may observe 
 that sailors are sometimes compelled to resort to a similar artifice in order to obtain steerage-way on a vessel 
 
 This artifice in navigation is termed ' kedging," and is employed when vessels are floating down streams or 
 rivers when there is no wind. Under such circumstances, a vessel would be in constant danger of being run on 
 shore, unless steerage-way could be got on the vessel. This is effected in the following manner : It is well known 
 that an anchor holds the ground more or less firmly, according as its distance from tho vessel is greater or less ; 
 and, when the anchor is immediately under the ship's bow, it has very little or no hold. Now, supposing a vessel 
 be in a tideway with no sails set, to obtain steerage-way the anchor is allowed to trail along the ground under the 
 bows of tho vessel, the cable being hove down until nearly vertical ; and tho resistance thus opposed to the motion 
 of the vessel through tho water is sufficiently great to enable the vessel to be steered. The artifice above briefly 
 dcscrib- d evidently bears a striking resemblance to the guide-rope of Mr. Green, and we think that an attempt at 
 steering balloons, made in conjunction with the use of the guide-rope, would be successful. Of course, some practical 
 difficulties would be found to exist, and the form and arrangement of the steering apparatus would be a subject for 
 great consideration. Some difficulty would also be met with from the rotation of the balloon on its vertical axis. 
 
 At sea, where this idea holds out great hopes of success, the lower end of the guide-rope should be attached 
 to a small boat or float, which would increase the resistance and give additional steerage-way. 
 
 difti. -ulties of steering balloons would then bo found, we think, to be far from insuperable. The 
 rotation of a balloon about its vertical axis would likewise be found a considerable obstacle to the use of any 
 propelling power, since the rotary motion of the balloon would cause tho direction of the propelling force to change 
 at each instant. A balloon al\\ .v- rotates in this manner; but its rotation is slow, and the fact is not at once 
 perceptible, and only :q>i>an nt on regarding fixedly an object such as a cloud at some distance from the spectator, 
 
 * Mr. Cnxwell considers the ow of tin- giii.le-mpe on tlie earth highly objectionable and clangcroiw, unlit* it be used at the moment of 
 descent, when it offers many advantage*. On the water it would j.r.ivi- invaluable. 
 
 2 T 
 
316 
 
 ASTEA CASTEA. 
 
 A.D. 1837. 
 
 when the position of the observer is soon found to change. It is possible that, were a form other than the spherical 
 one usually adopted given to a balloon, this motion of rotation might be very much diminished, if not altogether 
 avoided. 
 
 THE FULCRUM. 
 
 Meusnier* has treated this question in a masterly manner; and in one of his essays has 
 analysed the point d'appui in the air. Ignorance of this principle has caused many 
 mistakes. He easily shows how little permanent equilibrium there can be in the atmosphere 
 for a silken globe, which in respect to it is no more than a soap-bubble. It is otherwise with 
 aerostatic machines, solid, strongly built, and possessing a power of resistance and motion. 
 
 A point d'appui does exist in the air ; the bird has no other for rising and maintaining 
 itself in the atmosphere. The descent of a parachute is checked, because it finds in the air 
 the force of resistance, which is the true point d'appui. The fish floats like an aerostat, by its 
 specific lightness. Though the rivers and seas have their currents, yet the fish, by its form 
 and locomotive powers, can overcome them ; and it has been taken as a model in the machines 
 of Scott, Pauly of Geneva, and Mr. Egg, &c. 
 
 Mr. Monck Mason, the able and zealous writer, whose description of the balloon-voyage 
 from London to Weilburg we have already quoted, printed in an appendix to that account 
 the following " Observations," which have formed the basis of the articles on aerostation in 
 several of our encyclopaedias. 
 
 Steam-navigation has already shown us that the figures of scientific men are not always 
 to be depended upon ; and in this instance their errors have been so clearly demonstrated by 
 M. Marey Monge (a nephew of the inventor of descriptive geometry), in a work published 
 in Paris, in 1847, " that all who run may read " that the practicability of aerial navigation 
 is now demonstrated by mathematics. 
 
 OBSEEVATIONS UPON THE MECHANICAL DIRECTION OF THE BALLOON. 
 
 To display in its proper colours the long-contested question of aerial navigation, and enable the general reader 
 to form an opinion for himself as to the probability or improbability of the accomplishment of that most interesting, 
 and indeed important of all mechanical desiderata, is the object we have proposed to ourselves in the following 
 investigation. In the execution of this design we have felt it necessary to abandon the attractive but irregular 
 paths of description for the more tame and tedious avenues of systematic reasoning. But the truth is, the inquiry 
 itself properly admits of no other mode of treatment. The case of a balloon artificially propelled through the air, 
 is one essentially involving the elements of the pneumatical and mechanical sciences, and can only be satisfactorily 
 argued as to its practicability, upon the basis of strict mathematical induction. Any attempt to dispose of it 
 without these aids, however it may servo to amuse, must notoriously fail in the only object for which its services 
 are required ; namely, to determine the expectations of the curious, and direct the efforts of such among them as may 
 yet feel inclined to indulge in the attempt to accomplish it. 
 
 The recondite nature of the principles upon which it is based does not, however, by any means involve the 
 
 * General Meusnier was adistinguished officer of Engineers, a mem- 
 ber of the Academy of Paris, and author of many works. He had 
 spent ten years at Cherbourg in the study of Aerostation, when in 
 1793 the war called him to the Rhine, and he was killed by a 
 bullet at the siege of Mayeuce. At his death " Les Prussiens saisis 
 d'admiration et de respect, cesserent leur feu, pour dormer aux 
 FraiiQais le temps d'elever la tombe de leur ge'neral dans un des 
 bastions de la ville. ' Je perds un ennemi qui m'a fait bieu du 
 mal,' s'e'cria Fre'de'rie-Guillaume ; ' mais la France perd un grand 
 homme.'" (M. de Lamartine 'Histoire des Girondins.') His 
 papers remained at Cherbourg till Mongc collected and forwarded 
 
 them to the Minister of War. They were afterwards sent from 
 Paris to the school of Metz, where they may still be seen. A 
 portfolio of designs, an explanatory pamphlet, and the Memoir read 
 at the Academy of Sciences in 1783, are the only important works 
 of his on aeronautics now existing. Among the designs is the 
 outline with minute measurements of a magnificent ellipsoidal 
 aerostat, the longer axis being 87 metres, and the shorter 43 metres. 
 It was designed to carry thirty men, with provisions for sixty days. 
 
 M. Marey Monge in his ' Etudes sur 1'Aerostatiou ' thought that 
 he could not aid the Science of Aerostation better than by publish- 
 ing these designs. 
 
A.D. 1 ERRONEOUS CALCULATIONS OF MONCK MASON. .".17 
 
 necessity for a liko abstrusenora in the conduct of the inquiry they arc designed to support; nor, indeed, would 
 Mi.-h it o.m lu-ion have accorded with the purposes we have in view. They are not the learned but the unlcan.. ! 
 
 in l.il..u,- an' int. !..!! : enlighten. To those who are themselves versed in the sciences that bear upon t la- 
 case, the foil.. wing observations (with the exception of a few remarks which a practical acquaintance with the art 
 has specially enabled us to supply) can possibly present nothing new ; nothing, in short, with which they are not 
 better acquainted, unl of \vhirh they are not bettor able to judge than ourselves. It is to the general reader alone 
 that we addrew ourselves, who, with equal capability of drawing conclusions, may haply bo devoid of a proper 
 knowledge of the grounds whereupon to construct them. 
 
 \\ iih this view we have studiously endeavoured to avoid the employment of all such terms of art as are not 
 in use in common parlance, and otherwise to adopt a stylo and method as familiar and concise as is consistent with 
 the clear exposition of the subject we have taken upon us to illustrate. In accordance with those principles, our 
 intentions in the following investigation are to ascertain and define 
 
 I. The obstacles which interfere with the active progress of the balloon. 
 II. The mechanical moans required to surmount them. 
 
 III. The natural power by which those means are to bo put in operation ; and 
 
 I V. To point out certain regulations and restrictions by which they must bo governed in their application in 
 order to be really available for the purposes for which they are designed. 
 
 By this method of proceeding, one important conclusion at any rate we shall have established ; namely, what 
 are the means by which aloM the direction of the balloon can ever be accomplished. Under what particular form 
 these means may be applied, or whether indeed their application is within the reach of those powers which 
 Providence has placed at our disposal, wo leave entirely to the judgment and ingenuity of the reader himself to 
 
 .line. 
 
 (I- ) 
 
 The moment a balloon has cast off its last hold upon the solid earth and been received into the bosom of 
 the air, it becomes at once, and, in the absence of all foreign interference, completely subservient to the same 
 i inimlses and affected by the same impressions as those which govern the disposition of that element itself. To the 
 actual amount of these, the varied and inordinate rate of the atmospheric currents, is to be attributed the whole of 
 the difficulty that involves the question of aerostatic guidance. The mere tenuity of the medium, the want of a 
 consistency sufficient to afford grounds for the establishment of a proper point cTappui, or fulcrum for the application 
 of the requisite forces (which by most persons is inconsiderately regarded as the great obstacle to success), however 
 it may avail to enhance the difficulties of pure mechanical flight, is literally of no importance whatever as regards 
 the artificial propulsion of the balloon. The cases in this respect are entirely dissimilar. In the one, a force (the 
 attraction) has to bo overcome by another (the resistance of the atmosphere), with which it has no connexion, and 
 which, therefore, there is no reason to suppose necessarily competent to the charge. In the other, the forces to be 
 overcome and the means of overcoming them are the same, namely, the resistance of the atmosphere ; in proportion 
 as the grounds of propulsion are feeble, the opposition against which they have to contend, and by which they un- 
 regulated in their amount, are feeble also. 
 
 \Vi-re it not, therefore, for the rate of the medium and the obligations it imposes upon the conduct of the 
 operation, nothing would be simpler nor more certain than the mechanical direction of the balloon. Action 
 and reaction being invariably equal, any exertion of the proper means, no matter how slight, must inevitably 
 produce a determinate advance in its position; and that, without any regard to the direction of the medium 
 in which it is conveyed.* It is true that where the disproportion between the resisting powers of the means 
 
 * In considering the case of a body advancing through the air, 
 undi-r the exercise of means of pr..|.nl.-i<>n iuln r. nt in it>. 1C, the 
 reader will bear in mind that neither the rate nor direction of the 
 mrdium in which it is conveyed in any wuy affects it.- niniiiti.m. nr 
 
 impetuous current, in likely to be a Tory different one from that of 
 the same body calmly exercising the tame force with the advantage 
 of the wind to second it* exertions. The distinction, however, to 
 far as the condition of the body is if'tin -nml. is a false one. 
 
 occasion* it to suffer any sort <>f \. -I. n.-.- 1.. \.m.l what, with the Differing in this respect fr.>m other locomotive machines, all the 
 
 same exertions on its part, it would < \: it to seek to force* by which it is operated upon are determined by its i> 
 
 advance tcilk instead of againtl it. The i.|. a of a vast and cumbrous ertious alone, proportioned to the rate and opposed to the direction 
 
 machine struggling to maintain iUelf in the teeth of a rude and which they seek to establish. 
 
 2x2 
 
318 ASTEA CASTRA. A.D. 1837. 
 
 of propulsion and those of the machine whose movement was to be the result of their operation was extremely 
 great, its actual progress would be extremely small; some, however, little as it might be, would positively be 
 realised, and the only question would be how far the advantages obtained were worth the exertions employed to 
 secure them. 
 
 With an independent motion, however, in the medium of its conveyance, the guidance of the balloon to any 
 extent is by no means a necessary consequence of any exertion of forces with which it might be possible to invest 
 it ; and this it is which constitutes the great difficulty by which aerial navigation is beset, and by which it is so 
 unfavourably distinguished from almost all other known modes of transport. If a steam-engine, for instance, should 
 be competent to propel a carriage even at the slight rate of only a mile an hour, still the means employed might be 
 considered as successful to that extent at least, and the machine, though comparatively inefficient, yet, as far as it 
 went, available to purposes suited to its power. Such, however, is by no means the case with the balloon ; the 
 progress conferred upon it by foreign forces, be it ever so great, can never be set down as so much gained, nor can 
 the means of its propulsion be considered as successful to any extent that are not so to a given one. Acting in and 
 under the influence of a medium, itself endowed with rapid motion, a very considerable degree of velocity might be 
 acquired by the balloon without any actual gain at all ; and, were we to take extreme cases, the greatest rate of 
 motion ever enjoyed by any terrestrial object might bo conferred upon it, and yet so far from advancing it might be 
 absolutely a loser in point of space from where it was ere it commenced its career. Before the balloon, therefore, can 
 make sure of obtaining any advantage whatever from the exercise of its means of propulsion, it must be able at all 
 events to command a rate of motion superior to that of the medium in which it is conveyed. 
 
 The movements of the atmosphere, with which alone we have here any concern, are, as we all know, a most 
 variable quantity, comprising within their limits almost every degree of velocity with which we have any practical 
 acquaintance, and pervading (so far as we have any right to conclude) all those regions which, from their proximity 
 to the earth, constitute the proper sphere of the balloon. 
 
 I am aware that an opinion is very prevalent among aeronauts, and which is also favoured by some 
 meteorologists of distinction (especially those of Germany and France), that all these changes are confined to the 
 lower regions of the atmosphere, and that beyond a certain elevation, a state of perfect, or at least comparative, 
 tranquillity may be looked upon as the natural condition of the ethereal space. To what to ascribe the origin of 
 this opinion I am totally at a loss to conceive, unless indeed it may be to that innate disposition in men to believe 
 what they desire to be true, and to adopt, without questioning, whatever appears to favour their particular 
 predilection. The supposition, however, is by no means borne out by facts : on the contrary, many instances might 
 be adduced from the registered annals of the art, in which considerable excitement has been found to prevail in the 
 upper regions of the atmosphere; at a time, too, when, comparatively speaking, no motion whatever could be 
 perceived in the portions adjacent to the surface of the earth. In one of the two ascents which Signer Lunardi 
 executed from Heriot's Hospital Grounds, at Edinburgh, notwithstanding a state of perfect tranquillity uniformly 
 prevailed below, the rate of the balloon's course at the greatest altitude to which he arrived exceeded seventy miles 
 an hour [see p. 106 of this work]. On the 28th of April, 1802, Captain Sowden, in company with M. Garnerin, 
 ascended from the Eanelagh Gardens, near London, and after continuing at a very considerable elevation, in three- 
 quarters of an hour descended near Colchester, a distance of sixty miles ; having thus accomplished a rate of motion 
 equal to eighty miles an hour, although scarcely any could be perceived at the immediate surface of the earth [see 
 p. 115]. A still more striking proof of the existence of rapid atmospheric currents at excessive elevations, and one 
 which appears to be decisive on the subject, is afforded in the second ascent of M. Gay-Lussac froin Paris, in which 
 a very considerable rate of motion was accomplished, although the whole of the voyage, with the necessary exception 
 of the ascent and descent, was conducted at an altitude bordering upon twenty-three thousand feet, the greatest to 
 which any balloon has hitherto been known to arrive [see p. 120]. It is unnecessary to multiply examples 
 to disprove the truth of a general rule ; enough has already been adduced to determine the fact that, at the greatest 
 elevation ever attained by man, very considerable atmospheric currents have been proved to exist. What may be 
 the case at a still higher elevation we must leave to future experience to determine ; in the mean time wo must 
 continue to regard the atmosphere as we have found it; and, in our treatment of the question before us, consider 
 the aerial vehicle as liable to the influence of those forces which have hitherto proved superior to all the efforts by 
 which it has been attempted to subdue them. 
 
 These forces then are, as I have said before, of a very variable disposition, embracing within their limits 
 
A.I). is:t7. -NO NOTICE TAKEN or Till: I'inT.Kr.NT DENSITY OF THE TWO FLUIDS." 319 
 
 almost < 'very .1. _-r. . i' m-ii-n with which we are practically acquainted, from a state of perfect quiescence to the 
 enormous r.iti- <>!' one hundred miles an hour. Such a rate of motion, it is true, is very uncommon; and, in our 
 climate at least, of such rare occurrence that it could not bo imputed as a valid objection to any plan fr the 
 guidance of the balloon, that it was not calculated to meet so extreme a case as that which wo have here speciti> ! 
 Tli. average rate of the wind in these climates (which wo have chiefly in view in the following treatise), may be 
 said to be about twenty-five miles an hour. This we are enabled to determine, not from the observations of tin- 
 meteorologist alone, but (what is more to the point, because founded upon experience in a part of the atmosphere 
 with whi.-h wo have more especially to do), from a consideration of the average rate of Mr. Green's aerial 
 excursions, deduced from a series of two hundred and forty-nine voyages, executed generally in the most favourable 
 ;, U of the Yi-:ir. I-' mm this we learn that twenty-five miles an hour*is the moan rate at which a body floating 
 in the atmosphere may be expected to be transported ; and with resources to that extent would it bo necessary to 
 
 \- ided, were the average amount of the obstacles to be taken as the measure of the means to bo employed in 
 surmounting tin in. 
 
 Hut the average amount of the antagonist forces, however it might be deemed a sufficient gauge in the case of 
 other locomotive machinery, could by no means either prudently or properly bo admitted as an adequate allowance 
 in that of the aerial conveyance. The powers by which the progress of the balloon is liable to bo affected are so 
 vast, that were she only provided with the means of resistance upon so limited a scale, the deficiency in extreme 
 nanrti would involve consequences far beyond what the exercise of her own resources could ever enable her to 
 retrieve. No argument can bo drawn from a consideration of what would bo reckoned sufficient, in other cases (in 
 marine navigation 1'. >r instance), to sanction the admission of the some scale whereon to measure the means required 
 t". >r the guidance of the balloon. The extreme rate of a current at sea, never, I believe, reaches ten miles an hour ; f 
 that of the atmosphere in motion, I have before observed, occasionally amounts to one hundred miles in the same 
 time. The actual consequences, therefore, to a ship furnished with means equivalent to half of wliat she might 
 have to encounter, would bo but trifling compared to what a balloon would suffer in a similar emergency and 
 similarly provided to meet it. Each, it is true, would lose but one half of her way ; but the half of her way lost to 
 th<- -hip would be only equal to five miles an hour, and the result but the retardation of a few days at the utmost in 
 the date of her arrival at her destined port The loss of half her way to the balloon would amount to fifty miles an 
 hour, and the probable result would be that she would have reached the antipodes ere any circumstances might 
 
 occurred to favour the recovery of her course.} 
 
 r'mm the consequences of an inadequacy to contend with superior forces, the balloon again has none of those 
 shifts to relievo her, such as oblique sailing, tacking, or even temporarily suspending her progress, to which the 
 mariner can resort in similar cases, and which enable him to put up with a comparatively inferior power. If tin- 
 force which opposes the balloon she is unable to subdue by direct opposition, she must be content at once to submit 
 to the consequences of defeat. This is the moro necessary to be insisted upon, because 1 have generally found 
 persons resort to such arguments, in order to bolster up a feeble scheme of aerial navigation ; flattering themselves 
 that, although they might not be able to accomplish a progressive motion in direct opposition to a powerful current, 
 tii- y would be able to take an angle and traverse it obliquely, as a ship tacks against a wind; or, should that 
 fail, come to an anchor, and thus remain neuter during the predominance of the powers they are unable to contend 
 with. 
 
 The expedients, however, to which they advert are totally inadmissible, and, with regard to the former, 
 absurd. Tacking, as practised at sea, is an operation requiring the presence of two independent media, and may bo 
 defined, the taking advantage of one of them (the water) to secure a direction for the exercise of the force obtained 
 through the intervention of the other (the air); such a resource is as inefficient with the aid of one medium only, 
 as the action of the male screw would be without the female, or the lever without its fulcrum. If a balloon cannot 
 
 The total distance which Mr. Green accomplished in tho 
 come of bii flnt 200 aerial exrurnioiui, a very accurate computa- 
 tion enable* him to fix at 6000 mil.-* : and the time consumed in 
 the performance nt -In lit.ur-. Tin fc inner of theae two qua:/ 
 divi.li-d by the latter give* the i|in>ii.-ut iilmve mention. .1. 
 
 t The current! procecdin:; from the action of tin- ti.l.-s, which 
 occasioually accompluh a much higher rate of motion, are not, nor 
 
 should they be, hero taken into account ; inasmuch ax, from their 
 very nature, alternating rocceMively in two oppoaite direction*, they 
 invariably neutralise their own influence every twelve hour*, and 
 cannot really be Bid to have any effect upon the course of a 
 YMMl whose voyage i* intended to endure for moro than half the 
 above period. 
 I See Koto A, by M. Mougc, at end of this paper (page 332). 
 
320 
 
 ASTKA CASTEA. 
 
 A.D. 1837. 
 
 make head against a current of air in direct opposition to its course, it only aggravates the mischief by any attempt 
 to meet it obliquely.* f 
 
 With regard to the other expedient alluded to, namely, the temporary discontinuanee of the course of the 
 balloon whenever the condition of the atmosphere should happen to exceed its powers of resistance, the idea is 
 replete with practical impossibilities. The moment a balloon is inflated, the worse the weather the more urgent is 
 the necessity for her immediate departure ; every moment she delays teems with risk, and should the forces in 
 question be excessive (which, indeed, is the very contingency contemplated in our argument), the only chance of 
 her security is in the air. These are objections which the inexperienced reader cannot be expected to appreciate, 
 but which all those who have any practical acquaintance with the details of the art will be ready at once to admit. 
 If they are conclusive against the possibility of adopting the step here alluded to, with a balloon of the ordinary 
 simple principle and advantageous construction, how much more so must they be when applied to one fitted up 
 with the vast and cumbrous apparatus required for its propulsion, increasing the liability to damage exactly in the 
 ratio of the inability to resist it. The expedient, in short, is one which never could be resorted to except when it 
 was unnecessary, and never could be necessary except when it was impracticable. 
 
 The extreme rate of motion with which it may fairly and reasonably expect to have to contend, must, 
 therefore, be had in view in all schemes which propose to render the balloon a certain and serviceable mode of 
 transport, and at any rate as much of it provided against as shall leave a deficiency within the reach of her own 
 resources to repair. 
 
 From a consideration of all the bearings of the case, and desirous as much as possible to favour the hopes of 
 an aerial navigation, I am bound to say that unless the balloon can command a rate of motion equal to thirty or 
 thirty-five miles an hour, it cannot claim to be considered as a mode of transport applicable to useful purposes, or on 
 a par in point of advantages with any of those whose services it might be expected to supersede. 
 
 Now all this velocity, it is evident, cannot be accomplished without the development of a certain force of 
 resistance, which is in fact the very measure of the difficulty we have hitherto been labouring to ascertain. This 
 resistance is chiefly of two kinds ; the one, the direct impact of the atmosphere, the other, the friction occasioned 
 by the action of its particles along the surface of the opposing body ; both of which are determinable as to their 
 amounts by a consideration of the form of the object and the rate at which it is impelled. 
 
 1. The former of these, the direct impact of the atmosphere, is by far the more serious obstacle of the two, and 
 that against which the efforts of the aerial engineer have hitherto been almost exclusively directed. In a previous 
 page [see p. 161 of this work], we have taken some pains to point out in what manner and to what extent the form 
 of the body is capable of modifying this force, and have within certain limits established a rule by which to 
 determine the comparative amounts of atmospheric resistance upon bodies opposing plane and conical surfaces to its 
 action. To avoid, therefore, entering anew upon the same ground we shall only observe generally, that from one- 
 half to one-third less opposition is realised by a hemisphere, or cone of equal altitude with its base, in passing 
 through the air, than would be experienced by a plane surface equal in extent to its largest section, taken at right 
 angles to the direction of its course. The conditions of this latter force (I mean, of the resistance afforded by the 
 atmosphere to the impact of a plane surface), have already been pretty accurately investigated, and its amount, 
 corresponding to the rate of the medium, determined by experiments ingeniously devised and carefully instituted, 
 
 * The examination of the following Diagram will render this con- 
 clusion more apparent : 
 
 Suppose a body freely suspended in the air and capable of accom- 
 plishing a rate of motion equal to ten miles an hour, were to set out 
 from tUe point A, with the intention of proceeding in the direction 
 
 of A B, against a wind moving at the rate of twenty miles an hour ; 
 by the time it had attained tlie point B in the body of the atmosphere, 
 that point itself would have been transferred with the progress of the 
 medium to a spot corresponding to C upon the surface of the earth ; 
 the course of the body would be represented by the line A C, and 
 the loss of way would be equal to the difference between the two 
 rates. Were the body, with a view to avoid the direct opposition of 
 the air, to take an angle and seek to advance in the direction A D, 
 by the time it had reached the point D in the body of the medium, 
 that point would have been transferred to E on the surface of the 
 earth ; the course of the body now would be indicated by the line 
 A E, and the station it had acquired would be further removed by 
 the distance e E from the point B, which it had first aimed at, than 
 if it had proceeded thither in direct opposition to the wind. 
 
 t See Note B, by M. Marcy Monge, at the end of this paper (p. 333). 
 

 A. P. 
 
 ERRONEOUS CALCULATIONS OF MONCK MASON. 
 
 11 ili-green of the scale, from one to one hundred miles an hour. It is scarcely Decennary to observe, that 
 \vti. ill. r ill.- iiii]..u-t be effected by the motion of the body or simply that of the medium, the remit, no far as 
 concerns the amount of force produced, will be the same ; and that, consequently, the pressure of the atmosphere, as 
 ili-|.l;iyi-<! in tin- phenomena of the winds, may bo taken as a correct measure of the resistance which, at the same 
 
 i he balloon would occasion for itself, were it alone to be endowed with motion. For the benefit of those who 
 may fivl inclined to enter more at large into the calculations connected with the subject, a specification of this force, 
 as deterinin.il )<\ the i-\|>.-nimnt of Messrs. Rouse and Smeaton, has been subjoined below.* 
 
 i this TaMc it will be seen, that for every square foot of jJane surface called into action at the rate of one 
 mile an hour, the atmosphere exerts a resistance equal to five-thousandths of a pound avoirdupois; a force which i>- 
 fnMiiil to increase accordingly with the squares of the velocities under which it is exercised. To give some idea of 
 what this force would bo in practice, let us assume the oase of a balloon of known dimensions; that, for instance, 
 1. l..n^iii'_' i.. the managers of Vauxhall Gardens, with which the public are no doubt by this time pretty well 
 acquainted. This balloon is a spheroid of about sixty feet in height and fifty in breath ; in computing its powers of 
 resistance, however, we shall not much err if we regard it as a sphere, whoso diameter is equal to the mean of these 
 two quantities. Upon this hypothesis, tin n, the plane of its largest section would contain about 2372 square feet, 
 tin- resistance upon whieh, however, owing to its particular form would, as wo have before observed, bo only 
 equivalent to that upon a plane two- thirds its dimensions, or about 1581 square foot Multiplying this sum by the 
 amount in the subjoined Table corresponding to any degree of velocity, wo shall have at once, and with very 
 considerable accuracy, the amount of the whole force by which its progress at that rate is affected ; or, in other 
 words, the resistance it would offer to the atmosphere, or the atmosphere to it, were either to be arrayed against the 
 dthi-r in motion at the rate in question. Thus, at the rate of thirty-five miles an hour, which wo have already 
 agreed to consider essential to the successful progress of the balloon, the opposition experienced would be 
 1581 X 0-027 = 9528 pounds avoirdupois, or upwards of four tons and a quarter. 
 
 The proportion between the force here computed, and the buoyant power of the balloon might, it is true, be 
 considerably reduced, by the adoption of another form for the containing vessel, which should afford a less direct 
 resistance to the impact of the atmosphere ; such a modification as indeed would be necessary to render it 
 manageable under any circumstances. Were, for instance, the contents of the sphere in question thrown into an 
 envelope of the form of a cylinder capped at the extremity with cones, or an ellipsoid in length four times the 
 diameter of its transverse section, we should have a vessel equal in buoyancy to the former (omitting the difference 
 in the weights of their respective coverings), presenting an active resisting surface of only one-half the amount. 
 
 here, however, where the arrangement of the parts is, I believe, the most favourable to the reduction of the 
 force in question which it is possible to imagine consistent with the other exigencies of the case, the resistance to 
 its progress at the rate required would be equal to 4764 pounds. 
 
 2. To counterbalance in some degree the advantages, which, it is evident, here accrue from the adoption of a 
 form less favourable to the direct impact of the atmosphere, another force remains to be considered in the friction 
 which is engendered between the surface of the body and the particles of the medium in which it moves. The 
 introduction of this force is, in fact, the necessary consequence of the arrangements by which the other is sought to 
 be avoided. Friction being the resistance exerted by the passage of particles over and along a given surface, in 
 contradistinction to that occasioned by their impulse against it, must evidently increase in proportion as the facilities 
 
 TABLE, showing the perpendicular force of the wind nnder different vilncities, in pounds avoirdupois, on each square foot of plane 
 
 surface, computed from experiments of MEHBBS. Bocsm and SMEATON. 
 
 
 Mlta 
 fa Ham. 
 
 rmmre 
 pa-Foot. 
 
 MUM 
 
 per lluur. 
 
 IT? wore 
 per Foot 
 
 SCilm 
 per Hour. 
 
 PraBon 
 per FooL 
 
 HIV* 
 per Hoar. 
 
 ) . 
 
 per Foot. 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 005 
 
 8 
 
 315 
 
 35 
 
 G-027 
 
 70 
 
 24-100 
 
 
 
 > 
 
 tan 
 
 9 
 
 -.... 
 
 40 
 
 7-878 
 
 75 
 
 J7-G46 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 044 
 
 10 
 
 r.'j 
 
 45 
 
 :.;...: 
 
 80 
 
 :!1-4!X) 
 
 
 
 4 
 
 
 15 
 
 1-107 
 
 50 
 
 12-300 
 
 85 
 
 35-550 
 
 
 
 5 
 
 MS 
 
 20 
 
 
 55 
 
 14 - 
 
 90 
 
 39-850 
 
 
 
 fl 
 
 178 
 
 25 
 
 :;-nr:, 
 
 ,:,i 
 
 17-71:. 
 
 95 
 
 44-401 
 
 
 
 7 
 
 JI-J 
 
 30 
 
 l-l-j:' 
 
 05 
 
 20-7:u 
 
 100 
 
 .'00 
 
 
 The terms of the scale answering to the rate of the win. I at 70, 75, 85, 90, and 95 miles an hour, which hare hitherto 
 
 .>niittl. are lien- Mip].li. .1. 
 

 322 ASTEA CASTEA. A.D. 1837. 
 
 for the latter operation become lessened by the particular construction of the opposing surfaces. If an open umbrella 
 be held point foremost towards the wind, almost the whole of the force directed against it will be that of impact ; if 
 it be now gradually closed without altering its direction, the force of impact will become converted by degrees into 
 that of friction, and will give place to the latter almost entirely when the collapsion has become complete. In 
 bodies, therefore, where the force of impact is paramount, that of friction is at a minimum, and vice versa ; in the 
 intervening stages, alone, it is that both act in conjunction. The former of these being the more serious obstacle of 
 the two, it evidently becomes the interest of the aerial navigator to construct his vessel in such a manner as shall 
 leave him as much as possible the latter alone to contend with ; hence, the more perfect the scheme for the 
 propulsion of the balloon, the greater will be the share of the opposition to its progress, arising from the source in 
 question. 
 
 To the reader not versed in the physical sciences it may perhaps seem strange that a resistance of such 
 importance as to merit the consideration we have bestowed upon it, should be capable of being generated by the 
 attrition of the particles of an elastic fluid of such slight consistency as that of the medium of the aerial conveyance. 
 The influence, however, of atmospheric friction on the motion of bodies adapted to experience it, is unquestionably 
 very considerable, and often productive of effects in cases where it escapes notice. It is this that, in conjunction 
 with the attraction of gravitation, determines the course of the arrow shot from the bow, or the spear launched from 
 the hand, which, from the minute and almost insensible impact they are calculated to experience, would otherwise 
 be almost without a limit. To what extent it would operate in retarding the progress of the balloon how much 
 would have to be added upon that score to the opposition arising from the direct impact of the atmosphere can 
 only be ascertained by actual experiment in each particular instance. The purpose of our present observations is 
 merely to point out the existence of such a force, and explain in what manner it affects the question of aerial 
 navigation by the limitation it imposes upon the unconditional reduction of the obstacles upon which its chief 
 difficulty depends. 
 
 ( n. ) 
 
 To enable the balloon to maintain its course in the teeth of the opposition we have just been endeavouring to 
 compute or, more properly, to command a rate of motion whereof the opposition in question is the index as well as 
 the result it is absolutely necessary that it should be provided with the means of creating a reaction in the 
 surrounding atmosphere equivalent to the resistance it will have to encounter in its employment : without a reaction 
 there can be no propulsion ; and, unless the forces developed in the proceeding be commensurate with those by 
 which the balloon itself is liable to be affected at the rate required, they will not avail to establish a progressive 
 motion independent of that of the medium in which they are exercised. 
 
 There are, I am aware, other means of investing matter with motion besides that which proceeds from a 
 reaction in the medium of conveyance ; namely, by a resistance generated inherently and determined in a given 
 direction by the particular construction of the parts. Such, in fact, is the force by which the ascent of the sky- 
 rocket, the transmission of the cannon-ball, the operation of the piston and cylinder, and, lastly, the impetuous 
 discharge of gas or steam, however different may be the natural pmcer by which they are first called into action, are 
 all accomplished. The incompatibility, however, of the principles upon which they all act, with the other essential 
 conditions of the case, as will be seen farther on, will, I think, be sufficient to excuse the rejection of all such means 
 from our consideration, and sanction the limitation within which we have confined the prospects of aerial navi- 
 gation to the simple establishment of a reaction in the medium in which it is to be conducted. 
 
 We have already seen how completely all atmospheric resistance is absent from the natural career of the 
 balloon ; how entirely the motions of the two bodies coincide when unimpeded by the interference of any foreign 
 agents. From this it will be evident that no simple disposition of the parts, in the form of sails or otherwise, 
 however effective they may be in marine navigation, can be of the slightest avail in the present question. With 
 nothing to act upon them different from what acts upon all the rest of Ihe body besides, they can be considered in 
 no other light than as merely so many variations in the form of the aerial machine, and can be of no more service 
 in determining its progress than oars, simply resting in the water without exercise, woufd be in affecting the course 
 of a boat, as it drifted upon the bosom of the waves. 
 
 The reaction in question can therefore, it is evident, proceed from no passive arrangement of the parts, but 
 must be actively engendered by the exercise of a force distinct from any to which the simple progress of the body 
 itself is capable of giving rise. To this effect a certain extent of surface must be arrayed in motion so as to impinge 
 
A. i.. ! ERRONEOUS CALCULATIONS <>K MONCK MASON. ::.':'. 
 
 ii]-. ii tin- .i.lj.ii-.-nt strata of the surrounding medium, and in the oppoition it cneoimters, establish, as it wen, a 
 fulcrum fur the leverage by which the machine is to be substantially propelled. I'mler whatever form the ingenuity 
 
 or . ipii. i' man may induce him to order hia devices whether in the guise of oars, wings, or paddles, designed to 
 
 -i.'ii, rotation, or by continuous impression, as exemplified by tho involutions of tin- 
 
 -pii.il sail or vanes formed after tho fashion of tho screw all resolve themselves into this one principle; namely, 
 ill. impact at a certain rate, of a certain extent of surface against a resisting medium. 
 
 In the (vnM rurtii >n of this force, therefore, two elementary principles present themselves for consideration; 
 n.-uiiely, the ttafact and the motion conferred upon it To a certain extent these two principles are vicarious of each 
 i it In -r. and may be indifferently employed to produce the same results. For instance, if a machine, by the operation 
 i if n irivi 11 amount of surface, at a given rate, is able to communicate a certain speed, the amount of this speed will be 
 equally ; i fleeted by an alteration in the dimensions of the surfaces in question, or in the rate at which they are made 
 tn 1. 1" MI.-. To a certain extent alone, however, thin is true; for independently of the necessity there is for a 
 certain amount of each, no multiplication of the size of the surfaces could ever enable them to impel the body at 
 a rate ( motion greater tlian that which they were themselves at the time endowed. Thus a body impelled by 
 iv \-i living planes, as in a paddle-wheel, striking the air at tho rate of ton miles an hour, could 
 by no amplification of the dimensions of the surfaces be enabled to realise a rate of motion exceeding ten miles an 
 hour ; inasmuch as tho moment it had attained that rate of motion, all reaction between the surfaces and tho air 
 would cease ; or if continued beyond that rate, would bo transferred from the back to the front of tho impelling 
 surface, and operate to rctaid instead of advancing the body to which it was attached. 
 
 I'.ut though a limit is thus imposed upon the extent to which an augmentation in size may bo made to supply 
 a il> t'u-ii in v in the rate of the impelling agents, no such limitation exists in theory to the extent to which an 
 a no in the rate of impact may be made to compensate for an abridgment in their dimensions; the smallest 
 amount of surface being capable of realising any amount of resistance providing tho rate of its impressions bo 
 accelerated in proportion to the demand. Before, therefore, we can come to any definite conclusion with respect to 
 the size of the agents of the propulsion of tho balloon, it will be necessary that wo investigate and determine the 
 conditions by which the rate of their impact is governed. Should it appear from such an investigation that this 
 rate is not more than it may fairly be expected to accomplish, it will then be open for consideration whether a still 
 further increase may not be made subservient to a reduction in the size of the impelling planes. If, however, on 
 the other hand (as, indeed, I fear will bo found to be the more probable conclusion of the two), the velocity 
 required for tin- fulfilment of the obligations alluded to be as much or more than is capable of being attained in 
 praetiee. then will the condition* of size and rate assigned upon such grounds be the lowest in conformity with 
 which the successful guidance of the balloon can be accomplished. 
 
 1. With regard to the motion of the impelling surfaces, therefore, one important point is already established ; 
 namely, that whatever may be their actual condition as to size, number, or powers of resistance, tho rate of their 
 impact must not be less, at all events, than that required as the final result of their operation ; in other words, than 
 the rate assigned to the balloon itself. Admitting the correctness of the conclusion to which we have arrived in the 
 preceding section respecting tho rate of the balloon, this obligation alone tends at once to fix upon the agents of 
 the propulsion a velocity of action amounting to between thirty and thirty-five miles an hour. 
 
 In proceeding, however, to accomplish this rate of motion by the exercise of the mechanical means we have 
 In-fore laid down as essential to the purpose, another force becomes developed, tending to impair their efficiency and 
 imperatively calling for a further accession to the velocity with, which they are required to act This force, wlii.h 
 is precisely analogous to the " back-water," observed at sea in the case of vessels impelled by steam, proceeds from 
 a condition induced in the atmosphere by the action of the impelling surfaces themselves, whereby the adjacent 
 portions bra mi d.tiimiuid in a continuous stream, mainly opposed to the course of the machine, and with a 
 velocity proportioned to the scale upon which the operation has been conducted. 
 
 I In- explanation of this process is extremely simple, although the circumstances by which it is attended are so 
 i -i implicated as to baffle any attempt to calculate the precise amount of the obstruction. In the atmosphere, as in all 
 other fluids, clastic or non-elastic, a certain uniformity of condition necessarily obtains. \\ In in \er this unifi.rmiu 
 happens to be disturbed, cither by natural causes or the interference of foreign agents (as in the present case, by the 
 rapid aetnm of Urge resisting planes), a general tendency is immediately manifested in all the neighbouring parts 
 to rush in and restore the equilibrium; in tho course of which all the same symptoms arc evolved, and the same 
 
324 
 
 ASTEA CASTEA. 
 
 A.D. 1837. 
 
 effects produced as would attend the exposure to a natural current of air. The consequences of this disturbance 
 upon the progress of the balloon are too apparent to need explanation, although the extent to which it would be 
 necessary to increase the speed of the impelling surfaces, in order to counteract its influence, and enable them to 
 realise the required momentum, would not be possible without actual experiment precisely to ascertain. From a 
 critical consideration of the several circumstances of the case, however, I do not hesitate to conclude that an 
 augmentation of at least thirty per cent, in the rate of the impelling agents would not be more than enough to 
 compensate for the disadvantages under which they labour upon this account, and place the machine, as far as 
 regards the efficiency of its means, upon a par with what it would be were no such obstruction the natural 
 consequence of its exertions. Thus assuming the accomplishment of a rate of motion equal to thirty-five miles an 
 hour to be essential to the successful progress of the balloon, the surfaces by which that result is to be realised must 
 impinge upon the atmosphere with a velocity of not less than fifty miles an hour. 
 
 To the sufficiency of this estimate, however, another consideration is necessary ; namely, that this impact be 
 maintained at the rate appointed throughout the whole period of the operation : in other words, that no interval or 
 intermission be allowed to take place in the action by which it is generated, whereby the velocity be less at any 
 one period than what is understood to be essential to the accomplishment of the progress required. The necessity 
 for this stipulation will appear the more readily when we consider that the resistance experienced by the balloon is 
 liable to no such periodical suspension ; but, such as it is, may be generally considered as incessant in its operation, 
 at the rate for the time presumed. Whenever, therefore, any cessation or abatement is allowed to take place in the 
 action of the impelling agents, a temporary ascendancy is conferred upon the opposing forces, and a corresponding 
 reduction occasioned in the progress of the machine. To obviate this deficiency and secure a given amount of 
 velocity in all schemes in which the agents of the propulsion operate by reiterated percussion (as exemplified in the 
 case of wings or oars), a further accession must be made to the rate at which they are required to act, proportioned 
 to the interval allowed to elapse between the periods of absolute impact and to the difference which that interval is 
 calculated to produce in the momentum of the body, already considered to be fixed at the lowest which the exigencies 
 of the case will permit. 
 
 2. When a body is set in motion by the exercise of its agents of propulsion, whatever may be the proportion 
 the resisting surface of the one bears to that of the other, or the difference between the rates at which their impres- 
 sions are effected, the amount of resistance experienced by each will be invariably the same. Thus, if an individual 
 seated in the car of a balloon operate upon the adjacent atmosphere simply by means of a lady's fan, a rate of motion, 
 however insensible, will be inevitably induced in the former sufficient to generate an amount of resistance exactly 
 equal to that exerted against the surface of the latter ; the only difference being, that in the one case it is concen- 
 trated upon a smaller, while on the other it is diffused over a larger, extent of surface, and thus by the infinite 
 participation of its effects escapes detection. From this (which is, in fact, but a deduction from the well-known 
 maxim of the equality of forces in action and reaction), it follows that to enable the impelling agents to bring up 
 the balloon to a given rate of motion they must be competent to the production of the same amount of resistance as 
 the opposing surface or surfaces of the balloon itself, in progress at the rate required. 
 
 This result, as we have before had occasion to observe, might (circumstances permitting) be attained equally 
 by a modification of the superfices themselves, or of the rate at which their operations are conducted. From what 
 has, however, been established in the preceding section, I think it will be readily conceded that, admitting even the 
 possibility of the accomplishment of the velocity there assigned to them, we should not be justified in looking to that 
 quarter for any further augmentation by which to enable us to dispense with any portion of the dimensions of the 
 propelling agents which at that rate would be necessary to the generation of the required resistance. Now, the rate 
 in question being equal, or rather equivalent to that of the balloon,* and an equal amount of resistance being required 
 as the result of the operation, it follows that the surfaces of the agents by which that result is to be obtained must 
 be equal in extent or equivalent to those of the balloon itself. 
 
 * It is true that we have assigned a much higher rate of motion 
 to the mechanical agents of the propulsion than that specified as 
 the terminal velocity of the balloon itself ; the cause of this dis- 
 tinction, however, being the reduction in the resisting faculty of 
 the medium of the propulsion, occasioned by the natural and 
 
 necessary condition induced in it by the process itself, in the 
 benefits of which reduction the object to be propelled does not 
 participate, the rates, however different, must be looked upon as the 
 same; being, in fact, only equal to the production of the same 
 amounts of resistance. 
 
A.I.. ! i:iil;oN-EOUS CALCULATIONS OF MONCK MASON. 
 
 In il. '. i milling, however, the UM of a surface,* by which a given amount of resistance is to be generated at a 
 ui\. u r.it.- of ni..ii..n, regard nuwt bo had to tho/orm and structure of the parts by which the impact in question i 
 I l>.i! this head we have already had "fn^"" to comment rather largely on another occasion, 
 ami niorv -lightly in the first section of the present treatise. From what has been there stated, it appears that 
 in .Tt-ittiiu; an ini]iri>..i<iii u]ion the atmosphere, a plane (and, a fortiori, A concave) surface, has an advantage over 
 one of a convex or conical construction, varying according to circumstances from one-half to one-third of tl>.- win ill- 
 amount To that extent, therefore (wore there no other obstruction to the progress of the balloon tlum that arising 
 fri'iu tin- ilinct impact of the air), might we expect to bo able to reduce the proportion between the superficial 
 .liiii-n-ii.il- -!' tin- ini|-lling agents and that of the balloon, in favour of the former. From the nature of tin- pi.. 
 coeding, however the complicated construction and extended late nil surfaces of the balloon, modified us it would 
 have to be to suit tin- purposes of aerial navigation a considerable amount of resistance, consisting both of friction 
 .iii.l iin|'.i. i. winilil 1- .l.-vi loped beyond what a calculation founded upon a consideration of the shape and area of ite 
 greatest opposing section would lead us to infer. To meet these accruing demands an augmentation would Itave to 
 be,made in the ivhitiv.- ilim.-nsions of the impelling agents, which would remain to be determined by a reference to 
 the jKirti.'iil.u- condition* of the case and the aptitude of the parts to perform the functions allotted to them. IV. 
 Burning, h... \. i. that as far as the/omu of the parts are concerned, every opportunity would bo taken to turn th.-m 
 t<> tho best account that the surfaces designed to effectuate the resistance and those whose object it is to evade it 
 would bo oonstructi-d in tin- manner most favourable to tho interests of each wo may set it down as conclusive that 
 from two-thirds to three-fourths the actual size of the Litter would be necessary to enable tho former to generate by 
 th.-ir iinjkn-t an equal quantity of resistance. 
 
 In adilition. lmw.-v.-r, to the resistance occasioned by tho simple progress of tho balloon, there is anoth. r 
 x-tion which claims to be provided against by a further extension of the proportions assigned in favour of the 
 surfaces of the impelling agents. This obstruction arises from tho necessary opposition experienced by the parts of 
 the latt.-r in the act of recovering their positions, preparatory to tho repetition of tho stroke by which the propulsion 
 of the balloon is accomplished. Thus, for instance, supposing the machinery employed for tho purpose to partake of 
 th. n. it'ii. of the paddles of the steam-vessel, rotating upon an axis, while one portion of the apparatus is impinging 
 upon tho atmosphere in a direction favourable to the end in view, another is inevitably impinging in a direction 
 v-ly of/posiU, and with an .IV.vtiv.- velocity exceeding that of tho former by a quantity equal to twice tho actual 
 rate of tho balloon at the time.| This is a conclusion which can never bo entirely avoided. No matter how 
 ingeniously drvisrd or how jH-rfi-ctly constructed, a certain amount of surface must ever be presented to tho action 
 of the atmosphere in the manner above mentioned, and operate more or less to detract from tho value of the forces 
 which it is able to command. How much it would be necessary to extend tho dimensions of tho impelling agents to 
 count. iM't tin- effects arising from this obstruction, experiment alone could accurately enable us to ascertain. As a 
 conclusion, however, which though not expressly deduciblc from actual calculation is fully warranted by a con- 
 sideration of the case in all its bearings, it may be laid down that, in order to overcome the resistance occasioned by 
 this in conjunction with other obstructions of minor importance (but which in our general view of the subject it i- 
 not necessary at present to particularise), the area of the impelling planes should at least be equal in extent to that 
 of tho perpendicular opposing surface of tho whole machine itself. Thus, for instance, in the case of tho Vauxhall 
 balloon. 1 - ! .it- quoted, in order that tho impelling agents might be able to confer upon it the rate of motion specified 
 
 * The wi* of a surface in nlitmu to its powen of resistance, which 
 u tin- KIM- in wlii.-li it i here mxxl, in a plane equal to the mm of 
 the projcctioua of all the part* by wliirli tin: progress of the body is 
 i:, ,]! .1. i.ikt 11 at right angle* to the line of its propulsion. When 
 the form of the body is simple, tliin plane resolves itself into a 
 section of tin; body at its point of greatest luU-ral i-xU-uMun, or 
 mich ai its shadow would appear upon a plane airfare directly 
 In-hind it. In both'.:* of a more complex construction the size of the 
 plane in question is not no easily .1. t. -num. -.1. AH parU which 
 
 jlilnurinj; ones, however they may be covered 
 
 ..then, receive to a certain rxt. -nt the impact 
 of the air, ;.vl inii-t 1- .-..n-i.i. r. .1 in tin .-stimate of the surface 
 contetnpUU.il in the above d-tiniti..n. Tli.- .-ir.-iiiii.-t.in. <.- by which 
 the resistance of the part* so disposed in governed namely, tin ir 
 
 2 u 2 
 
 r. I;. live magnitude* and positions, the degree of shelter they obtain, 
 and the state of the medium when it hat reached them are too 
 vague to permit ui to assign any general rule but that of experi- 
 ment, whereby to determine the exact share they may have in the 
 operation, and how much should bo added upon that score to the sue 
 of the surfaces by which they are to be matched. 
 
 t The medium virtually receding as the body advances, the 
 amount of its velocity ( = thu rate of the balloon will have to be 
 deducted from that of all bodies proceeding in the some direction 
 and supendded to that of those proceeding in a contrary one. The 
 sum of these two quantities ( = twice the rate of the balloon), cou- 
 stitutcs tlu-r. ii.r. . th. difference between the atefof impact of the 
 parts of the machine proceeding in opposite directions. 
 
326 
 
 ASTRA CASTRA. 
 
 A.D. 1837. 
 
 as essential to the success of the operation, they must present to the continuous action of the air an extent of plane 
 surface equal, at the least, to sixteen hundred square feet. 
 
 In assigning this proportion to the dimensions of the resisting surfaces, it must not be forgotten that much of 
 its sufficiency will depend upon the condition with regard to continuity or compactness of the parts by which the 
 impression of resistance is effected. A given extent of surface, distributed into several portions, is by no means pro- 
 ductive of the same amount of resistance as if it had been disposed in one uniform plane ; neither is one whose 
 contents bear a smaller proportion to the line that bounds them equivalent to one of the same dimensions within the 
 smallest amount of margin by which it was possible to be enclosed. How far again this circumstance would operate 
 to affect the proportion in question, in the absence of actual experiment, can only be conjectured. Eegarding, how- 
 ever, the essential conditions of the case, such as we know they must be the uniform bulk of the balloon, and the 
 necessary disjunction of the parts by means of which it is to be impelled there will be, no doubt, something to add 
 on this score to the allotted dimensions of the latter, which, for the present, we shall only consider as contributing to 
 support the necessity for observing the proportions we have before laid down. 
 
 To put all this machinery in motion, and confer, as it were, animation upon the lifeless mass, a certain 
 natural power is required, the amount and conditions of which it becomes our next duty to investigate. If rapid 
 motion, independent of great force, or great force apart from rapid motion, were all that was sought to be established 
 in the agents of the propulsion, but little difficulty would exist in appointing the means by which it was to bo accom- 
 plished. By a proper combination of machinery, the smallest conceivable amount of force beyond what is necessary 
 to overcome the inert resistance of the parts themselves, may be so multiplied in its efficiency as to be made to 
 conduce to results in either extremes limited only by the nature of the materials upon which it has to act. A single 
 individual exercising a force equal to one hundred pounds only, by the intervention of a system of six wheels, the 
 circumferences of each bearing to those of their axles the ratio of ten to one, might be made to raise a weight of a 
 hundred million of pounds, or nearly forty-five thousand tons ; while, by reversing the action of the apparatus, a 
 rate of motion would be communicated from one extremity of the machinery to the other, a million of times greater 
 than that of the power itself by which it was generated.* It is only where both are required to be included in the 
 same operation where the resistance and the rate, as in the present instance, are both terms of the same propo- 
 sition that any limitation exists with regard to the results, or any obligation is imposed upon the means by which 
 they are to be attained. 
 
 To those who are acquainted with the principles of the sciences concerned in the case, this conclusion will be 
 at once apparent : for the benefit of others it may be as well to observe that, as it is only by the sacrifice of one or 
 other of the constituent principles of the momentum they are required to communicate (either the velocity or the 
 quantity of matter) that the mechanical powers operate in varying the result of the original impression, whenever 
 a limit is assigned to the extent to which either of these principles may be reduced, a limit is likewise assigned to 
 the advantages the mechanical powers can confer, which draw their influence exclusively from its reduction. 
 
 To apply these observations to the present question, we have already seen that in order to impel the Vauxhall 
 balloon, through the air at a rate of thirty-five miles an hour, a rate of motion in the agents of the propulsion equal 
 to fifty miles an hour is required, generating a resistance equivalent to the weight of nine thousand five hundred 
 and twenty-eight pounds, or nearly four tons and a quarter. If, instead of this double obligation, it had been simply 
 required to effectuate a resistance equal even to one thousand tons, or a velocity of action amounting to as many 
 miles an hour, the object might easily be accomplished (barring the imperfections of art) by the well-directed efforts 
 
 * Supposing the absolute radii of the wheels to have been 
 ten inches, and those of the axles oue inch, then multiplying the 
 former successively into each other, we shall have 10" = 1,000,000 
 as the value of the leverage in favour of the power, and one (the 
 product of the continued multiplication of the axles), that in favour 
 of the vseiglii. Taking then, as above, 100 pounds to be the power 
 of the individual, we have 1 : 1,000,000 : : 100 : 100,000,000, or 
 somewhat more than 44,642 tons, the weight he would be able to 
 sustain. The velocity, however, being decreased in proportion to 
 the augmentation of the weight, as much as the latter exceeds the 
 
 amount of the original impression, so much will the rate it moves 
 at fall short of that of the generating force. In the present case this 
 is a million-fold ; consequently, such will be the difference between 
 the rate of a point in the circumference of the first wheel and that 
 of one in the circumference of the last axle. Supposing, then, the 
 influence of the power be suspended or removed, the weight, in its 
 preponderance reversing the action of the machinery, would com- 
 municate to the locus of the former a velocity a million-fold greater 
 than that with which it was, itself, at the time endowed. 
 
A. ... 1837. I:I:I;M\I:<HTS CALCULATIONS OF MONCK MASON. 327 
 
 of a M!i_'l.- individual. AH it in, however, no such conclusion is necessary; tho mechanical multiplication of the 
 original impression l,y tho sacrifice of tho antagonist principles has already been determined by tho appointment ..I 
 their limits; nil further accession* can only be obtained by an actual augmentation of it-, anioiint. Should the 
 prowmie. therefore, which it may bo conv. ni.-nt or possible to command, fall short of four tons and a quarter, it must 
 l ..fsuch a nature as to develop itself with a rapidity exceeding fifty milt* an hour \>y an amount equivalent to the 
 differ. -n : mi tht- i.ih.T hand, should tho rate of its generation be loss than fifty miles an hour, it must exceed four 
 tons and ;i quarter l>y ii quantity sufficient ti> compensate the deficiency. 
 
 With th.-Ho facts in vi.-w, very little consideration is required to determine tho impossibility of offecting the 
 jui.laiiiv or propulsion of the Uilloon, to any beneficial extent, by a force originating in tho exercise of human 
 _ih. This, indeed, ia a conclusion which might have ben arrived at without any such elaborate computation, 
 liv simply reasoning upon grounds deduced from observation and experience; and, indeed, the wonder is, that with 
 ao many ami sueh pal|alile ti-stiinonies of the inadequacy of the powers in question, any one should ever liavo con- 
 teinplated thi ir employment. r contrived plans, with no more sufficient means to accomplish their execution. Every 
 one ho has ever been presentat the ascent or descent of a balloon, must have been struck with the display of human 
 
 \\ hi. h the occasion is calculated to call forth ; tho number of men employed in tho operation, and (lie e\. -rtions 
 they arc compelled to make, at times even when the action of the atmosphere is so slight as otherwise would have 
 enapcd their notice. If so many persons, with all the advantages of a solid resting-place, and an unyielding medium 
 for the dii'-et tniiisinissioii of their strength, can scarcely avail to maintain it in ita placo, how utterly inefficient 
 must they be when transferred to an unstable fulcrum, and having to apply their force through the intervention of 
 tho body its. If whose motion it is their object to control? 
 
 I'.ut the inadequacy of human strength to accomplish the guidance of the balloon is capable of a still more 
 accurate determination. According to the observations of Professor 1'luyfair, Kmerson, and others, who have s]>ccially 
 investigated the subject, a man of the ordinary powers, working at a wheel, is competent to raise a weight of thirty 
 pounds, through a space of three feet and a half in a second of time, supposing him to continue his exertions for 
 a period of ton hours a day. \Vheii the velocity, however, with which ho is expected to operate is increased, tho 
 amount of resistance against which he can contend must be proportionately diminished ; and, at the rate ascribed to 
 the agents of aerial propulsion (namely, fifty miles an hour, or seventy-three feet in a second), could only be esti- 
 mated at about one pound and a half; that is. presuming him capable, at tho rate in question, of overcoming the 
 
 ilia and friction of the machinery with which ho would have to contend. 
 
 I'.y the sulistitutioii, however, of his legs instead of his arms, a higher degree of power might undoubtedly 
 be obtained, and which might bo still further increased were he accommodated with such an apparatus above his 
 shoulders as would enable him to add some amount of muscular reaction downwards to that accruing from the sole 
 exercise of his bodily weight By this means, at tho ordinary rate of walking (which may be roughly assumed at 
 three miles an hour.t or somewhat more than four feet in a second), a man might, for a considerable length of time. 
 a force equivalent to his whole weight, or about one hundred and fifty pounds; which, reduced in proportion 
 to the increase in the rate (namely, from four to seventy-three feet in a second, or about eightecn-fold), would give 
 a result of eight pounds nearly as tho available extent of each individual's exertions. 
 
 The exercise of muscular strength, however, no matter how lightly it may be taxed, being limited in it* 
 duration, while the estimate upon which its amount has been determined is founded upon tho supposition of its 
 uninterrupted continuance, it would be necessary to be provided with such an amount in reserve as would suffice to 
 maintain the same quantity of power in constant operation. Admitting, therefore, that a man could continue to work 
 at the rate ascriVd to him for one-half of his time, a double supply of men, at the least, would bo absolutely 
 requisite, whereby the amount assignable to each individual would in effect be reduced to only four jiounds a 
 quantity ln-aring so small a proportion to tho weight as to hold out no prospect of its ever being available in the 
 practice of an art, the main condition of which is tho attainment of extreme specific lightness. To illustrate this 
 conclusion by reference to a particular case, wo have already seen that the resistance experienced by the Vauxhall 
 
 * Seventy-thn*- feet in a aecond thi- rate required being twenty- 
 one time* greater than that oontiiiu. .1 in tin- ]n..|..-iii..n ii|..n wliirli 
 onr estimate in founded, ti . wiiirl.t wliirli could be rained will be 
 but a iinr-aiui-lirrntirth part of that referred to in tin- siunc proposi- 
 tion. Tl.irty. dividi-d by t-.v ivei Yery nearly tin- i|iiotient 
 we have abore deduo-l. 
 
 t A man may walk at the rate of four mile* an hour, bat I doubt 
 if he could exerciw hi* legs in the modn wliiHi would 1m required 
 in turning a wheel, with the aoroe freedom and at the mate rate aa 
 if he had merely a progranvc motion to avcotn|>lili. 
 
328 
 
 ASTRA CASTEA. 
 
 A.D. 1837. 
 
 balloon in passing through the air at the rate of thirty-five miles an hour would be equal to nine thousand five 
 hundred and twenty-eight pounds, or about two thousand four hundred times the amount of that ascribed to each 
 individual ; consequently to effect its propulsion consistent with the obligations we have already considered to be 
 essential to the accomplishment of any beneficial result would require a force of two thousand four hundred men, or 
 about two hundred times as many as her whole ascensive power would be competent to support ; and that, too> 
 making no allowance whatever for the weight of the machinery by which they would have to operate. 
 
 It is true, by the adoption of another form, a balloon requiring no more propulsive power than that we have 
 made the subject of the preceding calculation, might be constructed capable of supporting four times the weight : 
 even here, however, all that would be effected would be an increase to that extent in the efficiency of the cargo, 
 which would still remain about fifty times as great as she would be able to support, 
 
 Kor is this a conclusion which could be avoided by reducing the size of the balloon, in the hopes of attaining a 
 point in which the forces opposing and those opposed would be more on a par. On the contrary, the resistance 
 varying as the squares while the buoyant power follows the ratio of the cubes of the diameter, any attempt to diminish 
 the scale of the experiment but tends to magnify the disproportion between the difficulties and the means whereby 
 they are to be encountered ; an elliptical balloon of nine feet radius, equivalent only to a charge of two men (the 
 smallest number consistent with what we have before stated to be necessary for the due continuance of the impres- 
 sion), developing at the rate in question a resistance of one thousand and twenty-four pounds, and consequently 
 requiring an amount of human power at the value we have assigned to it, one hundred and twenty-five times as 
 great as it is capable of raising. For the satisfaction of those who might expect a more favourable result, by 
 enlarging the dimensions of the balloon, we have subjoined a calculation from which they will perceive that, in 
 accordance with the obligations before laid down, the smallest number of men that could propel a balloon sufficient 
 to support them would be about three millions three hundred and thirty-five thousand, and the smallest balloon that 
 could carry men sufficient to propel her at the rate in question would be equivalent in its contents to a sphere of 
 about three thousand two hundred and sixty -three feet in diameter.* 
 
 In default of human strength, the mind naturally reverts to the great agent of modern invention, the wonder- 
 working power of steam. Independently, however, of the inconvenience and danger necessarily attendant upon the 
 employment of a power requiring the aid of fire, there is one essential objection to steam which must for ever 
 preclude the possibility of its adoption as an agent in the propulsion of the balloon ; I mean the continual toss of 
 weight from the consumption of fuel and the conversion of water into vapour, which more or less must ever attend its 
 employment. The force of this objection will at once appear, when we consider that it is by the preservation of the 
 equilibrium between her contents of gas and ballast she maintains her position in the air. Whenever that equili- 
 
 * The following is a general formula for calculating the direct 
 resistance upon all balloons, partaking of the nature of a sphere, 
 cone, cylinder, or ellipsis : Square the radius of the largest section 
 perpendicular to the horizontal axis of the machine, and multiply 
 by 3' 1416 ; this gives the number of square feet in a circular plane 
 equivalent to the said section. Of this, two-thirds only are to be 
 considered as forming the real amount of the resisting plane (the 
 actual resistance being upon an average diminished one-third, on 
 account of the particular form of the opposing surface) ; which 
 multiply by the sura answering to the rate of the wind in the table 
 of atmospheric resistance, and the product will be the amount of 
 direct resistance in pounds avoirdupois. Divide this sum by the 
 number of pounds which, at the rate assigned to the agents of 
 the propulsion, shall be found equivalent to each man's muscular 
 strength, and double the quotient will represent the number of men 
 required to effectuate the same amount of resistance at the same rate, 
 supposing one change of men sufficient to perpetuate the operation. 
 
 By this mode of computation may be tested the conclusion we 
 have arrived at in the text. As the buoyant power of the balloon 
 follows the ratio of the cubes, while the superficies, and con- 
 sequently the resistance, varies as the squares of the diameters, it 
 follows that any alteration in the size of the balloon must affect 
 the former more than the latter ; if a balloon, therefore, is capable 
 of carrying exactly the quantity of human power equivalent to the 
 resistance she develops, she must be the smallest that ean be con- 
 structed with such a result; inasmuch as any further reduction in 
 her size would diminish her buoyancy more than her resistance, 
 
 and she would then require more force to her propulsion than she 
 would be able to carry. Now, considering a balloon of fifty feet in 
 diameter, when properly inflated, to be sufficient to raise a weight 
 equivalent to twelve men, by referring to the proportion between 
 the cubes of their diameters, we shall find that one of throe 
 thousand two hundred and sixty-three feet, quoted in the text, 
 would be barely competent to a charge of 3,335,20-1 men. By 
 throwing the gaseous contents, however, into a more elongated 
 form, it would be possible, as we before observed, to reduce the 
 resistance without affecting the buoyancy. Such a vessel would be 
 a cylinder, capped with cones, or an ellipsoid, whose transverse axis 
 was two thousand and fifty feet, and length equal to four times its 
 diameter. The resistance occasioned by the direct impact of such 
 a body in progress through the atmosphere at the rate of thirty-five 
 miles an hour would, accordingly (as will be seen by reference to 
 the preceding formula), be equal to 13.337,160,354 pounds, and 
 3,334,290, the number of men by which an equal amount of force 
 could be generated ; each man's quotum being eight pounds, as 
 above assigned, and a double allowance of men being required to 
 admit of the operation being carried on without interruption. The 
 difference (amounting to nine hundred and fourteen) between the 
 number of men equivalent to her resistance and that equivalent to 
 her buoyancy, as here displayed in favour of the latter, however 
 less, would certainly not be more than enough to compensate for 
 the weight and resistance of the machinery, the friction of the 
 atmosphere, and other circumstances, more or less influential, 
 which have not been included ill the above calculation. 
 
AD. 1 KUKOXEOUS CALCULATIONS OF MONCK MASON. .'529 
 
 i> ili-turUxl l.y the abstraction of a part of either of them resource* a sacrifice of a proportionate amount of 
 tin ..tin r becomes absolutely necessary in order to restore it; a proceeding, it is naroely necessary to remark, by 
 which 1 T whole efficiency must aooner or later become destroyed. This objection equally applies toall those powers 
 which are ol.taim*! l>y in. an> of . h. niitiil deoompoHition, the rapid generation of gases by explosion, OTBbMMit, or 
 otherwise the very efficiency of which is, in fact, only commensurate with the loss of weight by which they are 
 accompanied ; nor am I aware, of any principle whatever applicable to the purposes in question, unless, indeed, it may 
 lie th.it i.f . 1. et re-magnetism, concerning which, however, our information is yet too limited to allow us to speak 
 mnic ileciil. illv. 
 
 (IV.) 
 
 Possessed of these, the mechanical agents of the propulsion, together with a power Hiifti<-i<-iit to invest them 
 with iiintinn at thu rate and uml.T the le\, li.|nin nt of pressure before calculated, the aerial engineer must not 
 conclude that the question of the guidance of the balloon has been completely solved, and that nothing remain* to 
 intcrfeie with its immediate adoption as a mode of transport applicable to the ordinary purposes of life. 
 
 In.l. I- .ii.l.-nt of the (lifliculty that must ever attend the reduction to practice of rules involving the nicest points 
 in rational and practical mechanics, the most rigorous economy of power, and an intimate knowledge of the strength 
 if materials. with the best method of employing them, there are certain restrictions regarding their application, 
 failing o-mpliamv with which the best-devised schemes for the propulsion of the balloon must prove utterly ineffi- 
 cacious, or at least successful to so small an extent as to remain still as inapplicable as ever to the purposes for win. h 
 they are required. 
 
 The lii-t .,f these regards the form of the aerial vessel. It is scarcely necessary to observe, that before any 
 scheme for its guidance be attempted, the balloon itself must be of such a form as will admit of its being guided. It 
 mn-t have a line of least resistance, and this lino must be that in the direction in which it advances. This involves, 
 likewise, the consideration of a rudder, or some other corresponding apparatus, by means of which its propulsive 
 energies may be directed into a determined channel. In short, it must have a head and a tail, as well as a body, 
 and be capable of assuming and maintaining a fixed position during its forced progress through the air. Such a 
 form, for instance, would be that of an ellipsoid, as before observed, or a cylinder terminated by coiiew, like that 
 recently exhibited to the public by Count Lennox, under the name of the Aerial Ship, and of which representations 
 are to be found in old prints of aerostation, illustrative of previous projects for the guidance of the balloon. 
 
 In the second place, it must be so contrived tlwt when subjected to the action of a strong current of air, the 
 balloon shall not, in the change of position it will be inevitably forced to adopt, interfere with the action of the 
 machinery by which it is impelled. In regard of this, as indeed of all the other rules, consideration must be had, 
 not to the actual shape and position of the balloon, but to that which it will have assumed when acting under the 
 influence of the opposing forces. 
 
 Thirdly, it follows from this, as a matter of course, that the same strength of materials which is found 
 sufficient for an ordinary balloon would by no means suffice for one the nature of whose employment infers the 
 exposure to excessive and unwonted opposition.* 
 
 Fourthly, the whole must be so constructed as not to suffer from the shocks to which it will be unavoidably 
 subjected whenever it comes into contact with the ground, owing to the impossibility of making the attachment to 
 the earth with that degree of firmness and certainty which is necessary to ensure the safety of the balloon and 
 place it umler the immediate control of the aeronaut And this, it strikes me, is one of (if not actually) the 
 most important of the practical restrictions in question, and, at the same time, the most difficult to bo complied with 
 consistently with the other essential features of the case. For what, after all, can be the merit of any machinery 
 that is lialil--, nay, almost certain, to be rendered valueless whenever it may happen to be employed, except uii'l.-r 
 such a favourable juncture of circumstances as is not to be counted upon in the practice of an art carried 
 on under the auspices of proverbially the most fickle power in nature? And yet I must confess I do not see 
 
 Of the necessity for this provision the French projector* seem 
 fully wniihle, when they advert to the pnwihility of forming the 
 Lull. .n iti--lf of miliil mat. rialK, and gravely look forward to 
 
 would be urn-Iras to waste words ; I should only like to know, when 
 formed, how it is to be inflated, and when inflated bow it is to be 
 emptie<! : for it in not to bo forgotten that before it can be inflated 
 
 the tone when wood, copper, iron, anil the other in^r..li. nU of j it must first be emptied, while, at thu mine time, onre it i tilli*!. 
 terrestrial and marine architecture, nhall be put in n-<|ui.-ition to nothing can be abstracted from it without tin- introduction of an 
 supply a more substantial vehicle for the occupation of tl>.- imply equivalent. This latter consideration would, I rather inspect, leave 
 regions of the iky. Upon the practicability of such schemes, it | the office of the valve somewhat in the nature of a sinecure. 
 
380 
 
 ASTRA CASTRA. 
 
 A.D. 1837. 
 
 any means of avoiding this conclusion by any structure of machinery that shall be in accordance with the rules we 
 have before laid down for its regulation. The great extent of surface, and the lightness which ought to be its 
 primaiy characteristic, are qualities equally calculated to aggravate the effects of the opposing forces, as incompatible 
 with the requisitions of strength by which alone they could be successfully resisted ; and, indeed, it is difficult to 
 conceive any structure or arrangement of machinery suitable to the purpose, that shall either be beyond the reach 
 of the violence to be apprehended, or sufficiently strong to avoid suffering essential detriment from it whenever 
 it occurs.* 
 
 Fifthly, the agents of the propulsion must be made to operate directly upon the body of the balloon itself, and 
 not, as in every scheme heretofore projected, upon the car which is attached to it.f In the fulfilment of this 
 condition a great difficulty presents itself in the different nature of the materials which will have to be employed 
 in the construction of the balloon and of its machinery ; the flexible quality of the one, the solid unyielding nature 
 of the other, and the certain danger to the former when united firmly to the latter under exposure to forces such as 
 may be expected to accompany the operation of aerial propulsion. 
 
 Sixthly, the construction of the machinery must be such that an injury to one part shall not necessarily 
 impede or prevent the action of the rest, or be attended with consequences involving the security of the balloon. 
 
 And lastly, though not least, the whole must be so contrived as to maintain its equilibrium under all the 
 variations of force to which it will be inevitably subjected in its progress. 
 
 These, then, constitute the principal obligations which the nature of the proceeding has imposed upon the 
 guidance of the balloon. From a consideration of what has been discussed in the preceding sections, the ingenious 
 reader will, no doubt, have observed that the main obstacles to the accomplishment of the object in view are, first, 
 the construction of surfaces of the proper degree of lightness, and of sufficient size and strength united, to enable 
 them at once to effectuate and withstand the pressure they are required to afford ; secondly, the adaptation of a power 
 competent to invest them with the proper motion ; and thirdly, the arrangement of the whole machine in 
 accordance with the principles laid down in the latter section. 
 
 A fourth obligation, however, of equal, if not superior, importance to any, yet remains to be commented upon ; 
 namely, the regulation of the motive agents in such a manner as to ensure by their impact the resistance which has 
 been assigned to their operation. The difficulty of complying with this requisition is one proceeding from the 
 elastic nature of the medium, whereby its equilibrium of density becomes more easily disturbed, and a state of 
 rarefaction induced in the portions contiguous to the surfaces in question, to the manifest deterioration of the 
 resistance they are expected to create. This will be better understood when we consider that upon the rapid 
 passage of the surfaces in question a large portion of the adjacent atmosphere is swept away in the direction of their 
 impact, leaving throughout their whole course a medium more or less rarefied in proportion to the rapidity with 
 which they operate. To this result both the rate and size of the moving planes essentially contribute ; and there 
 is no doubt that long before either of these conditions were fulfilled to the extent assigned in the estimate of 
 their respective quantities, a considerable approximation to a vacuum would have been formed in the locus of their 
 
 * The disregard of this particular constitutes one of the most 
 remarkable characteristics of all the aerial projectors with whom I 
 have ever communicated. Treating the balloon merely as a manne- 
 quin, to try an schemes of propulbiou, they entirely neglect to con- 
 sider the condition it will be placed in when it comes to be exposed 
 to the influence of the forces it will have developed in its career. 
 Hence the inefficacy and absurdity of most of their contrivances 
 whenever any attempt has been made to reduce them to practice. 
 One of the adjuncts to the original plan of Count Lennox's air-ship 
 was, I remember, a set of small wheels fastened beneath the car (or 
 rather the canoe), to the frame of which the motive agents were to 
 be appended, in order to enable it to glide on the earth after the 
 descent, and avoid the consequences of a too sudden interruption to 
 its flight ! Imagine a piece of machinery sixty feet broad and one 
 hundred and eighty long, bearing a charge of more than ten tons, 
 aud furnished with wings projecting some forty feet or more on 
 either side, gliding over the country upon castors, under the 
 influence of a wind moving at the rate of thirty or forty miles an 
 hour, attached, for steadiness, to a vessel of still more preposterous 
 
 dimensions, floating overhead and exposing to the action of the 
 wind an extent of surface equivalent to upwards of twenty thousand 
 square feet ! Indeed the speculative Frenchman seems to have 
 entertained a strange notion of the nature of the element with which 
 he was about to contend, when, in reply to the suggestion of a 
 gentleman concerning the security of his machinery in the descent, 
 he observed that it would he easy to obviate all danger upon that 
 score by coining down under the lee of some building or high wall, 
 by which he would at all times be sure of being properly sheltered 
 from the wind ! an ingenious expedient, as Mr. Green slily observed, 
 which might be considerably improved upon by the addition to his 
 cargo of a ready-made north-watt, suited to all cases of emergency ; 
 upon the principle, no doubt, of the universal finger-post which the 
 Irishman sagaciously proposed to the celebrated African traveller, 
 Captain Clapperton, as a ready means of solving his doubts whenever 
 he should happen to have the misfortune of losing his way in the 
 deserts ! 
 
 f See Note C, by M. Monge, at end of this paper, p. 334. 
 
A.D. 1 1 i;K<N'EOUS CALCULATIONS OF MnNVK MASON. 
 
 operations ! |uirinir more or 1cm time to fill ii|>. in proportion to the extent of space it had effected. Now, should 
 it hup{ien tint the planes in question bo compelled to reiterate their percussion within the sphere of thin dintm-bance 
 ! thu atmosphere has had time to recover from its effects, a drawback to their efficiency will be occasioned which 
 ii<> increase of rate or dimension will enable thorn entirely to overcome. 
 
 Upon the whole review of the case, then, it must be avowed that the propulsion of the balloon to tin- . xt< nt 
 we have imposed upon it is beset with difficulties of no ordinary description. It is true that these difficulties eonniMt 
 not so much in the quality as in the quantity of what is sought to be done in the tuiturr of the operation, as in tin- 
 extent to which it is requisite that it should be accomplished. Hence the possibility of effecting in a minor degree 
 that to which considerations of paramount importance have induced us to assign a more extended limit. Apart 
 from .itli.-r considerations, the question of the guidance of the balloon is a more expression, conveying no definite 
 idea and affording no certain grounds for investigation. As a mere abstract fact, there is no doubt the balloon can 
 be guided : it i.s only in reference to the particulars of the case that any question can arise upon the matter. When. 
 
 [. any person says that he has discovered the means of guiding the balloon, his assertion literally amounts 
 to nothing, unless, at the same time, it be coupled with a specification of the rate and conditions under which he is 
 able i Should these bo found to correspond with what has been stated in the preceding sections, then, ami 
 
 not otherwise, will the que*iiu <>f an aerial navigation, applicable to useful purposes, have been duly and 
 satisfactorily determined. This, however, is a consummation which I fear there is but little prospect of our ever 
 being able to attain. The deficiency of power and the limitation assigned by nature to the strength of material- 
 form u Kirricr which all our efforts seem incapable of enabling us to surmount; and. indi-cd, when we consider th; 
 nature and amount of the forces required to the propulsion of the balloon, it becomes a mutter of question whether 
 the same exertions would not be sufficient to enable us to dispense with its services altogether, and transport 
 ourselves through the air by the simple exercise of wings alone.* 
 
 The reader must not bo misled by those insidious analogies by which unreflecting persons are wont to be 
 iiidc<l in their sentiments upon matters of this description; nor conclude that, because a ship sails, a fish swims, or 
 a bird flies, it is equally consistent with the laws of nature that a man should be able to direct his course through 
 the atmosphere by the aid of a balloon. Ample reasons will bo found in the circumstances of each to invalidate 
 these analogies and disprove any dependence which might be conceived to exist between them. The ship commands 
 >urse over the bosom of the ocean, not from the simple fact alone of her possessing two elements endowed with 
 ilitl'.-r. nt rates and inclinations of motion (for such a reason would exclude the steam-vessel from our argument, 
 which secures her progress by the instrumentality of one alone), but also from the striking superiority in the 
 density of that (the water) to which she resorts for her propulsion over that (the air) in which so large a proportion 
 of her moss is destined to move ;f while, at the same time, the general condition of the former, as far as itn 
 progressive motion is concerned, is such as to require but a comparatively moderate share of power to enable 
 her to contend with it Of these, the latter is an advantage equally enjoyed by the finny inhabitants of thu 
 deep ; and though it is true the former (namely, a difference of density in favour of the medium of propulsion) does 
 not characterise their condition any more than it does that of the balloon, yet the want of it is more than com- 
 pensated by the possession of a specific gravity, so nearly on a par with that of the element in which they move, 
 that little or no accession of bulk is required to enable them to support themselves that does not likewise contribute 
 to the enhancement of the strength by which they direct their motions. The example of the bird, it is true. 
 appears at first sight to be more to the point : possessed as it is of a specific gravity scarcely more favourable to its 
 support than our own ; while, at the same time, the medium of its evolutions being the same as that of the balloon, 
 
 * The reader may not perhaps be aware that the bold idea of by which he icenii to hare been deprived of the power of o.n- 
 
 hunian flight hag once to a certain extent been actually rraluni, tinuing hi* exertions; when.hu wings coating to act in the manner 
 
 uml tlmt mi.- iinliviiliuil. aliiumt within tin- memory of man, ha* necessary for his support, he sunk to the ground and was pro- 
 
 been known to raise and conduct himself tli rough tin- nir liv tin- cipituted against one of the floating mat-Ilium belonging to the 
 
 agency of wings alone. The instance alluded to is that of the I'MriMun luiuidn-iws, which line the arches of the Pont Royale on 
 
 M;ir>| .ii.-ville, wh" in tin- year ITI'J, Recording to a the side of tin- river opposite to tliat from which he hnd taken hi 
 
 notification lii.-!i li.- had made to that effect, rose in thu sight of departure, wli.nl>) i..- l< g was broke and uth> 
 
 the aBsembUil multitude of 1'iirin. from liix own residence on the intlirtnl upon his |x rson. 
 Quai da Thi'ntint. am! din <-t. ,1 liis course across the Seine toward* I f A reference to the operation of the motive agents will >!, 
 
 r.l.-ni of tli.- Tuilerics, whither he hml - intention tlmt the very n-verne "f thi.i in the relative cou.lition of ti. 
 
 of proceeding. At !ir-i he U|>|K ;ir. .1 to advance with t-.l. r..l.l. ilium nf propulsion and that of opposition, in the cuito of the 
 
 steadiness ami facility : when about halfway ,,\, r , ],> v.-r, wnm - balloon, 
 thing occurred which hasuo.r I., en thoroughly compnlu ndi il 
 
 J X 
 
332 ASTEA CASTEA. A.D. 1837. 
 
 the same impediments remain to be encountered by them both. The analogy, however, although certainly more- 
 specious than the preceding, is by no means more conclusive. For both these emergencies Nature has supplied 
 a remedy ; for the former, in the endowment of immense muscular strength ; for the latter, in the actual smallness 
 of their dimensions. Possessed of a power sufficient of itself to overcome the attraction of gravitation, the efficiency 
 of the animal is ever dependent upon its bulk, and consequently at all times proportioned to the resistance it has to 
 contend with ; while from the positive smallness of its size, not only does the structure of its organs easily fall within 
 the limits assigned by Nature to the strength of the appropriate materials * (in consequence of which it is enabled 
 to surmount a great portion of the forces arrayed against it, and at all events avoid incurring damage from the 
 remainder), but likewise through the facility with which it can secure a retreat, it is enabled without prejudice to 
 dispense with the possession of powers superior to what at times it may have occasion to encounter : confined 
 to minute dimensions, the bird that is unable to match with the wind can at every turn find a refuge from its 
 influence, and is consequently perfect with half the comparative amount of force which would be necessary to the 
 success and security of the balloon. Thus, to sum up : a density in the opposing medium inferior to that of the 
 medium of propulsion ; a specific gravity but slightly removed from that of the element in which they move, 
 together with comparatively trifling forces to contend with ; and lastly, a size that arms them against injury 
 and puts security at all times within their reach. These are advantages more or less enjoyed by all objects 
 affecting fluid media which are denied by Nature to man in his endeavours to navigate the atmosphere, and 
 completely destroy whatever analogy might be thought to exist between them. 
 
 " But," it may be asked, " supposing us unable to accomplish all that has been stated to be necessary to the 
 perfect government of the sky, why may not an aerial navigation be made applicable to useful purposes in a less 
 degree ? And why must we abandon all hopes of advantage from the practice of an art because we are unable to 
 bring it to a higher degree of perfection ? " Simply because, in reducing the rate (upon which hinge all the 
 essential difficulties of the case), we sacrifice altogether that condition by which the character of an art applicable to 
 useful purposes is essentially distinguished, namely, the certain prospect of success. It is not that the object would 
 be accomplished with less speed, less safety, or to a less extent ; but that in adapting our resources to a scale 
 of opposition inferior to what we may have to encounter we forego the certainty of ever accomplishing it at all. For 
 all purposes, where this condition is a matter of indifference, an aerial navigation might, no doubt, be established ; 
 but as it is this " regard to the result " that, as I take it, constitutes the main difference between affairs of business 
 and affairs of pleasure, still would the latter alone have all the benefit of our exertions. 
 
 M. Marey Monge points out, in the four notes below, the chief errors of the preceding 
 calculations, which, being in principle incorrect, make the whole erroneous. 
 
 Note A (p. 319), by M. Mange. Newton demonstrated the law " That the resistance of fluids was in proportion 
 to their density." To speak, therefore, of the rate of motion of two fluids (water and air), without taking notice of 
 their density, is to say nothing relative to the force necessary to resist them. 
 
 In fact, supposing 1 cubic metre of sea- water having the velocity of 16 kilometres an hour, and 1 cubic metre 
 of air having the velocity of 160 kilometres an hour, let us see what force will be required to resist these two cubic 
 metres. Let 1 be the weight of a cubic metre of air ; that of a cubic metre of salt-water will be 804 ; and the 
 force necessary to resist the fluids shall be equal and contrary to the movement in each : that is to say, for air, 
 1 X 160 = 160, and for water 804 X 16 = 12864 ; or : : 1 : 80. Hence it will be 80 times easier to resist, with an equal 
 volume, the highest winds than the strongest waves ; or else, in the air, a surface 80 times larger than another in the sea 
 
 * Even if a man were endowed with the same proportion of I not because they are heavier in proportion to the density of the 
 
 muscular strength as a bird, with the same natural organisation to 
 enable him to apply it, he could not, for the reason here mentioned, 
 ever turn it to the same account ; inasmuch as, with all his powers 
 to lly, he coukl never procure material that would admit of suffi- 
 cient extension to construct the organs of his flight. Hence, man, 
 though he may succeed to a certain extent, as in the case of the 
 Marquis of Bacqueville, will never be able to dispute with the 
 feathered tribes the empire of the sky ; not because he could not 
 exercise his wings, but because he could not make them. Of the 
 limitation thus imposed by Nature, the strongest and most striking 
 examples are afforded in the works of Nature herself : when the 
 birds of her creation exceed a certain size they do not fly. It is 
 
 medium, and therefore want the requisite degree of muscular 
 strength ; for that is in many eases, and could in all, be supplied 
 by Nature without any infraction of her existing laws : it is because 
 Providence has not thought proper to create a material adequate to 
 the construction of their organs. The emu, the cassowary, the dodo, 
 the ostrich, are birds in all but the possession of wings ; may we 
 not conclude that, if the materials for their construction had already 
 existed, Nature would not have left the noblest specimens of her 
 work imperfect ? And, can man hope to succeed, where Nature has 
 declared her inability to prevail ? 
 
 See Note D, by M. Monge, at the end of this paper, ige 334. 
 
A.M. IM:. Tin. BHB1 \NCE OF n.rms. 
 
 \\ill 1.- ,.|ii.ill\ aUo to resist tho highest winds as the other to result the strongest wave*. This ooncluwon i- 
 ..pi- ' . M. 'iick Mason's. But let us further remark 
 
 i.-i. Tint the aerostat can always, in case of high winds, change its altitude, and can find a layer of air 
 calm ..i 111. in- f.ix.'iiral'le. Mr. Monck Mawm has lost right of this when ho says, "a balloon might roach the 
 antipodes trt any circvmstancet might have occurred to favour the recovery of her course." 
 
 Ju.l. A wind that moves 160 kilometre* an hour is a hurricane that levels buildings ; whilst in fact the 
 i. !-.iiaut has only to deal with wind that moves at an average rate of 40 kilometres an hour. According to 
 the aUivi- i". irmula, we shall find that the rate of movement of a cubic metro will bo, for the air, 1 x 40 40; an.l 
 
 it. r. 804 X 16= 12864 or :: 1 : ::i'l-i;. II, -ne an aerostat with a section surface :'.!' I (' times larger than tho 
 section of an ocean-steamer would nut require more power to move against an atmospheric cunvnt ..!' I" 
 kilometres the hour than is required by a steamer to overcome waves moving 16 kilometres tho hour. 
 
 : >). lii M. Monge. What, then, is the motive principle in a steamer without sails? It can tack 
 and stoer without tin- help of the wind. Let us recapitulate in a few words tho elementary principle of navigation. 
 th.it for navigating, tacking, tto. in a word, that the power of the helm should bo felt two elements are 
 necessary: water and the moving power. It matt. r> little whothor the latter comes from without, as the wind, or 
 from within, as is the case with steam, for the holm to take effect; so long as it puts tho ship in motion it is all 
 that is required. Nothing is easier to verify. Take a boat with two rowers, hold the rudder in your hand ; if the 
 rowers do not pull, yon move with tho current and it is useless to steer; but, as soon as they pull, you can give it 
 ili.- din-cti.iii you wish. Honce, " the Mm canonly be effective when the motive power is in action." (A note states that the 
 writer is mindful of a long helm, used on rivers, which ho shows to depend on other principles.) Now this principle 
 is applicable to an aerostat provided with a helm and carrying a motive power (steam or any other). Hence, 
 I'M using the motive power and the helm at the same time an aerostat can be guided, and this upsets the objection -jivm 
 above. 
 
 ISMIIIOR or TIIK NAUTILUS. 
 
 In acquiring the camerated structure of the shell, the embryo Nautilus gains the power of rising from the 
 bottom, and the requisite conditions for swimming ; by the exhalation of some light gas into the deserted chambers, it 
 attaches to its otherwise too heavy body a contrivance for ascending in its atmosphere, as we ascend in ours by the aid 
 of a balloon. I'ut tin- Nautilus, superior to the human aeronaut, combines with tho power of elevating and suspending 
 itself in the aqueous medium, that of opposing its currents, and propelling itself at will in any direction. It possesses 
 the latti-r essential iidjmu-t to the utility of the balloon as a locomotive organ, by virtue of tho muscular funnel, 
 through wliich it eject* into tho surrounding water, doubtless with force, the respiratory currents. 
 
 It appears that the proportion of air -chambers to the dwelling-chamber of the Nautilus and its contents is sur-li 
 as to render it of nearly the same specific gravity as tho surrounding water. The siphon, which traverses the air- 
 chambers, communicates with tin- jn-riisirdium, and is most probably filled with fluid from that cavity. It certainly 
 conducts small blood-vessels, which are essential to the vitality of the chambered part of the shell. OWKS'S Memoir 
 on the Pearly Nautilus. 
 
 '1 \ '1 
 
334 
 
 ASTEA CASTRA. 
 
 A.D. 1847. 
 
 Note C (j>. 330), by M. Monge.Ko; it will pass through the centre of gravity of the whole machine. This 
 will probably be found below the gasholder, on account of the weight of the car and its contents ; and this position 
 of the centre of gravity below " the body of the balloon itself" will be very favourable to the agency of an axle 
 and to the uniform movement of the whole, because it will be put in motion from the centre of gravity. 
 
 Note D (p. 332), by M. Mortgf. Wo must not forget that there is no analogy between birds and aerostats. 
 Whilst the latter are supported by enclosed gas, the former require wings to sustain as well as move themselves 
 
 along. Besides, there are instances in which wo must cease to imitate Nature We may venture to 
 
 assert that neither opinions lased on calculation, nor the laws of Nature, indicate the impossibility of aerial propulsion. The marine 
 navigation had difficulties as great in its youth ; and, far from renouncing the hope of overcoming the obstacles to 
 aerial navigation, let us rather remember the ancient adage, " Labor improbus omnia vincit." 
 
 It is with the greatest pleasure that we now come to the valuable ' Etudes sur 
 FAe'rostation,' by Mons. Marey Monge, published in 1847 ; and to his careful calculations 
 would I refer any one who desires a deeper insight into this science. We have already given 
 his corrections of Monck Mason's observations ; suffice it here to insert his synopsis of the 
 difficulties to be overcome, and an abstract of the book from the " rapport " made of it in 
 1849, to the "Societe d'Encouragement pour 1'Industrie Nationale." 
 
 He approaches the sciences by saying aerostation is divided into two parts : 
 
 1st. Aerostation as it now is, in the infancy of the art, may serve for scientific and 
 military observations, for aerial voyages without direction, for public fetes, for lightning- 
 conductors and hail-preservers. 
 
 2nd. Aerostation, as it will be, which constitutes aeronautics, that is, aerostation taken in 
 the largest acceptance of the word ; in the hypothesis of an aerial navigation, capable of 
 rendering the same services as marine navigation. 
 
 The first is far yet from being a safe and certain means, notwithstanding the numerous 
 experiments already made, and requires many improvements. 
 
 The second is hardly broached in theory, and in practice has to be created. 
 
 M. Monge's synopsis of the difficulties to aerial navigation, showing what conditions 
 must be fulfilled, and the researches it is necessary to make, is as follows : 
 
 THE CONDITIONS TO FULFIL. 
 
 OBSERVATIONS. 
 
 RESEARCHES TO MAKE. 
 
 let Condition. 
 What the gas-holder is to contain. 
 
 We are decided on the nature of the gas, it 
 is hydrogen. 
 
 Kind a process of making it more cheaply 
 than by sulphate of zinc or of iron. 
 
 See if it cannot be obtained more quickly and 
 economically by the decomposition of water by 
 some untried way. 
 
 2nd Condition. 
 
 Of the material used for constructing 
 the gas-holder. 
 
 Silk, cotton and skins are substances in- 
 sufficient to make it impermeable. Metals are 
 a great expense, as they must be of such thin- 
 ness as to allow of sheets overlaying each other. 
 
 Anyhow, it appears indispensable to employ 
 material less flexible and more resisting than 
 what is used at present. 
 
 Consider pasteboard, composed of many sheets 
 of paper carefully joined and varnished, so as 
 to make it proof against the escape of the 
 hydrogen. 
 
A.... 1847. 
 
 81 N <>l SIS OF DIFFICULTIES TO RE OVERCOME. 
 
 
 Tin r..M'in"S- i,. ni IM 
 
 ( >K-I n aaem 
 
 TO HAKK. 
 
 ::, I ,: i,i 
 Oftheformofthega.hoWer. 
 
 4tt Condition. 
 
 The aerostat must hnvi- some inU-nml 
 
 pmaure, so that it should not be in- 
 
 1 by the resistance of the air, when 
 
 .11 navigate in mill atnrapberr, or 
 
 to rwrint the wind when it shall be captive 
 
 or l am li,.r. 
 
 The directing and the management of a 
 captive aerostat iWml a trngthi'nH fnu; 
 with pnwtuv from the inlerinr; the onurtrue- 
 tion of an aerostat of large dimensions would 
 
 r. .(inrv BcYlinilrn-oniiirul nurbce. 
 
 liml. I u r\ linilm-cooioal aerostat and tin. I ..ui 
 the junt |ini|irtiun U-twivn tin- gmil. r ..i,.l tin- 
 HiiialliT axii. Mmnnier proposes that the git-ater 
 
 axil ihould be two or three time* that t Hi. 
 mailer axi*,-mlglit it U- four time.? 
 
 Thii eoodition U indispensable, and appoan 
 throne most dlacnaaed; it i* perhaps the shoal 
 of aerial navigation. The pressure ought to 
 be Terr little, lea than 0-<Ktt- in large ae- 
 
 Try tin- ryliiiilnMxwical ai-mitat prOTided 
 with tin- two condensers that I haro propoaed. 
 Kil out the law* of the redstonc* of the air by 
 . \l-mn. nN uiadv with a view to aontati>ni. 
 
 W ..iild nnt the renutarnv of the air aiiKin* '- 
 ing tin' internal preMOre (wlii.-li miirlit to be 
 Terr litlk- bunt the aeroiUt? or would it not 
 limit itiipctd? 
 
 The aerostat ought to ascend 
 descend without loss of gas. 
 
 Of all methods hitherto propoaed none are 
 periBCtlT good or wifflriently energetic : it will 
 be necrmary to UK KTeral KiniulUncouily, rix. 
 the addition of a Montgolfiere, the two cot- 
 ifaMBTi, the guide-rope, mechanical meani. 
 cmn. " rouea k paletln.* and the Tariation of 
 the arnvuphciki temperature. 
 
 Try the addition of a Montgolfii-n>, the two 
 nmiictiirni and the mechanical agrnti, ai the 
 meant of amrnt and docent without loai of 
 
 fi/A Condition. 
 
 The aeroitat ought to be 
 with a motire power nffioient for it to 
 progrm. by mean* of it* own locomotive 
 
 N have abown that the adaption of team- 
 engine* to large aerortaU U not impovible. 
 
 A* soon a* aerostaU of large dimetuioni an- 
 comtrucUtl, it will be necenary to try team- 
 engine* and other appliance* for motive-power. 
 
 The aenatat ought to hare a helm. 
 
 It U probable that a movcable weight in the 
 r axil of the aerostat will curtail the me 
 of the helm to a vertical oscillation similar to 
 it* me in ahipa. 
 
 Make trial of the propoaed model, or any 
 other. 
 
 80t GmdMom. 
 
 The aerootat mint have nothing to 
 fcar from strong wind, when it w captive 
 or at anchor. 
 
 TnU condition U of vital importance to ae- 
 rostation. Everything tend* to the belief that 
 thu can be effected by mataining-cord*. 
 
 Make trial of the propoaed model, or any 
 other. 
 
 9<A Condition. 
 
 The aerostat of Urge dimennom 
 be of a ample construction. 
 
 The adoption of a gaa-holder with little 
 flexibility neeeaaitate* the building of the ae- 
 rostat without folding (a framework in not 
 poarible). 
 
 The nirlaee extended in a 
 would permit of ita conatrartion. 
 
 Try to build a cylindro-conical aerostat with 
 it* lurbce extended horizontally. 
 
 10th Condition. 
 
 The aerial navigation ought to ofter 
 advantage* beyond those of the various 
 mean* of locomotion hitherto need. 
 
 Example* of some of ita applications. 
 
 The danger* will not be greater than on the 
 ea, the apeed will be that of the wind ; all 
 place* will enjoy the advantage* of the present 
 seaports. Lading and unlading will be very easy. 
 
 Ita appliance to adenee, to war, and to the 
 hail dispener (paragrele). i* a subject full of 
 
 Try the aerostat. 
 
 lltt Condition. 
 
 To indicate the order that nlmnld be 
 observed in future experiment*, and the 
 ways and means of meeting the ex- 
 
 i- m -. 
 
 Aerostatic experimenta made for the object 
 f improving the science can only be under- 
 taken by goremmenta, or a society of rich 
 capitalists. 
 
 To construct a cylindro-conical aerostat in 
 pasU-bnard 10 metres in diameter, and 40 metres 
 in length. 
 
 Afterwards another 20 metre* in diameter, 
 and 80 metres in length, 4c. 
 
336 ASTRA CASTEA. A.D. 1849. 
 
 From what precedes, we may, I think, draw the following conclusions : 
 
 1st. If the possibility of aerial navigation is not shown by experiment, neither is its 
 impossibility demonstrated by mathematics. This impossibility, or rather the great difficulty, 
 will come from the resistance of the air (see fourth condition), which, acting on the interior 
 pressure, might burst the aerostat when it is propelled at a rapid rate. 
 
 2nd. Aerostation will not be useful nor important to mankind unless a material for the 
 gas-holder, both impermeable to the gas, and unalterable to the resistance of the air, can be 
 found, and large dimensions (such as 100 metres in diameter) be available. 
 
 3rd. An experiment on a large scale is necessary, and is worth more than figures, to 
 decide this question in a satisfactory manner. 
 
 The following are extracts from this work : 
 
 It appears from the calculations we have just given, that to deny the possibility of aerial navigation, is to 
 deny the law of Newton (the resistance of fluids is in proportion to their density), also to deny steam-navigation on 
 water. It is, therefore, to deny two facts equally demonstrated, which is doubly absurd. Aerial navigation is 
 therefore a possibility demonstrated by calculation. 
 
 ********** 
 
 Again : 
 
 From this we learn that before completing the science of " Aerial Navigation," several millions must be 
 expended. It is evident that this sacrifice is beyond the means of private individuals; and, as it is a question for 
 mankind, because it confers on society a new means of locomotion, more powerful, more rapid, and at the same time 
 more economical than any other, it is therefore to be desired that one or several Governments, or else a Company 
 with a large capital, should make experiments on a systematic plan, and not, as heretofore, to waste time and money 
 in experiments without a system. 
 
 It would be still better if an EUROPEAN AERONAUTIC SOCIETY, composed of representatives of all nations, were 
 formed. 
 
 The Society could vote an annual sum to be expended, and discuss the projects to be put in execution, giving 
 thereby encouragement to those that advance the science with slow but sure steps. 
 
 The following is the Report of this work : 
 
 KAPPORT FAIT PAR M. ALCAN, AU NOM DU COMIT^ DBS ARTS MECANIQUES, SUR UN OUVRAGE INTITULE ' ETUDES 
 
 SUE L'AEROSTATION,' PAR M. EDMOND MAREY-MONGE. 
 MESSIEURS, 
 
 La fin du dernier siecle, si feconde en decouvertes importantes, n'en produisit ancune qui eut autant de 
 retentissement que celle des aerostats. Avant 1783, epoquo des experiences etonnantcs des frcres Montgolfier, on 
 disait que la nature avait refuse a I'homme lafacultede s'e'leoer dans les airs, comme on repetait, un peu plus d'un siecle 
 auparavant, qu'elle avait horreur du vide ; et qui sait si les esperances de Montgolfier, confiees a 1'avance, n'eussent te 
 considerees comme chimiSriques par les illustres savants eux-memes, qui se sent servis plus tard, dans 1'iuteret de la 
 science, de sa memorable decouverte ? Aussi I'enthousiasine caus^ a la vue des premieres montgolfieres fut-il aussi 
 grand et aussi general que le doute, pour ne pas dire plus, avait <5t6 universel. 
 
 Tous les rangs de la soci^te" celebrerent la victoire scientifique de Montgolfier, et ce serait le cas de dire, si nous 
 ne craignions de faire un jeu de mots, qu'elle fut vraiment portee aux nues. Get accueil fait a une invention est a 
 signaler dans 1'histoire des decouvertes, qui n'a souvent, pour 1'apparition des plus fecondes, que dedain et 
 indifference a enregistrer. Ce triomphe, peut-etre unique dans les annales de la science, n'aveugla cependant pas 
 Montgolfier sur la valeur de ses resultats : " Nous avons un instrument do plus, dit-il, il faut maintenant savoir s'en 
 
\.i>. \^\'.>. I: AlTnKT ON MAREY MONGER 'ETUDES.' ::::: 
 
 ervir." Lea soixanto-quatre annees ecoulees depuis oea parole* en ont demontr< la vt'rit/-, puisquo, aujourd'hui 
 encore, on eet a so demand, -r . (,in.- faiit-il attondre do I'aeroatation ? ( Vtto magnifique ddeouvert<>, unr d<* plu- 
 glorieuaea de l't*piit Immain. .1.. it-olio renter sterile? La navigation ae'rienne est-ello one hiinoro on in-i 
 
 T.-ll.-N .-.nt. .11 rtV. t. 1,-M (|iicHtioiiH quo s'ct pos&ai M. E. Marty-Mange, et qui ont donnt) naiManoe an li\n 
 int.TeNsaiit id. nt noue avons a vous rendro compto mi.-, in. t. m. nt. 
 
 Mr a divise aon travail en troia parties: la premiere, compronant les iKventt conditions dt la navigation 
 Of'ritnne ; la aeoonde, la construction <fun ballon tn cuter* ; et la t roisiemo, du note* compleinentnires qui st rattachtnt aux 
 
 M. Monge diatingne dans la navigation aenenne : 1 Yaerodation aotueBe, on I'en&noo de 1'urt, qni cut loin 
 
 d'.'-tiv un iustnimcnt docile nans imperfection, et dont I'uaage eat restraint aux observations scicntifiquea et 
 niilituires, aux voyages aerions aans direction, aux IV-tos publiquea, aux paratonuerres, paragrelea, etc. ; 2 Yafrottation 
 A venir, dont la throne eat & print- ebauchoe, qui laiaae tout a faire en pratique, et qui devrait, tin jmir. r.-ndro Ic 
 ni.'-mr service quc la marine. 11 y a, pour lee deux caa, dea considerations principalea et commune*, a IVtudo 
 il. --.|ii. IN - r.ni:. ii - - \\\ i. .i\. M-in. I., i .1,1. mi il.- I'.i. i.^t.tt. .-..ti . iiv. l..|.j . .^.i II.MII,'. |i > ni.ivi us .|i I. .liii_-. i 
 
 te success! venu-iit soumia a aea recherohoa. 11 passe on revue, oomme contonu, 1'air chaud, la vapeur, 1'uir 
 
 it rhydrogene; il di'in.'titrc l.i .-H|..-I i..!-it> de 1'emploi de oe gaz aur lea autres moyena, et qu'il no laisserait 
 Iilu-* rii-n i desirer, si Ton parvenait a tirrr un mcillriir j;irti doa sulfates do for et de zinc \<r\< nant de aa 
 prt-parutinii. mi K! Ton jmv;iit 1'nlitciiir par une decomposition plus prompte do 1'eau. La chimie ne saurait laiaaer 
 
 c i tii- i|iution pratique sans solution. 
 
 dea ae'roatata, qui, oomme le fait romarquer 1'auteur, doit Ctre completemont impermeable, 
 iimltrnil.il- :ni\ ii.t. n.|.,'rios dea BJrm i et d'une oertaine tvnacit^, est une des parties laissant lo pin- fi ilt'sin-r. 
 i|ii"ii|iii- des plus esacntiellea. Un aerostat a enveloppo d^fectueuae e^quivaudrait, en eflet, a une barque qui in 
 tirinlruit paa a 1'eau, et oependant aucune matiere des trois rt-gnes n'offre toutee lea conditions propros a uno bonne 
 < iiM-loppr. Aussi M. Monge fait-il remarqutr quo los premiers jxu, en aerostation, aont arr6tea par cette difnVulte que 
 \\ \i-ri.-nce seule pent trancher. 
 
 En abonlant I'etude de la direction, M. Mange commence a faire justice de 1'idee trop gem'Talpment odmiae, 
 .jii'il n'y a pas de point d'appui dans 1'air, et que 1'on ne pout aller centre le vent. Sea arguments wont bases stir 
 des i M mples pratiques fournis par quolques tentatives heurcusea do direction, sur une comparaison ingoniouso et 
 vmii- fiitro les analogies et lea differences qu'offrent la navigation maritime et cello aerionno, enfin sur dos 
 demonstrations gdomutriqueH et des calculs potdtifk Cependant, en admottant qne les couches atmosphdriquoa aient 
 une resistance auffisante pour fournir des points d'appni, 1'auteur no manque paa de signaler leur faiblc densitct, qui 
 eat de 804 moindre que celle de 1'eau : les surfaces qni v sont plongecs, compareea a cellos immergdes dans l'< .ui, 
 doivent done augmcnter dans le memo rapport ; et, pour demontrer que les poids resultant dea grandea surfaces 
 relatives ne aont pas un obstacle dans I'uerostation, il rapjK'lle, d'aprcs NevAon, que la resistance des fluides -est 
 proportionnelie an carre des diametres et des vitesses. Or la force aacensionnelle d'un ballon, croissant comme son <-nl.. . 
 pourrait prendre une valour telle, qu'elle aouleverait un poids quelconque, et enlevcrait, par consequent, un nmti-nr 
 il< .nt on so servirait pour diriger 1'aerostat, one foia qu'il serai t arrive dans la region la plus convenable du vent 
 
 On i bins le livre, dea calculs tres-clairs et tres- precis a oe sujet Sans admcttre preciseiuciit qu'un 
 
 aerostat pniase aller coutre un vent quelconque, 1'auteur penae qu'a 1'aide d'une force suffisantc il pourrait so diriger 
 i-i.ntrc un nun-ant li'jrcr, comme un bateau marche centre le cours d'une riviere. II va plus loin : "II n'est pan 
 abtmrde, dit-il. d'adim ttrela possibility d'un aerostat colossal, jiitnir d'uno machine tellement puissante, qu'elle soit 
 capal'li- il<- vaiin-rt- 1 .1. - \. nt forts, et qui, semblablo a nos enormes paquebota transatlantiques de 5 a 600 
 
 chevaiix. p.mir.iit t'l NUI hoiirc fixoo (sjins s'iuquioter de la force ni de la direction du vent), avec une vitesso minimi 
 a la rfinoiiti-, p-inr aller gagner di-s i ..nches supdrieures, oil le calme et les vents favorables lui permettraient dc 
 usage <!' tout.- l.i poiajian des mai-hines." On voit quo 1'auteur ne reserve aux motcurs qu'un rdle secondaire dans 
 la navigation ai'-i i.-nin-. lls M-iaii-nt d. -tines a etre remorques, pour ainsi dire, pour ne aervir que connm 
 gouvoruails a certains moments. (A-tt<- auppoaition, qu'uno partie de la quantitd d'action. dont il faut i-ir>- -i .-iv.in- 
 surtmit dans la rir<-.ui-tani-i- d.int il .-'.i-it. -<-ru abtjorb^o par lo poids considerable d'un moteur, ne devant wrvir i|in- 
 
 par int.-nnittcn,. . i,.- p.-ut Mti.-t'air mplrt. nn-nt les idees mecaniquea. La realisation d'un moteur puissant. 
 
 un failiK' |.iiU. ) ut donnt-r lii. n plus d'. spi-iances, et n'est pas plus hardie quo 1'emploi de cos ballons gigantcaqiica, 
 nii-iix. ha ditlicnlti' d.- la i-ivation d'un moteur semblable vi.-nt d'ailli-urs s'amoindrir, 
 
338 ASTRA CASTRA. A.D. 1849. 
 
 reflechit que la question de la depense est secondaire dans la solution du probleme ; car cette depense serait 
 largement compensee par I'e'conomie a faire sur la construction de la voie qui se trouve tout etablio avec la meme 
 perfection autour de tous les points du globe. 
 
 Apres avoir fait comprendre toute la portee de son sujet, 1'auteur revient en detail sur les differentes parties 
 essentielles, telles que la. forme la plus convenable a adopter pour les grands aerostats destines a la navigation a tous 
 vents ; la pression interieure qu'il nefaudra pas depasser ; les principaux moyens usites pour monter et descendre sans perdre 
 de gaz. Notre cadre ne nous permettant pas de suivre les developpements de tous ces points, nous nous bornerons a 
 relater quelques-uns des re'sultats consigned. 
 
 Comme la pression interieure d'un aerostat doit etre tres-faible pour ne pas dechirer 1'enveloppe, 1'auteur 
 demontre que la forme la plus convenable a adopter est la surface developpable cylindro-conique, qui peut se prater 
 a 1'action de compresseurs sans exposer I'^toffe a une rupture, propriety que n'a pas 1'enveloppe a double courbure, 
 qui est, par consequent, exposee a des plis nuisibles, lorsque la pression sur certains points varie, comme cela arrive 
 frequeinment. 
 
 Si Ton parvenait a faire un usage frequent des aerostats a grandes dimensions, tout le monde comprend qu'on 
 ne pourrait employer, pour monter et redescendre, des moyens dont on se sert dans les ascensions qui n'ont qu'un 
 but de curiosite, consistant dans une perte de gaz qu'on laisse echapper par la partie inferieure du ballon lorsqu'on 
 veut monter, et par celle supe'rieure pour pouvoir descendre. Ces pertes, dans un grand ballon, et pour un trajet 
 d'une longueur sensible, diminueraient bientot son action, et pourraient le mettre hors de service ; aussi a-t-on 
 propose diverses dispositions pour eviteur ces facheux degagements du fluide. L'auteur, apres les avoir passees en 
 revue, remarque qu'aucune, en particulier, ne peut agir avec 1'energie de la perte de gaz, et qu'il faudrait, dans 1'etat 
 actuel de 1'art aerostatique, avoir recours a leur emploi simultane, qui, malheureusement, est loin d'avoir la simplicity 
 desirable. Mais, en attendant les nombreuses modifications que reclame 1'art de la navigation ae'rienne, dans 
 1'acception la plus large du mot, M. Monge s'occupe des perfectionnements que necessitent encore les aerostats destines 
 aux observations scientifiques ; il recherche les moyens de construire des ballons captifs, de fagon a pouvoir les 
 elever et les maintenir dans les airs au milieu de la tempete, ce que Ton n'a pu obtenir jusqu'ici. II propose, en 
 consequence, une construction de ballons de forme allonge'e, et, pour qu'ils ne soient ni redresses verticalement ni 
 abattus par un coup de vent, il combine un systeme d'amarre aussi simple qu'ingenieux. En un certain point de la 
 corde de 1'ancre qui maintient le ballon dans une position horizontale, il fixe une poulie sur laquelle passe aussi une 
 corde ou soustendante, dont une des extremites est fixee au-dessous et a 1'arriere du ballon, et 1'autre a 1'interieur de 
 la nacelle. L'action du vent, en agissant a 1'arriere du ballon, operera comme sur un cerf-volant et le fera remonter. 
 L'inspection de la figure tracee dans les planches du livre suffit pour se rendre compte de cet effet. M. Transon, dans 
 un travail remarquable, addresse a la Societe philomathique, avait deja propose, dans le meme but, 1'accouplement 
 du cerf-volant au ballon. Mais la premiere idee que le cerf-volant pourrait un jour etre destine a un role moins 
 futile que celui auquel il sert est due a Euler fils, qui publia, a ce sujet, de savantes recherches dans les Me'moires de 
 I'Acade'mie de Berlin de 1765. 
 
 L'application de la belle idee de M. Arago sur les aerostats paratonnerres et paragreles dependant d'une bonne 
 enveloppe et d'un moyen de maintenir les ballons centre le vent, nous n'avons pu passer sous silence les recherches* 
 a ce sujet, car la realisation de ces paragreles serait, a elle seule, une compensation aux nombreux sacrifices faits pour 
 1'aerostation depuis 1'apparition des montgolfieres. 
 
 Par la publication de la duxieme partie de son livre, M. Monge donne uno preuve rare de son amour pour le 
 progres. Cette partie est consacre'e aux details de construction d'un ballon en cuivre que 1'auteur a fait faire, et 
 qu'il recommande de ne pas renouveler a cause de son peu do succes, les metaux, sous une faible paisseur, presentant 
 trop peu de resistance, et leur emploi entrainant a une grande depense. On doit done savoir gre" a M. Monge de 
 chercher a eviter a d'autres des essais dans une direction pouvant entrainer a de nombreux frais en pure perte. 
 
 Enfin la troisieine partie de 1'ouvrage contient des recherches et des notes historiques interessantes, des 
 formules sur 1'aerostation, des Tables diverses necessaircs a 1'aeronaute, une etude sur 1'accouplement des cerfs- 
 volants aux ballons ; des observations sur les poissons, les oiseaux, les insectes ailes, dans leur rapport avec les 
 aerostats, etc. On voit que 1'auteur n'a rien neglige pour rendre la publication aussi complete que possible ; aussi 
 pout-on la consideYer comme un veritable traite elementaire sur 1'aerostation, pouvant etre consulte avec fruit par 
 toutes les personnes que cette grande question interesse. Elles se convaincront que, si le probleme de la navigation 
 aerieime offre encore des diificultes enormes, les conditions, du moins, en sont nettement posees, et, ne presentant pas 
 
A.I.. 1M-... Ai:i;nM(ll\ ! - 888 
 
 11'imp.is.siliilitc als.ilue. Idir s.ilutinti nc d"it plus etre qti'uno question de temps. II nons c*t done ]H-nniii do 
 ooOKTvi-r i !!"! IVspi.ir quf s<-ml>l.iient ivnf,-rmer le-, pai mkliii, i|iii a dit, a 1'apparition den montgolfteres, 
 
 "e'cst 1'. iifnit i|ni vit-Mi dc naitre." Kn Hct, en voyaut avoc quello activit*', a notro dpoquo oaracte'risee oependant 
 par sea recherches positives, on recommence a s'occuper d'aerostation, do porfoctionncmcnts pratique*, on cut port*" a 
 cruin- .|M. 1.- t. mi" ! < it.- < nlaiioe n'ost pas trt-n uloignu, ct quo, si la reunite uoinpK>to do la navigation iit-rit nin- 
 n'est pa* reserve* a notre tempo, il pourrait lui etro donno do la perfect iomnT miuWmmeiit pour lui fain> n i,.h. 
 1'i. nt.'.t .Uii services signaled; mais, oouuno lo fait observer M. Momje, lo suoocs do teln projets no pout Otre hate 
 i|u'.iveo le secoursdes gouvernements et d'une awooiatiou do capitalistes. Remarquons, a notro tour. qm- dcs tntvnux 
 i\ quo los Ktiides sur FAerottation ne pcuvi-nt quo oontribuer a oot heuroux conooiire. Cos etudoa nous ont 
 .!!.. jdiru aiuwi utik qii'int^reaaantea, et dignea, tant par lour nature quo par la iiiauiore dont elloa wnit pr^sent^ea, 
 dii IP iin ilhwtre quo porte 1'autciir. 
 
 \ utre i-omitu dee arts mdoaniqnos vous propose, en consequence, do tvinoignor votre Batisfaction d M. Monge, 
 n li- ii-ini-n -iaut de sa communication, et d'iusuror le present Happurt dans le Hullftin. 
 
 if) ALCAN, Rapporteur. 
 A|<i>inuvu en seance, le 20 Juin, 1849. 
 
 \\"i- iiiny >iiin up by saying, tlio weight of the air is the only base of aerostatic movcuu-nt, 
 ami this wri^lit is not far from being invariable. MODS. Xadar <\],i esses this still more 
 lillly in 18(J.'J in the following formula: 
 
 contend against the air, one must be specifically heavier ttuii the air. 
 All that is not absurd is possible ; 
 All that ii ponible may be accompli:-: 
 
 He tln-n i^oes on to say : 
 
 That whi.-h tor tho last eighty years has prevented the possibility of directing tho course of balloons, w tin 
 balloon itself: in nther terms, it is sheer folly to endeavour to struggle against tho air, when one is lighter than the 
 air. 'I'., tin- ]-n, levior vento, if the physicist may use the words of tho poet, it is all very well to adjust and adopt 
 all the various systems, however ingenious they may be riggings, poddies, wings, fins, wheels, rudders, oars, helms, 
 nails, and countersails but it will never bo able to prevent tho wind from sweeping away tho whole concern. 
 
 A ball, "'ii which presents to the action of tho atmosphere a volume of from 600 to 1200 cubic metres (2'J.on.i 
 
 '00 cubic feet) of a gas from ton to fifteen times lighter than air, is by its very nature smitten with inca- 
 parity to struggle against the slightest current, no matter what may be the resisting motive force which may ! 
 imparted to it Both by its constitution and by the medium which drives it hither and thither at the jil-asnr<- ..!' 
 the wind, it can never become a vessel : it is a buoy, and remains a l>u< >y. 
 
 The simplest mathematical demonstration will invfraguldy show, not merely tho helplessness of tho balloon 
 against the pressure of tho win.l. Imt that it is a positive nuisance, so far as regards aerial navigation. Given, on 
 inn- h:iinl. tho actual weight which each cubic metre of gas is capable of lifting, together with the cubic contents of 
 yniir balloon, and on the other the minimum pressure which the wind must exercise, calculate the difference, and 
 thru draw yniir own conclusions. 
 
 In shun, it is necessary to bear in mind that whatever be the form which you give to your aerostat be it 
 splu-rii-al. conical, cylindrical, or a piano surface make of it if yon please a bullet-shaped body or a fish-shaped 
 h.iwi'v. r y.n nriy distribute the ascensional power in one, two, or four spheres in a word, with whatsoever equip- 
 ment you may pn.vide it y.ni will never succeed in making 1 = 20, let us say; and balloons will never be other 
 than pods are to a baby's head. 
 
 
 
 I ii. tii-t thin^ which it is necessary to understand and to affirm is, that those partial successes, obtained in 
 the absence of the adversary in other words, during a dead calm, in an enclosed space have proved nothing, since 
 
 it is .-imply impossible they could prove anything. 
 
 A. ii.il Im-iiinntiiiii iiuiM In- prnvud sub tole, sub Jove, in tho open air, and has nothing to do with fishi*. ii"r 
 chamber aeronauts. Yet it is ..wing to their indefatigable pereev failure that we arc indebted for the 
 
 establishment of a theory hemi-forth certain, since it emanates fr..m them-. 1. , aipl al.-.lut. ly by a 
 
 _' Y 
 
340 ASTKA CASTEA. A.D. 18G3. 
 
 We must, therefore, reverse the proposition itself, and formulate thus the new axiom : " In order to contend 
 against the air, we must be specifically heavier than the air." 
 
 Just as the bird is heavier than the air in which it moves, so man must obtain from the air itself his support. 
 In order to command the air, instead of being at its mercy, he must support himself upon the air, and no longer 
 serve as support to the air. 
 
 In short, in aerial locomotion, as in everything else, we can only rest upon that which resists. 
 
 The air itself amply furnishes us with this resistance the same atmosphere which overturns walls, tears up 
 by the root trees a century old, and enables the ship to traverse the most impetuous current. 
 
 According to the common sense of things for things have their common sense according to physical laws, 
 not less positive than moral laws, all the power of the air (supposed to be irresistible yesterday, when we could not 
 stand before it), all this power ceases to exist before the double law of dynamics and the gravity of bodies, and by 
 this law it will come into our possession. 
 
 ********** 
 
 This is not new, for in 1768 Paucton, the engineer, predicted for the screw its future importance in aerial 
 locomotion. All we have to do is to give practical application to recognised phenomena. And, however alarming 
 may be the simple appearance of an innovation, in France especially, it is our duty to hold fast to it, since if the 
 majorities of to-morrow are merely the minority of yesterday, the paradox of yesterday is also the truth of to- 
 morrow. 
 
 The progress of mankind is sympathetic, and I here cite a few instances of men who had already arrived at the 
 same conclusion as myself. I received, about ten years ago, the first visit of M. Moreau, of the Society of Dramatic 
 Writers, a simple theorist in aerostatics, but of a free and searching mind, who communicated to me the solution of this 
 
 problem. M. Lazbereau, inventor of a motive power by expanded air, M. M , engineer, son of a late celebrated 
 
 deputy, had arrived, by observation alone and by simple logic, at the same solution. I also mention M. de 1'onton 
 d'Amecourt, inventor of the ae'ronef, and M. de la Landelle, whose efforts for the last three years have borne upon 
 the practical demonstration of this system, and to whose kindness we owe the communication of a series of helicopteric 
 models, rising by themselves into the air, and carrying graduated weights. 
 
 If obstacles which I am ignorant of, personal difficulties, have hitherto prevented the idea from being carried 
 into execution, the moment has now arrived for its realisation. 
 
 The first necessity, then, for aerial autoinotion, is to disembarrass oneself of every kind of aerostat. That which 
 aerostation refuses we must demand of dynamics and statics. 
 
 It is the screw which is to carry us through the air it is the screw which penetrates the air as a gimlet does 
 wood, the one carrying with it its motive power, the other its handle. 
 
 Eveiy one has seen the toy called the spiralifer. It consists of four small flat fans, or rather spirals of paper, 
 edged with wire, and attached at equal distances to a central spindle of light wood. This spindle is inserted into a 
 hollow tube, with a rotary movement, upon an immoveable axle, which is held by the left hand. A string passed 
 round the spindle, and quickly pulled by the right hand, impresses upon it a rotary movement sufficient to enable 
 this miniature screw to detach itself and rise several yards high in air, whence it descends so soon as the force 
 imparted to it has exhausted itself. 
 
 Let us now imagine spirals of a material and an extent sufficient to support any motive power whatever 
 steam, ether, compressed air, or the like that this motive power has the permanence of forces employed in ordinary 
 industrial pursuits; and it is plain that by regulating at will, as the driver does the locomotive, you can rise, 
 descend, or remain motionless in space, according to the number of revolutions which you cause your screw to 
 make. 
 
 But there is nothing like the testimony of the eyes. The demonstration has been established in the most 
 conclusive manner by the various models of MM. Ponton d'Amecourt and de la Landelle the one a man of the 
 world, the other a man of letters neither of whom are mechanics, and who have secured the services of two most 
 skilled workmen, MM. L. Joseph, of Arras, and J. Richard. 
 
 These systems, different from the spiralifer, but more advanced than it, that they carry with them their 
 motive power, testify abundantly, despite the dictum of Lalande, to the evident possibility of the ascent of bodies 
 specifically heavier than the atmosphere itself. 
 
 It is not necessary to dwell upon the inevitable imperfection, yet so encouraging, of these trial engines, con- 
 
A. i.. : 
 
 M. X A UAH'S JDKAS. 
 
 stnu-t.d under tin- worst conditions in every jmint of view, ;unl which arc purely in embryo. Suppose them en 
 out tn ] -ife. -lion, ami. tn iln this, omtidc tliem to proper workshops and mechanics let a committoo of competent 
 ;r.-ntl- t tin' il.'t.ii!- -and if this wore done, I think the most sceptical mind would ooase to liavo any ,l..iil.i- 
 
 as to tin- ]"'~.-il.ilit\ ..t'.i. ii.il automotion. 
 
 I wish. a.s far as possible, to meet beforehand every objection, so earnestly do I desire that all should slum- my 
 
 ..wn .-.invidious. I .-.up]***-, thru, admitting that, after all, practioo too often give* tlio lio to theory, win n will 
 
 l.iMlv maintain that. <m a larger Male that in, on a scale oommcnsurato with tlio proportioiuj of the subj.vt tin 
 une result.- will nut be obtained. 
 
 Tin- iiiiswi-r is easy. It is, on the contrary, the amplificati.ni ..f weight and form upon which w.- ili-jn-nd f.n 
 Bucce; and. in fact, if <mr iirim-iplc in once admitted if our nmtivi J..W.T X. ropreaenting, let us say, mi.- Inns.- 
 l-,u, r. dm-s I...T jii-uvidi- us with sufficient asccmdonal power, wo have only one thing to do to diniMc tin- puwcr of 
 uiir \\.it.-r. If this two horse power bo insufficient, we take four horses. or eight, since, in proportion as wo augment 
 it> loi, . . wt- dimiiii.-h n-lativi ly the weight of our water. And it is very certain that a ten-horse power weighs 
 much liiw than u-n forces of one hone, while giving the same result Wo therefore diminish our load in proportion 
 as we increase our I 
 
 I think it may ) admin. .1 that the most difficult point has been passed, so soon as the screw provides us with 
 a! ascensional power, capable of U-ing regulated at will. 
 
 'I In- s< r.-w will iiiiiijileti- its work l>y jimviding us with a horizontal pnipi-ller, tho rapidity of whose rotation. 
 exceeding that of the lifting screw, will U- further increased by that obtained by inclined planes: and we have thus 
 the in- .i' 'ing the machine. 
 
 Let i,s ...nsid. r tin- a. -t ion of the parachute. A parachute is a sort of umbrella, in which tho handle is ivpluewl 
 at its (.lint i if insertion by an opening intended to ease tho excess of air, in order to avoid tho strong oscillations, 
 i hi.tly at the moment at which it is first expanded. Cords stretching symmetrically from divers points of the cir 
 (unit'. -ri nee, meet concentrically at the banket in which is the aeronaut. Above this basket, and at the entrance ot 
 
 -? 
 
 M. \AI> All's 
 
 '2 v I' 
 
342 ASTRA CASTRA. A.D. 1863. 
 
 the folded parachute, that is to say closed during the rise, a hoop of sufficient diameter is intended to facilitate, at 
 the moment of the fall, the entrance of the air which, rushing in under the pressure, expands the folds more easily 
 and rapidly. 
 
 Now the parachute, in which the weight of the car of the attaching cords and the wrigglings of the aeronaut 
 are in equilibrium with the expansion the parachute, which seems to have no other aim but to moderate the shock 
 in falling the parachute even, has been found capable of being directed ; and aeronauts who have practised it, take 
 care not to forget it. If the current is about to drive the aeronaut over a place where the descent is dangerous 
 say a river, a town, or a forest the aeronaut perceiving to his right, let us suppose, a piece of ground suitable for 
 his purpose, pulls at the cords which surround the right side, and by thus imparting a greater obliquity to his roof 
 of silk, glides through the air, which it cleaves obliquely, towards the desired spot. Every descent, in fact, is deter- 
 mined by the side on which the inclination is greatest. 
 
 The inclined planes disposed on the platform of our aerial locomotive, and combined with the ascensional power 
 which it yields, will furnish to it, then, independently of the horizontal screw, an assured means of locomotion. 
 
 It will be understood that it belongs not to us to determine at present, in this general statement, either the 
 mechanism or the necessary manoeuvres. Neither shall we attempt to fix even approximately the future velocity of 
 aerial locomotion. Let us rather attempt to calculate the probable velocity of a locomotive gliding through the air, 
 without the possibility of running off the rail, without any oscillation, without the least obstacle. Let us fancy such 
 locomotive encountering on its way, in the midst, one of those atmospheric currents which travel at the rate of forty 
 leagues an hour, and following that current ; add together these formidable data, and your imagination will recoil 
 in adding still further to these giddy velocities that of a machine falling through an angle of descent of from 12,000 
 to 15,000 feet in a series of gigantic zigzags, and making the tour of the globe in a succession of fantastic leaps. 
 
 The following are extracts from a lecture before the Polytechnic Association, and 
 of letters to the ' Constitutional,' in 1863, on the use of the Aerial Screw, by M. Babinet ? 
 ' de 1'Institut de France ' : 
 
 1. The common theory of the guidance of balloons, properly so called, is absurd. How shall we make balloons 
 like the " Flesselles," for example, which, measuring 1 20 feet in diameter, resist and manoeuvre against atmospheric 
 currents ? The sail of a vessel would require 400-horse power to contend on equal terms with the wind. Suppose, 
 which is impossible, that a balloon could carry up with it a 400-horse power, this great effort would absolutely 
 serve no purpose, for you can easily see that under this pressure your balloon would be extinguished in its frail 
 envelope. 
 
 This impossibility was admitted by every man of common sense. M. Nadar has given himself a great deal of 
 useless trouble in order to demonstrate it. To finish, once for all, with the impossible guidance of balloons, suppose 
 all the horses of a regiment attached by a rope to the cradle of a balloon, you would only obtain for result seeing 
 your balloon burst. 
 
 It is quite otherwise that man should seek the means of raising himself, which means, at the same time, guiding 
 himself in the air. 
 
 I bought once at a toy-shop a plaything which was then in fashion, called strophe'ore ; this toy was composed 
 of a small screw (helice), detaching itself from its support by rapidly pulling a string wound round its spindle. 
 The helice was heavy enough, weighing about a quarter of a pound, and its fans were of a very thick tin-plate. This 
 helice did not fly with impunity ; its flight was so violent in rooms that it often broke the looking-glass on the 
 mantelpiece and hurt the eyes of the children. Here you see one of these playthings, as I found many of them in 
 Belgium and Germany, and whose power of ascension is so great, that I have seen them pass over the cathedral of 
 Antwerp, one of the most elevated monuments of the globe. You observe that the air underneath is exhausted, 
 and forms a vacuum, in passing under the wings, whilst the air above rushes in. By this double effect the apparatus 
 ascends. 
 
 MM. Nadar, de Ponton d'Amecourt, and de la Landelle, bring something better before us than this, although 
 the wings of their different models are quite rudimentary, and really little worthy of people who wish to show some- 
 thing to those who are shortsighted. It is only yet the infancy of the process ; but it is so far good, since it shows 
 that the apparatus mounts into the air quite alone. We have here, gentlemen, gained the first step ; for this result, 
 small as it is, is fundamental. 
 
A.... IM;::. M. N AhAK'S IDEAS. 
 
 Th. i screw) w not a novelty; ht'lxxs were made before they were called so. W indmilU arc only 
 
 . tin- wind presses upon it* wingH and cauw* them to turn. In turbines, where you aee waterfalls f 
 
 '"" iin in > utilised by a mechanism no bigger than a hut, tin- phenomena is tlio same, only the wind i- < H ' d by 
 
 r rin> aerial screw prcaente great difficulties; but if we succeed in raising by it u small weight. v>< an , 
 to be able to raise so much the more a heavier weight Tin- motion being in proportion to the capacity, it results 
 that a large machine ia always more efficacious than a small n. . 1 repeat, your he'liee, which without . -\: 
 motion raises a mouse, will carry an elephant ten times more easily. 
 
 These he'lictt, which seem at first to serve only for ascending and descending, resolve, moreover, tin problem of 
 it- dii.' ti"ii .i- un-t a moderate wind. 
 
 rin onoe wagered to guide herself with a parachute from the point of its full to a place deter 
 
 mined iinil remote. By the combined inclinations which muld !* given to her parachute, she wan HCen, in fact, \>r\ 
 distinctly, to manojuvre and tend towards the place designate. 1, and her wager was gained almost within a few 
 \ i' b 
 
 I have,.ft,-n \\ntcln-d. in tin- mountains, birds which hvcr. and I have distinctly remarked this procedure: 
 when oiiiv they attain the maximum of ascension denintl. they liover and let themselves iall with the open wings, 
 in |i.iracliiite manner. II]HIH the point which they have chosen. Marshal Ney related to me that he has many times 
 observed this mameimv ]>crfoniied by large birds in the mountains of Algeria. 
 
 To sum ].. it that you have the means of transporting yourself, by the sole fact that you hav, in 
 
 your possession the means of raking yourself. Height alone gives you direction : after yon have obtained elevation, 
 you have cmployi-d an<l invented a capital of strength which yoii have only to expend as you please. 
 
 to reach that which was to me the favourite part of my article, namely, aerial locomotion. 
 
 This \v ill. by and-by, be alone a serious article. At present I wish to prove one of the most important facts. 
 Whilst in the academies they were speaking with indecision, ami almost with indifference, of aerial / : lices, and whilst 
 children's toys, laiim lied meehanically, were flying in turning at considerable heights, three amateurs. MM. Nadar 
 and do la Landello, both well known to the public, and M. de I'onton d'Amecourt, wore smitten with a noisy passion 
 for aerial navigation by means of the helice. They constructed small machines which derived their motive power 
 from a spring, and which raised them, wings and spring, without borrowing any impulsion from without. I 
 small engines an-, th. n fore, perfect automaton), and take their point of support on the air they traverse. The form 
 of the faiis of the helices remains to be studied, as well as the nature of the steam-engine which is required to furnish 
 the motion ; but, as a large model is always far more advantageous, mechanically, than a small apparatus of feeble 
 capacity, we can sny U.Idly, that if we have raised a mouse, we can far more easily raise an elephant It is a 
 ijuestiun of money and mechanism, and not of science. 
 
 \\e ,an. then, guarantee success to aerial navigation within the limits of the possible; that is to say, that we 
 shall never be able to proceed against the violent winds, which opjxise the flight of the most vigorous birds. As to 
 the exclusion of the aerostat, which MM. Nadar and de la Landelle loudly proscribe, it is long since every one versed 
 in physics has declared the guidance of the balloons lighter than the air among the problems, not only insoluble, 
 but which is absurd even to put forward. , 
 
 I have studied much, theoretically and experimentally, the question of motive screws in air and in water. 
 There is re<|iiired, at first a groat speed of rotation in the wings; but we can put on a great numl>er. A spring 
 would give a steady movement to the fans, and the steam-engine, made of metal, ought only to bo employed in 
 maintaining the spring at the same tension. This will act as a fly-wheel to the motive power. As to the required 
 speed, in order that the /,.'//.< may act energetically upon the air, I may say that in the experiments made along the 
 line Uisin of th>- Seine. In-low St. ( 'loud, a screw boat whose worm was one metre, and which in 1000 revolutions, 
 if the water hail not yielded, would have made one kilometre (1000 metres), made only 200 metres when the helice 
 turned slowly. It thus lost 800 metres in 1000 revolutions, whilst, with a more rapid movement of the helice, the 
 boat in 100 revolutions, advanced 800 metres, and lost only 200 m< 
 
 Ilapid movement^ have this advantage, that the air, obliged to yield to the impulsion, lias not time to escape, 
 
 and that it is strongly c pressed as upon the anterior face of a cannon-ball. It is for the same reason that a 
 
 parachute descends slowly ; f,,r in order to How out by the borders, the air is cnin]>elliil to make a considerable effort, 
 at the exjx-nse of the Ixxly suspended to the jiurachutc. 
 
344 ASTEA CASTBA. A.D. 1863. 
 
 It is a true gliding of the bird upon the inclined plane of its wings, which transforms the position of elevation 
 into a rapid course in a horizontal direction. The small lateral resistance which the he'lice offers will here aid 
 marvellously the horizontal progress, and the ascension will transform itself quite naturally into a progressive 
 advance. 
 
 I shall conclude in saying, with M. do la Landelle, that even laying aside all idea of travelling, we should be 
 able (I say shall be able), in case of fire, inundation, shipwreck, to render very efficacious assistance. Pliny .says, 
 " Deus estjuvare mortalem ! " it is God-like to assist humanity. I guarantee the canonisation of MM. Nadar, de Ponton 
 d'Amecourt, and de la Landelle. 
 
 3. What now do we ask for ? On what point is the insatiable genius of human progress about to direct its 
 efforts? After my last article, you will divine that I wish to speak of aerial locomotion under the names of MM. 
 Ponton d'Amecourt, de la Landelle, and Nadar. Let us see what has been done, and what remains to be done. 
 
 Generally speaking, every question properly stated is more than half resolved, when it does not contradict 
 any of the four grand laws of nature the laws of mechanics, physics, chemistry, and physiology. Now aerial navi- 
 gation does not contradict any of these codes ; it is therefore possible. MM. Nadar, de la Landelle, and d'Amecourt, 
 have undertaken with much stir the solution of this question to wit, to construct a screw machine which shall raise 
 a man and enable him to support himself indefinitely in the air ; in short, to enable him to move from a certain point 
 in the direction of and towards the spot desired. Now this, I maintain, can be done of a certainty. 
 
 It will be said to me, Why do you adopt with so much warmth the ideas and hopes of these gentlemen ? 
 
 I reply, Because they have been for a long time my own. For more than fifteen years I have preached 
 aerial navigation by means of the screw. I have conferred about it with all our celebrated mechanicians, and if 
 MM. Ponton d'Amecourt and de la Landelle had not realised, as they have done, automotive apparatus which carry 
 their active power along with them, I should consider myself, as well as a great number of geometricians and natural 
 philosophers, entitled to claim the idea of the air-travelling he'lice ; and more than that, I should be able to produce 
 all the infallible mathematical calculations which guarantee the success of this aerial navigation. These calcula- 
 tions are analogous, not to say identical, to those which have been made for the sails of the windmill, the vanes of the 
 turbine, for ventilators and the maritime screw. For all these motors the result has been the same as that which 
 the mechanical formulas indicated. 
 
 With the small models shown to the public at a numerous meeting at M. Nadar's, and by myself at a conference 
 of the Polytechnic Association in the Amphitheatre of the School of Medicine, before some thousand auditors, this 
 apparatus, provided with springs wound up to a moderate pitch, was seen to raise and sustain itself in the air during 
 the whole time of the action of the spring. Now, if a small steam apparatus, easy to imagine, had restored to the 
 motor-spring the tension which it loses in putting the screw into motion, the mechanism in question would have' 
 been indefinitely raised, sustained, and directed, in the midst of the atmosphere. 
 
 In a publication of the helicopteroidal triumvirate, these gentlemen observe with just reason that a ten-horse 
 power steam-engine weighs incomparably less than ten machines of one-horse. It is said in fortification that a small 
 place is a bad place ; it is still more true to say in mechanics a small motor is a bad motor. The greater part of the 
 deceptions which ruin inventors arises from this, that they judge of the effect of a machine by that of a small model, 
 which is what they call a chef-d'oeuvre, not susceptible of working on a large scale. It is similar to the case of those 
 who calculate the produce of a field by the returns of a crop gathered from a box in their window-sill. 
 
 Whilst MM. Ponton d'Amecourt and de la Landelle were constructing their small automotives, M. Nadar, who, 
 like many others, had also thought of the screw, but who had also gained experience of aerostation and its insuffi- 
 ciency, was placed in relations with the two partisans of the screw. He entered with ardour into the triumvirate 
 of which I have spoken, and became the efficacious promoter of the common idea. 
 
 Here, then, wo have between these gentlemen and myself the plan adopted to advance aerial navigation with 
 certainty by means of the screw. A little model on an exact scale will be constructed, at a moderate expense. A 
 small high -pressure steam-engine will be constructed with a thin cylinder and light piston, and its power will be 
 applied to the motor-screw of the apparatus already constructed, and will wind up this spring continually, restoring 
 the force it loses by its action on the double ascensional screw. When we are in possession of an apparatus which 
 shall raise itself carrying only two pounds, we shall be able to calculate the expense of a machine capable of raising 
 a man or any weight whatever, and susceptible, with aerial propellers, of directing itself (with certain limits of 
 speed) in an atmosphere which shall not be dominated by a too violent wind. Let us observe that the screw, the 
 
v.i.. IM:::. M. r.AKKAI.'s oi'lNlnx-. ::i:, 
 
 Hades..!' which :n-i- nearly hori/ontal, givpebut small hold to the wind, whirh irresistibly carries with it tin- nidinnv 
 .mplcte helicopter.- nf Hiiuill power is ol.taim-d, it will IK- m affair of iiioiicy to construct ........ !' 
 
 greater i- r. iM-1 the e\p. IIHO will bo easily covered by an association which will lin.l in ]>nblic cnrioaity r other 
 .1 i. -1111111' -ration fur the first outlay. 
 
 To tlirs,- I aimrx a jiapi-r on aerial locomotion. 1>\ M. Uarral. a Frendi aeronaut, lakm 
 fr.-iii tin- ' I'IVSM- Sriciitifiijui',' 18G3: 
 
 \lNlv knows that I have travelled in balloons; hence it happens tluit every year I am receiving hundreds 
 i >f communications nil tin' j 'iid iiieo of aerostats. Most fn-i|iifiitly 1 reply to inventors tliat J find their systems 
 impractic.il.lc. Tiny take tin- lull. .on almost just as it issued fnun the hands of the first aerial traveller a huge 
 ,-nvi !..] t'.'i- .1 gas- lighter than atmospheric air. upon which rente a net which carries certain r..p. s attaeheil to a 
 strung w<Hlen h.mp : to this lump they sus]K-nd. still l>y i. -pcs. a car, where they pretend t.i place. with the voyagers, 
 the motor intended to ilireet the machine. P.ut they fail to perceive that thin machine will in vain develop the 
 power ili. y wished, for it will work like a deail rigger, at the extremity of ropes which can transmit nothing to 
 the lull. .ii almve. K-eanse ili. y arc not rigid ; 1> -.sides, this balloon has such dimensions, that to contend against the 
 air which bears it would require immense powers, of which they may form an idea in reflecting on the power nf 
 the winds on tin- windmill and nil the sails nf the ship. 
 
 M.-si ti. qiicntly. then, I see only in the inventors of balloon-guidance Lilliputians susp-ndi-d l>y IO|H-S round 
 th- iniddl.-. and pr. i. udin_'. by shaking ili. ins. Ives, to change the place of the hook in the coiling to which the i,,|,- 
 i, ,11, .;.,]. i'- it .1 diti- r. MI im|.i. ->;.. n i~ I-I.-IM- . -l npon iny i:iind by tiwM wiio b*gbi i.\ ItDiag DM thai khcg 
 would .':.!!-. the c..nditioiis ..(' the construction of the aerostats. Aa I have the conviction that aerial navigation is 
 t the n.-ar cniii|iii st.s incontcstably reserved for man, I attach the greatest value to every effort made to combine 
 a machine where the JUN. lighter than air, shall do no more than serve to diminish the mean density of the apparatus. 
 and where the motive power shall 1- able to exert itself ulteriorly on the directing organs, without finding in the 
 Kiip]nirt a pnwi-r out of pro|mrtion t<> the power which the traveller shall bo able to dispose of. On this account, the 
 recent puMicatinn.s of M. Nadar, and the communications which ho has been pleased to make to me personally, .-..uld 
 nut luit highly inti-rest me. It is my duty, I consider, to speak out now that M. Babinet has approached this sulijcct 
 in two protinind and witty articles such as he alone knows how to write, in the ' Constitutional ' of the 15th and 
 29th of A 
 
 It was at the beginning of this month that M. Xadar publicly made known his ideas on aerial locomotion, at a 
 meeting to which he had invited a good number of sacanx, engineers, writers, and gentlemen. I could not then be 
 present, but here is what I read in a kind of Report sent to the journals : 
 
 M. Nadar presented to the assembly an explanation of the theory for aerial auto-locomotion by the suppres- 
 sion Ik-forehand, and attsolutely, of every aerostat, and by the employment instead, of the screw and inclined planes. 
 In recognising that this theory was not new. since, in 170rt, fifteen years before the ascent of the first .Montgnlfior, 
 Paiictmi. the engineer, predicted for the screw its employment in aerial navigation. M. Nadar invoked the sympathetic 
 con, -in -rein -.- - ;' all to popularise the idea, and to facilitate at the earliest its practical application. 
 
 M. d.- la Landelle confirmed M. Nadar's explanation in causing several models to work, constructed according 
 to tin- system of M. de Ponton d'Amdcourt, his fellow-labourer. These helicopteres raised themselves automatically, 
 
 M^ graduated weights, and superabundantly demonstrated the certitude of the theory." 
 
 \\ . must not take M. Xadar quite according to the letter when he speaks of the absoliite suppression of the 
 balloon; he does not renounce, evidently, all means for diminishing the specific weight of the apparatus which he 
 thinks he is aU<! to make use of. In fact, he has taken for epigraph to an article which we published in the ' Presse,' 
 of the 4th <.f August : " In order to contend against the air, it is necessary to be specifically heavier than the air :" 
 luit In- had tak.n care to write in a note, I know that some will like to fasten upon the very letter of this formula. 
 whose terms I have exaggerate! on purpose, and will feign to mistake it, which to me is indifferent." 
 
 M. Nadar's fundamental idea is, " to support oneself on the air, and no longer to give sup|>nrt to tin- air;" as, 
 in fact, it is the ease in the common balloon, where the ascensional power is only the difference 1 twe, n the total 
 weight nf the aerostat and a weight of atmospheric air equal to that of a column of air filling the space oct-upi.-d b\ 
 the aerostat To sup].it ones. It' ,,n tin- air, M. .Nadar proposes the he'lke, animated by a great speed, the i 
 
346 
 
 ASTKA CASTRA. 
 
 A.D. 1863. 
 
 M. Petin, fifteen years ago, proposed inclined planes. M. Babinet has developed this idea in his article in the 
 ' Constitutional,' of the 15th August. I desire and ought to allow the learned natural philosopher to speak for 
 himself. 
 
 M. Babinet is completely of my opinion on the impossibility of directing the balloon, with which we all, who 
 have dared to make the experiment, were raised in the air, contenting ourselves to ascend, and allowing ourselves to 
 be carried by the strata of air where our ascensional power had conducted us. 
 
 It ought to be said that the guidance the screw can impress, in order to mount in such or such a direction, is 
 perfectly demonstrated by M. Babinet. The bird that flies, is it not also a machine which may serve for example ? 
 Should we not, in fact, endeavour to imitate the constitution of the bird, as an eminent agriculturist indicated on 
 the 20th August to the Central Society of Agriculture, in citing certain experiments where he had obtained, by the 
 sole relaxing of springs, a notable ascent of bodies in equilibrium in the air ? In order to proceed with success in 
 this new direction, wo ought not to neglect having recourse to light gas, to diminish the too great mass of metals, as 
 the warm air of the bird circulates in its feathers. But the screw will elevate and direct the aerial ship ; it is its 
 essential feature, and which M. Nadar wishes to realise with an ardour worthy of every encouragement. 
 
 It is only in trying experiments that we shall succeed in resolving the problem laid down by M. Nadar. The 
 young child has much trouble to arrive at being able to stand upon his legs ; the grown man no longer remembers 
 the studies of equilibrium to which he very often succumbed during his early months. Let us come, then, to the 
 aid of willing inventors, who are smitten with a passion for aerial locomotion. We applaud their next experiments. 
 
 There will, indeed, be much labour in order that these ideas may materialise themselves. Before becoming the 
 steamboat, which crosses seas in all weathers, the first log of wood floating on the water demanded of the genius of 
 mart immense inventive efforts. The aerostat is little more than a frail canoe guided by savages. But the man of 
 the nineteenth century has acquired experience enough to surmount the obstacles which aerial navigation presents, 
 and which are nothing compared with all 1hose which ho has already triumphed over. Honour, then, to those who 
 are making search for aerial navigation. The learned owe them their aid, and not their disdain. 
 
 M. DE LA LAXDELLK'S IDKAS. 
 
 " WHEN WE DISCOVER, OR THINK WE DISCOVER, ANY FACT IN THE ECONOMY OF NATURE WHICH WE HAVE REASON TO 
 BELIEVE HAS NOT PREVIOUSLY BEEN OBSERVED, LET IT, AT LEAST, BE VERIFIED AND RECORDED. No TRUTH IS ALTOGETHER 
 BARREN ; AND EVEN THAT WHICH LOOKS, AT FIRST SIGHT, THE VERY SIMPLEST AND MOST TRIVIAL, MAY TURN OUT FRUITFUL 
 IN PRECIOUS RESULTS." 
 
A.M. 
 
 M. DAVID'S |'K<hi>\l . 
 
 847 
 
 Tin- Mras of N":nl:ir :m<l tin- arn>motivi' party, so Iwldly expressed, liave drawn forth tin- 
 of tin 1*1- who foresee the practicability of ^nidin^ aerostats; and ainon^ the many 
 pampldrts tliat li;i ntly appt-arod in Paris, one published in 18G4, by M. Da\id. 
 
 a Mi-mluT iif ill.- A.Ttistatir and M. :. >mli)i^ical Society, seems to be the best. It is the result 
 of ten y.-ais' study. It U-ars tin- title of* Solution du Probleme de la Navigation dans 1'Air,' 
 and in it lie makes the following remarks: 
 
 Two nlijivtiniiN tn this iii-w science have been made that have some weight and are worthy of the trouMr <'t' 
 r.Tnt.iti.'ii. so I will hen- nii.swi-r I 1 
 
 'rii<> l*t i.l.j. i-ii,.ii is, to snppooo that the ascensional power of the aerostat am only bo augmeiitnl \>\ 
 greatly extruding the surface, ami that the resistance of the air against this surface would :.lu;.yw puralyKc thu> 
 rtTurts to move. It is said, a locomotive attached to a balloon is movement associated with immobility. It in like ;i 
 team-engine attached to a cathedral to cause a change of locality, Ac. 
 
 Th"- !< it .1-. .11 iii tlii- \v;iy IKIVI- ilcitililli - in-vi-r M n ;.n iiilLitnl lullm .11 mi i vi -i 1 iVmii mir jil.n-i- t" ;.i...llii-i 
 by a rope. One man can do this, unless the wind should be high. Neither have they noticed the rapidity with 
 whii-h a balloon rises : for, if tho resistance of the air was considerable, it would require prodigious force to gi\v it 
 this motion ; whilst in reality tho ascending power is derived from deducting some forty or sixty pounds from tin- 
 aerostat* This shows leas locomotive power than what a man possesses in his own body. Now, the resistance of 
 
 Am.i RAPIDITY IN ASCEXI 
 
 LVMAC, Sept. 15th, 1804. 9'40 A.M.; Bar. 30-66 inches, 
 Tin r. 82 Khr. 
 
 1 hour i:t minuh * oMi-iuling 23,040 feet above the tea, 
 
 ..r -J-J.i'l-J feet above Paris. 
 At 11.3 A.M. be was 4} mile* above the M*. 
 
 Mono. GRAHAM AJCD BKAI-JOT, June 17th, 1824. 6.5 P.M. ; Bar. 
 89-80 inches, Ther. 66 Falir. 
 
 Tlier. 46 
 . 45 a 
 390 
 
 beard report of a cannon. 
 32 
 
 TM. 
 
 At G. 8 Bar. was 27-40 or 2,257 
 
 !.! 25-50 4.235 
 
 1C 23- 3 6,005 
 
 ., i:.-J'i 21-60 8,608 
 
 lo ,. 19-20 11,711 
 
 Tin- highert point nearly 2 milea in 32 minutes. 
 
 k, Otm A!t RrgH, VavxhyO, Sept. 10<A, 1838. At 6.30 P.M. 
 the lattitm teat relented with 1 12 ft*, attending poteer, and in 7 minutei 
 they had patted an altitude of 2 mile* ; the greatert beight reacbed 
 wu 5 mile* 746 feet; and they descended at Lewi*, in BUKX, at 
 7.45 P.M. 
 
 DR. ZEIZE or ALTOSA, AKD MB. COXWELL al llumlmrg, A'or. 4M, 
 1849. - Time of starting, 3 P.M. 
 
 3. SP.M 3348 feet abore the sea. 
 
 8.10 3,628 over the Elbe. 
 
 3.15 3,911 
 
 3.20 4,084 
 
 3.25 4523 
 
 3.30 4.433 
 
 Or at the rate of a mile in 30 minute*. 
 
 Mmns. GREEN ASD WELSH, Aug. 17/A, 1852. Started, 3.49 P.M. ; 
 reacbed 19,510 feet at 4.46 P.M. 
 
 . GREEN AND WELSH, Xot. 10th, 1852. Started, 2.21 F.M. ; 
 reacbed 22,930 feet at 3.16 P.M. 
 
 MESSRS. GLAIMIKK AND COXWELL, Wdverhampton, July nth, 1862. 
 Time of starting, 9.43 A.M. 
 
 At 9.49 A JL 4,4.17 feet above sea-level. 
 
 .. :>..V> 809 
 
 - 1". -1 i: 
 
 10.15 l.;.:il-J 
 
 10-30 la.415 
 
 ,.10.50 , 21,059 
 
 . 11. 7 , 25,077 
 
 Or nearly 5 miles in 1 hour 24 minutes. 
 
 OLAUIIEII AND OUXWELL, Wolrerhamplon, Aug. 18th, 
 1862. Started at 1 hr. 2 min. 38 i. P.M. 
 
 At 1. 5 P.M 1.130 feet above aea-li v.l 
 
 1.10 4.138 
 
 1.14 6,585 
 
 , 1.20 1 1.2112 
 
 Or nearly 2 miles in 18 minute*. 
 
 MESSRS. GLAUHEB ASH COXWELL, Wdrerhampton, Sepl. 5th, 1862. 
 The highest ascent on record ; height attained, 7 miles. 
 Left the earth at 1 hr. 3 min. 20 s. P.M. 
 
 At I.OP.M. 1,480 feet above sea-level. 
 
 . 1-13 5,675 
 
 1.22 10.770 
 
 1.38.25s. 20.1-Jil 
 
 1.53 P.M 29,000 
 
 Or 6 miles in 47 minute*. 
 
 The last mile Mr. Glaishcr was insensible, but self-registering 
 instruments and Mr. Coxwell's observation of an aneroid standing 
 at 7 inehet. proves that a height of 37,000 feet was attained. 
 
 MHBBS. GLAIBHEB AND COXWELL, Cryttal Palace, March 31st, 
 1863. Left earth at 4.16 P.M. 
 
 At 4.18 FA 1,515 feet above sea-level. 
 
 4.24 5,296 
 
 4.35 10,047 
 
 4.45 15,793 
 
 5.15 20,136 
 
 5.28 24,000 
 
 Or 24,000 feet in 1 hour 12 minutes. 
 GI.AISHER AND COXWELL, April 18(A, 1863. Beached the 
 altittule of -Jl.fMMl f, , t in 1 Imiir nml 13 minutes. 
 
 It is much to be regretted tliat the rapidity of many other ascents 
 lias not been chronicled ; until these facts were obtained from Mr. 
 Coxwell, the author was under the impression, with others of the 
 party who shanil the Winchester Experiment, that they had 
 the felicity of moving at the rate of 3 miles a minute, as otut. .1 in 
 the letk-r in the Times' (see page 243 of this book). Such is the 
 reliance that can be placed in one's own senses on novel Kituations. 
 
 INSTANCES or RKMARKABLE RAPIDITY IN DUKEXDIVO. 
 
 Two authentic instances will suffice : the mie when .Mr. i 
 told Mr. Glauber, " We most save the land," when inunediuti h 
 I.\.T lt.-i.-liy Head. They descended 2 miles in 4 minutes, and 
 alighU-d on that promontory. On another occasion, when tin 
 ascent was from Wolvi rlmmpton, they descended 3 miles in 9 
 minutes. 
 
348 ASTKA CASTRA. A.D. 1864. 
 
 the air vertically and horizontally is the same ; whence it is clear that less than the strength of a man will cause 
 the supposed fixture to move. The increase of surface doubtless augments the resistance ; but the air is so 
 diaphanous, being 900 times less dense than water, that the increase is really insignificant. An aerostat has no 
 friction, and the cylindro-conical is the best form for movement. 
 
 The 2nd objection is, the effect of the wind on the surface of the balloon. For all that one may do, it has 
 been said the wind will always carry with it so large a surface, and any locomotive must be useless. 
 
 This objection is serious. I have weighed it in my mind a long time, and I solve it in this manner : 
 
 A free balloon is a slave to the winds, following their slightest caprices. But I ask the cause. 
 
 Is it the strength of the wind that gives it this power ? No ; for the least wind will move the balloon 
 as well as the strongest. Its movement is then indeed less rapid, but it is because the wind itself moves less 
 rapidly. 
 
 Is it on account of the extent of the balloon's surface ? We may again say, No ; for the smaller balloon is 
 influenced equally by the wind. The reason, then, for the dominion of the wind over the balloon is the absence of 
 all resistance. 
 
 The particles of air that surround the balloon do not change their place ; it is, therefore, as much enclosed as 
 is the passenger in the railway-carriage. 
 
 The wind is the auxiliary of the sailing-ship ; wherefore this difference ? Because the ship finds in the water 
 resistance sufficient in some degree to neutralise the wind, and can therefore tack at will. 
 
 What, then, does a balloon require, that it may be guided like a ship ? Only to create a resistance that is 
 wanting to annihilate the force of the wind, and give it a counterbalancing power. 
 
 Within these limits we find the difficulties considerably lessened. To cause it to disappear entirely there 
 remains now only the demonstration of the practicability of creating the resistance that will counterbalance the 
 strength of the wind. 
 
 Many methods can produce this result. I shall notice one. 
 
 The screw, by its simplicity, extreme facility of action, and its characteristic of acting when entirely 
 submerged in a fluid, constitutes assuredly the best propulsive agent that aerial navigation can make use of, both 
 to resist the effect of the wind and to cause movement in a calm atmosphere. Let us suppose two screws, of very 
 large dimensions, placed on the right and left of the aerostat (we are talking here of an elongated form), with 
 rotary movement parallel to the length of the equipage, capable of being turned at will either way. These screws, 
 put in motion, must necessarily draw the aerostat to the right or left, according to the direction of rotation they 
 receive. This fact being established, their use in effecting the object proposed now comes under discussion. 
 
 To resist by their aid the influence of the wind it will suffice to put them in motion either one way or the 
 other, so that they might always work their way through the air in the direction from whence the wind does come. 
 They cannot then possibly fail to furnish the resistance required. 
 
 There is yet a final question to examine. In what proportion will this resistance be created ? Will it be 
 sufficient to neutralise the force of the wind ? 
 
 With the materials that aerial navigation can actually make use of at the present time, we can answer, Yes ; 
 but industry is now devising new screws, combining extreme lightness with great strength ; and it will be shown 
 that a balloon of the necessary dimensions for effecting a truly aerial voyage, furnished with these agencies, can 
 easily create a force equal to and even superior to the wind. 
 
 Be it understood that I am not here speaking of a hurricane or tornado, but of the ordinary atmospheric 
 currents. In such a difficulty, what is best to be done is either to reach the higher and calmer regions of the 
 atmosphere, or to descend to the earth for shelter. I have here cited by preference this method for obtaining 
 resistance, because it is the easiest one in which to show clearly that the action of the wind on a balloon can 
 be victoriously overcome ; but I do not propose that it should be the exclusive means of future aeronautics. In a 
 following section (wherein propulsion by purely mechanical means is treated of) I shall propose a second, less 
 energetic, but even more simple, which, under certain circumstances, might replace what we have just mentioned 
 with advantage. 
 
 " APPAKEIL." 
 
 Before describing the combination of means by which I propose to obtain movement and guidance in the air 
 I ought to observe that in aerial, like marine, navigation, two distinct methods of propulsion exist, viz., the 
 
A.M. IS'! I. 
 
 I'.Y SAILS. 
 
 |.!-..|.iil-i,.ii l.y Kiils. with the wind M a motive power, and the propulsion by a mechanical agent, such M the wrew, 
 t'r m-t.iM. . MI iking the specific gravity of the air it* point d'appui. 
 
 I u ill K]x>uk lirnt of the propulsion by sails, and then of the means purely mechanical. 
 
 BY SAILS. 
 
 I ilrrive the ascensional power from a lutestring gas-holder, varnished or vulcanised, of elongated form. 
 slightly an-hcd in its upper surface, and terminating at either end in a hemixphere (Figs. 1 and 2, A A). I say 
 
 I .'..- . I ...K.ii I - 
 
 Kio. 1. HORIZONTAL SECTIOX OF THE SAILIMG-AEROCTAT. 
 
 i . . 
 
 I ,:,. I ..I-..,! B 
 
 FIG. 2. VERTICAL SECTION or A SAILISO-AEBOJTAT (THE RIGHT SIDE). 
 
 lutestring, from its being the best tissue for the purpose hitherto invented ; but there is reason to believe that 
 metallic gas-holders will one day be constructed. 
 
 Inside the aerostat, attached to the lower half, I place a balloon of much smaller dimensions, whereby ascent 
 and descent can be effected without loss of either gas or ballast It is connected with a reservoir of compressed 
 gas, placed under the car ; and by mechanical means this balloon can either be filled with gas or atmospheric air, 
 according to the wish to ascend or descend (Fig. 2, B B). 
 
 v Ming covers the gas-holder (Tigs. 1 and 2, A A). At the lower extremities of this net, and under the gas- 
 holder, is suspended a horizontal wooden framework, which serves to support the screws and the sails of which w<- 
 are going to speak (Figs. 1 and 2, ccccc c). 
 
 To the right and left of the gas-holder are double-armed screws, which I shall call tin- lateral -n-w>. In m 
 their position. Their length should be about equal to the gas-holder's diameter, and are so fixed that tin ir axix 
 
 2 z 2 
 
350 AST1U CASTKA. A.D. 1864. 
 
 should bo at right angles with the length of the gas-holder. They receive their motion from an engine, that may 
 be worked either by steam or expanded air, and is to be placed in the car (Figs. 1 and 2, u n). 
 
 At the prow and stern of the gas-holder are two inclined planes of stretched canvass, mounted on a pivot, 
 capable of turning to the right or left ; these I call the vertical sails, Figs. 1 and 2, K E. 
 
 Under the gas-holder before and behind the car are two inclined planes, fixed also on pivots, but only 
 acting horizontally ; these I call the horizontal sails, Fig. 2, F F. 
 
 Finally, under all, is the car for the passengers, provisions, and the engines for working the screws, Fig. 2, G o. 
 This car is attached to the framework before mentioned by several uprights of wood or iron, Fig. 2, H H H H, and 
 also to the netting that covers the gas-holder, to prevent all oscillations, and to consolidate all parts of the 
 aerostat. 
 
 THE NAVIGATION OF A- SAILING-AEROSTAT. 
 
 The object of the lateral screws, u D, is to oppose the currents of the atmosphere with an equal force. They 
 consequently turn so as to screw up against the wind. Their movement should lie more or less rapid, according to 
 the force of the wind, and should be so adjusted as to cause equilibrium. 
 
 This result obtained, the aerostat is in exactly the same position as a sailing-ship ; and what causes the latter 
 to advance is, the decomposition of the force of the wind by tacking. The analogy is apparent ; for it will suffice 
 to incline the vertical sails, E K, so that they present to the " wind's eye " the most advanced lateral extremities. 
 (See Fig. 1, the situation of the sails in relation to the wind, represented by the arrows j j.) The force of the 
 wind being opposed by the resistance of the lateral screws, the inclination of the sails will cause the aerostat to 
 advance in the direction of the arrows L L ; that is to say, across the current. From this we see that the lateral 
 screws are the soul of this system. Without them sails and all would be the slave of the wind ; with them the aerostat 
 resists ; the enemy is transformed into a beneficent ally, and the practicability of sails is henceforth demonstrated. 
 It is clear also, from having vertical sails at each extremity of the aerostat, you can shift the direction by giving 
 them different inclinations. One can understand also how it would be possible to turn completely round. I should, 
 however, propose that a helm be also tried (Fig. 2, i) ; tacking can then be as easily effected in the air as on the 
 water. 
 
 I will now speak of the uses of the horizontal sails. They can cause (but only during the movement of the 
 aerostat) ascent or descent, without loss of gas or ballast. 
 
 The inclination of these sails is sufficient to do this, and they become, as it were, inclined planes; and the 
 aerostat, obedient to the slightest impulse, must rise or fall by gentle gradation. 
 
 The internal balloon is necessary to cause a vertical ascent and descent when required. 
 
 The simultaneous employment of these two assistants might on some occasions be of use. The horizontal sail 
 will, when experience has been acquired, diminish the fluctuations caused by the temperature and electricity (as 
 yet so little understood), and will, therefore, make the line of march as horizontal as it can be. 
 
 On account of the simplicity of the means of propulsion, I cannot but foresee that the pace will be slow in 
 calm weather. 
 
 The sailing aerostat seems, therefore, in the future navigation only to hold the place of sailing-ships, being 
 made of great size, and carrying goods, whereof the delay in transportation is a secondary consideration. When, 
 however, speed is desired, mechanical propulsion, such as I will now describe, must be resorted to. 
 
 MECHANICAL PROPULSION. 
 
 The mechanically propelled aerostat is, in the main, constructed the same as the sailing-aerostat. 
 These are preserved intact : 
 
 The gas-holder (Figs. 3 and 4, A A). 
 
 The interior balloon (Figs. 4, B n). 
 
 The netting that covers the gas-holder (Figs. 3 and 4, A A). 
 
 The fixed framework (Figs. 3 and 4, c c c c c). 
 
 The lateral screws (Figs. 3 and 4, n n). 
 
 The car with the engine (Fig. 4, G). 
 
 Besides these the new apparatus contains the following additions : 
 
MECHANICALLY I'HOI'ELI.l.I AKK08TAT. 
 
 351 
 
 At tin' prow ami .stem of the gaH-hoM.r. in>t.a>l f the vertical sails of tho nailing-aerostat, thure are two * 
 |.r-.|. ll.-r- : I I. <> o), similar in every point to the lateral screws, reoeiving their movement, like them, from 
 
 the . ii-in.- in tin . ar. I would draw particular attention t<> the taryt donentiom of those aorewi: on account of the 
 . MII-III. mobility nf tlif air, and thu feeblentas of tho fioint tfappui that it prosenU, nocosmtatoti rice tn ..l.t.nn 
 efficiency. 
 
 Tin-.-- M-n ws ure fixed so that their uxle is |nillcl to the length of the aerostat; they are then-fore at ri^lit 
 iii-l.ji with tin- lateral aorawi. 
 
 (hi . itln-r siili- of the oar are vertical nails (Fig. 4, EE), as well as tho horizontal ailn, F; and at tin 
 nuliler, i. 
 
 THE NAVIGATION or A MECII AMCM.I.Y I'ROPELLKD AEROSTAT. 
 
 In this >\ -t. ni of Kivw-propellerH, o o, their object, an the miuio indiciites, la to caiwe the movement <! tin 
 aerostat. IM-III^; put in motion l.\ the engine in thu car, tln-v work their way through tho air; the one vlrawin^. ami 
 
 I - * ,:. i- - 
 
 UM - : -i- I 
 
 Fio. 3. HORIZONTAL SECTION or AN AEBMTAT MECHANICALLY PROPCLLKO. 
 
 4. VERTICAL SECTION OP AS AEROSTAT MECHANICALLY I-ROPELLED. 
 
352 ASTRA CASTKA. A.D. 1864. 
 
 the other pushing the aerostat. [I must here remark that I anticipate less result from the screw-propeller at the 
 bow, than I de from the one at the stern, on account of the current of air that this screw will throw on the 
 gas-holder. If experience shows its inconvenience, it must be done away with.] 
 
 Such remarkable successes as those obtained by the experiments I speak of at the commencement of this book, 
 with such small models that the motive power was scarcely anything, can leave no doubts as to the wonderful results 
 which will accrue to future aeronautics from the screw-propeller. Being adapted to an aerostat sufficiently large to 
 carry the requisite engines, it will devour space without effort, and leave behind, as far as rapidity is concerned, all 
 means of locomotion hitherto known. 
 
 It is the extraordinary power of the screw that forms the basis of this system, and will assign to it the first 
 rank among the appliances hitherto contrived. 
 
 Other aids are made use of in the following ways. The rudder acts as in a ship : The horizontal sails, though 
 not in the same position as in the sailing aerostat, will equally cause ascent or descent without loss of gas or ballast. 
 The lateral screws, as before, resist the power of the wind. The vertical sails are now invested with the same 
 power. . 
 
 I indicate these two methods of arriving at the same result, as both appear to have advantages. If, in reality, 
 the former is most energetic, the latter is the more simple : experience alone can decide. 
 
 The principle by which the vertical sails are invested with this new attribute is the same as that by which 
 the horizontal sails cause ascent and descent ; it is that of the inclined plane. It is therefore only when the aerostat 
 advances by means of the screw-propeller that they can become effective ; the more rapid the motion, the more power 
 they possess. It may here be as well to remark, that to resist the wind there is not required such opposing force as 
 is generally supposed. 
 
 This, to be well understood, must be explained. There is in mechanics a well-known elementary principle 
 that may be thus expressed : 
 
 When a body is subject to two forces that would drive it in different directions, forming between them an angle more or less 
 open, it follows neither the one nor the other, but takes an intermediate course. If the forces are equal, the intermediate 
 direction is just midway. If unequal, it inclines to the line of the stronger force. 
 
 Let us apply this to the case before us. The body in question is the balloon ; the two forces are, on the one 
 side the wind, and on the other the screw-propellers. 
 
 Let us suppose (see Fig. 5) a balloon represented by the 
 point A, the wind blows from A to B, and the screw-propellers exer- 
 cise their motive power from A to c. 
 
 The aerostat is then under two impulses. If the force of the 
 wind and that of the screw-propellers are equal, the aerostat will 
 evidently have its line of march from A to D, subdividing the angle 
 in equal halves. 
 
 If the force of the screws is the greater, its line will be from 
 A to E, A to F, according to the superiority of their power. 
 
 We may see, by this example, that in resisting the wind the 
 screw-propellers will do half the battle. The lateral screws will 
 not, therefore, be required to oppose the wind with an equal force, 
 but merely to make up the difference. 
 
 One may fancy, perhaps, that I am glossing over the diffi- 
 c culties, and am appealing to the imagination for the facts that 
 FIG. 5. DIAGRAM SHOWING THE COUNTERBALANCING demonstrate the superior force of the screw over that of the wind. 
 FORCE AND THE LINE OF MARCH TAKEN BY fi j desire fo - m ^ fact ^ ^ fongoiag reasonin g is mt 
 
 AN AEROSTAT IN THE AIR. 
 
 based on abstract theory, but on experiments made out-of-doors, with small 
 
 models, before the public. Notwithstanding the smallness of these models I obtained conclusive results. 
 
 What, therefore, may we not anticipate for larger aerostats, as size increases the power of the machine so much 
 more rapidly than the resistance of the air increases from extension of surface. 
 
 If it should be still maintained that the weak point of this system will be found from the feebleness of the 
 point d'appui that can be obtained from the air, I will point to windmills. Their sails put in motion large grinders 
 
A.H. is.; i. 
 
 RESOURCES OF LARGE AEROSTATS. 
 
 
 and coarse machinery. Great power is required for this; whence is this derived? From tin- wind that propels 
 them in sti ikiii on their inclined surfaces. Now, if the wind (i..,air in motion) can produce this remit in striking 
 on ih'' sails of ill.- \\ indniill. wliv should not the Bails, )"it in motion by an engine with the same power as the wind, 
 make tin-in into screws, by striking on the air? In it not therefore evident that, if the power that moves the crew* 
 Hir]ixM>M that of the wind, the result of the labour afforded by the screws will also bo superior to the force of the 
 wind 
 
 Tin. IMMI N-K RESOURCES or LARGE AEROSTATS, AND THEIR INFLUENCE ox FUTURE AERONAUTICS. 
 
 Those readers who have had but little acquaintance with the abstract sciences, will doubt htw be led to treat 
 as an illn-i..n tin- ini|...rt.in.-i- uiv. n in this work to largo over small aerostats; for it will occur to them that if they 
 liavi- m.-ri- a.-tvnsional power, and can carry larger engines, the resistance they will meet with will be increased ; 
 that all tin' conditions will remain the same, and greater KjM-cd will not, tln-n-fon-, 1- obtained. 
 
 Tlii- T..I- iiinjr. logical in appearance, has in n-ulity no foundation, as it rests in error. I will demonstrate 
 this iTi-or, and establish at the same time the tnith of my aswrtii>im on the magnificent resources tliat will accnii- to 
 aerostation from tin- use of large aerostats. 
 
 All know the ascensional power is owing to the volume of the gas, and, again, the resistance to be overcome 
 is the surface presented to the air. 
 
 That aiin-.il n]Hin. li-t us *< if the conditions remain the same for the large as for the small aerostats. 
 
 That thin should be the case, it would clearly be necessary that the proportion between the volume and the 
 surface should increase proportionately. 
 
 . geometry shows us that volumes are composed of cube*, and acquire, therefore, when their dinn -nsions are 
 augmented, a growth far superior to the increase of their surfaces, which comprises only the squares. 
 
 In ii]i|>lying this to the question in hand we arrive necessarily at this conclusion, that the increase of the 
 ascensional power is at a much larger ratio than the increase of resistance from the extension of surface, and this 
 difference becomes more apparent with the increase of size. 
 
 Tin- i-onditioiw are therefore very far from remaining the same. But in such things nothing is more eloquent 
 than figures ; with these, therefore, I will end this demonstration. 
 
 SU]>]M>M- four cylindrical aerostats, and numbered as follows, with subsequent dimensions; 
 
 Number 1 
 
 Nllllll.T J 
 
 Number 3 
 Number 4 
 
 1 metre 
 4 metres 
 
 12 
 
 Length. 
 5 metres. 
 20 
 60 
 100 
 
 Let us see what will be the respective dimensions of the volumes and the superfiocs. On account of their 
 convex form they offer less resistance to the wind than that of the pkne surface diameter on which these 
 calculations are based. Let us take the lateral surface as a parallelogram formed by the length and height of tin- 
 gas-holder, and the front by the circle that describes the circumference. 
 
 This will be the result in round numbers : 
 
 YOUTH K is Criur Mmtu, 
 
 OR AlTEXWOXAL FlttCI 
 
 r> KILOGRAMME*.* 
 
 LATUUL SCSTACK n SQCUS Mima. 
 
 I M I 
 
 ftttSMbM 
 
 1',.7-J" metre*. 
 31. 400 metro. 
 
 5 metre*, or J more than the cubic metre* r. pre- 
 senting the volume. 
 
 80 metre*, or J (about) of the number of the cubic 
 metre* representing the volume. 
 
 720 metre*, or I of the number of the cubic metres 
 representing the volume. 
 
 2000 metre*, or -f, of the number of tin- cubir m. tr.* 
 representing the volume. 
 
 0*8 metre*, or J of the number of the cubic metre* 
 
 representing the volume. 
 12-5 metre*, or j, of the number of the cubic metre* 
 
 representing the volume. 
 112 metres, or i of the number ( tl.>- ,-nl.ji- metres 
 
 representing the volume. 
 314 metres, or ,, of the number of the cubic metre* 
 
 representing the volume. 
 
 * Each cubic metro contained in the gas-holder represents the 
 
 force of about 1 kilogramme I'J II- 
 
354 
 
 ASTEA CASTRA. 
 
 A.D. 1865. 
 
 This is to say, that with aerostats of the dimensions just cited the surfaces opposed to the air corresponding to 
 each kilogramme of ascensional power will be as follows : 
 
 THE NUMBERS. 
 
 LATERAL SURFACE IN SQUARE METBRS. 
 
 FRONTING SURFACE IN SQUARE METRES. 
 
 For Number 1, it will be 
 For Number 2, it will bo 
 For Number 3, it will be 
 For Number 4, it will be 
 
 1-1250 metres. 
 ' 3200 metres, or J (about) of a square metre. 
 0' 1071 metres, or J ,, 
 .0G36 metres, or T ' s 
 
 2000 metres, or J of a square metre. 
 0-0500 metres, or j, ,, 
 0-0166 metres, or ^ 
 0-0100 metres, or fa 
 
 Do not these figures speak for themselves, and show clearly the superiority of large over small aerostats ? 
 
 The reader will therefore understand the importance of this point for aerostation in general. All doubts 
 must give way before the simple facts we have related. Whatever care is taken to guard against thoughtless and 
 immoderate enthusiasm, one cannot but acknowledge the aeronautics just propounded, more particularly from the 
 development of which it is susceptible, embraces all the elements of success. 
 
 M. David says that a satisfactory trial of this system would only cost 2000/. 
 
 I have not yet seen any mention of a very simple locomotive power peculiarly adapted to 
 aerostation, and suggested to me by an inventive farmer named Birt, who lives at Otterburn, 
 near Winchester. It is to construct clockwork machinery that is set in motion by a weight. 
 The ballast of the aeronaut or the cargo of a ship might be so balanced as to effect this. 
 
 M. Arthur Mangin, in his beautiful volume entitled ' L'Air et le Monde Aerien,' 1865, 
 gives his opinion in favour of some bird-like machine, and cannot possibly conceive the suc- 
 cessful direction of a balloon of any form ; as he maintains " that a body must be always more 
 dense than the medium through which it has to move." 
 
 DESSEN'S BATH. 
 
CHAPTER \ 
 
 KKKI IM.S l.XrKKIF.NCED IN AERIAL TIC.VVKI.l.IM; IN r.U.M AXD STnUM. 
 
 TI1K SKIES. 
 
 AY ! gloriously thou itandest there, 
 Beautiful, boundless firmament ! 
 That, swelling wide o'er earth and air, 
 
 And rouinl the horizon Ix-nt. 
 With thy hri'.'ht vault, and sapphire wall, 
 Dost overhang and circle all. 
 
 Far, Tar below thee, tall old trees 
 Arise, and piles built up of >!!, 
 
 And hills, whose ancient summits freeze 
 In the lii-riv li^ht and cold. 
 
 The eagle soars his utmost height, 
 
 Yet far thou stretcbest o'er his flight. 
 
 Thou hast thy frowns with thee on high 
 The storm ban made bis airy seat, 
 
 Beyond that soft blue curtain lie 
 His stores of hail and sleet. 
 
 Thence the consuming lightnings break, 
 
 There the strong hurricanes awake. 
 
 Yet art thou prodigal of smiles 
 
 Smiles, sweeter than thy frowns are stern : 
 Earth sends, from all her thousand isles, 
 
 A shout at thy return. 
 The glory that comes down from thee, 
 Bathes, in deep joy, the land and sea. 
 
 The sun, the gorgeous sun is thine. 
 The | >in | > that brings and shuts the day, 
 
 The clouds that mum) him change and shine, 
 The airs that fan his way. 
 
 Thi Mice look the thoughtful stars, and there 
 
 The meek moon walks the silent air. 
 
 The sunny Italy may boast 
 
 The beauteous tints that flush her skit*, 
 And lovely, round the Grecian coast, 
 
 May thy blue pillars rise. 
 I only know how fair they stand 
 Around my own beloved land. 
 
 And they are fair a charm is theirs, 
 
 That earth, the proud green earth, has not, 
 
 With all the forms, and hues, and airs, 
 That haunt her sweetest spot 
 
 We gaze u|x>n thy calm pure sphere. 
 
 And read of Heaven's eternal year. 
 
 Oh, when, amid the throng of men, 
 The heart grows sick of hollow mirth, 
 
 How willingly we turn us then 
 Away from this cold earth, 
 
 And look into thy azure breast, 
 
 For seats of innocence and rest ! 
 
 BBYAST. 
 
 THE FRESHMAN THE SENSES DECEIVED FLYING OFF AT A TANGENT "THE TORNADO WILL NOT EXTINGUISH A CASDI.K" 
 
 " A FRESHMAN INSENSIBLE TO THE CHARMS OF HIS SITUATION " THE TRANSLATION THE CNSEEN MOST VISIBLE 
 
 THE REMARKABLE CLEARNESS OF OUTLINE TRANQUILLITY OF MIND THE REASON FOR AN ABSENCE OP GIDDINESS 
 
 THE CLOUDS TWO STRATA OF CLOUDS COLOURS AND SOUNDS THE BOUNDLESS ABYSS GRAVITATION FLOATING 
 ON THE SEA ALONE AND FAR FROM SHORE, A SENSATION SIMILAR TO A SOLITARY ASCENT THE VIBRATIONS OF sor.Nl. 
 
 THE ZENITH OF PRUSSIAN BLUE THE DIFFUSION OF LIGHT "THE STARS APPEAR IN THE DAY AS THEY DO FROM THE 
 BOTTOM OF A WELL" REFLECTED HEAT FROM THE CLOUDS "THE LINK OF PERPETUAL SNOW " "CON' v\i 
 APPEARANCE OF THE EARTH " THE DESCENT SKILL REQUIRED BY THE AERONAUT MR. GREEN'S SUCCESS AN 
 INSTANCE "SINCIX<; IN THE EARS " OXYGEN SONG OF THE STARS "THE CONTRASTS*' A CLOUD8CAPE 
 
 A PARHELION "FALLING ON ONE'S FEET" MIDNIGHT FALLING INTO THE ADRIATIC SEA WET cum 
 
 ABOVE THE CLOUDS "PICKED UP BY A SMACK" COUNT ZAMBEOCARl's DEATH IN 1812 A VISION "A Jot HSKY sl\ 
 MILKS III.; II " "THE SIGHT OF 130,000 SQUARE MILES " u SAND ENOUGH AND TO SPARE." 
 
 1 iiKi;i\ this chapter by again citing Mr. Monck Mason, as he is one of the ablest writers on 
 the subject. This forms part of an appendix to the description of his voyage in the " Great 
 Nassau " balloon : 
 
 SUMMARY OF THE VARIOUS PHENOMENA ORSERVABLE IN THE PRACTICE OF AEROSTATION. 
 
 The conveyance through the atmosphere by means of the balloon is a thing so entirely *ui generis, so 
 essentially distinct in all its bearings from every other process with which we are acquainted, that no force of 
 
 :: A 
 
356 
 
 ASTKA CASTRA. 
 
 CHAP. X 
 
 reasoning is of itself capable of awakening in the mind of an utter stranger to the art, any adequate notion of the 
 peculiar phenomena which characterise this novel and interesting mode of transport. So devoid, indeed, may it 
 be said to be of any of those analogies which in other matters serve to supply the place of actual experiment in 
 determining the general results of new and untried combinations, that I am convinced if an individual were to set 
 himself down with the intention of endeavouring to picture in his imagination the various circumstances and 
 impressions which develop themselves in the practice of aerostation, with all the advantages which a thorough 
 knowledge of the arts and sciences in general could contribute to his assistance, he would still arrive but at 
 a very rough and imperfect representation of Ihe real nature of the case in question. With so few opportunities 
 of forming a more correct estimate by personal experience, it is not to be wondered at should much ignorance be 
 found to prevail upon this head, even amongst those who seem at least to take the strongest interest in its details. 
 
 Much of this obscurity, it is true, might have been removed, and the mysteries of the art brought within the 
 reach of ordinary inquirers, had the experience of others been but turned to its proper account, and rendered 
 available to the purposes of general information. 
 
 The first thing, then, which strikes the incipient aeronaut in the outset of his career is the sense of extra- 
 ordinary quiescence which immediately ensues upon the dismissal of the machine from the ground. No matter 
 how agitated the balloon before its departure, no matter how violent the circumstances under which the ascent is 
 effected, the moment the last hold upon the solid earth is cast off, all is perfect repose and stillness the most 
 profound. The creaking of the car, the rustling of the silk, the heavy lurching of the distended sphere swayed to 
 and fro by the breeze, and shifting its load with sudden and energetic motion, despite the efforts of the individuals 
 who are struggling to retain it, all have ceased in an instant, and are succeeded by a degree of tranquillity so 
 intense, as for a moment to absorb all other considerations, and almost confuse the mind of the voyager from the 
 suddenness of the change, and its apparent incompatibility with the nature of the enterprise in which he is 
 embarked. 
 
 Unprepared for such a result, or occupied perhaps in other reflections, the unpractised tyro is seldom in fact 
 conscious of the exact moment of his departure, and instances arc not infrequent in which the aeronaut has 
 been so far deceived by the unexpected serenity of the situation as to have been transported to a very considerable 
 elevation, without being aware that the act of separation had been effected, until it became forced upon his notice 
 by the fast fading voices of the assembled populace cheering his ascent.* 
 
 Recalled to the knowledge of his situation, a sudden and most natural impulse at first leads the aeronaut to 
 look forward ; nothing however appearing in the direction in which habit has almost unconsciously impelled him 
 to direct his gaze, his eve insensibly assumes a downward course, and he becomes at once assailed with a mass of 
 observations and reflections, among which, astonishment at the unusual tranquillity that accompanies alterations 
 so rapid and so remarkable, is one of the most prominent. Without an effort on the part of the individual, 
 or apparently on that of the machine in which he is seated, the whole face of nature seems to be undergoing some 
 violent and inexplicable transformation. Insensible of motion from any direct impression on himself, and 
 beholding the fast retreating forms, the rapidly diminishing size of all those objects which so lately were by his 
 side, an idea, almost amounting to conviction, involuntarily seizes upon his mind, that the earth with all its 
 inhabitants had, by some unaccountable effort of nature, been suddenly precipitated from its hold, and was in the 
 act of slipping away from beneath his feet into the murky recesses of some unfathomable abyss below. Everything 
 in fact but himself seems to have been suddenly endowed with motion, and in the confusion of the moment, the 
 novelty of his situation, and the rapidity of his ascent, he almost feels as if, the usual community of sentiment 
 between his mind and body having been dissolved, the former alone retained the consciousness of motion, whereof 
 the latter had by some extraordinay interference been suddenly and unaccountably deprived. 
 
 Although .the absence of all the ordinary effects of motion upon the human frame continues to mark the 
 
 * A remarkable instance of this occurred to Mr. Charles Green in 
 his first asceut, which took place on the occasion of the coronation of 
 His Majesty George IV. Oppressed with the heat of the day and the 
 t'at.i"ue he had previously encountered, as he sat in the car waiting the 
 sound of the gun that was to indicate the moment of his departure, he 
 requested his friends who were holding the balloon to allow it to 
 raise itself a little, that he miglit enjoy the fresh air above the heads 
 of the crowd that hemmed him in on all sides. In endeavouring to 
 
 comply with his request the assistants accidentally let the cords slip 
 from then- hands. Disengaged from its hold, the balloon immediately 
 and rapidly commenced its ascent, without the slightest knowledge 
 on the part of Mr. Green, who had just sat down to repose himself, 
 and had actually reached a considerable elevation ere he was made 
 sensible of the fact by hearing the united shouting of the multitude, 
 accompanied by the expected discharge of the cannon, which almost 
 miraculously took place in the tame instant. 
 
. \. Till: SKNSKS DECEIVED. 357 
 
 . v* nf tin- aeronaut at all elevations, and throughout tin- whole of liis career, the peculiarity of his situation 
 in thai i. -p. . t i- never so forcibly urged upon hix notice IIH in tho commencement of the ascent (when the contrast 
 
 ii In- 1 it.- ..ii.l ^resent condition is freshest in his mind), and, though in a slighter degree, during those 
 ili -pi. ^i. iis which occasionally take place in tho course of the voyage, \\ h.-n the balloon happens to be brought 
 int.' closer contact with the surface of the earth beneath. 
 
 I have already adverted to the peculiarly delightful sensations that attend upon such situations, and among 
 tin-in liavr i. marked as by no means the least striking, tliowe which arise frum the consciousness of rapid motion, 
 unattended l>y those effert.s liy which, in all i.tluT ciiciiutstiinces, it iti ever known to l>e distinguished. No ],:ut. 
 in fact, of tin. whole career of the aeronaut bean so strong a resemblance to flight, or more truly a]>)>oars to realise 
 the >. n-.iii.iiis we sometimes experience in our dreams, when elevated in f.mcy to tho enjoyment of that delicious 
 ::| >: -n. Here it is that the reality of the case is most strongly forced upon his notice, and the mind 
 awakened by all the various symptoms of the rapid progression of the atmospheric current in which he floats the 
 sounds of its resistance, issuing as it were out of the very bowels of tho earth the agitation of the tree* 
 tin/ v.i! \ ing tints of the upper surface of the woods and meadows as they IM ml simultaneously beneath the blast 
 the i.ipid retrocession of all the known fixed and stable objects upon the plain beneath together with the evcr- 
 ;n-.s of tho scene; all indications undeniable of the reality of his progress, which every foot he 
 recedes from the vicinity of the earth only tends to weaken and impair. Truly conscious of his motion, lien- 
 it is that he is most strongly impressed with the absence of its ordinary effects, and feels the novelty and delight 
 of a situation which in no other manner can he ever be made to experience. As he rises this feeling disappears, 
 and he ceases to derive any extraordinary impression from tho peculiarity of his situation, because, not being 
 made sensible of the real state of the case from observation and reflection, ho perceives no reason to suspect that 
 
 i.s motion, and consequently suffers no peculiar sensation or surprise from the absence of its ordinary effects. 
 
 That the body should thus, in a manner, be insensible to the effects of motion in a balloon, will not, perhaps, 
 be deemed so surprising when we come to consider what are the means by which alone these effects are in ordinary 
 cases made apparent to the human frame. As this is a new field of inquiry, for aught that I am aware of. the 
 reader will excuse our taking a more minute review of it than, under other circumstances, we should perhaps feel 
 our.-chvs authorised in hazarding. 
 
 In the pursuance of this inquiry, then, it is necessary to be observed, that the human body is composed of 
 a variety of different materials, of different specific gravities, and endowed with different degrees of sensibility to 
 pressure, or other diMnrbing causes, to which they may happen to be subjected. When these are set in motion 
 all together, by one and the same impelling force, a very considerable disarrangement of their relative positions 
 must ensue, or else a proportionably great resistance to that duarraiigement, where the parts are so circumstanced 
 as not to be able to change their position in obedience to the general impulse. 
 
 To make this clearer by an example : if a tray containing a variety of different sized globules of lead or other 
 heavy material, varying in dimensions from a grain of sand to a four-pounder, be placed at one end of a long 
 table or board fixed horizontally, and with a sudden motion bo made to slide forward towards tho other, a matked 
 difference will immediately take place in their relative positions from that in which they were placed at first. 
 The larger and heavier balk, unable to acquire the same rate of motion, in the ramo space of time, and through 
 the medium of the same impulse, will immediately fall a little behind the others, and all, more or less in 
 proportion to their particular rw inertia, suffer a retrocession or loss of place, owing to the suddenness wherewith 
 the first principles of motion had been attempted to te communicated to them. Were these objects so disposed 
 as not to bo able to display the- influence of the sudden acquirement of motion, by a change of place (a for 
 :ice, if they were all connected together by elastic ligatures, or imbedded in glutinous strata), the motion 
 thus impeded would necessarily resolve itself into a reaction among the parts, producing unequal degrees of 
 pressure, or communicating unequal shocks (where any liberty for motion was allowed) to the adjacent portions 
 of the medium in which they were located. Now, this is exactly the situation in which the parts of the human 
 body exist, and which we have sought to represent in the previous example, by tho more familiar illustiati. n 
 of tho leaden globules.* Prevented by their structure and combination from following the course tin y would 
 
 The nation for our selecting that material as an agent in tin- 
 
 inn-tit is nwrvly on armmit of it* weight, to avoid ae much aa 
 
 pomiUr the influence of the resistance of Uie atnxMplii-iv in .!,. .-Ki- _ 
 
 the tendencies of tin- diff. r M follow tl,,- ,-., U r~. p.,ini. .1 
 
 out for them by the laws of projectiles. In the application of the 
 
 example to the human body no such consideration is r..|uir <!. :m nil 
 the part* unitnl in one common man are by tin ir imtun- |,r<>> 
 from all sticli intcrf. r I ii|iii lln-ir i \l. in .1 -mf:io- : ;u,.| 
 
 :'n>m tliat tiny an . l.y tin- |ciiliar chnrm-ti ri*UVs of tin- art, 
 exempt in the process of aerostation. 
 
 3x2 
 
358 ASTRA CASTRA. CHAP. X. 
 
 assume, if allowed to act in obedience to the laws of motion, all the motive energy with which they have been 
 endowed is necessarily resolved into reaction, and being various in amount and variously exerted, produces 
 a disagreeable pressure or tendency to disturbance of the condition in which the parts naturally exist when 
 in a state of repose. 
 
 To this disturbance, then, I am inclined to attribute the production of the sense of motion in the human 
 irame, which may thus be considered as merely a new mode of operation in the sense of feeling, or rather perhaps 
 of that sixth sense discovered by our celebrated physiologist Sir Charles Bell, by means of which the mind takes 
 cognizance of the relative positions of the different parts of the body without the instrumentality of the organs 
 of sight or feeling. 
 
 Now we learn by the laws of dynamics that all bodies, without regard to their specific gravities, move with 
 equal velocities under the same active impulse in an unresisting medium ; * the only difference observable in 
 their conduct being in the length of time required ere their powers of passive resistance be overcome, and they 
 be brought io display the whole result of the motive force applied ; as may be seen upon reference to the 
 experiment which we have already adduced in illustration of the subject ; wherein, after the first derangement 
 of the relative positions of the objects on the tray, occasioned by the first induction of motion, no further 
 derangement will be observable so long as the rate at which they are propelled remains the same. As it is upon 
 this derangement alone that depends the sense of motion, one point in the train of consequences then becomes 
 established, namely, that no sensation will be awakened in any individual so long as the motion to which he is 
 subjected is uniform. 
 
 Again, were those changes of motion (to which we have above alluded as being the only causes of the 
 derangements that awaken the sense of motion) to take place in such a manner as not to be productive of those 
 derangements, then would the epochs of those changes, like the others, fail in being noticed, and the whole career 
 of the individual, however varied, pass without the slightest consciousness of motion on his part. To this effect 
 all that is requisite is the observance of a certain rate in the induction of those changes, whereby the vires inertias 
 of the different parts are overcome, and all are made to commence their career of equal motion at the same 
 time. By a slow and gradual process alone this may be accomplished; for, however there is a limit to the 
 quickness with which bodies will take upon themselves a given state of motion, there is no such limit in the 
 opposite direction ; if you proceed to invest two unequal bodies with equal motions too rapidly, you will disturb 
 their relative positions by investing the lighter with the full amount of motion, before you have entirely overcome 
 the passive resistance of the heavier ; but if you proceed ever so slowly to the same end, you will never produce 
 a derangement of their relative 'positions by investing either with the full amount of motion before the other. 
 Accordingly, to resort once more to our favourite illustration, if the tray of objects above mentioned were to be 
 advanced gradually and with proper regard to their several exigencies, the utmost conceivable rate of motion 
 might be obtained, preserved, altered, abolished, and renewed ad infiiiitum without the slightest derangement in 
 the relative position of the different component parts. It is almost unnecessary to add that were an individual 
 placed in the same circumstances, the different parts of his body would observe the same laws and exhibit the 
 same result; the consequence of which is, that under such circumstances, the sense of motion would not be 
 awakened at all, and the irregular as the uniform progression pass equally unheeded and unknown.! 
 
 * Although a vacuum and ao unresisting medium are not exactly | interruptions. But the derangements alluded to, and consequently 
 the same tiling, yet as regards their influence in the laws of motion I the sense of motion to which they give rise, are not capable of being 
 they may be considered as similar. The different internal parts of j excited to a very high pitch of energy by every species of intermp- 
 
 the human frame, for instance, are not seated in vacuis yet the 
 influence which the medium -wherein they are situated exerts upon 
 
 tion which may occur to call them into action. From the very 
 nature of the construction of the human frame, these derangements 
 
 them disappears when fairly in motion, all the parts observing the I of the parts can never, without actual organic lesion, take place to 
 same rate, and therefore affording no grounds for interference. i any very considerable extent ; and consequently the sense of motion, 
 
 t The adoption of the preceding theory of the sense of motion 
 will, I believe, afford a clue to the solution of certain physiological 
 phenomena which have long puzzled the world, and which, although 
 not exactly pertaining to the present subject, yet, as being corrobo- 
 rative of the theory by which it is sought to be illustrated, we may 
 perhaps be excused for noticing ; I allude to the sickness experienced 
 at sea, in the exercise of the swing, in the revolutions of the waltz, 
 and other movements of a similar description, and productive of 
 similar results. From what has been said above, we perceive that 
 the sense of motion and its immediate cause, the derangement of 
 parts, are not always attendant upon actual motion, but merely 
 observable in consequence and during the continuance of certain 
 
 as we really find to be the case, cannot be capable of great intensity. 
 Like many other corporeal 'and indeed all mental) impressions, how- 
 ever, the deficiency in intensity of action may be amply supplied by 
 the protracted continuance of its effects : as an illustration of which 
 in analogous cases, I need only cite the action of most medicines 
 for instance, that of the emetic principle upon the stomach, which, 
 unaltered in its intensity, does not begin to act until the parts have 
 for some time been subjected to its influence. In the same manner 
 the derangements which give rise to the sense of motion may be, 
 and frequently are, by the increased dur.ition of their action, brought 
 to exhibit very powerful and impressive consequences. To produce 
 that increased duration of action, it is necessary that the sense of 
 
CH.M-. X. PLYING OFF AT A TANGENT. 869 
 
 v w this is exactly the situation in which the aeronaut is placed. From tho moment the balloon quit- the 
 ^runnel until its rvtuni to earth again, nothing ever befalls (except from accidental colliM.'ii). hi. li ran or doe* 
 l>riHliii- t - a change of motion sufficiently rapid to awaken tin- pctveption of his progress. Changes, it is true, do 
 l'th in the rate and direction of his course. Alterations in his elevation are continually taking place with 
 more- or less rapidity, which occasionally require to he checked with considerable promptitude by a liberal 
 discharge of giia and ballast ; a few seconds are frequently sufficient to make a difference of some thousand feet in 
 the level of his course ; yet the changes, striking as they may be, are never accomplished with that degree of 
 impetuosity which is necessary to awaken a sensation of their effects. Currents also of different velocities and 
 ilitTerent 1,, ,.ings are also constantly encountered. Hut the mutual action of currents of air is never sudden: 
 their iMnuiiK are not fixed by certain lines, like those of the more solid substances, nor are the changes which may 
 take place in them, even though conducing to direct opposition, ever so decidedly marked and promptly executed 
 
 .is t.. le ..1 1.1 .1 MHQlb |" IWptlOB !' their result-. 
 
 Debarred, therefore, in every way from obtaining a direct personal feeling of bis progress, it is only by a 
 comparison with the phenomena presented by known fixed objects that the aeronaut can even ascertain the 
 fact, whether lie is really in a state of quiescence or of motion. This is an intelligence which his sensations alone 
 arc incapable f supplying ; it is to his judgment, with the assistance of his sight, that he is forced to look for the 
 Miliition of the question. U'here the exercise of that organ is denied him, as at night, during tho prevalence of 
 fogs, where clouds intercept his view, or the uniformity of the subjacent surface leaves him no sufficiently distinct 
 
 t to refer to, at* over a broad expanse of ocean, the rate of his progress, nay, its very existence, is to 
 him a secret not to be unravelled, except by the aid of such a mechanical connexion with the earth as in his 
 ingenuity he is able to devise. Such a connexion is that which is formed by means of the guide-rope ; and the 
 indications it affords of the rate and direction of the balloon, I consider not the least valuable property of ihnt 
 ingenious instrument. 
 
 The next striking circumstance in tho order of succession, distinctive of the present subject, is the sudden 
 cessation and continued absence of all atmospheric resistance, the presence of which one is apt to consider so 
 essential a concomitant of locomotion, especially when conducted with any unusual degree of speed. Acting in 
 coiijuin 'tion with the preceding, the influence of this novel characteristic upon the mind and senses of the 
 inexperienced aeronaut in the commencement of his career is truly magical ; more especially if the state of the 
 weather at the time be such as to afford room for the establishment of a sufficient contrast Suddenly subsiding 
 the instant the act of liberation has been effected, all the various symptoms of violent atmospheric commotion, bv 
 which his previous situation was so notably distinguished, simultaneously disappear; the heaving of the balloon, 
 the sighing of the wind through the cordage, the flapping of the silk above his head, tho wonted action of the 
 passing breeze upon his own person, everything, in short, which can bear testimony to the exertions of 
 the element and the force by which it is with difficulty resisted, at once becomes completely at rest : not 
 a motion is felt, not a breath of wind is perceptible ; the balloon, us if arrested by the influence of some powerful 
 
 m<>tii>n be supported by a course of interruption*, occurring at fuch the infliction of certain movements. To thin supposition all tin 
 int. r\uls us will not allow the parts to recover from the eflecta of phenomena are reconcilable. Here we nee the reason why a heavy 
 
 . ing influence before they have been subjected to another. 
 That this is the OMB as regard* alternating motions those, for in- 
 stance, by which sea-sickness is produced does not require to be 
 illu.-ir.it. !: tin- int< mipUons, by means of which the acnse of 
 motion is in:iiut.iii.. .1, are here nutli.-i. ntly (nlpable. With respect 
 to rotatory motion however, the :u-ti./u of tli. .1. ranging causes may 
 not perhaps bequite w> evident. \ .. rtheless, though more obscure, 
 tli. \ ;!! Ml !-.- dirid.il. and. if anything, still more energetic 
 in their effects. As all bodies in motion, win n nnmllu. nr. .1 by dis- 
 turbing I-HUM-I-, tend to pn.'..-d in right lines, the motion of bodies' 
 .i.nvi yid in the .iit.eti. n ..I" n rune may be considered as really 
 compounded of in.-es.tint interruption to the rectilinear course which 
 the laws of nature iti.-liue them to pursue. So far, therefore, from 
 being exempt from disturbance by the ap|mr. tit <i|uahility of their 
 motions, the parts of a body revolting r..un.l a r.-ntre are even Mill 
 more incessantly liable t" the den. \ tl u m where they are 
 
 absolutely made to alternate, even ii : between two ex- 
 
 tremes in opposite directions. 
 
 To the protracted duration of Ike Kiue of mf/...i. thin, I am in- 
 . .in. .1 to attribute all those case* where ih.-ti< - :r_- .-<. mptoms follow 
 
 lurching motion the heaving of a ship at sea, for instance, hut still 
 
 more the rotatory motion in which the di-turhing inflm-i is not 
 
 only protracted, but incfttanlj is always attended by greater ili-tr. -- 
 than a short, quick, alternating motion, however long c.,ntintie<l, 
 when* the impetus of the parts becomes arr> they h.,\. 
 
 . \\ rieneed the full amount of disturbance, and where, constantly 
 6 IT -id. of their natural e., million, they are m ti r 
 either /../.;/ or/<ir from the means of recover;-. We also see tin 
 reason why in a rotatory movement the larger the eirele in wbieh 
 the parts are conveyed, the less the distress; the tangent in which 
 ; nd to fly off more nearly eoinei.ling with the segment of the 
 curve in which they are detained. Thus, revolving rapidly on one 
 foot, after the manner of the pirou. it.-, is .piieker in iinlm-iiiL- 
 nausea than performing the gyration in a larger space, to 
 who are unused to either. Th. manner also in which habit enables 
 the individual to withstand the elf. et* of th.- motions is also 
 strongly in accordance with tin- |.nneiples of the aU.te explana- 
 tion, and might be illustrated by many analogies with other 
 physical impressions. 
 
360 ASTEA CASTKA. CHAP. X. 
 
 and invisible agent, suddenly assumes an upright posture, and stands, as it were, fixed, rigid, and immovable, 
 while the mind of the adventurer, unconscious of all but the change itself, becomes struck with the awful 
 conviction that some extraordinary revulsion has just taken place, whereby the raging elements have been 
 suddenly tempered into tranquillity, and an universal and unnatural calm induced upon the previously disturbed 
 condition of the mighty powers of nature. 
 
 From this time forward, until the conclusion of his flight, the same impressions continue to accompany the 
 progress of the aerial voyager, weakened only in their energy (like, indeed, almost all those peculiar to the 
 practice of this art) as, increasing his altitude, he diminishes his relations with the earth, and with them 
 the grounds of comparison, whereby alone he obtains a consciousness of the real circumstances of the case, and 
 is made to feel the absence of results, which are in fact only remarkable when missed, and only missed when 
 particularly expected. 
 
 So long as the balloon is left free to pursue her own course upon the same level, unaffected by any of those 
 excessive variations in her buoyancy, which impress upon her a rapid motion, apart from that of the current in 
 which she floats (as when she ascends or descends at the commencement or conclusion of her career, or by the 
 sudden loss of any serious amount of gas or ballast during its continuance), this state of things remains 
 uninterrupted, admits of no qualifications, and is liable to no exceptions. Totally independent of the rate or 
 direction of the current, it remains equally absolute whether the actual progress of the balloon be one, or one 
 hundred miles an hour whether it be on one continued line or subject to the most rapid and incessant variation. 
 The greatest storm that ever racked the face of nature is, in respect of its influence upon this condition of 
 the balloon, as utterly powerless and inefficient as the most unruffled calm, the most unequivocal repose. 
 To such an extent is this the case, so truly indeed is atmospheric resistance a nullity to the aeronaut, that were 
 we to suppose him (by way of illustration) suddenly transported to the \Vest Indies, the birthplace and 
 habitation of the tornado and the hurricane, traversing the skies at a time when one of the wildest and fiercest 
 was exercising its utmost powers of devastation, looking down from his air-borne car and beholding houses 
 levelled, trees uprooted, rocks translated from their stony beds and hurled into the sea, earth and ocean in mutual 
 aggression encroaching upon each other's limits, and all the various signs of desolation by which its merciless 
 path is marked, he^might nevertheless hold in his hand a lighted taper without extinguishing the flame, or even 
 indicating by its inclination to one side or the other the direction of the mighty agent by which such awful 
 ravages had been created. No sooner, however, has the grapnel touched the ground, and the slightest opposition 
 been afforded to the progress of the balloon, than all this seeming tranquillity is at an end, and the aeronaut 
 for the first time becomes sensible in his own person of the real influence of that mighty element, of whose 
 presence and power he had hitherto been able to judge through the medium of his sight alone. 
 
 The theory, by means of which the non-resistance of the atmosphere in aerial navigation is accounted for, is 
 by no means so complex as that by which it was found necessary to illustrate the previous characteristic pheno- 
 menon of the absence of the sense of motion. Floating in and by means of the action of the air itself, no difference 
 can, in fact, ever exist between the rate of the machine and that of the medium of its conveyance (after the first 
 efforts to overcome the vis inertia of the former have been successfully exerted), so long as both remain at liberty to 
 obey the course dictated by the laws which govern the motion of bodies in a fluid medium. Strictly observing the 
 same reciprocal positions throughout the whole of their progress, no retardation or acceleration of the course of 
 the one beyond that of the other exists, whereby a resistance could be created. To all intents and purposes, 
 therefore, a balloon freely poised in the atmosphere may be considered as absolutely enclosed or imbedded in a box 
 of air ; so completely so, that (for example) were it possible to distinguish, by tinging it with some particular 
 colour, that portion of the atmosphere immediately surrounding the balloon, and in that guise commit her to the 
 discretion of the elements, she would, apart from all fluctuations in the level of her course, continue to bear 
 the same tinted medium along with her, even until having completed in her course the circumference of the globe, 
 she had, the winds permitting, returned to the same spot from which she had originally departed. 
 
 As a general rule, however, it is to be observed, that this characteristic discontinuance of atmospheric 
 resistance only holds good as regards the horizontal or passive progress of the balloon. \Vith respect to its vertical, 
 or as it may be termed, its active motion, that in short which proceeds from the exercise of its own buoyancy, some 
 deviation from that state of perfect atmospheric repose will no doubt be occasionally discernible, especially when 
 the movements alluded to are accomplished with any considerable degree of rapidity. Upon the principle of this 
 resistance, various attempts have been made to construct instruments to supersede the barometer, in affording 
 
ClIAl'. X. 
 
 ' UNSI^H KM l-;s or AT.MOSPHBBIO RESISTANCE. 
 
 861 
 
 indications of those movcmenU, and of the rate at which tln-y an- effected ; hitherto, however, it must bo confessed 
 without any sutisf.ictory result. The generality "f tin- changes are, in fact, much too slowly conducted to afford 
 grounds for the Mttbluhment of a resistance sufficient to overcome the obstacles offered by the rit inertia; friction, 
 
 ive i "iiMnictinn, ami "the thousand natural ills which art is heir to," and from which no upocies of instniiin nt. 
 howi -ver delicate, which depends on moclianical action for its results, is entirely exempt* 
 
 l-'i-.-m wli.it has been before stated, tin- futility of any attempt to apply this principle to the ascertainment of 
 the horizontal motion of the balloon, either by means of instruments especially constructed, or by observation., 
 drawn from the difference between the rate of motion of the balloon itself, and that of light bodies (an tissue paper, 
 for instance) purposely thrown i>vrr. in placed beyond a doubt. No such difference, in fact, occasioned cither by 
 the detachment of the body or its different specific gravity at all exists : where any such is perceivable, or thought 
 to be perceivable, it may at once be laid to the account of some peculiarity in its form, or otherwise in the direct i< in 
 tii-t impressed upon it, and which, in the course it induces it to assume, is as likely to have acted in opposition to, 
 an in concert with the direction of the current at the time prevailing. 
 
 Bound, of course, by the same rule, all clouds occupying the region of the same current in which the course 
 of the iKtllx.n h i]i]>e,iw to be conducted, must over continue to observe the same distances from that object as they 
 hold at the commencement. It is true that internal changes of form and position may at all times be discerned 
 between the different parts of the same vapoury stratum, by any one who will take the trouble to examine their 
 progress attentively for a few minutes. Without, however, infringing upon the generality of the proposition h, i.- 
 laid down, such alterations of form and position are amply accountable for on the score of temperature, electrical 
 affinity, ami a \ -ariety of other specific influences ; either through their direct effects upon the forms and dimensions 
 of the aqueons masses (and bo it observed that a change in form is, in fact, a change of position too), or by reason 
 of the variiitions they work in the actual densities of the different parts, whereby their existing momenta Ix-coim- 
 altered, and a temporary interruption occasioned in the equability which (with such exceptions) characterises their 
 motion-, as that of all other bodies, in an unresisting medium. 
 
 The entrance therefore into clouds, and the exit from the same, can never take place without a change of 
 altitude on the part of the aeronautical machine; an observation which may give some satisfaction to those who 
 rate highly the danger of coming in contact with clouds charged with electric matter, or entertain a fear of being 
 overtaken by bad weather in the course of their excursions. 
 
 One other consequence of the absence of atmospheric resistance remains to be noticed ; I mean its influence 
 in mitigating the effects of a low temperature upon the human frame, and rendering regions not only habitable but 
 even delightful, which, but for this modification could never be entered without pain nor endured without da' 
 In a previous narrative I have already adverted to this circumstance, and noticed the beneficial consequences that 
 resulted to us from it during a night and a voyage of otherwise insufferable rigour. In further illustration of the 
 effects of that peculiarity to which I have attributed the exemption we experienced from the ordinary consequences 
 of a low temperature, I have merely to add that the only periods when the actual temperature pressed seven-ly 
 upon our feelings were, when in ascending or descending rapidly, as occurred to us occasionally during the night, 
 a motion and resistance were occasioned in the air, such as I have just mentioned to be the only exceptions to 
 that general state of atmospheric stillness which otherwise never ceases to distinguish the progress of the balloon 
 in her career. 
 
 To return to the aeronaut whom we left some pages back in the act of commencing his ascent, the reader 
 must not suppose that all the circumstances and impressions which we have here detailed as consequent upon the 
 change which the liberation of the balloon is calculated to make in his situation, or the same process of reasoning 
 
 * The I- -t of tin- attempts which I have Ken is undoubtedly 
 that nf Mr. F. ' -.11 to the proprietor of the balloon in 
 
 wllif h tin '."ii was accompli-!,. .1 , upon tin: principle of 
 
 an extri'tiifly liiiht wln-d adapted with vanes, like the paddle* of 
 a steamhnit. an.l enclosed in a box partly open at top and bottom 
 to admit tin action "I' tlic air in - mine;.- or il< -.-ccndiiig. To the 
 above is attached n rotary index, serving to denote by the velocity 
 and course of it* gyration? tin- rat<- ami din vtion of the machine 
 in fnuutta. Altlimi.'li tin- r. -nit of the trial to which it was gub- 
 initti-d in our excursion wag not p rfectly satisfactory, it is but 
 jiL-t to olwerve, that the fault wo* more attributable to tin- defect* 
 
 of the particular instrument than to theprincipli -of tin- contm 
 its size being too limited to take in a millini -nt |-.it,..'i of tin- 
 atmosphere, while at the. same time it was not Milli.-i. nth pn.t- , -t. .1 
 by the form of it* receptacle from tin- inllin in-i <>f tin- i-ount. r- 
 rurrents occasioned by the motions of tin- Ian.-, r !.-!> in its 
 vicinity, win r-l-y it" action in the former caw was impaired, in tin- 
 latter, deranged. With a due con>idi ration of tln-w ii< fn-t... the 
 result would, I have no doubt, liaM- I., in iimn- tavmiruMi-, llmiiirh 
 in \' -r to such an extent as to enable it to supply tin- place 
 
 l-.il..:... I, r. 
 
362 ASTKA CASTRA. CHAP. X. 
 
 by which we have found it necessary to explain them, are either adopted or even recognised by the individual at 
 that particular epoch of his voyage. It is not, indeed, at the time, certainly not the first time of experiencing 
 them, that the aeronaut ever becomes awake to the just amount of his feelings, or fully conscious of the real 
 combinations to which they are to be attributed. Indeed, to arrive at the latter of these conditions, requires 
 a course of analytic examination to which few persons have sufficient presence of mind, or rather insensibility to the 
 charms of their situation to be able at such a moment to submit; and even were they so inclined, the celerity where- 
 with the first operations of the ascent are conducted, and the variety of the events and sentiments by which they 
 are succeeded, are such as to leave no time for the consideration of any one in particular, unless to the utter 
 exclusion of all the rest. It is by the frequent experience of the enjoyment alone, or the constant recurrence to it 
 in after times, through the medium of the recollection, that a thorough knowledge is obtained of all its various 
 peculiarities, the effects of which are much more generally experienced in the mass than in detail, and, by most 
 persons at least, much more readily acknowledged than understood. 
 
 From commenting, therefore, upon the state of his own feelings, the attention of the aeronaut is earl}- and 
 forcibly recalled to a consideration of the " world without him," where, indeed, a new and fertile source of gratifi- 
 cation awaits him, in the prospect which his increasing elevation has almost unconsciously presented to his view. 
 No sooner, in fact, has he cleared the highest obstacles in his immediate vicinity, ere he finds himself, apparently, 
 in the midst of his career, aud hurried into the presence of all those objects which constitute alike the study and 
 delight of the aerial voyager. Indeed, the celerity with which the translation is accomplished, and the curious 
 conclusions to which it conduces in the mind of the beholder, are not the least striking circumstances of the 
 whole proceedings. Springing as it were at a bound out of the very bowels of the earth, scarce!}' a second 
 elapses ere the balloon, approaching to all appearance the very acrn6 of her ascent, has placed the astonished 
 beholder in full view of the spectacle prepared for him ; not as it were with one sudden stride, or at one unvarying 
 velocity, but seemingly like a rocket shot from its frame, that with decreasing energy continues to mount, until, at 
 length, its utmost force being spent, it appears to pause for an instant ere it turns to bend its downward course 
 to earth again. 
 
 Such, in fact, is the impression which the circumstances of the case are most strongly calculated to produce 
 upon his mind, and from which nothing but a perfect knowledge and firm conviction of the reality could 
 effectually preserve him. Without the sense of motion to guide his judgment, the only opinion he can form of his 
 ascent is necessarily, though unconsciously, drawn from a hasty consideration of the changes which it occasions in 
 the aspect of the scene around him. Now, as by the nature of things, all these changes proceed with rapidly 
 diminishing intensity, as the distance from the eye of the spectator becomes increased,* so under the same condition 
 of removal must the sentiments of his progress in the mind of the aeronaut become continually impaired, until at 
 last the alterations from distance having soon ceased to be appreciable, the sentiment of his removal, to the 
 maintenance of which they alone had contributed, become alike rapidly extinct. 
 
 * The linear dimensions of objects being determined by the 
 angle under which they are seen, necessarily vary in the inverse 
 ratio of their distances from the point of sight. By the same rule 
 it follows, that the superficial dimensions, upon which their ap- 
 parent sizes depend, must vary inversely as the squares of the dis- 
 tances from which they are beheld. Thus, a body seen from any 
 given point would appear four times as great as if seen from twice 
 the distance, nine times greater than it would appear from a dis- 
 tance of three times the amount, aud sixteen times as great as if 
 the eye beheld it from a position at four times the original distance. 
 
 If, in the place of the proportionals here employed to designate 
 the progression of the apparent decrease at stated intervals, we were 
 
 twenty degrees upon the second progression ; while nine being the 
 expression of its visual magnitude at the height of four hundred 
 feet, would indicate a difference of only seven degrees lost during 
 the process of its removal through a third interval, equal in amount 
 to either of those which preceded it. In such a series as this it 
 is unnecessary to observe that an elevation is very soon attained 
 where the differences occasioned by equal increments of altitude 
 become so minute as to be inappreciable by the ordinary exertions 
 of the senses. Now, as the impression of his ascent in the mind of 
 the aeronaut (deprived, as we have shown him to be, by the peculiar 
 circumstances of the case, of all absolute sense of his translation) is 
 entirely founded upon and regulated by these, the ocular effects of 
 
 to substitute absolute numbers, and estimate the dimensions of the | his removal, it follows that all personal knowledge of his ascent 
 
 object as seen from a given altitude, say one hundred feet, at the 
 value of one hundred and forty-four, were the eye of the spectator 
 removed to twice the distance, or to an elevation of two hundred 
 feet, the number which would represent its apparent magnitude 
 would be but thirty-six, thus showing a difference of one hundred 
 ami eight degrees between the appearance presented by the same 
 object at the two stations in favour of the former. Were, however, 
 the eye to be still further removed, to an elevation of three hundred 
 feet (being an increment equal to the previous one), the measure 
 of its appearance would be sixteen, thus denoting a loss of only 
 
 must rapidly and progressively become fainter, till at first hundreds 
 and finally thousands of feet pass unnoticed, at least as far as the 
 eye is capable of judging by a consideration of the altered aspect of 
 the objects it surveys. Hence the difficulty of ascertaining the 
 vertical direction of the balloon's course by the mere intervention 
 of the sight alone, and the inestimable utility of the barometer in 
 affording indications of the many changes which are constantly 
 taking place in the level of her progress, and which, in default of 
 such indications, would otherwise be unobserved, until perhaps too 
 late to remedy them without inconvenience. 
 

 
 
 ,t 
 
 j 
 
 
 
CHAP. \. I;I:M\I;K \i:i.i: n. I:\K\KSS OF OUTLINE. MB 
 
 * 
 
 The case is one to which nothing analogous exists in nature or can be created by the ordinary exertions of 
 art ; consequently the effects and impressions to which it gives rise are such us can never be experienced but in 
 a liku situation ami under exactly similar circumstances. In no other manner is or can the individual be abstracted 
 IVi.iu tin- community with other objects of the same known appearances whereby to regulate his judgment and 
 cniitina his conclusions. The situation which approaches nearest to it in its conditions and effect* is that of the 
 mariner, when launching into the broad bosom of the ocean he looks back upon the shores he is quitting, and 
 beholds them gradually disappearing in the obscurity of his increasing distance. Even here, however, the objects 
 are necessarily so limited, and the first steps of the progression (in which the whole of the effect is concentrated) 
 comparatively so slow, that the alterations produced are too few, and what there are of them too slight to afford 
 grounds for the institution of a comparison between the two cases. 
 
 Under the impressions we have here feebly endeavoured to explain, and which time can neither obliterate 
 nor practice entirely overcome, the aeronaut quits the earth to assume a station in the zenith of his own horizon. 
 In a few seconds all those capital changes by which, as I have just stated, the first proceedings of the ascent are 
 invariably accompanied, have subsided ; and the prospect has become sufficiently composed to admit the minuter 
 
 :n]ihitioii of it eon: 
 
 There projected upon a plane at right angles to his line of vision, the whole adjacent surface of the earth lies 
 stretched beneath him, affording an heterogeneous display of matters at once the most interesting and incongruous. 
 Distances which he wa used to regard as important, contracted to a span ; objects once imposing to him from 
 their dimensions, dwindled into insignificance; localities which he never beheld or expected to behold at one and 
 the same view, standing side by side in friendly juxtaposition ; all the most striking productions of art, the 
 most interesting varieties of nature, town and country, sea and land, mountains and plains, mixed up together in 
 the one scene, appear before him as if suddenly culled into existence by the magic virtues of some great 
 enchanter's wand. 
 
 It is not, however, to the objects alone, magnificent and interesting as they may be justly deemed, so much 
 as to the modifications they undergo from the unusual manner in which they are viewed, that is mainly attributable 
 that peculiar effect by which the terrestrial landscape is so notably distinguished in the estimation of the aerial 
 admirer. Seen, in the first place, from above, everything that meets his eye meets it under a novel aspect, and 
 one which no other situation can in like manner and to the same extent enable him to enjoy. The summits of 
 mountains, the tops of buildings, the upper surfaces of woods, those parts, in short, of all objects which l>y their 
 natural or artificial positions have hitherto been excluded from his view, are now almost the only ones that come 
 within the scope of his observations. Indeed I can hardly conceive a prospect more interesting, both from its 
 novelty and the exquisite impressions to which it is calculated to give rise, than that which a richly wooded and 
 irregular tract of country presents when examined from the car of a balloon, either suspended motionless or slowly 
 advancing within a few yards from the level of its upper surface ; such a scene and such a situation, for 
 uce, as that enjoyed by us when we found ourselves unexpectedly becalmed above the woods, after our first 
 ineffectual attempt to take the ground at the termination of the expedition which forms the subject of the 
 preceding narrative. 
 
 The large, rounded masses of soft, green foliage, following generally the character of the subjacent soil, here 
 swelling into mounds, there subsiding into hollows, altogether presenting the aspect of a mighty sea of verdure ; 
 sometimes intersected with roads or paths ; occasionally opening to expose small portions of the groundwork, 
 patches of mould, or little recesses of a more sparing vegetation; flocks of birds roused from their engagements by 
 the unwonted intrusion upon realms, hitherto entirely their own, flying from place to place in the vain hope of 
 escape, first in n body, and finally, as the balloon tops the agitated community, breaking asunder and dispersing 
 in every direction over the surface of the earth ; the alternate approach and retreat of the beholder in connexion 
 with the ground below, occasioned by the superior extancy of the hills, or the unusual depression of the valleys. 
 introducing to parts otherwise inaccessible by human means ; theso and a thousand other circumstances and effects 
 of minor note and less availing influence, combine to forma scene of enchantment in which the place of the sublime 
 is amply supplied by that of the beautiful and the picturesque. Nor does it. perhaps, conduce least towards the 
 general effect of such scenes, especially when viewed from a superior elevation, that all the olij. !> of which the\ 
 are composed are presented to the eye in the simplest manner possible as to their relative positions. None of the 
 usual interference of parts, by means of which alone their different stations upon the same horizontal surface become 
 
364 ASTRA CASTRA. CHAP. X. 
 
 assignable, is here to be perceived ; nor any of those apparent variations in their dimensions which mainly serve to 
 indicate their progressive removal from the point of sight, when situated in or about the same line of visual 
 observation. All the ordinary qualifications of such scenes become, in fact, annihilated, and the eye for the first 
 time beholds a picture of nature on the vastest scale, both as to size and magnificence, in the construction of which 
 none of the complicated laws of linear perspective are at all involved. 
 
 As the balloon continues to ascend, another scenic peculiarity begins to display itself in the vividness of 
 contour, the remarkable sharpness of outline by which the different features in the terrestral prospect are qualified, 
 and which, strengthening with the increasing distance, never forsakes them so long as the objects themselves 
 continue to be distinguishable. The roads, rivers, canals, streets, buildings, enclosures, hedges, furrows, watercourses, 
 and all the various characteristics of rural and artificial scenery, instead of appearing obscured and rendered more 
 indistinct by their remotion from the point of sight, seem on the contrary to augment in clearness and decision, 
 and absolutely gain in intensity what they lose in the magnitude of their proportions. 
 
 This singular property is attributable to two circumstances, the union of which is another peculiarity of the 
 art we have taken upon us to illustrate, namely, an increase of distance between the objects and the spectator, 
 attended by a corresponding decrease in the density of the medium through which they are beheld ; whereby the 
 minuter features of the lines by which they are bounded (and on which the irregularity of their appearance 
 depends) are exclusively lost to view, the objects themselves remaining as clearly distinguishable as ever. The 
 process by which this conclusion is attained is very simply explicable on the grounds of the difference between 
 the optical effects of absolute remotion from the point of sight, and those of mere obscuration upon the visual condition 
 of the material world. Although the end to which they both conduce may virtually be the same, namely, the 
 exclusion of the object from the view, yet their modes of operation are extremely different, and during their 
 continuance give rise to very different phenomena. The indistinctness which the increase of distance, per se, 
 occasions in the aspect of an object, is the consequence of its apparent diminution ; while that which proceeds from 
 the obscuring tendency of the medium through which it is beheld, is the result of a concealment, more or less partial, 
 in proportion to the density of the said medium or the quantity of it which intervenes. By the former, the objects 
 or the parts of objects are abstracted from observation in the order of their several sizes, commencing with the smallest ; 
 by the latter, all are simultaneously and equally affected without regard to their dimensions. Now sharpness is 
 a condition of the outline depending entirely upon the apparent absence of all parts bearing a small relative 
 proportion to the whole ; that which, therefore, removes from the sight such parts exclusively, conduces towards 
 the production of the condition in question ; and such an agent is distance, taken abstractedly. 
 
 An antagonist to this result under ordinary circumstances, however, exists in the general indistinctness which 
 ensues upon the quantity of the atmospheric medium in its greatest density, which is made to intervene by the very 
 act of removal ; so that before the beholder has sufficiently increased his distance from the object to enable him to 
 lose sight of its irregularities, either the object itself has entirely disappeared, or so forfeited its general character of 
 distinctness that no definite outline can be at all perceived. From the influence of this interference, however, the 
 aeronaut is to a considerable degree exempt ; looking in the direction of the least atmospheric amount, he not only 
 beholds everything through the smallest possible quantity of obstruction consistent with his distance, but keeps con- 
 stantly adding to his advantages in respect of the former, the more he continues to amend his position in respect of 
 the latter. If the reader has ever, during the prevalence of general fine weather, observed the aspect of some distant 
 line of mountain, just before the occurrence of an unexpected shower, and noticed the peculiar clearness it appears 
 on a sudden to have assumed, he will have witnessed a state of things similar to, though much weaker in their 
 effects, than that which we have here attempted to describe ; wherein the temporay rarefaction of the atmosphere 
 (the ordinary precursor of rain) acts the part of the vertical elevation of the aeronaut in reducing the quantity of 
 intervening medium, and in paving the way for a readier admission of the distance to perform its share of the 
 effects before attributed to it. 
 
 As soon as the adventurer has sufficiently recovered from the influence of these, the first and most 
 predominant impressions, to be able to direct his attention to the other peculiarities of his case, he becomes 
 gradually struck with the extraordinary degree of ease wherewith he feels himself able to regard his situation, and 
 the total absence of all those sensations of giddiness and mental anxiety which he has always felt and conceived 
 inseparable from positions apparently analogous to that which he at present occupies. Instead of shuddering, as 
 he might fairly be supposed inclined, at the prospect so unusually placed before him ; instead of drawing back, 
 
Our. X. KKASOXS mi: AN AKSF.Nri: < >F i;| 1 | >I\K>S. MO 
 
 M it wore, into liim- !t" to escape the full acknowledgment of the precariousness of his situation, he is astonished to 
 tiiul him.srlf intently poring over the new leaf in the book of nature, which triumphant art him juot enabled him 
 . ami fir fn<m trembling at its content*, enjoying in perfect tranquillity of mind the wonder* it i.- 
 continually iiiifuliliiig to his view. 
 
 - this u privilege by any moan* restricted to solitary cases, or dependent in any way upon the physical 
 or nii-nial i-iiii.stitiition of the parties by whom it is experienced. All sort* of persons of every ago and M-X. and 
 with every imaginable distinction of character endowed tho bold and the faint-hearted the strong and the weak 
 
 tin- he.ilthy and tin- infirm equally concur in acknowledging the exemption ; nor have I ever either met with 
 or li.-.ird of any one of the numbers who have hitherto made practical trial of the fact, that ever complained of 
 having !. .-n .iHlicte.1 with the slightest giddiness or sense of personal anxiety from their exposure to a situation 
 which, in the commencement at least, must have been equully unusual to them all. 
 
 From tho earliest ages of the art, and even still (though owing to its more extended practice, in a lew 
 degree), this peculiar exemption has ever formed one of tho sources from which the practical aeronaut has drawn 
 most largely for his credit and estimation in the eyes of the unitiated and admiring public. And, indeed, where 
 the real state of the case was confined to the bosoms of tho few, and the world remained in ignorance of the fact 
 that the sit nation in question was as perfectly exempt from all the causes, as it is from the effects of those 
 sensations in apparently similar oases BO alarmingly experienced, it is no wonder that men should vinit with an 
 extra degree of admiration those who wore supposed exclusively to have had the courage to defy and the fortitude 
 to resist the assaults of feelings which, in their real presence, prove superior to every exertion of human nature, 
 and. unless when conquered by long habituation, subdue alike the poweiful and the weak. A very pardonable 
 desire to make the most of such a peculiarity, has accordingly induced many aeronauts to make their ascents under 
 circumstances of exposure particularly calculated to enhance the apparent dangers of the case and afford room for 
 the exercise of such apprehensions in their fullest force, were they at all capable of being felt in such situations. 
 One of those, a French aeronaut, M. Mosment, was in the frequent habit of ascending upon a simple platform, 
 entirely devoid of any defensive apparatus whatever a practice in which he has been followed by many others, 
 though happily fur themselves, without experiencing so unfortunate a conclusion. 
 
 
 
 Why the elevation to so unwonted an excess by means of the balloon should not be attended with, to say 
 the least, an equal degree of giddiness to that experienced when standing upon an eminence on the immediate 
 surface of the earth is a circumstance which has been much canvassed and variously accounted for. By 
 the majority of those who have considered the matter, this singular privilege has been supposed to be owing to the 
 want of a visible connexion between the earth and the balloon, whereby the eye is precluded from measuring 
 mechanically, and the judgment from painfully criticising the altitude to which the individual has been rained. 
 That the want of a connexion is the agent by which the result in question has been wrought, I have no doubt ; as 
 this, in fact, is the only characteristic distinction between the two situations ; but that the mode in which it is said 
 to operate is not the true one is pretty evident from the fact, that there are many situations which observe 
 the same condition of a want of visible connexion with the earth, where the sensations in question are 
 nevertheless found to prevail with unmitigated severity ; as, for instance, in standing upon the summit of the 
 monument of London, from whence all view of the pillar itself is excluded by the peculiar projection of the 
 parapet; while on the other hand, situations fraught with an equal degree of apparent danger abound, in 
 which the connexion in question is amply discernible, without in the least contributing to excite a sentiment 
 of his danger in the mind of the individual exposed to it ; as, for example, when he stands upon a narrow plank, or 
 bridge, firmly extended between two perpendicular eminences, like that generally known as the " Pont du 
 Diablo," in Switzerland, and from which all apprehension of falling over has been removed by the presence 
 of a sufficient protection in the form of a balustrade, or breastwork.* 
 
 From these examples, then, we clearly ascertain that the mere absence of a visible connexion is no 
 
 Another pmf of ill. influ.-ii f thecnmliiii , ,,f n,,. fulcrum in I there ii no question that, however convinced of its security by an 
 
 modifying the sensations in qucntkin. The tranquillity i \| ri. ncl examination of the nature of the material, and it construction, the 
 in the above situation u mi-rely owing to the satisfaction in that full force of the sensations in question would l>c experienced, in 
 
 respect which the support of th- l.ri'!:."- at l.th i-ndt i.i ealeiil:iti<l 
 to afford. Were the bridge a proj. etimi Mi|i|>rte<l ut ..n. . 1,4 only. 
 
 despite of the sense of protection which the Iwluxtradu is otherwise 
 competent to produce. 
 
 :; 2 
 
366 ASTKA CASTKA. CHAP. X. 
 
 more available to prevent, than its presence is to occasion, the production of the sensations alluded to, in 
 circumstances otherwise calculated to encourage or suppress them. But the truth is, that the mental process 
 of comparison, to the want of which the aeronaut is supposed to be indebted for his especial freedom from 
 personal alarm, can have really little or nothing to do with the condition of his case in that particular. It 
 is not, by any means, in proportion to his elevation that the sensations in question display themselves; nor 
 indeed beyond a certain point does it seem to operate at all : the same impressions being consequent upon a 
 station on the top of an ordinary house of five stories, and one upon the summit of the cupola of St. Paul's 
 Cathedral, so far at least as the question of altitude is concerned. All that is required is, that the distance 
 be such as to satisfy the mind that vital injury would accrue from the fall were it to occur. Now that 
 knowledge it obtains without the aid of any visible communication with the earth; consequently it could 
 never owe its exemption from the sensation in question to the want of a condition, of which if it were 
 present it would never have availed itself. 
 
 The process, therefore, by means of which the deficiency of connexion in the case before us conduces 
 to the admitted result, is unquestionably different, and the difference I take to consist in the light in which 
 it disposes the mind to regard the security of the sustaining power. In all situations in which grounds of 
 apprehension exist, and the apprehensions themselves ensue, a sense of personal insecurity may be decidedly 
 affirmed to be the mainspring of their existence, the point upon which they hinge, and by which, in their 
 continuance and amount, they are entirely and involuntarily determined. Now as there are but two casualties 
 by which the personal safety of the individual so circumstanced can be compromised, namely, the loss of 
 his equilibrium, and the precipitation by his weight of the fulcrum on which he relies, it is clearly to the 
 involuntary dread of one or other of these two events, or the combined agency of them both, that the 
 sensations themselves are to be ascribed, and of the nature of which, in quality and amount, they may be 
 said in a manner to partake. Both these causes of alarm, however, are perfectly distinct, and, like the 
 sensations to which they give rise, capable of acting either separately or in concert, according as the par- 
 ticular circumstances of the case may incline. How completely the exemption from any grounds of alarm on 
 the score of the latter of these (the apprehended instability of the sustaining power) is inadequate to save 
 the individual from experiencing the full force of the impressions in question, while his condition with regard 
 to the former (the insecurity of his equilibrium) is such as to give sufficient cause for their presence, it is 
 unnecessary to demonstrate, both because the position is sufficiently evident without it, and also because the 
 argument to which it tends is not needed in the illustration of the present question. 
 
 That the security of the individual, in respect of the retention of his equilibrium, is no bar to the prevalence of 
 the sensations in their fullest force, whenever the situation in other respects is qualified to call them into action, is, 
 however, more to our present purpose, and though perhaps not so generally admitted, not the less true ; as may be 
 proved by any one standing upon the brink of some parapeted eminence, the whispering-gallery of St. Paul's, 
 or any other situation alike precipitous and yet protected from the danger of falling over; or when, extended 
 at full length, he endeavours to peer over the edge of some steep declivity ; all positions from which the 
 possibility of losing the equilibrium is removed, and the apprehensions of insecurity completely transferred 
 from the individual himself to the fulcrum upon which he rests. From the consideration of these facts, taken 
 in conjunction with the numerous examples we have already detailed, wherein even the ordinary defences 
 of the art have been with perfect impunity dispensed with, we ascertain one important point in the train 
 of our investigation, viz., that it is not to the peculiar construction of his vehicle, and the protection it is 
 calculated to afford against the dangers of falling out, that is in any way to be ascribed the remarkable 
 freedom of the aeronaut from the rigour of those impressions to which his situation in other respects one would be 
 disposed to imagine above all others especially liable. Indeed, the share which his advantages in that par- 
 ticular can have in determining the singular tranquillity of his mind could never be of any very great importance ; 
 inasmuch as, after all, the danger arising from this quarter is but of a minor note, compared with that 
 occasioned by the insecurity of the sustaining power. The one is to a certain extent dependent upon the 
 individual himself, and may be overcome by strong exertion, long habit, and particular constitution ; the other 
 is a casualty entirely beyond his control, against which no exertion of his own is available to protect, and 
 to which no habitation, however extensive, can in the least reconcile or inure him. 
 
 Were there grounds for apprehension, therefore, in any way imputable to the condition of his sustaining 
 
. TRANQUILLITY or MIND. :!;7 
 
 v, it is clear that the circumstance of his situation in other respects would never have been available to their 
 suppression ; a satisfactory evidence, therefore, that none such at all exist. To what, then, are we to ascribe 
 the singular exception to the usual rule, in favour of tho power by which the aeronaut is uphold? or in 
 what manner does the want of connexion, which is its only peculiarity, contribute to the establishment of 
 that immunity which it pre-eminently confers above all other .situations to which any shadow of danger is at all 
 attributable I Sinijily by the manner in which it removes from tho mind all tho ordinary causes of ahum, 
 and disposes it to admit without hesitation the assumption of its complete security. 
 
 As long as the circumstances upon which tho fate of an individual depends, are such as to awaken in 
 his mind a doubt of their competency, a tranquil sufferance of his condition is entirely out of the question. The 
 influence of uncertainty, at all times in cases of personal alarm, more painfully insupportable than the actual 
 presence of the thing apprehended itself, is nowhere more strongly manifested than in situations of the nature of 
 those at present under consideration. Tho bare suspicion, that the fulcrum upon which he relies is about 
 to break away and fall from under him, when onco rained in his mind, is an idea BO replete with horror that 
 nothing short of absolute conviction, acquired through the evidence of his own senses, is capable of producing 
 confidence sufficient to enable him to bear his situation with anything like equanimity or satisfaction. It is of no 
 avail to the pacification of his fears that any one should remind him that tho brow of the eminence upon which he 
 stands in fear and trembling has borne tho brunt of ages and the weight of hundreds, or that (lie lofty column 
 from l-ehind whose guarded battlement he can scarcely persuade himself to look forth is really secure, and that its 
 perpendicularity, from which it appears to him to be in tho very act of inclining, is a condition much too stable to 
 be cancelled by the weight of a single individual ; so long as his senses continue to indicate a possibility of 
 the occurrence of what he dreads, the assurance, nay, tho knowledge of its improbability is quite insufficient 
 to neutralise their evidence and overpower their suggestions. Indeed, the process of reasoning is an undertaking 
 far too elaborate for the occasion, even were the individual disposed to encourage it. In situations of such 
 impending physical peril, tho mind has neither time nor calmness sufficient to enter into a calculation of chances, 
 or to balance the arguments in favour of destruction and those against it, with a viow to being guided by 
 tho result. The consequences of the conclusion are much too important, and if unfavourable, far too terrible, to 
 bo weighed for an instant ; and tho mind at onco rejects with horror any attempt to reconcile it to a situation 
 which allows of tho chance of an issue fraught with such irreparable mischief, and teeming with distress even 
 in the very thought. From all these painful impressions nothing but a conviction of his security can ever 
 entirely relieve him ; a conviction obtainable only through the exercise of his powers of sight. Any tendency 
 towards cwuxalment on the part of the power by which he is sustained, operates to an enhancement of his anxiety. 
 not only from the natural impulse of the mind, which wo have before noticed, to magnify the terrors of 
 the "unseen," but also from a consideration of the fact that any difficulty in the way of the inspection is 
 itself a proof that the construction of the fulcrum is of a nature to realise his worst expectations. The 
 approximation to overhang tho base, the ruggedness or irregularity of the declivity, circumstances on which 
 its stability is principally dependent, are conditions in fact not only cognizable to tho sight alone, but indicative 
 by the facility with which they are submitted to its notice, of the actual state of the support itself in those 
 particulars. 
 
 The exclusion from his view may, in fact, bo taken as the measure of the insecurity of the individual 
 and the arbiter of his fears. In proportion as the fulcrum approaches a state in which actual peril must be 
 incurred in the investigation, the mind becomes afflicted with the sentiments of its danger; as soon as it has 
 reached a point in which the precipitousness of it.-* inclination has totally excluded it from tho sight of the 
 individual standing above, the stability of his position ceases to be altogether dependent upon its form, and 
 becomes a question of consistency in the material of which it is constructed, \\ith such a condition annexed, the 
 fears of the individual assume a darker shade, and, under the double influence of real and apprehended danger, 
 amount to a paroxysm of agony which nothing but the certainty that the connexion in question has no share in 
 his support can either obliterate or appease. To that certainty tho absolute knowledge that no such connexion 
 exists is alone sufficient. It is not enough that tho continuity of the fulcrum be abstracted from hi.- view : it must 
 cease altogether to exist, and the mind must be aware of it, through tho intervention of the senses. In short, it is 
 not the want <>f a nVi'M coi,nf.rion, but the > /xi7fe want of a connexion upon which the tranquillity of tin- mind 
 is entirely dependent; a condition in which the aeronaut in his car is alone enabled to participate. Relying 
 
368 ASTKA CASTRA. CHAP. X. 
 
 entirely upon another quarter, he neither sees nor looks for a support, the insecurity of which he has reason 
 to apprehend. The power by which he has been raised is all that he has to look to, and that unhesitatingly the 
 mind admits to be all-sufficient for the purpose. Were but a pillar to connect him with the earth, or a rope 
 to hang down, of sufficient magnitude to destroy these impressions by substituting a suspicion that they were the 
 real means by which the equilibrium of the machine was maintained, giddiness and all the train of attendant 
 symptoms would, I have no doubt, be the immediate consequence. 
 
 As the aeronaut increases his distance from the earth, new circumstances arise to give birth to new relations, 
 and call forth new sentiments of admiration and enjoyment. From regarding the altered aspect of the regions he 
 has just quitted, his attention becomes forcibly directed to the condition and peculiarities of that into which he is 
 now, for the first time, perhaps, about to intrude himself. The clouds which he before beheld towering above his 
 head, now begin to gather around and beneath him, and, mingling with the various features of the scene, serve to 
 diversify and adorn a prospect, whose chief characteristics are otherwise but sublime vacuity and unfurnished 
 greatness. 
 
 With respect to the intervention of these bodies, however, the particular epochs at which they make their 
 appearance, and the influence which they are capable of exerting upon the surrounding world, it is impossible to 
 affirm anything with certainty. The circumstances upon which they depend, and by which they are entirely 
 modified, the influence of the weather, the condition of the atmosphere, the times and seasons of the year, 
 the nature of the country, the very hours of the day, are matters too indeterminate to allow us to involve them in 
 any general illustration of the career of the aerial voyager. Occasionally, for instance, clouds lie so low that, ere 
 the balloon can be distinctly ascertained to have entirely quitted the earth, she has been received within 
 their limits, and become entirely enveloped in their watery folds. Sometimes, on the other hand, these objects 
 are disposed at such a height, that the balloon either never comes into contact with them at all, or if perchance 
 she should have penetrated through one layer, continues to behold another, occupying a still remoter region of the 
 skies above. At times again, these variable bodies are merely partial, affecting but a small portion of the aerial 
 prospect, and arranged in different masses at different levels, or different stations upon the same level a 
 disposition I conceive the most favourable to the views of the aeronaut, as affording the best opportunity for that 
 mingled display of earth and heaven which constitutes the chiefest source of his enjoyment ; while, lastly, it will 
 frequently occur that the whole face of the heavens is so completely overspread with clouds, that from the 
 moment the aeronaut has once infringed upon their limits, until the actual conclusion of his career, earth 
 and everything that partakes of it becomes entirely excluded from his view. Of this nature was an ascent I once 
 experienced, and of which I attempted to give an account in a letter published in the ' Times ' newspaper, October 
 21, 1836. To this letter I beg to refer the reader as containing the best illustration I am able to afford of the 
 inference of these bodies, and of the particular effects and impressions to which they are calculated to give rise. 
 
 From the great variety of which they are susceptible, it is therefore pretty clear that very little can, even 
 by the aeronaut himself, be affirmed with any degree of certainty as to the particular effects which the cloud 
 creation is likely to produce upon his voyage, before the actual moment of its execution. One piece of information, 
 however, of rather a curious nature, a previous consideration of the state of the elements, under certain circum- 
 stances, enables him to deduce ; I mean with regard to the condition of the firmament above, at a time when, 
 owing to its complete investiture with clouds, all view of that portion of the ethereal hemisphere is effectually 
 suspended. 
 
 This information is founded upon observation, and is an inference from the state of the weather at the time 
 with respect to the presence or absence of rain ; as far as it goes it may be relied upon as perfectly established ; 
 to a degree of correctness, indeed, that few meteorological facts are capable of attaining. To reduce it to a general 
 rule, therefore, it may be asserted that, "whenever a fall of rain should happen to be present under circumstances 
 like those detailed above (namely, where the sky is entirely overcast with clouds), there will be invariably found 
 to exist another stratum of the same bodies at a certain elevation above the former;" and on the contrary, 
 " whenever, with the same apparent condition of the sky, rain is altogether or generally absent, the aeronaut, upon 
 traversing the canopy immediately above him, may infallibly calculate upon entering into an upper hemisphere, 
 either perfectly cloudless, or so far destitute of such bodies as not much to interfere with the general character 
 here bestowed upon it." This observation, which, independent of its value in other respects, is an addition to the 
 stock of the meteorologist which he could never have obtained without the co-operation of the aeronaut, may be 
 
rim-, x. Tin: < i"i DS MO 
 
 r. -Hi 'd MIV..H ; it has been continued l.y tho ezperienoe of Mr. Green, throughout a oouno of nearly two hundred 
 and fifty ascents, and corroborated by that of various other aeronauts, both at home and abroad, with whom I have 
 reed upon tho subject* If the invariable coexistence of two circumstances can at all be received as a proof 
 <>f their rel.itii>n~lii]> together, as cause and effect, the share which the temperature has in determining the 
 condition of the clouds with respect to the discharge of their aqueous contents may bo unequivocally inferred, 
 and the above phenomena, upon such grounds, easily explained. 
 
 To return from this digression : Varied as are the positions of the clouds, and tho forms under which they 
 present themselves, the station which they occupy in tho realms of space is confined enough, and, comparatively 
 speaking, but littlo removed above the immediate surface of the earth itself. As a general rule, the natural region 
 of tin- eloiids may be stated to be a stratum of the atmosphere, lying between the level of the first thousand feet 
 and that of one removed about ten thousand feet above it. Not but that occasionally clouds may be found that 
 trespass very considerably on both aides of the bounds here assigned to them ; sometimes penetrating in wreaths 
 <>f mist to the depths of the lowest valleys, while, on the < 'her hand, long after the aeronaut has passed the upper 
 level of these fancied limits, some faint indications of their existence may still be seen, partially obscuring the dark 
 Mne vault above him; such excesses, however, are by no means frequent, and ma}*, in fact, rather bo considered 
 in the light of exceptions to a rule than as evidences tending to impugn its general correctness. 
 
 It is certainly not to any inability in the medium itself to support them at higher elevations that is to 
 be attributed this restriction of the presence of the cloud creation to the inferior regions of the sky ; for where the 
 
 ait. with all his solid machinery and ponderous appurtenances, can penetrate and abide, assuredly there must 
 be ample means of support fur bodies which, by their unlimited powers of extension, can assume almost any 
 degree of specific gravity, and, as it were, adapt themselves at command to media of almost every imaginable 
 degree of tenuity. Rather to circumstances connected with their original formation, the distance from the source 
 from which they are drawn, the want of that degree of temperature necessary to determine their existence 
 as vapour, perhaps also certain electrical conditions in the atmosphere affecting their dispositions to unite in the 
 form of rain ; to these and other circumstances, unfavourable to their generation rather than to their support, should 
 perhaps be ascribed the confinement of clouds within such narrow limits, and the absence from the upper regions 
 of the sky of all those volatile bodies which wo, in respect of our own more humble stations, are wont to consider 
 as the emblems of ethereal pre-eminence and the types of all that in remote, lofty, and sublime. 
 
 The simple circumstance of their comparative elevation, however, is capable of exerting but little influence 
 upon the prospect of the aerial voyager, unless, indeed, he is contented to confine himself to the mere threshold 
 of the element he proposes to survey ; his increasing altitude very soon places him in a situation from whence all 
 things appear equally depressed, and from which indeed he could with difficulty ascertain, by the mere aid of his 
 sight, whether the clouds he is observing are really reposing upon the surface of the earth or seated at an elevation 
 of several thousand feet above it. 
 
 Should the condition of the sky now prove to be of the nature of that alluded to, where, for instance, a 
 dense layer of clouds completely intercepts all view of the earth, the aeronaut will probably have an opportunity 
 of observing another phenomenon connected with the disposition of the vapoury strata, the beautiful manner in 
 which, even when under the influence of rapid motion, they seem to accommodate themselves to all the variations 
 of form in the surface of the adjacent soil, rising with its prominences and sinking with its depressions; 
 displaying, in short, a "counteifeit presentment" of the country over whieh they-fey, and enabling the spectator 
 
 Two most remarkable instances confirmative of the truth of 
 tliU observation occurred at the close of 1836. On W ednewlay, 
 the 12th of October, an asront of the large balloon took place from 
 
 still further cleTBtion; which accordingly proved to be the cast. 
 On the subsequent occasion of the aacent of the same balloon, the 
 following Mimiiny OrtnK r the 17th), iin exactly similar condition 
 
 ih>- Vnuxhull Garden*, under the eireiimstances comprised in the I of the atmosphere, with respect to clouds, prevailed, unaccompanied, 
 former illustration. The sky was completely overspread with clouds, however, with the slightest appearance of rain. No sooner hud 
 
 and torrents of ruin fell incessantly during the whole of the day. 
 Upon ()iiittin^ the eurth the Ixilloon wag almost immediately enve- 
 loped in the clouds, through whieh it mntiniiid t.i ..tk iU way 
 upwards for a few second*. Upon emerging at the other side of 
 
 the balloon passed the layer of clouds immediately above the sur- 
 faoe of the earth, than, as was anticipated, not a HUL-I. rlmid wa 
 
 to be found in the firmament l-ril ; an uiilnki n expanse of clear 
 blue sky everywhere einl.raein^ the frothy plain that romp: 
 
 use canopy, a vacant space of some thousand feet in breadth intercepted all view of the world beneath. ' The eloe (H'.-urrence of 
 
 intervened, bove which lay another stratum of a similar for md these two cases, and the very striking c-X|xition tin y afforded, were, 
 
 observing a similar char ii . ruin, however, still continu<il in fact, the eir. -instances whieh first drew my attention towards 
 
 to pour from this second layer of el.,n.U, to preserve thi rr. men tho phenomena in question, ai,.l 1, ,1 to the adoption of the inference 
 
 of the observation, a third layer should by right have existed at a of a mutual .1. ) -iitk-i, them. 
 
370 ASTKA CASTEA. CHAP. X. 
 
 to form, as it were, a sort of phrenological estimate of the character and disposition of the material world within. 
 Indeed, I have heard Mr. Green declare that, with the bird's-eye knowledge of the country his long experience 
 has conferred upon him, he has frequently heen able to determine beforehand the district into which ho was about 
 to descend, at times when, from the general concealment of the landscape, such information must have been 
 otherwise altogether unattainable. 
 
 The most favourable arrangement, however, for the views of the aeronaut who feels an interest and a 
 gratification in the study of the picturesque, is decidedly that in which the clouds, from their broken and 
 disconnected nature, spread at unequal intervals throughout the empty space of air, admit occasional glimpses of 
 the earth in different directions, and passing gradually over its surface, in succession reveal an ever-varying 
 prospect, to the constitution of which heaven and earth so equally contribute that it is difficult to determine to 
 which to award the palm. Such scenes, however, are not for the pen, scarcely even for the pencil : for who 
 by signs can hope to justify a prospect which is much less dependent for its effect upon the materials of which it 
 is composed than the manner in which they are examined upon its own attractions than sentiments pre-existing 
 in the mind of the person by whom they are enjoyed? 
 
 But see ! the balloon has already passed the limits we have assigned to these "hoary riders of the blast," 
 and is now rapidly pursuing her course into realms hitherto unknown to man, even on the summits of the highest 
 mountains accessible to his exertions. Here then let us pause for a moment to take a hasty glance at the nature 
 and condition of the scene around, and the sentiments and impressions it is naturally calculated to produce upon 
 the mind of the aerial beholder. 
 
 With less numerous subjects for the exercise of his senses, it must not be supposed that these, the remoter 
 districts of the ethereal domain, are by any means deficient in grounds for enjoyment even of the very highest 
 order. It is true here are none of the usual combinations of form and colour which give such zest and variety to 
 the terrestrial landscape ; none of those delightful sounds which, pervading the whole habitable world, maintain 
 the idea of animation even in the veriest desei-t ; none of those fragrant exhalations by which as it were, the 
 music of the vegetable world every tree and flower gives vent to its own particular sentiments. These, it 
 is true, there are none of; but even in their very absence, the aeronaut finds a source of gratification, more intense, 
 at any rate, if not more interesting, than any with which their presence could have ' supplied him. Undisturbed 
 by the interference of ordinary impressions, his mind more readily admits the influence of those sublime ideas of 
 extension and space which, in virtue of his exalted station, he is supremely and solely calculated to enjoy. Looking 
 out from his lofty car in every direction save one, and that, one from which similar sentiments never before 
 proceeded, a boundless blank encounters his gaze, unbroken, except, perhaps, by bodies whose thin aerial forms 
 and fleeting aspect constitute them sole fitting occupants of such domains. Above and all around him extends a 
 firmament dyed in purple of the intensest hue, and, from the apparent regularity of the horizontal plane on which 
 it rests, bearing the resemblance of a large inverted bowl of dark blue porcelain, standing upon a rich mosaic floor 
 or tesselated pavement. In the zenith of this mighty hemisphere, floating in solitary magnificence unconnected 
 with the material world by any visible tie alone and to all appearance motionless hangs the buoyant mass by 
 which he is upheld. The world he has quitted, and that towards which he tends, seems to his fancy almost 
 equally remote ; and, as he endeavours to scan the empty vault that divides him from the earth, he involuntarily 
 imbibes a sentiment of immense vacuity, which no other situation and no other scene is capable of communicating. 
 It is not that the interval through which his eye has to travel in reaching the ultimate scope of its views is really 
 so vast: for what, after all, are the few thousands that constitute the utmost elevation of the aeronaut, compared 
 with the countless myriads that separate him from the nearest visible object of the external universe, and which, 
 stretching for ever above his head, lie ready at all times to meet his eye whenever he pleases to direct it thither ? 
 It is not, therefore, in the mere amount of intervening space itself that consists the peculiar force of his impres,- 
 ions, but that, bounded to a certain extent by known and recognised limits, in the effects produced upon them 
 by distance, he has a measure for its magnitude to which the mind is enabled to refer. From such a resource he 
 is entirely precluded who seeks to fathom with his eye the boundless abyss of infinite extension ; no appreciable 
 object there appears to intercept his view, or regulate his judgment ; he sees nothing, and seeing nothing can 
 assuredly form, no definite conception of how much it is capable of including. In short, to form an estimate of 
 space from observations directed towards the realms of infinity, requires an active exertion of the intellect of which 
 all people, perhaps, are not susceptible ; whereas to the individual who studies it thus, as it were, measured off 
 
'MAP. X. GRAVITATION. 371 
 
 ti in ih. mi, the impression suggests itm-lf : the iiiiml is pattmt; the idea w presented to it, and will not 
 
 be refused. A- to ill. compjir.itive amounts, they signify Lut little to the general effect; beyond a curtain quantity 
 
 tin' mind is iiK-ajMible of containing, even if tin- eye were capable of convex in:; an idea of extension. T<i the 
 
 liuniiin judgment thus rcstiii-ted. tin- i|iiiintity which divides the earth from the aeronaut at his greatest elevation. 
 
 inasmuch us ii is r,.mpieln iisihlc. is fir nn.ro effective tlmii tin- utmost extent ,,f infinity to which his eye could 
 
 \\iili.-nt ill.- aid ..1 -.11, 1, . \p,-diciits. Not ii.-tn the reasons here detailed alone; but likewise because, 
 
 D in an unwonted direction, un.l ..ne where its occurrence is generally c..u],li.,l with notions of insecurity and 
 
 Loth in.v, -liv and awe combine to give a zest to the sentiment, from which the extension of his view into 
 another .piaiter is entirely exempted. 
 
 riking illnsti:iti.,n of the influence of matter, in determining the mind to admit the full force of these 
 impressions, is afforded in the contemplation of a solid body in the act of falling from the car, while at a superior 
 elevation, and tracing with the eye its progress as it descends towards the earth . the silent magnificence of the 
 abyss into which it plunges, the complete isolation of the beholder, the apparent infirmity of the fragile vehicle 
 over the side of which he peers with impunity: th.-n the sudden force with which the body appears to escape 
 from his hand, tut if violently launched from a machine, and the equally Midden retardation which, after it 
 has drop].. ! a few f.-et. it seems to have experienced, together with the length of time it afterwards remains in 
 si^ht. an.] iln- . ..mparative slowness of tin- changes that increasing distance operates in its dimensions -all natural 
 consequences of the event un.l. r the peculiar circumstances of the case, which no less by the sympathies they 
 involve, than l.y tin- in.li.-ati.'ii-- tin y afford, awaken a mingled sentiment of sublimity and space nowhere else, 
 ami l.y no other means, to the like extent acquirable. 
 
 Of these phenomena by which the fall of a body from the balloon is attended, only two require comment ; 
 the apparent tvtai.latioii of itti progress, following upon so rapid a commencement; and the length of time which, 
 in .1. -spite of the onward course of the balloon, it continues to be discernible in the same direction. The former of 
 these is an impression analogous to that by which the ascent of the balloon itself, m liminr, is accompanied, and 
 of which an explanation has already been given. It is unnecessary to do more here than to remind the reader that 
 
 :!ect upon tin- ey. is precisely the same, whether the spectator be himself removed from the vicinity of the 
 olject, as in the former instance, or the object be removed from the eye of the spectator, as in that at present under 
 consideration ; the impression of unusual rapidity, displayed in the first full of the body from the car, being, no 
 doubt, frequently enhanced by the occurrence, at the same time, of a similar motion in a contrary direction on the 
 part of the balloon from which it is dismissed. The other phenomenon referred to namely, the long-continued 
 presence of the falling bo.ly in the same direction, notwithstanding the onward progress of the balloon is founded 
 upon Mich very simple rules that, to the scientific reader, no explanation is requisite. For the advantage of 
 others, however, it may be as well to observe that, by the immutable laws of matter, motion once communicated 
 to an inanimate body must ever continue to influence its progress in the original direction conferred upon it, until 
 it has encountered some other substance to which to impart it. Impressed, therefore, with the motion of 
 the balloon at the time, everything that quits the car without a special impulse in another direction, must 
 continue perpendicularly beneath it until it reach the earth, or, mayhap, encounter in its descent some current of 
 air proceeding from a different quarter, in the resistance occasioned by which, its original motion becomes 
 gradually dissipated and destroyed. 
 
 In the midst of this immense vacuity, which, with feeble pen, we have vainly endeavoured to depict, it is 
 not to be wondered should a sense of solitude, to a degree never before experienced, form the predominating 
 character of the feelings with which the aeronaut is, as it were, forcibly impelled to regard the scene around him. 
 
 iy abstracted from all contact and communion with the habitable world, environed and upheld by an invisible 
 medium, without a single object to interrupt the drear monotony of all about him, nothing can be more perfect 
 than the state of isolation in which he is placed; and, as he looks out from his airy domicile upon the immense 
 void that everywhere surrounds him, and regards the exiguous spot he occupies in its vast enclosure, he is driven 
 to acknowledge tin- force of new impressions, and for the first time in his life is really, and/<*& alone. To the 
 production of these sensations, no other situation is at all competent. Likest to it, though still far removed 
 from the compi mi-nt of its conditions, is that of a boat at sea; but boats never are at sea, in the full sense 
 
 of the word; and ships, besides the scene of animation which they invariably and inevitably display, have far too 
 much of man to permit the existence of a feeling which diminishes, in fact, only in proportion as it is 
 participated. 
 
 3 c 
 
372 ASTKA CASTRA. CHAP. X. 
 
 But the most powerful auxiliary to the sense of solitude peculiar to the situation of the aeronaut, is the 
 extraordinary silence that qualifies the region of his new adventure. No words can, in truth, sufficiently represent 
 the remarkable condition of the skies with regard to the absence of sound, or convey any just notion of the extent 
 to which that particular condition is capable of affecting the human organs. Indeed, to describe a state of things 
 depending upon the negation of a cause in such a manner as to produce the idea of a positive effect, is at no time an 
 easy task ; when, however, to the ordinary difficulties arising from the defects of language, is added the want of 
 a proper community of sentiment between the parties, little can be expected to be comprehended by a mere 
 perusal of phenomena however accurately detailed, and however correctly accounted for. All, in fact, that can be 
 said upon the subject by way of illustration is, that here, and here only, absolute silence can be said to have any 
 existence at all. In every other situation in life, on the summit of the highest mountain, in the depth of the 
 lowest cavern, in the desert and on the sea, in the dead of night, and the stern repose of the veriest calm, sound, to 
 a certain extent (however it may escape our habituated faculties), always exists. The vicinity of solid bodies, the 
 resistance of the air, the influence of the changes of temperature upon adjacent matter, nay, the very process of 
 vegetation itself, are so many sources of sound from which man is never entirely free until the aerial car has 
 snatched him from their influence, and transported him to regions where none such are ever to be found. 
 
 Yet is not the unwonted absence of the actual causes of sound the only peculiarity under which the faculty 
 of hearing is exercised in the upper regions of the atmosphere ; for, perhaps, at no time is the attention of the 
 aeronaut so forcibly impressed with the singularity of his situation in that respect, as when the natural 
 tranquillity of the surrounding medium is under the temporary influence of disturbance from artificial causes. 
 The contiguity of solid matter has, in fact, another task to perform than the mere generation of sound, in the 
 modifications to which it is incessantly subjecting it, during every stage of its continuance. Scarcely has a sound 
 been promulgated in ordinary situations than it is immediately encountered by a thousand obstacles that alter, 
 impede, protract, derange, and qualify its vibrations, and, by the manner in which they interfere with their 
 simplicity, produce the same effect upon their impressions as the intervention of the obscurating medium, 
 already described, upon the objects of the sight ; confusing their outlines, and depriving them of that sharpness of 
 contour and vividness of character which, in fact, may be said to be their natural, or at least their legitimate 
 condition. It is true that of such modifications in ordinary circumstances the ear takes no note. Unconscious of 
 the effects of sound in its pure and simple state, it suffers no particular impression from the presence of a condition 
 to which it is habituated, and from which it has never at any time been absolutely free ; nor is it until it has been 
 transferred to a situation where these modifications no longer exist, that it becomes aware of their influence, and 
 able to appreciate their absence. Such is the advantage which it enjoys in the balloon, and such the restrictions 
 under which the sense of hearing is exercised in the upper regions of the atmosphere. There situated apart 
 from all contact or intercourse with the solid world no sound ever reaches the ear more than once, or continues 
 beyond the natural duration of its own primary vibrations. Deprived in a measure of all those artificial 
 asperities by which it is usually distinguished, its character becomes totally altered, and, like the landscape to which 
 we have before figuratively referred, it strikes upon the senses in all its native purity, sharply, simply, strongly, 
 and perspicuously delineated. With such qualifications the casual occurrence of sound is consequently attended 
 with even more uncommon effects than the natural stillness of the surrounding medium, extraordinary as that may be. 
 The various interruptions it occasionally receives from below, the barking of dogs, the lowing of cattle, 
 the tinkling of the sheep-bell, the exercise of the different instruments of the artificer, the saw, the hammer, 
 and the flail, when at a moderate elevation ; the shot of the sportsman, the reiterated percussion of the 
 fulling and other mills, the discharge of artillery, and the voices of those beside him, at a greater distance 
 from the earth, are all sources of interest to the aeronaut, which please no less by the associations they awaken, 
 than by the peculiar effects with which they are made apparent. Of all the sounds, however, which meet the ear of 
 the adventurer in these exalted regions, none appears to me to bear with it so impressive a character, or to be 
 productive of such awful sensations, as that occasioned by the snapping of the valve in the upper part of 
 the balloon, when in the act of closing after some occasional discharge of gas in the course of the excursion. The 
 sudden sharpness which it displays, in common with the rest, the unusual direction from which it issues 
 a direction from whence no sound is naturally expected to proceed, the intimate connexion between it, the office it 
 has to perform, and the fate of the aeronaut by whom it is worked, together with the dram-like intonation which 
 instantly supervenes, caused by the extreme tension of the silken dome, in the cupola of which it is situated, and 
 which in a manner serves, like a sounding-board, to sustain and prolong its fleeting impulses, all combine 
 
( IIM-. X. THE ZENITH OF PRUSSIAN BLUE ::T: 
 
 t.. K t.. ii]"> H it an effect and a sentiment which belong to no other sound, and are experi< IK <1 in no other 
 situation. 
 
 To tin- enhancement <>f all these effects, as well, indeed, as of those perceivable in the exercise of all the other 
 senses at immense elevations, the rarefaction of the air, and the temperature of the region, no doubt likewise 
 essentially contribute : not by increasing the ability of the medium for the conveyance of the impression (for in 
 respect of Hound, and, perhaps, of all but sight, such conditions are rather detrimental to its qualification for such 
 a purpose), but, by their action upon the organs themselves, producing, as it were, u slightly morbid state, which 
 rentiers them more susceptible of the impression; as we occasionally perceive to be the case in some diseases, 
 where the irritability ..f the nervous system attached to some particular organ becomes so much inuruased, that 
 <-in n:ii-T.mces which otherwise would have passed unnoticed, produce not only powerful, but sometimes even 
 painful, excitations of the sense to which they are directed. In the exercise of the faculties of hearing, seeing, 
 and Mii.'llinir. these advantages are most strongly and strikingly experienced, especially the latter, owing an well 
 to the assistance which the rarefaction of the air gives to the dispersion of the volatile particles of the odoriferous 
 essence, as to the morbid adaptation it confers upon the organ to receive them. 
 
 \\ nli the increase of his elevation, of course, keep pace all those phenomena which depend for their effect 
 up<m tlie diminished density of the surrounding atmosphere ; and, as the aeronaut draws nigh to the highest point 
 ascribed to the ordinary course of such adventures, they begin to exhibit, in the altered characters they have assumed, 
 proofs of the unwonted circumstances under which they are experienced. In nothing is this more strongly 
 exemplified than in the appearance of the firmament itself. The colour of the sky, the increasing darkness of 
 which we have already noticed, has now reached a pitch of intensity so great as scarcely to seem compatible with 
 the ethereal consistency of a mere gaseous accumulation, and almost to warrant the impression of an approach 
 to something whose limits are more substantial and defined. M. Gay Lussac, in his second ascent from 1'aris, in 
 which ho attained an excessive elevation,* represents the colour of the sky, especially about the zenith, as 
 observed from the highest point in his excursion, to be on a par with the deepest shade of Prussian blue ; 
 an observation the justness of which will be felt and acknowledged by all who have ever proceeded to any 
 distance from the surface of the earth. 
 
 In order more properly to comprehend the grounds upon which these alterations are chargeable, it is 
 absolutely necessary that some insight should be obtained into the nature of the appearance of the firmament in 
 general, of which the phenomena in question are merely modifications. 
 
 That the aspect which the heavens present whenever circumstances permit us to enjoy an unobstructed view 
 of them, whether it be the azure complexion of the glowing day, the sable livery of night, or the milder shades of 
 twilight grey, by which the transitions from the one to the other are invariably distinguished, is not a condition to 
 that effect in any way inherent in the body of the atmosphere itself, a variety of arguments satisfactorily enable 
 us to determine. The most striking of these are deduced from the following observations : First, that whenever any 
 portion of it happens to be separated from the general mass above it by the intervention of clouds, no symptoms of 
 the prevailing tints can ever be detected in the part so intercepted, although by reason of its superior density it 
 may, in respect of actual quantity, equal, if not exceed, all the rest of the medium which lies beyond it ; and 
 secondly, that instead of appearing lighter the less the quantity through which the eye has to penetrate (as in the 
 case of all other known transparent bodies, which possess a colour of their own), its shade continually increases in 
 intensity the more the superincumbent mass is diminished by the translation of the spectator to a higher position 
 within it. 
 
 That the existing appearance is not, as some have vainly imagined, a general contribution raised by reflection 
 from the surface of the earth, and modified according to the particular predominance of the solar influence, is 
 
 The greatest altitude to which any balloon has ever beenfcitoirn 
 to ascend [with the exception of Mean. Coxwell and Glauber'* 
 ascents] is that aocompluhed by M. Gay Lossac in this voyage, 
 and U calculated at aeven thousand and sixteen French metres, or 
 twenty-two thousand nine hundred and seventy-seven feet four 
 inches above the level of the tea (see p. 1 1 , . 
 
 I am aware that other aeronanU lay claim to higher liononn ; 
 M. Blanclmnl, for instance, state* himself upon one occasion to 
 hare attained an elevation of nearly thirty-two thousand feet an 
 
 assertion upon which MM. Margat, Oarnerin, Robertson, and 
 others, his successors in the trade of aerostation, hare from time to 
 time considerably improved. For these pretensions, however. 
 there is not the slightest foundation; nor would it be a matt 
 much difficulty to demonstrate that the balloons they employed 
 (with the dimensions of which wo are well acquainted) n.iiM not, 
 oven if inflated with the purest hydrogen, have supported ; 
 simple weights at much above one-half the elevuliuii they would 
 lain have persuaded us they attained. 
 
 3 c 2 
 
374 ASTEA CASTRA. CHAP. X. 
 
 likewise a conclusion which with equal clearness we collect, partly from a consideration of the fact before observed, 
 that when the communication happens to be dissolved by the interposition of clouds, the character in question, 
 whatever it may happen to be at the time, entirely disappears in the portions contiguous to the earth, while neither 
 in quality nor intensity is the slightest alteration perceptible in those which lie beyond ; and, partly from the 
 observation that in all countries, under every variation of climate, and through every change of season, the 
 genuine aspect of the sky is virtually the same. 
 
 Since, then, the appearance of the heavenly arch is neither a quality which resides in the substance of the 
 atmospheric volume (the only material obstacle of whose presence in that direction we are aware), nor is obtained 
 by the process of reflexion from anything which exists on this side of the space which it subtends, it is evident 
 that no other way remains by which it can be accounted for than by a reference to the condition and modification 
 of something which occupies or proceeds from the interval which lies beyond. To enable us to justify our 
 conclusions upon this score, we must first endeavour to ascertain what is the natural aspect of boundless space, or 
 what would be the appearance of the mighty vault of heaven could we but direct our gaze into its vast enclosure, 
 unencumbered by the presence of a medium of refraction. The inquiry is fraught with awe, no less than interest. 
 
 It almost seems like intruding upon the especial domains of the Almighty to attempt to tear the veil from 
 the charms of boundless space, and expose the secrets of a condition of which our visual faculties but render to 
 our senses an account as mysterious and imperfect as that which our mental ones with their utmost exertions are 
 able to convey to our understandings. To say that the heavens, or that portion of space beyond the limits of our 
 atmosphere, which we are wont to honour by such a name, possess a colour, would be, in truth, to employ a 
 misnomer. Space infinite space unfilled with matter, must really be devoid of colour; and, excepting in the 
 bodies it contains, must ever present to the eye of him who views it in all its natural majesty, the terrific aspect 
 of a black unfathomable abyss. To confer the idea of a colour, or permit the rays of light in any way to vary 
 its appearance, the presence of a transparent medium is absolutely requisite. Near the body of the earth, and of 
 most of those other objects with which astronomy has made us acquainted, such a medium obtains in the atmosphere 
 by which they are surrounded; and in the effects of this atmosphere upon the aspect of the black vault behind, lies 
 the only condition that exists to vary the visual presentment of void and infinite space. By the combined exertion 
 of two of its properties this result is accomplished ; first, by the diffusion of the white rays of light, whereby the 
 extreme obscurity of the background is tempered into paleness,* and in the next place by the occasional 
 interposition of a new colour obtained from the rays of light transmitted through it from above, whereby the 
 original in its subdued intensity becomes at times invested with a colour compounded of them both. 
 
 To the full force of the former influence much is, no doubt, contributed by the presence and disposition of 
 solid matter in the neighbourhood of the field of view, by means of which the adjacent portions of the surrounding 
 medium become, as it were, charged with the superfluous rays of light from various quarters, tending not only to 
 distract the eye of the spectator, and to confuse his prospect, but also to reduce, by the copious admixture of white 
 light, the natural intensity of whatever object may happen to be exposed to it. To what an extent the diffusion of 
 light so supported is competent to produce the results ascribed to it, we see clearly evinced in the extraordinary 
 effects occasioned by the temporary suspension of its influence. No sooner has any interruption taken place, either 
 through the discontinuance of the supply, its artificial exclusion from the field of view, or a diminution in the 
 capacity of the medium for its conveyance, than the eye immediately reads the change in the unwonted darkness 
 of the sky, and (when promoted to a sufficient extent) in the renewed appearance of the luminous bodies which it 
 infolds. Of this illustrations are naturally afforded in the approach and presence of night during the 
 continuance of a solar eclipse, when the obscuration has reached a sufficient magnitude, or still more remarkably 
 upon the occasion of any unwonted rarefaction in the atmosphere, such as is frequently found to precede a sudden 
 
 * The influence of atmospheric irradiation upon the aspect of 
 the void space by which it is backed was first suggested by the 
 father of the pictorial art, the celebrated Leonardo da Vinci, and 
 afterwards revived and adopted by M. de la Hire, as a probable 
 cause of the azure colour of the sky. In support of this theory a 
 variety of experiments were adduced to prove that black, when 
 beheld through a white or colourless medium, always inclines to 
 
 colours in the proportion in which they exist in solar light, is 
 always grey: nor do I believe that any other colour could cvir 
 result from their admixture, no matter the proportions or the means 
 whereby it might be sought to unite them. To what to attribute 
 the fallacy of their conclusions I really know not, unless indeed it 
 might be owing to an incorrect estimate of the colours of the sub- 
 stances employed in their experiments, or the want of proper pro- 
 
 assume a blue or azure tint. The truth of these deductions, how- j cautions to avoid the introduction of colours obtained by refraction 
 ever, is more than doubtful. The proper product of black and from the transparent media through which they were examined, 
 white, or, in other words, of no colour with a combination of all 
 
('J1A1 1 . X. 
 
 TIIK DIFFUSION OF LIiiHT. 
 
 
 change from tine to foul weather; and artifn ially. and with equal effect, by removing In a distance from the 
 Mirl.iee (if tin- earth iii .-i lulln .11, i.r l.y proceeding in the oilier direction to the bottom of a well or vertical shaft. 
 sufficiently deep to afford a complete protection agaiiiM tin- inlliu lire of tin- circumambient irradiation. 
 
 tin- mere diffusion of light, to whatever extent it might bo carried, although it might alleviate 
 tin- iiitenseness of colour in luiy object, could never avail to give it .1 nrw olio, or make that assume tin- front of 
 .i/.u:. MHO," whose legitimate asp. < t was unmitigated sable. This is a result which requires the intervention 
 of anoth..]- pi.,pi rty in the medium; such a one, for instance, as that alluded to, whereby the rays of light 
 ti.niMiiittcd through it from above, are made to affect a colour suitable to the compound required.* As the 
 intensity of this colour, as well an that of the black vault by which it is supported, is a quality subordinate to 
 the influence of atmospheric illumination, \\hatcver tends to the abatement of that illumination, either by the 
 cuitailiueiit of the Mipply, its artificial exclusion from the field of view, the diminution of the capacity of 
 the nit-ilium for it.s conveyance, or tl.. u from a neighbourhood where its natural amount is increased by 
 
 adventitiou.- lellexion, tends likewi.se to increase the intensity of the sky, and bring out more forcibly the natural 
 obscurity of the ethereal scene. Of these latter, the ascent in the balloon is a striking illustration. Diminishing 
 at ouce the density of the medium, and tin; amount of its terrestrial irradiation, at every step he recedes from the 
 Mirfaee ..f the earth, the aeronaut obtains in the darkened aspect of the heavenly arch unerring tokens of 
 his approach to the nether limits of the void and infinite gulf that lies beyond him; and, 1 have doubt, could he 
 l.ui continue his course until ho had attained the outward margin of the atmosphere, ho would, upon directing his 
 view into the realms "f \aeiiity, behold an impenetrable abyss of perfect blackness, in which every visible Miun-e 
 of light would stand like a disk of solid flame, unaffected by the vicissitudes that, for one-half the period of their 
 revolutions, exclude them from the 03-0 of the terrestrial spectator. 
 
 How long before that extreme was attained, the latter part of this description would have been realised. 
 and the heavenly bodies revealed to the naked eye in broad daylight, I cannot take upon mo to determine ; 
 if. however, the obscuration of the sky (upon which the occurrence of the phenomenon in question entirely 
 depends), were to continue to increase at the same rate wo observe it in the earliest stages of the ascent (and then- 
 is every reason to admit the conclusion), I do not think that the possibility of witnessing such an occurrence is 
 entirely beyond the hopes of tho aeronaut adventurous enough to attempt it, and provided with moans com 
 
 With Uio existence of such a property we were first made ao- 
 
 plaint. 'I I'v iii' researches of Sir Isaac Newton ; who, liaring asccr- 
 
 I tlii-t va|> . .iirs win a ill.. .m to condense and coalesce into 
 ilr.'|>-. lir-i Mich a size as to i-lirit tin Mn. ray* of trans- 
 
 initi- . Mini. in.- the azure colour of the iky 
 
 to a condition particularly favourable !. i of guch a 
 
 pro|M-rty, which, it was presumed, existed only in the rem..t. r 
 regions of the upper air. The existence of a vapour at all time* 
 nt in the atmosphere, a circumstance essentiul to the views of 
 .11, wo.s huwi vcr, u weak point in his tin -ory, which has in- 
 duced nlis|in nt inquirers to look for some more permanent .|iutlity 
 in the same quurU-r IIJHIII which to charge the occurrence .- 
 obserred phenomenon. Accordingly, iifti-r ;i v:iri. ty ..f . \\ rimeiitii, 
 a Kr. in-li philiiioiphi r. M. I tougner, considered that he had solved 
 th.- ilillirnlty I'.v r. ! rrin_- the separation of tho rays in question to 
 a .lul. r. n.-. in the momenta of the different constituents of solar 
 li;:iit. In r. l.y the r. .1 alone, supposed to be possessed of niperinr 
 motive i m r^'V. madi- lln-ir way iin.ibMrnct.-d to tho MirCiee of tho 
 .urtli. wliile tin- bin. I of wi nkcr inifietus, unable to 
 
 :i<lv.incc, ri-iiiaiii.-.l behind t.i iinl.ti.. witli their particular colour 
 tin- r. in. it. r strata of the atmospheric lluid l.y which they i. pi U-cii 
 absorbed. The.-- view- ..:' \l. K..ii;:n. r, snlli.-i, -ntly in^eni..n< con- 
 
 . ih.- r. .. !il i-.-t.iMi.-lin.. nt of 
 
 tin- theory nf undulation- r. .|iiir. - n- to int. rpr. t after iinothi-r form. 
 
 Aihnittiiii; the . x.-ln.-iv. pro^rcusof certain mys, hut r. j, rting tlio 
 
 i:round.i ..t'.lilV. r.-nt nii.iin nta l.y which it Wiis timnerly wont to be 
 
 Apliiinid. r. fi r. n.-. nni.-t M..W !.< had t.i :ui..tln-r prineiple, n.nm 1\. 
 ill.- rritiml iiii.i/- by the blue rays, instead of 
 
 Ui.lv nf the utmosphi re. un- n Ibrtiil ut an un^le, ami 
 winild 1- alto^ethi-r .lismi>-.l uniiotiei .1, hut that, owin-.- in. doubt 
 t.i tli iniity of the npp- .tnioi.pheri-. th.-y 
 
 have alreudy proceeded to a considerable distance en- thev 
 
 encountered sufficient consistency to determine their return. For 
 the beiietlt of the unlearned, however, we may as well observe that 
 it matters nought in tho least to tin- subject in hand which or 
 whether any of the views here proposed bo the correct one. It in 
 enough for us that there is a property of the nature nf.rn.l i.. 
 existing in the upper strata of the atmosphere ; and that is u f... i 
 of which we have xufficicnt proof in the evidence of our senses. 
 
 Indeed, hut that the limit* of a note are too restricted fur tin- pur- 
 pose, it would not be a difficult matter to point out otvurreness 
 which do not appear to consist with any of the views here taken ! 
 the subj.-'t. For instance, I do not see upon which of them ground* 
 can he explained the phenomenon very frequently olmervabie upon 
 occasion of the setting sun) of the compl. ! .1. t. -nninution of tli.- 
 bine rays tu the quarter directly opposite the seat of that lumiiuin. 
 leaving the rest of the heavenly hemisphere comparatively .1, v..i,| 
 of any such inclination. In all these cases the blue, if nally ob- 
 tained by the decomposition of solar light I'M fraruri/u, mu-t not only 
 have traversed one radius of the atmonpheric horizon in company 
 with the red, but afterwards exclusively continued iU count 1 ! 
 further extremity of the opposite one. Another eir. nuisance, appa- 
 rently incompatible with tin views, U tin- ex'niordiimry 
 hlueness discoverable upon the occasion of a sudden run-faction in 
 the atmosphere : w. r.- th. Mm- in these cases merely the con.pl. -m. -nt 
 of the rul, pn \ ii ni-l> inti-rriipti-d in iU puwagr, its subsequent r 
 vi -iitinii .-huiil. 1 only have restored the whole to iU primitive cinidi- 
 tion of a colourless compound. 
 
 These objections, 1 l)Cg to ..b- r\.-. an- by im innins inten.;. 
 in. | ii-ii th'- correctness of tlio t!i. ..ry of nniliilatioiu as a system 
 e\|.Ianatory of the nature and pr"|rti. - of liL'ht in u-neral. 
 tin- contrary, it is np-.n tl,.- as-iiniptioii of it^ ii|.-n..riiy -.: 
 led to qm -t WK to whii h it-, piineipli.- 
 
 scem in the slightest degni- irrivi.ncilablo. 
 
376 ASTEA CASTIU. CHAP. X. 
 
 spending to the peculiar exigences of the occasion. Some indeed there are, who, even without these advantages, 
 pretend to have attained situations in the ordinary exercise of the art, from whence the existence of such a 
 phenomenon could clearly be discerned : I should rather, however, suppose that this assertion was merely an 
 exaggeration of the fact, that at their utmost altitude they were able to distinguish the presence of the heavenly 
 bodies sooner than they could have been perceived by persons situated upon the actual surface of the earth ; an 
 assertion which in fact amounts to nothing more than what we know would have been experienced under 
 any circumstances of superior elevation, no matter how slight. With every degree of removal from the plane of 
 the terrestrial horizon, the capacity of the surrounding medium for the diffusion of light becomes diminished, and 
 the contrast in favour of the spectator (which is the only cause of their suppression) being weakened, the stars 
 of course make their appearance at an earlier hour than they would if that contrast had to wait the decline of day 
 to effectuate its abatement. The question is evidently, therefore, one of comparison, and is as easily put to the 
 test by ascending to the top of a hill as by encroaching upon the limits of the sky in a balloon. If I mistake not, 
 something of the kind is mentioned by the elder Saussure, in his account of the first ascent of Mont Blanc, 
 as having been observed upon the summit of that mountain ; an observation which has been repeated in other 
 parts of the globe by all travellers who have ever succeeded in attaining great elevations upon the surface of the 
 earth. That such a result could be produced by an artificial exclusion of the light, as for instance in the bottom 
 of a deep well, or any other excavation of sufficient profundity, was a fact well known to the ancients, who, 
 in Egypt especially, were in the habit of constructing pits on purpose to aid them in their study of the heavenly 
 bodies ; many relics of these subterraneous observatories remaining to the present day to bear testimony to the 
 industry and acquirements of those learned Pagans. 
 
 In consequence of the increased removal from the vicinity of the earth, the temperature of the surrounding 
 medium has become considerably reduced, and were it not for the absence of all atmospheric motion would, 
 no doubt, be severely manifested to the feelings of the aeronaut. At what particular period of the ascent, this 
 decrease attains a minimum, or indeed whether such a result exists within the range of aeronautical adventure, 
 I am not able with any degree of certainty to state. The solution of the question, which is undoubtedly an 
 interesting one, depends chiefly upon the point to which the calorific influence of the earth's radiation extends, and 
 is only to be arrived at by a long-continued series of experiments and observations. Of course, the results 
 here, as elsewhere, will be found to vary with the climate, the season of the year, the hour of the day, and the 
 state of the atmosphere at the time prevailing. In one respect particularly, the latter is capable of exercising a 
 very sensible influence over the thermometrical condition of the upper regions ; I mean where clouds to any 
 amount intervene, whereby a large extent of reflecting surface becomes presented, and a very considerable portion 
 of the heat of the solar rays returned into the body of the atmosphere which lies above. As this is an arrangement 
 of the sky more frequently to be met with in winter than in summer, it follows singularly enough that the 
 effects of a low temperature are much less likely to prove injurious to the aeronaut in the exercise of his 
 art, during the more rigorous portions of the year, than those which everywhere else come under the denomination 
 of the milder and more serene. 
 
 Considering, therefore, the number and irregularity of these disturbing causes, it will appear pretty evident 
 that no exact measure of the temperature, and, consequently, no just representation of its effects upon the 
 human frame could be afforded that would apply with equal correctness to all the circumstances under which it 
 might be tried. In general, however, where there are no clouds to interfere with the natural progress of the sun's 
 rays, a temperature of 32 Fahrenheit may be expected to be encountered at an elevation of about seven or eight 
 thousand feet above the level of the sea that is to say, in these climates ; the region of eternal frost, or as 
 it is geographically termed, the line of perpetual snow, entirely depending upon the latitude of the place, and 
 diminishing in elevation in proportion as it increases its distance from the terrestrial equator. Beyond this 
 altitude the temperature, as before, keeps continually decreasing, though with waning rapidity, and at an elevation 
 of twenty-two thousand nine hundred feet, the thermometer, as observed by M. Gay Lussac, had fallen to 9 - 5 of 
 the Centigrade division, or 17'1 below the freezing point according to Fahrenheit. 
 
 Supposing, however, the state of the temperature to have been in any instance even twice as low as 
 that above indicated, still there is much reason to question whether at any time the sufferings of those exposed to 
 it can have been so severe as many would fain incline us to believe. Certain allowances ought, no doubt, to be 
 made for the constitutional peculiarities of different individuals; and much ambiguity must always be expected to 
 
OIM-. \. >\. AYi: A!Ti:\RAXCE OF THE EABTH. ::77 
 
 pi. -v.iil ulii-r.- personal fcclin;.; \s the subject of discussion, and the sense itself the only tost to which it can be 
 sulij. . !. !. lint with all these admissions, there is still sufficient evidence in the experience of those who both 
 naturally and hy artifical means in the way of ex]., -linn nts li:ive placed themselves in circumstances of like 
 -urc upon tlu> earth, t,, authorise a doubt that much inconvenience ever did or could accrue to the aeronaut, 
 ul, . in thr exercise of his vocation, may have penetrated to the utmost limits his means in other respects 
 
 would allow him. 
 
 I laving now attained the highest point to which it is our intention at present to proceed, wo will pause for an 
 instant to take a cursory glance at the earth, ere we prepare to incline our journey thitherward again. The land- 
 scape w hich. for some time back, has been gradually displaying symptoms of decreasing perspicuousness, has now 
 suffered mi much from the effects of distance that it is not without difficulty that any of its ordinary features 
 can be distinguished. Not that any abatement appears to have taken place in that vividness of contour which we 
 have before observed to be the never-failing peculiarity of the terrestrial scene when viewed from the car of the 
 Kill.. ,,n ; but that the <) mselves have now become no much reduced in size that many of those, the most 
 
 familiar and charaetcri.-tir, have altogether become extinct, and the rest so much estranged in their appearance 
 aa to eoiitrilmte l>ut little to the recognition of the prospect of which they form a part. 
 
 Amid this scene of universal disfiguration all perception of comparative altitudes is utterly out of the question. 
 I, 'moved to such a distance from the eye, and solely submitted to a vertical examination, the whole face of nature, 
 in fact, appears to have undergone a process of general equalisation ; the houses and the trees, the mountains and 
 the vi -ry i lomls liy which they are capped, have long since been consigned to the one level ; all the natural irre- 
 gularities of its surface completely obliterated, and the character of the model entirely superseded by that of the ;V<m. 
 It ha> frequently been inquired of me, whether under circumstances of such excessive elevation any symp- 
 toms of convexity can ho detected in the appearance of the horizontal plane, such as a knowledge of the real form 
 of the terrestrial globe might have authorised us to expect. When, however, we consider the immense dis- 
 proportion which exists between the actual diameter of the earth and the utmost altitude to which man ever did 
 or could attain above its surface, we shall cease to look for such a result, or be surprised at observing the de- 
 ficiency. \\ ,-re we to asume an elevation of forty-two thousand feet (which is nearly double what has hitherto 
 been accomplished) as the ne plus ultra of aeronautical enterprise, still, computing the earth's radius at four 
 thousand miles, and reckoning five thousand two hundred and eighty feet to each mile, the prominence of the 
 spectator beyond the surface of his horizon would even then amount but to the thousandth part of its extreme 
 lateral extension : in other words, he would have only reached a distance beyond the plane of his vision, as great 
 an the thickness of the smallest letter we are now employing (estimated at the hundreth part of an inch) would 
 project upon the face of a globe of ten inches in diameter. In short, his newly-acquired position would no more 
 enable him to discern the sphericity of the earth than the eye of a beetle would convey to it an idea of the con- 
 vexity of the mountain whoso rounded summit it was slowly labouring to ascend. 
 
 In answer to this, the reader may perhaps suggest the well-known phenomenon of a ship at sea approaching 
 from a distance, and adduce the gradual disclosure of its parts as an evidence of the possibility of obtaining, under 
 a favourable conjuncture of circumstances, ocular testimony of the nature which we have here attempted to 
 disprove. The example, however, is by no means a case in point It is not the sphericity of the earth that the 
 eye in such cases observes, but merely its effects ; and therein can no more be considered as reading the convexity 
 of the earth, than a man looking at his shadow upon the wall can be said to be observing the taper which stands 
 upon the table at his back. Without the convexity in question, it is true the phenomenon observed could not 
 have taken place ; but neither, on the other hand, would the convexity in question have been observed had not the 
 said phenomenon ; ->'nt to disclose it. 
 
 lint even if the conclusion were otherwise, still the cases are by no means analogous, nor could any argument 
 be drawn from the capacity of the eye in the one instance to sanction the expectation of a similar result in the other. 
 < 'oiiqwirative altitude, which is, in fact, the only test of prominence, is a condition the knowledge of which is ouh 
 arquirable by means of an examination conducted at right angles to the plane of extancy ; or, in other words, by 
 observing the profile, more or less, as it appears represented upon the substance or substances which may happen to 
 be aggregated in the rear. From the enjoyment of this advantage the aeronaut, by his jioMtion, is thoroughly pre- 
 cluded ; all his views are necessarily downward, and all his perceptions of form confined to the observation of 
 surfaces projected upon the plane beneath him. 
 
378 ASTEA CASTRA. CHAP. X. 
 
 With all these considerations, however, the inexperienced reader will, no doubt, learn with surprise that the 
 real form of the earth, as beheld from the car of a balloon sufficiently elevated in the air, is absolutely the very 
 reverse of that which a first view of the case may have hastily inclined him to expect. Such, however, is undoubt- 
 edly the fact. So far from following the course dictated by the true conformation of the earth, and sinking in pro- 
 portion as they recede, the edges of the terrestrial plane actually assume a contrary inclination, and, rising as the 
 aeronaut increases his altitude, realise in their progress the appearance of a vast bowl or basin extended on all sides 
 around him. 
 
 Unexpected as this phenomenon may at first sight appear, it is, nevertheless, but the natural consequence of 
 the laws of refraction acting under the peculiar circumstances of the case. Diverted from the straight course 
 which the sight would at all times pursue, were it unobstructed by a medium of refraction, the lines under which 
 the various objects are beheld become gradually inclined upwards, referring the objects themselves to points in 
 their new positions, at distances from the eye of the spectator equal to those at which they are actually situated. 
 
 This will be better understood by a reference to the 
 annexed diagram, in which the station occupied by 
 the aeronaut is represented by the small balloon ; 
 the direction which the sight would have travelled 
 had there been no refracting medium by the dotted 
 lines ; and that which in consequence it is forced 
 to assume by the plain ones. As the distance is not 
 falsified by the refraction, the various objects upon 
 the terrestrial horizon A B (as there depicted) will, 
 
 in appearance, be transferred to stations equally remote from the eye, and be found occupying a curve, C D, 
 formed by a close continuation of points in the refracted lines of vision, equidistant from the eye with those 
 which they represent upon the horizontal surface of the earth. 
 
 But it is now time to conclude. Too long already I fear have I detained the young adventurer in the realms 
 of upper air ; more especially as this is his first attempt, and he must no doubt feel anxious to return and quell the 
 fears of his family and friends below. We will therefore pull the valve, and commence our descent. 
 
 And let not the reader suppose that in this seemingly simple phrase consists all that is required to the achieve- 
 ment of this most important operation ; and that the aeronaut has nothing to do, when he desires to terminate his 
 excursion, but to pull the valve, and take his chance for the result. It is in the conduct of this part of the voyage 
 especially that lies the great art of the practical aeronaut," and upon which his own safety and that of his 
 companions ultimately depends. In choosing the critical moment of the descent, and regulating his forces 
 accordingly, much judgment and great skill are necessarily required. A certain spot, freqiiently at a consider- 
 able distance, is to be attained, which experience points out as best suited to the purpose, and a variety of 
 circumstances acting separately and in conjunction must be taken into account to ensure a successful issue in the 
 attempt. 
 
 The exact rate and direction of the machine at the time, and the possible variations in both, to which it may he 
 subjected by the currents it may happen to encounter in its progress towards the earth ; the amount of retardation it 
 is sure to experience when, in the act of descending, its force of gravitation begins to operate ; the quantity of gas 
 necessary to be discharged to produce such a course as will best correspond with and satisfy these combined demands, 
 under the restrictions of speed which a due regard to the safety and feelings of the parties necessarily imposes ; all 
 these are considerations which require to be present in the mind at once, and with such a degree of command as 
 will enable the aeronaut in an instant to avail himself of the means within his power to provide against the conse- 
 quences of any unforeseen event that may arise to derange or confound his previous calculations. The necessary 
 acquirements for the perfect management of the descent are consequently of no ordinary nature, nor are they by 
 any means to be met with in ordinary persons. It is not enough to entitle a man to the appellation of an 
 accomplished aeronaut that he shall have been able to conclude his operations without breaking his neck, dislo- 
 cating his limbs, or tumbling himself and his companions out of the car ; to that extent all persons, with few 
 exceptions, who have ever ascended upon their own responsibility, have shown themselves competent ; and, 
 indeed, the actual peril of life or limb is so slight that chance alone is sufficient of itself to justify the presumption 
 of a favourable result upon that score, even in the absence of any interference whatever on the part of the manager, 
 
CHAP. x. SKILL Ki:<>rn;i:]> r.v rin: AI:I;I>NAUT. 
 
 .1 what is necessary to determine the descent of the balloon. The mere avoidance of danger is, the?, 
 n.it tin- only < ircuiiiHtance that occupies the attention of the skilful aeronaut; a variety of other considerations, of 
 seoondiiry iiniHiri:incc, it is true, likev : int.. his designs. 'J'lic perfect convenience and comfort nf tin- 
 
 parties, no less than their absolute security, require to be consulted : th.-y must neither be brought to the earth 
 with violi -IK-.-. jerked ,.ut of tin- car, dragged along the gioimd. hurled against buildings, nor run amongst tree*; 
 they must ui-ithi-r be landed in a marsh imr in a quagmire, in tin- middle of a wood. ,,n the t..|. of a h.m-e. IP r in 
 ili,- iiir._'ing df a ship, as some have had the luck to experience before now, imr decanted into the river, as has also 
 been the fat.- of more than one adventurous hero whose name figures in tin- annals of aerostation. 
 
 In the next place, the safety ..f the Kill i requires and engages the solicitude of the skilful and prudent 
 
 aeronaut : nor can any descent be said to have been even respectably conducted in which the slightest injury has 
 
 . accrue t<. that ino-t ini|...itant and valuable part of the apparatus." This in itself involve* a 
 
 M. All places an- l.y no means equally adapted for such purposes. The soil must be of 
 
 Mich m will facilitate the attachment of the ballo. n; it must not be eo hard that the grapnel cannot 
 
 eaailx li^l,, that, having entered, it is unaLlc to retain its hold; it must be free from trees or 
 
 Lushes. Ly which the silk would be sure to be lacerated, and contain a sufficiency of open, clean sward as will 
 the emptying and folding of the diMiiemLen-d machine as soon as its task has been performed. 
 
 Last, though not least, some regard must be had for the tenants of the soil itself: much care should, there- 
 
 be taken to avoid attempting to descend in a place where the crops are of such a nature as to suffer from the 
 
 (ttOB : a practice extremely reprehensible. n,.t .mly as being the means of inflicting serious injury upon others, 
 
 Lut likewise as tending to bring disparagement upon the art, trouble to future aeronauts, and frequently much 
 
 loss and inconvenience to the parties themselves, from having their balloon seized and retained in compensation 
 
 images, which the possession of a little skill would have enabled them to avoid. 
 
 All these are considerations which, though entirely overlooked by ordinary persons, nevertheless always 
 enier into the calculations of the accomplished aeronaut, and require the exercise of no ordinary qualifications. 
 M.-M- ,-\j - Ly no means sufficient for their acquirement; for men may ascend for hundreds of times, and 
 
 still keep Lungling on to the end without the slightest advantage or improvement; there must bo a. power 
 .a to turn it to account; a judgment to interpret its suggestions, and coolness to apply them; penetration to 
 embrace all that is requisite at a view, and quickness in calculating the results; prudence to avoid danger, and 
 courage to confront it : in short, all the qualifications, to a certain extent, by which the skilful general is distin- 
 guished in the fields of war ; and I should Lut ill acquit myself of my duty as an honest though humble chronicler 
 
 station were I not to mention as pre-eminent above all others in everything which regards the practice of 
 this d.-liglitful art, my friend, the veteran aeronaut, Mr. Charles Green. Other men there are, no doubt, in abundance, 
 who. 'i ..IT favourable circumstances, can manage well enough to bring their operations to a close without material 
 injury to themselves or their companions ; so fur I have already said that mere chance will generally favour the 
 
 lit : it was reserved for Mr. Green to reduce these operations into a fixed and available system, and convert 
 that chance into a matter of certainty and design. 
 
 It is not my intention to pursue the details of the descent with the same precision with which I have treated 
 those of the earlier stages of the art. For the most part they will be found to be merely a counterpart of the pre- 
 ceding, differing only in the order of their occurrence, and would but weary the reader, already sufficiently KO, no 
 doubt, without contributing anything further to his stock either of information or entertainment. The few pecu- 
 liarities it possesses are easily explained. Immediately upon commencing the descent, a painful impression is 
 -d in the ears, more or less acute according to the rate at which that operation happens to 
 
 As a proof of what may be done by tip f proper skill, 
 
 worth oli* rviiifj thnt the balloon which Mr. Green generally 
 
 .I already . ' -,vo huinln-<l ami lil'ty-i\ limes 
 
 dip hundred and fevcnty witli Mr. (Jr.-.n liiin.-.!!': . ii-hly-thrce in 
 
 . : unit tlin*- time* in that of lii- lin.ther, Mr. Henry 
 
 : notwithstanding whirh it still rvnmim a.-t -rvi.-. al.h- as.-v.-r. 
 
 balloon onre l.y th? |rtini; of the cable, and once by tho actual 
 
 fm.-nireof the iron it- 11. li i* nnin ivBgnry to observe wlmt must 
 
 li.-.ve IN-CII the for fihe wind by which Min-h powerful (-fleets wm 
 
 prodiin-d. Iloth tlies.- iKvidehN .Kvnrrcd in plm-i |rtictilarly un- 
 firotiRihlo to the manoeuvres of the aeronaut, |.< inc tliirkly beset 
 with trees, and so circumstanced that hu.l not tin- projrresH .>! tin- 
 
 Th. - n, tin- unwieldy proportion.-* of which Uillooii been opportnnelv arrested, tht-y would I. d the 
 
 rt-nd'T in management doubly ar.lii.ni*, him uln-ady m...l. lit'. 'i roust, and U . -n Mown out to sen. With the (in-uti st ilifllcully. and 
 
 1. r iln- din-.-ti.ni of the; gome accoin|.Iifli. .1 aeronaut. by i -kill iilone. the Uill.K.n was saved 
 
 amonx whirh Mime have U-.ii ex.'-.i'.-d nnd. r .in-iiiiintaDOes of I from drstnict ion. And y. I with all these onpcs, and tbe ordinary 
 
 po-uli.ir difficulty und hazard. Twiro i I of casualties d tli. ar: to i.i.t. tin- filk hay n.-v. r <> much un r. 
 
 the use of the grapnel by tip \;..l. ,-. <.f i],. wind, ami t'op-><! i . the slighu~>t piinctnr. . 
 to adventitious .xj. .![:.- f..r On- pnr|'" 
 
 :: i. 
 
380 ASTEA CASTRA. CHAP. X. 
 
 be conducted. I have said generally, because much uncertainty exists with regard to the liability to this impres- 
 sion, there being some in whom it is much more strongly developed than in others ; while, again, a few there are 
 whose physical constitution seems to exempt them from its influence altogether. The cause of the sensation is 
 simply a renewed pressure upon the orifice of the Eustachian tube, consequent upon the passage from a rarer 
 into a denser medium, and is so far similar to that experienced in a diving-bell, although, as might be expected 
 from the different constitution of the experiment, not nearly so strong in its indications. Indeed, in the latter, 
 instances are not infrequent in which it has been pushed to such an extremity as to be attended with the sensation 
 of a violent explosion in the ear, occasioned, as it is supposed, by the sudden bursting open of the valve by which 
 the orifice of the tube is closed, producing considerable pain, nausea, and temporary (and, in one case that I am 
 acquainted with, even permanent) suspension of the power of hearing. This sensation continues until the descent 
 for the time is concluded, and the equilibrium between the external air and that confined in the cavernous pro- 
 cesses of the ear has been completely restored. Why it should not be experienced in the ascent as well as the 
 descent of the balloon is a circumstance most probably depending upon the valvular construction of the parts 
 themselves, the greater facility which is afforded to the egress than the ingress of the atmospheric fluid, and con- 
 sequently the minor opposition encountered in the establishment of the equilibrium above alluded to. 
 
 This, so far as I am aware, is the only physical impression peculiar to the descent ; as to the mental ones, I 
 can only say, to speak from my own observation, that regret, intense regret, at being forced to relinquish so 
 delightful a situation, is the only sentiment I have ever found to be an invariable attendant upon the conclusion 
 of the aerial voyage. 
 
 But we have now no time even for the indulgence of these melancholy considerations. The balloon is already 
 approaching the earth. The trees, hedges, roads, and other features of the rural landscape, which for some time 
 back have been growing gradually upon the eye, have now resumed their original distinctness, and appear in 
 quick succession, rapidly receding in our rear. Several persons now also can be distinguished, either standing in 
 mute astonishment, looking up at our approach, or hurrying from all directions in the hopes of being present at 
 our descent. At length the field we have been so long aiming at appears directly before us ; the grapnel just 
 tops the hedge, and alights immediately within it. For a few seconds it continues to drag along the ground with 
 a succession of shocks, the violence of which the elastic cable serves considerably to abate. One, however, more 
 forcible than the rest at last ensues and fixes the anchor in the soil. Eestricted in her progress, the balloon for 
 the first time becomes sensible of her captivity, and seems to concentrate all the strength she possesses to effectuate 
 her liberation. But it is all in vain. The anchor holds ; assistance multiplies in every direction ; the people run 
 in and seize the rope ; the loss of a little more gas tames the gigantic straggler, and she stands at length secured 
 upon the plain. 
 
 In the preceding sketch it will be perceived that I have made no account of the effects of diminished pressure 
 upon the physical condition of the aeronaut, which some have depicted in such glowing terms. But the truth is, 
 that were I to speak from my own knowledge, or that of others upon whose authority I might venture to rely, and 
 whose experience on this score is more important than my own, I should be rather inclined to dispute their 
 existence altogether ; at least, as obtaining at any elevation to which man, with the means he has hitherto 
 employed, has ever been capable of ascending. In this dearth of actual testimony, all that remains for us to 
 resort to is a circumstantial investigation of the nature of the proceeding itself, and upon these grounds it will be 
 seen that the conclusion to which we have just arrived receives the strongest confirmation. 
 
 In the translation to the upper regions of the atmosphere, the human body, as a natural consequence of 
 the diminished density of the medium, becomes subjected to the influence of two specific changes ; namely, the 
 remotion of pressure, and the diminished supply of oxygen gas. Now the former of these, taken abstracted!!/, I 
 conceive to be an event of a most innoxious character, and of itself, simply, incapable of producing any effect 
 upon the animal economy whatever. So far, indeed, is this the case, that I question if any result, seriously 
 prejudicial to the organisation of the individual, would accrue were he to be exposed to the action of a perfect 
 vacuum in the receiver of an air-pump, providing the operation were conducted sufficiently slowly to permit the 
 gradual escape of the included gases. This is a fact as easily demonstrated by experiments upon the inanimate as 
 the living, and the results seem to justify our conclusion to the fullest extent. Upon the lungs, certainly, no 
 effect whatever, could be produced ; the air contained therein is always at liberty to escape, nor would 
 any consequences ensue from its total abstraction, so far as the simple condition of the parts themselves was 
 concerned. 
 
M \ OXY<;KN. 
 
 \\ith regard to the diminished supply of oxygen, however, the cue may bo different ; the material in 
 question has a specific action up..u the lung-, ami in certain quantities is absolutely requisite to en Vi.l.- tin m to 
 
 mi the fiineii..n* I'nr which they art' ordained. \\ln-n. however, we consider how very small a portion (not 
 
 than the five hundred and sixtieth part) of the whole quantity contained Is consumed at each respiration,* 
 
 an<l i ii-LMid tin- facility \\l..i.\Mth the organs in question adapt thcms. -l\es to the change* to which. 
 
 occasionally to a considerable extent, they are exposed in tin- oidiiiiiry coiiisc of life, the great latitude illicit 
 
 nature has bestowed upon them in the exercise of functions so essential to the support of animation, wo shall 
 
 .\e ample grounds for the l>elief that no sensible olsti iietjon ever has or could hare been afforded to the 
 aeronaut by the impoverishment of the atmospheric medium at any altitude to which he ban ever been capable 
 of ascending. These observation* are of course only intended to be applied to persons in sound health; it is 
 well known to what an extent the perceptions in this quarter become sharpened by constitutional delicacy or 
 local disease. The circumstances under which the ascent has been effected are likewise capable of exercising 
 much influence ii]>on the physical condition of the individual, and have no doubt frequently led to the adoption 
 of an opinion favourable to the admission of the sensations in question a* natnial consequences of existence carried 
 on in ii highly attenuated atmosphere. To this cause, in fact, I have no doubt are to be attributed the symptoms, 
 slight as they are, which M. Gay Lumao describes himself as having experienced in his second excursion, when 
 he had reached an ! \.i-:- n < f twenty tlncc thousand feet; the greatest [with the exceptions already named] 
 attained l.y man. The only alterations which at this altitude ho was able to detect in the exercise of the functions 
 of life, which could in any way be imputed to the mrefaction of the surrounding medium, was a slight increase 
 (amounting altogether to not more than one-third) in the ordinary action of the heart and lungs: considering 
 what he says concerning the state of hi.- health at the time, suffering from extreme fatigue, deprived of sleep 
 during the whole of the preceding night, afflicted with a violent headache, and labouring, no doubt, as might be 
 nably expected, under much anxiety, not only on account of his own personal safety, but for the result 
 of an expedition in which so much was at stake, and from which so much had been anticipated, the only cause of 
 wonder is that the consequences should have been so slight as they were. Indeed I have little doubt that had 
 it been tried, they would have been found to have been fully as great before he quitted the ground, upon his 
 entering the car of the balloon, as at the excessive elevation whereat he was first induced to observe them. 
 
 To those who regard the difficulties experienced in the ascent of high mountains, the painful sensations and 
 distressing symptoms to which all have more or less been subjected in the attempt to gain great elevations upon 
 the surface of the earth, these observations and the conclusion to which they naturally conduce, may, no doubt, 
 appear surprising. But the situations referred to are by no means analogous: in the former, a circumstance 
 requires to be taken into account which forms no part of the phenomena of aerostatic elevation; I allude to the 
 excessive muscular action necessarily developed in the attempt ; giving rise to an inordinately increased 
 circulation, and creating an equally increased demand for oxygen gas at the very time when the natural supply. 
 fiom the minor density of the atmosphere, was constantly becoming lessened. That this is the real cause of the 
 symptoms in question, no better proof can be offered or required than the fact that all these symptoms entirely 
 disappear the instant the exertions have been discontinued by which they were occasioned. I can only assure 
 the reader that at an elevation in a balloon of many thousand feet above the summit of Mont Blanc, Mr. Green 
 has assured me that not the slightest personal sensation could be detected by him different from what he would 
 
 experienced had he been sitting quietly at home in his own study. 
 
 AS to the inferences which may have been drawn from the consideiation of experiments upon individuals 
 )>y means of an air-pump, they are not a whit more admissible as evidence of the effects of excessive atmospheric 
 elevation than the preceding. The circumstances of the two situations are essentially dissimilar; nor would 
 
 possible by any artificial means to render them otherwise. Either the diminution of pressure is merely local, 
 in which ease it is unnecessary to point out the distinction; or if it be general, then does it inevitably implicate 
 elements which do not enter into the constitution of the experiment conducted in the open air. The consumption 
 of oxygen gas and the evolution of carbonic acid, are both essential results of the exercise of the respiratory 
 
 tl:* f*| rimenU of Bf-t ' , Sir Charlm Hell, t'nnn OIII-M vi ntii th UP one-lniixln <lth Ompfttitts tlio proceed- 
 
 and otl.rr plifMuloguU, we leani that tin- aTerage quantity of ail ini-: :is-nmrr.-. lr>. \. r ''><-. iirl.ti. th IIH tlic nxtui iliminutiim j,p>- 
 
 i-. v.,;-.. i in tin- lii!i^-ifn Mill-crown man ii about two liiiinln .1 <ln<-l in tin- i|iintity actively rni|>lynl. ..I t.nu ., r. suit of 
 
 ami -i::lity culm 1 incht .-. l :I<HK-. or nne-M-vtiitli of tin- half u riiliii- inrli of nxyp n. r om-five-liumln <l-iiml-sixtii til |*rt 
 
 wlinlr, is drawn in ami . X| Hi <1 at . \. ry onliunry rt|>irati.m. Of <>f the actual contcuU of the lung! conioimed in the pruccH of 
 
 UiulutU-ramnuiit.ui'crdiiigtotliovir) cart ful anulyiH nf Sir. Davy, ' respiration. 
 
 3 n _' 
 
382 
 
 ASTEA CASTEA. 
 
 ( 'H.U'. X. 
 
 functions, which would very soon change the nature of any experiment in closed vessels, and subject the patient 
 to consequences from which he would otherwise be free. 
 
 Upon the whole review of the case, therefore, I have thought it better to avoid all mention of the results in 
 question, than by their admission upon dubious testimony render myself liable to the charge of having contributed 
 to the perpetuation of error. 
 
 NACTILI AND FLYING FISH. 
 
 ARGONAUT A GONDOLA. 
 
 Madame Power first observed and published an account of (at Messina, 1834) the 
 function of the brachial membranes in maintaining the shell of this animal in its proper 
 relation to the body. 
 
 A Report to the British Association, in 1844, says: 
 
 The fabled office of the brachial membranes, as " sails " to waft the argonaut along the surface of the ocean, 
 and that of the attenuated arms, as " oars " extending over the sides of the boat, have afforded a favourite topic 
 for poetic imagery and philosophical analogy during many ages ; and the little hypothetical navigator of Nature's 
 .ship has been the object of the disquisition of the naturalist from Aristotle to Cuvier, and of the song of the poet 
 from Callimachus to Byron. 
 
 SONG OF THE STARS. 
 
 WHEN the radiant mom of creation broke, 
 
 And the world in the smile of God awoke, 
 
 And the empty realms of darkness and death 
 
 Were moved through their depths by His mighty breath ; 
 
 And orbs of beauty, and spheres of flame, 
 
 From the void abyss by myriads came, 
 
 In tlie joy of youth, as they darted away 
 
 Through the widening wastes of space to play, 
 
 Their silver voices in chorus rung, 
 
 And this was the song the bright ones sung : 
 
 Away, away, through the wide, wide sky, 
 The fair blue fields that before us lie : 
 
 Each sun with the worlds that round us roll, 
 Each planet poised on her turning pole, 
 With her isles of green, and her clouds of white, 
 And her waters that lie like fluid light. 
 
 For the Source of Glory uncovers his face, 
 And the brightness o'erflows unbounded space ; 
 And we drink, as we go, the luminous tides 
 In our ruddy air and our blooming sides ; 
 Lo, yonder the living splendours play ! 
 Away, on your joyous path, away ! 
 
 Look, look, through our glittering ranks afar, 
 In the infinite azure, star after star, 
 
Cnu-. X. 
 
 Till! mNTKASTS. 
 
 IIi'\v thi-y brighten nnd bloom M they swiftly pa*! 
 
 inn- runs o'er each rolling maw, 
 Aii'l tin- ith !' il,. -_vntle wimU is Men, 
 
 the small waves dance, and the young wood* lean. 
 
 And nee w hen? the brighter day-beams pour, 
 
 tl>f rainbows hang in the sunny show. 
 Ami the nmni and the eve, with their |inp of hues 
 Shin ,,Yr the bright planeU and shed their dews I 
 And 'twixt them both, o'er the teeming ground, 
 With her shadowy cone, the night goes round. 
 
 Away, away ! in our blossoming bowers, 
 In the soft air wrapping these spheres of ours, 
 
 In the seas and fountains that shine with mom, 
 See, love is brooding, and life is born, 
 And breathing myriads are breaking from night, 
 To rejoice, like us, in motion and light. 
 
 i : Ii<lc on in your beauty, ye youthful spheres ! 
 To weave the danoe that measure* the years. 
 Glide on in the glory and gladness sent 
 To the farthest wall of the firmament, 
 Tho boundless visible smile of Him, 
 To the veil of whose brow our lumps are dim. 
 
 BBYAST. 
 
 THE CONTRASTS. 
 
 ( hie is frequently asked, " What are the sensations experienced in a balloon ?" In replv 
 to winch I will contrast the two voyages described by Mons. Turgan, in his excellent manual, 
 IJriirht Si.lr FirM, ami then tin- Dark.' The first is a voyage made in 1850, by M<ms. 
 At 5.20 P.M. on 22nd July, he left the Hippodrome at Paris, accompanir.l U 
 Messrs. Green ami Atkinson, anl a Spanish lady, Madame de Lancy: 
 
 .... I had thought that we should have risen with the rapidity of an arrow, and expected a strange 
 motion, and that all object* would run together into a fantastic cascade. What, then, was my surprise to find 
 that I did not move at all. The earth fled from, beneath our feet ; spectators, carriages, and houses diminished 
 in our view, yet kept their outline sharp and clear, as if viewed through a doubly-concave lens. Soon the vast 
 amphitheatre of tlio Hippodrome appeared no larger than a saucer, where microscopic objects were teeming like 
 ants ; the boulevards hardly six inches wide ; and an omnibus, one could perfectly distinguish, appeared no larger 
 than a snail, and to move as slowly. 
 
 Mr. Green threw out some ballast, and wo rose to a height of one mile and a half, but were still below tint 
 clouds. The plain stretched its immense circle round the city, which contracted in proportion to the enlargem. nt 
 of the circle; roads, railways, canals, and rivers, all the arteries of terrestrial circulation gradually extended th.-ir 
 white and black tracks. The Seine, of surpassing beauty, little by little unrolled its silver windings, each new 
 turn showing we had added several hundred feet to the height we had already attained. We saw its limit al 
 at the horizon, where it shone in the sun like a largo diamond. It was now 6 P.M., and our altitude was three 
 miles. An increased coldness could be felt; we refreshed ourselves with some Bordeaux, and passed a few 
 minutes in enjoyable conversation, without further attention to the wonders within view. 
 
 We now entered the clouds, and new scenes attracted us. The sun's rays were reflected amidst these 
 enormous masses of vapour, and caused singular mirages far exceeding the liveliest fancj-. A few minutes later, 
 and we beheld the most beautiful and thrilling spectacle that it is possible for man to contemplate; nothing mi 
 earth can be compared to the sublime magnificence of this scene; they only who have seen the snowy stimniit.s 
 of the Alps may form an infinitely small idea of it. 
 
 In-low and around us mountains of indescribable whiteness overtopped each other, and appeared emwded 
 together, like a flock of sheep at a park-gate ; then all at once the ethereal scenery changed ; lakes and enormous 
 r reflected brilliant rays; high white cliffs formed rugged banks and an horizon of mountain- 
 yellow like gold. A We extended the blue sky of a clearness that allowed the eye ;.- infinite distance, 
 
 and lieneath, through sonii- holes, something yellowish, greyish, tarnished in fact, dirty. It is the earth. The 
 earth at this time ap^-aied to us a dreadful abode a frightful sink. Tho beating of our hearts slow and eni : 
 caused more life to circulate within us. Distances, colours, appearances, and speed, were all changed ; and 
 1 felt at* if 1 had entered another world. Mr. (Ireen said he had never seen anything more beautiful, and 
 commenced afresh to empty Itallast. \\ o rose to a height of five miles, when breathing became iiurdeiisi.ine. 
 It U-ing now ('<.<'> P.M.. and the sun m-ar the horizon, it was time for us to descend. ly om- pull at the valve 
 this was effected. 
 
 We were fortunate in passing through the cloud.- to see a parhelion (a doul'h: reflection nf the kiHoon with 
 
384 ASTEA CASTRA. CHAP. X. 
 
 prismatic colours), a rare occurrence even in aerial voyages. It was then 6.50 P.M., and we were all sensible of 
 the reflected heat from the clouds. Our descent was made with such rapidity that ballast thrown out descended 
 in fine rain on our shoulders. A few minutes after, the bark of a dog reminded us of our approach to the earth ; 
 corn-fields, woods, and villages became again visible at the bottom of an immense yellow bowl, as the earth 
 appeared to us. On what should we alight? was now the question. Would it be a church-spire or poplar? 
 or should we step lightly into a clover-field or lawn ? The last was our fate ; and the descent was accomplished 
 with success in a field of newly-mown grass. Many country people had been running after us, and now in the 
 excitement of their capture became troublesome. Their amusement was extreme at hearing an unknown tongue. 
 We were rescued from these difficulties by the good monks of the College of Juilly, who insisted on our coming 
 into their establishment, where they provided us with an excellent supper, and lodged us for the night. Next 
 day it was necessary for me to enter again into ordinary life, with two new and sincere wishes one, to pass the 
 rest of my life on the vast plains above the clouds ; the other, less presumptuous but unfortunately as impossible, 
 to study rhetoric for ever in the magnificent oasis of Juilly, an imposing monument to the architectural 
 grandeur of the middle ages, where we received, on descending from the clouds, such noble and cordial 
 hospitality. 
 
 The dark side is presented in Count Zambeccari's ascent from Bologna, in 1804: 
 
 A bark of beauty on* " the moon's " blue sea, 
 
 Winning its way among the billowy clouds, 
 
 Unoared, unpiloted, moved on ; the sky 
 
 Was studded thick with stars, which glittering stream'd 
 
 An intermittent splendour thro' the heavens. 
 
 I turned my glance to earth ; the mountain winds 
 
 Were sleeping in their caves, and the wild sea, 
 
 With its innumerous billows melted down 
 
 To one unmoving mass, lay stretch'd beneath 
 
 In deep and tranced slumber, giving back 
 
 The host above, with all its dazzling sheen, 
 
 To Fancy's ken, as tho' the luminous sky 
 
 Had rained down stars upon its breast. Suddenly 
 
 The scene grew dim : those living lights rush'd out. ALARIC WATTS. 
 
 .... Then my spirit sunk! I thought my honour was lost! exhausted with fatigue! having eaten nothing 
 all day ! fever on my lips ! despair in my soul ! I rose at midnight without other hope than that my balloon, 
 which had much suffered from wear and tear, would not carry me very far. 
 
 Andreoli and Grassetti accompanied me. I intended to remain, if possible, at the same level until it was 
 light, but I soon perceived a tendency to fall. I still hoped to descend without danger near Bologna, when 
 of a sudden we rose with inconceivable rapidity, and the lamp it was intended should be seen from the earth, was 
 extinguished ; the feeble light of a lantern, however, still allowed us to look at the barometer. The insupportable 
 cold, together with no food for twenty-four hours, caused me to fall into a sleep resembling death ; Grassetti was 
 affected in the same way ; Andreoli only remained awake. 
 
 **** 
 
 We descended slowly through thick clouds, and when we were below them Andreoli heard the rolling 
 of the waves. He told me this with alarm, and soon my own ears confirmed the truth. I instantly seized a bag 
 of ballast, but before I could throw it out the car sunk in the water. During the first moment of alarm, we threw 
 from us instruments, clothes, money, and all that could lighten the machine ; still we did not rise, so we cut away 
 such portions of the car as could be spared, and finally threw our lamp into the sea. Thus lightened, we rose 
 with such extreme rapidity, that we could not hear each other's voice, even by hallooing. I felt sick, and 
 
CHAT. X. 
 
 A VISION. 
 
 880 
 
 Orametti's nose bled ; as we had been wet to the skin, we were now covered with a coating of ice. After 
 upending half an hour in the upper regions, wo descended slowly, and full again into the sea. It was then about 
 4 v \i. Tlif night was .-till dark, and the sea tempestuous, and we wore not in a situation to make many 
 observations. \\ < remained up to our waists in the water, with the waves washing over us. The balloon being 
 more than half empty, the wind used it like a nail. Wo remained in this plight during the long hours tliat 
 intervened till dawn, when wo found ourselves opposite Peaaro, about four miles from the coast. We thought we 
 .should soon arrive there, when a land wind again carried us out to sea. The few fishing-boats near made away 
 from us in alarm ; but a smack at a distance recognised our globe as a balloon, and came alongside. The sailors 
 threw us ropes, by which means we reached the deck perfectly exhausted. Our aerostat thus lightened again 
 rose in spito of all endeavours to restrain it, and was soon lost in the clouds. Wo were conveyed to Pola, where 
 we were received in the kindest manner. I was, however, obliged to have two fingers amputated that had been 
 Lit;, n. 
 
 Tliis ili-tivssing advent uiv, occurred on the 8th of October, 1804, and was caused by a 
 i;i>h promise to the eager spectators at Bologna to ascend as soon as the balloon was filled, 
 which was not accomplish.'.! till midnight. These toils and difficulties did not, however, 
 d.-i-T tin- noble Count Zunbeocari from continuing his experiments, till he lost his life in ;i 
 
 M"iito;.)lticiv, in the vt-;ir 1-Uli. 
 
 THE AIR VOYAGE. A VISION. 
 
 YE have heard of spirits that sail the air, 
 Like birds that float o'er the mountains bare, 
 Upborne with pinions of beauty on, 
 When the farewell light of day is gone, 
 And they gladly soar to the Hue away, 
 As to catch the star's young travelling ray : 
 
 Till the arch nf niiiht, 
 
 Is tremblingly bright, 
 As if meteors shot on their upward flight. 
 
 Ye have heard of spirits that sail away 
 To realms that glisten with endless day, 
 Where the clouds scarce lift their giant-forms, 
 In their far dim march to the land of storms ; 
 Where the ocean of ether heaves around, 
 And silence and dew alone are found ! 
 
 Where life is still, 
 
 By a boundless will, 
 As a sabbath around some echoless hill ! 
 
 uiit 1 \v:i borne through the measureless fields, 
 Where the silver muon and the comet wheels. 
 With a glorious thrilling of joy I went, 
 And a tide of life through my heart was sent, 
 As though a new fountain bad burst control, 
 And bade its streams o'er my pulses roll ; 
 
 And a shallop frail, 
 
 With a shadowy sail, 
 Hurried me on with a singing gale. 
 
 It went through my brain, this deep delight, 
 With a kindling sense of sound and siuht ; 
 And it seemed, as I rose, that the far blue air 
 Caught a hue of glory more richly rare 
 
 Than was ever revealed to earthly eyes, 
 The cold, cold lustre of uppermost skies 1 
 
 And still my bark went 
 
 Through the firmament, 
 As a thing to the walls of the universe sent. 
 
 When the sun rolled up from the burning sea, 
 Like a car of flame from immensity, 
 I felt his beams quiver along my frame, 
 When first o'er the clouds and stars they came ; 
 And the light dropping orbs I had slumbered among, 
 Their dim dewy eyes o'er creation hung, 
 
 As each beautiful ray 
 
 Sunk sadly away, 
 To the inner home of the high-blue day 1 
 
 Then I sailed far off to the thundering clouds, 
 That loomed on the air like spirits in shrouds, 
 My vessel, sunk on their fleecy pillow, 
 Seemed a shadowy bark on a dreamy billow ; 
 And I floated through seas of visioned things, 
 Where the waking breezes point their wings, 
 
 While far below, 
 
 'Mid the lightning's glow, 
 I heard the dull sounds of the tempest go. 
 
 Then storm-clouds crossed my glowing track, 
 
 And launched me on through the hurrying rack, 
 
 Till a new creation seemed to rise. 
 
 In beauty all over the opening skies ; 
 
 And the spirits that passed on the inys of night, 
 
 As they took their farewell feathery flight, 
 
 Poured melody out, 
 
 Like the far-off shout 
 Of music that dies on its airy route ! 
 
 G. Mn.irs. 
 
 The follow in- (from ' Good Words') is Mr. Glaisher's graphic account of his journ. y in 
 a balloon, six miles hijrh: 
 
386 ASTRA CASTBA. CHAP. X. 
 
 When it is intended to ascend five or six miles high, the balloon is but little more than one-half full ; because 
 gas expands to double its bulk at three and three-quarters miles high, and to three times its bulk at five or six 
 miles ; to fill the balloon before starting would therefore be to waste gas, and possibly annoy the occupants of the 
 car by its escape from expansion at the neck of the balloon. 
 
 The processes of expansion and contraction are constantly going on, and varies with every variation in the 
 height of the balloon. On passing from a cloudy state of the sky to a clear one, it is necessary to go through the 
 clouds, during which time the cordage and the balloon become bedewed with moisture, so increasing its load ; but 
 on breaking into bright sunshine, the expansion, from the sun shining on the balloon, causes it to rise rapidly ; two 
 agencies being at work, viz. increase of heat and loss of weight by evaporation. But in passing from bright sun- 
 shine into cloud, the gas becomes contracted by loss of heat, and the balloon every instant absorbs moisture and so 
 increases its load ; both causes combining to make the balloon descend with great rapidity. 
 
 Moreover, this continual variation in the expansion or contraction of the gas causes perpetual changes in the 
 shape and course of the balloon, and so necessitates the constant attention, skill, and judgment of the aeronaut. 
 
 In the case of the extreme high ascents, the operations were performed where no eye but mine could witness 
 them. 
 
 At the same time, a journey through the air, reaching to the height of five or six miles, is of so rare an 
 occurrence, the position so novel, the phenomena which present themselves so peculiar, that nothing short of 
 personal experience could give a correct knowledge of them, that I propose to give a descriptive account 
 of a journey through the air, blending the experiences of the several ascents I have made somewhat together. 
 
 BEFOEE LEAVING THE EAKTH. 
 
 Imagine the balloon somewhat more than half inflated, eager for flight, with only one link connecting it with 
 the earth, viz. a rope attached to an instrument called a liberating iron or catch. 
 
 When all the ballast, instruments, and everything else are placed in the car, with the grapnel attached 
 outside, so as to be readily detached, and these amount to 4000 pounds, the balloon is brought to a nice and even 
 balance, so that the addition of twenty pounds would prevent it from rising, but if removed would give it the 
 required ascending power. 
 
 When all is ready, Mr. Coxwell, with his hand upon the catch, looks^up at the sky, and is apparently staring 
 at vacancy, but he is not. If the sky be partially cloudy, he watches till he is midway between the cloud that 
 has passed and that which is coming, so that he may have a clear sky, and at least see the earth beneath, and 
 avoid, if possible, passing through a cloud, though it may be cloudy all round ; for the cloud which preceded will 
 always precede, and that which follows will always follow. Nor is that all ; he knows that in every wind, 
 how strong soever it may be, there are periods of calms, and if he can start in one of them he avoids much 
 rotatory motion ; so he awaits for an opportune moment for a fair start, to combine these two states together, 
 if possible. 
 
 THE DEPARTURE. 
 
 When the sun shines, the wind lulls, and the balloon stands proudly erect ; the favourable moment arrives ; 
 the catch is pulled, and we are free. W r e are free, but not only so, we are in profound repose ; no matter how 
 violent soever the wind may be, no matter how agitated the balloon may have been swaying to and fro, now on 
 this side, now on that, with sudden and violent action, notwithstanding all the efforts of the many individuals who 
 were struggling to hold it ; all agitation in a moment ceases, and we are in perfect stillness, without any sense of 
 motion whatever, and this continues throughout our entire flight. 
 
 Once away, we are both immediately at work ; we have but little time for graceful acknowledgments to 
 cheering friends. Mr. Coxwell proceeds to put the car in order, and accordingly looks to it, to his balloon, and to 
 the course we are taking ; and I must get my instruments in order. Without delay, therefore, at once place them 
 in their situations, adjust them, and take a reading as soon as possible. 
 
 In a few minutes we are from 1000 to 2000 feet high; Mr. Coxwell looks intently upwards, to see how 
 the huge folds of the balloon fill into the netting. If we have started from a town, its busy hum attracts 
 our attention, and a glance shows us the many upturned faces in every street, and the town itself, which 
 looks like an engineer's model in motion ; and the now fast fading cheers of our assembled friends next attract 
 our attention, and another glance shows us the quickly diminishing forms of the objects we so recently left. 
 
CUM. V A .InriJXEY SIX MILES UK. II. 887 
 
 REACHING THE CLOUDS. 
 
 On approaching tin- clouds, Mr. C'oxwcll recommend* me to take a farewell peep at the earth ; and, aa I do 
 this, tin- clouds receive us, at first in a light gauze of vapour, and then in their chilly embrace, where I examine 
 their Mructuro, note the temperature of the dew-point particularly. Shortly it becomes lighter, the light 
 gradually increasing, till it is succeeded by a flood of light, at first striking, then dazzling; and we pam 
 out of a dense cloud, to where the clouds open out in bold and fantastic shapes, showing us light and shade 
 and spectral scenes, embellished with prismatic colours, disporting themselves around us in wild grandeur, 
 till at length we break out into brilliant sunshine, and the clouds roll away into a perfect sea of vapour, 
 obscuring the earth entirely ; then in the line from the sun passing us, we see the shadow of the balloon and car 
 and ourselves upon the clouds, very large and distinct, with encircling ovate of rainbow tints ; forming altogether 
 a wonderful scene a wonderful contrast to that of their lower surface. 
 
 ABOVE THE CLOUDS. 
 
 When approaching the height of three miles, Mr. Coxwell directs my attention to the fact, that the balloon 
 i full, and the gas is issuing from the safety-valve. He then directs my attention to the fit and proportions of the 
 netting. I find the gas, which was before cloudy and opaque, is clear and transparent, so that I can look right u]> 
 the balloon, and see the meshes of the network showing through it ; the upper valve, with its springs and line, 
 reaching to the car, and the geometrical form of the balloon itself. Nor is this an idle examination. 
 
 I have already said, that in passing through the cloud the netting would gather moisture, augmenting the 
 weight of the balloon ; if this should not all have evaporated, the network would have become frozen, and be an 
 wire-rope ; so that, if the diamond shape of the netting when under tension, and the form of the crown of the 
 balloon be not symmetrical, the weight might not be equally distributed, and there would be danger of it cutting 
 the balloon. A sense of security, therefore, follows such an examination. 
 
 THREE MILES HIGH. 
 
 A stream of gas now continually issues from the neck, which is very capacious, being fully two square feet 
 in area, which is always left open ; and after a time I see Mr. Coxwell, whoso eye has been continually watching 
 the balloon, pass his fingers over the valve-line, as if in readiness to pull the cord. I look inquiringly ;it 
 him. He says, I have decided to open the large upper valve, and carefully explains why. " The tension," he 
 says, "on the balloon is not greater than it would bear in a warm stratum of air with safety; but now that 
 we are three miles up with a chilled balloon, it is better to allow some to escape at the top, as well as a good deal 
 
 from the bottom." 
 
 FOUR MILES HIGH. 
 
 We are now far beyond the reach of all ordinary sounds from the earth. A sea of clouds is below us, HO 
 dense that it is difficult to persuade ourselves that we have passed through them. Up to this time, little or no 
 inconvenience is met with ; but on passing above four miles, much personal discomfort is experienced : respiration 
 becomes difficult ; the beating of the heart at times is audible ; the hands and lips become blue, and at higher 
 elevations the face also ; and it requires the exercise of a strong will to make and record observations. 
 
 FIVK MILES HIGH. 
 
 Before getting to our highest point, Mr. Coxwell counts the number of his sand-bags, and calculates how 
 much higher we can go, with respect to the reserve of ballast necessary to regulate the descent 
 
 Then I feel a vibration in the car, and, on turning round, see Mr. Coxwell in the act of lowering down the 
 grapnel ; then looking up at the balloon ; then scanning the horizon, and weighing apparently in his mind some 
 distant clouds, through which we arc likely to pass in going down. 
 
 A glance suffices to show that his mind is made up how much higher it is prudent to rise, and how much 
 ballast it is expedient to preserve. 
 
 Six MILES HIGH. 
 
 The balloon is now lingering, as it were, under the deep blue vault of space, hesitating whether to 
 mount higher, or begin its descent without further warning. We now hold consultation, and then look 
 around, giving silent scope to those emotions of the soul which are naturally called forth by such a wide-spread 
 range of creation. 
 
 :; i. 
 
388 ASTRA CASTRA. CHAP. X. 
 
 Our course is now about to change, but here I interpose with " No, no ; stop ! not yet ; let us remain so 
 long, that the instruments are certain to take up their true readings, so that no doubt can rest upon the observa- 
 tions here. When I am satisfied, 1 will say, Pull." 
 
 THE HIGHEST POINT. 
 
 Then, in silence, for here we respire with difficulty, and talk but little ; in the centre of this immense space ; 
 in solitude, without a single object to interrupt the view for 200 miles or more all round ; abstracted from the 
 earth ; upheld by an invisible medium ; our mouths so dry we cannot eat ; a white sea below us ; so far below, 
 we see few, if any, irregularities. I watch the instruments, but forcibly impelled again, look round from 
 the centre of this immense vacuity, whose bounding line is 1500 miles, including an area of 130,000 
 square miles. 
 
 BEGINNING OF THE DESCENT. 
 
 When I find no further changes are proceeding, I wave my hand and say, " Pull." A deep resonant sound 
 is heard overhead ; a second pull is followed by a second report that rings as with shrill accompaniment down the 
 very sides of the balloon. It is the working of the valve which causes a loud booming noise, as from a sounding- 
 board, as the springs force the shutters back. 
 
 But this sound in that solitary region, amid a silence so profound that no silence on earth is equal to it ; a 
 drum-like sound meeting the ear from above, from whence we usually do not hear sounds, strikes one forcibly. It 
 is, however, one sound only ; there is no reverberation, no reflection ; and this is characteristic of all sounds in the 
 balloon, one clear sound, continuing during its own vibrations, then gone in a moment. No sound ever reaches the 
 ear a second time. But though the sound from the closing of the valve in those silent regions is striking, it is 
 also cheering, it is reassuring, it proves all to be right; that the balloon is sound, and that the colder regions have 
 not frozen tight the outlet for gas. 
 
 ONE OR Two MILES DOWN. 
 
 We have descended a mile or more, and our feelings improve with the increase of air and warmth. But 
 silence reigns supreme. Mr. Coxwell turns his back upon me, scanning the distant cloudscape, speculating as to 
 when and where we shall break through, and catch sight of the earth. 
 
 APPROACHING THE CLOUDS FROM ABOVE. 
 
 On nearing the clouds we observe the counterpart of our own balloon reflected upon them, at first small in 
 size, momentarily increasing. This spectral balloon is charming to look upon, and presents itself under a variety 
 of aspects, which are magnified or diminished by the relative distance of our balloon from the clouds, and by its 
 position in relation to the sun, which produces the shadow. At midday it is deep down, almost underneath ; but 
 it is more grandly defined towards evening, when the golden and ruby tints of the declining sun impart a gorgeous 
 colouring to cloudland. You may then see the spectre balloon magnified upon the distant cloud-tops, surrounded 
 with three beautiful circles of rainbow tints. Language fails utterly to describe these illuminated photographs, 
 which spring up with matchless truthfulness and choice decoration. 
 
 DIPPING INTO THE CLOUDS. 
 
 Just before we enter the clouds, Mr. Coxwell having made all preparations for the descent, strictly enjoins 
 me to be ready to put up the instruments, lest, when we lose the powerful rays of the sun, and absorb the moisture 
 of the lower cloiids, we should approach the earth with too great rapidity. 
 
 We now near the confines of the clouds, see the spectral balloon approaching us, nearly as large as our own, 
 and just then dip swiftly into the thickest of them. W r e experience a decided chill, and hear the rustling of 
 the collapsing balloon, which is now but one-third full ; but cannot see it, so dense is the mass of vapour ; one, 
 two, three, four, or more minutes pass, and we are still in the cloud : how thick it must be, considering the 
 
 rapidity of the descent ! 
 
 BELOW THE CLOUDS. 
 
 Presently we pass below, and the earth is visible. There is a high road intersecting green pastures ; a piece 
 of water like polished steel. An open country lies before us ; a shout comes up and announces that we are seen, 
 and all goes well, save the rapidity of the descent, caused by the thick clouds through which we have just passed, 
 shutting us out from the sun's rays, and loading us with moisture. Mr. Coxwell counteracts this by means of the 
 
CHAT. X. 
 
 SAND i:\onill. AND TO Sl'AKi: 
 
 
 ballast, ami streams out one bag. which appears to tly up instead of falling down; now another, ami another In- 
 cuts foith. l>ut Mill it goes up, till the wayward balloon i reduced witliin tin Unnid* of moderation. Mr. I'oxwcll 
 vultiiiijly exclaim*. / -,. it IK >u> under perfect contrd, with land enou-jh, ami to spare." 
 
 \ tn liml the balloon checked, with the proHpect of an easy descent, I read the several instruments a* 
 quickly MS I can, n.'ti.-inj; at tin- name time the landscape below, charming in its constant variation, rich with its 
 iiiiiiiinls < if green foliap-. fii-liU '!' various shades of green, intersected by roads, rivers, rivulets, <tc. ; and nil tin* is 
 secn with a distinctness superior to that on the earth; the line of sight is tlnoiigh n purer and less dense 
 
 ilium, everything seems clearer, though smaller. At the height of four miles over Birmingham, both Mr. 
 
 i'\"ill and myself distinguished readily tin- New Street station, and the several streets in the town, with tin- 
 naked eye. After descending slowly for a littk- tinn-, Mr. Cn\well selects a spot for our descent, distant then 
 two or three miles. The current near the earth, which is often stronger than the upper, wafts us merrily in that 
 direction. 
 
 \ M:IV; mi. KM: ni. 
 
 We are but a fi-w hiindn-d feet from the earth, when Mr. C'oxwoll requests me to put up the instruments, and 
 In- will keep on that level till I am ready. He throws out a little more sand, and I pack up the instruments in 
 tln-ir wadded cases. Mr. Coxwell's eye is on the balloon the course it is taking with respect to the inclination 
 of iU descent on the spot where he has chosen to land. Shortly he calls out, " Are you all right?" " All right," 
 I respond. " Look out, then, and hold fast by the ropes ; the grapnel will stop us in the large meadow, with the 
 hedge-row in fn>nt. 
 
 AT ANCHOR. 
 
 Sure enough the grapnel catches in the hedge, and once again we are connected with the earth by one link. 
 The valve-line is drawn, and a little gas is allowed to escape. The sheep, which have been watching the descending 
 balloon, huddle together and run away; and the cattle, becoming very frightened, place their tails horizontal, and 
 wildly scamper off in all directions. 
 
 Os THE EARTH. 
 
 \ il lagers break through the hedges on all sides, and we are soon surrounded by au agricultural crowd, some 
 of whom take hold of the rope attached to the grapnel, and, as directed, pull us down, or hold it whilst we float to 
 the centre of a field. The valve is again opened, gas is allowed to escape by degrees, nothing is allowed to be 
 touched till the reduced buoyancy of the balloon permits the removal of the instruments. The car is gradually 
 lightened, till finally we step out, when a group of friends from among the gentry draw up near us ; and although 
 some few may question whether we belong to this planet, or are just imported from another, all doubt on tin- 
 subject is soon set at rest, and we arc greeted with a hearty welcome from all when we tell our story, how that 
 we have travelled the realms of space, not for the purposes of pleasure, not from motives of curiosity, but for the 
 advancement of science and the good of mankind. 
 
 WIT. h DlCKS AND TUKTOISK. 
 
 I am eaglet born, and can drink in 
 
 The sunlight whi-n tin- blinkiiii; owls go darkling, 
 Dazzled and blinded by tin- day. 
 
 MlTFOBD. 
 
CHAPTER XL 
 
 CARICATURE, AND THE RIDICULE THIS SCIENCE HAS UNDERGONE. 
 
 " Aristophanes only gives expression to public hatred and to public scorn, in ridiculing and misrepresenting the physical 
 inquirers of his day, men said to occupy themselves in 
 
 ' Walking on air, and contemplating the sun.' " 
 
 LEWIS, Life of Aristotle. 
 
 WHEN A MAN LAUGHS HE IS NOT VERY MEEEY, BUT VEEY PROUD, HOBBES CYRANO DE BERGERAC "MAKING USE OF 
 
 THE MORNING MIST " THE BEAUTIES OF THE LUNAR COUNTRY A SOLAR BEING A LUNAR ARREST RETURNS TO 
 
 ITALY DEAN SWIFT PEGASUS IN HARNESS, SCHILLER A FLYING VISIT, ALBERT SMITH PLEASURE TRIPS FOR 
 
 THE PEOPLE, ALBERT SMITH "CROTCHETS IN THE AIR 1 ' "THE PLANET-EARTH*' BALLOONICISMS NO RUFFLING 
 
 OF BUTTERFLIES' WINGS TO PUT YOUR FANCIES TO FLIGHT " TWELVE TIMES THE HEIGHT OF ST. PAUL'S"- THE EARTH 
 
 " WENT DOWN " PORSON'S SKULL A FRIEND'S CHAMBERS ON THE SECOND FLOOR " HALFWAY DOWN " DOES 
 
 BOSWELL SAY JOHNSON WAS EVER IN A BALLOON THE PENNY DICTATOR THE " SCIENCE " OF BALLOONING 
 
 A HIGHLANDER'S KNOWLEDGE OF KNEE-BUCKLES RAISING THE WIND "BABBAGE'S MACHINE" WATERLOO BRIDGE 
 
 00,000 THE STATUE OF GEORGE III. NATURAL, MORAL, AND POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY = IFS "JULIUS C.ESAR AND 
 
 THE TOWER OF LONDON" "GLORIOUS VICTORY*' THE JEWEL OFFICE HALL OF THE GOLDSMITHS' COMPANY 
 
 NATIONAL GALLERY AND NEWGATE DIG, DIG, DIG QUARTZ AND SILICA 0,000,000 "BUT LONDON SHOWED 
 
 ANOTHER SIGHT "- DRAWN IN LINES OF FIRE A HINT FOR SOMEBODY CAMPS AND CABINETS* DIVISIONS THE EAGLE 
 
 AND CHILD FLAT AS A I'ANCAKE A REVERIE HISTRIONOMETER ONE DEGREE ABOVE THE MEDIOCRITY POINT THE 
 
 PUFFSTER THE PUBLIC IS THE MAINSTAY EDGAR POE ROTTERDAM HANS PFAALL THE BURGOMASTER 
 
 THE ASTRONOMICAL COLLEGE " THE MOON'S ACTUAL DISTANCE FROM THE EARTH " TO BE REACHED IN 161 DAYS, AT THE 
 
 RATE OF SIXTY MILES AN HOUR LIFE SUSTAINED IN A VACUUM THE CAT EYES THE PIGEONS WITH AN AIR OF 
 
 NONCHALANCE "SHOULD THE KITTENS SUFFER IN AN EQUAL DEGREE AS THEIR MOTHER ?"" THE SHORES OF THE 
 
 ATLANTIC OCEAN" "PUSS MAKES A HEARTY MEAL" 132,000 FEET, OR TWENTY-FIVE MILES ABOVE THE SEA> THE 
 
 ICE OF THE NORTH POLE "ASCEND IN A STRAIGHT LINE FROM THE POLE" 7254 MILES ABOVE DIMINUTION OF 
 
 THE EARTH'S APPARENT DIAMEPER " THE EXACT PLANE OF THE LUNAR ELLIPSE " THE " BOULEVERSEMENT " " NO 
 
 TIME TO BE LOST IN LIGHTENING THE MACHINE " " THE EARTH APPEARS LIKE A COl'PER SHIELD, BKLTED WITH TROPICAL 
 
 AND EQUATORIAL ZONES " " THE DUTCH PROFESSOR DROPS HIS PIPE." 
 
 " ALL men (says Dunlop) have, more or less, a propensity to satire and ridicule. This 
 tendency has its origin in self-love, which naturally leads us to indulge in a belief of our own 
 superiority over the rest of our species. It is in satire and ridicule that this feeling receives 
 its most frequent gratification ; and, spite of the objections of Beattie, nothing can, in many 
 instances, be more just than the reflection of Addison on the well-known theory of Hobbes, 
 that when a man laughs he is not very merry, but very proud." 
 
 Could a better laughingstock be found than aerostation, in which the failures are so 
 obvious ? One of the first instances we meet with is a masterpiece of ridicule by Cyrano de 
 Sergerac, who was born in Perigord in 1620, of whose amusing works, entitled ' Histoire 
 Comiqm des Estats et Empire de la Lune;' also ' Les Estats et Empire du Soleil,' Dunlop, 
 in his ' History of Fiction] gives this concise abstract: 
 
 I shall give some account of the first and best of these works, as it is, with much probability, supposed to 
 have influenced Swift in his adoption of the same method of writing, and has acquired a high reputation among 
 the compositions of this description. 
 
THAI-. XI. CY1!\M> IT. BKBGEBAC :HI 
 
 Both tho works of Cyrano were posthumous, and are in some parts mutilated. The first of them, ' De la 
 I .HIM',' \\-ius published by a Mons. de Bret, who tells us, in his preface, that tho father of Cyrano, " estoit nn l-nn 
 \i. nx (Jcntilliiiimiii- a.v-i-/. indifferent pour 1'eduoation de sos enfants." Ho also informs us, that the young m in 
 i -nti-ivd into the army, and became the most famous duellist of his age, having fought more than a hundred 
 tiiu.->. without one of his rencounters having been in his own quarrel. Ho was wounded at the siege of Arm* 
 in I'll", and in consequence of wounds, early dissipation, fatigue, and chagrin, died in the thirty-fifth year of 
 hi> age. 
 
 The notion of writing an account of an imaginary excursion to the moon, seems partly to have been suggested 
 \>\ tin- . in-umstance of the lunar world having become an object of curiosity among the philosophers of tho day. 
 In contradiction to the old opinion of the peripatetics, that the moon could not be a habitable world, on account 
 of its unchangeable nature, Gilbert (' Philosoph. Magnet,' c. IS and 14), Henry Leroy and Francisco 1'atri/io 
 
 \l'! i;ind at great length tho appearances on which they founded an opposite system, while Heveliux, in 
 his ' Selenographia,' and Gassendi, indulged in some serio-comic speculations with regard to lunar rivers and 
 mountains. 
 
 ll< nee Cyrano conceived the intention of representing, in a humorous point of view, those chimeras which 
 some of his contemporaries had too gravely treated. To this he joined the plan of ridiculing the pedantry, the 
 scholastic disputations of tho age, and that deference to authority which was so long the bane of science. The 
 u of conveying this satire in tin- form of an imaginary excursion to the moon, was probably suggested by tin- 
 Spanish work uf iViiuinico Conzules, of which a French translation was subsequently published, under title of 
 
 I.' 1 1' -in in.- dans la Lune, on le Voyage Chimeriqiie fait au Monde de la Lune, nouvcllement decouvert par 
 Dominique Gonzales, Aventurier Espagnol, aiitremcnt dit le Courier Volant.' Bayle is mistaken in supposing that 
 Bergerac was in any degree indebted to the ' Voyage to Australasia,' published under the fictitious name of Jacques 
 Sadeur. That production is no doubt a ' Voyage Imaginaire," but the two works have little resemblance, 
 and Bergerac was dead more than twenty years before the voyage of Sadeur was written by the infamous Gabriel 
 de Foigni. 
 
 Bergerac begins the relation of his voyage to the moon by an account of a conversation which led him to 
 in. -dilate on that luminary. His contemplations ended in planning some method to go thither; and, accordingly, 
 having filled some phials with dew, he fixed them round his person, so that the heat of the sun, by attracting th" 
 
 li'w, r.ii.-ed him from earth. Ho lighted in Canada, and gives us some astronomical conversations he there In-ld 
 with the governor. It would be needless to relate the method which he afterwards adopted to journey to the im n. 
 in a species of elastic machine (of which the construction is not very clearly described), or to detail the circum- 
 stances which at length rendered his flight successful. The fiction contrived by Bergerac to account for his flight. 
 
 '"' t fc ' ; 
 
 Tin; MouMXii ln.\\. 
 
392 ASTRA CASTEA. CHAP. XL 
 
 is much less happy than that of Dominico Gonzales, who feigns that he had been drawn to the moon by ganzars 
 birds of passage which winter in that luminary. 
 
 After a long ascent, Cyrano finds himself between two moons, of which our earth was the largest, and at 
 length he reaches the sphere of activity at the moon, towards which his feet then turn. This does not happen till 
 he is considerably nearer the moon than the earth, and it is curious that he uses reasoning on the occasion not 
 unlike what would be now employed by a Newtonian. " Car, disois-Je en moy-mesme, cette Masse (la lune) estant 
 moindro que la nostre, il faut que la sphere de son activite ait aussi moins d'estendiie, et que par consequent J'aye 
 senty plus tard la force de son centre." 
 
 At the entrance into the moon, a hiatus occurs in the work, of which there are several instances in the course 
 of it, some of which, perhaps, were owing to the author himself, where a difficulty occurred not easily to be 
 surmounted, and others probably to the editor, when a passage presented itself which was too free or indelicate. 
 The beauties of the lunar country are painted with considerable felicity, though the description is not free from the 
 affectation which was common among French authors in the days of Bergerac. " La le Printemps compose toutes 
 les saisons; la les ruisseaux par un agreable murmure racontent leurs voyages aux cailloux; la mille petits gosiers 
 emplumez font retentir la forest au bruit de leurs melodieuses chansons ; et la tremoussante assemblee de ces divins 
 rnusiciens est si generale, qu'il seinble que chaque feuille dans les bois ait pris la langue et la figure d'un Eossignol 
 on ne scait si les flours agitees par un doux Zephire courent plutost apres elles-mesmes, qu'clles ne fuyent pour 
 eschapper aux caresses de ce vent folatre." 
 
 After walking half a league in a forest of jessamine and myrtle, Bergerac espies a beautiful and majestic 
 youth reposing in the shade. With this personage, who had once been an inhabitant of our world, he enters into 
 a conversation, of which we have only fragments. He is soon afterwards less fortunate, in meeting with the 
 aborigines of the country, who are described as huge naked men, twelve cubits high, walking on all fours. By 
 these he is considered as a little monster, and he is consigned to a mountebank, to be exhibited, like Gulliver, as 
 a show " Ce Basteleur me porta a son logis, ou il m'instruisit a faire le Godenot, a passer les culbutes, a figurer 
 des grimaces : et les apres dinees il faisoit prendre a la porte uu certain prix de ceux qui me vouloient voir. Mais 
 le ciel flechy de mes douleurs, et fasche de voir prophaner le Temple de son maitre, voulut qu'un jour comme 
 J'estois attache au bout d'une corde, avec laquelle le Charlatan me faisoit sauter pour divertir le monde, J'entendis 
 la voix d'un homme qui me demanda en Gree qui J'estois. Je fus bien estonne d'entendre parler en ce pais-la 
 comme en notre monde. II m'interrogea quelque temps ; Je luy repondis, et luy contay en suite generalement toute 
 1'entreprise et le succes de mon voyage : il me consola, et Je me souviens qu'il me dit : He bien, mon fils, vous 
 portez enfin la peine des foiblesses de vostre monde. II y a du vulgaire icy comme la qui ne peut souffrir la pensee 
 des choses ou il n'est point accoustume. Mais scachez qu'on ne vous traitte qu'a la pareille ; et que si quelqu'un 
 de cette terre avoit monte dans la vostre, avec la hardiesse de se dire homme, vos sgavans le feroient estoufFer 
 comme un monstre. II me promit en suite qu'il advertiroit la Cour de mon desastre." 
 
 This friendly personage alike disclaimed a terrestrial and lunar origin ; he informs Bergerac that originally 
 he had been a native of the sun, which, being overstocked with inhabitants, occasionally sent out colonies to the 
 neighbouring planets. He had, it seems, been commissioned to our earth, and in his youth had been known in 
 Greece as the demon of Socrates. In Rome he had addicted himself to Brutus, but had at length preferred a lunar 
 to a terrestrial residence, for which he assigns various reasons : " C'est que les hommes y sont amateurs de la 
 verite, qu'on n'y voit point de Pedans, que les Philosophes ne se laissent persuader qu'a la raison, et que 1'autho- 
 rite d'un savant, ny le plus grand nombre, ne Femportent point sur 1'opinion d'un bateur en grange, quand il 
 raisonne aussi fortement. Bref en ce pais on ne conte pour insensez que les Sophistes et les Orateurs. Je luy 
 demanday combien de temps ils vivoient ; il me repondit trois ou quatre mille ans." 
 
 With this solar being, Bergerac enters into philosophical conversation, and several very sublime discussions 
 ensue, which are fortunately interrupted by his friend the exhibitor. " II en estoit la de son discours, quand mon 
 Basteleur s'appei^eut que la chambree commen<;oit a s'ennuyer de mon jargon qu'ils n'entendoient point, et qu'ils 
 prenoient pour un grognement non articule : il se remit de plus belle a tirer ma corde pour me faire sauter jusques 
 a ce que les spectateurs etant saouls de rire et d'asseurer quo J'avois presque autant d'esprit que les bestes de leur 
 pais, ils se retirorent chacun chez soy." 
 
 The chief inconvenience felt by Cyrano, during the first period of his lunar residence, was the want of 
 provisions, for the inhabitants of the moon live by the odour of savoury viands ; a mode of subsistence also attri- 
 buted to them in the ' True History of Lucian,' which evinces our author's imitation of the works of the Grecian 
 
our. \i. CYI;\M> i>i:ci,Ai;i:i> TO BK A IHHD. 
 
 satirist. Cyrano, however, at last succeeds in making them understand, thnt some ing more substantial than the 
 more steam or exhalations of feasts was necessary for his subsistence. 
 
 At length ( 'vrano was conducted to court by tin- friendly demon, when-, after much reasoning, it wan n- 
 i-l'iil.-'l that lie was the female of the queen's little animal, who, in consequence was ordered to be btnteetd to 
 him. Accordingly, in the midst of a procession of monkeys in full dress, a little man arrived. " II m'aborda," 
 says Bergerao, "par un Criado d voutttra merced ; Jo luy riposte sa reverence & peu prcs en mcsme-, t, MUCH." This 
 gentleman was iMuini.-,, Gonzales, the Castilian, who had travelled iliiili.-r with the Ganzars; and this circum 
 stance, by the way, is a proof that the work of Gonzales was the prototype of that of Cyrano, as his was evidently 
 
 illi\!-r's Voyage to Brobdignng.' I hnninico had immediately on his arrival been classed in the category <>f 
 m.'iik. \-, as he happened to bo clothed in the Spanish mode, which the inhabitant* of tin- moon had fixed on t'i 
 tic- t'.i.-hionahlo attire of their monkeys, as the most ridiculous, which, after long meditation, they had found it 
 possible to devise. Cyrano being considered by the lunar sages as the female of the same class of monkeys of 
 which |i..ininico was the male, they were confined together, and have long and pretty tiresome discourses 
 concerning elementary |.rin.-i|.i.-., the possibility of a vacuum, and other investigations, which wore fashionable 
 discussion among philosophical inquirers in the days of Bergerac. " Voila," says he, " les chosen a peu 
 pros dont nous amusions le temps: car ce petit K-jiagnol avoit 1'esprit joly. Nostro entretien toute fois n'estoit 
 t{Ue la unit, a cause quo d.-|nii- six homes du iiiutin jusques an soir, la grando foulo du monde qui nous venoit 
 
 :.j-ler a ii".-tro logis nous euat destourne' ; Car quolquos-uns nous jettoient dos pierres, d'autres des noix, 
 d'autros de 1'herbo : Jl n'estoit bruit quo des bestee du Roy, on nous servoit tons les jours a manger a nos heurew, 
 et le IJ.iy et la reine prenoient eux-mesmes assez souvcnt la peine de me taster le ventro pour connoistre si .le 
 n'einplissois point, car ils bruloient d'une envie extraordinaire d'avoir de la race de ces petits animaux. Je ne 
 seals si ce fut jmur avoir cste plus attentif quo rnon maslc a leurs simagroe* et a lours tons, mais .I'appris pi us tout 
 quo luy a entendre Icur langue, ot a I'escorehcr un peu." 
 
 The circumstance of Cyrano acquiring some knowledge of the language of the country, instead of being 
 favourable to him, exposed him to inconvenience and persecution, as some free-thinkers began to allege that he was 
 endued with ie.i>. .n. This was most furiously opposed by the more orthodox and accredited sages, who maintained 
 that it was not only foolish, but a most horrid impiety, to suppose that a creature which did not walk on all-fours, 
 could IK- possessed of any species of mental intelligence. " Nous autres," argued they, "marchons a quatre pieds, 
 paroe que Dieu ne se voulut pas fier d'une chose si precieuso a uno nioin ferme awsiette, et il cut peur qu'allant 
 
 :i. m il n'arrivast malheur a I'hoiniuo, c'est pourqttoy il prit la peine de 1'asseoir sur quatre piliers, afin '|n'il 
 no put toraber: mais dedaignant de se mesler de la construction de ces deux brutes, il les abandon n.. 
 au caprice do la Nature, laquello no craignant pas la perte de si peu de chose, ne les appuya que sur deux 
 pattes." 
 
 But the principal argument against the rationality of Cyrano and his male, and on which the lunar sages 
 particularly piqued themselves, was, that these animals possessed the Os Sublime, which the sages of our earth, in 
 their discussions against quadrupeds, rightly consider as a pledge of immortality: " Voyez un peu outre cela," 
 continued the lunar philosophers, "comment ils (Cyrano and the Spaniard) ont la teste tourneo devers le < iel 
 C'est la discttc ou Dieu les a mis de toutes choses, qui 1'a scitue de la sorte, car cetto posture siipliante te'moigne 
 qu'ils se plaignent au ciel de celuy qui les a creez, et qu'ils luy deraandent permission de s'accommoder de nos 
 restes. Mais nous autres nous avons la teste panchee en has pour contempler les biens dont nous sommes seigneurs, 
 et cumrae n'y ayant rien au ciel a qui notre heureuse condition puisse porter envie." 
 
 The result of the philosophical conferences concerning Cyrano was, that he must be a bird a discovery on 
 which the sages greatly plumed themselves ; he was accordingly enclosed in a cage, and entrusted to the queen's 
 fowler, who employed himself in teaching his charge as we do linnets. Under this person's auspices, the progress 
 of Cyrano was such that the disputes concerning hid rationality were renewed, and the consequence wax, that 
 those sages who defended the orthodox sido of the question, having considerably the worse of the argument, were 
 obliged "de faire publier un Arrest par lequel on defendoit de croire que J'eusse de hi raison, avec un corn- 
 mandement trcs-cxpn'-s .'i toutes personnes de quelque quality qu'elles fussent, de s'imaginer, quoy que Je pmwe 
 fairo de spirituel, que c'otoit 1' instinct i|iii me le faisoit faire." 
 
 To those who are acquainted with the history of philosophy, and the state of opinions in the days of Bergerac, 
 there will appear considerable merit in the satire which has just been exhibited. The supporters of the systems of 
 Aristotle hod at one time t ridiculous as it may seem) procured ni: Paris, to prevent his doctrines 
 
394 ASTRA CASTEA. CHAP. XI. 
 
 contested ; and some of his admirers, enraged at the shock which Descartes, Gassendi, and other philosophers in 
 France at this time gave to his opinions, were desirous of resorting to a similar expedient. 
 
 In spite, however, of the Lunar Arrct. the controversy grew so warm, that, as a last resource, Cyrano was 
 ordered to appear before an assembly of the states, in order to judge of his rational powers. The examiners 
 interrogated him on some points of philosophy, and refuted the opinions which he expressed in his answers, " de 
 sorte que n'y pouvant repondre, J'alleguay pour dernier refuge les principes d'Aristote, qui ne me servirent pas 
 davantage que les Sophismes, car en deux mots ils ra' en decouvrirent la faussete\ Cet Aristote, me dirent ils, dont 
 vous vantez si fort la science, acconimodoit sans doute les principes a sa Philosophic, au lieu d'accommoder sa 
 Philosophic aux principes. Enfin comme ils virent que Je ne leur clabaudois autre chose, sinon qu'ils n'estoient 
 pas plus S9avans qu' Aristote, et qu'on m'avoit defendu de disputer contre ceux qui nioient les principes; ils con- 
 clurent tous d'une commune voix, que Je n'estois pas un homme, mais possible quelque espece d'Austruche, si 
 bien qu'on ordonna a 1'Oyseleur de me reporter en cage. J'y passois mon temps avec assez de plaisir, car a cause 
 de leur langue que Je possedois correctement, tout la cour se divertissoit a rne faire jaser. Les Filles de la Keine 
 entr'autres fouroient toujours quelque bribe dans mon panier ; et la plus gentille de toutes ayant conceu quelque 
 amiti6 pour moy, elle estoit si transported de joye, lorsqu'estant en secret, Je 1'entretenois des moeurs et des 
 divertissemens des gens de nostre Monde, et principalement de nos cloches, et de nos autres instruments de 
 musique, qu'elle me protestoit les larmes aux yeux que si jamais Je me trouvois en estat de revoler en nostre 
 Monde, elle me suivroit de bon coeur." 
 
 This lady continues to manifest much attachment to Cyrano, and her affection reminds us of the love of the 
 fair Glumdalclitch for Gulliver in Brobdignag. 
 
 At length his friend, the demon of Socrates, pi'ocures the deliverance of Cyrano, who now narrowly escapes 
 being condemned to death for impiety, in maintaining that our earth was not merely a moon, but an inhabited 
 world. This had been oppugned with so much zeal, and so many good arguments by the sages, that Cyrano, in 
 revenge, asserted that he had come to opine that their earth was not an earth but a moon. " Mais, me dirent-ils 
 tous, vous y voyez de la terre, des rivieres, des mers, que seroit-ce done tout cela? Vimporte, repartis Je, 
 Aristote asseure que ce n'est que la Lune ; et si vous aviez dit le contraire dans les classes ou J'ay fait mes 
 estudes, on vous auroit sifle. 11 se fit sur cela un grand eclat de lire, il ne faut pas demander si ce fut de leur 
 ignorance : Mais cependant on me conduisit dans ma cage." In fine, previous to his deliverance from this second 
 confinement, Cyrano was obliged to make an Amende, and to proclaim publicly in the principal parts of the city, 
 " Peuple, Je vous declare que cette Lune-cy n'est pas une Lune, mais un Monde, et que ce Monde de la bas n'est 
 pas un Monde, mais une Lune. Tel est ce que le Conseil trouve bon que vous croyez." 
 
 After the deliverance of Bergerac, we are presented with a number of philosophical disquisitions which he 
 held with the demon and his friends. Among other topics, the arrival of a person of quality, decked out in 
 a particular manner, gives rise to a discussion, which has been seized upon by Sterne : " Cette coustume me 
 seinble bien extraordinaire, repartis-Je, car en nostre monde la marque de noblesse est de porter une Espee. Mais 
 1'IIoste sans s'emouvoir : mon petit homme, s'ecria-t'il, quoy les grands de vostre monde sont si enragez de fair 
 parade d'un instrument qui designe un boureau, et qui n'est forge que pour nous detruire, enfin 1'ennemy jure de 
 tout ce qui vit ; et de cacher au contraire ce sans qui nous serions au rang de ce qui n'est pas, le Promethee 
 de chaque animal, et le raparateur infatigable des foiblesses de la nature. Malheureuse contree, ou les marques de 
 generation sont ignominieuses, et ou celles d'aneantissement sont honorables." " 
 
 At length Cyrano, after performing a tour of the moon, is conducted from that luminary to earth, in the arms 
 of the demon, who places him on the acclivity of a hill, and disappears. Some Italian peasants, whom he meets, 
 cross themselves in great terror, but at length conduct him to a village. Here he is assailed by a prodigious 
 barking of dogs, who, smelling the odour of the moon, against which they were accustomed to bark, keep up an 
 incessant clamour. By walking a few days on a terrace in the sun, in order to purify himself of the smell, Cyrano 
 forms a truce with his canine foes, visits Eome, and at length arrives at Marseilles. 
 
 Such is the abstract of the ' Histoire Comique des Estats et Empire de la Lune,' a work which, like all those 
 of which the satire is in any degree temporary, has lost a good deal of its first relish. It is, however, still worthy 
 
 * Tina is probably intended as a satire on a passage in Cliarron's 
 work ' Sur la Sagesse ' : " Helas ! on choisit les tenebres, on se cache, 
 on ne se livrc qu'a la derobe'e au plaisir de produire son seinblable ; 
 
 remplissant 1'air de fanfares ! II n'est pas honnete de s'entretenir de 
 certaines choses .tandis qu'on parle avec orgueil d'un sabre et d'une 
 pique ; et ce qui sert a tucr 1'homme est une marque de noblesse oil 
 
 au lieu qu'on le detruit en plein jour, en sonnant la trompette, en dore, on curicliit une epe'e, on s'en pare." 
 
CHAP. XI. 
 
 n:<;.\srs IN IIAKNKSS. 
 
 
 of perusal, especially by ilio.se who are acquainted with the philosophical history of the period in which it wan 
 
 composed : and th<> interest which it excites must, to an English reader, he increased by its having served in inan\ 
 
 ia a prototype to the moat popular production of a writer BO celebrated as Swift Nor has it only directed 
 
 tin- ].l.m of the Dean of St. Patrick's work; since even in the summary of the Lunar Voyage that has been 
 
 !!!, many points of resemblance will at once be discerned to the journey to Brobdignag. Gulliver is beset, 
 at liis first landing on that strange country, by a number of the inhabitants, who are of similar dimensions with 
 the people of the moon, and who are astonished at his diminutive stature he is exhibited as a sight at one of the 
 principal towns he amuses the spectators with various mountebank tricks and acquires an imperfect knowledge 
 of the language afterwards he is carried to court, where he is introduced to the queen's favourite dwarf, ami 
 where great disputes arise concerning the species to which he belongs, among the chief scholars, whose specu- 
 1 (ii..n.s are ridiculed in a manner extremely similar to the reasonings of the lunar sages. The general turn of wit 
 and humour is besides the same, and seems to be of a description almost peculiar to these two writers. The 
 Fi. iicliman. imlei d, wanted the advantages of learning and education possessed by his successor, and hence his 
 imagination was, perhaps, less guarded and correct ; in many respects, however, it is more agreeably extravagant, 
 and hi- aeiial excursion is free from what is universally known to be the chief objection to the satire contained in 
 the four voyages of (iullhvr. 
 
 As Cyrano's 'Journey to the Moon' is the origin of Swift's ' Brobdignag,' so the ' Histoire des Estatt. du 
 Solcil ' seems to li.t\v suggested the plan of the ' Voyage to Laputa.' This second expedition of Cyrano is much 
 inferior in merit to lii.s former one, but, like the third excursion of Gulliver, is in a great measure intended to 
 expose the vain pursuits of schemers and projectors in learning and science. 
 
 From an imitation, probably of the works of Bergerac, many of the 'Voyages Imaginairos,' which appeared in 
 France during the lirt half of the 18th century, described excursions through the heavenly bodies. Les Voyages 
 ! Milord Ceton,' by Marie Anne de Koumier, is the account of an English nobleman, who, during the disturbance* 
 of his own country in the time of ( 'romwell, is metamorphosed into a fly, and in that shape is carried by a friendly 
 genius through the moon and seven planets. The author accommodates the character of the inhabitants of 
 each star to the name it bears on earth. Venus is the centre of amatory indulgence, and Mercury the abode 
 of avarice and fraud. By this means there is conveyed a general satire on different vices ; and a ridicule 
 of individuals addicted to the predominant passion in the planet seems also to have been occasionally 
 intended. 
 
 Bishop Wilkins could not escape, for a cynic in 1796 thus writes, in ivf'.-ivnr.- tc. his 
 ' Discovery of a New World :' 
 
 All hail to Cestria and her mitred Lord, 
 And may Pierian strains for aye record 
 That lawncd Kndymion of a happier age, 
 \Yho, wild with rapture and empyric rage, 
 
 On bold aspirin)! pinion could presume 
 To journey thro' the vast ethereal gloom ; 
 Who, tired of earth and dreams of gowned rest, 
 Sunk in the Elysium of his Cynthia's breast. 
 
 Schiller gives us ' Pegasus in Harness,' which has been translated by Sir Edward Bulwc-i 
 Lytton as follows: 
 
 At Sniitlitii-M ciiict-, as I\.- licen told. 
 Or some such place where beasts are sold, 
 A bard, whose bones from flesh were all free, 
 Put up for sale the IUUPC'S palfrey. 
 
 iipjKigriff, majestic, neigh 'd, 
 And pranced as it' in proud parade. 
 The crowd gn-w lar.-e, the crowd grew larger: 
 " In truth," they cried, "a splendid charger! 
 T would suit some coach of state ! the king's ! 
 Hut, bless my soul, wh.it frightful wings! 
 
 ubt the brrnl is mighty rare 
 Hut who would coach il through the air? 
 Who'd trust his neck to such a liver?" 
 In short, the bard could find u buyer. 
 
 At last a farmer plucked up mettle : 
 " Let's see if we the thing can settle. 
 Those useless wings my man may lop, 
 Or tie down tight I like a crop ! 
 T might draw my cart, if kept in bounds ; 
 Come, Friend, 111 venture twenty {ounds ! " 
 The hungry bard with joy consented, 
 And Hodge bears off his prize, contented. 
 The noble beast is in the cart ; 
 Hodge cries, " Gee hup ! " and off they start. 
 He scarcely feels the load behind, 
 Skirre, scours, and scampers like the wiud. 
 The wings begin for heaven to itch, 
 And now the cart is in the ditch ! 
 
 :; i 
 
ASTRA CASTRA. 
 
 CHAP. XI. 
 
 " So ho ! " grunts Hodge, " 'tis more than funny ! 
 
 I've got a penn'orth for my money. 
 
 To-morrow, if I still survive, 
 
 I have some score of folks to drive ; 
 
 As leader I will yoke the beast ; 
 
 'Twill save me one good pair at least. 
 
 Choler and collar wear with time ; 
 
 The lively rogue is in his prime." 
 
 All's well at first till, with a start, 
 Off goes the waggon like a dart. 
 Light bounding on, the fiery steed 
 Inspires the rest to equal speed ; 
 Till, with tall crest, he sniffs the heaven, 
 Spurns the dull road so smooth and even. 
 True the impetuous instinct to, 
 Field, fen, and bog he scampers through. 
 The frenzy now has caught the team ; 
 The driver tugs, the travellers scream. 
 O'er ditch, o'er hedge, splash, dash, and crash on, 
 Ne'er farmer flew in such a fashion. 
 At last, all battered, bruised, and broken, 
 (Poor Hodge's state may not be spoken,) 
 Waggon, and team, and travellers stop, 
 Perched on a mountain's steepest top ! 
 Exceeding sore, and much perplext, 
 " I' fegs ! " the fanner cries, " what next ? 
 This helter-skelter sport will never do, 
 But break him in 111 yet endeavour to : 
 Let's see if work and starving diet 
 Can't tame the monster into quiet ! " 
 
 The proof was made ; and, save us ! if in 
 Three days you'd seen the hippogriffin, 
 You'd scarce the noble beast have known, 
 Starved duly down to skin and bone. 
 Cries Hodge, rejoiced, " I have it now ; 
 Bring out my ox, he goes to plough." 
 So said, so done, and droll the tether, 
 Wing'd horse, slow ox, at plough together ! 
 
 The unwilling griffin strains his might, 
 
 One last strong struggle yet for flight ; 
 
 In vain, for, well inured to labour, 
 
 Plods sober on his heavy neighbour, 
 
 And forces, inch by inch, to creep, 
 
 The hoofs that love the air to sweep ; 
 
 Until, worn out, the eye grows dim, 
 
 The sinews fail the foundered limb, 
 
 The god-steed droops, the strife is past, 
 
 He writhes amidst the mire at last ! 
 
 " Accursed brute ! " the farmer cries ; 
 
 And, while he bawls, the cart-whip plies, 
 
 " All toil, it seems, you think to shirk, 
 
 So fierce to run, so dull to work ! 
 
 My twenty pounds ! Not worth a pin ! 
 
 Confound the rogue who took me in ! " 
 
 He vents his wrath, he plies his thong, 
 
 When, lo ! there gaily comes along, 
 
 With looks of light and locks of yellow, 
 
 And lute in hand, a buxom fellow ; 
 
 Through the bright clusters of his hair 
 
 A golden circlet glistens fair. 
 
 " What 's this ? a wondrous yoke and pleasant ! " 
 
 Cries out the stranger to the peasant. 
 
 " The bird and ox thus leashed together 
 
 Come, prithee, just unbrace the tether : 
 
 But let me mount him for a minute 
 
 That beast! you'll see how much is in it.' 1 
 
 The steed released, the youthful stranger 
 Leaps on his back, and smiles at danger ; 
 Scarce felt that steed the master's rein, 
 When all his fire returns again : 
 He champs the bit, he rears on high, 
 Light flashes from the kindling eye ; 
 Changed from a creature of the sod, 
 Behold the spirit and the god ! 
 As sweeps the whirlwind, heavenward spring 
 The unfurled glory of his wings ; 
 Before the eye can track the flight, 
 Lost in the azure fields of light. 
 
 Albert Smith, after having experienced the dangers as well as delights of ballocmiug, as 
 previously told, could hardly have been expected to refrain from extracting amusement from 
 so fertile a subject. ' A Flying Visit' and ' The Nassau Balloon' are from his pen : 
 
 THE by-gone September, 
 
 As folks may remember, 
 At least if their memory saves but an ember, 
 
 One fine afternoon, 
 
 There went up a Balloon, 
 Which did not return to the Earth very soon. 
 
 For, nearing the sky, 
 
 At about a mile high, 
 
 The Aeronaut bold had resolved on a fly ; 
 
 A FLYING VISIT. 
 
 So cutting his string, 
 In a Parasol thing 
 Down he came in a field like a lark from the wing. 
 
 Meanwhile, thus adrift, 
 
 The Balloon made a shift 
 To rise very fast, with no burthen to lift; 
 
 It got very small, 
 
 Then to nothing at all ; 
 And then rose the question of where it would fall ? 
 
 The many curious speculations on this subject we must leave untold 
 
 However, at last, 
 When six weeks had gone past, 
 Intelligence came of a plausible cast. 
 
CIIM-. XI. 
 
 \ KM l\i; YIHI 
 
 
 The news soon spread that it WM once again visible. 
 
 But still to and fro 
 
 It continued to go, 
 
 As if looking oat for soft places below ; 
 
 No difficult job, 
 It had only to bob 
 Slap dash down at once on the heads of the mob. 
 
 l!\ i ntiully the phenomenon came more distinctly in . 
 
 Plain to be seen, 
 
 Underneath the machine. 
 There dangled a mortal nome swore it was Gr< 
 
 Some Mason could spy ; 
 
 Others named Mr. Oye; 
 < >r Holland, ciiii>|-ll'd by the Belgians to fly. 
 
 But all were at fault ; 
 
 l-'nmi the heavenly vault 
 The felling balloon came at last to a halt ; 
 
 And bounce ! with the jar 
 
 Of descending o far, 
 An outlandish Creature was thrown from the car ! 
 
 The peroonal description of the odd little monster, a sort of mooncalf, we must also 
 
 Meanwhile, with a sigh. 
 Having open'd one eye, 
 ranker rose up on his seat by and by ; 
 
 . finding his tongue, 
 Thus he said, or he sung, 
 " .Wi criky bo biggamy kickrry bung '. " 
 
 " Lord ! what does he speak ! " 
 " It's Dog- Latin it's Greek I " 
 " It's some sort of slang for to puzzle a Beak ! " 
 
 * It's not parly voo," 
 Cried a schoolboy or two, 
 
 " Nor Hebrew at all," said a wandering Jew. 
 
 * 
 
 Some gness'd it high Dutch, 
 ' 'i hers thought it had much 
 
 In sound of the true Uoky-poky-ish touch ; 
 But none could be poz, 
 What the Dickins! (not Bor) 
 
 No mortal could tell what the Dickins it was ! 
 
 When who should come pat, 
 
 In a moment like that. 
 But Bowring to see what the people were at 
 
 A Doctor well able, 
 
 Without any fable. 
 To talk and translate all the babble of Babel. 
 
 Then stretching his hand, 
 
 As you see Daniel stand, 
 In the Feast of Belsbazzar, that picture so grand ! 
 
 Without more delay, 
 
 In the Hamilton way 
 II' Knglish'd whatever the Elf had to say. 
 
 " KraJc Icraziboo ion,. 
 
 I'm the Lunatic Man, 
 Confiu'd in the Moon since creation began 
 
 Sit muggy bigog, 
 
 Whom except in a fog 
 You see with a Lantern, a Bush, and a Dog. 
 
 " Lang tinny lear, 
 
 For this many a year, 
 I've long'd to drop in at your own little sphere, 
 
 Oeh, pod-mad aroon 
 
 Till one fine afternoon, 
 I found that Wind-Coach on the horns of the Moon. 
 
 " Ctah quackery go, 
 
 But, besides you must know, 
 I'd heard of a profiting Prophet below ; 
 
 Big botherum bltther, 
 
 Who pretended to gather 
 Tlie tricks that the Moon meant to play with the weather. 
 
 " .So erumut an crash, 
 
 Being shortish of cash, 
 I thought I'd a right to partake of the bash 
 
 >'///. mizzle an imaic, 
 
 So I'm come with a pack 
 To sell to the trade of My Own Almanack. 
 
 " Wept wepton miih wept, 
 
 Pray this Copy accept " 
 
 But here on the Stranger some Kidnappers leapt, 
 
 For why ? a shrewd man 
 
 Had devis'd a sly plan 
 The wonder to grab for a show Caravan. 
 
 The Doctor, however, interposed. Among other reasons, he observed : 
 
 " You'd best let him go 
 If you keep him below, 
 The Moon will not change, and the tides will not flow." 
 
 So awful a threat 
 
 Took effect on the set ; 
 The fright, tho' was more than their Guest could forget ; 
 
 So taking a jump, 
 
 In the car he came plump, 
 And threw all the ballast right out in a lump. 
 
 3 p 2 
 
398 
 
 ASTKA CAST.RA. 
 
 CHAP. XI. 
 
 Up soar'd the machine, 
 With its yellow and green : 
 
 But still the pale face of the Creature was seen, 
 Who cried from the car 
 " Dam in yooman bi gar ! " 
 
 That is, " What a sad set of villains you are ! " 
 
 Howbeit, at some height, 
 
 He threw down quite a flight 
 Of Almanacks, wishing to set us all right 
 
 And, thanks to the boon, 
 
 We shall see very soon 
 If Murphy knows most, or the Man in the Moon ! 
 
 THK NASSAU BALLOON. 
 
 Keeping in mind the leading pastimes of " the people " at this season, we seize the opportunity of saying 
 a few words about the balloon trip from. Cremorne Gardens a week or two ago. 
 
 The popularity of balloons is something curious. It comes by fits and starts, like a stage cascade, or an 
 English sunshine, or an outcry for the legitimate drama, or an exhibition of good pictures, or an overflow of 
 dwarfs, and nigger vocalists, and immense animals. And an aeronaut is a species of perennial grub. In the 
 winter we hear nothing of him : he hybernates with his balloon, in the chrysalis state, without doubt, of dressing- 
 gown and slippers ; but no sooner does the fine weather arrive, than he casts his skin, unfolds his wings, and 
 is once more a creature of the air, until he " shrinks from the breath of the first autumn day." And then he 
 disappears as mysteriously as the flies, or the pins ; which we hold to be the greatest instances of spontaneous 
 evaporation known. 
 
 Whilst all sorts of progresses and voyages, by sea and by land, have received every attention from our 
 artists, we must confess that those in the air have been much neglected, as to illustrations. They have been 
 principally confined to a large street woodcut, of a car filled with distinguished ladies and gentlemen, with 
 no end of fireworks behind them ; and an individual in the centre, supposed to be Mr. Green, politely bowing 
 to the spectators, who, in kit-cat proportions, are waving their hats and umbrellas, and shaking their handker- 
 chiefs, and giving way to all kinds of frantic enthusiasm. To supply this void, we despatched two artists to the 
 scene of the last balloon ascent : one was to go in the car, and the other to remain on the ground. Some 
 interesting sketches were the result. The first is entitled, " View of the company at Cremorne at the moment of 
 ascent," and gives a lively image of the crowd in the grounds, in the midst of whom might have been seen Ibrahim 
 Pacha, had the mob not hustled him up so that he could not be made out. This was the only illustration which 
 our aerial artist favoured us with, as he got so frightened, and so completely in the clouds, that his art failed 
 him. Our mundane draughtsman was more lucky. He first sends us a view of the balloon as it appeared from 
 Waterloo Bridge, amidst the cheers of the boys, who directly started off after it, as vaguely as they would 
 have done after a fire-engine, which is ever a reckless pursuit, whose termination may not be guessed between 
 Gray's Inn Lane and Epping Forest. We ourselves were fortunate in taking a sketch of the balloon as it 
 passed over our attic skylight, whilst we were pumping our brains for a subject. The following came by the 
 inspiration of the moment: 
 
 SONG. 
 
 THE AERIAL ORE EX. 
 
 OH ! a daring man is the Aerial Green, 
 
 As he rises above the wall 
 Of the turfy Cremorne, or for nothing is seen 
 
 From the road beside old Vauxhall ! 
 How bleak soe'er the wind may feel, 
 
 Or dark the night may keep, 
 He lights the match of his firework wheel, 
 
 Though all below may sleep. 
 
 Creeping where nobody else has been, 
 A daring man is the Aerial Green ! 
 
 Air The Ivy Green. 
 
 Since Green first began his airy career, 
 
 How many his rivals have been, 
 But none like himself through the heavens can steer, 
 
 He's so knowing, although he is Green. 
 For Henson shall go, and be dimmed his fame, 
 
 And forgotten his Aerial Ship, 
 But Green shall still carry out his name, 
 
 And nourish in every trip. 
 
 Creeping up to realms unseen, 
 
 A daring man is the Aerial Green! 
 
 Our artist took his next illustration a very graphic one from the balloon as it appeared disappearing. 
 There is much to praise in his spirited sketch. The treatment is simple, but very expressive ; the balloon is 
 
t%ftt"*inmfintf,knj al tJtf 1/llbllUH'i- .*>//! I V/r/V>- Stm&Oniflton ia*lrrriu 
 
 A 7. Itil Sirl/.liiiiu-*- /'/ /'/P * \-i- /tit;-. /! 
 
 1864 
 
 CUIV. Cl- 
 
 C L L 1 1- ' C K U. I 
 
. " f I' H 
 
 M I' , r fi " f J / 
 
CHAP. XI. CBOTCIIKTS IN Till' \IK. BOB 
 
 viilt-iitly a i>oiiit. ami the drawing ia free and tinstii<li< -il. HJM next sketch i of tho balloon when it wan out of 
 Miiht ; ami n similar one WM sent us by our aerial artist wbo recovered hia presence of mind a little of the 
 \ i. -w from i IK- balloon after nightfall. 
 
 \\ i :..:- Bat the present ounclude our paper ; but an amateur who wax amongtit the voyagers has promised 
 us his portfolio, to which wo may possibly recur, and present the series of illustrations complete. 
 
 I iimrli n-jrivt tliat 1 have nut lnvn aMf t> find the name of the author of the aiim.-ini:- 
 i-ntitlril 
 
 CROTCHETS IN THE AIR. 
 
 M ^ HEAR TOM, Planet Earth, 29th September. 1888. 
 
 I have purposely postponed a reply to your impatient letter of the 16th instant. I am grateful to you for 
 your kiml unxi.-tics upon my account, as evinced by your " I'.S. 1'ray answer this without the delay of a SINLI.I 
 MOMENT." (I give you your own emphatic markings.) Now, Kuppose do but suppose I had complied with 
 \oiir request, and answered your letter immediately upon its arrival, which occurred wiihin only a couple of days 
 
 my i. nun to this ] ii-iiik and-paper earth of ours why, I tloul>t whether you could have understood ..m- 
 sentcn- in twnity of all 1 might have written to you; so inflated, so exalted watt I, that my style must 
 necessarily have been affected by my own feelings. You are aware of my detestation of that barbarous jargon 
 
 whii-h i> upounded of Gallicisms, and Latinisms, and Italianitnns, and all manner of ixms (with the single 
 
 exception of good-English-isms), and which is nick-named tho modern fashionable stylo of writing : from all such 
 ton* my disgust of them would have kept me clear ; but how could I have avoided the perpetration of a few 
 balloonicisms ? The moment I had "pulled tho liberating-iron of my sensations," I should inevitably have 
 " thrown out every bag of the Itallast of judgment," and abandoned myself without opposition to "the buoyant 
 gas of enthusiasm." How should you have liked that ? Only two pages of it ? one ? only half a page ? No, no 
 Tom ; rely upon it 'tis better as it is. 
 
 Nu ask me many quest inns. The first in order I will answer first, for the reason that it is the 
 first. 
 
 "Did you go up in a balloon on Friday, the fourteenth?" I may reply to yon in the words of Hamlet, 
 I have been " nearer to heaven than when I saw you last, by the altitude of a chopine." But tho next time you 
 speak of that particular travelling carriage (the Great Nassau), pray speak of it with becoming respect, and call 
 it the balloon. All others, whether beneath the clouds, within or above them, are mere balloon-sprouts, chick- 
 balloons, balloon-tt, in short. As is a peach to a pumpkin, so is the biggest of those to the Great Nassau. You 
 sit in a thing like a sauce-boat, and look up to a world floating above your head. Methinks I hear you say 
 "Hold, there! Let off a little of your gas." I will; but not much, Tom. And now, having replied to your 
 tii -M question, I will, for the present, float over (I beg your pardon, but I could not help that) I will pass over 
 all tli- intermediate ones, and notice your last. For this irregularity I have two motives: first, to get rid of 
 a perplexing inquiry; and secondly, to let you understand at once the kind of account of a balloon-trip you 
 must expect from me : nothing about " Here the barometer fell to ," " Here the thermometer rose to ," 
 IK -re the mercury stood at ;" no balloon-jargon, but a plain, surface-of-earth description. So, on to ymir 
 question. 
 
 According to your observations, in what manner, and to what extent, are the interests of science likely 
 to be advanced, and the state of society in general, morally and physically considered (dividing your answer to tin-- 
 portion of the question into two branches), likely to be improved by the use of balloons ? and within what 
 probable period ? " 
 
 This question is framed with such extraordinary precision, that, to one who could, there ought not to be the 
 slightest difficulty in answering it My observations, however, having been confined chiefly to the looking down 
 on the chimney-tops, I am enabled to reply only, with anything approaching to certainty, first, that I do not 
 know; secondly, that I cannot tell ; and thirdly, that it is hard to say. Yet are there points upon which I will 
 venture to speak positively. One (and, perhaps, the most important) result of an ascent in a balloon, in, in 
 
400 ASTRA CASTE A. CHAP. XT. 
 
 a scientific point of view, that you may be quite sure of coming down again somehow ; the second, affecting the 
 man morally, is, that it must, in a greater or a less degree, elevate his mind for the time being ; the third affects 
 the man physically, and is, that unless he order the clouds to be well aired for his reception, he is very likely 
 to get a touch of rheumatism (as I have done) from being wrapped up in a damp one. For any much more 
 positive and useful information you may require, I beg leave to refer you to aeronauts of greater experience, and 
 (to use a phrase more popular than polite) I wish you may get it. I now turn to some other of your questions. 
 
 " Why did you go ? " 
 
 I might put off this inquiry by pleading the laudable ambition of rising in the world, but that I abhor a pun. 
 Curiosity, then, was the leading motive, though not the only one. I wanted to go out of town ; and this 
 was going out of town, or the deuce is in it. Then, the novel mode of travelling ! Be assured there is nothin<* 
 like it on earth. One gets tired of being suffocated in coaches, choked with coal-dust in steamboats, rattled and 
 rumbled on railroads. But, up yonder, the ineffable stillness, the progressing movement without the slightest 
 sensation of motion ! whether up, down, forward, back, you seem to be suspended motionless in the air, whilst 
 everything above, below, and around, is complaisantly taking the trouble of moving out of your way. The slight, 
 though perceptible jerk you experience at each stroke of the oars in a Thames wherry at Twickenham, is an 
 electric shock compared with what (if I may so express it) you do not feel in a balloon. This is scarcely an 
 exaggeration. As for Mac Adam I now consider him but a bungler at the best. By the by, Tom, I wish those 
 pavers, and unpavers, and repavers of Oxford-street, would leave their eternal wrangling, and just step up stairs 
 for a lesson. 
 
 Then, again, another amongst my motives was a yearning after variety. It is idle to talk about going out of 
 town for the sake of change, Tom. We quit London and go to Brighton, or Cheltenham, or Paris, or Vienna, or 
 Constantinople. Houses, houses, houses ! We weary of the ruralities of Wiltshire, and try Wales ; tired of 
 Wales, we fly to Savoy, or to Switzerland : it is the same thing. Trees, rivers, and fields ; fields, trees, and 
 rivers ! with here and there a hill some certain number of feet higher or lower than another ! Then, everywhere, 
 
 in all places, people, people, people ! And this, forsooth, we call a change! You remember poor Charles , 
 
 who when tired, not absolutely of people, but of the every-day countenances he was in the habit of meeting about 
 town, went to Thebes in the hope of seeing a variety in the " human face divine." Almost the first man he 
 encountered was his linendraper, who was employed in taking the length of a fallen column with a yard 
 measure. And what was his reason for being there ? Change. Margate, he said, had become vulgar, and which 
 was worse Eamsgate was trying to be genteel. No; believe me, Tom, that, for a positive change, there is 
 nothing for it but, instead of going down into the country, to go up out of town. Once above the clouds, adieu 
 to houses, trees, fields, rivers, hills, and people. There might you be for a month with millions of chances to one 
 against your balloon being jostled by another gentleman's. And such independent travelling too ! As our witty 
 
 friend B , who made an ascent some weeks ago, truly said, " No turnpikes to pay there." He might have 
 
 added, no " What's the number ?" no " That 'ere ticket don't clear this here gate ;" for positively, Tom, there are 
 no gates to clear. The boundless regions of air are open to you ; not an acre is enclosed ; and for ever might you 
 float there, unimpeded by a humane caution to beware of spring guns, or a friendly hint about prosecution 
 for trespass, and the amiable rigours of the law. Then again, you escape the three main annoyances to which 
 you are subjected in foreign travelling elsewhere : passports are not required nobody is there to ask who you are, 
 where you come from, or what you may please to want in the clouds. There is no busy, prying, spying police 
 to watch your movements, so that, were you dishonestly inclined, you might pocket a handful of little stars for 
 brooches and breast-pins, if you could but reach them ; though let us hope no aerial traveller will ever 
 compromise the character of the natives of the earth by so shabby an attempt. And, last of this category, there 
 are no Custom-house officers to search your car, and ask, " What have you got in that bottle ? " But, let me tell 
 you, there is one set-off against these comforts : there are no inns in the whole of that country ; so that when 
 what we had "got in that bottle," which was some sherry, was exhausted in drinking to the health of our dear 
 little Queen, we could not get our bottle replenished for love or money. So you see, Tom, things are not 
 absolutely perfect even there. 
 
 And then, the noiselessness, the perfect quiet, which I have before alluded to ! It is the sublime of 
 stillness. They who have not heard it do not add this expression to your collection of bulls they who have 
 not heard it (for the ear is affected by it) can form no idea of it. -In the stillest night, on the quietest spot on 
 
IMAI-. XI. i:\LLOONICISMS. 
 
 earth, some sound is occasionally heard, how soft or Blight soever it bo the ripple of water, the buzzing of 
 an insect, the fall of a leaf. Hut up there, you might fancy yourself living in an age antecedent to the creation 
 ni' -i, Mini. There might you indulge to the uttermost in the luxury of thought, reflection, meditation ; there revel 
 in .ill the delights of imagination, with not the ruffling of a butterfly's wing to put your fancies to flight. 
 Ail, thru, fur a certain society of architects of which you and I aro members ! O Tom ! such a place for building 
 castles in the uir ! 
 
 Another of your questions (for I do not take them seriatim), is, " How high did you go ? " 
 
 Balloonically speaking, not wry high. We did not go high enough to hear the music of the spheres; or to 
 have made out what sort <>f li Hiking fellow was the man in the moon, even had that chaste lady condescended 
 to make herself vi.sibli'. Indeed, the old ballooners, who formed five of our party of nine that is to say, our 
 ;i'lmii.ilil.- n iviir.it. ir Mr. Green, his lady, Mr. Spencer, and two of the Messrs. Hughes those old ballooners, 
 I say, declared we went no height at all ; and, in fact, our greatest elevation did not much exceed four thousand 
 > three-quarters of a mile), or, to make this vague statement somewhat more intelligible, only about twelve 
 tiiu.-s the height of St. Paul's, measuring to the top of the cross. It was just high enough, however, for a tumble 
 to have made us, the inexperienced in aeronautics, feel rather uncomfortable and, perhaps, even the old 
 ballooners themselves. Moreover, unlike a party which made a trip a few weeks ago, we hud not taken the 
 precaution of carrying up either a surgeon or a coroner in our company. But with GKKEV for your guide (who is 
 now nearly in the two hundred and seventieth ascent of his balloonical age), as reasonably almost might you 
 ii|i]irrhi-iul the accident of being driven up to the clouds in a Paddingtou omnibus, as that he should let you down 
 from them with inconvenient velocity. 
 
 I next come to your "three single " questions all " rolled into one." 
 
 " At what time did you go up from Vauxhall Gardens ? how long did you remain np ? and at what time did 
 you come down again ? " 
 
 I do not de.spise you for talking about a balloon going up, for it is an error which you share in common with 
 some millions of our fellow-creatures; and I, in the days of my ignorance, thought with the rest of you. I know 
 better now, Tom. The fact is, we did not 170 up at all ; but at about five minutes past six, on the evening of 
 Friday, the 14th. of September, 1838 (you want "particulars," so there they are for you) at about that time, 
 Vauxhall Gardens, with all the people in them, went down ! Tom Tom I cannot have been deceived. I speak 
 from the evidence of my senses, founded upon repetition of the fact. Upon each of the three or four experimental 
 trials of the powers of the balloon to enable the people to glide away from us with safety to themselves, down 
 they all went about thirty feet ; then, up they came again, and so on. There we sat quietly all the while in our 
 wicker buck-basket, utterly unconscious of motion; till, at length, Mr. Green snapping a little iron, and thus 
 lotting loose the rope by which the earth was suspended to us like Atropos cutting the connexion between us 
 with a pair of shears down it went with everything on it ; and your poor, paltry, little Dutch toy of a town 
 (your great Metropolis, as you insolently call it), having been placed on casters for the occasion I am satisfied of 
 that was gently rolled away from under us. 
 
 At once to satisfy you upon the two other points of your triple (and pardon me for adding, your most 
 Mi:-.-i.-ntiiii-,tlly framed) question, you remained down during a little more than three hours; when, at about 
 a quarter past nine, our able conductor, with an undeniable grappling-iron an implement not made to take 
 N " for an answer caught hold of the earth by the nape of its neck, as it were, on Wanstead Flats, and 
 hank-d it up to us with perfect ease. Fonr of our party, including Mrs. Green, stepped out of the cradle 
 and returned to town. And here, on a dark night, on H lone heath lone, do I say ? No, by Jupiter ! it was 
 Anything but lonely. 
 
 \\ ;isn't it the first Lord Thnrlow who longed for a day's shooting in an English mob? This may seem an 
 odd, out-of-placo question ; but it shall presently be accounted for, and, I trust, to your satisfaction. But, now, 
 to another of your iin[iii: 
 
 " Did you, when you were tolerably high, experience any extraordinary sensations?" 
 
 N i me whatever, Tom, but of admiration and delight. I apprehend that, judging from the c.niiinnii 
 consequence of looking down from a point considerably elevated, you expect to be told that the sensation ( 
 
 dizziness was amongst the number. I remember meeting the younger B , the surgeon, ju-t ;ifter he had 
 
 assisted at the opening of Person's skull. " Did you find anything extraordinary in it I " inquired I. 
 
402 ASTftA CASTKA. CHAP. XI. 
 
 " I guess what you expect," replied he, laughingly : " We found a little water, but no Greek." Now, run are 
 expecting to be told 
 
 How fearful 
 And dizzy 'tis, to cast one's eyes so low ! 
 
 Not so, however, from a balloon at any height. I do not know the exact elevation of the Shakspeare cliff: 
 I believe though, it is not, by a great deal, so high as the cross of St. Paul's. I have lain down on the verge 
 of it (the cliff, please to understand me) and looked over into the sea ; but have been compelled to withdraw by 
 an overpowering sensation of giddiness. It has been the same thing when looking over from the top of that place 
 in the Regent's Park (stupidly misnamed the Colosseum) which is considerably lower. Nay, within three days 
 after our ascent (I will, through the remainder of this epistle, humour you in your delusion, Tom) I was at 
 a friend's chambers which are only on a second floor ; and, looking down from an open window into the garden 
 (the sill of the window being rather low) I became giddy, and was obliged to retire from it ! At an elevation of 
 twenty-seven hundred feet, I looked down upon St. Paul's that is to say, from about eight times its own height 
 layers of smoke, like thin clouds, hanging just above the swell of the dome, and not the slightest inconvenience 
 of the kind you expect did I, or any of my travelling companions, suffer from our exalted position ! This is a 
 curious fact ; but a fact it is which, I doubt not, will be corroborated by every person who has made trial of it. 
 
 Now, how is this extraordinary circumstance to be accounted for ? I have heard it explained thus : In 
 a balloon you are entirely detached from the earth : there are no intermediate points by which the eye can be 
 gradually conducted downwards ; so that the impression of height upon the senses, that impression which causes 
 dizziness, is indefinite, vague. From the parapet of a house, or from a column, or a tall cliff, the eye, on the 
 contrary, is led by an intervening medium down to the base, and the elevation upon which you are placed being 
 thus rendered palpable, dizziness (to such, I mean, as are liable to that affection) ensues. Amongst the many 
 circumstances accumulated by Shakspeare to convey a terrifying notion of the height of the cliff at Dover, which 
 is the one by which he mainly achieves his purpose ? It is not, I humbly conceive, by 
 
 The fishermen that walk upon the beach, 
 
 and who 
 
 Appear like mice ; 
 
 nor by 
 
 The tall anchoring bark diminished to her cock : 
 
 it is not, indeed, by any of the objects which he describes as seen in the extreme distance below. It is, 
 
 I think, by the 
 
 Halfway dmi:n 
 
 Hangs one that gathers samphire : dreadful trade ! 
 Methinks he seems no bigger than his head. 
 
 Setting aside the frightful picture of danger so powerfully painted, one may say, by the words " hangs one," 
 and " dreadful trade," as having nothing to do with the present question ; that giddy and fearful " half way down " 
 it is which, more than all the rest, impresses the imagination ; and which, as a means of comparison, enables, 
 or, rather forces the mind to conceive the awful whole of the precipice. Now from a balloon there is no 
 "halfway down :" it is all (don't say neck) or nothing ; and from our aerial omnibus, when over the river, we 
 looked down upon " the tall anchoring barks " (which appeared no larger than Thames wherries) with an eye as 
 steady as theirs on board who might have been looking up at us. 
 
 Now do not from this, Tom, take it into your head that I am about to open shop as a philosopher, and turn 
 dealer in causes and effects : no such thing : the theory I offer you, right or wrong, good or bad, is none of 
 my own ; but as it is the best I have been able to procure, I generously beg your acceptance of it. 
 
 A timely visit ! At this moment, L-chf d (no mean Shakspearian, and who has the poet's expounders and 
 confounders at his finger ends) is with me. He reminds me that Johnson, in a note upon the passage which I have 
 quoted, expresses an opinion at variance with the theory I offer you. Were the theory my own I would defend it 
 against him were he twenty Johnsons ; as it is, I leave to its rightful owner the trouble of its defence. For my 
 own part I think the doctor in the wrong, and, if I chose, could set him down within the compass of two commas, 
 one semicolon, and a full stop. What was Johnson, indeed ! He wrote the lives of some poets ; a tolerable 
 
(IIAI. XI \ HIGHLANDER'S KNOWLEDGE OF KNEE-BUCKLES. I" 
 
 preface or two ; a few passable essays ; compiled, or composed, a dictionary ; but was ho ever up in a balloon ? 
 If lii' wi-tv, Iloswell is culpably silent upon a point of such overwhelming importance. Time was, I entertained a 
 slight respect for the leviathan of literature, as he was wont to be called; but since I have taken to read the 
 lucubrations of Mr. Fee'dwell, the leading criticling of tho 'Penny Dictator" for, now-a-days, literature and 
 science, in all thuir respective branches, are made up and sold in packets price only one penny each since then, I 
 have learnt to treat the blustering booby with becoming contempt. As for Pope pooh ! for Addition psha ! 
 for Swift pish ! and all the Queen-Anne's-men tied together in a bunch a fico for them 1 They were tame, 
 twaddling, and understandable ; " pretty fellows in their day " but compared with the geniuses of our own, the 
 
 high-soaring, deep-searching, soul-dissecting, heart-piercing pets of the criticlings ! Draw what conclusion 
 
 you may please from the comparison, my faith in my ' Penny Dictator ' and his pets is unalterable. " I stand 
 
 by my order;" and 
 
 Nul u'aura de 1'esprit bora nous et new amis. 
 
 So now to proceed. 
 
 - Where did you go?" 
 
 \\ here I Set up your balloon, Tom. For ease and rapidity, there is no travelling like it A balloon has 
 performed a mile in a minute for miles together ! Only think of the conveniences and delights of that ! You are 
 nipping your wine at Windsor ; a sudden fancy seizes you to go to the Opera ; you order your balloon to be 
 brought to your door at half-past seven ; off you go, and before tho clock strikes eight, there you are comfortably 
 install*! in time for tho first bar of the overture ! \Vhat a luxury ! But suppose that, at the end of the half hour, 
 you peep through your netting, and, instead of finding yourself just over the Haymarket, you discover that you 
 are fi ve-and-twenty miles on the way to Oxford, or Southampton, or Bristol ? " Where did you go ? " indeed ! 
 Ui unit wherever our carriage, and its sworn confederate, the wind, chose to transport us. I admit that 
 th:ii most experienced, best, and safest balloon-driver in the world, the "Great Captain of the Air," Mr. Green, 
 has complete control over the " Here we go up, up, up, and there we go down, down, down ;" but I believe it is 
 not within the power of human ingenuity either to restrain or oppose the horizontal inclinations of the con- 
 federates, so as to command the " whereabout " with anything approaching to certainty, or precision if at all. 
 So much for one of tho practical uses of the science of ballooning. This ought, perhaps, to have formed part of the 
 answer to your concluding question, and which I have taken as the second but it matters little. 
 
 Now, then, once more for the "where?" The balloon, which rose heavily Now, don't be impatient, 
 or angry, Tom ; you shall have your answer in a minute or so : but if one may not digress in a familiar letter to 
 a friend, where the deuce eke is digression allowable ? 
 
 I have been told that the wicked wag of one of the Sunday newspapers said, the reason of that was, that a 
 certain friend of yours, who was in the car, had got one of his heavy manuscripts in his pocket; but that 
 that being thrown over, the machine went up rapidly. Pleasant, this, for a professor of light literature, eh, Tom ? 
 Never mind ; hard as it is, one must, as the sailors say , " grin and bear it." I wonder how poor Thomas AYarton 
 endured it, who received the joke direct at his head, which it was made expressly to fit (\'ide Probationary 
 Odes) when the joke was bran new, upwards of fifty years ago. Considering the terrible effects of it now, at 
 twentieth-hand, the consequences to him, poor fellow ! must have been awful ! 
 
 Once more, then, to " Where did you go ?" 
 
 The balloon, which rose heavily, being lightened of a bag of ballast not bag and all, Tom, or mercy upon 
 the most matter-of-fact skull to be found in all the Realms of Dulness that might have chanced to come in 
 its way not excepting even the cast-iron sconce of a critic (? .') in a certain Dublin pi int, who, in his notice of a 
 professed satire upon the would-be nautical novels of tho day, and which is, for the purpose, an uninterrupted series 
 of intentional blunders ; he, poor innocence ! taking the whole in sober seriousness, gravely complains that 
 tlii- writer of the satire knows no more about life at sea than a Highlander knows of knee-buckles ! And here be 
 some of your leaders of public opinion, eh, Tom ? But, as I was saying, the balloon being lightened of a bag of 
 ballast, it became a little more nimble, and, from the direction it was taking, seemed inclined to start for a 
 race with the Birmingham train. Presently, however, it changed its mind and took a different course. J/inrfdid 
 I say ? no, no ; it has no mind. The truth must be told. It is a senseless, swaggering, inflated creature, which 
 makes a figure in the world, but is supported by nothing intrinsically valuable : gas, nought but gas. It can do 
 little or nothing for it.-olf ; it is dependent for its ups and downs upon the will or the caprice of others. It cannot 
 get on, it cannot get forward, it cannot move an inch if left to its own merits ; but raise the trine/ for it, and it will 
 
 3 o 
 
404 ASTRA CASTRA. CHAP. XI. 
 
 rise and rise till, to the ken of mortal eye, it appears no bigger than a pea : exactly as it is with some poor, 
 puffed-up, human thing whose real insignificance is not discovered till it is raised to an eminence which it 
 is unqualified to maintain. And thus, Tom, something not unuseful, if properly considered, may be learnt even 
 up in " the desert air." 
 
 But, methinks, I hear you exclaim, " But what has all this to do with my never-to-be-answered question," 
 ' Where did you go ? '" 
 
 Well, then ; we went Why, bless my soul ! now I think of it, I told you an hour ago : we went all the way 
 
 to Wanstead, the name of the precise spot where we descended being . Now, I cannot for the life of me help 
 
 it ; for when I sit down to scribble a letter to a friend, the first thing that occurs to me, so it be at all 
 to the purpose, must out. You are a collector of odd coincidences : here is a brace for you. Benson Hill (who can 
 very well afford to spare a pleasant anecdote), travelling through I forget what county, upon coming to a sharp 
 declivity which opened to his view a beautiful prospect, hallooed to the post-boy to tell him the name of the place : 
 " Benson Hill, sir," said the boy. That's one. The other night, after bobbing in and out of wet clouds for more 
 than an hour of our time, we came down in the dark, on a damp, cold, comfortless heath. Upon touching ground, 
 we heard shouted by a hundred voices, " Wanstead Flats ! Wanstead Flats '. "the latter word being annoyingly 
 well articulated. There's the other. But, for a gratifying compliment ! Yesterday, 1 met your sister Clara. 
 " So ! " said she, " you have been up in a balloon ? " " Yes," replied I, in the tone and manner of one who thinks 
 he has performed a marvellous exploit, and is prepared for a complimentary remark upon it. " How could you be 
 such a FOOL ! " exclaimed she. And that, Tom, I swear it by the Great Nassau ! was all I took by my motion. 
 
 Now, again, to your letter ; and I promise you I will no more digress unless the temptation should prove 
 an overmatch for my resolution. 
 
 " What did you see ? " comes next. 
 
 Sights, oh ! such sights ! Gulliver not fabulous. Men and women six inches tall ; and in proportion as we 
 rose, they diminished to five, four, three inches. I am glad I am down again, for I was imbibing a very 
 contemptuous opinion of my species. I apprehend, however, this feeling is not peculiar to balloouists, but that it 
 is common to very many who are placed but a little above their fellow-creatures : the height of a mere carriage- 
 wheel will sometimes produce it. Strange ! From an elevation of not more than four thousand feet we could not 
 distinguish who composed the swarms of moving mites beneath us. There were amongst them and this is 
 no wild assumption peers of the realm, famous warriors, profound philosophers, fine poets, patriot orators whose 
 voices are never raised but for their country's good (count them upon your fingers) orator-patriots who profess 
 to be regardless of their own (take Babbago's machine :) there were the proud, the humble, the dignified, the 
 lowly, yet, to us, the greatest amongst them was undistinguishable from the rest ! Again I exclaim, Strange ! 
 But if from our paltry elevation, borne upwards and upwards on the wings of thought, till, wearied with the 
 unbounded and interminable flight, we pause to reflect that from height unimaginable those living atoms are 
 beheld . " And thereby hangs a tale," says Touchstone. 
 
 Go up in a balloon, Tom; when you come down again reflect upon what you have seen; but, chiefly, 
 re-cogitate the thoughts which the novelty of the situation cannot fail to suggest to any but a mind of mud : and 
 if you find yourself a harsher philosopher or a worse man than you went up why, then, I shall only say you will 
 not have deserved, as you will not have profited by, your ride in the region of birds. 
 
 Sights ! There was all London at a grasp, made of baby-houses, and pepper-casters, and extinguishers, and 
 chess-men, with, here and there, a dish-cover things which you call domes, and spires, and steeples. Oh, 
 the vanity of man ! Then there were its squares and pleasant places, bedecked with gooseberry-bushes 
 intersected by yellow strips, half a yard wide, in curves and zigzags. Then there was the " broad bosom of old 
 Father Thames." Broad ! I looked down upon it at its broadest, excluding with my half-closed hand all other 
 objects, and thought what a blockhead must be the architect of Waterloo Bridge to have built nine arches for it 
 when one would have spanned it ! Presently I looked at the bridge and wondered how the architect could be so 
 stupid as to build so small a bridge for so wide a river. Had / been the architect, thought I, what a bridge you 
 should have seen ! It is astonishing, Tom, how wise we are, and how much better we understand things 
 even than they do whose business it is to understand them, when we see them imperfectly at a distance ! Since 
 my return amongst you I have taken a nearer view of both bridge and river, and think the architect knows more 
 about bridge-building than I gave him credit for. That reminded me that I have some few other trifling matters 
 to reconsider in the same way and perhaps, Tom, so have you. 
 
CHAP. XI. TIIK STATUE OF GEORGE III. 
 
 \\ passed along tin I'.l.H-kfriars' Houd (almost in a direct line), having hovered Tor a while over Bedlam. 
 1 \\.-ndi-ivil what ili- Inn .iti. -> thought of the Bal-liinatii--. IVrhapa the most rational among them were of opinion 
 that \vr nil-lit to c -lunge plaee.s \Mih the maddest of their companions. At ono end of the Blackf riant Road stood 
 a bodkin l'"lt ii|'ii_lit. with t'.iir little clots of light about it they were just beginning to light the town 
 and at tin- 1'iirtln r i-ml were two other bodkins, commemorative of two great men. Ono could not but 
 i.liniiv those two bodkins, they seemed so admirably adapted to their purpose. 
 
 \\ e were now blown westward, and saw one of our Theatres Royal. It was hardly possible but to mistake 
 it for a minor thtatrt. This agaiu may have been the effect of distance, which, when near it, or in it, would doubtless 
 be di>|.<-ll. d. 
 
 And what is that with it sloping, black-slated roof, that seems no biggor than a dog-kennel? Oh, molan- 
 i-holy object ! it is a mausoleum, the last resting-place of so many departed Fortunes I Enter its awful portals and 
 
 welcomes you as her guest ! Yet such are the calenturian fascinations of the place (forgive mo for writing 
 fine) that no sooner is one hapless victim ingulfed ic its fatal depllis, than another and another and another 
 rush eagerly to the brink, struggling against each other for the fearful precedence of destruction. It is, in plain 
 
 -h. Is n f At re tie F Opera Jtalien. Tom, I have an odd crotchet I have long been trying to be ruined 
 aiul have not yet succeeded. Now, the first time you see advertised to be lessee'd "that most desirable property," 
 such or such a theatre but let it be a largo one, for I have no desire to be ruined by halves, that I promise you 
 engage it for we. I shall be prepared to stake the usual sum required upon tho adventure, namely OO.OOO/. ; nor 
 would I haggle about an additional 0, or so. In consequence of my inexperience in management I may, the first 
 season, be ruined for no more than three thousand, or four thousand pounds, and thereby be reduced to the 
 necessity of taking nothing but a good house in town and letting up my cab. Next season I may have the 
 misfortune to be ruined to the tune of five thousand or six, and thus be inhumanly compelled to add to my miseries 
 a snug box in tho country and a ailfche. On the third and fourth seasons, ruin increasing to a degree intolerable, 
 I shall be rudely driven out of my snug box and forced to take refuge in a handsome villa, with nothing to console 
 me for the inconveniences and sufferings attendant upon my unhappy change of condition, but an additional 
 equipage, a few more horses, and a . Tom, I will be ruined. 
 
 In yonder little building space is found for the repose of hundreds of illustrious men who have conferred 
 glory upon their country, and hundreds more are therein commemorated. It is Westminster Abbey, wherein, as 
 it is said, a monument to the memory of BYRON is not to be erected. Is there then no vacant nook remaining to 
 receive it? I know what you will reply ; but, after all, the question is a two-handled question, and (I willingly 
 admit it) a delicate one. The right handle I mean thereby merely the right-Aawfcd handle is held by 
 the Admissionisto, the left by the Exclusion ists. Tho cry of the latter is " Irreligion ! Immorality!" of tho 
 former, "Place for him whose genius has added glory to the glory of the poetical reputation of England!" 
 Heaven forbid that the last and most sacred tribute that a grateful country can pay to the memory of departed 
 worth, should ever be desecrated by its indiscriminate bestowal upon doubtful religion or questionable morality ! 
 but . In short, Tom, I see but one satisfactory mode of settling the dispute : give us an expurgated, 
 
 ily edition of Westminster Abbey, in which not a name shall remain that may not stand as a typo of absolute 
 perfection ; and ttutt, by silencing the Admissioniste, will at once put an end to the controversy. How the holiday- 
 folks might like this arrangement is a matter of minor importance ; but it is probable they would not see quite, so 
 many monuments for their money. 
 
 Then wo saw the statue of George the Third, in Fall Mall East. Why do people abuse it so ? I assure you 
 it did not look so much amiss : to be sure, we could see nothing of the pig-tail or tho cocked hat and, indeed, 
 but very little of the rider. 
 
 And the National- Gallery. I dare say, now, you fancy one feels a more than common contempt for it when 
 viewing it from so great a height. If so, you never were more mistaken in your life : one's contempt for it is not 
 in the slightest degree increased. Perhaps you will explain this circumstance by the reason that it has been 
 looked tloucn upon from the first. 
 
 And now we were carried back again to where the Albion mills are not ; and thence, across the river, to the 
 Tower, clearing St Paul's in our flight 
 
 A curious calculation was once made, having for its basis the relative sizes of the elephant and the flea : 
 that if an elephant were endued with the saltatory powers of its smaller fellow in tho brute creation, it could leap 
 from Hyde-Park corner to Greenwich Hospital at one bound, clearing St Paul's by the way ! The intent of this 
 
 3 o 2 
 
406 ASTKA CASTRA. CHAP. XI. 
 
 calculation was, if I recollect rightly, to show that, if Nature had bestowed on the elephant a portion of the flea's 
 facilities for locomotion, how much more serviceable an animal it might be made than it actually is. I have 
 lately been reading a great deal of Philosophy, natural, moral, and political principally the last by which 
 I have so far profited that my head is crammed full with IPS. To what extent the world would be improved 
 were all those doubtful IFS converted into positive Is's, I will not venture even to imagine : nor will I presume 
 to doubt that if Nature would adopt the hint of the Improver upon the construction of elephants, and, for the 
 future, make those unwieldy animals more like fleas, vast advantages therefrom might accrue to society ; but 
 I have a crotchet, that if fleas were more like elephants the consequences to society would be exceedingly 
 disagreeable. Upon the whole, therefore, I am of opinion that this IF to say nothing of some few others had better 
 be let alone. 
 
 St. Paul's ! To be looking down upon that stupendous structure from many times its own height, produces 
 a strange impression on the mind ! I can describe or express it but in one way, and am even forced to coin 
 a word for the occasion : it seems like possMifying an impossibility. Beyond this, one's sensations are not 
 definable : but I envy not the dolt if such a one there be who has accomplished this, or can at any time after- 
 wards reflect upon having accomplished it, with indifference. Now should you tease me for a month I can say no 
 more about it ; but here 
 
 [ ] 
 
 I leave a blank, which you are at liberty to get some one else to fill up upon the subject if he can. And 
 
 now, Tom, you are welcome to quiz my St. Paulserism, if you please. 
 
 I have candidly confessed to you that Possibilifying is a word of my own coining ; St. Paulserism issues from 
 the same illicit manufactory. Now, neither of these being current, I cannot compel you to take them ; so, if you 
 choose, you may nail them down as counterfeits upon the back of your Dictionary, and prevent their getting into 
 circulation to the detriment of the lawful English of the realm. Tom ; if all words of the same stamp put, and 
 putting, forward, were to be treated in that manner, what a very ugly appearance our Johnsons would make ! 
 Why do poor devils sometimes coin base shillings and sixpences ? It is because they are poor devils, destitute of 
 real money. Why do certain writers interlard their pages with such chambermaid-z'sms as I have before alluded 
 to ? It is (for a corresponding reason) because . And that's another of my crotchets. 
 
 And here we are over the Tower. What would Julius Cassar have said at seeing his White Tower, with its 
 four turrets, converted into a stand of cruets ! And here we saw some tiny red things placed all in a row : they 
 moved first one way, then another; now they formed a line, now a square, and so forth. At the Pantheon Bazaar 
 you may see exactly a like toy, which, by merely pulling a bit of string, is made to perform similar evolutions. 
 I wonder whether it be an expensive toy one of much value for it is the toy by which, or strictly speaking, 
 with which, national disputes are settled. This may appear very absurd ; it is, nevertheless, true, and I'll tell you 
 how the matter is managed, Tom. Suppose two great nations squabbling together as to which has the best right 
 to a little bit of barren rock, lately thrown up by some convulsion of Nature, somewhere in the Pacific Ocean ; 
 which little bit of rock is of no use to either party, and to the possession of which neither has the smallest right 
 in the world. Well ; this being " a just quarrel upon the issue of which depends the very existence of this great 
 nation," says one; and this being also a "just quarrel upon the issue of which depends the very existence of this 
 great nation," says the other : instead of settling the dispute by a sincere appeal to reason, common sense, and the 
 common principles of justice for, mind you, they both, in the first instance, make believe to do so instead of that, 
 they set about knocking to pieces each other's toys, and the party whose toys, " by the aid of Divine Providence," 
 hold out the longest, takes rightful possession of the little bit of rock, and enjoys the invaluable privilege 
 of blowing a horn and shouting " Glorious Victory ! " into the bargain. Now that is it exactly ; and if ever you 
 and I should have the misfortune to come to a dispute, we will each purchase one of those toys at the Pantheon 
 Bazaar, and settle our misunderstanding in that very rational manner, Tom. 
 
 By the by, here we heard the tiny band play a small " God save the Queen," in sounds not quite as powerful as 
 those of an Eolian harp ; and touching our " hearings," at seven o'clock we heard the hours struck by the repeaters 
 in half the pepper-casters and extinguishers of London ; such of them as were provided with musical snuff-boxes, 
 chiming the quarters. 
 
 Just over the Jewel Office, one could not help thinking of poor Colonel Blood, of crown-stealing memory. 
 Unlucky dog ! there were no balloons in his days. 
 
 Looking down again, there are six little boxes, detached from each other, all of which might be placed in a 
 
CHAP. XI. NATIONAL (JALLKRY AND .\K\VG ATE. 
 
 1 i oni. They are the warehouses belonging to the St. Kathorine'n Docks! And there are 
 hundi.'!- "I" "tall anchoring barks" (of which, when immediately over them, you HOC neither their matrix 
 nor rigging, nutliiug but their white decks) which appear no bigger than Thames wherries! Pretty little 
 things ! \Vhen ultm-liberaliKm shall have done its bust for free trade, and for the all-against-u* reciprocity system : 
 when all the negroes shall have been trArte-imiiicipatod : when Sambo shall be Kmperur of Jamaica, Alcihiudcs King 
 ! r.irbadoes, and Ptolemy Viceroy of Antigua; what appropriate, what commodious things those diminutive 
 ships and warehouses will be for the purpose* of our Colonies and Commerce! Don't sail away, little ships 
 you may ere long bo wanted. 
 
 Tlio want of appropriateness of adaptation to a purpose is a greater fault, and is more sensibly frit, 
 
 in Architecture, perhaps, than in any other Stop! I will not inflict a dissertation upon you, but merely tell 
 
 yon what put this thought into my head : it was looking from those warehouses to the new Hall of the Goldsmiths' 
 <',,mpany. Those vast, massive, substantial, standing in the naked simplicity of brick and mortar: the Hall a 
 palace, in which ore united splendour and elegance ; which is ornamented with all that the richest fancy, tempered 
 l.y tin- finest taste, could suggest. Tet each, in its way, is an admirable example of appropriateness of exaot 
 adaptation to it* particular purpose. It is not a little extraordinary that two things so dissimilar should have 
 emanated from the same mind, for both are the works of one an-hitert : and it may be a ertod that Hardwick has 
 displayed as correct a taste in its piles of plain brick and mortar as in his gorgeous palace. Another instance 
 f this rjn.ility is under one's eye at the same moment, the noble Post Office; and not far from it, another 
 Vulliamy's Law Institution in Chancery Lane, an edifice which for appropriateness, and for integrity of design, ix 
 not surpassed by any in London. Contrasts, no less than comparisons, are odious : I, therefore, will not say 
 anything about the Wind ! Wind ! hold hard ! Don't blow us back again to the National Gallery. 
 
 And that gloomy stone building is Newgate a prison wherein are confined felons of different degrees in 
 crime, from the petty pilferer to the deliberate assassin. Some are expiating their offences by a temporary loss of 
 lilxTty, others awaiting their day of banishment, haply some the hour of death. By Draco ! but this is intolerable ! 
 What right has man to inflict such sufferings upon his fellow-creatures? How should you like to be caged 
 for three months in a disagreeable room in Newgate and prevented the exercise of your usual avocations ? 
 1 1 'A would you endure the being torn from your family and friends and sent to a country not of your own 
 choosing? With what stomach for your breakfast would you get out of your bed at eight in the morning to be 
 strangled at nine, in the open face of day, and in the presence of thousands of persons collected together to glut 
 their eyes with the sight of a human being throttled with a rope for such is the fashionable phrase you call it 
 the eaitt for describing the execution of a murderer: how, 1 say, would you like that? To this you will repl\ 
 that you never cut a purse, ruined a family by forging a will, or murdered a man in his sleep, because he happened 
 to have five pounds in his waistcoat pocket for which you had a pressing occasion. I repeat it : it is intolerable 
 that any of our fellow-creatures should be treated in a manner which we ourselves should not relish. You are a 
 kind-hearted fellow, Tom ; you feel acutely for the unmerited sufferings of your fellow-creatures, and would to the 
 utmost of your power relieve them : I will even go so far as to admit that you are not bloody-minded. But why 
 will you jHjrsist in calling the new school of Humanity (of which I am an humble disciple) the " Humanity-nm- 
 uiad?" We require nothing more than that then shall be no sort of punishment for any sort of crime : and when 
 through the exertions of the popular member for Dyot Street (who is to be) this principle shall have become the 
 law of the land, then shall Newgate and the Millbank Penitentiary be converted into sets of pleasant and 
 commodious chambers for the retirement of thieves, forgers, and murderers, till the " affair," in their respective 
 cases, has had time to " blow over." 
 
 On the opposite side of the river we saw a line of arches, nearly as large as those of a bagatelle-table, 
 extending to the length of about three miles; and on it were several little trunks, seemingly running away with 
 each other : it was the Greenwich railroad, with its train in progress the prettiest plaything imaginable. 
 I wonder what is to become of all the horses ! Day by day is their utility diminishing. Some time ago, Mr. John 
 Hull, who sometimes cries out before he is hurt, was in a prodigious pucker at the bare idea of Midland sidling to 
 France, Russia, and America, some of her finest race-horses. Why not sell the whole of them, every beast that 
 runs, draws, or carries, donkeys and all, and make railroads and steam-carriages for the money ? It would bring 
 those insolent quadrupeds to their senses, and teach them that we can do without them. As for horse-racing, that, 
 even as things are, is said to be getting a little out, for reasons, if for any, which they may know who are more in 
 the secret than I would pretend to bo. Yet racing might still goon : we could have steam -carriage races. 'lli--n 
 
408 ASTRA C ASTRA. CHAP. XL 
 
 would there be Lord A.'s celebrated Smoke-jack beating Colonel B.'s famous Steam-away by the length of half a 
 boiler ; or it might be a boiler-and-boiler run for the whole distance ; or Smoke-jack might win easy by three 
 carriages. But this style of racing would be liable to one serious evil : suppose some jockey or some gentleman 
 
 were to play tricks with a rival's boiler or his own by clandestinely loosening a screw or so ? Now we know 
 
 very well that, with live animals for racing, no trick ever is, or ever can be played. 
 
 I have a crotchet, though, that should this railroad and steam mania continue much longer, a balloon in the 
 air will be the only safe thing to live in. Like Belvidera, the cry with everybody is, "I'll dig, dig, dig; " and 
 we shall go on digging and digging till, one of these fine days, we shall have the upper crust of the earth 
 breaking in. There'll be a catastrophe for you ! You think I am jesting ? Not a bit of it : I have seldom been 
 more serious upon a grave subject since I first set foot upon this half-scooped-out globe of ours. Conceive, if you 
 can, the quantity of iron already taken, and daily taking, out to make posts of, and columns, and fences, and soft 
 .stuffing for chairs and for mattresses, and railways, and bridges, and steamboats, and cannon and shot, and 
 thousands of other things conducive to the pleasure and benefit of mankind ! Then the millions on millions of 
 bushels of coals ! Gilbert Gurney's friend, Hull himself, might cry " bushels " here ! Why, one-third of the 
 world's solid inside has already been dug out, and let off in smoke. 
 
 Thus far into the bowels of the land, 
 Have we march'd on without impediment ; 
 
 but things can't go on in this way for ever, Tom ; and the end of it will be as I have predicted. 
 
 Then, as if the crisis were not being brought on with sufficient rapidity by great means, it must be assisted 
 by small ! There are your ante-diluvian-deluge people, the geologists there they go about chipping and chipping ! 
 they don't do much, certainly (I mean in the way of mischief), but every little helps. Talking of Geology, how 
 nearly she has put poor Botany's nose out of joint ! Every man, woman, and child you meet have hammers and 
 chisels in their pockets. But by Botany, I mean that science, or rather that part of the science, which teaches 
 young ladies to call some of the prettiest things in Nature by some of the ugliest of names, to say the best 
 of them. By Geology, however, they are taught to use such words only as quartz and silica, and the like, from 
 which they cannot derive an idea ; so that, in that respect she is, perhaps, a safer instructress for them than her 
 less civil-spoken sister. 
 
 Names! How oddly one thought leads on to another ! How would you name the present age ? The Iron Age, 
 but that it lacks novelty. The Age of Smoke or of Steam ? No, the Age of Vapour would be better, for not 
 only are most things kept going by vapour, but also many men. They begin in vapour, they go on vapouring, 
 and in vapour they end. In common parlance, this is called " keeping up appearances." For instance : A banker 
 is in a tottering condition: he starts a new carriage, multiplies his "grand dinners," and "princely enter- 
 tainments" (as they are described by the newspapers), and common report adds a plum to his vast fortune. 
 Matters become worse with him : he makes it known that he is treating for the purchase of a magnificent estate ; 
 he must now b-ave turned a million : and the " house " is besieged by suitors for the favour of being allowed 
 to place their money in the hands of that richest and safest of all existing bankers. Next morning, the "house" 
 is again besieged but the doors are closed as fast as bolts and bars can make them. Accounts are examined : 
 they show that his vast fortune was from the beginning, and is now, 0,000,000/. ; a dividend is declared of 
 five-farthings in the pound, payable at the end of fifteen months, and the "suitors," thrusting their hands 
 
 into their empty pockets, whisper to each other "Vapour!" The next is a shopkeeper, who . But one 
 
 instance may stand for a thousand. An' you love me, Tom, let us call this the Age of Vapour. 
 
 It was now night dark and we had seen all the sights which daylight could show us. And where think 
 you we are now ? Up amongst the raw materials of which are made hail, rain, and snow enveloped in the clouds. 
 It was a fine situation for studying Meteorology, and you may be sure I did not miss the opportunity. I have 
 nearly completed a Weather-Almanac which I will warrant to be wrong not more than nineteen times in every 
 twenty : so you see I have given Murphy the go-by, and with something to spare. 
 
 It was a very nice, clean cloud, Mr. Green chose for us, perfectly white, but (as I believe I have already told 
 you) rather damp. It was so beautifully white that a crotchet took me that it must be the very material of which 
 angels' garments are made. If so, and one had to choose between a fleecy cloud and fleecy-hosiery, I should 
 follow the counsel of my left elbow, which at this moment whispers me for which to decide. It would be 
 an insult to that pure cloud to think of a London fog at the same time with it : even the cleaner and less 
 
dm-. XI. A HINT nil I MiMi:i:o|>y. '' 
 
 .liM.-|,ut:i)>le sea-fog must keep its distance. It was semi -opaipio ; above, beneath, and round about UK . and. although 
 it diil not prevent our seeing each other with pcrfi-i-t ilistinrtness, it seemed to bo MI tightly dmwn rnuml 
 tin 1 iii-ttiu^ tint supported the car, that had one thrust his finger throngh the meshes I fancied In- nmst havi- mad.- 
 a tiiili- in it. Ha! ha! ha! (That is how we uritr a laugh for tho stage, Tom; and I have known art. a* 
 so correct in their study, so scrupulous in the delivery of their text, that they would not give tho au.i 
 a ha! more, or a ha! loss than their author had furnished them with for tho purj>ose. Care ami attention in 
 this respect are faults, however, which some actors I see are much loss prone to commit than some I h iv, 
 seen. But lest you -liquid imagine it is this I was laughing at, no, no I will give you tho laugh in its right 
 place.) Ha! ha! ha! It certainly did seem very odd to be perched up there, like birds in a wire-cage with 
 a white cambric handkerchief thrown over it, suspended from the ceiling, unconscious of tin- slightest motion, 
 midistnrlx-d l>y the slightest sound. 
 
 Well : after some time we descended a little, leaving our nebulous curtain above us. 
 
 Rat Ijonilon showed another sight ! 
 
 I am awan- that this is mat-treating a line of one of Campbell's finest odes, but it has itself mainly to 
 thank for it: why did it thrust itself so obtrusively and temptingly in one's way? Moral, for some young 
 gentlemen, and here and there for a young lady which they may deduce for themselves. 
 
 It was indeed a sight one which has rarely, very rarely, been seen by, or " within the memory of, even tin- 
 oldest Balloonists." Mr. Green himself, in all his two hundred and seventy ascents, cannot number it morn than 
 (I think lie said) four or five times. We certainly had been put upon short allowance of daylight for our 
 observations, but here was a glorious compensation for that deficiency. It teas quite dark. And now conceive 
 yourself looking down on an enormous map of London, with its suburbs to the east, north, and south, as far 
 as the eye could reach, DRAWN is MSIS OF FIRE! For anything beyond this I must leave yon to your own 
 powers of conceiving ; for, to speak frankly, my powers of describing are here at a dead halt. 
 
 A few yearn ago it was calculated that in moral London there were nearly twice as many gin-shops as 
 in reprobate Paris there were coffee-houses, and half as many vendors of physic as of gin. How the account 
 of Parisian coffee-houses may stand now, I know not; but mark tho March of 6'';i-tellect ! to tho disgrace 
 of our country, and of our legislature also, who if it possess tho power of checking or diminishing the evil 
 yet neglects to do so, gin-shops (with equal regard to the refined habits of our lower and lowest classes, anil to 
 the insidious allurements concealed under pretty and palliative names, now designated gin-palaces) gin-shops 
 have more than doubled their number ! Tin- increase of apothocarics'-shops (and they, too, are many of them nick- 
 named " Medical Halls," " Pharmacnpceian Emporiums," and so forth) seems to have maintained its fair proportion 
 With Gin versus Jenner (leaving Physic to an equal balance of kill and cure at the year's end) Malthu.s need not 
 have been so violently alarmed about an overwhelming increase of population. 
 
 " And what put that into your head ? " you will ask. 
 
 It was looking down upon those lines of fire and observing the great number of little brilliant spots of light, 
 blue, green, purple, and crimson, with which they were variegated, each indicating a Temple of -'Esculapius ! 
 \<>w I should not wonder at seeing, in the course of a month, that name in gilt letters over the door of some 
 dirty little physic-shop in St. Giles's. 
 
 To tell you now of two m three pretty, merely pretty things we saw besides this, such as Greenwich by gas- 
 light (though I don't like to throw away such a sweet alliteration) would be an anti-climax. The burning map. 
 therefore, .-lull lie the la-t scene of my pantomime. What a hint for somebody ! 
 
 " The whole to conclude with. 
 
 And has been in preparation for many months, 
 
 \ grand, novel, and truly unprecedented Exhibition, 
 
 TOFALLY REGARDLESS OF ALL K\l'l.N-K. AM) AT AJJ IMMENSE OUTLAY, 
 
 1.'. -solved to gratify the public, and which only the ample means of this Establishment can produce, 
 
 A MAI' OF LONDON, 
 
 i an unrivalled scale of magnificence, drawn from actual measurement by the first Artists 
 IN P. I" l; N 1 NG FIHi: 
 
410 ASTRA CASTRA. CHAP. XI. 
 
 So now, Tom, we'll prepare for our descent. 
 
 But our cautious coachman had taken prudential measures for this not very long after we had cleared 
 the chimney-tops, spires, steeples, and such-like impediments. Hands were set to work his own being sufficiently 
 occupied by the important care of the valve-lines first, to unfix and take in the purple covering which, with its 
 yellow fringes and festoons, conceals the white-wicker nakedness of the car, and gives it so snug an appearance. 
 This being done, and the covering folded up and placed in a bag at the bottom of the carriage, the next order was 
 to let go the grapnel, which was soon dangling at the end of a line of a hundred, or a hundred-and-twenty feet in 
 length. Then, the ballast being arranged so as to he conveniently " served at the shortest notice," we were ready 
 to descend as soon as choice or necessity might require. And, when the final descent was determined upon, 
 " Now," inquired Mr. Green, "how much ballast have we got remaining ? " " Oh, plenty," replied some one. 
 " That answer won't do : how much ?" " Why, five or six bags under this seat and four or five under the other."- 
 " That won't do : how many bags exactly, and what are their weiyhts?" These questions having been satisfactorily 
 
 answered, " Now, Mr. ," continued Green, " be ready with a bag of ballast on your side, and you Mr. 
 
 with one on yc-urs ; and when I call you by name but be sure you wait till you hear your own name called ! 
 please to throw out about four pounds of ballast." 1 give you these particulars, trifling though they be, first, in 
 justice to Mr. Green, who, you will thence gather, is not the man to neglect a chance of safety even of the value 
 of a grain of sand ; and next, as letting you behind the scenes, as it were an indulgence but seldom accorded to 
 the spectators of the public performance, the ascent. 
 
 It was not, however, till nearly two hours after these preliminary measures had been completed that 
 the descent was accomplished. There was little or no wind, as you will infer from the fact that at the end 
 of a three hours' ride we found ourselves no farther than Wanstead. For nearly half an hour, the balloon, 
 having crossed a serpentine thing about six yards long and two inches broad (the River Lea) remained almost 
 stationary over a lime-kiln, near the junction of the Eomford and Chelmsford roads, quite high enough, though, 
 to escape singeing. In vain did Mr. Green bob up and down, and up again, in the hope of meeting with a 
 current that would carry us some where, the further the better; for a descent near London is never desirable 
 (and the less so at night), as the balloon is generally followed by a numerous and mischievous rabble from 
 the outskirts of the town. And so it happened with iis. But up or down it was the same thing ; there never 
 was known a worse season for currents ; so that, at each descent, there was the eternal lime-kiln beneath us, 
 and no one seemed inclined to make that the landing-point. In vain, also, did our captain endeavour to elude 
 the pursuit of the rabble (whose shouts we distinctly heard) by hiding himself in the clouds : no sooner did 
 we reappear than again were we saluted with their "sweet voices." Well; we could not remain up for ever; 
 so, a convenient spot for the purpose being discovered, there we alighted in safety and with perfect ease 
 not the slightest rebound intimating to us that we had touched ground. Should Government ever establish a line 
 of balloon-packets, I hope Mr. Green will be appointed to the command of the best that may be put in com- 
 mission. But this they will do as matter of course : there is no instance upon record of their having appointed 
 to any post or employment an inefficient person. 
 
 It was about a quarter past nine, and quite dark. Four of the party returned to town : five remained to take 
 charge of the balloon. And here we had for companions nearly five hundred of as pleasant persons as ever 
 made odds against five. They were composed chiefly of the veriest rabble that Stepney, Ratcliffe, Limehouse, 
 Poplar, and the eastern outskirts of London could disgorge. " Never till now stood I in such a presence ! " 
 These disinterested gentry had followed us from their respective quarters with the amiable intention of rendering 
 assistance, as they said ; but as their assistance had not been required, their claims for payment for their 
 disinterestedness were rejected. Our captain then ordered all hands on board that is, that we should resume 
 our places in the car whilst he, in the hope of inducing our kind friends to leave us, informed them that 
 his intention was to remain on the heath all night, preparatory to a fresh start at daylight. To discharge his 
 balloon in their presence he dared not, for they would undoubtedly have cut it to pieces : not for the value of the 
 silk and cordage, but merely as specimens for their scrap-books and albums : just as other collectors do sometimes 
 tear prints out of books in libraries, public or private, as ornaments for their own portfolios. Then came their 
 yells, their savage imprecations, " curses both loud and deep ; " their threats to destroy the balloon, an intention 
 which 1 am satisfied was only not fulfilled from a difference of opinion amongst them, touching the best mode of 
 carrying it into execution. To us these divisions in the enemies' camp (or cabinet, if you will) was a victory 
 for both in camps and cabinets divisions tend to the success of the opposite party. At length, wearied by 
 
' BAT. M. FLAT AS A l'.\N< AKL. Ill 
 
 attendance upon us, by twos and fives and tens they dispersed ; till, at about eleven o'clock, we were 
 Aiih some dozen or fifteen men belonging to the neighbourhood, who were useful and civil too. And now 
 y.'ii MI. iv understand what it was that induced my seemingly outof-place question, touching the first Lord 
 Thurlow. 
 
 l'>y midnight tho balloon was gathered in and packed up; and within half an hour afterwards wo were 
 eated at a comfortable deal table, at a road-side public-house the " Eagle and Child " (mercy upon eagle, or 
 i-hilil cither, thut had happened at that moment to full in the way of our hunger !) and regaled with tho best tho 
 larder and cellar afforded : such brcad-and-oheese and ale, Tom ! Tide's most exquisite achievements assisted by 
 Krind's best claret, might without dishonour have dolled <-;i]is tn it. 
 
 1'id you ever see the death, or, ratln r. tin- killing, of a balloon? To be in at tho death of tho "Great 
 Nassau " was a fine sight, and an ample compensation for the inconveniences and discomforts just preceding it 
 K'eiui-mlx-r, the night was dark! Daylight would have marred the effect There was the huge monster whii-h, 
 Inn .1 little while ago, hud flown away with nine of us dangling at its tail, pinned down to the ground. Its p.m. I 
 .ih.i ^i. ic. ful form stood out in b .Id relief against the sombre sky. It had already been crippled by the expulsion 
 me quantity of its bivitli !' life, but it was not a creature to surrender its existence at a blow. Its 
 <!>; ruction was a work of time, and, as the work proceeded, it heaved and panted and groaned, till, its throes 
 becoming fainter and fainter, it finally gave up the gas and lay stretched on the earth as flat as a pancake ! And 
 tiii-ie's a touch of tho sublime for yon. 
 
 An.l now that Im^c. swollen, and swaggering creature, which had lately astonished all beholders, was folded 
 up and placed at the bottom of its own little car, leaving still room above it sufficient to accommodate another 
 of its own proportions! Yet in that there was nothing to wonder at. Had it been self-sustained? No ! (ius 
 pu/ery! had been its innin Mippit. Tom ; I quitted the ground with a moral lesson in my pocket; and it were 
 to be wished that all travellers, whether by land, sea, or air, were as great gainers by (heir excursions. 
 
 I had nearly overlooked one of your questions, which is, whether I would advise you to try a balloon-trip. 
 I would not dissuade you from it, because, with MR. GREKX for your conductor I say this to you with "good 
 emphasis " and, let me add, " sound discretion " the danger of the adventure is reduced to the lowest possible 
 point ; but I would not for any consideration incur the responsibility of inducing you to tempt a region where, 
 should an accident occur and balloons are but silk, bal lunatics but men the consequences, beyond all human 
 skill and prudence to avert or to remedy, must be fatal. Now, I can fancy the happy state of indecision in which 
 this prudent counsel will have placed your mind. But here is something positive for you, just to give it an 
 inclination. Do not go up in a parachute, nor with fireworks, nor with even the tamest tiger that, as yet, stands 
 uuconvicted of having made minced meat of a man. 
 
 \\ till know the fate of that poor simpleton, Cocking (see p. 164) ; so much for parachutes ! 
 
 1 was one of the thousands who saw (and I heard it too) the destruction of Madame Blanchard (7th July, 1819). 
 On the evening of the 6th July, 1819, she ascended in a balloon from the Tiroli Gardens at Paris. At a certain 
 elevation she was to discharge some fireworks which were attached to her car. From my own windows 1 saw the 
 ascent For a few minutes the balloon was concealed by clouds. Presently it reappeared, and there was seen 
 a momentary sheet of flame. There was a dreadful pause. In a few seconds, the poor creature, enveloped and 
 entangled in the netting of her machine, fell with a frightful crash upon the slanting roof of a house in the 
 Hue do Provence (not a hundred yards from where I was standing), and thence into the street, and Madame 
 Blanchard was taken up a shattered corpse ! It was supposed that the rockets which ought to have been made 
 to point </'"/.//</.< were, improperly managed; and thus the catastrophe was accounted for. So much for firework 
 ascents ! 
 
 Of tiger-ascents the results are yet unknown, though they may easily lie guessed at in the event of an 
 accident either above or below. I have already enlightened you with my opinion as to the utility of ballooning: 
 let that pass for just so little as it may be worth ; but I entertain serious doubts as to whether parachutes, or 
 firework ascents can be rendered serviceable to science in any of its branches unless coffin-making be reckoned 
 i if tlie number. Tigers, however, have not yet been put upon their trial; so, till they have, we will give them 
 the benefit of the humane maxim of the English law. 
 
 Y.W, of these three exhibitions, two are both brutal and stupid; and the best that can be said of tho 
 squib-and-cracker affair is, tint, childish as it is, you get in return for the endangering of human life, a pretty 
 
 3 11 
 
412 ASTKA CASTKA. CHAP. XL 
 
 show to stare at. That is something, certainly. But don't you be induced to join any of those parties ; and 
 should your brother Dick, who is now in the commission of the peace, give the weight of his sanction to such 
 mischievous fooleries, even by winking at them, he will deserve to be degraded from his trust. 
 
 But, to return to the subject, and to town, at the same time. The " Eagle and Child " being by no means 
 so well provided with lodging as with refreshments, only two of our party could be accommodated in the former 
 respect ; and conveyances being nowhere procurable at that late hour, shortly after one o'clock, A.M., three of the 
 " intrepid aeronauts " (vide newspapers) marched to London, where we arrived, as well as could be expected, not 
 long after four. 
 
 I should not have noticed this occurrence but that it led to an extraordinary result. Upon my return to 
 town, fatigued by my walk, I threw myself into an easy-chair and fell into what do you think ? a reverie ! Now, 
 though reveries were formerly much in vogue upon occasions like the present, I cannot recollect an instance of an 
 accident of the kind befalling any writer within the present century. 
 
 Well ; I fell into a reverie, and (my head still full of the balloon) I fancied the balloon a statesman, and its 
 conductor, Mr. Fee'dwell, a hireling, parasitical puff-writer, and special Cad to a Literary Omnibus. Fee'dwell 
 inflated the Statesman with his puffs, and the Statesman presently swelled to the dimensions of a Chatham, a Pitt, 
 a Fox- all three in one ! 
 
 Next, a Secretary of State for the . But, hold ! I am looking out for a pension ; so upon this subject 
 
 not a word more even to you, Tom. 
 
 Next, a Poet : Milton, Pope, and Dryden Byron, Campbell, and Rogers, were each, and all together, his 
 inferiors. 
 
 The balloon then became a Painter, and, by the aid of its gas diploma, it was presently swollen into a 
 Rubens! more gas, and it distended to a Titian! more gas, and more "And now," cries the puffster, "up 
 with you, my own-made modern Michael Angelo ! " " What you have made me take me," responds the painter- 
 balloon ; " but keep the gas up ; * for if you, allow me to sink but a foot, you'll find short commons at your next 
 visit to Street." 
 
 Next a Dramatist : and the parasite so be-Congreve'd and be-Massinger'd, so be-Sheridan'd and be- 
 Shakspeare'd him, that I really thought the poor balloon must have burst ! 
 
 Next, a Novel-writer : Up we go ; Goldsmith and Sterne are invisible ; Swift, Richardson, and Fielding, 
 dwindled into specks! "Higher still with me!" cries the Novel-writer; "more gas for me, my prince of 
 parasites ! Pence or pudding, which you will ; but more gas for me, more gas ! " " Dp, up, up, my unparalleled 
 balloon," cries the inflator : " I'm doing it for you : another puff or two and you shall have left the whole world 
 of novelists, romancers, and essayists, immeasurably below you." 
 
 Here methought the smell of the gas became offensive, almost beyond endurance, and I complained of it to 
 Fee'dwell. " Excuse the word," said I, "but it stinks; it is so coarse and strong that the stomach of a dray-horse 
 would reject it : the whole town sickens at it." 
 
 Not so with the balloons it is my business to inflate," replied he : " their stomachs are not so delicate : the 
 stronger it is, the better they relish it. Besides, I do not pretend to the refined art of producing gas from 
 myrrh, and frankincense, and aromatic herbs, nor would they relish it if I could : that would not elevate them 
 a tenth part high enough to please them. No, no ; coarse coal-gas is the thing for our purpose, and the coarser 
 the better." 
 
 The next and last metamorphosis of the balloon was into a whole company of actors ; and I own I wished 
 myself safely out of it, for, now, there was considerable danger of an "awful calamity." Such a clamour! such 
 cries of " Gas ! gas ! more gas ! more ! " that an explosion seemed to be inevitable. I expressed my apprehensions 
 upon the subject. 
 
 " There is less danger of such a catastrophe now than ever," said the puffster : " this balloon will swallow 
 more gas, or, in other words, has a greater capacity for distension than any of the others : cram it as you will, it 
 never thinks itself sufficiently inflated." 
 
 " Surely," said I, " the machine is rising very sluggishly. What is its present altitude ? " 
 
 * I need not inform you, Tom, that the substitution of the increase of gas for the diminishing of the quantity of ballast to produce the 
 required effect, is one of those whimsical blunders to which, in dreams and reveries, we are subject. 
 
T& \fc* f JJT *>J 
 >^ 
 
 
 
 \ 
 
 
 
t. 
 
 ii 
 o 
 
CUM-, xi. Tin: n ri >II;K. 
 
 Iwdl i. ([nested me to look at the HisTRioxoKKrtR which was hanging within the netting. I did HO, ami 
 I" iiinl it \v.iv,'i iirj; 1 -tween one degree below, and one degree above, the point of Mediocrity. 
 
 Ay," saiil 1-Ve'dwfll i Imt rather muttering these words to himself than addressing them to me), "and, 
 oonfnuiiil it ! at M^tiu-nty it will dangle till doomsday unless I give it a puff or two." 
 
 How high am I, my dear Fee'dwell?" cried a voice, which I recognised to bo that of Mr. Horsecollar, 
 a second-rate comic actor. 
 
 I'., i \\.I-H ourselves," replied the puffster, referring to the Histrionometer, "between ourselves, Mr. 
 Hc.rnccollar, you stand at about Pleasant and Tolerable." 
 
 " More gas, more gas, my good, kind puffster!" cried Horsecollar; at the same time thrusting a bundlr of 
 playhouse orders into the hand of the " good, kind " person he was addressing. 
 
 'l'hi> |. 'Ulster, who dared not for his life leave hold of his valve-line, lest the gas should escape and tumble 
 his whole cargo to the ground, requested me to throw over a bag of ballast, one of the tmiullost I could find. 
 I stooped down, and, at the bottom of the car, perceived a small number of tiny bags, varying in weight from 
 a quarter .1' an . .unco to an ounce, each labelled, " JUDGMENT." I emptied out a quarter of an ounce of this bailout, 
 and the balloon shot upwards with amazing rapidity. 
 
 " \Vhere am I now?" continued the same voice. 
 
 Within two degrees of Litton," replied the puffitter, watching the progress of the mercury and reporting 
 accordingly, " You are now at Listen exactly two three ten twenty degrees above him." 
 ivo ! " said Horsecollar ; " but give me a little more gas, my dear boy." 
 
 Another little bag of ballast was discharged, the machine continued to rise, and the report was 
 continued : 
 
 " Fifty degrees all to nothing above him and above Fawxtt and ilunden and and everybody else." 
 
 " More gas, more ! " continued the cormorant. 
 
 But he was interrupted by other claimants, the first of whom was Miss Laura Lcadenlegs, a damn. 
 Something was whispered about " a defafrful leetie feet-shampeter to be given at Twitni'm by Lord Gullborough 
 (who was greatly interested in her /*rfessional edtfiicemunt), and at which she would be permitted to intertloose a 
 frind:" and up went Mii-s Leadenlegs from Detestable to within two degrees of Taglioni ! 
 
 Then came Mr. Ravenscroak (a pupil just launched of Mr. Snacks', the singing-master). I didn't hear what 
 he said, but from Passable, up he was carried through TempUton Wilson Phillips even to /fu/innmark. But, the 
 cry was still for " gas, more gas ! " 
 
 Mr. Simper, the genteel, and lively-comedy-man, who stood at Mediocrity, was rapidly raised above Jiiclutnl 
 Jones and Lewis ; and it is hard to say where he might have been carried had he not been thrust abide by Mr. 
 O'Shamrock, the Irishman of the company. 
 
 " My darling boy, my dear duck of a fellow, what's my mark ? " cried O'Shamrock. 
 
 " Your true mark, my dear Shammy, is Vastly Pleasant, but " 
 
 " And is it my true mark you're after talking about ? Up with me, you spalpane ! Have you forgot 
 to renumber where you're engaged to dine next Sunday, at half-past nine ? " 
 
 The puffster requested me to throw over a whole ounce of ballast, and another, and another ; and the 
 balloon being lightened of such a weight of JUDGMENT, rose till the Iliutrionometer indicated ten degrees above 
 Irish Johnstont. 
 
 " Johnstone be d d ! " cried O'Shamrock. " But up with me, my Oracle 1 Don't forget Sunday, my 
 unparalleled puffster ; so up with me, and say what I am for tipping an tlegant audience, and the true connyihures, 
 a touch of the jontalt." 
 
 Out went bag after bag, and at each rise the puffster answered. " For elegant comedy yon are now at Jones 
 and Lewis and Elluton 
 
 " Acet -pi this little wooden MiufF-box, my darling of the world. It's ugly-looking enough, but it's the greatest 
 cttrossyty in all Europe : it belonged to St. Patrick himself! If you doubt it, I'll have it engraved on the lid. lor 
 proof. So up with me again, my critic u ferities." 
 
 w we are passing John Palmer and now I have puffed you up, even to Charles Kemble. Are you 
 
 iT" 
 
 And is it satisfied you're after waning ? " said O'Shamrock. " Och ! by my shillelagh ! and if you are after 
 
 3 H 2 
 
414 ASTRA CASTRA. CHAP. XI. 
 
 going to come your ' satisfied ' over me, so long as there is sky -room above us, hand me back St. Patrick's 
 snuff-box ; and please to do me the pleasure not to dine with me next Sunday at half-past nine, you niggardly 
 spalpane." 
 
 Lastly came Mr. Daggerbowl, the tragedian. What was his standing-point I did not observe; but having 
 discharged sundry of the little bags, the Histrionometer indicated first, Charles Young, then JOHN KEMBLE ! 
 I trembled for our safety, for this was a fearful height to tumble from ! 
 
 " Higher, higher ! " cried Daggerbowl. " What am I now, my profound ? " 
 
 "And Garrick," responded the parasite, referring to the indicator. 
 
 " That won't do for me, my deep-searching puffster : higher, more gas, higher ! ' 
 
 " Ay, ay, sir, up we go ! " 
 
 " What am I now, my widely-grasping and all-embracing puffster ? " 
 
 " And Mossop," replied the parasite : up we go ! And Barry up we go ! And Betterton. Now we are at 
 Surpassing .' now at Transcendant ! now at Never-approached ! and now at Unapproachalle-and-never-in-this-world-to- 
 be-equalled! Are you satisfied, super-human, O Heaven-inspired Daggerbowl ? " 
 
 " Higher, good puffster ! Higher still, dear parasite ! " cried Daggerbowl. 
 
 Here the whole company was seized with the mania of jealousy, each desiring to be carried as high (or, 
 in the language of the earth, to be as unsparingly bepuffed) as Mr. Daggerbowl. Their cries of " Higher ! 
 higher ! " " More gas for me!" " And me ! " " And me ! " were deafening. But the last tiny bag of JUDGMENT having 
 been exhausted, it was impossible for the still willing parasite to comply with their demands. Finding he could 
 do no more for them, from requests they proceeded to commands, from commands to threats : till at length the 
 puffster, provoked by w.hat he called "their surpassing ingratitude," and warned of his own danger by the 
 rocking of his unballasted and over-inflated balloon, drew his valve-line and, gradually emitting the gas, gently 
 let his whole cargo of Statesman, Poet, Dramatist, Painter, Novelist, and Player, each down to his safe and 
 proper level. 
 
 And is it possible, thought I, that a high-minded balloon, whether in the form of Poet or Player, or any 
 other of a polite or liberal occupation, can so degrade itself as to place its valve-line in the hands of one who, 
 at the best, can give it but a temporary elevation, if unmerited ; as, at the worst, whether in caprice or malice, 
 he can but for a time depress it ! Balloon ! there stands one, your best reliance, whose name is PUBLIC ; who, 
 though he may be made for a while to stare with wonder at your fantastic vagaries when placed too high in 
 air, yet sooner or later will reflection come to his aid, and remind him that there you are supported only by an 
 overcharge of gas, noisome gas. Then will he seize you by your grapnel, and, despite your parasitical inflater, 
 place you afyour just point of elevation neither allowing you to rise much above, nor to sink much below it. 
 Renounce, then, Balloon ! manfully and at once renounce a support not less degrading than insecure ; upon 
 which relying and of which to be bereft, you will fall, fall, fall, a thing for mockery and scorn. 
 
 Scarcely had I concluded this reflection, when MR. PUBLIC (with a smile of good-humoured contempt) just 
 blowing upon the balloon, the monstrous bubble burst with so loud a report that, &c. &c. 
 
 And now, my dear Tom, having only to add that (with all proper regard for the revenue) this long, 
 rambling epistle being [not] " On Her Majesty's Service," you will receive it, as such, under an official frank. 
 
 I conclude by subscribing myself 
 
 One of your most sincere friends now on Earth, 
 
 To , Esq. P. 
 
 One of Edgar Poe's imaginative Tales well deserves a place in this chapter, it is entitled 
 
 " THE UNPARALLELED ADVENTURE OF HANS PFAALL." 
 
 With a heart of furious fancies, 
 
 Whereof I am commander, 
 With a burning spear, and a horse of air, 
 
 To the wilderness I wander. 
 
 Tom o' Bedlam's Song. 
 
 By late accounts from Rotterdam, that city seems to be in a high state of philosophical excitement. Indeed, 
 phenomena have there occurred of a nature so completely unexpected, so entirely novel, so utterly at variance 
 
i MM XI EDGAR FOR ll. 
 
 with pii-.-..in-1-ivi-il opinions, as to leave no doubt on my mind that long ero this all Europe is in an uproar, all 
 ph\ -]. - in a fi i iiu-nt, all reason and astronomy together l>y the ears. 
 
 It .-i]i|n -ars that on the day of (I am not positive about the date), a vast crowd of people, for 
 
 purposes not specifically mentioned, were assembled in the great square of the Exchange in the well-conditi -d 
 
 city "f l;..n. i.l'im. The day was warm unusually so for the season there was hardly a breath of air stirring ; and 
 tin- miiltitmlf were in no bad humour at being now and then besprinkled with friendly showers of momentary 
 duration, tiiut t'rll t'li. MI large white masses of cloud profusely distributed about the blue vault of the firmament. 
 
 thrleKs, about noon, a slight but remarkable agitation became apparent in the assembly; the clattering of 
 ti n thousand tongues succeeded; and, in an instant afterwards, ten thousand faces were upturned towards the 
 heavens, ten thousand pipes descended simultaneously from the corners of ten thousand mouths, and a shout, 
 which could lie compared to nothing but the roaring of Niagara, resounded long, loudly, and furiously, through 
 all ili.- city and through all the environs of Rotterdam. 
 
 The origin of this hubbub soon became sufficiently evident. From behind the huge bulk of one of those 
 sharply- defined masses of cloud already mentioned, was seen slowly to emerge into an open area of blue space, a 
 queer, heterogeneous, but apparently solid substance, so oddly shaped, so whimsically put together, as not to be in 
 any manner comprehended, and never to be sufficiently admired, by the host of sturdy burghers who stood open- 
 mouthed below. What could it be? In the name of all the devils in Rotterdam, what could it possibly portend? 
 N -no knew; no one could imagine; no one not even the burgomaster Mynheer Superbus Von Underduk 
 i. id the slightest clue by which to unravel the mystery; so, as nothing more reasonable could be done, every one, 
 to a man, replaced his pipe carefully in the corner of his mouth, and, maintaining an eye steadily upon the 
 pheiiiiiiifnon, puffed, paused, waddled about, and grunted significantly then waddled back, grunted, paused, and 
 finally puffed again. 
 
 In the mean time, however, lower and still lower towards the goodly city, came the object of so much 
 cm insity, and the cause of so much smoke. In a very few minutes it arrived near enough to be accurately 
 
 m-'l. It appeared to be yes! it uxu undoubtedly a species of balloon ; but surely no fitch balloon had ever 
 been seen in Rotterdam before. For who, let me ask, ever heard of a balloon manufactured entirely of dirty 
 newspapers ? No man in Holland, certainly ; yet here, under the very noses of the people, or rather at some 
 distance above their noses, was the identical thing in question, and composed I have it on the best authority of 
 tin- precise material which no one had ever before known to be used for a similar purpose. It was an egregious 
 insult to the good sense of the burghers of Rotterdam. As to the shape of the phenomenon, it was oven still 
 more reprehensible, being little or nothing better than a huge fool's-cap turned upside down. And this similitude 
 was regarded as by no means lessened, when, upon nearer inspection, the crowd saw a large tassel depending from 
 its apex, and, around the upper rim or base of the cone, a circle of little instruments, resembling sheep-bells, which 
 kept up a continual tinkling to the tune of Betty Martin. But, still worse, suspended by blue ribbons to the end 
 of this fantastic machine, there hung, by way of car, an enormous drab beaver hat, with a brim superlatively 
 broad, and a hemispherical crown with a black band and a silver buckle. It is, however, somewhat remarkable 
 that many citizens of Rotterdam swore to having seen the same hat repeatedly before ; and, indeed, the whole 
 assembly seemed to regard it with eyes of familiarity ; while the vrow Grettel Pfaall upon sight of it uttered an 
 exclamation of joyful surprise, and declared it to be the identical hat of her good man himself. Now this was 
 a circumstance the more to be observed, as Pfaall, with three companions, had actually disappeared from 
 Rotterdam about five years before, in a very sudden and unaccountable manner, and up to the date of this 
 narrative all attempts at obtaining intelligence concerning them had failed. To be sure, some bones, which were 
 thought to be human, mixed up with a quantity of odd-looking rubbish, had been lately discovered in a retired 
 situation to the east of the city ; and some people went so far as to imagine that in this spot a foul murder had 
 been committed, and that the sufferers were in all probability Hans Pfaall and his associates. But to return. 
 
 The balloon (for such no doubt it was) had now descended to within a hundred feet of the earth, allowing 
 the crowd below a sufficiently distinct view of the person of its occupant This was in truth a very singular 
 body. He could not have been more than two feet in height ; but this altitude, little as it was, would have been 
 sufficient to destroy his equilibrium, and tilt him over the edge of his tiny car, but for the intervention of a circular 
 rim reaching as high as the breast, and rigged on to the cords of the balloon. The body of the little man was 
 more than proportionally broad, giving to his entire figure a rotundity highly absurd. His feet of course, could 
 
416 ASTRA CASTEA. CHAP. XI. 
 
 not be seen at all. His hands were enormously large. His hair was grey, and collected into a queue behind. His 
 nose was prodigiously long, crooked, and inflammatory ; his eyes full, brilliant, and acute ; his chin and cheeks, 
 although wrinkled with age, were broad, puffy, and double ; but of ears of any kind there was not a semblance to 
 be discovered upon any portion of his head. This odd little gentleman was dressed in a loose surtout of sky-blue 
 satin, with tight breeches to match, fastened with silver buckles at the knees. His vest was of some bright 
 yellow material; a white taffety cap was set jauntily on one side of his head; and, to complete his equipment, a 
 blood-red silk handkerchief enveloped his throat, and fell down in a dainty manner upon his bosom, in a fantastic 
 bow-knot of super-eminent dimensions. 
 
 Having descended, as I said before, to about one hundred feet from the surface of the earth, the little old 
 gentleman was suddenly seized with a fit of trepidation, and appeared disinclined to make any nearer approach to 
 terra firma. Throwing out, therefore, a quantity of sand from a canvas bag, which he lifted with great difficulty, 
 he became stationary in an instant. He then proceeded, in a hurried and agitated manner, to extract from 
 a side pocket in his surtout a large morocco pocket-book. This he poised suspiciously in his hand ; then eyed it 
 with an air of extreme surprise, and was evidently astonished at its weight. He at length opened it, and, drawing 
 therefrom a huge letter sealed with red sealingwax, and tied carefully with red tape, let it fall precisely at the 
 feet of the burgomaster Superbus Von Underduk. His Excellency stooped to take it up. But the aeronaut, still 
 greatly discomposed, and having apparently no further business to detain him in Rotterdam, began at this moment 
 to make busy preparations for departure ; and it being necessary to discharge a portion of ballast to enable him to 
 reascend, the half dozen bags which he threw out, one after another, without taking the trouble to empty their 
 contents, tumbled, every one of them, most unfortunately, upon the back of the burgomaster, and rolled him over 
 and over no less than half-a-dozen times, in the face of every individual in Eotterdam. It is not to be supposed, 
 however, that the great Underduk suffered this impertinence on the part of the little old man to pass off with 
 impunity. It is said, on the contrary, that during each of his half-dozen circumvolutions he emitted no less than 
 half a dozen distinct and furious whiffs from his pipe, to which he held fast the whole time with all his might, and 
 to which he intends holding fast God willing until the day of his decease. 
 
 In the mean time the balloon arose like a lark, and, soaring far away above the city, at length drifted quietly 
 behind a cloud similar to that from which it had so oddly emerged, and was thus lost for ever to the wondering 
 eyes of the good citizens of Rotterdam. All attention was now directed to the letter, the descent of which, and 
 the consequences attending thereupon, had proved so fatally subversive of both person and personal dignity to his 
 Excellency Von Underduk. That functionary, however, had not failed, during his circumgyratory movements, to 
 bestow a thought upon the important object of securing the epistle, which was seen, upon inspection, to have 
 fallen into the most proper hands, being actually addressed to himself and Professor Eubadub, in their oificial 
 capacities of President and Vice-President of the Eotterdam College of Astronomy. It was accordingly opened by 
 those dignitaries upon the spot, and found to contain the following extraordinary, and, indeed, veiy serious 
 communication : 
 
 To their Excellencies Von Underduk and Eubadub, President and Vice-President of the States' College of Astronomers, 
 
 in t/te City of Rotterdam. 
 
 Your Excellencies may, perhaps, be able to remember an humble artisan, by name Hans Pfaall, and 
 by occupation a mender of bellows, who, with three others, disappeared from Eotterdam, about five years ago, in 
 a manner which must have been considered unaccountable. If, however, it so please your Excellencies, I the 
 writer of this communication, am the identical Hans Pfaall himself. It is well known to most of my fellow- 
 citizens that for the period of forty years I continued to occupy the little square brick building at the head of the 
 alley called Sauerkraut, in which I resided at the time of my disappearance. My ancestors have also resided 
 therein time out of mind they, as well as myself, steadily following the respectable, and, indeed, lucrative, 
 profession of mending of bellows ; for, to speak the truth, until of late years, that the heads of all the people have 
 been set agog with politics, no better business than my own could an honest citizen of Eotterdam either desire or 
 desire. Credit was good, employment was never wanting, and there was no lack of either money or good will. 
 But, as I was saying, we soon began to feel the effects of liberty, and long speeches, and radicalism, and all that 
 sort of thing. People who were formerly the very best customers in the world, had now not a moment of time to 
 think of us at all. They had as much as they could do to read about the revolutions, and keep up with the march 
 
'. XI. HANS ITAALL. 117 
 
 of intellect ami -Li- >piiit t the ago. If a fire wanted fanning, it could readily bo faun. .1 \\itli a newspaper; ami, 
 ,i- iln- (li.veniment grew weaker, I have no doubt that leather and iron acquired durability in piopoiti.m ; f,, r . in 
 a very slum time, there was not a pair of bellows in all Hotterdam that ever stood in need ..f a stitch, or requin .1 
 tli. i- -lance of a hammer. This was a state of thingii not to be endured. I soon grew as poor as a rat, and, 
 .nd children to provide for, my burdens at length became intolerable, and I sp< -nt h..ur after limit- in 
 retle. tiiii; ii|...ii tin- most convenient method of putting an end to my life. Duns, in the mean time, left in.- little 
 leisure for contemplation. My hoiiHO was literally besieged from morning till night There were throe follows in 
 (articular, who worried me ln-yn.1 .-n.luranoe, keeping watch continually about my door, and threatening me' 
 with tin- law. 1'jxui these three I vowed the bitterest revenge, if ever 1 should be so happy OM to get them within 
 my clutches ; and I believe nothing in the world but the pleasure of this anticipation prevented me from putting 
 my plan .if suicide into immediate execution, by blowing my brains out with a blunderbuss. I thought it l>est, 
 to dissemble my wrath, and treat them with promises and fair words, until, by some good turn of fate, an 
 
 unity of vengeance should be afforded me. 
 
 One day, having given them the slip, and feeling more than usually dejected, I continued for a long time to 
 wander about the moat obscure streets without object, until at length I chanced to stumble against the corner of a 
 bookseller's stall. Seeing a chair close at hand for the use of customers, I threw myself doggedly into it, and, 
 hardly knowing why, opened the pages of the first volume which came within my reach. It proved to be a small 
 pamphlet treati-c mi Sj-.-i dative Astronomy, written either by Professor Encke, of Berlin, or by a Frenchman of 
 somewhat similar name. I had some little tincture of information on matters of this nature, and soon became 
 
 and more absorbed in the contents of the book reading it actually through twice before I awoke to a 
 recollection of what was pawing around me. By this time it began to grow dark, and I directed my steps towards 
 home. l!ut the treatise (in conjunction with a discovery in pneumatics, lately communicated to me as an important 
 secret by a cousin from Nantz) had made an indelible impression on my mind; and, as I sauntered along the 
 dusky streets, I revolved carefully over in my memory the wild, and sometimes unintelligible, reasonings of the 
 writer. There are some particular passages which affected my imagination in an extraordinary manner. The 
 longer I meditated upon these, the more intense grew the interest which had been excited within me. 
 The limited nature of my education in general, and more especially my ignorance on subjects connected with 
 natural philosophy, so far from rendering me diffident of my own ability to comprehend what I had read, or 
 inducing me to mistrust the many vague notions which had arisen in consequence, merely served as a further 
 stimulus to imagination; and I was vain enough, or, perhaps, reasonable enough, to doubt whether those crude 
 ideas which, arising in ill-regulated minds, have all the appearance, may not often in effect possess all the force, 
 the reality, and other inherent properties of instinct or intuition. 
 
 It was late when I reached home, and I went immediately to bed. My mind, however, was too much 
 occupied to sleep, and I lay the whole night buried in meditation. Arising early in the morning, I repaired 
 eagerly to the bookseller's stall, and laid out what little ready money I possessed in the purchase of some volumes 
 of Mechanics and Practical Astronomy. Having arrived at home safely with these, I devoted every spare moment 
 to their perusal, and soon made such proficiency in studies of this nature as I thought sufficient for the execution 
 of a certain design with which either the devil or my better genius had inspired me. In the intervals of this 
 period I made every endeavour to conciliate the three creditors who had given me so much annoyance. In this 
 I finally succeeded, partly by selling enough of my household furniture to satisfy a moiety of their claim, and 
 partly by a promise of paying the balance upon completion of a little project which I told them I had in \ 
 ami fur assistance in which I solicited their services. By these means (for they were ignorant men) I found little 
 diflieulty in gaining them over fci my purpose. 
 
 Matters being thus arranged, 1 connived, by the aid of my wife, ami with the greatest secrecy and caution. 
 to dispose of what property I had remaining, and to borrow in small sums, under various pretences, and without 
 giving any attention, I am ashamed to say, to my future means of repayment, no inconsiderable quantity of ready 
 money. NN itli the means thus accruing 1 proceeded to procure, at intervals, cambric muslin, v. rv I'm.-, in ).i, .-us of 
 tw. hi- yai.U each : twine ; a lot of the vainish of caoutchouc; a larpe and deep basket of wickerwork, made to 
 on l.r; and several other articles necessary in the construction and equipment of a balloon of extraordinary 
 dimensions. This I directed my wife to make up as soon as possible, and gave her all requisite information as to 
 the particular method of proceeding. In the mean time- 1 worked up the twine into network of snflu -i. in 
 
418 ASTKA CASTKA. CHAP. XI. 
 
 dimensions, rigged it with a hoop and the necessary cords, and made purchase of numerous instruments 
 and materials for experiment in the upper regions of the upper atmosphere. I then took opportunities 
 of conveying by night, to a retired situation east of Rotterdam, five iron-bound casks, to contain about fifty 
 gallons each, and one of a larger size ; six tin tubes, three inches in diameter, properly shaped, and ten feet in 
 length ; a quantity of a particular metallic substance, or semi-metal, which I shall not name, and a dozen demijohns of 
 a very common acid. The gas to be formed from these latter materials is a gas never yet generated by any other 
 person than myself, or, at least never applied to any similar purpose. I can only venture to say here, that it is 
 a constituent of azote, so long considered irreducible, and that its density is about 37'4 times less than that of hydrogen. 
 It is tasteless, but not odourless ; bums, when pure, with a greenish flame, and instantaneously fatal to animal 
 life. Its full secret I would make no difficulty in disclosing, but that it of right belongs, as I have before hinted, 
 to a citizen of Nantes, in France, by whom it was conditionally communicated to myself. The same individual 
 submitted to me, without being at all aware of my intentions, a method of constructing balloons from the 
 membrane of a certain animal, through which substance any escape of gas was nearly an impossibility. I found it, 
 however, altogether too expensive, and was not sure, upon the whole, whether cambric muslin, with a coating of 
 gum-caoutchouc, was not equally as good. I mention this circumstance, because I think it probable that 
 hereafter the individual in question may attempt a balloon ascension with the novel gas and material I have 
 spoken of, and I do not wish to deprive him of the honour of a veiy singular invention. 
 
 On the spot which I intended each of the smaller casks to occupy respectively during the inflation of the 
 balloon, I privately dug a small hole ; the holes forming in this manner a circle twenty-five feet in diameter. In 
 the centre of this circle, being the station designed for the large cask, I also dug a hole of greater depth. In each 
 of the five smaller holes I deposited a canister containing fifty pounds, and in the larger one a keg holding one 
 hundred and fifty pounds, of cannon-powder. These the keg and the canisters I connected in a proper manner 
 with covered trains ; and, having let into one of the canisters the end of about four feet of slow-match, I covered 
 up the hole, and placed the cask over it, leaving the other end of the match protruding about an inch, and barely 
 visible beyond the cask. I then filled up the remaining holes, and placed the barrels over them in their destined 
 situation. 
 
 Besides the articles above enumerated, I conveyed to the depot, and there secreted, one of M. Grimm's 
 improvements upon the apparatus for condensation of the atmospheric air. I found this machine, however, to 
 require considerable alteration before it could be adapted to the purposes to which I intended making it applicable. 
 But, with severe labour and unremitting perseverance, I at length met with entire success in all my preparations. 
 My balloon was soon completed. It would contain more than forty thousand cubic feet of gas ; would take me up 
 easily, I calculated, with all my implements, and, if I managed rightly, with one hundred and seventy-five pounds 
 of ballast into the bargain. It had received three coats of varnish, and I found the cambric muslin to answer 
 all the purposes of silk itself, being quite as strong, and a good deal less expensive. 
 
 Everything being now ready, I exacted from my wife an oath of secrecy in relation to all my actions from 
 the day of my first visit to the bookseller's stall ; and promising, on my part, to return as soon as circumstances 
 would permit. I gave her what little money I had left, and bade her farewell. Indeed, I had no fear on her 
 account. She was what people call a notable woman, and could manage matters in the world without my 
 assistance. I believe, to tell the truth, she always looked upon me as an idle body a mere makeweight, good 
 for nothing but building castles in the air, and was rather glad to get rid of me. It was a dark night when I 
 bade her good-bye, and taking with me, as aides-de-camp, the three creditors who had given me so much trouble, we 
 carried the balloon, with the car and accoutrements, by a roundabout way, to the station where the other articles 
 were deposited. We there found them all unmolested, and I proceeded immediately to business. 
 
 It was the first of April. The night, as I said before, was dark ; there was not a star to be seen ; and a 
 drizzling rain, falling at intervals, rendered us very uncomfortable. But my chief anxiety was concerning the 
 balloon, which, in spite of the varnish with which it was defended, began to grow rather heavy with the 
 moisture ; the powder also was liable to damage. I therefore kept my three duns working with great diligence, 
 pounding down ice around the central cask, and stirring the acid in the others. They did not cease, however, 
 importuning me with questions as to what I intended to do with all this apparatus, and expressed much 
 dissatisfaction at the terrible labour I made them undergo. They could not perceive (so they said) what good 
 was likely to result from their getting wet to the skin, merely to take a part in such horrible incantations. I began 
 
CII.M-. XI. HANS PFAALL. II:' 
 
 to got uneasy, and worked away with all my might ; for I verily believe the idiots supposed that I had entered 
 into ."mi' i.-t with the devil, and that, in short, what I was now doing was nothing Ix-tt.-t tli.m it should be. 
 I was. theiefor.-. in great fear of their leaving me altogether. I contrived, however, to paeily tin-in by promise* of 
 PIN in. -nt <( all scores in full, as soon as I could bring the present business to a termination. To these speeches 
 they gave, of course, their own in', i] .relation; fancying, no doubt, that at all events I should come into possession 
 of \.ist quantities of ready money; and, provided I paid them nil I owed, and a trifle more, in consideration of 
 tin ir services, I dare say they cared very little what became of either my soul or my carcass. 
 
 In about four hours and a half 1 found the balloon sufficiently inflated. I attached the car, therefore, and 
 (in all my implement* in it a telescope; a barometer, with some important modifications; a thermometer; an 
 electrometer ; a compass ; a magnetic needle ; a seconds watch ; a bell ; a speaking-trumpet, &c. &c. &c. ; also a 
 globe of glass, exhausted of air, and carefully closed with a stopper ; not forgetting the condensing apparatus, 
 some unslacked lime, a stick of sealingwax, a copious supply of water, and a largo quantity of provisions, such as 
 pemmican, in which much nutriment is contained in comparatively little bulk. 1 alwo secured in the car a pair of 
 pigeons and a cat 
 
 It was now nearly daybreak, and I thought it high time to take my departure. Dropping a lighted cigar on 
 the ground, as if by accident, I took the opportunity, in stooping to pick it up, of igniting privately the piece of 
 slow-match, the end of which, as I said before, protruded a little beyond the lower rim of one of the smaller casks. 
 This manoeuvre was totally unperceived on the part of the three duns; and, jumping into the car, I immediately 
 cut the single cord which held me to the earth, and was pleased to find that I shot upwards with inconceivable 
 rapidity, carrying with all ease one hundred and seventy-five pounds of leaden ballast, and able to have carried up 
 as many more. As I left the earth, the barometer stood at thirty inches, and the centigrade thermometer 
 at 19. 
 
 Scarcely, however, had I attained the height of fifty yards when, roaring and rambling up after mo in the 
 most tumultuous and terrible manner, came so dense a hurricane of fire, and gravel, and burning wood, and 
 blazing metal, and mangled limbs, that my very heart sunk within me, and I fell down in the bottom of the car, 
 trembling with tenor. Indeed, I now perceived that I Lad entirely overdone the business, and that the main 
 consequences of the shock were yot to be experienced. Accordingly in less than a second, I felt all the blood in 
 my Inidy rushing to my temples, and, immediately thereupon, a concussion, which 1 shall never forget, burst 
 abruptlv through the night, and seemed to rip the very firmament asunder. When I afterwards had time for 
 reflection, I did not. fail to attribute the extreme violence of the explosion as regarded myself, to its proper cause 
 my situation directly above it, and in the line of its greatest power. But at the time I thought only of preserving 
 my litV. The balloon at first collapsed, then furiously expanded, then whirled round and round with sickening 
 velocity, and finally, reeling and staggering like a drunken man, hurled mo over the rim of the car. and left mo 
 dangling, at a terrific height, with my head downward, and my face outward, by a piece of slender cord about 
 three feet in length, which hung accidentally through a crevice near the bottom of the wickerwork, and in which, 
 as I fell, my left foot became most providentially entangled. It is impossible utterly impossible to form any 
 adequate idea of the horror of my situation. I gasped convulsively for breath a shudder resembling a fit of the 
 ague agitated every nerve and muscle in my frame I felt my eyes starting from their sockets a horrible nausea 
 overwhelmed me and at length I lost all consciousness in a swoon. 
 
 How long I remained in this state it is impossible to say. It must, however, have been no inconsiderable 
 time, for when I partially recovered the sense of existence, I found the day breaking, the balloon at a prodigious 
 height over a wilderness of ocean, and not a trace of land to be discovered far and wide within the limits of the 
 vast horizon. My sensation*, however, upon thus recovering, were by no means so replete with agony as might 
 have been anticipated. Indeed, there was much of madness in the calm survey which I began to take of my 
 situation. I drew up to my eyes each of my hands, one after the other, and wondered what occurrence could have 
 given rise to the swelling of the veins, and the horrible blackness of the finger-nails. I afterwards carefully 
 examined my head, shaking it repeatedly, and feeling it with minute attention, until I Mieee.-d>'d in satisfying 
 myself that it was not, as I had more than half suspected, larger than my balloon. Tin n. in a knowing manner, 
 I felt in both my breeches-pockets, and, missing therefrom a set of tablets and a toothpick-case, endeavoured to 
 account for their disappearance, and, not being able to do so, felt inexpressibly chagrined. It now oeeiirrcd to me 
 that 1 suffered great uneasiness in the joint of my left ankle, and a dim consciousness of my situation began to 
 
 :: i 
 
420 ASTEA CASTRA. CHAP. XI. 
 
 glimmer through my mind. But, strange to say, I was neither astonished nor horror-stricken. If I felt any 
 emotion at all, it was a kind of chuckling satisfaction at the cleverness I was about to display in extricating 
 myself from this dilemma ; and never for a moment did I look upon my ultimate safety as a question susceptible 
 of doubt. For a few minutes I remained wrapped in the profoundest meditation. I have a distinct recollection 
 of frequently compressing my lips, putting my forefinger to the side of my nose, and making use of other 
 gesticulations and grimaces common to men who, at ease in their arm-chairs, meditate upon matters of intricacy 
 or importance. Having, as I thought, sufficiently collected my ideas, I now, with great caution and deliberation, 
 put my hands behind my back, and unfastened the large iron buckle which belonged to the waistband of my 
 pantaloons. This buckle had three teeth, which, being somewhat rusty, turned with great difficulty on their 
 axis. I brought them, however, after some trouble, at right angles to the body of the buckle, and was glad to 
 find them remain firm in that position. Holding within my teeth the instrument thus obtained, I now proceeded 
 to untie the knot of my cravat. I had to rest several times before I could accomplish this manoeuvre ; but it was 
 at length accomplished. To one end of the cravat I then made fast the buckle, and the other end I tied, for 
 greater security, tightly round my wrist. Drawing now my body upwards, with a prodigious exertion of 
 muscular force I succeeded, at the very first trial, in throwing the buckle over the car, and entangling it, as I had 
 anticipated, in the circular rim of the wickerwork. 
 
 My body was now inclined towards the side of the car, at an angle of about forty-five degrees ; but it must 
 not be understood that I was therefore only forty-five degrees below the perpendicular. So far from it, I still lay 
 nearly level with the plane of the horizon ; for the change of situation which I had acquired had forced the bottom 
 of the car considerably outward from my position, which was accordingly one of the most imminent peril. It 
 should be remembered, however, that when I fell, in the first instance, from the car, if I had fallen with my face 
 turned towards the balloon, instead of turned outwardly from it, as it actually was or if, in the second place, the 
 cord \>y which I was suspended had chanced to hang over the upper edge, instead of through a crevice near 
 the bottom of the car I say it may readily be conceived that, in either of these supposed cases, I should have been 
 unable to accomplish even as much as I had now accomplished, and the disclosures now made would have 
 been utterly lost to posterity. I had therefore every reason to be grateful ; although, in point of fact, I was still 
 too stupid to be anything at all, and hung for perhaps a quarter of an hour in that extraordinary manner, without 
 making the slightest further exertion, and in a singularly tranquil state of idiotic enjoyment. But this feeling did 
 not fail to die rapidly away, and thereunto succeeded horror and dismay, and a sense of utter helplessness and 
 ruin. In fact, the blood so long accumulating in the vessels of my head and throat, and which had hitherto 
 buoyed up my spirits with delirium, had now begun to retire within their proper channels, and the distinctness 
 which was thus added to my perception of the danger merely served to deprive me of the self-possession and the 
 courage to encounter it. But this weakness was, luckily for me, of no very long duration. In good time came to 
 my rescue the spirit of despair, and, with frantic cries and struggles, I jerked my way bodily upwards, till, at 
 length, clutching with a vice-like grip the long-desired rim, I writhed my person over it, and fell headlong and 
 shuddering within the car. 
 
 It was not until some time afterwards that I recovered myself sufficiently to attend to the ordinary cares of 
 the balloon. I then, however, examined it with attention, and found it, to my great relief, uninjured. My 
 implements were all safe, and, fortunately, I had lost neither ballast nor provisions. Indeed, I had so well 
 secured them in their places, that such an accident was entirely out of the question. Looking at my watch, 
 I found it six o'clock. I was still rapidly ascending, and the barometer gave a present altitude of three and three- 
 quarter miles. Immediately beneath me in the ocean lay a small black object, slightly oblong in shape, seemingly 
 about the size of a domino, and in every respect bearing a great resemblance to one of those toys. Bringing my 
 telescope to bear upon it, I plainly discerned it to be a British ninety-four gun ship, close-hauled, and pitching 
 heavily in the sea with her head to the W.S.W. Besides this ship, I saw nothing but the ocean and the sky, and 
 the sun, which had long risen. 
 
 It is now high time that I should explain to your Excellencies the object of my voyage. Your Excellencies 
 will bear in mind that distressed circumstances in Eotterdam had at length driven me to the resolution of com- 
 mitting suicide. It was not, however, that to life itself I had any positive disgust, but that I was harassed beyond 
 endurance by the adventitious miseries attending my situation. In this state of mind, wishing to live, yet wearied 
 with life, the treatise at the stall of the bookseller, backed by the opportune discovery of my cousin of Nantz, 
 
CIIAI-. XI. THK MOON'S MMAVT. 1 1MM Till: r.AIITII. I'Jl 
 
 opened a roaourco to my imagination. I then finally niado up my mind. I determined to depart, jet live to 
 the world, \ct continue to exist in short, to drop enigmas, I resolved, let what would ensue, to force a 
 passage, if I eoiild, to the moon. Now, lest I should be supposed more of a madman than 1 actually am, I will detail, 
 us \\, II .1- I ma able, the considerations which led me to believe that an achievement of this nature, although 
 without doubt difficult and full of danger, was not absolutely, to a bold spirit, beyond the confine* of the possible. 
 
 The moon's actual distance from the earth was the first thing to be attended to. Now, the mean or average 
 interval lx-t w. the centra of the two planets is 59-9643 of the earth's equatorial radii, or only about 237,000 miles. 
 I say the mean or average interval ; but it must be borne in mind, that the form of the moon's orbit being an 
 ellipse ot'ero -ntrii-ity amounting to no less than 0'054S1 of the major semi-axis of the ellipse itself, and the earth's 
 centre being situated in its focus, if I could, in any manner, contrive to meet the moon in its perigee, the abovo- 
 iii'-nti.'],ed distance would be materially diminished. Hut to say nothing at present of this possibility, it was very 
 certain that, at all events, from the 237,000 miles I would have to deduct the radiwt of the earth, say 4000, and the 
 radius of the moon, Kay 1080, in all 5080, leaving an actual interval to be traversed, under average circumstances, of 
 231,920 miles. Now this, I reflected, was no very extraordinary distance. Travelling on the land has been 
 repeatedly accomplished at the rate of sixty miles per hour, and, indeed, a much greater speed may be anticipated ; 
 but even at this velocity, it would take mo no more than 161 days to reach the surface of the moon. There were, 
 however, many particulars inducing me to believe that my average rate of travelling might possibly very much 
 exceed that of sixty miles per hour ; and as those considerations did not fail to make a deep impression upon my 
 mind, I will mention them more fully hereafter. 
 
 The next point to be regarded was one of far greater importance. From indications afforded by the 
 barometer, we find that, in ascensions from the surface of the earth, we have, at the height of 1000 feet, left below 
 us about one- thirtieth of the entire mass of atmospheric air; that at 10,600, we have ascended through nearly 
 one-third ; and that at 18,000, which is not far from the elevation of Cotopaxi, we have surmounted one-half the 
 material, or, at all events, one-half the ponderable body of air incumbent upon our globe. It is also calculated that 
 at an altitude not exceeding the hundredth part of the earth's diameter that is, not exceeding eighty miles the 
 rarefaction would be so excessive that animal life could in no manner bo sustained, and, moreover, that the most 
 delicate means we possess of ascertaining the presence of the atmosphere would be inadequate to assure us of its 
 exist -IK c. 1 ut I did not fail to perceive that these latter calculations are founded altogether on our experimental 
 knowledge of the properties of air, and the mechanical laws regulating its dilation and compression, in what may 
 be called, comparatively speaking, the immediate vicinity of the earth itself; and, at the same time, it is taken for 
 granted that animal life is and must be essentially incapable of modification at any given unattainable distance from 
 the surface. Now, all such reasoning and from such data, must of course be simply analogical. The greatest 
 height ever reached by man was that of 25,000 feet, attained in the aeronautic expedition of Messieurs Gay-Lussac 
 and Biot This is a moderate altitude, even when compared with the eighty miles in question ; and 1 could not 
 help thinking that the subject admitted room for doubt and great latitude for speculation. 
 
 But, in point of fact, an ascension being made to any given altitude, the ponderable quantity of air surmounted 
 in any farther ascension is by no means in proportion to the additional height ascended, as may be plainly seen 
 from what has been stated before, but in a ratio constantly decreasing. It is therefore evident that, ascend as high 
 as we may, we cannot, literally speaking, arrive at a limit beyond which no atmosphere is to be found. It must 
 exist, I argued ; although it may exist in a state of infinite rarefaction. 
 
 On the other hand, I was aware that arguments have not been wanting to prove the existence of a real and 
 definite limit to the atmosphere, beyond which there is absolutely no air whatsoever. But a circumstance which 
 has been left out of view l>y those who contend for such a limit, seemed to me, although no positive refutation of 
 their creed, still a point worthy very serious investigation. On comparing the intervals between the successive 
 arrivals of Kncke's comet at its perihelion, after giving credit, in the most exact manner, for all the disturbances 
 due to the attractions of the planets, it appears that the periods are gradually diminishing ; that is to say, the 
 major axis of the comet's ellipse is growing shorter, in a slow but perfectly regular decrease. Now, th 
 precisely what ou^ht to l>e the case, if we suppose a resistance experienced from the comet from an extremely 
 rare ethereal medium pervading the regions of its orbit. For it is evident that such a medium must, in retarding 
 the comet's velocity, increase its centripetal, by weakening its centrifugal force. In other words, the Min'.s 
 attraction would be constantly attaining greater power, and the comet would be drawn nearer at every revolution. 
 
 3 I 2 
 
422 ASTRA CASTKA. CHAP. XI. 
 
 Indeed, there is no other way of accounting for the variation in question. But again : The real diameter of the 
 same comet's nebulosity is observed to contract rapidly as it approaches the sun, and dilate with equal rapidity in 
 its departure towards its aphelion. Was I not justifiable in supposing, with M. Valz, that this apparent conden- 
 sation of volume has its origin in the compression of the same ethereal medium I have spoken of before, and 
 which is dense in proportion to its vicinity to the sun ? The lenticular-shaped phenomenon, also, called the 
 zodiacal light, was a matter worthy of attention. This radiance, so apparent in the tropics, and which cannot be 
 mistaken for any meteoric lustre, extends from the horizon obliquely upwards, and follows generally the direction 
 of the sun's equator. It appeared to me evidently in the nature of a rare atmosphere extending from the sun out- 
 wards, beyond the orbit of Venus at least, and I believed indefinitely further.* Indeed, this medium I could not 
 suppose confined to the path of the comet's ellipse, or to the immediate neighbourhood of the sun. It was easy, 
 on the contrary, to imagine it pervading the entire regions of our planetary system, condensed into what we call 
 atmosphere at the planets themselves, and perhaps at some of them modified by considerations purely geological ; 
 that is to say, modified or varied in its proportions (or absolute nature) by matters volatilised from the 
 respective orbs. 
 
 Having adopted this view of the subject, I had little further hesitation. Granting that on my passage 
 I should meet with atmosphere essentially the same as at the surface of the earth, I conceived that, by means of the 
 very ingenious apparatus of M. Grimm, I should readily be enabled to condense it in sufficient quantity for 
 the purposes of respiration. This would remove the chief obstacle in a journey to the moon. I had, indeed, 
 spent some money and great labour in adapting the apparatus to the object intended, and confidently looked 
 forward to its successful application, if I could manage to complete the voyage within any reasonable period. 
 This brings me back to the rate at which it would be possible to travel. 
 
 It is true that balloons, in the first stage of their ascensions from the earth, are known to rise with a velocity 
 comparatively moderate. Now, the power of elevation lies altogether in the superior gravity of the atmospheric 
 air compared with the gas in the balloon ; and, at first sight, it does not appear probable that, as the balloon 
 acquires altitude, and consequently arrives successively in atmospheric strata of densities rapidly diminishing I 
 say, it does not appear at all reasonable that, in this its progress upward, the original velocity should be 
 accelerated. On the other hand, I was not aware that, in any recorded ascension, a diminution had been proved 
 to be apparent in the absolute rate of ascent ; although such should have been the case, if on account of nothing 
 else, on account of the escape of gas through balloons ill constructed, and varnished with no better material than 
 the ordinary varnish. It seemed, therefore, that the effect of such escape was only sufficient to counterbalance the 
 effect of the acceleration attained in the diminishing of the balloon's distance from the gravitating centre. I now 
 considered that, provided in my passage I found the medium I had imagined, and provided it should prove to be 
 essentially what we denominate atmospheric air, it could make comparatively little difference at what extreme state 
 of rarefaction I should discover it that is to say, in regard to my power of ascending ; for the gas in the balloon 
 would not only be itself subject to similar rarefaction (in proportion to the occurrence of which, I could suffer an 
 escape of so much as would be requisite to prevent explosion), but, being what it was, would, at all events, continue 
 specifically lighter than any compound whatever of mere nitrogen and oxygen. Thus there was a chance in 
 fact, there was a strong probability that, at no epoch of my ascent, I should reach a point where the united weights of my 
 immense balloon, the inconceivably rare gas within it, the car, and its contents, should equal the weight of the mass of the surrounding 
 atmosphere displaced ; and this will be readily understood as the sole condition upon which my upward flight would 
 be arrested. But, if this point were even attained, I could dispense with ballast and other weight to the amount 
 of nearly 300 pounds. In the mean time, the force of gravitation would be constantly diminishing in proportion to 
 the squares of the distances, and so, with a velocity prodigiously accelerating, I should at length arrive in those 
 distant regions where the force of the earth's attraction would be superseded by that of the moon. 
 
 There was another difficulty, however, which occasioned me some little disquietude. It has been observed, 
 that, in balloon ascensions to any considerable height, besides the pain attending respiration, great uneasiness is 
 experienced about the head and body, often accompanied with bleeding at the nose, and other symptoms of an 
 alarming kind, and growing more and more inconvenient in proportion to the altitude attained. f This was 
 
 * The zodiacal light is probably what the ancients called Trabes. 
 Emicant Trabes quos docos vacant. Pliny, lib. 2, p. 26. 
 
 t Since the original publication of Hans Pi'aall, I find that Mr. 
 
 Green, of Nassau balloon notoriety, and other late aeronauts, deny 
 the assertions of Humboldt, in this respect, and speak of a decreasing 
 inconvenience precisely in accordance with the theory here urged. 
 
CII.M-. XI. LIFE SUSTAIN Kl> IN A VACUUM. I-'. 1 : 
 
 a reflection ..f :t n:itur<- Kotuewhat Martling. Was it not probable that these symptoms would increase until 
 t. riuiimtc.l \,y death itself ''. I finally thought not Their origin was to be looked for in the progressive removal 
 of the customary atmospheric pressure upon the surface of the body, and consequent distcntion of the superficial 
 blood-vesselsnot in any positive disorganisation ..f the animal system, as in the case of difficulty in breathing, 
 where the atmospheric density is chemically insufficiutf for the due renovation of blood in a ventricle of the heart 
 I nl. -.* f,,r .1,-fault of this renovation, I could nee no reason, therefore, why life could not be sustained even in 
 * vacuum ; for the expansion and compression of chest, commonly called breathing, is action purely muscular, and 
 the cause, not the e/tct, of respiration. In a word, I conceived that, as the body should become habituated to the 
 want of atmospheric pressure, these sensations of pain would gradually diminish ; and, to endure them while they 
 continued, I relied with confidence upon the iron hardihood of my constitution. 
 
 Thus, may it please your Excellencies, I have- detailed some, though by no means all, the considerations 
 which led me to form the project of a lunar voyage. I shall now proceed to lay before you the result of an 
 attempt so apparently audacious in conception, and, at all events, so utterly unparalleled in the annals 
 of mankind. 
 
 I Living attained the altitude before mentioned that is to say, three miles and three quarters I throw out 
 from the car a quantity of feathers, and found that I still ascended with sufficient rapidity; there was, therefore, 
 no necessity for discharging any ballast. I was glad of this, for I wished to retain with mo as much weight as 
 ;!.l carry, for the obvious reason that I could not be positivs either about the gravitation or the atmospheric 
 density of the moon. I as yet suffered no bodily inconvenience, breathing with great freedom, and feeling no 
 pain whatever in the head. The cat was lying very demurely upon my coat, which I had taken off, and eyeing 
 the pigeons with an air of nonchalance. These latter being tied by the leg, to prevent their escape, were busily 
 employed in picking up some grains of rice scattered for them in the bottom of the car. 
 
 At twenty minutes past six o'clock, the barometer showed an elevation of 26,400 feet, or five miles to a frac- 
 tion. The prospect seemed unbounded. Indeed, it is very easily calculated, by means of spherical geometry, how 
 great an extent of the earth's area I beheld. The convex surface of any segment of a sphere is, to the entire 
 surface of the sphere itself, as the versed sine of the segment to the diameter of the sphere. Now, in my case, the 
 versed sine that is to say, the thickness of the segment beneath me was about equal to my elevation, or the eleva- 
 tion of the point of sight above the surface. "As five miles, then, to eight thousand," would; express the 
 proportion of the earth's area seen by me. In other words, I beheld as much as a sixteen-hundredth part of 
 the whole surface of the globe. The sea appeared unruffled as a mirror, although, by means of the telescope, 
 I could perceive it to be in a state of violent agitation. The ship was no longer visible, having drifted away, 
 apparently, to the eastward. I now began to experience, at intervals, severe pain in the head, especially about 
 the ears still, however, breathing with tolerable freedom. The cat and pigeons seemed to suffer no incon- 
 venience whatever. 
 
 At twenty minutes before seven, the balloon entered a long series of dense cloud, which put mo to great trouble, 
 by damaging my condensing-apparatus, and wetting me to the skin. This was, to be sure, a singular rencontre, for 
 I had not believed it possible that a cloud of this nature could be sustained at so great an elevation. I thought it 
 best, however, to throw out two five-pound pieces of ballast, reserving still a weight of one hundred and sixty-five 
 pounds. Upon so doing I soon rose above the difficulty, and perceived immediately that I had obtained a great 
 increase in my rate of ascent. In a few seconds after my leaving the cloud, a flash of vivid lightning shot from 
 one end of it to the other, and caused it to kindle up, throughout its vast extent, like a mass of ignited charcoal 
 This, it must be remembered, was in the broad light of day. No fancy may picture the sublimity which might 
 have been exhibited by a similar phenomenon taking place during the darkness of the night. I Ml itself 
 might then have found a fitting im.ip>. Kven as it was, my hair stood on end, while 1 gazed afar down within the 
 yawning abysses, letting imagination descend, and stalk about in the strange vaulted halls, and ruddy gulfs, and 
 red ghastly chasms of the hideous and unfathomable fire. I had indeed made a narrow escape. Had the balloon 
 remained a very short time loii^r within the cloud that is to say, had not the inconvenience- of getting wot 
 determined me to discharge the ballast my destruction might, and probably would, have been the consequence. 
 Such perils, although little consider. ,1. MI. perhaps the greatest which must be encountered in balloons. I had by 
 this time, however, attained too great an elevation to be any longer uneasy on this head. 
 
 I was now rising rapidlv, an.l l.y \<-n o'cl.x-k the Km.m, -t. -r indicated an altitude of no less than nine miles 
 
424 ASTEA CASTEA. CHAP. XL 
 
 and a half. I began to find great difficulty in drawing my breath. My head, too, was excessively painful ; and, 
 having felt for some time a moisture about my cheeks, I at length discovered it to be blood, which was oozing quite 
 fast from the drums of my ears. My eyes, also, gave me great uneasiness. Upon passing the hand over them they 
 seemed to have protruded from their sockets in no inconsiderable degree ; and all objects in the car, and even the 
 balloon itself, appeared distorted to my vision. These symptoms were more than I had expected, and occasioned 
 me some alarm. At this juncture, very imprudently, and without consideration, I threw out from the car three 
 five-pound pieces of ballast. The accelerated rate of ascent thus obtained carried me too rapidly, and without 
 sufficient gradation, into a highly rarefied stratum of the atmosphere, and the result had nearly proved fatal to my 
 expedition and to myself. I was suddenly seized with a spasm which lasted for more than five minutes, and even 
 when this, in a measure, ceased, I could catch my breath only at long intervals, and in a gasping manner bleeding 
 all the while copiously at the nose and ears, and even slightly at the eyes. The pigeons, appearing distressed in the 
 extreme, struggled to escape, while the cat mewed piteously, and, with her tongue hanging out of her mouth, 
 staggered to and fro in the car as if under the influence of poison. I now, too late, discovered the great rashness of 
 which I had been guilty in discharging the ballast, and my agitation was excessive. I anticipated nothing less 
 than death, and death in a few minutes. The physical suffering I underwent contributed also to render me nearly 
 incapable of making any exertion for the preservation of my life. I had, indeed, little power of reflection left, and 
 the violence of the pain in my head seemed to be greatly on the increase. Thus I found that my senses would 
 shortly give way altogether, and I had already clutched one of the valve-ropes with the view of attempting 
 a descent, when the recollection of the trick I had played the three creditors, and the possible consequences to 
 myself should I return, operated to deter me for the moment. I lay down in the bottom of the car, and endeavoured 
 to collect my faculties. In this I so far succeeded as to determine upon the experiment of losing blood. Having no 
 lancet, however, I was constrained to perform the operation in the best manner I was able, and finally succeeded 
 in opening a vein in my left arm, with the blade of my penknife. The blood had hardly commenced flowing when 
 I experienced a sensible relief, and by the time I had lost about half a moderate basinful, most of the worst symp- 
 toms had abandoned me entirely. I nevertheless did not think it expedient to attempt getting on my feet 
 immediately ; but, having tied up my arm as well as I could, I lay still for about a quarter of an hour. At the 
 end of this time I arose, and found myself freer from absolute pain of any kind than I had been during the last hour 
 and a quarter of my ascension. The difficulty of breathing, however, was diminished in a very slight degree, and 
 I found that it would soon be positively necessary to make use of my condenser. In the mean time, looking towards 
 the cat, who was again snugly stowed away upon my coat, I discovered, to my infinite surprise, that she had taken 
 the opportunity of my indisposition to bring into light a litter of three little kittens. This was an addition to the 
 number of passengers on my part altogether unexpected ; but I was pleased at the occurrence. I would afford me 
 a chance of bringing to a kind of test the truth of a surmise which more than anything else had influenced me in 
 attempting this ascension. I had imagined that the habitual endurance of the atmospheric pressure at the surface of 
 the earth was the cause, or nearly so, of the pain attending animal existence at a distance above the surface. 
 Should the kittens be found to suffer uneasiness in an equal degree with their mother, I must consider my theory in 
 fault, but a failure to do so I should look upon as a strong confirmation of my idea. 
 
 By eight o'clock I had actually attained an elevation of seventeen miles above the surface of the earth. Thus 
 it seemed to me evident that my rate of ascent was not only on the increase, but that the progression would have 
 been apparent in a slight degree even had I not discharged the ballast which I did. The pains in my head and 
 ears returned at intervals with violence, and I still continued to bleed occasionally at the nose ; but, upon the 
 whole, I suffered much less than might have been expected. I breathed, however, at every moment with more 
 and more difficulty, and each exhalation was attended with a troublesome spasmodic action of the chest. I now 
 unpacked the condensing-apparatus, and got it ready for immediate use. 
 
 The view of the earth, at this period of my ascension, was beautiful indeed. To the westward, the north- 
 ward, and the southward, as far as I could see, lay a boundless sheet of apparently unruffled ocean, which every 
 moment gained a deeper and deeper tint of blue. At a vast distance to the eastward, although perfectly 
 discernible, extended the islands of Great Britain, the entire Atlantic coasts of France and Spain, with a small 
 portion of the northern part of the continent of Africa. Of individual edifices not a trace could be discovered, and 
 the proudest cities of mankind had utterly faded away from the face of the earth. 
 
 What mainly astonished me, in the appearance of things below, was the seeming concavity of the surface of 
 
CHAP. XI ITSS MAKT.S A nr.AUTY MKAI.. _:, 
 
 the glolv. I had, thoughtlessly enough, expected to see its real convexity become evident u I tucendod j but a very 
 little reflection sufficed to explain the discrepancy. A line, dropped from my position jv, r] ii.licularly to the earth, 
 would have formed tin. perjK-ndicular of a right-angled triangle, of which the base would have extended from the 
 right angle to the horizon, and the hypothenuse from the horizon to my position. Hut my height was little or 
 mulling in comparison with my prospect In other words, the base and hypothenuso of the supposed triangle 
 would, in my cane, have been so long, when compared to the perpendicular, that the two former might have been 
 regarded as nearly parallel. In this manner the horizon of the aeronaut appears always to bo upon a level with the 
 oar. Hut as the point immediately beneath him seems, and is, at a groat distance below him, it seems, of course, 
 also at a great distance below the horizon. Hence the impression of concavity ; and this impression roust remain 
 until the elevation shall bear so great a proportion to the prospect that the apparent parallelism of the base and 
 hypotheiiiisc disappears. 
 
 The pigeons about this time seeming to undergo much suffering, I determined upon giving them their lil 1 1 v. 
 I fir.-t untied one of them, a l>eautiful grey-mottled pigeon, and placed him upon the rim of the wickerwork. He 
 appeared extremely uneasy, looking anxiously around him, fluttering his wings, and making a loud cooing noise, 
 but could not be persuaded to trust himself from the car. I took him up at last, and threw him to about 
 half-a-dozen yards from the balloon. Ho made, however, no attempt to descend, as 1 had expected, but struggled 
 with great vehemence to got back, uttering at the same time very shrill and piercing cries. Ho at length 
 succeeded in regaining his former station on the rim, but had hardly done so when his head dropped upon his 
 breast, and he foil dead within the car. The other one did not prove so unfortunate. To prevent his following 
 the example of his companion, and accomplishing a return, I threw him downwards with all my force, and won 
 pleased to find him continue his descent with great velocity, making use of his wings with ease, and in a perfectly 
 natural manner. In a very short time ho was out of sight, and I have no doubt he reached home in safety. Ihics. 
 who seemed in a great measure recovered from her illness, now made a hearty meal of the dead bird, and then 
 went to sleep with much apparent satisfaction. Her kittens were quite lively, and so far evinced not the slightest 
 sign of any uneasiness. 
 
 At a quarter past eight, being able no longer to draw breath without the most intolerable pain, T proceeded 
 forthwith to adjust around the car the apparatus belonging to the condenser. This apparatus will require some 
 little explanation, and your Excellencies will please to bear in mind that my object, in the first place, was to 
 surround myself and car entirely with a barricade against the highly-rarefied atmosphere in which I was existing, 
 with the intention of introducing within this barricade, by means of my condenser, a quantity of this same 
 atmosphere sufficiently condensed for the purposes of respiration. With this object in view, I had prepared a very 
 strong, perfectly air-tight, but flexible gum-elastic bag. In this bag, which was of sufficient dimensions, the entire 
 car was in a manner placed. That is to say, it (the bag) was drawn over Ihe whole bottom of the car, up its sides, 
 and so on, along the outside of the ropes, to the upper rim, or hoop, where the network is attached. Having 
 pulled the bag up in this way, and formed a complete enclosure on all sides, and at bottom, it was now necessary 
 to fasten up its top, or mouth, by passing its material over the hoop of the network in other words, between the 
 network and the hoop. But if the network were separated from the hoop to admit this passage, what was to 
 sustain the car in the mean time? Now, the network was not permanently fastened to the hoop, but attached by 
 a scries of running loops or nooses. I therefore undid only a few of these loops at one time, leaving the car 
 suspended by the remainder. Having thus inserted a portion of the cloth forming the upper part of the bag, 
 I refastened the loops not to the hoop, for that would have been impossible, since the cloth now intervened but 
 to a series of large buttons, affixed to the cloth itself, about three feet below the mouth of the bag ; the intervals 
 between the buttons having been made to correspond to the intervals between the loops. This done, a few more of 
 the loops were fastened from the rim, a further portion of the cloth introduced, and the disengaged loops then con- 
 nected with their ]in.|-r buttons. In this way it was possible to insert the whole upper part of the bag betw. . n 
 the network and the hoop. It is evident that the hoop would now drop down within the car, while the whole 
 weight of the car itnelf, with all its contents, would be held up merely by the strength of the buttons. This, at 
 first sight, would seem an inadequate dependence; but it was by no means so, for the buttons were not only very 
 strong in themselves, but so close together that a very slight portion of the whole weight was supported by any one 
 of them. Indeed, had the car and contents 1 . n three times heavier than they were, I should not have been at all 
 uneasy. I now raised up the hoop again within the covering of gum-elastic, and propped it at nearly it.s former 
 
426 ASTEA CASTRA. CHAP. XI. 
 
 height hy means of three light poles prepared for the occasion. This was clone, of course, to keep the bag distended 
 at the top, and to preserve the lower part of the network in its proper situation. All that now remained was to 
 fasten up the mouth of the enclosure ; and this was readily accomplished by gathering the folds of the material 
 together, and twisting them up very tightly on the inside by means of a kind of stationary tourniquet. 
 
 In the sides of the covering thus adjusted round the car had been inserted three circular panes of thick but 
 clear glass, through which I could see without difficulty around me in every horizontal direction. In that portion 
 of the cloth forming the bottom was likewise a fourth window of the same kind, and corresponding with a small 
 aperture in the floor of the car itself. This enabled me to see perpendicularly down, but having found it impossible 
 to place any similar contrivance overhead, on account of the peculiar manner of closing up the opening there, and 
 the consequent wrinkles in the cloth, I could expect to see no objects situated directly in my zenith. This, of 
 course, was a matter of little consequence ; for, had I even been able to place a window at top, the balloon itself 
 would have prevented my making any use of it. 
 
 About a foot below one of the side windows was a circular opening three inches in diameter, and fitted with 
 a brass rim adapted in its inner edge to the windings of a screw. In this rim was screwed the large tube of the . 
 condenser, the body of the machine being, of course, within the chamber of gum-elastic. Through this tube 
 a quantity of the rare atmosphere circumjacent being drawn by means of a vacuum created in the body of the 
 machine, was thence discharged, in a state of condensation, to mingle with the thin air already in the chamber. 
 This operation, being repeated several times, at length filled the chamber with atmosphere proper for all the 
 purposes of respiration. But, in so confined a space, it would in a short time necessarily become foul and unfit for 
 use from frequent contact with the lungs. It was then ejected by a small valve at the bottom of the car, the dense 
 air readily sinking into the thinner atmosphere below. To avoid the inconvenience of making a total vacuum at 
 any moment within the chamber this purification was never accomplished all at once, but in a gradual manner ; 
 the valve being opened only for a few seconds, then closed again, until one or two strokes from the pump of the 
 condenser had supplied the place of the atmosphere ejected. For the sake of experiment I had put the cat and 
 kittens in a small basket, and suspended it outside the car to a button at the bottom, close to the valve, through 
 which I could feed them at any moment when necessary. I did this at some little risk, and before closing the 
 mouth of the chamber, by reaching under the car with one of the poles before mentioned, to which a hook had been 
 attached. As soon as dense air was admitted in the chamber, the hoop and poles became unnecessary ; the expan- 
 sion of the enclosed atmosphere powerfully distending the gum-elastic. 
 
 By the time I had fully completed these arrangements, and filled the chamber as explained, it wanted only 
 ten minutes of nine o'clock. During the whole period of my being thus employed, I endured the most terrible 
 distress from difficulty of respiration ; and bitterly did I repent the negligence, or rather fool-hardiness, of which 
 I had been guilty, in putting off to the last moment a matter of so much importance. But, having at length 
 accomplished it, I soon began to reap the benefit of my invention. Once again I breathed with perfect freedom and 
 ease ; and, indeed, -why should I not ? I was also agreeably surprised to find myself in a great measure relieved 
 from the violent pains which had hitherto tormented me. A slight headache, accompanied with a sensation of 
 fulness or distension about the wrists, the ankles, and the throat, was nearly all of which I had now to complain. 
 Thus it seemed evident that a greater part of the uneasiness attending the removal of atmospheric pressure had 
 actually worn off, as I had expected, and that much of the pain endured for the last two hours should have been 
 attributed altogether to the effects of a deficient respiration. 
 
 At twenty minutes before nine o'clock that is to say, a short time prior to my closing up the mouth of the 
 chamber the mercury attained its limits, or ran down in the barometer, which, as I mentioned before, was one of 
 an extended construction. It then indicated an altitude on my part of 132,000 feet, or five-and-twenty miles; and 
 I consequently surveyed at that time an extent of the earth's area amounting to no less than the three-hundred* 
 and-twentieth part of its entire superficies. At nine o'clock I had again lost sight of land to the eastward, 
 but not before I became aware that the balloon was drifting rapidly to the N.N.W. The ocean beneath me 
 still retained its apparent concavity, although my view was often interrupted by the masses of cloud which floated 
 to and fro. 
 
 At half-past nine I tried the experiment of throwing out a handful of feathers through the valve. They did 
 not float as I had expected ; but dropped down perpendicularly, like a bullet, en masse, and with the greatest 
 velocity being out of sight in a veiy few seconds. I did not at first know what to make of this extraordinary 
 
. XI. I.dSS nr CAT AM> KITTFAS. I'-'T 
 
 ).li. -n. mi. lion ; nut 1. inir able to l.-lievo that my rate of ascent had, of a midden, mot with no prodigious an aoccl, i., 
 ti"ii. Hut it soon occurred to mo that the atmosphere was now far too rare to sustain even the feathers : tlmt tin \ 
 actually t'i-11, us they appeared to do, with groat rapidity; and that I had been surprised by tho unit<-d velocities of 
 their descent and my own elevation. 
 
 By ten o'cl..ck I found that I had very little to occupy my immediate attention. Affairs went on swimmingly, 
 
 a!,.) I U-lii-vi d tin- Killoon to be going upwards with a s|-l iiu-rcesing momently, although 1 had no longer any 
 
 .tilling t he progression of thu increase. I suffered no pain or uneasiness of any kind, and enjoyed 
 
 IN it. r spirits than I had at any period since my <1> future from Rotterdam ; busying myself now in examining the 
 
 ..f my viirioii.s apparatus :md now in regenerating the atmosphere within the chamber. This latter point 
 I di-teimined to atteinl to at regular intervals "f forty minutes, more on account of the preservation of my health 
 than from so frequent a renovation being absolutely necessary. In the mean while I could not help making nntici- 
 ]Kit ion*. Fniiey n-vi -lli-d iii tin- wild and dreamy regions of the moon. Imagination, feeling herself for one.- 
 unshackled, roamed at will among the ever-changing wonders of a shadowy and unstable land. Now tin-re were 
 hoary and time-hon<>iin <1 forests, and craggy precipices, and waterfalls tumbling with a loud noise into abysses 
 without a bottom. Then I came suddenly into still noonday solitudes, where no wind of heaven ever intnided, and 
 where vast meadows of poppies, and slender, lily-looking flowers spread themselves out a weary distance, all silent 
 and motionless for ever. Then again I journeyed far down away into another country where it was all one dim 
 and vague lake, with a boundary-line of clouds. But fancies such as these were not the sole possessors of my bruin. 
 Horrors of a nature most stern and most appalling would too frequently obtrude themselves upon my mind, and 
 shake the innermost depths of my soul with the bare supposition of their possibility. Vet I would not suffer my 
 thoughts for any length of time to dwell upon these latter speculations, rightly judging the real and palpable 
 dangers of the voyage sufficient for my undivided attention. 
 
 At five o'clock, P.M., being engaged in regenerating the atmosphere within the chamber, I took tliat opportunity 
 of observing the cat and kittens through the valve. The cat herself appeared to suffer again very much, and 1 had 
 no hesitation in attributing her uneasiness chiefly to a difficulty in breathing; but my experiment with the kittens 
 had resulted very strangely. I had expected, of course, to see them betray a sense of pain, although in a lew 
 degree than their mother; and this would have been sufficient to confirm my opinion concerning the habitual 
 endurance of atmosph. i ie pressure. But I was not prepared to find them, upon close examination, evidently 
 enjoying a high degree of health, breathing with the greatest ease and perfect regularity, and evincing not the 
 slightest sign of any uneasiness. I could only account for all this by extending my theory, and supposing that the 
 highly rarefied atmosphere around might perhaps not be, as I had taken for granted, chemically insuflieient for the 
 purposes of life, and that a person born in such a medium might possibly bo unaware of any inconvenience attending 
 its inhalation, while, upon removal to the denser strata near the earth, he might endure tortures of a similar nature 
 to those I had so lately experienced. It has since been to me a matter of deep regret that an awkward accident at 
 this time occasioned me the loss of my little family of cats, and deprived me of the insight into this matter which a 
 continued experiment might have afforded. In passing my hand through the valve, with a cup of water for the old 
 puss, the sleeve of my shirt became entangled in the loop which sustained the basket, and thus in a moment loosened 
 it from the button. Had the whole actually vanished into air.it could not have shot from my sight in a more 
 abrupt and instantaneous manner. Positively there could not have intervened the tenth part of a second between 
 the disengagement of the basket and its absolute disappearance with all that it contained. My good wishes followed 
 it to tin- earth, but of course I had no hope that either cat or kittens would live to tell the tale. 
 
 At MX o'clock I jn-n-eived a great portion of the earth's visible area to the eastward involved in thick shadow, 
 which continued to advance with great rapidity, until, at five minutes before seven, the whole surface in view was 
 envelojx-d in the darkness of night It was not, however, until long after this time that the rays of the setting sun 
 ceased to illumine the balloon ; and this circumstance, although of course fully anticipated, did not fail to give me an 
 infinite deal of pleasure. It was evident that, in the morning, I should behold the rising luminary many hours at 
 least before the citizens of Rotterdam, in spite of their situation so much farther to the eastward, and thus, day after 
 day, in proportion to the height ascended, would I enjoy the light of tho sun for a longer and a longer period. I 
 now determined to keep a journal of my passage, reckoning the days from one to twenty- four hours continuously, 
 without taking into consideration tin- intervals of darkness. 
 
 At ten o'clock, feeling sleepy, I determiiii d to lie down for the rest of the night ; but here a difficulty presented 
 
 3 K 
 
428 ASTKA CASTKA. CHAP. XL 
 
 itself, which, obvious as it may appear, had escaped my attention up to the very moment of which I am now 
 speaking. If I went to sleep as I proposed, how could the atmosphere in the chamber be regenerated in the interim ? 
 To breathe it for more than an hour at the furthest would bo a matter of impossibility ; or, even if this term could 
 be extended to an hour and a quarter, the most ruinous consequences might ensue. The consideration of this 
 dilemma gave me no little disquietude ; and it will hardly be believed that, after the dangers I had undergone, I 
 should look upon this business in so serious a light as to give up all hope of accomplishing my ultimate design, and 
 finally make up my mind to the necessity of a descent ; but this hesitation was only momentary-. I reflected that 
 man is the veriest slave of custom, and that many points in the routine of his existence are deemed essentially important 
 which are only so at all by his having rendered them habitual. It was very certain that I could not do without 
 sleep ; but I might easily bring myself to feel no inconvenience from being awakened at intervals of an hour during 
 the whole period of my repose. It would require but five minutes at most to regenerate the atmosphere in the 
 fullest manner ; and the only real difficulty was to contrive a method of arousing myself at the proper moment for 
 so doing. But this was a question which, I am willing to confess, occasioned me no little trouble in its solution. 
 To be sure, I had heard of the student who, to prevent his falling asleep over his books, held in one hand a ball of 
 copper, the din of whose descent into a basin of the same metal on the floor beside his chair served effectually to 
 startle him up, if at any moment he should be overcome with drowsiness. My own case, however, was very different 
 indeed, and left me no room for any similar idea ; for I did not wish to keep awake, but to be aroused from slumber 
 at regular intervals of time. I at length hit upon the following expedient, which, simple as it may seem, was 
 hailed by me, at the moment of discovery, as an invention fully equal to that of the telescope, the steam-engine, or 
 the art of printing itself. 
 
 It is necessary to premise that the balloon, at the elevation now attained, continued its course upwards with an 
 even and undeviating ascent, and the car consequently followed with a steadiness so perfect that it would have been 
 impossible to detect in it the slightest vacillation. This circumstance favoured me greatly in the project I now 
 determined to adopt. My supply of water had been put on board in kegs containing five gallons each, and ranged 
 very securely around the interior of the car. I unfastened one of these, and taking two ropes, tied them tightly 
 across the rim of the wickerwork from one side to the other, placing them about a foot apart and parallel, so as to 
 form a kind of shelf, upon which I placed the keg, and steadied it in a horizontal position. About eight inches 
 immediately below these ropes, and four feet from the bottom of the car, I fastened another shelf, but made of thin 
 plank, being the only similar piece of wood I had. Upon this latter shelf, and exactly beneath one of the rims of 
 the keg, a small earthen pitcher was deposited. I now bored a hole in the end of the keg over the pitcher, and 
 fitted in a plug of soft wood, cut in a tapering or conical shape. This plug I pushed in or pulled out, as might 
 happen, until, after a few experiments, it arrived at that exact degree of tightness at which the water, oozing from 
 the hole, and falling into the pitcher below, would fill the latter to the brim in the period of sixty minutes. This, of 
 course, was a matter briefly and easily ascertained, by noticing the proportion of the pitcher filled in any given 
 time. Having arranged all this, the rest of the plan is obvious. My bed was so contrived upon the floor of the car 
 as to bring my head, in lying down, immediately below the mouth of the pitcher. It was evident that, at the 
 expiration of an hour, the pitcher, getting full, would be forced to run over, and to run over at the mouth, which 
 was somewhat lower than the rim. It was also evident that the water, thus falling from a height of more than 
 four feet, could not do otherwise than fall upon my face, and that the sure consequence would be to waken me up 
 instantaneously, even from the soundest slumber in the world. 
 
 It was fully eleven by the time I had completed these arrangements, and I immediately betook myself to bed, 
 with full confidence in the efficiency of my invention. Nor in this matter was I disappointed. Punctually every 
 sixty minutes was I aroused by my trusty chronometer, when, having emptied the pitcher into the bunghole of the 
 keg, and performed the duties of the condenser, I retired again to bed. These regular interruptions to my slumber 
 caused me even less discomfort than I had anticipated ; and when I finally arose for the day it was seven o'clock, 
 and the sun had already attained many degrees above the line of my horizon. 
 
 April 3rd. I found the balloon at an immense height indeed, and the earth's convexity had now become 
 strikingly manifest. Below me in the ocean lay a cluster of black specks, which undoubtedly were islands. Over- 
 head, the sky was of a jetty black, and the stars were brilliantly visible ; indeed they had been so constantly 
 since the first day of ascent. Far away to the northward I perceived a thin, white, and exceedingly brilliant 
 line, or streak, on the edge of the horizon, and I had no hesitation in supposing it to be the southern disc of the 
 
CUM-. XI. T1IK ICE OF TliK N|;TII POLE. I-':' 
 
 ices of tlf Polar Sea. My curiosity was greatly excited, for I had hopes of passing; on much farther to the north. 
 inn! mi^ht possibly, at some ]H ri.l. find myself placed direetly above the l'..U' itself. I now lamented that 
 . l.v.ition would, in this case, prevent my taking as accurate a gun . \ M- I ...ul.l wish. Much, however, 
 might ! Montuaed. 
 
 Nothing else of an eMraonlinary nature oecurr.-il during the day. My apparatus all continued in good order, 
 ami the Kill. .n Ktill oMvinlcd without am i. le vacillation. The cold was intense, and obliged mo to wrap 
 
 up . 'lonely in an overcoat. \\ h,-n darkness came over the earth, I betook myself to bed, although it was for many 
 hi.urs afterwards broad daylight all around my immediate, situation. The water-clock was punctual in its duty, and 
 I si. | 'i until next morning soundly, with the exception of tin- jieriodical interruption. 
 
 .\l>ril lift. Arose in good health and spirits, and was astoniahed at the singular change which had taken place 
 in the appearance of the sea. It had lost in a great measure the deep tint of blue it had hitherto worn, lieing now 
 of a greyish-white, and of a lustre fanning to the eye. The convexity of the ocean had become so evident, that the 
 entire maw of the distant water seemed to be tumbling headlong over the abys* of tin horizon, and I found myself 
 list, nil.- ,.n tiptoe for the echoes of the mighty cataract The islands were no longer visible; whether they had 
 pawed down the horizon to the south-east, or whether my increasing elevation hud Lit them out of sight, it is iuipos- 
 tiidle to say. I wan incline,!, however, to the Litter opinion. The rim of ice to the northward was growing IIH.P- 
 ami more apparent. Cold by no means so intense. Nothing of importance occurred, and I passed the day in 
 reading, having taken care to supply myself with books. 
 
 ' bth. Beheld the singular phenomenon ,,f the tmn ri*mg while nearly the whole visible surface of the 
 earth contimu-d to be involved in darkness. In time, however, the light spread itself over all, and I again saw tin- 
 line of ice to the northward. It was now very distinct, and appeared of a much darker hue than the waters of the 
 ocean. I waa evidently approaching it, and with great rapidity. Fancied I could again distinguish a strip of land 
 to the eastward, and one also to the westward, but could not be certain. Weather moderate. Nothing of any 
 consequence happened during the day. Went early to U ,1 
 
 April CM. Was surprised at finding the rim of ice at a very moderate distance, and an immense field of the 
 same material stretching away off to the horizon in the north. It was evident that if the balloon held its present 
 course it would soon arrive above the Frozen Ocean, and I had now little doubt of ultimately seeing the I'ole. 
 During the whole of the day I continued to near the ice. Towards night the limits of my horizon very suddenly 
 and materially increased, owing undoubtedly to the earth's form being that of an oblate spheroid, and my 
 arriving above the flattened regions in the vicinity of the Arctic circle. When darkness at length overtook me, I 
 went to bed in great anxiety, fearing to pass over the object of so much curiosity when I should have no opportunity 
 of observing it. 
 
 AprH 1th. Arose early, and, to my great joy, at length beheld what there could be no hesitation in supposing 
 the northern Pole itself. It was there, beyond a doubt, and immediately beneath my feet; but, alas! I had now- 
 ascended to BO vast a distance that nothing could with accuracy be discerned. Indeed, to judge from the progression 
 of the numbers indicating my various altitudes, respectively, at different periods, between six A.M. on the 2nd oi 
 April, and twenty minutes before nine A.M. of the same day (at which time the barometer ran down), it might be 
 fairly inferred that the balloon had now, at four o'clock in the morning of April the 7th, reached a height of not 
 lew certainly than 7254 miles above the surface pf the sea. This elevation may appear immense ; but the estimate 
 upon which it is calculated gave a result in all probability far inferior to the truth. At all events, I undoubtedly 
 beheld the whole of the earth's major diameter ; the entire northern hemisphere lay beneath me like a chart ortho- 
 graphically projected; and the great circle of the equator itself formed the boundary-line of my horizon. Your 
 Excellencies may, however, readily imagine that the confined regions hitherto unexplored within the limits of the 
 Ami,- circle, although sitn.it, ,1 directly beneath me, and therefore seen without any appearance of being fore- 
 shortened, were still in themselves comparatively too diminutive, and at too great a distance from the point of 
 sij^ht, to admit of any very accurate examination. Nevertheless, what could be seen was of a nature singular and 
 thwardly from that bilge rim before mentioned, and which, with slight qualification, may be called 
 the limit of human discovery in these regions, one unbroken, or nearly unbroken, sheet of ice continues to ext, inl. 
 In the first few degrees of this its progress, it mirfa, i- v, ry sensibly Hattein-d, farther on di-pn**ed into a pl.ui,-, 
 and finally, becoming net a little concave, it terminates, at the Pole itself, in a circular centre, hhaq.ly defined, whose 
 apparent diameter subtended at the balloon an angle of about sixty-five seconds, and whose dusky hue, varying in 
 
 3 K 2 
 
480 ASTRA CASTRA. CHAP. XI. 
 
 intensity, was at all times darker than any other spot upon the visible hemisphere, and occasionally deepened into 
 the most absolute blackness. Farther than this little could be ascertained. Ity twelve o'clock the circular centre 
 had materially decreased in circumference, and by seven P.M. I lost sight of it entirely; the balloon passing over the 
 western limb of the ice, and floating away rapidly in the direction of the equator. 
 
 April 8th. Found a sensible diminution in the earth's apparent diameter, besides a material alteration in its 
 general colour and appearance. The whole visible area partook in different degrees of a tint of pale yellow, and in 
 some portions had acquired a brilliancy even painful to the eye. My view downwards was also considerably 
 impeded by the dense atmosphere in the vicinity of the surface being loaded with clouds, between whose masses I 
 could only now and then obtain a glimpse of the earth itself. This difficulty of direct vision had troubled me more 
 or less for the last forty-eight hours ; but my present enormous elevation brought closer together, as it were, the 
 floating bodies of vapour, and the inconvenience became, of course, more and more palpable in proportion to my 
 ascent. Nevertheless, I could easily perceive that the balloon now hovered above the range of great lakes in the 
 continent of North America, and was holding a course due south, which would soon bring me to the tropics. This 
 circumstance did not fail to give me the most heartfelt satisfaction, and I hailed it as a happy omen of ultimate 
 success. Indeed, the direction I had hitherto taken had filled me with uneasiness ; for it was evident that, had I 
 continued it much longer, there would have been no possibility of my arriving at the moon at all, whose orbit is 
 inclined to the ecliptic at only the small angle of 5 degrees, 8 minutes, 48 seconds. Strange as it may seem, it was 
 only at this late period that I began to understand the great error I had committed in not taking my departure from 
 earth at some point in the plane of /he lunar ellipse. 
 
 April 9th. To-day the earth's diameter was greatly diminished, and the colour of the surface assumed hourly a 
 deeper tint of yellow. The balloon kept steadily on her course to the southward, and arrived at nine P.M. over the 
 northern edge of the Mexican Gulf. 
 
 April lOth.^I was suddenly aroused from slumber, about five o'clock this morning, by a loud, crackling, and 
 terrific sound, for which I could in no manner account. It was of very brief duration, but, while it lasted, resembled 
 nothing in the world of which I had any previous experience. It is needless to say that I became excessively 
 alarmed, having, in the first instance, attributed the noise to the bursting of the balloon. I examined all my appa- 
 ratus, however, with great attention, and could discover nothing out of order. Spent a great part of the day in 
 meditating upon an occurrence so extraordinary, but could find no means whatever of accounting for it. Went to 
 bed dissatisfied, and in a state of great anxiety and agitation. 
 
 April llth. Found a startling diminution in the apparent diameter of the earth, and a considerable increase, 
 now observable for the first time, in that of the moon itself, which wanted only a few days of being full. 
 It now required long and excessive labour to condense within the chamber sufficient atmospheric air for the 
 sustenance of life. 
 
 April 12th. A singular alteration took place in regard to the direction of the balloon, and, although fully 
 anticipated, aiforded me the most unequivocal delight. Having reached, in its former course, about the twentieth 
 parallel of southern latitude, it turned off suddenly, at an acute angle, to the eastward, and thus proceeded throughout 
 the day, keeping nearly, if not altogether, in the exact plane of the lunar ellipse. What was worthy of remark, a very 
 perceptible vacillation in the car was a consequence of this change of route a vacillation which prevailed, in a more 
 or less degree, for a period of many hours. 
 
 April \'6th. Was again very much alarmed by a repetition of the loud crackling noise which terrified me on the 
 tenth. Thought long upon the subject, but was unable to form any satisfactory conclusion. Great decrease in the 
 earth's apparent diameter, which now subtended from the balloon an angle of very little more than twenty-five 
 degrees. The moon could not be seen at all, being nearly in my zenith. I still continued in the plane of the ellipse, 
 but made little progress to the eastward. 
 
 April Hth. Extremely rapid decrease in the diameter of the earth. To-day 1 became strongly impressed with 
 the idea that the balloon was now actually running up the line of apsides to the point of perigee in other words, 
 holding the direct course which would bring it immediately to the moon in that part of its orbit the nearest to the 
 earth. The moon itself was directly overhead, and consequently hidden from my view. Great and long-continued 
 labour necessary for the condensation of the atmosphere. 
 
 April 15th. Not even the outlines of continents and seas could now be traced upon the earth with distinc- 
 ness. About twelve o'clock I became aware, for the third time, of that appalling sound which had astonished me 
 
CIIAI-. XI. THE BOULEVi:i;sr.Mi:\ 
 
 U-f..r.-. It now. In iwever, continued for omo moment*, and gathered intensity an it i-ontinu. .1. At length, wl.il.- 
 
 htupiti.d and ten. .r-stricken, I stood in e\|N-etation uf I knew not wliut hideous destruction, tin- cur vibrati-d witli 
 
 excessive violence, and a gigantic and flaming man of some material whirl, I ,,,ul,l n,,t distinguish came with a 
 
 thousand thunders, roaring and booming by the balloon. When my fears and astonishment li.ul in some 
 
 suicided, I had littli- difficulty in supposing it to bo some mighty volcanic fragment ejected from tint w..Hd 
 
 to which I was HO rapidly approaching, and, in all probability, one of that singular clam of sulxttanccs occasionally 
 
 pick, d up. >n the earth, and term..! meteoric stones for want "fa K-tt.-r appellation. 
 
 .Ijn-il \<>th. Toilay. looking npwardH an well a8 1 could, through each of the side windows alternately. I 
 In-held, t.. my gn-at delight, a very small portion of the moon's disk protruding, as it were, on all sides Ivcyond the 
 hup' eircumt'. rcii.-e ..1" tin- liallooii. My agitation was extreme, for I had now littli- dmilit of soon reaching tin- mil 
 of my JH -rilous voyage. Indeed, the lalmr now required by the condenser had increased to a most oppressive 
 -. and all. .wed me scarcely any i. spite from exertion. Sleep was a matter nearly out of the question. I 
 became quite ill, ami my fiame tivmHed with cxliaiistion. It was imjn>ssilil> that human nature could endure this 
 state of intense suffering mn< li longer. During the now brief interval of darkness a meteoric stone again passed in 
 my vicinity, and tin- fn-c|umcy of them phenomena began to occasion me much apprehension. 
 
 \1th. This morning jirovi-d an c]M-h in my voyage. It will be remembered that on the thirteenth tin- 
 earth sul.t. n.leil an angular breadth of twenty-five degrees. On the fourteenth thin had greatly* diminished ; on the 
 lift.-, nth a still more rapid decrease was observable ; and on retiring for the night of the sixteenth. 1 had noticed an 
 angle of no more than about seven degrees and fifteen minutes. \Yhat therefore must have been my amazement, on 
 awakening from a brief and disturbed slumber, on the morning of this day, the seventeenth, at finding the surface 
 beneath me so suddenly and wonderfully augmented in volume, as to subtend no less than thirty-nine degrees in 
 apparent angular diameter ! I was thunderstruck ! No words can give any adequate idea of the extreme, the absolute 
 horror and astonishment with which I was seized, possessed, and altogether overwhelmed. My knees tottered 
 beneath me my teeth chattered my hair started up on end. "The balloon, then, had actually burst!" These 
 were the first tumultuous ideas which hurried through my mind : " The balloon had positively burst ! I was 
 tailing falling with the most impetuous, the most unparalleled velocity ! To judge from the immense distance 
 already so quickly passed over, it could not be more than ton minutes at furthest before I should meet the surface 
 of the i-arth, and In- hurled into annihilation ! " But at length reflection came to my relief. I paused I considered 
 and I began to doubt. The matter was impossible. I could not in any reason have so rapidly come down. 
 is, although I was evidently approaching the surface below me, it was with a speed by no means commensurate 
 with th. vel.K-ity I had at first conceived. This consideration served to calm the perturbation of my mind, and I 
 finally succeeded in regarding the phenomenon in its proper point of view. In fact, amazeim-nt must have fairly 
 deprived me of my senses, when I could not see the vast difference in appearance between the surface below me and 
 the surface of my mother earth. The latter was indeed over my head, and completely hidden by the balloon, while 
 the moon the moon itself in all its glory lay beneath me, and at my feet. 
 
 The stupor and surprise produced in my mind by this extraordinary change in the posture of affairs, was 
 perhaps, after all, that part of the adventure least susceptible of explanation. For the boultoersement in itself was 
 not only natural and inevitable, but had been long actually anticipated, as a circumstance to bo expected whenever 
 1 should arrive at the exact point of my voyage where the attraction of the planet should bo superseded by tin- 
 attraction of the satellite or, more precisely, where the gravitation of the balloon towards the earth should be less 
 powerful than its gravitation towards the moon. To be sure, I rose from a sound slumber, with all my senses in 
 confusion, to the contemplation of a very startling phenomenon, and one whieh, although expected, was not expected 
 at the moment The revolution itself must of course have taken place in an easy and gradual manner, and it i^ liy 
 no means clear that, had I even been awake at the time of the occurrence, I should have been made aware of it by 
 any internal evidence of an inversion that is to say, by any inconvenience or disarrangement either about un- 
 person or about my apparatus. 
 
 It is almuet needless to say that, upon coming to a due sense of my situation, and emerging from the t<-i i..i 
 which had absorbed every faculty of my soul, my attention was in the first place wholly directed to the contemplat N.I i 
 of the general physical appearance of the moon. It lay 1 n.ath mo like a chart and although I judged it to be 
 still at no inconsiderable distance, the indentures of its surface were defined to my vision with a nu*t striking and 
 altogether unaccountable dUtim -tm-ss. The entire absence of ocean or sea, and indeed of any lake or river, or lly 
 
432 
 
 ASTRA CASTEA. 
 
 CHAP. XI. 
 
 of water whatsoever, struck me, at the first glance, as the most extraordinary feature in its geological condition. 
 Yet, strange to say, I beheld vast level regions of a character decidedly alluvial, although by far the greater portion 
 of the hemisphere in sight was covered with innumerable volcanic mountains, conical in shape, and having more the 
 appearance of artificial than of natural protuberances. The highest among them does not exceed three and three- 
 quarter miles in perpendicular elevation ; but a map of the volcanic districts of the Campi Phlegraii would afford to 
 your Excellencies a better idea of their general surface than any unworthy description I might think proper to 
 attempt. The greater part of them were in a state of evident eruption, and gave me fearfully to understand their 
 fury and their power, by the repeated thunders of the mis-called meteoric stones, which now rushed upwards by the 
 balloon with a frequency more and more appalling. 
 
 April 18th. To-day I found an enormous increase in the moon's apparent bulk, and the evidently accelerated 
 velocity of my descent began to fill me with alarm. It will be remembered that, in the earliest stage of my specu- 
 lations upon the possibility of a passage to the moon, the existence in its vicinity of an atmosphere dense in 
 proportion to the bulk of the planet had entered largely into my calculations ; this, too, in spite of many theories to 
 the contrary, and, it may be added, in spite of a general disbelief in the existence of any lunar atmosphere at all. 
 But in addition to what I have already urged in regard to Encke's comet, and the zodiacal light, I have been 
 strengthened in my opinion by certain observations of M. Schroeter, of Lilienthal. He observed the moon, when 
 two days and a half old, in the evening soon after sunset, before the dark part was visible, and continued to watch 
 it until it became visible. The two cusps appeared tapering in a very sharp faint prolongation, each exhibiting its 
 farthest extremity faintly illuminated by the solar rays, before any part of the dark hemisphere was visible. Soon 
 afterwards, the whole dark limb became illuminated. This prolongation of the cusps beyond the semicircle I 
 thought must have arisen from the refraction of the sun's rays by the moon's atmosphere. I computed also the 
 height of the atmosphere (which could refract light enough in its dark hemisphere to produce a twilight more 
 luminous than the light reflected from the earth when the moon is about 32 from the new) to be 1356 Paris feet; 
 in this view, I supposed the greatest height capable of refracting the solar ray to be 5376 feet. My ideas upon this 
 topic had also received confirmation by a passage in the eighty-second volume of the Philosophical Transactions, in 
 which it is stated that, at an occultation of Jupiter's satellites, the third disappeared after having been about one or 
 two seconds of time indistinct, and the fourth became indiscernible near the limb.* 
 
 Upon the resistance, or more properly upon the support, of an atmosphere, existing in the state of density 
 imagined, I had of course entirely depended for the safety of my ultimate descent. Should I then, after all, prove 
 to have been mistaken, I had in consequence nothing better to expect, as a, finale to my adventure, than being dashed 
 into atoms against the rugged surface of the satellite. And indeed I had now every reason to be terrified. My 
 distance from the moon was comparatively trifling, while the labour required by the condenser was diminished not 
 at all, and I could discover no indication whatever of a decreasing rarity in the air. 
 
 April 19th. This morning, to my great joy, about nine o'clock the surface of the moon being frightfully 
 near, and my apprehensions excited to the utmost the pump of my condenser gave evident tokens of an alteration 
 in the atmosphere. By ten I had reason to believe its density considerably increased. By eleven very little labour 
 was necessary at the apparatus ; and at twelve o'clock, with some hesitation, I ventured to unscrew the tourniquet, 
 when, finding no inconvenience from having done so, I finally threw open the gum-elastic chamber, and unrigged it 
 from around the car. As might have been expected, spasms and violent headache were the immediate consequences 
 of an experiment so precipitate and full of danger. But these and other difficulties attending respiration, as they 
 were by no means so great as to put me in peril of my life, I determined to endure as I best could in consideration of 
 my leaving them behind me momently in my approach to the denser strata near the moon. This approach, however, 
 was still impetuous in the extreme ; and it soon became alarmingly certain that although I had probably not been 
 deceived in the expectation of an atmosphere dense in proportion to the mass of the satellite, still I had been wrong 
 
 * Hevelius writes that he has several times found in skies per- | looked for in something (an atmosphere?) existing about the 
 
 fectly clear, when even stars of the sixth and seventh magnitude 
 were conspicuous, that, at the same altitude of the moon, at the same 
 elongation from the earth, and with one and the same excellent 
 telescope, the moon and its maculso did not appear equally lucid at 
 all times. From the circumstances of the observation, it is evident 
 that the cause of this phenomenon is not either in our air, in the 
 tube, in the moon, or in the eye of the spectator, but must be 
 
 Cassini frequently observed Saturn, Jupiter, and the fixed stars, 
 when approaching the moon to occultation, to have their circular 
 figure changed into an oval one ; and, in other occultations, he found 
 no alteration of figure at all. Hence it might be supposed that at 
 some times, and not at others, there is a dense matter encompassing 
 the moon, wherein the rays of the stars are refracted. 
 
Our. xi. TIIK KAKTII AIMT.AIMM; I.IKE A COPPER siiir.i.u IBS 
 
 in suppiwing this density, even at the surface, at all adequate to the mipport of the great weight contain.*! in th.- 
 car of iny balloon. Yet this should have been the case, and in an equal degree aa at the surface of the earth, the 
 a.-tu.il gravity !' l...li.-^ :it . ithcr planet supposed in the ratio .! the atmospheric condensation. Tlwt it uat not the 
 oaae, how.-\.r. my precipitous downfall gave testimony enough; why it was not BO can only ! .\pl.iim-d l*y a 
 those possible geological disturbances to which I have formerly alluded. At all events, I wan now 
 close u|Hm tin- plan, t. and coming down with the most terrible impetuosity. I lost not a moment, accordingly, in 
 throwing overboard first my ballast, thru my water-kegs, then my condonsing-apparatus and gum-elastic cliaiul-i-. 
 iiinl tinally .-very article within tlio ntr. ISut it wan all to no purpose. I still full with horrible rapidity, ami wn* 
 now not more than half a mil.- from tho surface. Asa last resource, therefor.-, having pit ri.l of my coat, hat, an<) 
 boots, I rut I.HWO from the balloon the car itsrlf, which was of no inconsiderable weight, and thus, clinging with both 
 hands to the network. I h .! Kir.-ly time to observe that the whole country, as far as the eye could reach, was 
 thickly interspersed with diminutive habitations, ere I tumbled headlong into tin- very heart of a fantantieal- 
 looking city, ami into tin- niiil.lli- of a vast crowd ..f ugly li'tle people, who none nf them uttered a single syllable, or 
 gave themselves the least troiil>le to render me assistance, but stood, like a parcel of idiots, grinning in a ludin-n- 
 manner. ami eyeing me ami my Ixillmn askant, with their arms set a-kimbo. I turned from them in contempt, ami. 
 gazing upwards at tho earth HO lately left, ami left ]>erl!a|i.s fir ever. licheld it like a huge, dull, copper shield, alxmt 
 two degrees in diuinet.-r. ti\. .1 imm.ivahly in the heavens overhead, and tipped on one of its edges with a crescent 
 li.ii.ler nf i he most lirilliant gnl.l. No traces of land or water could be discovered, and the whole was clouded with 
 variable spots, and belted with ti..pi.-.il ami equatorial /.mes. 
 
 Thus, may it please your Excellencies, after a series of great anxieties, unheard-of dangers, and unparalleled 
 
 .-e.i|. -. | li.,,l ;,I 1. H_tll. ..II ill.' llim't.-elltll da\ . .|' 1||\ .|. |'l!t'l>. ti-lll I,', .!(. l.l.Hll. a! li\. .1 ill sat', ty :i I the e, .1 ,. 1 1 |-l, .|l 
 
 of a voyage niuloiiht. dly tlie most extraordinary, and the most momentous, ever accomplished, undertaken or 
 ivm-.-iv.-d by any denizen of earth. But my adventures yet remain to be related. And, indeed, yon i K\e, llencie* 
 may well imagine that, after a residence of five years upon a planet not only deeply interesting in its own peculiar 
 character, but rendered doubly so by its intimate connexion, in capacity of satellite, with the world inhabited 1>\ 
 man, I may have intelligence for the private ear of the States' College of Astronomers of far more importance than 
 the details, how. \.-r woml.rt'ii 1. of the mere voyage which so happily concluded. This is, in fact, the case. 
 
 1 have much, very much, which it would give me the greatest pleasure to communicate. I have much to say .>! 
 the climate of the planet ; of its wonderful alternations of heat and cold ; of unmitigated and burning siinxhine foi-om- 
 fortnight, and more than polar frigidity for t he next ; of a constant transfer of moisture, by distillation I ike t hat m cocao, 
 from the jmiiit 1 neath the snn to the point the farthest from it; of a variable zone of running water; of the people 
 themselves; of their manners, customs, and political institutions; of their peculiar physical constructions; of their 
 uglinos : of their want of cars, those useless appendages in an atmo-phere so peculiarly modified ; of their conse- 
 quent ignorance of the use and properties of speech; of their Milwtitute for speech in a singular method of inter- 
 communication : of tho incompivh.-nsible connexion between each particular individual in the moon with Home 
 l>articuliir individual on the earth a connexion analogous with, and depending upon, that of the orbs of the planet 
 and tho satellite, and by means of which the lives and destinies of the inhabitants of the one are interwoven with 
 the !i\. - and destinies of tho inhabitants of the other ; and, above all, if it so please your Kv .llencies, above all, of 
 those dark and hideous mysteries which lie in the outer regions of the moon regions which, owing to the almost 
 miraculous accordance of tho satellite's rotation on its own axis with it* sidereal revolution about the earth, have 
 never yet been turned, and, by God's mercy, never shall be turned, to the scrutiny of the telescopes of man. All 
 this, and more much more would I most willingly detail. ^But, to be brief, I must have my reward. I am 
 pining for a return to my family and 1o my home ; and as tho price of any further communications on my part, in 
 <> moderation of the light which 1 have it in my power to throw upon many very imjiortant brunches of physical 
 and metaphysical sci-'ii.-.-, I must solicit, through the influence of your honourable body, a pardon for the crime ..f 
 which 1 have been guilty in the death of the creditors upon my departure from Rotterdam. This, then, is th- 
 object of the present paper. Its bearer, an inhabitant of the moon, whom I have prevail. -.1 upon, and pro|icrly 
 instructed, to be my messenger to tho earth, will await your Kx.vllencies' pleasure, and return to me with the 
 pardon in question, if it can in any manner be obtained. 
 
 I have the honour to !. &<-.. your Kxeell. -n.-i. >' very humble M-ivant, 
 
 II \N- I'j \ MI. 
 
434 ASTEA CASTRA. CHAP. XI. 
 
 Upon finishing the perusal of this very extraordinary document, Professor Kubadub, it is said, dropped his pipe 
 upon the ground in the extremity of his surprise, and Mynheer Superbus Von Underduk, having taken off his 
 spectacles, wiped them, and deposited them in his pocket, so far forgot both himself and his dignity as to turn round 
 'three times upon his heel in the quintessence of astonishment and admiration. There was no doubt about the 
 matter the pardon should be obtained. So at least swore, with a round oath, Professor Eubadub, and so finally 
 thought the illustrious Von Underduk, as he took the arm of his brother in science, and, without saying a word, 
 began to make the best of his way home to deliberate upon the measures to be adopted. Having reached the door, 
 however, of the burgomaster's dwelling, the professor ventured to suggest that, as the messenger had thought proper 
 to disappear (no doubt frightened to death by the savage appearance of the burghers of Rotterdam), the pardon 
 would be of little use, as no one but a man of the moon would undertake a voyage to so vast a distance. To the 
 truth of this observation the burgomaster assented, and the matter was therefore at an end. Not so, however, 
 rumours and speculations. The letter, having been published, gave rise to a variety of gossip and opinion. 
 Some of the over-wise even made themselves ridiculous by decrying the whole business as nothing better 
 than a hoax. But hoax, with these sort of people, is, I believe, a general term for all matters above their compre- 
 hension. For my part, I cannot conceive upon what data they have founded such an accusation. Let us see what 
 they say : 
 
 Imprimis. That certain wags in Rotterdam have certain especial antipathies to certain burgomasters and 
 astronomers. 
 
 Secondly. That an odd little dwarf and bottle-conjurer, both of whose ears, for some misdemeanor, have been 
 cut off close to his head, has been missing for several days from the neighbouring city of Bruges. 
 
 Thirdly. That the newspapers which were stuck all over the little balloon were newspapers of Holland, and 
 therefore could not have been made in the moon. They were dirty papers very dirty ; and Gluck, the printer, 
 would take his Bible oath to their having been printed in Rotterdam. 
 
 Fourthly. That Hans Pfaall himself, the drunken villain, and the three very idle gentlemen styled his 
 creditors, were all seen, no longer than two or three days ago, in a tippling-house in the suburbs, having just 
 returned, with money in their pockets, from a trip beyond the sea. 
 
 Lastly. That it is an opinion very generally received, or which ought to be generally received, that the 
 College of Astronomers in the city of Rotterdam, as well as all other colleges in all other parts of the world not to 
 mention colleges and astronomers in general are, to say the least of the matter, not a whit better, nor greater, nor 
 wiser than they ought to be. 
 
 Cornelius O'Dowd expressed the following opinion as late as October, 1864: 
 
 .... Next to these [members of the Alpine Club] in order of utter uselessness are the people who go up in 
 balloons, and who come down to tell us of the temperature, the air-currents, the shapes of the clouds, and amount 
 of atmospheric pressure in a region where nobody wants to go, nor has the slightest interest to hear about. 
 Blackwood's Magazine. 
 
 By the kind permission of Messrs. Eoutledge I am able to add a chapter from the 
 ' Younger Munchausen,' a new work, which is not one of the least amusing of Mr. Charles 
 Bennett's writings. 
 
 When Mr. Coxwell told M. Godard that Munchausen knew less about balloons than Nadar, I felt at once that 
 he was either blinded by jealousy or shrouded in ignorance. 
 
 Ballooning, I own, has presented to me many difficulties, but I have conquered most of them ; and although 
 
 Coxwell has taken away Mr. Glaisher's breath at a height of four miles from the earth Has he ever been to 
 
 the Moon ? 
 
 I have. 
 
 He has built a gas balloon. Has he ever tried fire, water, Colza oil, petroleum, or chloroform ? 
 
 He is contented with oiled silk. I should advise him to " go in," as I did, for cork, paper, india-rubber, 
 sheet-lead, tin plates, cast-iron, or Scotch granite. 
 
\ 
 
 tfi 
 
(MM. XI. COX WELL VERSUS MUNCH AUSEN. I 
 
 (Pray excuse my feelings, but I cannot afford to be misrepresented, even by to great a man as my friend 
 i .A well.) 
 
 I always look upon myself as a born aeronaut; for when an infant, six woeka old, my nurse took mo for an 
 airing up Shakspeare's Cliff (we lived at Dover then), a strong wind carried me out of her arms, and I was borne 
 safely across the British Channel to Calais, my ample petticoat forming a very excellent parachute. 
 
 I do not mean to say that I had much to do with the success of this feat myself, but I am led to believe that 
 it gave a bias to my balloonaey. 
 
 Well can I remember passing along the streets of London in a shower of rain, holding over my head a large 
 gingham gig-umbrella. I was then only a very little boy indeed, and the huge article was rather more than I 
 could carry. I was on the point of selecting a convenient area, down which to drop it, when an explosion of gas 
 at a baker's shop filled my mormons umbrella with hydrogen, and immediately converted it into a primitive 
 aerial machine. It will not surprise you to be told that wo at once cleared the houses, with but little damage to 
 tin- -iirrounding chimncv-jviu, and that in a few minutes, firmly grasping the hooked end of my singular convex 
 ance, I looked down to see the metropolis spread itself beneath me like a surging map. To what part of the world 
 I might have been carried I cannot say, but as it occurred to my infant mind that the shutting up of the umbrella 
 would answer all the puqioses of a safety-valve, while the casting off of my boots (bluchers) would serve for the 
 throwing out of ballast ; I managed in due course of time to alight on Waterloo Bridge, to the horror and distract ion 
 of the toll-collector, who knew not how to demand a ha'penny from a child with a large gingham gig-umbrella, 
 who hod not passed through either of the turnstiles. 
 
 Still these were, as one may say, but the accidents of youth ; it was at a somewhat later period that 1 gave 
 myself up thoroughly to the study of aeronautics. 
 
 And in this way it happened : 
 
 Fond of speculating about the mystery of gravitation, the question, " What is it that sticks us so tightly on 
 to the earth ':" was to me most interesting. Almost the first book that I read was one in which I found an authentic 
 narrative of the adventures of a German student, who decanted two ounces of gravitation into a stoppered bottle, 
 but inadvertently lost his bottle and his life by pulling out the stopper too far. 
 
 It occurred to me, on perusal of these facts, that if I had two ounces of the essence of gravitation, I could 
 travel anywhere that I pleased, not fearing for one moment that Munchausen would come to grief over the stopper. 
 
 In pursuance of this desire, I sent down to Sheffield for five tons (100 cwt.) of magnetic ore, and procuring 
 the same week from Birmingham one pound (16 oz. avoirdupois) of flnorite of cadmium, I crushed these two 
 diverse materials in a steam-mill of my own invention, and when, by super-steam heat and galvanic batteries, 1 
 had developed the attractive segregation of particles, a heap was formed, which assumed conical dimension (45). 
 Of course then it was but easy work to collect the extract of gravitation in two-ounce vials, and to secure it tli< 
 by means of glass stoppers. 
 
 So far everything was simple ; but, alas ! now I found myself in possession of an utterly impracticable power. 
 
 It was too good to be useful. 
 
 wonder the German student lost his life. 
 
 Lven I could not control it. The moment the stopper was in the slightest degree released, off I flew 
 from the earth with the rapidity of a discharged bombshell, stopping for nothing less than a planet or a fixed star. 
 
 The first experiment I tried shot me into the sun ; the second, I shot myself back again, with a great burn 
 on the bridge of my nose. 
 
 \\hen I again released the stopper, it is true that I only reached the moon, but I so scratched myself against 
 the man's faggots, that I wonder how I ever found sticking-plaster enough to heal my wounds. 
 
 Once I reached the Dog star, which, by the by, is not a dog at all, nor much of a star either. 
 
 Lily. I gut my uniform in Mich a frightful mess by tumbling into tin- .Milky Way about skimming-time. 
 th:it I put all my dangerous two-ounce vials on the top-shelf of my little corner cupboard, determined to give this 
 daring scheme up for a bod job. 
 
 N othing can ever induce me to use one of these bottles again. 
 
 But if I had so fruitlessly risked my life over essence of gravitation, it had but had the effect of settling m\ 
 mind more firmly in the direction of balloons. It is true I had broken my arm, dislocated my thigh, fractured my 
 skull, and broken my neck, in this series of experiments, which had proved too successful to bo safe; but as 
 
 3 L 
 
436 ASTKA CASTKA. CHAP. XL 
 
 balloons, instead of making too quickly for the place of destination, ordinarily make for nothing at all in parti- 
 cular, I naturally felt that here, if anywhere, must be safety. 
 
 Armed with this idea, I at once purchased twenty thousand yards of oiled silk, cut the " gores" from my 
 own pattern, set one hundred and twelve sewing-machines at work upon the seams, so that by the time I had 
 completed my patent grapnel, and treble-action safety-valve, I had ready for ascent just simply the noblest and 
 best-proportioned gas balloon that has ever yet been seen aloft. It was calculated to hold two hundred people, 
 easy of ascent, easy of descent, but and this is the evil of ordinary ballooning entirely at the mercy of the 
 winds. At first I tried to catch favourable currents and travel with the wind, but still I found, as Coxwoll finds 
 to this hour, that any one of the breezes that blow north, south, east, or west, was alike my master ; this was not 
 to be tolerated. 
 
 I invented my 
 
 PATENT FIVE-FOLD-KECURVED-NOZZLE-BALLOON-BELLOWS, 
 
 which blew up an opposition breeze, and carried me along even in spite of " rude Boreas." 
 
 When I tell you that to this hour I keep a small visiting balloon, with the " recurved attachment," in my 
 back garden always inflated, you will at once understand that it must have been a tolerable success. 
 
 Indeed it was but a development of this plan that led to the establishment of my " self-acting messenger 
 balloon," now rapidly taking the place of the electric telegraph, which indeed it is likely to entirely supersede. 
 By means of this wonderful little machine you may send messages to all parts of the world, without any previous 
 bother about submarine cables or housetop wires, and always look for an answer, as the " messenger " refuses to 
 return without a proper reply. I cannot enter into all the details of this charming automaton, but will only men- 
 tion that its movements are so regular as to give rise to a sort of arithmetical quality, which enables it to economise 
 the little time it has to spare in casting up accounts at its leisure. 
 
 Babbage had no hand in it I assure you. 
 
 But talking of Babbage reminds me that there is a phrase in common use, 
 
 " Castle in the Air." 
 
 Some gentlemen plead guilty to building them, but I must say that I am the inventor. Munohausen builds 
 a better "Castle in the Air "than anyone else I know. I have drawn a rude sketch of one; and you will 
 see on looking at it that we get our gas from the superincumbent balloon : water we hang over the side 
 in a butt ; the household utensils hang over also, but not in a butt ; the man - cook calls through his 
 speaking-trumpet earthwards for coals ; the gardener attaches a hose to the butt, and waters the garden ; the 
 old man in the bath below disports himself, but not quite at his leisure, as his son comes down the ladder to take 
 his place ; the larder is best of places on the hoop ; / stand, with arms behind me, at the door, admiring my 
 own ingenuity and perhaps the only drawback that can be found in this admirable castle is, that both house and 
 scullery maid are always popping their heads out of our first-floor window to see how the curiously bent chimneys 
 smoke, as usually they do. Without this slight defect it would be perfect; as it is, this aerial castle has so well 
 answered its purpose that this year Scarborough, Margate, and C'hamouni are almost deserted, and if on a very 
 bright evening you cast your eyes far enoiigh, you will observe we have now quite an aerial city the fashionable 
 world no longer retires to its watering-place or its mountain, but quietly ascends to its castle-in-the-air What can 
 be pleasanter ? 
 
 I might almost say that balloons are the rage : it was only last month that I was called upon by the cele- 
 brated Taylor, the furniture mover, to construct a balloon capable of moving house, furniture, front and back 
 garden, all at one go. The affair is simple enough to the scientific mind : as houses are now-a-days built without 
 foundations, it is merely a question of cables and balloon power, and there you are the house rises easily enough, 
 of course the furniture with it ; as for the gardens we have some small difficulty with them, but by underlaying 
 with strong timbers, they come away with the rest ; we intend that all gardens in future shall rest on bottoms of 
 concrete, which will save us a great deal of trouble. 
 
 For it is all important to save trouble. I saved the trouble of stopping, by making a balloon with motive 
 power so vigorous, that once started it could never be stopped ; and indeed it would give me an opportunity of 
 claiming the annuity of ten thousand pounds, waiting so patiently for the inventor of perpetual motion, did it not 
 iu course of time wear itself out, when-I ain sorry to say it falls to pieces. Still, it is better than my " summersault 
 

 
 // ./// . 
 
 1864 
 
 C t>Llt-CkU It. 
 
Our. XI. AN END TO ARMSTRONG. I ::7 
 
 balloon," which turns over and over like an aerial harlequin, giving itself a fresh impetus every turn. It i tun 
 that thin machine was never known to wear out, and can hardly fall to pieces, but as it has such a tendency to 
 produce a violent " air-tiickiiosu," I have thought it advisable to withdraw the patent. 
 
 Oue use, however, to which I have put this invention is worthy of further note. You can quite understand 
 what a violent pull would bo given by the sudden turning over of this machine ; perhaps also you are aware that 
 we have had this year a very hot summer. 
 
 \\ ell, YOU wish to know what connexion the acrobat balloon has with the undue heat of the weather. I will 
 tell yon. 
 
 One million of these tumbling balloons harnessed in the foggy winter weather to this earth, sufficed to pull 
 it a little nearer to the sun ; hence the hot summer. 
 
 So you see balloons have been of some use one way and the other, if it bo only to make grapes grow 
 in England ; although I would not for a moment suppose that all balloons are as useful ; some are merely 
 scientific toys. 
 
 Such as my kite balloon, which could not be guided by anything but the wind, it being composed of seven 
 hundred kites, all sailing at one and the same time, dragging after them the car and its inmates. As for my bird 
 balloon, that never came down again after it went np, for the first time it was borne in the air by a variety of 
 strong-winged birds, but as the birds were not all of a feather they refused to flock, as the proverb says they 
 should, and where they all went to nobody knows. 
 
 The butterfly balloon took too long to start, and v hen it was fairly off, only made about ten miles an hour, 
 so it was not of much use. 
 
 The watch-spring balloon was also of little avail, because of the incessant trouble of winding up fifty 
 thousand watches, too much trouble for any six people, and that was all it could carry ; still I must say, that I 
 look upon the balloon as capable of superseding steam ; indeed, I take it, that aerial machines may at some future 
 time make the world itself quite useless for any but secondary purposes, as that of growing silkworms for balloon 
 construction, and osiers wherewith to weave the cars; perhaps a little coal to distil gas may be required, and 
 always the earth must be preserved as a place to fall upon. 
 
 But be that as it may, one thing at least is certain, that the purposes to which balloons may be applied are 
 almost innumerable. 
 
 I once went " drag netting " for Federals in America. We " rose " a balloon with double grapnels and wide- 
 meshed net attached ; hovering over the enemy, we watched our opportunity, and threw out our net on to the 
 97th Massachusetts Tiger Cats, capturing the whole regiment. My recurved bellows blew us back to the Confede- 
 rate camp, and we dragged in, triumphantly, the whole of our prisoners. 
 
 People talk about disabling iron-clad ships with Sir William Armstrong's 900-pounder; bnt what necessity 
 can there be for cannon, when, by plumbing your balloon ten miles above anything, fort, ship, house, or palace, 
 you may just quietly drop over the edge of the car a missile an explosive shell that will put an end t.' it 
 at once ? 
 
 But among the purposes to which balloons may be turned, there is none more useful than that of irrigation. 
 You see, in consequence of my having palled the earth so far out of its beaten track, we have hud not only a hot 
 but a dry summer ; the earth has been parched, cattle dying, crops perishing, while a few hundred of my PATHS r 
 Ai HI vi. WATKR CARS would have altered all that Balloon goes up with a condensing apparatus, by which mois- 
 ture is gathered at a high elevation; and it is then and there discharged upon the surface of the land in a series 
 of gentle showers. By this means the sky is kept clear of mists, the earth is benefited by the showers, and as it in 
 always possible to discharge the water after dark, the man of business can go about without his umbrella ; the 
 family can enjoy the sunshine at the sea-side, while the fanner has the means of forwarding or checking his crops 
 ready to his hand. 
 
 Can anything be better ? 
 
 But I will not trouble you any more with my stories about balloons ; only, for the benefit of my friend 
 Coxwell, I should like to set before him a few of the benefits of ballooning, as I intend to carry them out. 
 
 A balloon to light all England, by fixing it at such an elevation as to enable a strong and piercing light t<> 
 illuminate the country round, from Land's End to John o' Groat's. 
 
 A balloon with which to discover new countries, by passing over hitherto inaccessible barriers. 
 
 3 L 2 
 
438 
 
 ASTEA CASTBA. 
 
 CHAP. XL 
 
 A balloon with a large reflector and burning-glass, to bring a little summer heat round at Christmas time. 
 
 A balloon for delicate constitutions, to change its position according to the exact climate required. 
 
 A balloon to distribute advertisements all over the world. 
 
 A balloon for the Pre-Kaphaelite artists, by which they may travel up close to the wonderful effects they are 
 so fond of. 
 
 A balloon for people who want to keep out of the way ; and 
 
 A detective balloon, by which the policemen can look down other people's chimneys, and through other 
 people's skylights, and so find out " all about it." 
 
 I will not mention the thousand and one other and better purposes to which I propose putting balloons, but 
 1 think that while they give artificial sunshine and artificial rain, house without property-tax, and travelling with- 
 out steam-engines, perhaps I have told you enough for the present. 
 
 At all events, if Coxwell will allow me, I mean to take Mr. Glaisher up to the moon in December, just when 
 the " man " is getting his crop in, which will give Glaisher something else than wet bulbs, zeros, and short breath, 
 to talk about to the British Association when they meet. 
 
 LINES TO A WILD DUCK. 
 
 A duck has been immortalized by Bryant 
 
 A wild one, too. 
 Sweetly he hymned the creature blithe and buoyant, 
 
 Cleaving the blue. 
 
 But whoso says the duck through ether flying, 
 
 Seen by the bard, 
 Equalled the canvas-back before me lying, 
 
 Tells a canard. 
 
 Done to a turn ! The flesh a dark carnation, 
 
 The gravy red. 
 Four slices from the breast : on such a ration 
 
 Gods never fed ! 
 
 Bryant, go to ! To say thy lyric ghost duck, 
 
 Traced on the sky, 
 Was worthy to be named with this fine roast duck, 
 
 Is all my eye ! 
 
 ' ODSTA.NTES FISDIT XKBULAS.' 
 
CHAPTER XII. 
 
 'PROGRESS; OR, REVIEW OF THE PAST, AM' TIIK HOPES FOR THE FUTURE." 
 
 " To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven." 
 
 EOCLESIA.STES iii. 1. 
 
 i-IUs's TYPES, TIME AND SPACE IIAS'8 PROGRESS TOWARDS HAPPINESS THE CONTRIBUTIONS OF THE VAKIni - \ \i |,,\s 
 THAT FORM OUR PRESENT COMMONWEALTH TO THIS SCIENCE THE ORIGIN OF DISCOVERIES THE ANALOGY THAT EXISTS 
 IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF ANT SCIENCE; ASTRONOMY TAKES AS AN INSTANCE VICTOR HUGO*8 XX"* 8I&CLE PI.KINE MER 
 PLEIN CIEL COS' 1 .1 '-1"N. 
 
 SPACE (A SENTENCE FROM CONFUCIUS). 
 
 1. 
 
 DBEIFACII it .Icr Schritt der Zeit : 
 Zogernd kommt ilie Xukunft bergezogen, 
 I'li-ilsoliin -11 ist das Jetzt entflogen, 
 Ewig still steht die Vergangcnlu-it. 
 
 2. 
 
 Dreifach ist des Raumes Masz. 
 Rastlos fort ohn' Unterlasz 
 
 f.rt ins \Vcite, 
 
 Endlue gieszet sich die Jlrtite, 
 Grundlos aenkt die Titfe gich. 
 
 Dir pin Ilild sind sic 
 
 Itastlos vorwarts nmszt du streben, 
 Hi- sti-lm, 
 
 Willst du die Vollcndung sehn ; 
 
 Muszt ins lirrir .Hen, 
 
 Soil sich dir die Welt gestalten ; 
 
 In die Tii-tV muszt du steigen, 
 
 Soil sich dir das \V< -. n 7.<-igen. 
 Nur Miarrung fulirt /.inn Xii-1, 
 Xur die Kulle fiil)rt zur Klarlit-it, 
 Dnd im Abgrund wohnt die Wahrheit. 
 
 SCHILLER. 
 
 Threefold the stride of Time, from first to last ! 
 
 Loitering slow, the Future creepeth 
 
 Arrow-swift, tho Present sweepeth 
 And motionless for ever stands the Past. 
 
 2. 
 
 A threefold measure dwells in Space 
 Restless Length, with flying race ; 
 Stretching forward, never endeth, 
 Ever widenin;:, Dreaiith extended] ; 
 Ever groundless, Depth deecendeth. 
 
 Types in these thou dost possess ; 
 Restless, onwards tbou must press, 
 
 Never halt nor languor know, 
 
 To the Perfect wouldst thou go ; 
 Let thy reach with Rrendth extend 
 Till the world it comprehend 
 Dive into the Depth to see 
 Germ and root of all that be. 
 Ever onward must thy soul ; 
 Tis the progress gains the goal ; 
 Ever widen more its bound ; 
 In the Full the clear is found, 
 And the Truth dwells under ground. 
 
 SIB EDWARD BULWER LYTTON. 
 
 I. 
 
 HAVING now reviewed the most salient points of all that has been accomplished and suggested 
 with regard to aerostation, though many valuable ideas may have escaped us, let us now 
 recall briefly the general progress of science, and the important results which we may now 
 fairly anticipate for this branch of it. 
 
 Man's twofold nature," says Carlyle, "is reflected in history. He is of earth, but his 
 tin. ughts are \\ itli the stars. Mean and potty his wants and his desires, yet they serve a soul 
 xaltrd with .irrand, glorious aims, with immortal longings, with thoughts which sweep the 
 heavens, and wander through eternity. A pigmy standing on the outward crust of this small 
 
440 
 
 ASTRA CASTRA. 
 
 CHAP. XII. 
 
 planet, his far-reaching spirit stretches outwards to the infinite, and there alone finds rest. 
 History is a reflex of this double life. Every epoch has two aspects, one calm, broad, and 
 solemn, looking towards eternity; and the other agitated, petty, vehement, and confused, 
 looking towards time." 
 
 TlIE LlAS, OK A FOOT-PRIST OF THE PAST. 
 
 With what line or scries, then, shall we connect the Pterodactyls of the oolite ? There is no motion of which 
 that extraordinaiy animal could not partake. It could walk, swim, and fly, leap over great spaces, and float in the 
 air, sustained as by a parachute ; and if its instincts were commensurate with its powers, it would stand out wholly 
 as an anomaly, having neither predecessor nor descendant. NICHOL'S System of the World. 
 
 Methought I saw 
 
 Life swiftly treading over endless space, 
 And, at her foot-print, but a bygone pace, 
 The ocean-past, which, with increasing wave, 
 Swallow'd her steps like a pursuing grave. 
 
 TKNXYSOX. 
 
 George Combe says: 
 
 At the time of the Roman invasion, the inhabitants of Britain lived as savages, and appeared in painted skins. 
 After the Norman conquest, one part of the nation was placed in the condition of serfs, condemned to labour like 
 beasts of burden, while the other devoted itself to war. The nobles fought battles during the day, and in the night 
 probably dreamed of bloodshed and broils. Next came the age of chivalry. These generations severally believed 
 
CIIAI-. XII. 
 
 MANS |'KO<;l!KSS TOWAIMIS HAITIM 
 
 III 
 
 their own i-oiiilitiiiii tn l>e the highest, or at least tin- permanent ami inevitable 1"! of Man. Now. ho\\evi r. have 
 come tin- ]in-M-ut arrangement* of society, in which millions uf nn-n are Nluit up in cotton-mills and other niann 
 r ten ur twehe hours a day; others labour under ground in mine*; others plough the field*: while 
 thousands i >f higher rank pass their liven in frivolous amusements. The elementary principles of the human 
 oiiKtitmioii, Kith Willy and mental, were the same in our ^tinted ancestors, nnd in their ehivalrous descendants, ati 
 
 they are in us. their shopkeepin;;. manufacturing, and m y-pithcring children. Yet how different the external 
 
 Of these several generation-: It', in the savage state, the mental faculties of Man were in harmon\ 
 them*. Ives and with his external circumstances, he must then have enjoyed all the happiness of which his 
 nature was capable, and have erred when he ehanged his condition: if tin- institutions and customs of the ap' 
 of chivalry were calculated to gratify his whole nature harmoniously, he must have K-en unhappy as a savage, and 
 must ! miserable now; if his present condition lie the perfection of his nature, ho must have Ki-n far from 
 enjoyment lth as a savage and as a feudal warrior ; and. if none of these conditions have K-en in accordance with 
 his constitution. In- must still have his happiness to seek. 
 
 y age, accordingly, has testified that // was not in possession of contentment . and the question present* 
 itself. If hiinian nature has received a definite constitution, ami if one arrangement of external ci re u instances is 
 more suited to yield it gratification than another, what are that constitution and that arrangement'/ No one among 
 the philosophers has succeeded in j^ivinjj us a satisfactory un-uer to these questions. If \M in Britain have 
 not reached the limits of attainable perfection, what are we next to attempt? Are we and our posterity to spin and 
 weave, build ships, and s|N-.ul.ite in commerce, as the highest occupations to which Man can aspire, and to 
 in these laKiurs as the highest till the end of time '; If not, who shall pilot u* in our future voyage OH the ocean of 
 la-f, and I ij what chart of philowpliy iJiall our steersman be ijuiiied? 
 
 The Tiritwh people art- i 1 as a type of mankind at large; for in every age and every clime, similar 
 
 races have been run, with similar conclusions. One answer may be returned to these inquiries. 
 Man is ap]>arently a progressive being. 
 
 EAKTII, WATKR, AIR, KIMC SOIAE HE THI RII>I>LI. 
 
 fell wnhii' in cincm Rtcinemen Ilnus, 
 
 Da lieg' ich verborgen und sctilafV ; 
 
 1 >och ich trete hervor, icli eile livraui, 
 
 Gcfordert mit c-isoriier \V:itlc. 
 
 Erst bin icli lujM-hcinhar und schwach mul klein, 
 
 Mich kann drin Atlit-ni l>ezwingen, 
 
 Kin lU-geutropfen cchon saugt mich cin ; 
 
 Docb mir wachirii im Sit- r 'e die Schwingen. 
 
 Wenn die miichtige Schwmtvr sicli zu mir ^I-M Hi, 
 
 Krnaclis* ich zum furchtbarn Gebietcr der Welt. 
 
 Si H1I.I.ER. 
 
 In a Dwelling of (tone I conceal 
 
 My exintcnce obscure and asleep ; 
 But forth at the clash of the steel, 
 
 From my slumber exulting I leap ! 
 At first, all too feeble for M 
 
 Tliou hast but to breathe and I die; 
 A drop would extinguish my life 
 
 Hut my wings soon expand to the sky ! 
 Lot llie might of my Sinter * afford 
 
 Its aid to those win^s when unfurl'd, 
 And I grow to a terrible Lord, 
 
 Wii.ise anger can ravage the world.f 
 
 SlK Kl'WAIUI IIC1.WKK I.I 
 
 Tl, 
 
 I 
 
442 ASTEA CASTEA. CHAP. XII. 
 
 We might continue ; but lately there have been many popular writers who have shown 
 the analogy between the growth of the mind of a nation, and that of a man from his 
 childhood ; and the wider the survey both of centuries and countries that these works include, 
 the more apparent does this become. We can therefore only venture to call the fact to mind 
 whilst we make note of the chief contributions of various nations to this division of science. 
 
 II. 
 
 To FRANCE, as we have seen, belongs all the " eclat " of this branch of knowledge, so 
 well suited to the brilliancy, vivacity, and showiness of her character ; but let us accept also 
 the judgment of one of the ablest of her writers on it, when he speaks of the ease with which 
 she is disappointed : " Qu'il est malheureusement dans les habitudes de 1'esprit fra^ais de 
 manquer de perseverance ; que souvent il laisse echapper et passer a 1'exterieur les decouvertes 
 faites chez lui ; et que, pour les accueillir, il leur faut en quelque sorte le bapteme de 1'appro- 
 bation ^trangeres." 
 
 In ENGLAND the most important and necessary element in this acquisition was made by 
 the researches of Cavendish, Black, and Watt, who discovered the specific gravity of gases, 
 and the decomposition of water. 
 
 But let us not forget ITALY, as we owe to her many ideas. I will therefore quote 
 Draper's ' Intellectual Development of Europe,' wherein he speaks justly, -I think, of the 
 beautiful peninsula in these words: 
 
 In this scientific advancement, among the triumphs of which we are living, all the nations of Europe have 
 been engaged. Some, with a venial pride, claim for themselves the glory of having taken the lead. But perhaps 
 each of them, if it might designate the country alas ! not yet a nation that would occupy the succeeding post of 
 honour, would inscribe Italy on its ballot. It was in Italy that Columbus was born ; in Venice, destined one day 
 to be restored to Italy, newspapers were first issued. It was in Italy that the laws of the descent of bodies to the 
 earth and of the equilibrium of fluids were first determined by Galileo. In the cathedral of Pisa that illustrious 
 philosopher watched the swinging of the chandelier, and observing that its vibrations, large and small, were made 
 in equal times, left the house of G od, his prayers unsaid, but the pendulum clock reinvented. To the Venetian 
 senators he first showed the satellites of Jupiter, the crescent form of Venus, and, in the garden of Cardinal 
 Bandini, the spots upon the sun. It was in Italy that Sanctons invented the thermometer ; that Torricelli constructed 
 the barometer and demonstrated the pressure of air. It was there that Castelli laid the foundation of hydraulics, and 
 discovered the laws of the flowing of water. There, too, the first Christian astronomical observatory was 
 established ; and there Stancari counted the number of vibrations of a string emitting musical notes. There 
 Grimaldi discovered the diffraction of light; and the Florentine academicians showed that dark heat may be 
 reflected by mirrors across space. In our own times Melloni furnished the means of proving that it may be 
 polarised. The first philosophical societies were the Italian ; the first botanical garden was established at Pisa ; 
 the first classification of plants given by Caesalpinus. The first geological museum was founded at Verona ; the first 
 who cultivated the study of fossil remains were Leonardo da Vinci and Tracasta. The great chemical discoveries of 
 this century were made by instruments which bear the names of Galvani and Volta. \Vhy need I speak of science 
 alone ? Who will dispute with that illustrious people the palm of music and painting, of statuary and architecture ? 
 The dark cloud which for a thousand years has hung over that beautiful peninsula is fringed with irradiations of 
 light. There is not a department of human knowledge from which Italy has not extracted glory, no art that she has 
 not adorned. 
 
 GKRMANY has aided us with poetic conceptions, but feebly expressed by the vignettes that 
 adorn this work, and moVe powerfully by the pen of Schiller, breathing forth some of the 
 
(MAI. XII. CONTRIBUTIONS OF VARIOUS NATIONS. 443 
 
 strong >t of liuinan aspirations. They have also welcomed those aeronauts of France and 
 who have exhibited to them tin- inijwrfect machines they possess. 
 
 AMKKICA also has assisted by practical observations that have resulted in an excellent 
 volume I'y the experienced Mr. Wise. 
 
 This is, as far as the information at my disposal extends, the extent of the outline of tin 
 eontriltiitions of the nations that form our present Commonwealth. 
 
 From the annexed list of the first five hundred known aeronauts throughout the world, 
 some of whom have devoted tlu-ir wlmlo lives to the science, and a few have fallen a sacrifice 
 t.t thrir i \[>eriments, we see how large is the majority of Englishmen. This list was 
 ran fully compiled by M. Depuis Delcomt in 1824, much t enlarged by Monck Mason in 1837, 
 and again i.-\i>-il l>y M. Di-puis IMeoiirt in 1848, and is, I think, nearly correct. 
 
 It will In if, perhaps, be opportune to notice the extent of the development which the 
 science of aerostat ion lias hitherto received, and the similarity that exists between it and 
 the progress of other sciences. 
 
 III. 
 
 The following are the remarks (written about 1838) that commence an "Inquiry into 
 the Uses and Taxabilities of the Balloon-projected Voyage across the Atlantic": 
 
 It is an observation not undeserving the attention of the philosophical inquirer, how seldom it has happened 
 that the dawn of discoveries in the arts and sciences has been commensurate in point of eclat with the brillunev 
 which has accompanied their subsequent career of practical application. Of the inventions which have most 
 contributed to raise the standard of civilisation and the periods of which in history form, as it were, epochs of 
 improvement in the moral and social condition of mankind, how few there are whose first announcement has 
 
 'MI -iil a consideration in any wa}' equivalent to the rank they have since been deemed entitled to hold ! while, 
 on the other hand, of those discoveries which most awakened the applause of contemporaneous nations, how many 
 might 1- i it< il whose results, so far from justifying, seem almost to mock the enthusiasm which hailed their original 
 promulgation '. 
 
 Of the former of these positions, the circumstances attending the rise and progress of the three great engines 
 of modern supremacy in war, in literature, and in commerce gunpowder, the art of printing, and the motive 
 agency of steam, afford willii-i.-nt illustration ; while, in exemplification of the hitter, we need only refer to the still 
 more recent discovery of the science of aerostation. Greeted with a universality and fervour of applause never 
 before conceded to the most exalted effort of human ingenuity or enterprise, honoured by royal co-operation, 
 eulogised by the learned, courted by the rich, discussed, lauded, and criticised to the almost total exclusion, for a 
 while, uf t vi-ry other topic of literary or public interest, its reception was indeed such aa can only be excused or 
 explained \>\ reference to the feelings of the world upon having, as it conceived, suddenly acquired the solution of a 
 problem upon which it had, from time immemorial, concentrated its best energies and fixed its most fer\i nt 
 aspirations. How far these expectations have been justified by the result*, it is unfortunately not necessary 
 to inquire. 
 
 And yet, notwithstanding the since ascertained exaggeration of these sentiment*, some apology may be found 
 for the erroneous anticipations prevalently entertained upon a matter apparently fraught with such interesting and 
 important consequences. To determine the real prospects of a new theory is the province of the professed 
 philosopher, and is frequently only to be accomplished with certainty by the intervention of science in its severest 
 and most recondite form. The branch of science which alone bears upon the question of aerial navigation or the 
 guidance of the balloon (the point towards which all men's minds were, at the outset, incontinently <lin ete<l ), was 
 not that which, at tin- time, .Kviii.ifd the attention of the sacans of France, where, it is well known, the first 
 successful attempts were made to give a practical illustration of the art Chemistry and natural hi* t. .ry, them* 1 \e>- 
 only in their infancy, were the fashionable and almost exclusive studios of the day ; mathematics and the physical 
 sciences, by which alone, as we have said, the forces developed in the prosecution of any attempt to govern tin- 
 
 3 M 
 
444 ASTEA CASTKA. CHAP. XII. 
 
 movements of the atmosphere, could be calculated or ascertained, were so little pursued that few were in a condition 
 to pronounce upon the capabilities of any project of the nature alluded to, or even to suspect that a sufficient 
 conclusion could be arrived at (without actual experiment) by the mere force of a priori investigation. Hence the 
 various practical attempts made to ascertain the efficiency of schemes, the prospects of which could have been 
 determined much more satisfactorily (because, independent of all considerations of the accuracy or inaccuracy of the 
 mechanism) by the process of mathematical deduction. 
 
 In England this enthusiasm, it is true, never rose to the same pitch, and consequently never experienced the 
 same revulsion. More accustomed to weigh consequences, and ever disposed to doubt almost in inverse proportion 
 to the magnitude of the advantages to be attained by success, the very grounds of its recommendation to a less 
 prudential people, operated to suspend the judgment and abate the expectations of the inhabitants of this country, 
 and it early became a fashion in England to decry its prospects and ridicule its pretensions, as much almost as our 
 more mercurial neighbours were disposed to fall into the opposite extreme. 
 
 Such we know is the nature of man, especially when engaged upon a matter of engrossing interest, that no 
 declaration of opinion founded upon a partial development of the features of a case will ever avail to produce 
 conviction, or determine his efforts or expectations. Where mere mechanical difficulties are all that impede success, 
 no arguments indeed are likely to prove satisfactory. Difficulties which are insurmountable by one man under one 
 set of circumstances, might prove no difficulties to another differently circumstanced and differently endowed. At 
 all events, no decisive negative can be imposed upon the success of an undertaking to the accomplishment of which 
 a higher degree of knowledge and more extended resources are all that are required. Indeed, it is from viewing the 
 question of aerial propulsion in this light namely, as one of mere mechanical prowess, that may be said to have 
 arisen the contrariety of opinion which has hitherto existed, and still, in a less degree, continues to prevail upon the 
 subject. To be able to construct wings or motive organs of similar effect, and adopt a power sufficient to set them 
 in motion, either in the way practised by birds, fishes, or by vessels propelled by steam (or otherwise, as the fancy 
 of the projector may incline), is, when viewed apart from any particular limitation, a feat in which many persons 
 might fail, and yet one more skilful than the rest might still hope to succeed. W/ien, however, upon taking into 
 consideration all the requisitions of the case, we find, by strict mathematical deduction, that, in order to effect the end desired, it is 
 necessary that these wings or other organs must be of a given capacity, and operate according to a given force, and that this 
 capacity and this force are such as neither the materials we possess, nor the natural powers we can command, are competent to 
 create, we redeem the question from the class of mechanical difficulties, and assign it a place in that of natural impossibilities. 
 
 Such then appears to be the case with regard to the conversion of the balloon into a means of transport 
 applicable to the ordinary purposes of life, and we are willing here to express our acknowledgments to Mr. Monck 
 Mason for having, in his work upon aerostation, recently published by Mr. Westley, exhibited the matter in that 
 light. To transcribe all the arguments by which this view of the case is supported would, as we have already 
 stated, exceed the limits here allotted to us ; while to repeat a part only would leave the point as unsatisfactory and 
 open to discussion as before. All we can here do is to refer the reader to the work in question for the particulars' 
 and register the conclusion they seem calculated to sustain. 
 
 We have put in italics the just conclusion to which a clear and candid mind arrived at 
 after reading Mr. Monck Mason's calculations ; but we have already shown how erroneous these 
 were, since we can now affirm the practicability of aerial navigation to be demonstrated by mathematical 
 deduction. [See ' Etudes sur 1' Aerostation, par M. Marey Monge ;' for extracts, p. 336 of this 
 work.] 
 
 Mr. Coxwell, after twenty years devoted to the study of this science, expresses himself as 
 follows in a number of the 'Aerostatic Magazine' for 1859: 
 
 We who examine aerostation historically, are not surprised that quick and powerful minds should have been 
 raised to high expectation, and yet doomed to disappointment. But we should be quite astonished if, after all we 
 have read of the rise and progress of the arts and sciences, this particular one should deviate from the regular order, 
 and develop itself with extraordinary precocity ; seeing, as we do, that inventions and discoveries generally follow one 
 uniform course, and only yield their treasures, as do gold-fields their nuggets, after hard exertions and untiring 
 efforts. There are, of course, exceptions, both as to the arts and to gold-seeking, but we find it the rule ; and very 
 

 
 c u i v . c h 
 
CUM. XII. SUCCESSES OF ASTI;.>N<MY AN ENCOURAGEMENT TO OTHBB BdENCBa 
 
 supremely ordered it is. < *\* < -ially as it applies to aerial locomotion, for I have no hesitation ill affirming tliat 
 the advantages likely to accnu> from unrestrained intercourse through tho atmosphere are BO great and exalting, 
 that tin- world is har.llv \et prepared for such a consummation. If astronomy, geology, steam-po< r. . ! tri. itv. 
 ami nauti.-.il s. i. h.-.- cannot boast of having made one bound towards ]. rt'.-. ti..n. why should ballooning? Wo have 
 i. iih just succeeded in making ships go against tho wind, and why should we despair of mastering an aerial \. In. ! 
 The difficulties to be surmounted are well undi-rstood, and f.>r a time baffle ingenuity; but I would urge renewed 
 attempt*, tor n-ui.inli.-r, it is not eighty years since tho first balloon travelled tho air, and if we could now inspect a 
 specimen of a boat constructed eighty years after men began to venture on tho water, depend upon it wo would 
 sooner cross the Atlantic- in tho 'Great Eastern' than venture to Gravosend in the primitive pigmy of our fore- 
 father*. Rill.Minmg as an art, is, I am convinced, steadily advancing; and although tho uninitiated may not 
 "1.- i v.- nni.'li |.n._U' ~-, btOMM ill-- in n Kin. .1-- - 1 1 "I -n il. in-U , |, \ i.,i,. |'i,.ni I li< u in.l. \ . I 1 li.- vari. .us a|.|.ui ! II.MI. . - 
 gradually undergo improvement, and in a short time, I have no doubt that balloons, like the old men-of-war, will be 
 cast aside for new models ; and then, just as tho application of steam requires a reconstruction of our war vessels, so 
 will some new power demand a similar alteration for vessels in the air: so that if balloons cannot be managed, 
 elongated aerostats may, and the difficulties which appeared insurmountable at the beginning of the nineteenth 
 century may be at hut dispelled, and the great high-road to all the nations of tho earth (the atmosphere) may be 
 iled triumphantly. 
 
 Let us draw attention to the oldest and sublimest of the sciences, and learn from tin- 
 achievements of her pioneers, which have been so eloquently recorded by Nichol in his ' Solar 
 System,' and other works, what we may in some degree anticipate for aerostation : 
 
 " 1 1 is seldom easy to ascertain why or how a new truth is revealed, that majestic event usually occurring 
 when old systems seem to have reached their climax and acliieved perfection. When, however, the still small voice 
 does come, it is one of dread. The accomplished part of the world feels as in an earthquake ; although tho deserts 
 may rejoice at the rising light" 
 
 ', Copernicus. " He threw from him the weight of ages, and quietly asked whether that fundamental tenet, 
 which asserts that the earth is motionless, might not be false. The mental effort required, even to hesitate on a 
 ]x'int wliieh all mankind had up to that moment undoubtingly believed, and which had now inwoven itself with 
 every mode of thought, was an achievement for the loftiest order of genius ; the question being put, it required only 
 superior but not uncommon talent, to follow it to its conclusions." 
 
 Then, a Tycho and Kepler. " It is usually assumed as an axiom, that when Science desires a great man to 
 accomplish some specific object, one with faculties altogether adequate is certain to appear and achieve his mission : 
 the two men here spoken of were, in this case, nobly adapted to the required task, but each only to his own 
 department of it. The genius of the Dane lay exclusively with observation, in which field he stands beside 
 Hipparchus; while, on the contrary, Kepler thirsted after analogies and relations. Tycho had no power to 
 theorise ; and when he attempted it, the failure was miserable. Kepler's enthusiasm made his whole life that of a 
 theorist, divided betw<tn the pursuit of mystical relations, and the discovery of some of the noblest truths in 
 the science of astronomy ; an enthusiasm, however, most diverse from that of the common theorist, who usually 
 seeks not after truth but distinction, and is pleased no better with a great discovery, than a startling and noisy 
 paradox : for, springing from the finest genius, it prompted him for ever to search out real relations, and, until those 
 relations were discovered, never to be at rest If his ardent speculative, and often erring mind, had been truly in 
 union, in the same person, with the faculties of tho calm, observant, and nnphilosophical Tycho, it could not have 
 otherwise befallen it than to be an instrument of importance scarce calculable towards the reformation of all 
 science : and the truth is, the imperfect union which did take place the happy association, until Tycho's death, of 
 the two persons, and Kepler's subsequent and most pious devotion to the memory of his patron and master has 
 produced a period second to none in the importance of the truth it revealed, and which therefore will always 
 be illustrious." 
 
 Kepler says of himself after making the discovery of the Unity of Structure in th< 
 Planetary System : 
 
 .... It is now eighteen months since I got the first glimpse of light, three months since the dawn. 
 
 3 M -2 
 
446 
 
 ASTEA CASTEA. 
 
 20TH CENTURY. 
 
 few days since the unveiled sun, most admirable to gaze on, burst out upon me. Nothing holds me : I will indulge 
 in my sacred fury : I will triumph over mankind by the honest confession that I have stolen the golden vases of 
 the Egyptians, to build up a tabernacle for my God far away from the confines of Egypt. If you forgive me, I 
 rejoice ; if you are angry, I can bear it ; the die is cast, the book is written, to be read either now or by posterity 
 I care not which; it may well wait a century for a reader, as God has waited six thousand years for an 
 observer ! 
 
 The apple falls to the ground, and Newton unravels the mystery, completes the first 
 step of a boundless research, and acknowledges that he is "but as a child, standing on the shore 
 of the vast and unexplored ocean, and playing with a little pebble which the waters have 
 
 washed to his feet : "- 
 
 SEE ! ALL THINGS WITH EACH OTHER BLENDING 
 EACH TO ALL ITS BEING LENDING : 
 
 ALL ON EACH IN TURN DEPENDING 
 
 HEAVENLY MINISTERS DESCENDING, 
 AND AGAIN TO HEAVEN UP-TENDING : 
 FLOATING, MINGLING, INTERWEAVING, 
 ElSING, SINKING, AND RECEIVING 
 EACH FROM EACH, WHILE EACH IS GIVING 
 
 ON TO EACH, AND EACH RELIEVING 
 EACH, THE PAILS OF GOLD, THE LIVING 
 
 CURRENT THROUGH THE AIR is HEAVING 
 BREATHING BLESSINGS, SEE THEM BENDING 
 BALANCED WORLDS FROM CHANGE DEFENDING ; 
 WHILE, EVERYWHERE DIFFUSED, is HARMONY UNENDING ! 
 
 Do we not find encouragement here? Are not all sciences strengthened by the 
 completion of so beautiful an arch ? May not we therefore anticipate for aerostation future 
 progression as definitely marked? Or must it be with it, as with the science of marine 
 navigation, that the donations of the most valuable inventors (I had nearly said discoverers) 
 are lost among the thousands of patents that with gradual steps have caused that display of 
 skill and ingenuity that we find in a dockyard ? 
 
 IV. 
 
 For a glimpse of the future, analogous to our Second Chapter, I will quote Victor Hugo's 
 ' Vingtieme Siecle ' * : 
 
 PLEINE MER. 
 
 L'abime ; on ne sait quoi de terrible qui gronde ; 
 Le vent ; 1'obscurit^ vaste comme le monde ; 
 Partout les flots ; partout oil 1'oeil peut s'enfoncer, 
 La rafale qu'on voit aller, venir, passer ; 
 L'onde, linceul ; le ciel, ouverture de tombe ; 
 Les tfeebres sans 1'arche et 1'eau sans la colombe ; 
 Les nuages ayant 1'aspect d'une for6t. 
 Un esprit qui viendrait planer la, ne pourrait 
 Dire, entre 1'eau sans fond et 1'espace sans borne, 
 Lequel est le plus sombre, et si cette horreur morne, 
 Faite de ce'cite', de stupeur et de bruit, 
 Vient de I'immense mer ou de 1'immense nuit. 
 
 L'oeil distingue, au milieu du gouffre ou I'air sanglote, 
 Quelque chose d'informe et de hideux qui flotte, 
 
 Un grand cachalot mort a carcasse de fer, 
 
 On ne sait quel cadavre a vau-1'eau dans la mer ; 
 
 CEuf de titan dont 1'homme aurait fait un navire. 
 
 Cela vogue, cela nage, cela chavire ; 
 
 Cela fut un vaisseau ; 1'e'cume aux blancs amas 
 
 Cache et montre a grand bruit les tronfons de sept mats ; 
 
 Le colosse, echoud sur le ventre, fuit, plonge, 
 
 S'engloutit, reparait, se meut comme le songe ; 
 
 Chaos d'agres ronipus, de poutres, de haubans ; 
 
 Le grand mat vaincu semble un spectre aux bras tombants 
 
 L'onde passe a travers ce debris ; 1'eau s'engage 
 
 Et deferle en hurlant le long du bastingage, 
 
 Et tourmente des bouts de corde a des crampons 
 
 Dans le ruissellement formidable des ponts ; 
 
 La houle dperdument furieuse saccage 
 
 Aux deux flancs du vaisseau les cintres d'une cage 
 
 * ' La Legende des Siecles.' 
 
I'll Ml ('i:\TURY. 
 
 ri.Kixi: MI:I;. 
 
 117 
 
 Oil jadis uue roue effrayante a toured ; 
 
 I'eraonne ; le ndant, froid, muet, etonu<< ; 
 
 D'atTrcux canons rouilles tendent leun cons funestcs ; 
 
 LViitre-pout a des trous oil ae dreaaent lei reatea 
 
 De cinq tube* pareils a des clairon* geanta, 
 
 I'lrms jadis il'iiuc foudre, et qui, tordus, beanta, 
 
 l'l..yes, dteinU, n'ont plus, sur 1'eau qui lea balance, 
 
 Qu'un noir vumissement de nuit et da silence ; 
 
 Le flux ct le retlux, comine avec un rebut, 
 
 Denude a chaque coup IVtrare et 1'dtambot, 
 
 Et dans la lame on voit ae ddbattre 1'ecbiue 
 
 D'une mysUrieuse et diflbrme machiiu>. 
 
 Cette minsr sous 1'eau rfide, fautome obacur. 
 
 Dea putrefactions fermenttnt, a coup sur, 
 
 Pans ce vaisseau perdu sous lea vague* sans nombre ; 
 
 Dessus, des tourbillons d'oiseaux de mer ; dans 1'ombrc, 
 
 Detsons, des millions de poissons carnassiers. 
 
 Tout a 1'eutour, les Dots, cea liquides aciera, 
 
 Melent leurs touruoiements monstrueux et livides. 
 
 Des espaces deserts sous des espaces Tides. 
 
 triste mer 1 sdpulcre oil tout semble vivant ! 
 
 Cea deux athletes fails de Curie et de Tent, 
 
 Le tangage qui bavc et le roulis qui fume, 
 
 Luttant sur ce radeau funebre dans la brume, 
 
 Sans trtve, a chaque instant arrachcnt quelque eclat 
 
 De la quille ou du pont dans leur noir pugilat ; 
 
 Par momenta, au zenith un nuage se troue, 
 
 Un pru de jour lugubre en tombe, et, sur la proue, 
 
 Une lueur, qui tremble au souffle de 1'autan, 
 
 Bleine, dclaire a demi ce mot : LEVIATHAN. 
 
 Puis 1'apparition se perd dans 1'eau profonde ; 
 
 Tout I'uit. 
 
 LeViathan ; c'est la tout le vicu.x monde, 
 Apre et ddmesure dans sa fanve laidcur ; 
 Leviathan, c'est Ik tout le passe' : grandeur, 
 Horreur. 
 
 Le dernier siecle a vn sur la Tamise 
 Croitre un monstre a qui 1'eau sans bornes fut promise, 
 Et qui longtemps, Babel des mere, eut Londre entier 
 Levant les yeux dans 1'ombre au pied de son chantier. 
 Effroyable, a sept mats me Ian t cinq cheminees 
 Qui hennissaient au choc dea vagnes effre'n&s, 
 Emportant, dans le bruit des aqnilon* si (Hants, 
 Dix mille hommes, fonnnis dparset dans sea fiance, 
 Ce Titan se rua, joyeux, dans la tempele ; 
 Du dome de Saint-Paul son mat passait le falte ; 
 Le sombre esprit humain, debout sur son tillac, 
 Stupetiait la mer qui n'dtait plus qu'un lac ; 
 Le vieillard Ocean, qu'eflarouche la sonde, 
 
 I liquid, a travers le vcrre de son oode, 
 Regardait le vaiaseau de I'liomme grossissant ; 
 Ce vaisseau fut sur 1'onde un terrible passant ; 
 
 Les vagnes rrdmissaient de I'avoir sur leurs croupes ; 
 
 Se* sabords mugissaient ; en guise de chaloupes, 
 
 Deux navires pendaient a ses portmanteaux ; 
 
 Son annurc etait fnitc avcc tous les mdtaux ; 
 
 Un prodigieux cable onrlait sa grande voile ; 
 
 Quand il marchait, fumant, grondant, couvert de toile, 
 
 II jetait un tel rile a 1'air d|uvantd 
 
 Que toute 1'cau tremblait, et quc Pimmensitd 
 Comptait parmi ses bruits ce grand frisson sonore ; 
 La nuit, il passait rouge aiusi qu'un mdtdore ; 
 
 Sa voilure, oil 1'oreille entendait le ddbat 
 
 Dec souffles, subissant ce greement comme un bit, 
 
 Ses hunes, ses grelins, ses palans, ses amurea, 
 
 fi talent uue prison de vents et de murmures ; 
 
 Son ancre avail le poids d'une tour ; ses parois 
 
 VouUieut les flots, trouvant tous les ports trop dtroiti ; 
 
 Son ombre humiliait au loin toutes les proues ; 
 
 Un t1egraphe dtuit son porte-voix ; ses roues 
 
 Forgeaient la sombre mer comme deux grands marteaux ; 
 
 Les flots se le passaicnt comme dea pieVlesUux 
 
 Oo, calme, ondulerait un triumphal colosse ; 
 
 L'ablme s'abregeait sous sa lourdeur v^loce ; 
 
 Pas de lointain pays qui jiour lui ne fut pres ; 
 
 Madere apercevait ses mits ; trois jours apres, 
 
 I.'llekla 1'entrevoyait dans la lueur polaire. 
 
 La bataille montait ur lui dans sa colere. 
 
 La guerre Suit sacree et sainto en ces temps-la ; 
 
 Rien n'egalait Nemrod si ce n'est Attila ; 
 
 Et les hommes, depuis les premiers jours du rnoudr, 
 
 SenUnt peser sur eux la misere infecoude, 
 
 Les pestes, lea fleam lugubres et railleurs, 
 
 Cherchant quelque moyen d'amoindrir leurs douleurs, 
 
 Pour dtablir eutre eux de justes equilibrcs, 
 
 Pour Jtre plus heureux, meilleurs, plus grands, plus libres, 
 
 Plus dignes du ciel pur qui les daigne echiirer, 
 
 Avaicnt imagine' de s'entre-de'vorer. 
 
 Ce smistre vaisseau les aidait dans leur oeuvre. 
 
 Lourd comme le dragon, prompt comme la coulcuvrr, 
 
 II couvrait IXX^an de ses ailes de feu ; 
 
 La terre s'eflrayait quand sur 1'horizon bleu 
 
 Ram f wit 1'allongetnent hideux de sa fumeo, 
 
 Car cVtait une ville et c'ctait une annec ; 
 
 Sea pavois fourmillaieut de mortiers et d'afTuts, 
 
 Et d'un heYissement dc bataillons confus ; 
 
 Ses grappins menacaient ; et, pour les abordages, 
 
 On voyait sur ses ponts des rouleaux de cordages 
 
 Monstrueux qui semblaient des boas endonnis ; 
 
 Invincible, en ces temps de freres ennemis, 
 
 Seul, de toute une flotte il affrontait I'limeute, 
 
 Aiusi qu'un dl^phant au milieu d'une meute ; 
 
 La bordee a ses pieds fumait comme un enceni, 
 
 Sea flancs engloutissaient les boulcts impuissanU, 
 
 II allait broyant tout dans ('obscure melee, 
 
 Et, quand, dpouvantable, il lachait sa volee, 
 
 On voyait flamboyer son colossal beauprd, 
 
 Par deux mille canons brusquement cmpourprd. 
 
 II mdprisait 1'autan, le flux, 1'dclair, la brume. 
 
 A son avant tournait, dans un chaos d'dcumc, 
 
 Une espcce de vrille a trouer I'in&ni ; 
 
 Le Malstrb'm s'apaisait sous sa quille aplani. 
 
 Sa vie intdricnrc dtait un inccndie ; 
 
 Flamme au grd du pilote apaisee ou grandic ; 
 
 Dans 1'antre d'ou sortait un vaste mouvement, 
 
 Au fond d'une fournaise on voyait vaguement 
 
 Das Strcs uinel>rcux marcher dans des nneea 
 
 D'e'tiucellca, parmi les braises remuees ; 
 
 Et pour ame il avail dans sa cale un enfer. 
 
 II voguait, roi du gouflre, et ses vergues de fcr 
 
 Ressemblaient, sous le ciel redoutable et sublime, 
 
 A des sceptres poses en travers de 1'abtme ; 
 
 Ainsi qu'on voit 1'Etna Ton voyait ce steamer ; 
 
 II dtait la montagne errante de la mer ; 
 
 Mais les heures, lea jours, les mois, les ans, ces codes, 
 
 Out passe ; 1'Ocdan, vaste, entre les deux moodes, 
 
448 
 
 ASTEA CASTKA. 
 
 20 CENTURY. 
 
 A rugi, de brouillard et d'orage obscurci ; 
 La mer a ses dcueils caches, le temps aussi ; 
 Et maintenant, parrni les profondeurs farouches, 
 Sous les vautours, qui sont de 1'abime les mouches, 
 Sous le image, au gr<5 des souffles, dans 1'oubli 
 De 1'infini, dont 1'ombre affreuse est le repli, 
 Sans que jamais le vent autour d'elle s'endorme, 
 Au milieu des flots noirs roule I'dpave foorme! 
 * 
 
 L'ancien monde, 1'ensemble Strange et surprenant 
 De faits sociaux, morts et pourris maintenant, 
 D'ou sortit ce navire aujourd'hui sous l'<jcume, 
 L'ancien monde, aussi, lui, plonge dans 1'amertume, 
 Avait tous les fleaux pour vents et pour typhous. 
 Construction d'airain aux (Stages profonds, 
 Sur qui le mal, not vil, crachait sa bave infame, 
 Plein de fume'e, et mu par une hydro de flamme, 
 La Haine, il ressemb'.ait a ce sombre vaisseau. 
 
 Le mal 1'avait marque" de son funebre sceau. 
 
 Ce monde, enveloppe 1 d'une brume dternelle, 
 
 F]tait fatal ; 1'Espoir avait plte son aile ; 
 
 Pas d'unite" ; divorce et joug ; diversity 
 
 De langue, de raison, de code, de cite ; 
 
 Nul lien, nul faisceau ; le progres solitaire, 
 
 Comme un serpent coupe 1 , se tordait sur la terre, 
 
 Sans pouvoir reunir les tronfons de 1'effort ; 
 
 L'esclavage, parquant les peuples pour la mort, 
 
 Les enfermait au fond d'un cirque de frontieres 
 
 Ou les gardaient la Guerre et la Nuit, bestiaires ; 
 
 L'Adam slave luttait centre 1'Adam germain ; 
 
 Un genre humain en France, un autre genre humain 
 
 En AmeYique, un autre a Londre, un autre a Rome ; 
 
 L'homme au dela d'un pont ne connaissait plus 1'homme ; 
 
 Les vivants, d'ignorance et de vice charge's, 
 
 Se trainaient ; en travers de tout, les prejuge"s ; 
 
 Les superstitions etaient d'apres enceintes 
 Terribles d'autant plus qu'elles dtaient plus saintes ; 
 Quel cre'neau soupconneux et noir qu'uu Alcoran ! 
 Un texte avait le glaive au poing comme un tyran ; 
 La loi d'un peuple drait chez 1'autre peuple un crime ; 
 Lire e"tait un fosse', croire (5tait un abime ; 
 Les rois Etaient des tours ; les dieux etaient des murs ; 
 Nul moyen de franchir tant d'ohstacles obscurs ; 
 Sitot qu'on voulait croitre, on rencontrait la barre 
 D'une mode sauvage ou d'un dogme barbare ; 
 Et, quant a 1'avenir, defense d'aller la. 
 
 Le vent de 1'infini sur ce monde souffla. 
 II a sombre 1 . Du fond des cieux inaccessibles, 
 Les vivants de Tether, les ctres invisibles 
 Confuse'ment epars sous 1'obscur firmament, 
 A cette heure, pensifs, regardent fixement 
 Sa disparition dans la nuit redoutable. 
 Qu'est-ce que le simoun a fait du grain de sable ? 
 Cela fut. C'est passe"! cela n'est plus ici. 
 
 Ce monde est mort. Mais quoi ! 1'homme est-il mort aussi ? 
 
 Cette forme de lui disparaissant, l'a-t-elle 
 
 Lui-meme remportd dans 1'enigme e'ternelle ? 
 
 L'Ocean est de"sert. Pas une voile au loin. 
 
 Ce n'est plus que du flot que le flot est t<5moin. 
 
 Pas un esquif vivant sur 1'onde ou la mouette 
 
 Voit du LeViathan roder la silhouette. 
 
 Est-ce que Thomme, ainsi qu'un feuillage jauni, 
 
 S'en est alle dans 1'ombre ? est-ce que c'est fini ? 
 
 Seul le flux et reflux va, vient, passe et repasse. 
 
 Et 1'ceil, pour retrouver 1'homme absent de 1'espace, 
 
 Eegarde en vain la-bas. Eien. 
 
 Ilegardez la-haut. 
 
 PLEIN CIEL. 
 
 Loin dans les profondeurs, hors des nuits, hors du flot, 
 
 Dans un dcartement de nuages, qui laisse 
 
 Voir au-dessus des mers la ce'leste alle"gresse, 
 
 Un point vagxie et confus apparait ; dans le vent, 
 
 Dans 1'espace, ce point se meut ; il est vivant ; 
 
 II va, descend, remonte ; il fait ce qu'il veut faire ; 
 
 II approche, il prend forme, il vient ; c'est une sphere ; 
 
 C'est un inexprimable et surprenant vaisseau, 
 
 Globe comme le monde et comme 1'aigle oiseau ; 
 
 C'est un navire en marche. Ou ? Dans I'e'ther sublime ! 
 
 E6ve ! on croit voir planer un morceau d'une cime ; 
 
 Le haut d'une montagne a, sous 1'orbe etoil<S, 
 
 Pris des ailes et s'est tout a coup envold ? 
 
 Quelque heure immense dtant dans les destins sonnee, 
 
 La nue errante s'est en vaisseau fa?onne'e ? 
 
 La Fable apparait-elle a nos yeux de"cevants ? 
 
 L'antique Eole a-t-il jetd son outre aux vents ? 
 
 De sorte qu'en ce gouffre ou les orages naissent, 
 
 Les vents, subitement dompt<?s, la reconnaissent ! 
 
 Est-ce 1'aimant qui s'est fait aider par 1'eclair 
 
 Pour batir un esquif ce'leste avec de 1'air ? 
 
 Du haut des clairs azurs vient-il une visite ? 
 
 Est-ce un transfigure* qui part et ressuscite, 
 
 Qui moute, de'livre de la terre, emporte' 
 
 Sur un char volant fait d'extase et de clarte", 
 
 Et se rapproche un peu par instant, pour qu'on voie, 
 
 Du fond du monde noir, la fuite de sa joie? 
 
 Ce n'est pas un morceau d'une cime ; ce n'est 
 
 Ni 1'outre ou tout le vent de la Fable tenait ; 
 
 Ni le jeu de Feclair ; ce n'est pas un fantSrne 
 
 Venu des profondeurs aurorales du dome ; 
 
 Ni le rayonnement d'un ange qui s'en va, 
 
 Hors de quelque tombeau be"ant, vers Jfliovah. 
 
 Ni rien de ce qu'en souge ou dans la fievre on nomme. 
 
 Qu'est-ce que ce navire impossible? C'est 1'homme. 
 
 C'est la grande reVolte obcissante a Dieu ! 
 La saintc fausse clef du fatal gouffre bleu ! 
 C'est Isis qui de'chire e"perdument son voile ! 
 C'est du mdtal, du bois, du chanvre et de la toile, 
 C'est de la pesanteur d^livrfe, et volant ; 
 C'est la force alliee a 1'homme etincelant, 
 Fiere, arrachant 1'argile a sa chaine dternelle ; 
 C'est la mati&re, heureuse, altiere, ayant en elle 
 
_'<>TH rr.vrriiY. 
 
 PLEIN CIEL, 
 
 Uii 
 
 |v loiim-an humain, et planant a tnven 
 I/immense 6tonnemcnt des deux eufin ouverts. 
 
 Audacc hnmaine ! effort du captif ! sainte rage ! 
 
 Effractiou enfiu plus forte que la cage I 
 
 Que faut-il a ret etre, atonic an large front, 
 
 Pour vaincre ce qui n'a ui fin, ni bord, ui fond, 
 
 Pour dompter le vent, trorabe, et 1'ecume, avalanche ? 
 
 Dan* le del une toile et sur mer une planche. 
 
 JadU del quatre vent* la furcur triompliuit ; 
 De ce quatre chevaux fehappes I'honimc a fait 
 lage de ton qnadrige ; 
 i Ions dan* sa main, ficr oocher 
 
 I )ii char adrifii que Pi'thcr voit nuucber ; 
 
 Miracle, il gouveroe un prodige. 
 
 Char niiTveillfux ! ton nom est Delivmnce. II court. 
 Pres de lui le ramier est lent, le flocon lourd ; 
 
 Le daim, IVpervicr, la panthere, 
 Sent encor la, qu'au loin sou ombre a deja, fui ; 
 Kt l.i locomotive eat reptile, et, sous lui, 
 
 L'hydre de flamnic est ver de terra. 
 
 Uue musique, un chant, sort de son tonrbillon. 
 Ses cordages vibrants et remplis d'aquilon 
 
 Semblent, dans le vide oil tout sombre, 
 Une lyre a travers laquelle par moment 
 Passe quelque ame en fuite au fond du firmament 
 
 Et melee anx souffles de 1'ombre. 
 
 Car 1'air, c'est ITiymne e"pars ; 1'air, parmi les recifs 
 Dw nuages roulant en groupes convulsifs, 
 
 millo voix e'touffees ; 
 Les fluides, 1'arur, 1'effluve, 1'elemont, 
 Soot toute une harmonic oil flottcnt vagnement 
 On ne salt qucls aombres Orphees. 
 
 Superbe, il plane, avec un hymne en ses agres ; 
 Kt 1'on croit voir passer la strophe dn progres. 
 
 II est la nef, il est le phare! 
 
 L'homme cnfin prend son sceptre et jette son baton. 
 Et Ton voit s'envoler le calcul de Newton 
 
 Monte" sur 1'ode de Pindare. 
 
 Le char halctant plonge et s'enfonce dans 1'air, 
 Dans I'eTdouissement impenetrable ot clair, 
 
 Dans 1'e'thcr sans t.iclie et nans ride ; 
 
 II se perd sous le bleu des cieux demesures ; 
 Les esprit* de 1'azur contemplent efiares 
 
 Cet englontissement splendide. 
 
 II passe, il n'est plus la ; qu'est-il done devenu ? 
 II est dans 1'invisible, il est dans Hnconnn ; 
 
 II baigne 1'homme dans le songe, 
 Dans le fait, dans le rrai profond, dans la clarte, 
 Dans 1'ocean d'cn haut pluin d'une ve'ritd 
 
 Dont le pritre a fait un mensonge. 
 
 Le jour se leve, il va ; le jour g'eVanouit, 
 II va ; fait pour le jour, il aocepte la nuit. 
 
 Voici 1'heure des frnx sans nombre ; 
 L'lieurc oil, vu du nadir, ce globe seuible, ayant 
 Son Urge c6ne obscur sous lui se deploy ant, 
 
 Une enorme comete d'ombre. 
 
 L brume redoutable emplit au loin les airs. 
 Ainni qu'au crrfpuscule on voit, le long des men, 
 
 Le pJchenr, vague oomme un rfive, 
 Trainant, dernier effort d'un long jour de sueurs, 
 St nasse oil les poissons font de piles lueurs, 
 
 Aller et venir sur la greve. 
 
 L Nuit tin du fond des gouffres inconnus 
 Son filet oil luit Mars, oil rayonne Venus, 
 
 Et, pendant que les heures sonnent, 
 Ce filet grandit, montc, emplit le ciel des soirs, 
 Et dans ses mailles d'ombre et dans ses reseaux noirx 
 
 Les constellations frissonncnt. 
 
 L'aeVoecaphe suit son cheniin ; il n'a peur 
 Ni des pieges du soir, ni de I'acre vapour, 
 
 Ni du ciel mornc oil rien ne bouge, 
 Oil les eclairs, luttant au fond de 1'orabre entre eux, 
 Ouvrent subitement dans le nuage afTreux 
 
 Des cavernes de cuivre rouge. 
 
 II tnvente une route obscure dans les nuits ; 
 Le silence hideux de oes lieux inouls 
 
 N'arrete point ce globe en marche ; 
 II passe, portent 1'hommc et 1'univers en lui ; 
 Paix 1 gloire ! et, comme 1'eau jadis, 1'air aujourd'hui 
 
 Au-dessus de ses flots voit Parch'-. 
 
 Le saint navire court par le vent emporte* 
 Avec la certitude et la rapiditl 
 
 Du javelot cherchant la cible ; 
 Rien n'en tombe, et pourtant il chemine en scmant ; 
 Sa rondeur, qu'on distingue en haut confus^mcnt, 
 
 Scmble un ventre d'oiseau terrible. 
 
 vogue ; les brouillards sous lui flottent dissous ; 
 Ses pilotes penches regardent, au-dessous 
 
 Des nuages oil 1'aiicrc tratne, 
 Si, dans 1'ombre, oil la terre avec 1'air se con fond, 
 Le sommet du Mont-Blanc ou quelque autre bas-fond 
 
 Ne vient pas heurter sa carcne. 
 
 La vie est sur le pont du navire eclatant. 
 
 Le rayon Penvoya, la lumiere 1'attend. 
 
 L'homme y fourmille, 1'homme invincible y flamboie ; 
 
 Point d'armes ; un fier bruit de puissance et de joie ; 
 
 Le cri vertigineux de 1'exploration ! 
 
 11 court, ombre, clarte', chimere, vision I 
 
 Regardez-le pendant qu'il passe, il va si vite ! 
 
 Comme autour d'un soleil on systeme gravite, 
 Une sphere de cuivre e'nonne fait marcher 
 Quatre globes ou pend un immense plancher ; 
 Elle respire et fuit dans les vents qni la bercent ; 
 Un large et blanc hunier horizontal, que percent 
 Des trappes, se fermant, s'ouvrant au gr^ du frein, 
 Fait un grand diaphragme a ce poumon d'airain ; 
 II s'impose a la nue ainsi qull 1'onde un lie'ge ; 
 La toile d'araignee humaine, un vaste piege 
 De cordes et de ncruds, un cnchevetrei. 
 De soupapes que meut un cable oh court 1'aimant, 
 Une embuche de treuils, de cabestans, de moufles, 
 Prend au passage et fait travailler tons les souffles ; 
 
450 
 
 ASTRA CASTEA. 
 
 20TH CENTURY. 
 
 L'esquif plane, encombre' d'hommes et de ballots, 
 
 Parmi les arc-en-ciel, les azurs, les halos, 
 
 Et sa course, echeveau qui sans fin se de'vide, 
 
 A pour point d'appui 1'air et pour moteur le vide ; 
 
 Sous le plancher s'^tage un chaos nSgulier 
 
 De ponts flottants que lie un tremblant escalier ; 
 
 Ce navire est un Louvre errant avec son faste ; 
 
 Un fil le porte ; il fuit, le'ger, fier, et si vaste, 
 
 Si colossal, au vent du grand abime clair, 
 
 Que le LeViathan, rampant dans 1'apre mer, 
 
 A 1'air de sa chaloupe aux te'nebres tombee, 
 
 Et semble, sous le vol d'un aigle, un 8carabe"e 
 
 Se tordant dans le not qui 1'emporte, tandis 
 
 Que Pimmense oiseau plane au fond d'un paradis. 
 
 Si 1'on pouvait rouvrir les yeux que le ver ronge, 
 
 Oh ! ce vaisseau, construit par le chiffre et le songe, 
 
 Eblouirait Shakspeare et ravirait Euler ! 
 
 II voyage, Delos gigantesque de 1'air, 
 
 Et rien ne le repousse et rien ne le refuse; 
 
 Et 1'on entend parler sa grande voix confuse. 
 
 Par moments la tempiHe accourt, le ciel palit, 
 
 L'autan, bouleversant les flots de 1'air, emplit 
 
 L'espace d'une e'cume afireuse de nuages ; 
 
 Mais qu'importe a 1'esquif de la mer sans rivages ! 
 
 Seulement, sur son aile il se dresse en marchant ; 
 
 II devient formidable a I'abime mechant, 
 
 Et dompte en frfmissant la trombe qui se creuse. 
 
 On le dirait conduit dans 1'horreur tene"breuse 
 
 Par I'ame des Leibnitz, des Fultons, des Ke'plers ; 
 
 Et 1'on croit voir, parmi le chaos plein d'e"clairs, 
 
 De detonations, d'ombre et de jets de soufre, 
 
 Le sombre emportement d'un monde dans un gouffrc. 
 
 Qu'importe le moment ! qu'importe la saison ! 
 La brume peut cacher dans le bleme horizon 
 
 Les Saturnes et les Mercures ; 
 La bise, conduisant la pluie aux crins e'pars, 
 Dans les nuages lourds groudant de toutes parts, 
 
 Pent tordre des hydros obscures ; 
 
 Qu'importe ! il va. Tout souffle est bon ; simoun, mistral ! 
 La terre a disparu dans le puits sideral. 
 
 II entre au mystere nocturne ; 
 Au-dessus de la grele et de 1'ouragan foil, 
 Laissant le globe en bas dans 1'ombre, on ne sait ou, 
 
 Sous le renversement de 1'urne. 
 
 Intrepide, il bondit sur les ondes du vent ; 
 H se rue, aile ouverte et la proue en avant, 
 
 II monte, il monte, il monte encore, 
 Au dela de la zone ou tout s'eVanouit, 
 Comme s'il s'en allait dans la profonde nuit 
 
 A la poursuite de 1'aurore ! 
 
 Calme, il monte ou jamais nuage n'est mont(S ; 
 II plane a la hauteur de la sdrdnite, 
 
 Devant la vision des spheres ; 
 Elles sont la, faisant le mystere e'clatant, 
 Chacune feu d'un gouffre, et toutes constatant 
 
 Les foigmes par les lumieres. 
 
 Andromede e'tincclle, Orion resplendit ; 
 L'essaim prodigieux des Pldiades grandit ; 
 Sirius ouvre son cratere ; 
 
 Arcturus, oiseau d'or, scintille dans son nid ; 
 Le Scorpion hideux fait cabrer au zenith 
 Le poitrail bleu du Sagittaire. 
 
 LWroscaphe voit, comme en face de lui, 
 La-haut, Alddbaran par Ce'phe'e e'bloui, 
 
 Perse'e, escarboucle des cimes, 
 Le chariot polaire aux flamboyants essieux, 
 Et, plus loin, la lueur lacte"e, 6 sombres cieux, 
 
 La fourmiliere des abimes ! 
 
 Vers 1'apparition terrible des soleils, 
 
 II monte ; dans 1'horreur des espaces vermeils, 
 
 II s'oriente, ouvrant ses voiles ; 
 On croirait, dans Tether oil de loin on 1'entend, 
 Que ce vaisseau puissant et superbe, en chantant, 
 
 Part pour une de ces e'toiles ! 
 
 Tant cette nef, rompant tons les terrestres noeuds, 
 Volante, et franchissant le ciel vertigineux, 
 
 ESve des blemes Zoroastres, 
 Comme effre'ne'e au souffle insense de la nuit, 
 Se jette, plonge, enfonce et tombe et roule et fuit 
 
 Dans le prdcipice des astres ! 
 
 Ou done s'arretera 1'homme seditieux ? 
 L'espace voit, d'un oeil par moment soucieux, 
 L'empreinte du talon de 1'homme dans les nues ; 
 II tient I'extremite des choses inconnues ; 
 II e'pouse I'abime a son argile uni ; 
 Le voila maintenant marcheur de 1'infini. 
 Ou s'arretera-t-il, le puissant reTractaire ? 
 Jusqu'a quelle distance ira-t-il de la terre ? 
 Jusqu'a quelle distance ira-t-il du destin ? 
 L'^pre Fatalitd se perd dans le lointain ; 
 Toute 1'antique histoire affreuse et deTorm^e 
 Sur 1'horizon nouveau fuit comme une fume'e. 
 Les temps sont venus. L'homme a pris possession 
 De 1'air, comme du riot la grebe et 1'alcyon. 
 Devant nos rgves fiers, devant nos utopies 
 Ayant des yeux croyants et des ailes impies, 
 Devant tons nos efforts pensifs et haletants, 
 L'obscurite' sans fond fermait ses deux battants ; 
 Le vrai champ enfin s'offre aux puissantes algebres ; 
 L'homme vainqueur, tirant le verrou des te'nebres, 
 Dddaigne I'Oc&n, le vieil infini mort. 
 La porte noire cede et s'entre-baille. II sort ! 
 
 profondeurs ! faut-il encor 1'appeler 1'homme ? 
 
 L'homme est d'abord monte" sur la bete de somme ; 
 Puis sur le chariot que portent des essieux ; 
 Puis sur la frele barque au mat ambitieux ; 
 Puis, quand il a fallu vaincre 1'e'cueil, la lame, 
 L'onde et 1'ouragan, 1'homme est mont sur la flamme ; 
 A pr&ent 1'immortel aspire a Te'ternel ; 
 II moutait sur la mer, il monte sur le ciel. 
 
 L'homme force le sphinx a lui tenir la lampe. 
 Jeune, il jette le sac du vieil Adam qui rampe, 
 Et part, et risque aux cieux, qu'eclaire son flambeau, 
 Un pas semblable a ceux qu'on fait dans le tombeau ; 
 Et peut-etre voici qu'enfin la traversee 
 Effrayante, d'un astre a Tautre, est commence'e ! 
 
_'ini ' i MI in. 
 
 ( 11:1.. 
 
 
 Sni|.-ur : M ponrrait-il que I'horame s'e"lano4t ? 
 < > unit ! M pourrait-il que I'lioimnc, nncien format, 
 
 Quo 1'esprit humain. !;le, 
 
 itit ange, et, brisunt lc Cftrcan qui le monl, 
 Kut >..u,l.iii! ,:. plain-pied avec In cieux ? I* inert 
 Va done dcveiiir inutile ! 
 
 Oh ! franchir 1 ether ! aongc tfpouvantable et beau ! 
 I>. .tiMiT le promontoire enorme du totnbean 1 
 
 Qui sait ? Toute aile est magnanime : 
 mine eat aile. PeuMtre, d mer\ .ur ! 
 
 I'M < hristophe Coloin b de I'ombre, quelque jour, 
 I 11 (iama du cap de 1'aUme, 
 
 Un Jason de 1'aiur, depuis longtemps parti, 
 De la terre oublid, par le ciel en-louti, 
 
 Tout a coup, sur I'huinaini- 
 Iteparaltra, monte' sur cet alerion, 
 
 Kt montrant Sinus, Alliotli, Orion, 
 
 A jale, dira: J'en arrive I 
 
 .liiisi, rnmmc on voit aux voutes dea eelliera 
 Lea noirceurs qu'en rodant tracent lea chandeliers 
 
 On pourrait, BOO* lea bleua piastres, 
 Deviner qu'un enfant de la terre a pane', 
 A oe que le flambeau de 1'hnmmo aurait laisae' 
 IV- fumee au plafond dea aitrea ! 
 
 
 Pai si loin ! pas si haut ! redeacendona. Uestong 
 Llioniinc, restons Adam ; roaia non 1'horame a t Jtons, 
 Mais non 1'Adam tombe" ! Tout autre rtve alterc 
 L'espece d'ideal qui convicnt a la terre. 
 Cooteiitons-nons du mot : meilleur ! ecrit partout. 
 Oui, 1'aube s'est levee. 
 
 Ob ! oe fut tout a coup 
 Comme une eruption de folie et de joie, 
 Quand, apres six mille ana dans la fatale voie, 
 DeTaite brusquement par 1'invisible main, 
 La peaantenr, lice au pied du genre hutnain, 
 Se brisa, oette clialno etait toutea lea chalnea ! 
 Tout s'envola dans I'hommc, ct lea fureurs, les haines ! 
 Les chimeres, la force eVanouie enfin, 
 L'ignorance et IVrreur, la misere et la fnim, 
 Le droit diviu des rois, les faux dieux juifs ou imebres, 
 Le mensonge, le dol, les brumes, les Unebres, 
 Tomberent dans la poudre aveo 1'antique sort, 
 Comme le vctcment du bagne dont on sort. 
 
 Kt i-Yst ainsi que I'ere annoncee est venue, 
 Cette ere qu'a traverg les temps, Ipaisse nue, 
 Thalcs apercevait au loin devant scg yeux ; 
 Et Platen, lorsque, emu, des spheres dans les cieux 
 II ecoutait les chants et contemplait les danses. 
 
 Les fitres inconnus et hons, les providences 
 Preaentes dans 1'azur ou 1'ocil ne les voit pas, 
 Lea anges qui de I'homme observent tous lea pas, 
 Leur tache sainte <5tant de diriger les Imea, 
 Kt .i'.itii-. r, avec toutea les belles dainmes, 
 La conscience au fond des ccrvcaux t^ncbreux, 
 Ces amis des vivants, toujours pench^ tur eux, 
 Ont cosse' dc fr^mir, et d'etre, en la tourmente 
 Et dans les sombrcs nuils, la voix qui ae lamente. 
 Voici qu'on voit bleuir 1'ideale Sion. 
 lls n'ont plus 1'oeil fixe sur 1'apparition 
 
 l>u vainqueur, du soldat, du fauve cbaaseur d'hommw. 
 
 Lea vagues flamboiemcnta e'|rs sur lea Sodomes, 
 
 Preouraeurs du grand feu ddvorant, lea lueura 
 
 Que jette le sourcil tr.ui.|iii' dea tueurs, 
 
 Lea guerres, a'arrachant aveo leur griffe immonde 
 
 Lea frontikres, haillon difforme du vionx inmiili-, 
 
 Lea battementa de ooeur dea merea aux aboia, 
 
 L'embuacade ou le vol guettant au fond des boia, 
 
 Le cri de la chouette et de la sentini-llr, 
 
 Lea fleaux, ne aont plus leur alarme dternellc. 
 
 Le denil n'est plus inele' dans tout ce qu'on enteixl ; 
 
 Leur oreille n'eat plus Umduc a chaque instant 
 
 Yen le grfmisaement indignd dc la tombe ; 
 
 Ij moisson rit aux champs oil r&lait I'hecatombe ; 
 
 L'azur ne lea vuit plus plviirvr les nouvcau-nea, 
 
 Dana tous les innocents prcasentir des danmes, 
 
 Kt la pitie" n'est plus leur uiii<|iu> attitude ; 
 
 lls ne regardent plus la morne servitude 
 
 Tresaer sa maille obscure a 1'osier des beroeaux. 
 
 L'homme aux fers, p^ndtr^ du frisson dea roseaux, 
 
 Eat remplac^ par I'homme attendri, fort et calme ; 
 
 La fonction du sceptre est faite par la palme ; 
 
 Voici quVntin, 6 gloire ! exauces dans leur vi-u, 
 
 Gen etros, dieux |>our nous, creatures pour 1'ieu, 
 
 Sont hcureux, I'liomme est bon, et aont fiers, I'homme est 
 
 juste; 
 
 Les eaprits purs, essaim de 1'empyree auguste, 
 Devant ce globe obscur qui dcvient luniineiix, 
 Ne aentcnt plus saigner 1'amour qu'ils ont en eux ; 
 Une clartd paralt dans leur beau regard sombre ; 
 Kt 1'archange commence k sourire dans I'ombre. 
 
 
 Ou va-t-il ce navirc ? 11 va, de jour vjtu, 
 A 1'avenir diviu et pur, a la vcrlu, 
 
 A la science qu'on voit luire, 
 A la mort dea fleaux, a 1'oubli jidnercux, 
 A 1'abondance, au calme, au rire, a I'homme heureux ; 
 
 11 va, ce glorieux navire, 
 
 Au droit, a la raison, a la fraternity 
 A la religieue et sainte veVitd 
 
 Sans impostures et sans voiles, 
 A 1'amour, sur les coeurs serrant son doux lien, 
 Au juste, au grand, au bon, au beau Vous voyez Wen 
 
 Qu'en eflet il monte aux dtoiles 1 
 
 11 porte I'homme k I'homme et ('esprit a 1'esprit. 
 II civilise, gloire ! 11 mine, il fle'trit 
 
 Tout 1'alTreux ]ns.vS qui s'clTare, 
 11 abolit la loi de fer, la loi de sang, 
 Les glaives, les carcans, 1'esclavage, en passant 
 
 Dans les cieux comme une fanfare. 
 
 II ratnene au vrai ceux que le faux rcpouiiaa : 
 11 fait briller la foi dans 1'oeil de Spinosa 
 
 Kt 1'espoir sur lc front de Hobbe ; 
 II plane, mssurant, rechaufiant, djanchant 
 Sur oe qui fut lugubre et oe qui tut mechant 
 
 Toute la clcracnco de 1'aube. 
 
 Lea vieux champs de bataille dtaicnt In dans la nuit ; 
 II pa air, et maintenant voila lc jour qui luit 
 
 Sur ces grands charniers de I'liistoire 
 Ob les sieclcs, penchant letir rril tristc ct pn ) 
 Venai< I'.. ml re efTroyable que font 
 
 Les deux ailes de la victoire. 
 
 :; s 
 
452 
 
 ASTRA C'ASTKA. 
 
 20TH t'ENTURY. 
 
 Dfirriere lui, Cesar rcdevient hotnme ; Eden 
 S'elargit sur 1'firebe, e'panoui soudain ; 
 
 Les ronces de lys sont couvertes ; 
 Tout revient, tout renait ; ce que la mort courhait 
 Refleurit dans la vie, et le bois (hi gibet 
 
 Jette, effraye\ des branches vertes. 
 
 Le image, 1'aurore aux candides fraicheurs, 
 L'aile de la colombe, et toutes les blancheurs, 
 
 Composent la-haut sa magic ; 
 Dernere lui, pendant qu'il fuit vers la clarte, 
 Dans 1'antique noirceur de la Fatalite" 
 
 Des lueurs de 1'enfer rougie, 
 
 Dans ce brumeux chaos qui fut le monde ancien, 
 Oil 1'Allah turc s'accoude au sphinx egyptien, 
 
 Dans la seculaire gelienne, 
 
 Dans la Gomorrhe infame oil flanibe un lac funmiit, 
 Dans la foret du mal qu'eclairent vaguement 
 
 Les deux yeux fixes de la Maine, 
 
 Tombent, sechent, ainsi que des feuillagcs morts, 
 Et s'en vont la douleur, le pe'che, le remords, 
 
 La perversity lamentable, 
 Tout 1'ancien joug, de rfive et de crime forge', 
 Nemrod, Aaron, la guerre avec le prejuge, 
 
 La boucherie avec 1'^table ! 
 
 Tous les spoliateurs et tous les corrupteurs 
 
 S'en vont ; et les faux jours sur les fausses hauteurs ; 
 
 Et le taureau d'airain qui beugle, 
 La hache, le billot, le bucher devorant, 
 Et le docteur versant 1'erreur a 1'ignorant, 
 
 Vil baton qui trompait 1'aveugle ! 
 
 Et tous ceux qui faisaient, au lieu de repentirs, 
 Un rire au prince avec les larmes des martyrs, 
 
 Et tous ces flatteurs des dpees 
 Qui louaient le sultan, le maitre universel, 
 Et, pour assaisonner 1'hymne, prenaient du sel 
 
 Dans le sac aux tetes coupees ! 
 
 Les pestes, les forfaits, les cimiers fulgurants, 
 S'effacent, et la route ou marchaient les tyrans, 
 
 Belial roi, Dagon ministre, 
 Et 1'epine, et la baie horrible du chemin 
 Ou 1'homme, du vieux monde et du vieux vice humaiu, 
 
 Entend beler le bouc sinistre. 
 
 On voit luire partout les esprits sideraux ; 
 On voit la fin du monstre et la fin du heYos, 
 
 Et de 1'athee et de 1'augure, 
 La fin du conqueYant, la fin du paria ; 
 Et Ton voit lentement sortir Beccaria 
 
 De Dracon qui se transfigure. 
 
 On voit 1'agneau hortir du dragon fabuleux, 
 
 La vierge de 1'opprobre, et Marie aux yeux bleus 
 
 De la Venus prostitute ; 
 
 Le blaspheme devient le psaume ardent et pur, 
 L'hymne prend, pour s'en faire autant d'ailes d'azur, 
 
 Tous les haillons de la hude. 
 
 Tout est sauve ! la fleur, le printemps aromal, 
 L'eclosion du bien, 1'ecroulement du mal, 
 Fetent dans sa course cnchaut6e 
 
 Ce beau globe e'claireur, ce grand char curieux, 
 Qu'Empe'doclc, du fond des gouffres, suit des yeux, 
 Et, du haut des monts, Prome'thee ! 
 
 Le jour s'est fait dans 1'antre ou 1'horreur s'accroupit. 
 En expirant, 1'antique univers decrepit, 
 
 Larve a la prunellc ternie, 
 Gisant, et regardant le ciel noir s'e'toiler, 
 A laissd cette sphere heureuse s'envoler 
 
 Des levres de son agonic. 
 
 Oh ! ce navire fait le voyage sacre ! 
 
 C'est 1'ascension bleue a son premier degre ; 
 
 Hors de 1'antique et vil de'combre, 
 Hors de la pesanteur, c'est 1'avenir fonde ; 
 C'est le destin de 1'homme a la fin evade\ 
 
 Qui leve 1'aucrc et sort de 1'ombre ! 
 
 Ce navire la-haut conclut le grand hymen. 
 
 II mele presque a Dieu 1'anie du genre humain. 
 
 II voit 1'insondable, il y touche ; 
 11 est le vaste elan du progres vers le ciel ; 
 II est 1'entre'e altiere et sainte du r&l 
 
 Dans 1'antique ideal farouche. 
 
 Oh ! chacun de ses pas conquicrt 1'illirnite' ! 
 II est la joie ; il est la paix ; 1'humanite' 
 
 A trouv^ son organe immense ; 
 II vogue, usurpateur sacre", vainqueur behi, 
 Reculant chaque jour plus loin dans 1'infini 
 
 Le point sombre ou 1'homme commence. 
 
 II laboure 1'abime : il ouvre ccs sillons 
 
 Oil croissaient 1'ouragan, 1'hiver, les tourbillons, 
 
 Les siffluments et les hue'es ; 
 Grace a lui, la Concorde est la gerbe des cieux ; 
 Jl va, fdcondateur du ciel mysterieux, 
 
 Charrue auguste des nu<5es. 
 
 II fait germcr la vie humaine dans ces champs 
 Ou Dieu n'avait encor sem^ que des couchants 
 
 Et moissonn^ que des aurores ; 
 II entend, sous son vol qui fend les airs sereins, 
 Croitre et fremir partout les peuples souveraius, 
 
 Ces immenses epis sonores ! 
 
 Nef magique et supreme ! elle a, rien qu'en marcliant, 
 Change le cri terrestre en pur et joyeux chant, 
 
 Eajeuni les races fle'tries, 
 Etabli I'ordre vrai, montr<! le chemin sur, 
 Dieu juste ! ct fait entrer dans 1'homme tant d'azur 
 
 Qu'elle a supprimd les patries ! 
 
 Faisant a 1'homme avec le ciel une citd, 
 Une pensee avec toutc rimmcnsite, 
 
 Elle abolit les vieilles regies, 
 Elle abaisse les monts, elle annule les tours ; 
 Splendidc, elle introduit les peuples, marcheurs lourds, 
 
 Dans la communion des aigles. 
 
 Elle a cette divine et chaste fonction 
 De composer la-haut 1'unique nation, 
 
 A la fois derniere et premiere, 
 De promener 1'essor dans le rayonnement, 
 Et de faire planer, ivre de firmament, 
 
 La libcrt^ dans la luiniere. 
 
( i.s i ntv. 
 
 i;i.\ ELATION. 
 
 i:,:: 
 
 A GLDU-SE or THE FUTURE. 
 
 The Future the last evangel, which has included all others. Its cathedral the dome of immensity, hast 
 thou aeon it? Coped with the star galaxies; paved with the green mosaic of land and ocean; and for ultur, 
 verily, the star-throne of the Eternal! Its litany and psalmody, the noble arts, the heroic work and sufii-ring. 
 ami trui- heart-utterance of all the valiant of the sons of men. Its choir-music, the ancient winds and oceans, 
 and . 1, inarticulate, but most speaking voices of destiny and history, supernal ever as of old 
 
 two great Silences : 
 
 Stars silent rest o'er us, 
 Graves under us silent. 
 
 CABLTLE. 
 
 V. 
 
 Some imagine that they can perceive the foretelling of the great change which may be 
 caused liy tin- science of Aerostation in the inspired words of the Holy Scriptures, and that it 
 is fornhadowed in tin- vision of Ezekiel, or in the sublime strains of Isaiah: 
 
 - Win. AUK THESE THAT FLY AS A CLOUD, AND AS DOVES TO THEIR WINDOWS ? " Ix. 8. 
 
 A ) .-.-lit writer has directed public attention to the resemblance between the description 
 of the Leviathan in the Book of Job, and the iron-plated vessels of war now constructed l>v 
 
 3 x 'I 
 
454 
 
 ASTRA C ASTRA. 
 
 CHAP. XII. 
 
 so many nations. We should remember, however, that the Holy Bible was not intended for 
 the instruction of man in the various sciences ; but that these subjects were wisely given him 
 for the exercise of his intellectual faculties, and the use of that reason with which it has 
 pleased the Almighty to endow the noblest work of this Creation. 
 
 The Bible, we know, was the gift of God, in His unspeakable love and mercy, to the 
 unlearned as well as to the learned, in order to reveal to man the plan of redemption, and 
 that which can alone give peace and contentment in his last hours, the blessed assurance 
 of everlasting life, through the merits and mediation of his Saviour. 
 
 Now safely moored, my perils o'er, 
 
 I'll sing, first in night's diadem, 
 For ever, and for evermore, 
 
 The Star ! the Star of Bethlehem ! 
 
 ANGEL AND CHILD. 
 
 Down thither prone in flight, 
 He speeds, and through the vast ethereal sky 
 Sails between world and world with steady wings : 
 Now on the polar winds, then with quick fan 
 Winnows the buxom air. 
 
 MILTON. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 THE PASSIVE AIR UPBORE 
 
 THEIR NIMBLE TRLAD : AS WHEN THE TOTAL KIND 
 OF BIRDS, IN ORDERLY AKKAY ON WIXU. 
 CAME SUMMONED OVER EDEN TO RECEIVI 
 Till .IP. NAMES OP THEE: 80 OVER MANY A TRACT 
 OF HEAVEN THEY MARCHED, AND MANY A PROVINCE WIDE, 
 TENFOLD THE LENGTH OF THIS TKRKENE. 
 
 MILTON. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 I. 
 
 THK following roll of all kii<.\\n A.-n.naitts was com |>i In I l.y l>.'|niis Delcourt, in 1820. augmented l.y Monek 
 M.i- .11. in IS'.s, ami revised l.y ]>.]. nis Delcourt in liis Manuel d'Ai -rotation.' in 1M!. I have not added 
 to it. a- sin. > thut year tin- nnnilxTs have increased hy thousands, but I think flu- names of the lirst live 
 hundred experimenters who ascended in such fragile barks as balloons will prove interesting when this 
 x irin-r shall have attained its development The percentage of accidents, and the characters of the nations 
 forming our present Commonwealth, as shown by the following figures, are not without interest. 
 
 The number given by Monck Mason is 471, and the proportions among the different nations is as 
 
 follows: 
 
 English :ii:t French 104 Italian* is 
 
 GcrmanH 17 Turks, 5 I'mtwians ;i 
 
 N. American*: :5 Hussions 2 Poles i! 
 
 Hungarians 2 Danes 1 Swiss 1 
 
 Among these are to be found the names of 49 ladies of whom 28 are English, 17 French, 3 Germans, 
 and 1 Italian. Out of several thousand ascents (Green alone made 249, and other members of his 
 family 't'.'.'n. only >i<in' lives have been lost, and these casualties were owing to the following causes: 
 I-'ive. \i/.. MM. Pilatre de Rozier, Romain, Olivari, Bittorff, and Zambeccari, to the inherent perils of the 
 Montiroltii'Tc; one, Madame Blanchard, to the fireworks she was exhibiting: the other three Mr. Harris. 
 i" iirnorain-e of the art: M. Mosment, to bravado on a platform; and Mr. Windham Sadler, to the extreme 
 roiiL'hiiess of the weather. 
 
 M. Depuis Delcourt gives 504 aeronauts down to tbe year 1848, with ten casualties ; as, to the list 
 just given, is added the name of Mr. Cocking. They are marked * in the following list: 
 
 ROLL OF THE FIRST 500 AERONAl TS. WITH THE DATE AND PLACE OF THEIR FIRST 
 
 ASCENTS. 
 
 1 78;;. CARNI s (Abbe". Profeesar of Philosophy. Rhodes. 
 
 ,. . ,. CHALFOUR, architect Bordeaux. 
 
 AB^o-gOr, d ), Major , ! (JurUe Boyale. U Muette, ^^ (Due ^ tkftermrdi p^, of Q,^ g^ c , OIld 
 
 CoixiN-If i u.ix. Pan*. 
 CHABL.ProfeorofNtun,irial, w , [ ,l,y. 1'aru, G,,>T. B r, ,,E MAT, LieutenanWJcner.1. Nante* 
 
 ,., ,_ DAMWERBE.Comtede.Offlrer of the Guard.. Lyon* 
 
 rul Philosophy. Pan*. DARBELTT, Profeor of Natural Philosophy. Bordeaux. 
 
 W.LOOX (Jam,*), carpenter. WuU,M,,l,m. F.rt a*** ,n Amenta. ^r^ merchlint Nanta> . 
 
 . DEHGBAXciis. Bordeaux. 
 
 FLEURAWD, ghip-paintcr. Lyons. 
 
 ADORX, optirian. Strasbourg. 1 \TAIXE (C. G. .. merchant Lyons. 
 
 \M.I. i VM C.vali.r Paolo . Milan, 25th K< l.runry. F irit lucent GABRIEL. Strasbourg. 
 
 'ly. Gmu Augiistin , architect. "Milan. 
 
 BAXZAOO (Giuneppo). Milan. GERLI (Charles Joseph), architect Milan. 
 
 BEBTBAXD (Abbe 1 ). Professor ..f Xutnrnl rhilr>.i>pliy. Dijon. GcTTO-DE-MoB> m , i-l-ini>l. Dijon. 
 
 BLAXCHABD (J. P.), mechanic. Paris. Made 66 ascents. 1 1 V;MVLLEB (Duni>-l . Vicuna. 
 
 BOBT. Registrar to the Provincial Parli l;...icn II OIMH-MHII (George). Vienna. 
 
 BorcHE, pnint. r. A; - n. Jgrrmug (J.), an American doctor. 1 Ion. 
 
 BBCMUXD, nn r> ham. Marseilles. LAFOBTE D'ASOLEFOBT (Comic , Lieutenant Colonel of Artillery. 
 Bats. Charubery. Lyons. 
 
458 
 
 ASTRA CASTRA. 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 LAUBENCIN (Comte de), a Corresponding Member of the Academy. 
 
 Lyons. 
 
 LOUCHET, Professor " de belles-lettres." Ehodez. 
 LIGNE (Prince Charles de). Lyons. 
 LUNARDI (V.), Attache to the Neapolitan Embassy. Moorfields, 
 
 London. 15th September. First ascent in England. 
 MAITBE (Chevalier), in the French Navy. Chambery. 
 MARET. Marseilles. 
 
 MONTGOLFIEH (Joseph), one of the inventors of the aerostat. Lyons. 
 MOCCHET, Professor of Natural Sciences. Nantes. 
 PIEKRE. Strasburg. 
 
 PROUST, Professor of Chemistry. Versailles. 
 RAMBANT. Aix. 
 RAPHINE. Brenttord. 
 RIVFERRE. Near Paris. 
 ROBERT, mechanical engineer. Paris. 
 Rossi (Gaetano). Milan. 
 ROUSSEAU. Navan. 
 
 SADLER (James). Oxford, 12th October. Tlie first English aermtaut. 
 SCHMALTZ (Michel), Vienna. 
 
 SHELDON, Professor of Anatomy ; 16th October. Chelsea. 
 STUVER (Gaspard). Vienna. 
 
 THTBLE (Madame). Lyons. The first Lady in a free ascent. 
 TYTLER (James), August 27th. Edinburgh. T7e first in Great 
 
 Britain. 
 
 VIRLY (de), President of Exchequer Committee. Dijon. 
 *ZAMBECCARI (Count F.). London. 
 
 1785. 
 
 ALBAN, chemist. Vavelle, near Paris. 
 ARNOLD. London. 
 BALDWIN, doctor. Chester. 
 BIGGINS. London. 
 BINN. Halifax. 
 BLAKE (Captain). London. 
 CHAPPE 'Abbe'). Javelle. 
 CROSBIE. Dublin. First ascent in Ireland. 
 CUBIERES (Marquis de). Javelle. 
 DAVY. Beccles. 
 DECKER. Norwich. 
 DECKER (jun.). Bristol. 
 D'HONNINETTJM. The Hague. 
 FrrzpATRiCK (Colonel). Oxford. 
 FRENCH (Lieutenant). Chester. 
 FROBISHER. Halifax. 
 HARPER. Birmingham. 
 HINES (Miss). Beccles. 
 L'EEINARD (Chevalier de). Lille. 
 LOCKWOOD. London. 
 LUZARCHE (Madame de). Javelle. 
 
 MAGUIRE (Sir Richard). Dublin. Knighted for this exploit. 
 MONEY (Major, afterwards General). London. 
 NARBONNE (Comte de). Javelle. 
 NEWMARCH. Halifax. 
 POOLE. Bury-St.-Edmunds. 
 POTAIN (Dr.), surgeon, R.N. Dublin. 
 PUIMOUN (Baron de). Javelle. 
 *ROMAINE. Boulogne. 
 ROUTH (Dr.). Beccles. 
 SADLER (John). Worcester. 
 
 SAGE (Mrs.). London. Tlie first Fnylith Lady, 29th June, 1782. 
 SIMONET (Madlle.). London (3rd of May), aged 11J. This French 
 
 lady was the first lady to ascend in Great Britain. 
 SIMONET (Mdlle.), 21st May. London. 
 TRUCHOU, carpenter. Javelle, near Paris. 
 VALLET, manufacturer of chemicals. Javelle. 
 VERNON (Admiral Sir Edward). London. 
 
 WINDHAM (Right Hon. W.). Moulsey-Hurst, Surrry. The first 
 M.P. to ascend. 
 
 1786. 
 
 REDMAN. London. 
 SAINTE-CHOIX. Salisbury. 
 TESTU-BRISSY. Paris. 
 
 1788. 
 
 TUMMERMAUS (Mademoiselle de). Metz. 
 
 1790. 
 
 GARNERIN (Andre"-Jacques). Paris. He mnile, 50 ascents and was 
 the first aeronaut who descended in a parachute in 1797. 
 
 IBRAIM, Turkish Pacha. Warsaw, 14th May. 
 
 LALLEMAND DE SAINTE-CROIX (Marquis). Paris. 
 
 POTOSKY (Comte J.). Warsaw, 14th May. 
 
 STERNBERG (Comte de Joachim), President of the Academy. 
 Prague. 
 
 1792. 
 
 BLANCHARD (the younger). Lubeck. 
 CHASOT (Comtesse de). Lubeck. 
 
 1798. 
 
 BEAUVAIS, Aide-de-camp. Paris. 
 GARNERIN (Madame). Paris. 
 HENRI (Madlle Celestine). Paris. 
 PUOH, chemist, Rouen. 
 
 1799. 
 
 DE LALANDE (Je'rdme), astronomer. Paris. 
 MAISON (Madlle.). Paris. 
 
 1800. 
 DERME (Madlle. FanchetteX Paris. 
 
 1801. 
 
 BECHET. Rennes. 
 BUCKET DU CHATELIER. Rennes. 
 NOLEIN, exchanger. Paris. 
 ROLLAND. Paris. 
 
 RUGGIERI (Claude), builder. Paris. 
 VARIN. Rennes. 
 
 1802. 
 
 ACARD, builder. Paris. 
 BARLY. Constantinople. 
 BROWN. London. 
 DEVIGNE. Constantinople. 
 GLASFORD. London. 
 LOCKER (Edward Hawke). London. 
 *OLIVARI. Orleans. 
 SNOWDEN (Captain). London. 
 
 1803. 
 ANDHEOLE (Pascal), doctor. Bologna. 
 
 AUBERT. MOSCOW. 
 
 GAERTNER (Herr). Berlin. 
 GOSSY. Valoynes. 
 GRASSETTI, doctor. Bologna. 
 L'HoEST, merchant, Hamburg. 
 LUWOFF, Russian General. St. Petersburg. 
 *MOSMENT. Rouen. 
 ROBERTSON (E. G. R ). Hamburgh. 
 THAITEDR (Lieutenant-Colonel). Carlsruhe. 
 
 1804. 
 
 ALEXANDRE (Mons.).' St. Petersburg. 
 
 BIOT (J. B.). Professor of Natural Philosophy and Astronomy at 
 the " College de France." Paris. 
 
AlTKM'IX. 
 
 ROLL OF THE FM5ST 500 AERONAUTS. 
 
 '111 \V II 
 
 A ni.. Paris. 
 QAT-! .fessur of Chemistry at the "College tie Franco." 
 
 h'irtl tucfnl for meteorological experiment! 
 filAiin. l.ynna, 
 Mi. m. \. Yii-nna. 
 
 i the Swiss Artillery. Pan*. 
 T . nKsraorr (Madame;. Moscow. 
 ZAOCHAROP. St Petersburg. 
 
 1805. 
 
 \ -us A. Duboorg). Roaen. 
 
 it-8 (W.), Profeasor of Natural Philosophy at the College 
 FiwI,-ri,-k-\V,llmm. It. rim. 
 LEMEBCIE* i H.\ manufacturer of ehemicals. Paris. 
 
 1806. 
 
 KM-, stii : ill ]' rlii 
 
 1807. 
 HiTTOBnr (Herr), mechanic, Mannli. iin. 
 
 1808. 
 
 I; --_ . M 
 DICES (Jacob), clock-maker. Vienna. 
 
 Ki I-AKIIST.. .l..nlarki). Warsaw (24th July). Thin Pole's balloon 
 caught fire, but he descended safely in a Parachute. 
 
 1809. 
 
 Domsi (Baron). 
 HCTCHDCKN (Mis*). 
 MABCIUSELU (Antonio). Fetrora. 
 
 1810. 
 
 FIELD. Bristol 
 
 (i M i.n - Ili-n- , iimniif.K-turerof glazed cloth. 
 PAGET Lieutenant '.. Ixmdiui. 
 RCICHABD Cbarlet-Oodfrey). Berlin. 
 
 1811. 
 BKAVFOY H.\ London. 
 
 VM .!.'. Binningham. 
 COLDINO (Herr',. Co|n-nhaf;i->i. 
 RDCRARO (Maillle. Willii-linim- . 
 i: . . -. v M.i-linu. \ . 
 
 (Philippo). Floreaoe. 
 
 I! rli:, 
 
 1812. 
 
 BOSAOA (Signer). Bologna. 
 KBASKKWII. Hi rr . i|m-u>r, Vienna. 
 MESMI:. Vinina. 
 
 1813. 
 CAXEBOK. GUagow. 
 
 SADLER (Windham Ixrtidon. 
 TIIOMI-S-.X Mu> . Londun. 
 
 1814. 
 
 QAWEBW (Madllc. Elisa;. Paris. 
 
 1816. 
 
 GABSERIS (Eugenie . Paru. 
 
 l.iviviisrojt. Dublin. 
 
 Mn III.LJ.T UE BEAUET (Madlle. Li* . I'ari-. 
 
 1817. 
 
 N, mcrclinuL Lyons, 
 MAROAT. ParU. 
 l'i Kuai-MfAl- (Tlio PriiKX' 11. rnum . 
 
 1818. 
 
 ftosowT (Mrtdllo. Cccilf). Paru. 
 Id AN. 111, X. Mn-llli-.). Paris. 
 (.nun (l,:,rlis. Bordeaux. 
 MAIHIAT (Maduine). Puns. 
 
 MiiUllr. . Bordeaux. 
 
 IV-rlin. 
 
 1810. 
 
 ROBES-TOON (Eogene . 
 
 1821. 
 
 FASVT (A.), agent Minx-ill. . 
 
 GKEXN 'Charles). London. Him made 52G ancenra withuiit any 
 sorioiu aerident) ' arid uxu the lirtt lo uw coal g<u.' 
 
 1822. 
 
 UTIIS. Cheltenham. 
 Jl U.IEN (Madlle. Thi ; ree-AgUe",. 
 
 COSDOVL (Madnmo Virgiuii-' . Seville. 
 GRAHAM. London. 
 HARRIS (Lirutanant, K.X.) London. 
 ROBEKTMIN (Auguste-Dimitri . K-villr. 
 SIMMOSBS (H.). Reading. 
 SI-AKHIIW. Oxford. 
 \\IHII. Bath. 
 
 1824. 
 
 APAMS (J.) Bath. 
 
 BEACPOY (Captain). Islington. 
 
 BEER. Canterbury. 
 
 BRAUUET (Miss). Warwick. 
 
 BROOKES. Coventry. 
 
 CLARKE. Wolverluunpton. 
 
 Ci M.i M It. . i:\.l r. 
 
 DOSELLT (J.). Bolton. 
 
 DtiTii*-l)Kixr>i-RT, Editor of a Parisian Paper. Mnntjii. 7V.. 
 founder of the Aerottatie and Meteorological Otm'rly nf 1 
 He died in April, 1801, and Nadar give* a touching " Orouon 
 Funebrc" in the Preface to the 'Meraoires dn 
 
 GAVDY (Lieutenant). Portse*. 
 
 GRAHAM (Mrs.). London. 
 
 GREGG (The Rev. (;.). Bcllast. 
 
 GBIMSHAW. London. 
 
 HABKO. Worcester. 
 
 RICHARD (J. M.). Uuntjean. 
 
 BOMITEB. London. 
 
 SAI-SUERS (R). BrUtol. 
 
 SLEA. Brighton. 
 
 ST. Amis. London. 
 
 STOCK* (Miss). London. 
 
 1825. 
 
 BECKET (Uus). London. 
 BLAI-KBI-KX (Mias). Preston. 
 t'ui Caplain . London. 
 i on \1 1 r. . SeTcnoak*. 
 
 CTBBIK (Captain). London. 
 DAVBOH (Miss). Kendal. 
 
 li. v 
 
4GO 
 
 ASTRA CASTRA. 
 
 APPKNUIX. 
 
 GHEES (George). London. 
 
 GREEN (William). Newcastle-upon-Tync:. 
 
 GBISOLLE (Serjeant). Marseilles. 
 
 HARVEY (Colonel). Norwich. 
 
 JILLARD. Bristol. 
 
 JOLLIFPE. Seveuoaks. 
 
 PENNY. London. 
 
 RADCLIFFE (C.). Blackbum. 
 
 RAMSAY. Carlisle, 
 
 SELIM-OGAT. Smyrna. 
 
 1826. 
 
 BARHAM. London. 
 BROOKE. Boston. 
 CAVE (W.). London. 
 CLARK. London. 
 GREEN (George, jun.). London. 
 GREEN (Henry). London. 
 GRISOLLE. Paris. 
 RICHEY. London. 
 SAYWELL. Nottingham. 
 SERJEANT. Stamford. 
 SIMPSON. Stamford. 
 SPOONER (Miss). Bolton. 
 VALE (The Kev. B.). Hanley. 
 WEDGEWOOD. Newcastle. 
 WHITTAKEH. London. 
 
 1827. 
 
 ASTLEY (W.). Ashton-under-Lyne. 
 
 BACKHOUSE. Ashton-under-Lyne. 
 
 BECKET. London. 
 
 BROWN. Wakefield. 
 
 BROWN (S.). Pontefract. 
 
 DAVIES(R.). HuU. 
 
 DAVIES (Mrs.). London. 
 
 EDWARDS (Miss E. P.). London. 
 
 Fox (G.). London. 
 
 GEE. Stockport. 
 
 GOWARD. Ipswich. 
 
 GOWARD (Jun.). Ipswich. 
 
 GBAFTON. Macclesfield. 
 
 GREEN (Thomas). Mansfield. 
 
 GREEN (James). London. 
 
 HILL. Hull. 
 
 HODGKINS. Doncaster. 
 
 JEFFERYS. Birmingham. 
 
 KENNEDY. Gainsborough. 
 
 LEIGH. Warrington. 
 
 MATTHEW (Captain R.N.). Hereford. 
 
 OLIVIER (Madame). New Orleans. 
 
 PHILLIPS (H. L.). Manchester. 
 
 SMITH (W.). Birmingham. 
 
 STRAPPS (T. W.). Manchester. 
 
 WILLIAMS (W. H.). London. 
 
 1828. 
 
 BAILEY. Coventry. 
 BAKER. Southampton. 
 BEEG. Canterbury. 
 BOUBERRY. Coventry. 
 CHAMP. Canterbury. 
 GARDINER (W. H.). Lewis. 
 GLOSSOP (W.). Sheffield. 
 GREEN (Mrs. Henry). Rochester. 
 HEMMING. London. 
 HOLT ' v Captain R.). Wigan. 
 JONES. Hereford. 
 LYSTER (Colonel). Maidstone. 
 MALCOLM. Salford. 
 
 ORLANDI ^Signor). Bologna. 
 PARKINSON. Bury. 
 PEARNE (G.). Dover. 
 PEMBERTON. Preston. 
 PICKERING. Chichcster. 
 POOLE. Preston. 
 ROBERTSON (Mrs.). Canterbury. 
 ROLENS. Rochester. 
 SCHDLLER (Madlle.). Berlin. 
 STEPHENSON (W.). Blackburn. 
 VOIGT (Herr). Huddersiicld. 
 WILLEHTON. Boston. 
 WOOD. Wakefield. 
 
 1829. 
 
 BADCOCK (Mrs.). London. 
 BLITZ. Kidderminster. 
 BROWN. Dewsbury. 
 DAINTHY. Cambridge. 
 DOBNEY. Kidderminster. 
 GREETHAM (Lieutenant). Portsea. 
 LAWSOX. Keighley. 
 LLOYD. Binningham. 
 MARSHALL. Derby. 
 MILNES. Cambridge. 
 RICHAKDSON. Derby. 
 ROBERT (Mdlle. Lambertine). Paris. 
 SCOTT (G. W.). Cambridge. 
 SIMPSON. Mansfield. 
 WESTCOTT (P. T.). London. 
 WHITCHER. Southampton. 
 
 1830. 
 
 ACKERS. Cambridge. 
 
 BASS. Leith. 
 
 BEAUMONT (F. W.). Cambridge. 
 
 BHUSSON. Leeds. 
 
 CUTTILL (J. B.). Lincoln. 
 
 DICKINSON. Stafford. 
 
 HOLLOND (Robert, afterwards M.P.). Cambridge. 
 
 in 183C. 
 
 HCLKES. Cambridge. 
 ROGER. Kilmarnock. 
 THEODORE (Adolplius). Havana. 
 
 ' 1831. 
 
 BROWNE. Manchester. 
 CALLANDER (Major). Alloa. 
 CiiAWSHAY. Norwich. 
 FOKSTER (Dr.). Chelmsford. 
 RENNET (Miss E.). Chelmsford. 
 KENNET (Miss H.). Chelmsford. 
 MARSHALL. Norwich. 
 MILLER. Peterborough. 
 OY.STON (Miss). Newcastle. 
 PUCKLE. Lincoln. 
 REID. Perth. 
 TURNER (F.). Cambridge. 
 WOODHOUSE (Dr. J. T.). Cambridge. 
 
 1832. 
 
 ARMSTRONG. London. 
 BRAY. Coventry. 
 FOXCROFT. Lancaster. 
 GYPSON. London. 
 HILDYARD. Lancaster. 
 HOPE. Cambridge. 
 LEBEKRIER (Dr.). Montmartrc, Paris. 
 LEEDS. Cambridge. 
 
 Wetd to Nassau 
 
Al'I'KM'IX. 
 
 ROLL OF Till! F1HST 500 AERONAUTS. 
 
 LEXXOX (Ootnte de), formerly " chef d'esnubon." Montmartro. 
 LEKXOX (Madame). Montmartn . 
 MERY. !> 
 
 IL Whitfhawn. 
 
 rith. 
 
 it. Manrliestsr. 
 THAWS. Manchester. 
 
 18 
 
 ABBA* (Frandsqne), builder. Lyons. 
 MARSHAIX. Worksop. 
 WXTCOTT .1. II. . London. 
 
 WOODS (J.). 8tr<>.l. 
 WROTTBLET (J.X London. 
 YAKMOI- (Lord). Paris. 
 
 Y < < 
 
 ELUOT. New Orleans. 
 YuBom Sundcriand. 
 
 I- :! 
 
 1835. 
 
 BrTLEB, surgeon. London. 
 
 Ci-ATuX. New Orleans. 
 
 CRAVKHAT (Jan.). Bury St. Eilmnnd*. 
 
 Di ntrr-Sn-ABT (Lord). London. 
 
 GCCHKB. Bury 8t Edmund*. 
 
 HARMAS. Uxbridge. 
 
 UOBAST. Lyncbburg. Amcrio*. 
 
 1830. 
 
 BACK. London. 
 BARCLAY. London. 
 BRI NX-WICK (Duke oT> London. 
 BTRXITT. Londm. 
 CIIEWB (Mr*.). London. 
 
 'liirquunf . London. 
 CLABKK. London. 
 Cocxo. London. 
 Couxr. London. 
 Cos. London. 
 DILATICLD. London. 
 \s(Mr.). London. 
 
 I < p 
 
 (inns (Mn. Cbuk*). London. 
 
 Gnsx (M Mukn). London. 
 
 GRKXOW (Optain). Fuii. 
 
 Gn E... London. 
 
 GTB Jim. . London. 
 
 : 
 
 Ili-n-ii <;. <JJonoator. 
 
 HODGES. London. 
 
 HOLLOXD (Richard.. London. 
 
 II I : London. 
 1 1 K-.RD (T.). London. 
 Hi ..HER (W.). Pkru. 
 
 I>r. . London. 
 
 U-.N. London. Watt to Naatm. 
 OGLE Onptnin . London. 
 PATRICK. London. 
 PILTJ:. 
 
 i \' 
 
 BowoB(>Ir>.}. I'aru. 
 Bi'H. London. 
 
 London. 
 
 Jun. . Glonoecter. 
 STEEL (Thomu). Warwick. 
 TALBOT (The Hon. W. . London. 
 
 : nor 'Bamneai). London. 
 WAKBrmr- .. Itenham. 
 
 Wiirra (Oaptein). London. 
 WISE. Tanmtfrr Arnfrica. 
 
 \\ . I , . : 
 
 1887 
 
 AI.AIW W. R). London. 
 ADAMI Mm. W. H. . London. 
 AUAMI 'Jan.). London. 
 ALLEN (Otptein^,. London. 
 BAxn* (B. B. . London. 
 BEAXLET (8.). London. 
 
 ItoxAU. 
 
 (Captain). London. 
 London. 
 (Mi* Anno). 
 BknnDox. Cheltenham. 
 Bnax (Johnnie). London. 
 BCTUOI (Lord Walter). London. 
 CAMFBEU. London. 
 CADTEOIB (Otptein). London. 
 CARTTXTER. KancheMer. 
 CABTTAK (Coroner fur Went Kent). I>.ml<.i,. 
 CHADWICE. Hanchedcr. 
 Conn. London. 
 COFLDM (Captain). 
 CREAOR (Lieotenant-Colonol Sir M.). 
 CROMCH KLIN (J. L.). London. 
 CrrHBEBT. London. 
 DAmo. London. 
 DEAM (Mui). London. 
 FIXCH. London. 
 GAXBLE. London. 
 GARXKTT. Cheltcnliam. 
 GEMITE (Edward). ParU. 
 GREEK, apothecary. London. 
 GREEN. Manchester. 
 GKEOORT. Ozfoni 
 GTE -'Sen.). London. 
 HOBTON (Optain Wiliuot ,. Lnn<lon. 
 Hrm. Loixlon. 
 LAXBEBT. London. 
 LEICESTER (Captain). London. 
 LEWIS. London. 
 JEABBAD. Cheltenham. 
 JEPHSOV. London. 
 li i HEX. Pari*. 
 . London. 
 LORD. Manchester. 
 MALTTTZ (Baron). London. 
 MAXSITEU). Manchester. 
 MARK. London. 
 MOXBO (W.). London. 
 Moss J.X Cheltenham. 
 MCBOBATB W. Tuniinrliffi . Lead*. 
 Piw Ri(n,..r . Paris. 
 POLHIII CuptHiii . I-.in.lmi. 
 POWKK I Ml 1 . I>indon. 
 BrraoLn '.I... London. 
 
 RursE. London. 
 
 Sronx OB LA SALLE. Paris. 
 
 SIMUX. London. 
 
 SLOAX. Manchester. The oniy Emglukman eier^ Trtl.r 
 
 Mr made tut of a Mantgctjitn, 
 SXEATH. Mansfield. 
 SrixxET. Cheltenham. 
 TAYLOR. London. 
 THOMAS. London. 
 TOLUOIACHE Captain). London. 
 
 3 o 2 
 
402 
 
 ASTRA CASTRA. 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 THACKY (H.X Lnndon. 
 VEYSEY. Manchester. 
 WARWICK. London. 
 WATSON. London. 
 WATTS. Ijondon. 
 WKIIH. London. 
 ZICHY (Comte de). Paris. 
 
 TENNYSON. London. 
 
 1838. 
 
 1839. 
 
 EuiiiiiOT, pianoforte-manufacturer. Paris. 
 HAMPTON (John). London. 
 LABTET. Agcn, France. 
 
 1841. 
 
 COMASCHI. Lyons. 
 DAVIDSON. London. 
 DUDLEY- WARD (Captain). London. 
 
 1842. 
 
 KERSCH. Bordeaux. 
 SCHWARTZ, musician. Lyons. 
 
 1843. 
 
 GUERIN (J.). Nantes. 
 LARTET (Madame). Anch. 
 VERDUN (Commandant des Cuirassiers). Mans. 
 
 1844. 
 London. Has made 520 ascents down to the 
 
 COXWEI.L (Henry). 
 
 year 1864. 
 
 DUPAS (Madlle. Augustine). Paris. 
 GUILLOT (Rosemond). Cambray. 
 MARGAT (Madame). Marseilles. 
 PUOH (J. Reynolds). Stepney. 
 
 1845. 
 
 BEDFORD (Duke of). London. 
 
 ISABELLE (Madlle.). Lille. 
 
 MATTHEWS (F., clown at Drury-lane). London. 
 
 VANSITTABT. Chelsea. 
 
 1846. 
 
 D'OnossON (Baron), Swedish Ambassador. Berlin. 
 LOPEZ (Don Manuel). London. 
 
 1847. 
 
 BARLOW (Arthur Pratt). London. 
 
 BKCKMANN, gymnast. Bordeaux. 
 
 BISCHOFPSHEIM. Brussels. 
 
 B'li.xiii) (Madlle. Cle'mence). Bordeaux. 
 
 BYRXE. Peckham. 
 
 COCKEHILL. Aix-la-Chapelle. 
 
 GALE. London. 
 
 GODARD (Eugene). Lille. 
 
 GOULSTON. Peckham. 
 
 GRICE (B. 0.). Aix-la-Cliapelle. 
 
 HOOLE. London. 
 
 JENNY (V.). Bordeaux. 
 
 JOUIIDAN, undertaker. Paris, 
 
 K(ENio (The celebrated Herr). London. 
 
 LEDET. St. Petersburg. 
 
 MAIGRET. Bordeaux. 
 
 MASSE (Madame). Bordeaux. 
 
 MEYER. Bordeaux. 
 
 ROSSET. Bagdad. 
 
 SCHENEDER (Madame A.). Paris. 
 
 SMITH (Albert). London. 
 
 SOPHIA (Madlle. B.). Paris. 
 
 SPURRIER (Captain, K.N.). Bruxelles. 
 
 STEFFENS (Adolphe de). Aix-la-Cliapelle. 
 
 VAN ELEWYCH. Bnissels. 
 
 VAN HEEKE (Dr.). Brassels. 
 
 VIDAL (Madlle. Emma). Bordeaux. 
 
 1848. 
 
 BEAUVOIR (le Vicomte de). Paris. 
 
 BOUQUIE (Armand). Paris. 
 
 BOUQUIE (Ferdinand). Paris. 
 
 BRIGNOLA (Madame de). Paris. 
 
 CALLOO, hotel-keeper. Brussels. 
 
 DELBRASINE, merchant. Brussels. 
 
 EVANS (Madlle). Paris. 
 
 FENCE. Paris. 
 
 HARRINGTON. Paris. 
 
 JONES (Augustus). Brussels. 
 
 LAVALETTE (De). Paris. 
 
 MARIA DE LANCY (Madame). Paris. 
 
 UAASLOFF (W. de), Captain in the Danish Artillery. Liege. 
 
 STOCKS, English engineer. Liege. 
 
 TALBOT-BAGOT (George). Paris. 
 
 TBASENTER (a Professor at the University of Liege. Liege. 
 
 VAN DER Doo, Dutch student. Liege. 
 
 WHARINOTON. Brussels. 
 
 YATES. Liege. 
 
 The names of a party that made an interesting ascent in 1786, are omitted in this list, as the only 
 record we now possess does not give them. It consisted of a Persian physician and two Bostangis of 
 the Seraglio of Constantinople. They ascended from a court of the palace, in the presence of the Sultan, 
 crossed the sea that divides the European from the Asiatic continent, and, after a voyage of four and a half 
 hours, descended at the castle of Brusa, ninety miles from the coast, where the Pacha entertained them 
 hospitably. Upon their return to Constantinople they were received with all the honours which an admiring 
 public conld bestow; and the balloon itself, as a memorial of the exploit, was ordered by the Sultan to be 
 suspended in the Mosque of St. Sophia, where it remains to this day (1836). This is the only instance, 
 as yet, in which the passage from one quarter of the globe to another has been effected. 
 
MARQUIS D'ARLANDE 
 
 LOUIS PHILIPPE DUG DE CHARTRES 
 
 M . GARNERIN 
 
 JOHN JEFFRILS . M . D . 
 
 ,.//.'///,./ W//////////V/'// /</*/.////. .rn^.rlH/: , 
 
JEAN PIERRE BLANCHARD 
 
 M . CHARLES . 
 
 X M 
 
 JOHN HAMPTON . 
 
 ROBERT COCKING 
 
 1864 
 
 ,* I.,,*"/! H,ldu .k,. H>(f* K.K, 
 
I /' [5 
 I J f S 
 

 
 - 
 
 
 '^ ' 
 
 TIBERIUS CAVALLO, F.R.S. 
 
 M R . & SAGE 
 
 CHARLES GREEN . 
 
 EDWARD SPENCER . 
 
 .V,^ 
 
 CKIV. ci- 
 
 1864 
 
/ r r; 
 
 
M? SADLER . 
 
 THE FIRST ENGLISH AERONAUT. 
 
 JAMES GLAISHER . ESQ. F.R S 
 
 HENRY COXWELL . 
 
 U U I V . C l- 
 
 1864 
 
', C: . ' I (' [J 
 
 r,~] J f c 
 

 
AITKNMV IK M >KS ON AKK< >STATI<>N. 
 
 BOOKS- IlITIIKIMn ITi:i,ls||i:i> o\ AKKo- I A I |n\. 
 
 The ark which miml ban fi>r il* refuge wrought 
 lu floating archive down the flood* of timr. 
 
 SCHUJ.KB on ike Art </ 1'riuting. 
 
 "Books arc faithful repositories, which maybe a while neglected or forgotten: l.iit when they are opened 
 again, will again impart their instruction. Memory onoe interrupted, i not to be recalled; written learning i> 
 a fixed luminary, which, after tin- cloud that has hidden it has pawed away, is again bright in it proper Mat inn. 
 Tradition is Imt a meteor, which, if it onoo falls, cannot be rekindled." JOHNS rox. 
 
 j; HutN 1'i.AtDBBS, 'De Art* Volandi.' Tubin^.T. ll'iuo. 
 1648 . 1. -us \ViiKiss (Lord Bishopof Chester), 'Dedalus, or Mechanical Motions.' London. 8vo. Also Discovery of a New World,' 
 
 and other book*. 
 
 1G63 WORCESTER, the MARQUIS or, ' Century of Inventions.' I/ondon. 24mo. 
 1670 FRANCIS LASA (Jesuit), ' Prodrome, o saggio di alctine invcnzioni nuove prcmesDO all' arte maestra.' Brescia, 
 
 : IKS (le pere d'Avignon), ' TV Art de Naviguer dan* lea airs, amusement physique et georoe'trique.' 
 177". .1. I'RIESTLEY, ' Experiments and Observations on different kinds of Air. 1 London. 3 vola. 8vo. TrausUted into French by 
 
 Gibelin. Paris, 1779. 
 
 1781 TIBERIUS CAVALLO, 'A Treatise on the Nature and the Properties of Air and other permanently clastic Fluids.' London. 4to. 
 1783 FAUJAS DE ST. FOSD, ' Description des experiences de la Machine Aerostatique. Paris.' 8vo. 
 
 1783 LIEUT.-COL. JOLT DE SAINT- VAUKB, ' Lettre k Madame la Princeaao de . . . k Petersbourg sur lea Batons.' Ostend. 8vn. 
 1783 MBUSNIER (attained the rank of General), Lieut en premier au Corps Royal du Genie et de I'Academie Royal dea Sciences. 
 ' Me'mnire siir 1'equilibre des Machines alrostatique, sur les difleVcns moyensde les faire inonter et desccndrc, et sjiecialenii nt 
 sur celui d'executer ces manoeuvres, sans Jeter de lest, et sans perdro d'air inflammable, en mdna^eant dans le ballon ime 
 capacity particuliere, destine* a, renfermer de Pair atmospheVique.' Pr&iente' a ['Academic le 3 Decembre. 
 1783 M. PniOEROX, ' L'Art de faire soi mime les Rations Acrostatiqtte.' Amsterdam. 
 
 1783 M. Le COMTE DE BARRUEL, ' Lettre a Monsieur le President de ..... ' Londres. 
 
 1784 STEPHEN CAI.VI, ' A method of directing Balloons in which inflammable air is employed, accompanied with a description of 
 
 a new Barometer.' Milan. 8vo. 
 1784 BRUNSWICK (FREDERICK AUGUSTUS, DUKE or), ' The Thoughts of a Cosmopolite on Air Balloons,' in German. 
 
 Hamburg. 8vo. 
 
 1784 PILON (FREDERICK), ' Aerostation ; or, the Templar's Stratagem. A Faroe.' London. 8vo. 
 1784 GALTEZ (COMTE DE), ' On the means of directing Aerostatic Machines.' Philos. Trans. Abridg., xv. C.".".. 
 1784 BERTHOLON DE (ST. LAZARE), ' Des arantages quo la physique et les Arts peuvcnt retires des Aerostata.' 8vo. 
 1784 MARTTN (THOMAS), < Hints of important uses to be derived from Aerostatic Globes.' London. 4to. 
 1784 LUSARDI (VINCENT), Secretary to the Neapolitan Ambassador, 'Account of the first Aerial Voyage in England, in a Series 
 
 of Letters to his Guardian.' London. 8vo. 
 
 1784 VIVESAIR (MONSIEUR), 'Account of a Journey lately ]rformed through the air in an Aerostatic Globe." London. 8vo. 
 1784 - ' The Air Balloon ; or, a Treatise on the Aerostatic Globe.' London. Kearsley, 8va 
 *1784 GERARD (L. J.) ' Essai sur TArt de Vol Ae"rien.' Paris. 
 1784 M. DE MONTGOLFIER, Snr PAeVoslate," prononcrf dans line Seance de ['Academic des Sciences, Belles-Lettres et Arts de la 
 
 VilK- de Lyons en Novembre, 1783. Paris. 
 1784 A. G. RoztER, ' Dissertation sur les Aerostatrs.' Geneva. 
 
 17-4 BOURGEOIS (DAVID), ' Recherches sur 1'Art de voler, depuis la plus haute Antiqait^ jusqu'a ce jour.' Paris. 
 1784 COUNT DE MILLT, ' A (nmphlet on inflammable Air.' It was reviewed as follows in England, and is, I believe, one of the 
 earliest notices of one of the most imjiortant uses to which coal can be applied : 
 
 " The paper on the production of inflammable air that seems to interest this country most, is that which describes 
 the method of extracting it from pit-coal. The discovery, if it really be a discovery, which we have some reason to 
 doubt, was made by Mr. Thysbacrt and two other professors of the University of Louvain; and the process is thus, 
 rather imperfectly, described : ' A common forge, and three common gun-barrels, about one inch in bore, were the 
 whole of the apparatus; the breech ends of two of the barrels were constantly kept in the fire, whilst the third, being 
 cooled and emptied, was loaded about six inches high with powdered pit-coal, and the rent filled with sand. A t.n 
 tube conveyed the air under a funnel, placed beneath a barrel filled with water, which stood upon a tub likewise filled 
 with water, which the air extracted from the coal re-placed, after having traversed it.' Fift'-cn ounces of powdered pit- 
 coal yielded in about three-quarters of an hour 100 quarts (pott) of air, of so pure a quality, that on trial it was fmin.'. 
 to raise a balloon as rapidly and as high as if it had been filled with the usual inflammable air. The operation is soon 
 to be repeated on a larger scale, and large iron retorts are making for tin- pnrjiow. 
 
 " M. Morveau, of Dijon, has produced inflammable air from potatoes by mere distillation. He nope* soon to 
 improve his method ; and we shall probably hear more of it in the next volume of this collection.* 
 
 * Tin- bonlu marked are at the service of the |iublic iu the library of the Patent Office. S nithnmpton Ituihlingi. E.C. 
 
464 ASTKA CASTKA. APPENDIX. 
 
 *1785 BALDWIN (THOMAS), ' Aeropedia ; containing the Narrative of a Balloon Excursion from Chester.' Chester. 8vo. 
 
 1785 MARY ALCOCK, ' The Air Balloon ; or, Flying Mortal : ' a Poem. 4to. Maclcw, London. 
 
 1785 ' The Balloon : a Satire.' 4to. Flexney, London. 
 
 1785 ' The Aerostatic Spy ; or, excursion with an Air Balloon." London : Symonds. 2 vols. 12mo. 
 
 1785 LUNARDI (VINCENT), ' Account of his second Aerial Voyage from Liverpool,' 9th August, 1785. London. 8vo. 
 "1785 CAVALI.O (TIBERIUS), 'History and Practice of Aerostation.' London. 8vo. 
 *1785 SOUTHERN (JOHN), ' Treatise on Aerostatic Machines.' Birmingham. 8vo. 
 
 1785 Jeffries (Dr.) ' A Narrative of two Aerial Voyages, with Meteorological Observations and Remarks. Read before the Royal 
 Society in January, 1786.' 4to. 
 
 1785 PINGERON, 'L'Art de faire soi-meme les Ballons.' Amsterdam. 
 
 1786 BALDWIN (THOMAS), ' Hints on the improvement of Balloons,' etc. The whole serving as an introduction to Aerial 
 
 Navigation. Chester. 8vo. 
 
 1786 URQUHART (GEORGE), ' Institutes of Hydrostatics, to which is added a Philosophical Essay on Air Balloons.' London. 8vo. 
 1786 LDNARDI (VINCENT), 'The Account of five Aerial Voyages in Scotland.' London. 1786. 
 1788 HENZION, ' Sopra le Machine Aerostatique.' Florence. 
 
 1798 'Symposia ; or, Table Talk in the month of September, 1734 (sic), being a rhapsodical hodgepodge, containing among 
 
 other thiugs Balloon intelligence for the years, 1785, 1786, 1787.' London, Bew. 12mo. 
 1803 LIEUT.-COLONEL MONEY (attained the rank of General), ' Treatise on the use of Balloons and Field Observations in Military 
 
 Operations.' London. 8vo. 
 1803 LOMET (A. F.), ' On the Employment of Aerostatic Machines in the Military Science, and for the contraction of Geographical 
 
 Plans.' Nicholson's Journal, vol. vi. 194. 
 
 1805 LUSSAC (GAT), ' Account of an Aerostatic Voyage made by him.' Nicholson's Journal, vol. x. 298. 
 "1810 WALKER (THOMAS), portrait painter, ' The Art of Flying.' Hull. 
 *1810 J. MOSNERON, ' Le Ballon Ae'rien.' Paris. 
 1814 BEAUFOY (HENRY), 'Journal kept during an Aerial Voyage with Mr. James Sadler, from Hackney, Middlesex.' Ann. Philos. 
 
 p. 282. 
 
 1816 EDGEWORTH (RicHARD LOVELL), ' On Aerostation.' Phil. Mag., vol. xlvii. 185. 
 1816 MARMADUKE, MAC-CAUSTIC, ' A Trip from the Moon.' London. 
 1819 DONINI (GIUSEPPE), ' Saggio Aereonautico.' Firenze. 8vo. 
 
 1823 DOSINI (GIUSEPPE), 'Circolare Areonautico (sic) di Cetta de Castelloa tutti i dotti, e ricchi Nazionali, cstranicri.' 
 1825 DEI-UIS DELCOURT, ' Me"moire sur l'Ae"rostation et la Direction Aerostatique.' Paris. 
 1825 DEPUIS DELCOURTI', ' Comte Rendu de 1'expeYiencc de la Flotille AeVostatique partie de Mont-Jean le 7 Novembre, 1824, 
 
 montee par MM. Depuis Delcourt et M. Richard.' Paris. 
 1827 GEORGE POCOCK, ' The use of Kites and Buoyant Sails.' Bristol. 
 1830 SIR JOHN LESLIE, ' The Article on Aerostation' in the Encyclopedia Britannica. 
 
 *183 DEPUIS DELCOURT, ' Essai sur la Navigation dans 1'Air.' Note pre'sente a 1'Academie Royale des Sciences de Paris. Paris. 
 1832 T. FORSTER, M.B, F.L.S, F.R.A.S, ' Annals of some remarkable Aerial and Alpine Voyages, including those of the author.' 
 
 London. 8vo. 
 
 *1838 MONCK MASON, ' Aeronautica." London. 
 1845 COXWELL (HENRY) ' Aerostatic Magazine.' 
 1845 J. MAcSwEESY, ' Aerial Navigation.' 12mo. 
 1847 MAREY-MONGE (Edmond). 'Etudes sur l'A6rostation.' Paris. 8vo. 
 
 1849 DEPUIS DELCOURT, ' Manuel complet d'AeVostation, extrait en grande partie du " Traite 1 historique et pratique de la 
 
 Navigation dans 1'Air," ouvrage encore incomplet, que je publierai plus tard.' 
 
 1850 JOHN WISE, ' A System of Aeronautics, comprehending its Earliest Investigations.' Philadelphia. 
 
 1850 Louis FIGUIER, ' Les Ae'rostats.' Revue des Deux Mondes. 
 
 1851 JULIEN TURGAN, ' Histoires de la Locomotion Adrienne depuis son origine jusqu'a nos jours.' 
 *1851 John LUNTLY, ' Air Navigation ' (rotary). London. 
 
 1854 HENRY COXWELL, ' Balloons for Warfare.' A pamphlet. 
 
 1855 W. BAYI.EY, ' Aerial Navigation ' (perspective). 8vo. 
 
 *1855 GEORGE JAMES NORMAN : ' AERONAUTICA ILLUSTRATICA, A COMPLETE CABINET OF AERIAL ASCENTS AND DESCENTS, FROM 
 
 THE EARLIEST PERIODS TO THE PRESENT TIME.' 10 large Folio vols. London. f 
 1861 H. GUILBAULT, ' Direction des Aerostats, Systeme Nouveau.' 
 1861 Louis FIGUIER, ' Les Grandes Inventions ' (20th Chap.). Paris. 
 1863 DR. PIERRE MOREAUD (Membre de la Socidte Aerostatique et Mete'orologique de France), ' C'hemins Aeriens. Application de 
 
 la Vapeur a la direction des Aerostat Captifs.' 
 1863 Article ' Revue des Deux Mondes.' 
 
 1863 DE LALANDELLE, 'Aviation, on Navigation Aerienne.' Paris. 8vo. 
 1863 DELAVILLE-DEDREUX, ' La Navigation Aerienne en Chine.' Paris. 
 
 f The cost of milking this collection exceeded 300J. It was twice 
 sold by auction, and bought the second time for the library of the 
 Patent Office for '161. The collector is a young man in somewhat 
 
 distressed circumstances. To his industry the author owes the 
 greater part of his own collection, as they were the duplicates that 
 necessarily accumulate in so extensive a collection. 
 
AITKXMX. 
 
 Ml! PALS. 
 
 
 i ii \i:\ iv. ! i N r. .1' ' .line par les Aerostats.' 1'nri*. 
 Me'moires du (leant, preface |r M. linbinet.' Paris. 
 1-' ! I., luvih (Membra de la Soci&tf Aerostatique et M<teurologique do France). 'Solution du Probleme de U Xaviga 
 
 I 'Air |ar la direction dw Aerostat*.' 
 1-ii.". Ain-iiru MAS.. iv, l.'Air t-t Le Monde Adrien,' Chap. vii. Tours. 
 
 MKDAI.S. 
 
 AMitn : she I'.cr.ml it vnin to trust 
 
 'lila column and the crumbling bust, 
 moles, whose shadow stretchy from shore to shore 
 Their niins perish'd, and their place no more; 
 
 . she now contracts the vast design, 
 And all her triumphs sink into a coin. 
 
 JOSEPH and STEPHEN MOKTOOLFIBB. Bronze. 
 IT-: I'niir avoir rendu 1'air navigable. Bronze. 
 1 7- \.\\- nniciit of the Champa de Mars, August 11. Bronze. 
 1784 Ascent from Lyons, January 19. Bronze. 
 17-1 r*t>' ANDRF.ANI, first ascent in Italy, 3nl March, IWi/e. 
 17-i Y:\, rvr I.i SAUDI, first ascent in England, l.ln 
 " Et se protinies thcoria tollit in astra." Bronze. 
 
 A narrow orb each crowded conquest keeps ; 
 Beneath her [aim here ad Judca weepa ; 
 Now scantier limits the proud nrch confine, 
 And scarce are seen the prostrate Nile or Itliim> ; 
 A small Euphrates through the piece is roll'd 
 And little eagles wave their wings in gold. 
 
 POPE. 
 
 1 7- '. HI.ANCHAHD'S fifteenth ascent. White metal. 
 
 MAUD'S twenty-eighth ascent. White metal. 
 I'M! BI.ANOHABD'S ascent. White melnl. 
 1803 GARKKBIM'S ascent Silver. 
 1823 ISAAC KABLYOMAN SPA Know, Uxfoni. Copper. 
 1836 London to Wcilburg in eighteen hours. Silver. 
 
 ART. 
 
 WIIKS from the sacred garden driven, 
 
 Man fled before his Maker's wrath, 
 An Angel left her place in heaven, 
 
 And cross'd the wanderer's sunless path. 
 Twas Art ! sweet Art ! New radiance broke, 
 
 Where her light foot flew o'er the ground ; 
 And thus with seraph voice she spoke, 
 
 " The curse a blessing shall be found." 
 
 She led him through the trackless wild, 
 
 Where noontide sunbeam never blazed : 
 Tlic thistle hhrunk the harvest smiled, 
 
 And Nature gladdened as she gazed. 
 Earth's thousand tribes of living tilings, 
 
 At Art's command to him are given, 
 The village grows, the city springs, 
 
 And point their spires of faith to heaven 
 
 He rends the oak and bids it ride, 
 To guard the shores its beauty graced ; 
 
 He smites the rock upheaved in pride, 
 See towers of strength, and domes of taste. 
 
 Earth's teeming caves their wealth reveal, 
 Fire bears his banner on the wave, 
 
 He bids the mortal poison heal, 
 And the destroying knife to save. 
 
 He plucks the pearls that stud the deep. 
 
 Admiring Beauty's Up to fill ; 
 He brinks the stubborn marble's sleep, 
 
 Rocks disappear before his skill : 
 With thoughts that swell his glowing soul, 
 
 He bids the ore illume the page, 
 And proudly scorning time's control, 
 
 Commerces with an unborn age. 
 
 In fields of air he writes his name, 
 
 And treads the chambers of the sky ; 
 He reads the stars, and grasps the flame 
 
 That quivers in the realms on high. 
 In war renowned, in peace sublime, 
 
 11- moves in greatness and in grace : 
 His power, subduing space and time, 
 
 Links realm to realm, and race to race. 
 
 
466 
 
 ASTRA CASTRA. 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 THE BALLOON. 
 
 The airy ship at anchor rides, 
 Proudly she heaves her painted sides, 
 
 Impatient of delay ; 
 And now her silken form expands, 
 She springs aloft, she bursts her bands, 
 
 She floats upon her way. 
 
 How swift ! for now I see her sail 
 High mounted on the viewless gale, 
 
 And speeding up the sky ; 
 And now a speck in ether lost, 
 A moment seen, a moment lost, 
 
 She cheats my dazzled eye. 
 
 Bright wonder ! thee no flapping wing, 
 No labouring oar, no bounding spring, 
 
 Urged on thy fleet career : 
 By native buoyancy impelled, 
 Thy easy flight was smoothly held, 
 
 Along the silent sphere. 
 
 No curling mist at closing light, 
 No meteor on the breast of night, 
 
 No cloud at breezy dawn, 
 No leaf adowu the summer tide 
 More effortless is seen to glide, 
 
 Or shadow o'er the lawn. 
 
 Yet thee, e'en thee, the destined hour 
 Shall summon from thy airy tower 
 
 Rapid in prone descent ; 
 Methinks I see thee earthward borne 
 AVith flaccid sides that droop forlorn 
 
 The breath ethereal spent. 
 
 Thus daring Fancy's pen sublime, 
 
 Thus Love's bright wings are clipped by Time ; 
 
 Thus Hope, her soul elate, 
 Kxhales amid this grosser air ; 
 Thus lightest hearts are bowed by care, 
 
 And genius yields to Fate. 
 
 Annual Register, 1811. 
 
 ME. COXWELL'S ADDENDA. 
 
 This Addenda of amusing anecdotes was kindly sent me by Mr. Coxwell, who calls it 
 AERONAUTIC SKETCHES FROM AN UNPUBLISHED DIARY. 
 
 In the beginning of May, 1848, I received an invitation to make some ascents at Brussels. The preliminary 
 arrangements for the supply of gas had been entrusted to an agent, who was altogether destitute of that tact and 
 forethought which ensure success to many of our English managers. Contrary to a previous understanding, I was 
 obliged to fill my balloon at the gasworks, and to attempt to remove it in an inflated state towards the Prado 
 Gardens. This is at all times an objectionable process, especially in windy weather. It was the only alternative 
 as matters stood, and consequently we set out before daylight to inflate the balloon, with a view of getting it 
 into the Prado before the citizens were astir. Grey-eyed morn broke in with serenity and promise ; but as weather, 
 like friendship and many other things, is not to be depended upon, we soon beat to quarters, as nautical men say, 
 and commenced action. The balloon began to display its proportions most satisfactorily, and the lookers-on threw 
 themselves into various postures indicative of approbation. " Ah ! Monsieur Coxvel," said one of the party, stroking 
 down his beard, "you ril hav vun, wery fine day no mud, no nothing. Your transport vil not be difficile." Hereupon I 
 glanced around the horizon, but returned the weather-wise gentleman no reply ; ho then observed my countenance 
 so narrowly as to perceive a slight expression of discontent. " Vat you mean?" said he. " Vy you frown?" The 
 fact was, a small, solitary, darklooking cloud had made its appearance to westward, and although at a considerable 
 distance, was wending its way up with rapidity ; the configuration and general aspect of this little intruder on 
 the blue sky foreboded wind, as it swept along swiftly, anon changing form and hue, as if agitated by sudden 
 atmospheric impulse. 
 
 " Gentlemen," said I, " there is a strong wind prevailing at no great distance from the earth ; and if it does 
 not extend to the surface before the balloon reaches the Gardens, we may consider ourselves fortunate." 
 
 The bystanders protested against the probability of this apprehension being verified, and discussed the matter 
 with flourishing action of the hands and much useless verbiage. They would fain, too, induce me to enter upon 
 argument ; but I rejected, I hope politely, all invitation of this sort, and informed my right-hand man that the order 
 of the morning must be smart work, not words. We immediately directed our attention, while the foreigners were 
 talking, to secure the netting to the hoop, so as to get a fair and equal bearing from a strong centre, and had just 
 completed this necessary precaution, when the long green grass and verdant foliage around us bent to leeward with 
 a low, murmuring sound ; and in less than ten minutes after Nature had given her first gentle but unmistakable 
 symptoms of an approaching gale, one fitful gust broke upon us, creating, as it acted upon the half-filled balloon, 
 a boisterous, bellowing sort of music, which only loud Boreas is accustomed to indulge in. 
 
 Around the hoop and in the car were placed about forty half-hundred weights, there stationed in order 
 to steady the restless machine, which was soon performing most graceful sweeps over our heads, to the no small 
 
An -KM, ix. A SUDDEN FLIGHT. |.,7 
 
 amus- in. nt of a host nt' Inkers-oil, who added to our numbers in proportion an activity increased in the city. 
 'I'll, ni.iiii-. [ ..f tli. .: Helens wax for a precipitate retreat to tin- I'r.id... lit as that was altogether impracticable 
 until tli.- win.! dropp. .1. it was neoeaiy to exercise coolness and generalship in the predicament which we 
 pl.-ic.-d in. - Vat yon ri7 duf" cried tin- spokesman of the Belgian party, the mime, who promised "no n ''tiny." 
 
 "\\liy. sir," I replied, "the fact is 1 have ti contend with it most form idiiblo opponent, and I think I can't il" 
 K it. r than iniitato the plan pursued by Wellington at Waterloo; that is, to receive the attack, and act purely on 
 tin- defensive. " Then, ser, you ril not go to the garden*?" \- I replied; "I have enough to do to stand my 
 ground." Our friend, in common with his companions, was quite ignorant of the power of a large balloon when 
 Milijected to a strong wind. He proponed my advancing in the very teeth of it; so by way of demonstrating the 
 difficulty with greater effect than mere words could produce, I gave orders for an experimental move forwards. 
 
 ( >iir forces, so to speak, were thus divided twenty burly Belgian mechanics at the car ; six to each guy-rope : 
 about forty to tu.< strung ropes fastened to the hoop, with a view of pulling the balloon forwards; myself in the car 
 gmngdini-tions; a friend, who was tolerably well up in French, acting as interpreter; manager, and the public garden 
 MiKirdinatcs. small fry. Av.. were at their respective posts, shouting vociferously, and thereby confounding the second 
 in e..minand. In this half formidable, half-comic way, we were grouped, when I gave the word " J-'unrurd." Away 
 wo dashed fur the first few steps right handsomely, when suddenly tla]>. round, up, down, went the balloon, rolling 
 her hup' head to the very grass beneath, upsetting more than half of tho party, and forcing the rest into grotesque 
 or awkward posit ions, as the case might be. One fellow, grasping a rope more tenaciously than prudent, was 
 thrown up as if tossed by a bull, whilst all were driven twice as far back as we had advanced ; thus proving the 
 truth of my statement, that we had quite enough to do to stand our ground, without getting further into 
 the scrape. 
 
 Having moved sideways towards a somewhat sheltered spot, a fresh difficulty presented itself in tin 
 shape of a file of soldiers, who drew up in close proximity to the balloon, an officer advanced and summoned 
 me to his presence. There was something mighty ominous in the under-toned conversation betwixt this officer and 
 myself. I could ]- rc.ivo that all parties lent their ears and preserved the utmost silence. " What it it?" cried 
 iiystanders. For my own part I preserved a cautious silence. My agent, who knew much of men 
 and manners, took another view of the case, and even had the temerity to increase tho highly-wrought curiosity, 
 by rushing to the car and crying out only these words, " Watch us." I could not but think that the request, or 
 rather its translation in Flemish and French, was addressed with but ill-grace to persons who were observing as 
 ly as possible everything that passed. My agent, who was now in the car, took his own view of the case, and 
 it was strange that " HiiA-A its," in its laconic address to the perceptive faculties, produced more effect than a direct 
 answer to curiosity. \\ hilst " watch us" was working its magical influence, we had removed all control over tin- 
 balloon, save one rope that was attached to the liberating-iron. Quito unexpectedly. I pulled the trigger, and up 
 we bounded, to the astonishment of everybody present. A cry was now raised that tho rope had broken, but tin- 
 officer, who knew to the contrary, then came forward and explained, as we afterwards learned, the suddenness 
 of our flight. " I was commissioned," he said, "to inform the aeronaut that the assemblage of persons caused l>\ 
 this balloon is disapproved of by the authorities, during the present unsettled state of political affair*. I requested, 
 therefore, that as the balloon could not be removed to the Gardens, the gas should IK- let out. and the balloon packed 
 up." This .Mr. ( - o\wcll declined to do, stating that an English aeronaut could not do that; so ho resolv. d. 
 notwithstanding the storm, to remove the balloon his own way ; and I think his tact may be complimented. Aft- -i 
 this declaration, three lusty cheers were sent up by way of approval ; but they reached us faintly as we glided away 
 with great velocity, and in less than twenty minutes got a long way below Antwerp, where we made a rough 
 landing on a large common, and returned as quickly as possible to Brussels. 
 
 As the press was pleased to eulogise this trip as something daring and extraordinary, I was inim. ili.it. l\ 
 solicited to make another, witli tin- inviting proviso that the pipes should be laid into the Gardens, so as to obviate 
 a similar unpleasantness. The inflation this time proceeded under diametrically opposite circumstances to those 
 which accompanied the first, and the appearance of the whole affair struck me as affording an emblem of lit'.- in its 
 varied phases one period cloudy and distracting, at another mild, sunny, and all that the heart desires. Tin- 
 balloon now stood proudly erect, and seemed to bask in the sunshine, occasionally evincing a tendency to rise in the 
 up]-r air. as if to escape the heat below by seeking the refreshing coolness of the skies. Two gentlemen presented 
 themselves as candidates for aeronautic fame, and I closed with them l.th. At tin- appointed hour the Cardi-n 
 artillery g-.ive forth a miniature peal, and we set out for a calm, delightful journey, hovering over llrusscls until w.- 
 
 were I ' f i t hi)j;h. when a gentle current w.i !': ! us t-.\v.i!'l- ti,. plain* of Waterloo. It u.,- i,.\ tii-i _!.]:.,- ; 
 
 the Kittle-field, and distance had reduivd its lnmds to micli insignificant limits, that I felt liardly reconciled to tin- 
 fact that on that little cluster of fields, which looked so green and rural, tin- fate of Kurope had been d< id. d in so 
 great and sanguinary a 
 
 3 P 
 
468 ASTRA CASTRA. APPENDIX. 
 
 I soon found that my companions contrasted rather broadly in tasto and character. Mr. , or No. 1, was 
 
 poetical and observant of the beauties of nature, whilst No. 2 displayed a mechanical and mathematical turn 
 of mind, watching every action of mine with a desire to understand the evolutions going forward. " Now," said 
 he, "you have told me to mark down a certain number of figures; what do they all mean?" "The first row," 
 I replied, " indicates our altitude by barometrical measurement ; the second, the temperature of the air, as shown 
 
 by the thermometer ; this the degrees of dryness or moisture as indicated by " " The Lion, by George ! " cried 
 
 No. 1, who didn't love figures, but had espied the mound whereupon stands the lion, as visitors to Waterloo well 
 know. The discoveiy of a lion, and such a lion, in such a place, demanded our immediate respects. No. 2 declared 
 he could only detect the mound looking like a molehill, and the reported king of the forest was nothing more, 
 he said, than a mare's nest. "Should we not descend upon a spot so memorable?" inquired the enthusiast, No. 1. 
 " The gentleman wishes to fall at Waterloo," said the matter-of-fact passenger. " For my part, I think he's too late 
 for the fair." This sarcasm, softened down a bit by an unceremonious interruption on my part, we wended our 
 way down, and finally alighted no great distance from the fields of Waterloo. 
 
 THE BALLOOX EACE, 1 860. 
 
 To the Editor of ' The Times' 
 SlR, Church-road, Tottenham. 
 
 As it was announced in your impression of Saturday that two balloons would ascend from the Crystal Palace 
 on Monday, the 22nd, I beg to supply you with the particulars of the race, in the event of an authentic account 
 being considered sufficiently interesting for publication. 
 
 At 2 P.M., the " Mars" being then about two-thirds inflated, a series of partial ascents took place from the Palace 
 grounds. The breeze was high for that experiment, but a large number of ladies and gentlemen were gratified : 
 and during these short trips, the " Queen," my second balloon, was being filled in the archery-ground. 
 
 A friend of mine and amateur aeronaut, Mr. Allan, had undertaken to pilot the " Queen ;" and one, among 
 several applicants, I selected to accompany me in the car of the " Mars." 
 
 Neither balloon was much more than half-full at starting, but the " God of War " being the larger of the two, 
 enabled me to take one passenger, when the conditions of the race, viz., an equal amount of ballast and lifting 
 power, became fair and equal. 
 
 At 4.40 the start took place, when the " Queen," like a restiff racer, made a " gibe" for terra firma, by way of 
 testing, it would seem, the mettle of the rider. Once away, however, her aerial majesty mounted high and soared 
 above " Mars," as much as to say, " You are the representative of strife ; I rise above such deeds, and will have no 
 companionship with you." 
 
 The cars of the respective balloons were red and blue, but at 5 o'clock red, the highest, appeared to have 
 bolted out of the course, as we lost the run of it altogether. This circumstance aroused the true jockey spirit with 
 us in the blue car, and out streamed fifteen pounds of sand, when wo sighted red, and broke the silence of mid-air 
 with a stentorian nautical shout, "'Queen' ahoy! where are you going to?" "Come up and see," was the 
 defiant reply. 
 
 The challenge was not long uttered when we found ourselves at equal elevations, just 4200 feet from the 
 earth by accuratCj measurement. As we passed the " Queen " we right loyally doffed our caps and gave a cheer. 
 " Mars " was now in the ascendant, and quickened his pace with astonishing rapidity. 
 
 Whether the " Queen " was calmly awaiting the natural course of events, or resting on her laurels, we could 
 not then and there decide. 
 
 Away the " Mars " bore up, up, till the chill air and barometer told of over 9000 feet elevation, while 
 a survey of the other balloon now a top, apparently, spinning over Greenwich convinced us that the odds were 
 in our favour, and that it was 4 to 1 the mastery would be with " Mars." 
 
 The appearance of the earth, or, as it appeared to us, the gigantic map with a golden ball passing across it, 
 was something swi generis, and extremely interesting. The varying position of the balloons caused us occasionally 
 to be at fault as to the direct line of progression. The " Queen " seemed to be performing some eccentric 
 manoeuvres, which kept us in full speculation as to the real course she was pursuing. The Thames was crossed 
 just over Greenwich, when the lower balloon made for the North Woolwich Gardens, as if by attraction to a spot 
 where she was once familiar. But there was no rest for her this side Barking Creek ; onward she steered, and 
 struggled for in length what she had lost in height. 
 
 The shades of evening having now set in, I decided upon lowering, and finishing the race at equal altitudes. 
 
AITIAI.IX. "SKETCHES FBOM THE DIABY OF IE \i:i;< >\.\rT." 
 
 Tin- . v ..f my f.-llow truvi-lliT, Mr. !'.. Smith, wax. in oliedience to orders, busy with the movements of our 
 
 opi. in-lit. At .'-!' IK- i< i-it"l the "Queen" had Imltfd on a dark patch of about two inches square, whii-h 
 
 > a large fallow lii-ld. Wr now dii-idi-d ii|xm following suit. A thii-k autumnal fog waa ruing over 
 
 |'-M-\ landwapi* in curious and funtaMic forma, Tho moon had risen, and produced by ! .n various 
 
 r a series of m.-'iili^ht scenes mu-h as artist* and the admin-is of nature lovo to oatch a glimpae of 
 
 \i.-\\- ili.ii. !,.i.l 1 been master of the brush, would have busied me in di-]iii-ting on canvas instead of deacril'in- 
 
 'I'h. it U-aiitiful vii-w beguiled us while we journeyed on to Doddinghurst, in Essex, where wo alighted in a 
 meadow at <.'. li-ing about twenty-five miles from the Crystal Palace, Th'- " <,iueen" descended four mili-s Hnitli- 
 east of Harking, ami tin- di-wvnt wa.s i-li-vi-rly managed by the amateur, who declared, when we un-t in town, that 
 if }i<- had had more gas and ballast he would have led me a nocturnal trip into Suffolk. 
 
 I remain, Sir, yours obfdii-iitly, 
 
 Ill SRY COXWI.1 I. 
 
 A Niairr AMONG THE CLOUDS. 
 
 In a communication received by Mr. \\Yl.ster, the Secretary to the Derby Arboretum, the celebrated aeronaut. 
 Mr. II. <'.,\wi-ll, writes as follows: "After ascending from the Crystal Palace on Monday, I had to go oil to 
 lUidh-y I'.iMl.-, whi-iv I made another trip on Wednesday. I had a second interesting voyage the same nij_'lit 1>\ 
 moonlight. At't.r l.-imliug my passengers at Tamworth, in Warwickshire, I halted three hours, partook (if tin- 
 hipitality of a fanner, and started again at eleven o'clock ; the moon being at the full, and a fine dcy overhead. 
 My oliji-ct was to work the balloon up to London, the wind being fair, and to enjoy a night among the clouds, 
 lii;ht.<l up and beautified us they were that truly serene night. I was three hours aloft, but at 2 A.M. the wind 
 i-li..|i]H ,l i-..iiinl to south-west, and as it was not my intention to go back I descended, and found myself at lk-lliil..n. 
 in Northamptonshire, not far from Daventry." 
 
 Seventeen years since, I made three ascents from Chclmsford, when each time the car was occupied by a gentle- 
 man with top-boots and agricultural respectability. A wag declared that there was a wholesale flight of farmers from 
 the market-town, and, odd enough to relate, we descended close to the residence of one of the passengers, and, at 
 the request of this landed proprietor, the gas was retained all night, so as to have another trip the following 
 morning. Before we finally ascended again, the gentleman's family visited the " Sylph." and <-a<-h in turn had 
 a partial ;i- nt. Last of all came the eldest daughter, a charming yonng lady of about twenty. HIT p.uvnt and 
 his men held the rope, and I afforded her an aeronautic survey of their grounds. I shall never forget the delight 
 and enthusiasm displayed at the panoramic view. "This is exquisite and beautiful in the extreme!" exclaimed 
 the young lady. "Oh, pray cut the rope, and let us ascend as high as possible." As I was engaged to papa, 
 I could not honourably elope with his daughter, but this incident redounds to the courage of the gentler sex, and 
 serves to show how different are the feelings of aerial voyagers from what most persons imagine. 
 
 I once made a night ascent from Vauxhall Gardens, in company with two gentlemen, and after discharging 
 fireworks we came down near Croydon. It was a still night, and we pulled up without a grapnel or the least 
 possible shock. Tin- outlim- of a small farmhouse caught my attention, and was nearly underneath us. We could 
 obeervi-. .-tl>. tin- lli.-U.-ring of a candle, as well as hear voices, which led to the conjecture that tin- pn mises were 
 being secured for the night " 1 think," said I, " we can have a bit of fun h.-n- ; the parties evidently don't see us, 
 and it's ten to one tin y <l<>nt look up." It was unusually dark, and I sung out, " Yu-uph, give us a hand h< n-. will 
 ye?" at the same time I allowed the "Sylph" to drop within about twi-nty feet of the ground. A goutv. i-M.-rlv 
 man came hobbling along towards the hedge, candle in hand, and said, "Eh, wat want? Who's tin 
 " A I'rii nil," said I ; "anil I want to rnti-r your dwelling." " Kh. lad, that wun't do at any price. \N hv. Jml tin- 
 man, where hare ye ? and what do ye want ? " I then broke out in the following strain : 
 
 Of these I am who thy protection claim, 
 itchful iprite, and Aerial is my name. 
 
 Then oi 1" tin- ^i-ntli-nn-n commencoil hinpnir. " ^'' tly l>y night," when down dropped his candle and <j>ii. klv 
 
 tl>. 1 tlu- countryman, exclaiming, " Kh. : it he's como at last, and no inistakr ! " Who's i.-uini ri..| 
 
 3 p J 
 
470 ASTRA CASTRA. APPENDIX. 
 
 the bettor half, bounding out with another light. " Look ye, Sally," said he, pointing to the dim, dark outline 
 of the balloon, " that's the old gem'man himself, or else I'm a Dutchman." To have created further fright would 
 have been carrying a joke too far; we therefore informed the old pair of the nature of the apparition, but 
 astonishment and incredulity were so strong that one of the party had enough to do to convince them we were not 
 demons ; and it was not until the balloon was seen, felt, and smelt, and we ourselves handled, that the good people 
 believed our story of a nocturnal journey through the atmosphere. 
 
 In one of my trips from the Pavilion Gardens, North Woolwich, two seats were occupied by a couple of 
 gentlemen, one of whom rejoiced in the Christian name of Tom, and looked as if he lived on his means ; the other 
 was evidently enjoying a few hours scientific recreation at the request of Tom, who was standing treat, I rather 
 guess. Tom was the elder of the two, and they were both very nice agreeable companions. The younger 
 gentleman wore, I perceived, a side pocket in his coat, and I was rude enough to notice some papers therein, which 
 were tied round with red tape. Our descent took place not far from Romford ; and one person in particular, having 
 a semi-military appearance, made himself officious, and denounced such visits as " demded impertinent." He was 
 even recommending the seizure of the balloon, and the imprisonment of the intruders, as he styled us, when our 
 friend with the side pocket came to me and said, " You shall see how I'll take the cropple out of that fellow's crown ; 
 he's the very man I want, and little did I expect that your balloon would place him at my disposal." " Sir," said 
 Tom's friend, withdrawing something from his pocket, " allow me, as one of the party you would like to send to 
 prison, to return my thanks by presenting you with a writ. I believe that paper concerns you, and I hereby hand 
 it in before witnesses." The chapfallen bully was fairly caught, and opportune indeed was his degradation. 
 
 Now for a " night in a field, a bed in the car, and a breakfast at a farmhouse." Many years since, I made 
 a series of ascents from the New Globe Pleasure-grounds, Mile End Road. The day announced for one of these 
 weekly excursions was inauspicious, and the undertaking was almost postponed. At midday the clouds lost their 
 leaden aspect, the rain ceased, and the sun broke forth ; consequently I volunteered, although late to begin, to 
 inflate the balloon. The wind being boisterous, I was carried away beyond the customary length of evening flight, 
 and I wandered away down goodness knows where, anticipating that the breeze would go down with the sun, and 
 favour me with an easy landing. This expectation was realised, but it was quite dark when I alighted, and the 
 place appeared uncommonly outlandish. Being alone I required assistance, for which I sung out pretty lustily ; 
 but a full half-hour elapsed and no one came. I tried to let the gas off, but was terribly bothered for want of 
 a few sturdy helpmates to press the netting. After I had mastered the wayward " Sylph," I resolved to set out on 
 an exploring expedition, and to obtain aid and refreshment. I found a gate close to a cross-country road, so placing 
 a lump of chalk which presented itself to view, opposite the gate as a landmark, I struck out, and, after walking 
 for a quarter of an hour, came to a farmhouse. " All right now," thought I ; " here, at least, I can obtain assistance ;" 
 so away I bounded over the gate, when out sprang a tremendous dog, affording me only a hair's-breadth escape for 
 my rashness ; for I just cleared the gate, I can't remember by what particular means, when the faithful creature 
 snapped with a furious set of grinders at my heels, so that I decamped, musing over the old adago, " Discretion is 
 the better part of valour." " Now then," said I, " let's try the other way." I returned to the gate where lay the piece of 
 chalk, and passed by, not exactly in the best of temper, and walked again fully two miles before I came to a village. 
 
 Hearing footsteps, I hastened on, and met a workman, returning as I guessed from the alehouse. 
 " Hallo, my man," I cried, " you're the very person 1 want ; take me to the first public-house, and I'll give you 
 a shilling. The man stopped, looked at me, shook his head, and said, " No ; I think you're best alone." " Alone," 
 said I ; " I've had enough of that, my lad ; why I've just come down in a balloon." " Dare say you have," said the 
 fellow, unbelievingly. " Well, what county's this ? " " Ah ! you'd better larn that from the county gaol, where 1 
 dare say you're pretty well known." At this juncture I hardly knew which to do, whether to turn up my sleeves 
 and have a round turn with the follow, or to break forth in unrestrained laughter. Hearing the measured 
 step of a policeman, I turned from the civilian to the official, and now, thought I, I'm as good as housed. " Good 
 evening, officer; being a stranger here, I am on the look-out for a public-house." "Yes," said the constable, 
 drawing himself up, " that I can guess." " Just be good enough to point one out," said I, " and take a glass with 
 me, for I have come from London in a balloon, and want some refreshment and help." " Ah ! " said he, turning 
 upon his heel and looking round, " take my advice and move on." " Well," said I, " you surely must be a gang of 
 thieves in this place, for an honest man won't pass muster at all. However, I'll try the public-house." After 
 knocking, a window was thrown open, and somebody asked, " Who's there ? and wat 'e wunt? " "I am a stranger 
 
AITKM.IX. "SKKTrllKS n;<ni Till: 1'IAKY OF AN AERONAUT." 471 
 
 I i I .n. l.'ii. h.iving descended a Hliort time since with my balloon." I could proceed no further with my tale, an 
 
 tli<' window was xlanmu-d down, and the man, indulging in a hoarse laugh, said, " That't at yud-a-un at fn ktnd 
 far tamt time, that be." 
 
 It may ! thought that I am over-narrating this adventure, but I am really abiding even within the fact* 
 tli.' reason.* t,, r such strange and brutish conduct will presently transpir.-. Now for one more trial," tliought I, 
 .mil I will move on." an the policeman advised me. I thump..! at the door of the n>-\t puMic, and rosolvttl fur 
 ono' n.'t I., trumpet forth the naked truth, but try what a little manoeuvring would da This landlord had also 
 retir.d. I'tit he politely threw up his window, stating "it was too late to serve." "1 shall be extremely obliged 
 if y.m will i. fresh a traveller ; I am late, I know, but 1 will pay liberally." - II ell, / tell ' what you do" said he, "you 
 try thf >if.rt houae lower doun, they rerot tuck g'men as you, and an not tic'lar. Now, in a true spirit of justice I should 
 avow ami explain just what I said and did at this irritating period of my existence. I would rather pus it over, 
 though, ami merely observe that, in a boiling rage, and with a parched tongue, I found myself treading my way 
 back from where I came that is, to the open fields, without even knowing in what county they were situated. 
 
 On reaching my car I resolved to make up a sort of bed, and rough it Some ballast-bags served for a 
 pillow, and I closed in the basket with the folds of the balloon, and thus boasted silken curtains. Stretching 
 out full l.-i.-ih. my t'.-i t came in contact with a small basket, which up to this time I had forgotten. How I came 
 I >y this, and what it contained, I must tell you. Whenever I ascend. .1 from the New Globe Pleasure-gardens, it 
 was the considerate habit of Mr. Gardner, sen., to provide me with something to comfort the inner man. True to 
 his invariable practice, he had slipped in the little basket, and never shall I forget how acceptable and palatable 
 
 its e. intents. There were some nice beef sandwiches, a little brandy-and-water, and a cigar-case. Hurrah, 
 said I. as I nioisti-ncd my tongue; bravo, Mr. Gardner, a fri.-ml in need is a friend indeed. And then, the cigars 
 it' ever I enjoyed my cigar and a wee drop of cold without, it was on that identical night, when, Robinson C'rusoo 
 like. I lay ensconced in a strange county, without even a man Friday to assist me. Having finished my repast, and 
 tried in vain to slumber, I thought I heard voices, and sure enough on removing the curtain I caught some 
 und.-rtoiied accents in an adjacent field. Immediately I sung out, "Here, my boys, give a friend a help, will you?" 
 but all I heard were fast receding footsteps, which induced me to come to the severe conclusion that some dishonest 
 people there certainly were in the neighbourhood, and that these were poacher* perhaps, though, I wan wrong, 
 at any rate they were not on the same business as myself, or they would not have bolted. I then remained in my 
 sentry-box until six o'clock in the morning, when I heard some workmen on their way to the fields. 
 
 The balloon and car had already attracted them, so I lay still until they were at hand. On jumping up. lik>- 
 Jack-in-box, the worthies looked perfectly bewildered ; two ran off, and the rest were powerless as to speech. 
 " N\ hy, lads, it's a balloon," said I ; " don't be frightened." " And what be you f" inquired the bravest of the lot 
 \Yliy, the aeronaut, to be sure; the party who goes up." "Ah," said he, " / thought you ua'ant a mortal num." 
 - I tut I am though, feel me," said I. " A r o, da'angd if 1 come any doter ;" and immediately a side movement was 
 made for the gate. After a deal of fuss and explanation, I got to a farmhouse, when the host heard my tale, but 
 was remarkably distant until he had laid hands on the balloon, and examined the car. Nobody could then bo more 
 friendly or hospitable. This farmer informed me that I was down in Hampshire, about twenty miles from 
 Basingstoke. He took both mo and my luggage to the nearest railway station, and, on passing through the village, 
 we learnt that it had been visited about a fortnight previously by a gang of the swell mob, and that all strangers 
 were looked upon with suspicion ever since. The landlords apologised for their abruptness ; but, " lard love ye, 
 sir, a man coming out of the clouds, ichat could he expect on this here wicked earth ? " 
 
 During the eventful year 1852, the agriculturists of Essex were said to be worked up to a high pitch of 
 exasperation by the frequent visits of aeronauts, who not only spread over their crops like a swarm of loeusts. l,m 
 actually had the audacity to bring with them live cattle, in the shape of bulls, calves, and horses (Madame 
 Poitevin's ascents with animals are here alluded to). These predatory incursions were said to be of 1 V. n. h origin, 
 as a Monsieur Winepot or Portwine, or some such name, had brought down into Essex divers animals, and had 
 even on one occasion tried hard to upset East Ham rhur. h, when, in his Quixotic attack, he thumped away with 
 twenty-five assistants, and was only successful in knocking down gravestones and maiming liis own company. 
 The farmers therefore formed a club, with the fierce intention of spreading man-traps, spring guns, and other 
 deadly weapons, with a view of scaring away these robbers of the air, who broke in <i]m their n -tin -m, nt. an.l 
 indue. (1 idle people to trample underfoot their best crops. The club is said to have sprung up, not HO mm-h (V..m 
 the inventive genius of the Essex farmers, as from the craft and subtlety of Mi-wrs. Flint and St.-. -I. tw.. 
 advisers, who imagined in these intrusions sufficient grounds for action-at-law. Several most int. i 
 
472 ASTKA CASTEA. APPENDIX. 
 
 by the farmers took place, not a hundred miles from Kainham ; and a winged reporter, a friend of mine, managed 
 to dot down the heads of some speeches which were made prior to the breaking up of the club. 
 
 On the 1st of April it was moved by Flint, that as the locusts might soon be expected, the traps should be 
 looked to, and duly set : seconded by Steel. Mr. Steel, in supporting so protective a measure, said he felt quite 
 certain that if proper firmness were displayed by the prosecutors, the aerial tribes would be driven away, and 
 finally exterminated. He called upon Mr. Goodacre, and particularly upon Mr. John Bull, to display firmness ; 
 and commended Mr. Stingingnottle for his able exertions when he ran four miles in chase of a balloon, but was 
 unfortunate enough to find it had come down alone. 
 
 Mr. John Bull declined having anything more to do with the club in short, he meant to retire. He was 
 free to confess that his conscience had upbraided him ever since he was a party to the seizure of a balloon, and to 
 demand compensation for the injury of some buttercups. Gentlemen present very well knew that it was the careless 
 villagers who had done the entire damage. If one's own neighbours wouldn't respect your property, much less 
 would strangers and foreigners. 
 
 The Eev. Mr. Fussy, on the part of his parishioners, adverted to the temptation to go astray by these 
 balloons. 
 
 Mr. John Bull : " Which temptation your Eeverence should teach them to resist, not encourage them to fall 
 into. Having," continued Mr. Bull, " duly considered the objects, intentions, and doings of this club, he begged to 
 withdraw, as it was unworthy of a British farmer to resist that which fell from the clouds." 
 
 This is a quaint notice from my friend, the winged reporter, and I really believe Mr. Bull fairly represents 
 our English farmers, who are part of our national pillars and our pride. 
 
 During the autumn of 1849 I visited Hamburg, and obtained permission to ascend. I was much stnick with 
 the extraordinary preparations made by the authorities for the preservation of order. The grounds were surrounded 
 by cavalry, infantiy, and police, and the whole scene was martial and imposing. I think it was my third voyage 
 when the balloon was driven to and fro by shifting currents, that we lost sight of the earth, owing to a tier of 
 dense clouds, and came down rather unexpectedly upon the country people. Our position was in Holstein, near 
 a village thirty miles from Hamburg ; and at this time the war was raging betwixt the Holsteiners and Danes. 
 I had three passengers in the car, who were watching the fields as we descended, when at an altitude of about 
 six hundred feet, pop, pop, bang, bang, bang, went some guns, the hissing whirl of the bullets acting as telltales in 
 the air. " Why, the people are shooting ! " exclaimed one of the gentlemen. " Nonsense !" cried I, " tliey honour us 
 with a salute ; but Keep your heads inside the car, and put out ballast." This order obeyed, bang came another volley, 
 but none of us were hit. "Dies mal is die luft-ballon caput," cried one of our party; "this time the balloon 
 is torn." " Nothing of any consequence," said I ; "for you know it becomes the captain to inspire confidence, even if 
 the ship is sinking." Certainly a few shot-holes were observable, like stars, through the balloon; but these, in 
 proportion to the volume of gas contained, amounted to no considerable outlet, and not sufficient to bring us down 
 while we had ballast to discharge. A council of war was now held in the vapoury embraces of a dark cloud, when 
 it was decided that we should descend as quickly as consistent with safety, shouting as we approached the earth 
 that we were friends from Hamburg. This last exploit answered admirably. We were down and anchored before 
 anybody assembled. Our mission and starting-point duly intimated, and ourselves on friendly terms with the 
 country people. Those who came up afterwards freely confessed that, supposing we were spies from the Danish 
 camp, they deliberately shot at the balloon a liberty we deemed it expedient politely to excuse. This was 
 a curious adventure to tell in Hamburg, and my companions made the most of it. 
 
 The same year I made a long stay at Berlin, ascending frequently from the far-famed Krolls Winter Garden. 
 Here I exhibited a plan for bombarding a fortress with concussion shells. The apparatus was on a limited scale 
 for public display, but the aerial bombardment attracted great attention, and General Wrangel, then commandant 
 of the military forces in the Prussian capital, signified his intention of witnessing my experiments. Just at this 
 time the political horizon bore a threatening aspect, as we well remember. Berlin was in a state of siege, and all 
 out-door amusements were carefully regulated, lest the masses came too thickly together and plotted mischief. 
 As General Wrangel was conspicuous in suppressing the revolution of 1848, the people held him in disrepute ; and 
 as he rode through the Tier Garten, his carriage was stoned. A row immediately ensued, and the military were 
 called out to restore order. The ascent of the balloon, however, did more for the dispersion of the mob than fixed 
 bayonets. The day following I was to have made another trip, but early in the morning. Herr von Hinkeldey, 
 the President of the Police, who has since fallen in a duel, sent down a posse of constables to order that I would 
 remove my balloon, as it attracted riotous people in the Thier Garten. In Germany, it is of no use resisting 
 Government officials, so I politely assented to their wishes, and begged they would permit me to remove the 
 
AI-IT.XI.IX. "SKKTrilKS ri:iM Till! I 'I .MIY OF AN AERONAl I 17:: 
 
 Sylph" my own way. As t.. opening tin- valve and itarting the gas into the uir, tlmt would never do; to 
 I whisi>er<-d friend t.. help me fasten mi th oar, and presently we mounted aloft. Tin- n.-\t day I v 
 n|ni II. ir v..n Ilinkeld. v. .mil pleaded for nn t-xt<-ii-inii "f his I'.ivoiu-s. and I can N]>cak highly as to his energy of 
 character ami first rat.- reputation. 
 
 Another adventurous incident in Germany in a voyage of nearly two hundred mil.'*, which I 
 \\ith gentlemen of tin- name of llcnkel ami llerr llil.l. l.r.m.lt. th<- llof-nuder or artist to tin- King of Pr 
 \\ . it H t'd tVoiu tin- Selmt/eiihaus-groiin.ls in llcrlin. the wind being high and tin- firmament murky. Al'U-r we 
 hail 1 i-ii iiji twi-nty minutes, I ]>ointed out tin- Iiivcr < >ili-r. "So soon ! " cried 1 1 err llil.l.lirandt. Why we must 
 ! tia\. -lling at i.iilway sp < d. for that part of the Oder is more than twenty-st-v. n Kiiglihh miles from the i-ity." 
 Sun- enough [we w. ! going at a rapid rate, BO I told tho voyagers they must make up tin ir minds how far 
 ih. v \s..iilil travel, as a few minutes might cost them an additional thalur to rido back. " NYvi r niin.1," mid 
 tin -y. "let us go as far as possible." "That is before dark," said I, "as by that time wo shall make a pi. tt\ 
 
 -ive journey." After calculating, Hinging, joking, gazing, and feasting, we betook ourselves to tho descent. 
 lint where- were wo? that was a question which neither of tho Germans could answer. We hail w. n tin- llaltii-, 
 an.l . : . progressing towards Dantzic ; but tho locality beneath us was barren and strange, and durknem, too, wax 
 s-'ttiiii; in apace. Tho squally weather remaining unchanged, wo experienced a rather rough landing, Imt still 
 without tin- Inist casualty. Whilst approaching terrafirma, I observed a distant light, which I supposed to indicate 
 a ilwi-llin^. \\ In n we ha.l emptied tho balloon, we agreed to walk off in three opposite directions, and on arriving 
 at a road to give a signal. Neither of us being fortunate enough to discover a track, we all re-turn'. I. \\li.-n . 
 
 to Htart off together in tho direction of the light Two miles' walk brought us to a princely rvsi.l 
 .- ri .|ui-stnl an interview with the master. "Ho is a baron," said the gate-keeper, "and don't care to 
 an people vko art strangers." " We are from the upper region*" explained Ht-rr Hildt-brandt, "and have come by 
 balloon from Berlin." " fleunre how you trifle lath an old toldier!" cried the keeper, somewhat disconcerted. "7am 
 stating the truth, and request that you present my card." After parleying for some time, a large piece of M!V. r. I 
 shrewdly guess, was placed by the side of the card. It then soon reached the Baron, who came forth and hi-anl 
 our account of ourselves. What with our careless appearance and late hours, the IJaron dwln-licv^l our talc. 
 ' I'lraae to look at my card, Herr Baron," cried llenkel ; " And at my passport," said I, which I always tik with 
 inc. Our papers examined, the next thing was, "Where is your balloon, gentlemen?" " It lies in a ti. 1.1 (-"in. 
 half- hour's walk from here." Further doubts arose; fresh difficulties sprung up; when, at the instigation of the 
 Baron himself, a band of work-people was formed within tho baronial walls, and away we started. ..ui-. Iv.'s in 
 advance, and the stalwart troop in the rear, ready to assist us if our report were true, or secure us if fal.se. When 
 we arrived at the place of descent it was quite dark, and we looked in vain for some time with l..i 
 Hildebrandt predicted where it lay; llcnkel guessed; but I was at once for a practical alternative, \\hat 
 was it? Why, to nose it, like hounds, as tho silk always retains the powerful odour of gas. Accordingly we 
 opened out as for a hunt, and my own practised nasal organ had the good fortune to catch first scent. The balloon 
 discovered, the Baron shook hands. And wo slept at the hall, and were feasted like lords. 
 
 SCENES FROM THE BALLOON CAR IN THE YEAR 1859. 
 
 The concluding al fresco fetes at the Crystal Palace were accompanied by two interesting aerial 
 voyages by Mr. Coxwell. The following is the aeronaut's narrative, extracted from his 1 "iary : 
 
 Ballooning has just been introduced at the Crystal Palace with entire success, and I have reason to be proud 
 that my representations on this subject to the manager were, after some little hesitation, acted ii]>n with 
 becoming spirit. 
 
 October ISth, 1859. My first ascent from the Palace Park took place this day. Owing to the lat. -n. of the 
 season we had a hazy afternoon, and there was nothing very remarkable in the aspect of the earth's surface : Imt 
 ample amends were made by witnessing a splendid . loudscapc, which presented itself above. 
 
 I had three passengers, Mr. I up-low. Mr. .l..hn Allan, and Master BueknalL On first rising a thick 
 surrounded the car; but. at an altitude of six hundred feet above the place of starting, a strongly dejim-d IP 
 mass unfolded itself, and ultimately appeared to be a widely-extended range of cumuli 
 
 In passing through these clouds I fornn-1 a r..u^h estimate ,,f tln-ir thickness, and pn j.ai.d my fellow 
 voyagers for a transition at once sudden and im]>.Miig. At an <l.vati..n of one thousand four hundi. 
 
474 ASTEA CASTEA. APPENDIX. 
 
 
 
 of light broke upon us, and we rose through the dome of a magnificent cloud, and entered upon a scene of surpassing 
 grandeur. It was not a finely-tinted autumnal picture, such as cloudland sometimes oifers when the declining 
 sun imparts ruby lustre to the western sky, but a plain, uniform ocean of fleecy clouds, which rolled along with 
 the utmost regularity to a vast expanse, shutting out all view of the earth, and resembling a sea of vapour agitated 
 by a gentle breeze. The entire upper regions appeared to be in a state of repose ; a few cirri were observable high 
 overhead, but they had peaceful tails and a fine-weather contour. A few lines from Bloomfield occurred to me 
 as admirably descriptive of the view : 
 
 For yet above these wafted clouds are seen 
 (In a remoter sky still more serene) 
 Others, detach'd in ranges through the air, 
 Spotless as snow, and countless as they're fair ; 
 Scatter'd immensely wide from East to West, 
 The beauteous semblance of a flock at rest, 
 These to the raptur'd mind aloud proclaim 
 The mighty Shepherd's everlasting name. 
 
 One of our party had just returned from Switzerland with vivid recollections of Alpine travels. The balloon 
 view, he protested, was much superior to mountain scenery, as looked upon from one of their tops ; whilst cloud- 
 land was superlatively grander, embracing all the bold and beautiful features, with the advantage of being raised 
 into the very midst of the clouds by almost fairy means, and altogether without personal exertion and inconvenience 
 two results which not unfrequently mar the brightest pleasures. 
 
 So exhilarated was Mr. Ingelow, that he volunteered a song, which led to a regular aerial concert, our 
 respective voices harmonising tolerably well, or appearing to do so in that silent space where the vocalists were at 
 once audience, critics, and performers. After singing, we transacted a little business with the instruments at our 
 disposal, dotting down height, temperature, humidity, and all the facts and figures enumerated in the following 
 
 table. 
 
 ******** 
 
 Soon after five o'clock the silence which reigned around was wantonly disturbed by Mr. Allan, who essayed 
 to experimentalise upon the effects of echo and the propagation of sound. He asked permission to shout, and it 
 was readily granted. First he hallooed up the neck or safety-valve, which caused the distended sphere to throw 
 back his jocular questions with a shrill tone ; then he hailed the unseen inhabitants below, albeit we were far too 
 high to hold intercourse, although it is astonishing at what an elevation questions have been put and replied to. 
 Thus gaily but slowly we sailed along, until the shades of evening stole a march upon us, when it became prudent 
 to descend. On approaching the cloud-tops, they assumed their full and ample dimensions. Here we lingered 
 a while in sportive gambols with the ornaments of the sky, observing their changeful forms and " airy nothings " 
 until they closed round the balloon, and left us to indulge in expectation as to what part of the country would 
 appear to us after an absence of more than an hour and a half. 
 
 During the passage of the clouds, a railway locomotive greeted us with its shrill cry of dismay, and as it was 
 unaccompanied by the rolling sound of a train in motion, we concluded that a station must be directly underneath. 
 The moments we spent on the look-out for the first glimpse of terra firma afforded agreeable excitement. Two of 
 us sounded the signal of discovery simultaneously ; we had sighted a meandering piece of water, which shone 
 brightly on the dim landscape. Presently a sprinkle of gas-lamps twinkled forth, and then we heard a shouting, 
 and ascertained that we were over a small town. As there was no perceptible under-current, we remained 
 stationary, or appeared to do so, for several minutes. On interrogating the people below, who cordially invited us 
 down, as to the name of the place, we learnt it was Epsom. 
 
 For prudential motives a half-bag of finely-sifted sand was sent down instead of ourselves, and we re-entered 
 the clouds a quarter of an hour later, during which time the steam whistle was frequently heard ; we tried our 
 position for the second time, but there was no indication of a change, and it was determined to seek a ground 
 breeze by dropping down within a few hundred feet of the house-roofs. Here a northerly current befriended us, 
 and the " Queen " moved under its influence at a brisk pace, until a favourable place for landing presented itself 
 about two miles from Epsom, where we alighted at six o'clock, it being then dark. 
 
 THE " QUEEN " IN A GALE. 
 
 Tuesday, October 25, was one of those days when aeronauts would rather be within doors by a genial fire 
 than doing duty in the crisp air, with an inch or two of snow under their feet. Such was the state of the ground 
 during the commencement of the inflation, but the day wore on tranquilly until about 2 o'clock, when the 
 
Ammo. -KnvAi. uiAiMT.i; LOST, BUT Tin: -QUEEN" \\ i:\nn:i;s TIII: ;\I.K. 47f> 
 
 surrounding foliage 1 nt to a litfnl gust, \vliicli camr ii]toii us without warning, and soon increased to ft half gale. 
 Thi-ii- \\.is an ominous l.lni-li haze to windward, too, and the barometer hud Kin falling since noon. 
 
 r had I got my cordage and network secured, than it became evident we were to have a stormy 
 evening. At lialt'-jiast 3 o'clock, the groat fountains having begun to play, I attempted to move tin- " i.'u.-t n " (my 
 balloon i U'1'..iv the central transept, and although, at fewest, fifty soldiers assisted, it being the Balaclava/.'' 
 ' so overpowering had the wind become, that we were compelled to come to a dead halt, and arrange the awent from 
 the archery-ground. 
 
 As it was of the utmost importance to get away as quickly as possible, I turned a deaf ear to thro- or four 
 candidates for an ascent, but at last agreed to take one gentleman (Mr. Candler) who would not be denied a seat, 
 notwithstanding the boisterous state of the day. Admiring his courage, I ordered him to " jump in." .md. directly 
 the first lull favoured us, I pulled the trigger, and away we went at a tremendous pace, bounding pant the great 
 north tower, which stands three hundred feet over the place of starting. 
 
 Three minutes had hardly elapsed before we were working through the lower tier of leaden clouds, whilst 
 tlie min was | touring down in torrents. " Let her rise," said I, in answer to a question put by my coinimninn : "we 
 may pui*ibly escape water as we get higher." Sure enough we did, for in another minute Mr. I'audler drew my 
 attention to snow. We were now rapidly clearing cloud after cloud of dense and threatening appearance. At this 
 elevation we must either have struck into an opposite current or entered a sort of whirlwind, a* the luilloon began 
 to rock perceptibly, which is altogether unusual We could hear, too, a humming sound among the network. At 
 six tlioiisand feet up we found ourselves Hailing along in a clear area of about a mile each way, with clouds 1 -neath. 
 above, and around us. This was a forbidding, wild-looking space, where the wrathful vapour* hovered hard by 
 and seemed to meet for mischief, and there twist themselves into strange and diversified combinations. 
 
 Directly under the car was a formidable looking ninJjia, which we must needs penetrate to obtain sight of the 
 earth. It wa of no use flinching, and it was moreover expedient to curtail our run, as the storm increased <-\< \\ 
 minute, so down we dipped for another shower-bath, when the rain rattled, and new forms of cloud closed around 
 us. ami appeared to draw the " Queen " into a yawning gulf, and there award us a thorough drenching. 
 
 Still over head 
 
 The mingling tempest weaves iu gloom, n<l still 
 The deluge deepens. 
 
 If enongh is as good as a feast of any one particular liquid, it is surely that of pelting rain. To pet out of it 
 I hastened our descent, and prepared for a rough one. As we neared the meadows they all appeared in full gallop, 
 and the motion looked as if it was on their part instead of ours. The grapnel made its first grip in the centre of 
 a grass-field, buried its prongs in the wet soil, and hurled a mass of clod in the air, like a sixty-eight pound shut. 
 It then made a dash at a thick hedge, but broke away and bobbed for the next Here I espied a ditch, well Kinked 
 and thickly wooded in the rear. "Look out! shell hold there; and steady yourself by the hand-lines." Mr. < andlei 
 oK-yed orders to the letter, ami the next moment we were full strain on the cable, whilst the balloon plunged and 
 dived as if she would break through all restraint and be off again. This was the critical point. To let out gas, or 
 n it, in case of a fresh start? that was the question demanding immediate action. Having confidence in my 
 tackling. I proceeded to exhaust After several ineffectual struggles, the " Queen" rolled her head down u]mn the 
 grass, when her last throes became fainter and fainter, until she finally assumed the pancake form, which was 
 c.p]ival'-nt to an intimation that her aerial majesty was ready to enter her carriage in a more contact ami 
 undignified state than she was in on quitting the Sydenham Palace, It soon transpired that we had dew. ml* d at 
 Hayes, near I'xbridge, and that the time occupied in going that distance was about twenty minute*. 
 
 Wet and weary, we made for the "Adam and Eve," where mine host and his considerate wife provided us 
 with a refreshing cup of tea and an ample supply of dry clothing. 
 
 During this gale the "Royal Charter" was lost, but the "Queen" happily rode it out unseat h. d. 
 
 NOTKS. 
 
 CHAP. VIII. p. 281. Colonel MacDougall, in 'Modern Warfare as influenced by Modem Artillery" 
 (London, 18G4), speaks thus of the service rendered to the Federals by a Kill-ton. in th- | tin- 
 
 Rappahannock, by General Hooker. April. 1863: 
 
 .... In another quarter during this day. (on. -nil Sedgwick having ascertained, by m-an* of a Lalloon 
 ascent, that a very small force of < 'on f derates and but few guns remained in his front in tin Krederi< k*burg 
 position, attacked and carried the height 
 
 :; q 
 
476 ASTRA CASTRA. APPENDIX. 
 
 CHAP. IX. p. 299. Lord Stanhope, in his ' Life of William Pitt,' gives the following correspondence 
 between Earl Stanhope and the Lords of the Admiralty on Steam Navigation : 
 
 In 1796, as in the preceding year, there were some experiments in Steam Navigation set on foot by Earl 
 Stanhope, and sanctioned by the Lords of the Admiralty. He had induced them to construct a ship in the Thames, 
 and had signed a bond, dated June 30, 1794, with a penalty to himself of 9000Z., "to indemnify the" public in 
 case the said ship should not answer the purpose of Government." The subject must be pwned to be a curious 
 one, as tending to throw some light on the first steps of a gigantic change in the British navy ; and the origin of 
 the scheme is summed up as follows in a letter which Earl Stanhope addressed to the Lords of the Admiralty. 
 
 " MY LORDS, " Chevening, Dec. 22, 1795. 
 
 " Your Lordships no doubt are all of you informed that an Ambi- Navigator ship (called the ' Kent ') has been 
 constructed by Government for the purpose of ascertaining the efficacy of the important plan, invented by me, of 
 navigating ships of the largest size without any wind, and even against wind and waves ; and that on the 30th day 
 of June in the year 1794, I gave a bond to His Majesty relative to that ship and plan. The steam-engine 
 apparatus constructed under my direction, and intended for moving that vessel, is now on board her in Greenland 
 Dock. For several months past I have been making detached experiments in the ship on various parts of the 
 apparatus : for I do not intend to content myself with merely producing a result, but my series of experiments is 
 such as to be intended to establish every part of the subject on clear and irrefragable proofs, and to ascertain 
 demonstratively what is the best possible plan. 
 
 " The subject being a new one, the workmen have had everything to learn, and it has taken more time to 
 complete the work than was at first expected. The tune mentioned in my bond to be allowed for the making of 
 the experiments is nearly expired. I therefore request your Lordships to add a few more months (such as eight, 
 ten, or twelve) for that purpose, as I take for granted that your Lordships would not deem it either proper or 
 expedient to stop experiments of such consequence in their progress, and at the eve of their conclusion. 
 
 " I have the honour to be, &c., 
 
 " STAN-HOPE." 
 
 In reply, on the part of the Board of Admiralty (Dec. 28, 1795), the Secretary, Mr. Evan Nepean, in a liberal 
 spirit, granted the longest period of extension that had been suggested, namely, twelve months. The correspondence 
 which I here select and subjoin took place, as will be seen, near the close of that further term. 
 
 EARL SPENCER TO EARL STANHOPE. 
 
 " MY LORD, " Admiralty, Nov. 5, 179G. 
 
 " The delay which I alluded to in my former letter arose from some doubt whether the experiment which has 
 already been made was sufficient to ascertain the properties of the ' Kent.' In order, therefore, to remove any 
 doubt upon that subject, the Board of Admiralty have determined on trying another experiment for that express 
 purpose ; for which (if your Lordship has no objection to it) directions will be immediately given. 
 
 " I have the honour, &c., 
 
 " SPENCER." 
 
 EARL STANHOPE TO EAHL SPENCER. 
 
 " MY LOED, " London, Nov. 8, 1796. 
 
 " The 'Kent' is at present (whatever it may be hereafter) a Government vessel. The Board of Admiralty 
 therefore have a right, and will do right, to make with her such experiments as they shall deem proper. My 
 consent is not necessary, nor should I refuse it if it were. 
 
 " Two things no doubt your Lordship will think it expedient to do. First, that the necessary directions may 
 be immediately given for making those experiments respecting which I shall not interfere. Secondly, that they 
 may be made within a short space of time, inasmuch as your Lordship must be sensible that whilst the vessel is out, 
 no adjustment can be made in the steam apparatus, in order to make the intended experiments with steam. 
 
 " That subject is of far more importance than the Board of Admiralty seems to be aware of. 
 
 " I have the honour, &c., 
 
 " STANHOPE." 
 
 EARL SPENCER TO EARL STAXHOPK. 
 
 " MY LORD, " Admiralty, May 17, 1797. 
 
 " . . . . The Report of the Navy Board (dated the Cth of this month), to which the Admiralty must pay 
 some attention, is positively against your Lordship's proposal of renewing your bond ; but I believe the fairest way 
 will be to transmit to you a copy of it, that your Lordship may have an opportunity of explaining some points 
 which it is possible they may have misconceived. 
 
Al'I'KNMX. 
 
 \\nii I:AI;I. >T\\imi'i:. 
 
 177 
 
 Yciii may ilf]H nil \i\xn\ my not feeling the most distant intention of trifling with yon on this or any tli'-i 
 though I eei tainly do not yet see any reason to alter tho opinion I have already expressed, that the method 
 YOU have imagined <>f moving ships, independent of wind uud tide, will not I. found to answer the very great 
 
 us vmir Lordship appears t.. h.ive formed of it. 
 
 I have tli. honour, Ac., 
 
 "Si 
 
 Tlii- i-x|K'riment made \<\ the Kent " were satisfactory to Lord Stanhope; not no to tin- Navy Board. On 
 tlic \\li.il.- the l.onls of tho Admiralty deemed thin trial of Steam ^ n to \- rom-lusivi- airainst it. an. I tln-\ 
 
 rei|iiin'l i .f Lord Stenhope tin- inalty stipulatiil in his Imnd. Their oorrospondeno- with him from liiht t.. last \\.iv 
 .on. liirtc-l in a nn.st honourable spirit. an<l with jx-rli-.-t fainicaa of intention. lint I think that we may .1. .In. . 
 from it their early ilistrnst ami .li>ivli>h of tho Bcheme \Vo may, I think, infer that the trial w;ix not t'n . l\ 
 .ie>-i-]>tiil, 1'iit was rather by Nome extraneous eaiise iiii]>.^-<l u]>..n them. If so, the question ariaoB, who imjxjhcil it ': 
 | '. >n.-iili-ring the politicul hostility of the projector to tho Administration, ami his personal entrangenifiit from 
 Mr. I'itt. no p.irty ami no family infltienoo are here to be imagined. No other alternative. MO far as I cni. 
 remains, than that tho lYime .Minister, when consulted, urged the trial of tho wln-me fiom his own impression of 
 Nsilile merits. There is, tln-refore, as I conceive, a strong probability that Mr. I'itt wiw tho earliest of all our 
 statesmen in office who discerned, however dimly in tho distance, tho coming importance of steam to navigation, 
 and who desired to bring it to the test ; and this at the very time when his own First Lord of the Admiralty, in 
 other respects a most judicious administrator, looked down upon the project as an empty dream. 
 
 I'HRYXUS AND IIKIXE. 
 
 : Q 2 
 
478 
 
 ASTRA CASTRA. 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 II. 
 
 THE ATMOSPHERE. 
 
 THE few remarks that I will here add on the subject of the Atmosphere, 
 are taken from the ' Book of Knowledge,' published at Glasgow, showing 
 the popular ideas with regard to the wind, &c., in the year 1750; from 
 the ' History of the Intellectual Development of Europe,' by Professor 
 John William Draper, of the University of New York ; and from the 
 well-known and very beautiful work of Captain Maury, on the ' Physical 
 Geography of the Sea, and its Meteorology,' a book that cannot too fre- 
 quently be recommended to all lovers of Nature. 
 
 THE BOOK OF KNOWLEDGE, 1750. 
 Wind. 
 
 Wind is said to be an exhalation hot and dry, engendered in the bowels 
 of the earth ; and being gotten out, is carried sidelong upon the face of the 
 earth, and cannot mount upwards above the middle region of the air, which, by reason of its coldness, doth beat 
 it back ; so as by much strife, and by meeting other exhalations rising, its motion is forced to be rather round, 
 than right in its falling ; and this makes it a whirl-post or whirlwind, which oftentimes by its violence carrieth 
 many things with it from place to place. 
 
 Earthquakes. 
 
 The ancients affirm that the cause of earthquakes is plenty of wind gotten and confined within the bowels 
 of the earth, which is striving to break forth. 
 
 Thunder and Lightning. 
 
 Thunder and lightning is occasioned by an exhalation hot and dry, and being carried up into the middle 
 region of the air, and there enclosed into the body of a cloud. Now these two contrarieties being thus shut or 
 enclosed into one place together, they fall at variance, whereby the water and fire agree not till they have broken 
 through, so that fire and water fly out of the clouds, the breaking whereof makes that noise which we call thunder, 
 and the fire is lightning. 
 
 Draper says: 
 
 The intellectual state of the Mohammedan nations at this epoch is shown by the fragments of the works 
 of their scientific writers that have descended to us. 
 
 Among such writers is Alhazen, who lived about A.D. 1100. It appears that he resided both in Spain and 
 Egypt, but the details of his biography are very confused. Through his optical works, which have been translated 
 
 into Latin, he is best known in Europe It is in the discussion of one of these physical problems that his 
 
 scientific greatness truly shines forth. He is perfectly aware that the atmosphere decreases in density with height ; 
 and from that consideration he shows that a ray of light, entering it obliquely, follows a curvilinear path which is 
 concave towards the earth ; and that, since the mind refers the position of an object to the direction in which the 
 ray of light from it enters the eye, the result must be an illusion as respects the starry bodies ; they appear to us, 
 to use the Arabic term, nearer to the zenith than they actually are, and not in their true place. 
 
 .... With extraordinary acuteness, he applies the principles with which ho is dealing to the determination 
 of the height of the atmosphere, deciding that its limit is nearly fifty-eight and a half miles. 
 
 All this is very grand. Shall we compare it with the contemporaneous monk miracles and monkish 
 philosophy of Europe? It would make a profound impression if communicated for the first time to a 
 scientific Society in our own age. Nor, perhaps, does his merit end here. If the ' Book of the Balance of 
 Wisdom,' for a translation of which we are indebted to M. Khanikoff, the Russian Consul-General at Tabriz, 
 be the production of Alhazen, of which there seems to be internal proof, it offers us evidence of a singular 
 clearness in mechanical conception for which we should scarcely have been prepared ; and, if it be not his, at 
 all events it indisputably shows the scientific acquirements of his age. In that book is plainly set forth the 
 connexion between the weight of the atmosphere and its increasing density. The weight of the atmosphere 
 
A.I.. 1100. M.IIA/.r.N DISCOVERS ATMi ispllKIMr I'UKssl l;i 171 
 
 was therefore understood liel'ore Torricelli. Hi- shows that a Ixxly will wei^h ditl'erently in ran- and in 
 11 den-*' atmosphere; that its loss of weight will bo greater in proportion as the air is more dense. II- 
 ...iisiilfrs tin- force with which plunged ladies will ris.- through heavier media in which they are immersed, 
 and discusses tin- sul>in> -r^" -nee f floating bodies, as ships upon the sea. 
 
 .... Tin- determinations of tlii' cl.n-.ity of bodies, as given l.y Alha/.eii. approach \ rj t.. ..ur own : 
 
 in tin- ease of mercury tln-v an- i \i 11 more exact than Home of those of the lost >< utiirv. 1 join, as doubtless H!! 
 natural philosophers will do, in the pious pi.m-r of Alhazcn. that, in tho Day of .liulgiucnt, tin- All Merciful will 
 take Jiity on tin- soul nf Ainu h'.iihan, because he was tin- first nf the raou nf nidi t.. i-oiistruct a table nf s|n-cifi. 
 _'M\in. -: ami I "ill add Alha/.eii's name thereto, for ho was the flint to trace the curvilinear path of a ray of light 
 through tin- air 
 
 F ri >iii observations i.n tin- twilight, the elasticity of aerial bodies, and tho condensing action nf cold, the 
 Theuno- conclusion previously arrived at by Alhazen was established, that the atmosphere does not extend 
 ; unlimitcdly into space. Its height is considered to be about forty -live niili-s. From its compressibility, 
 
 tin- greater 1*111 of it is within a much smaller limit ; were it of uniform density, it would not extend more than 
 twenty-nine thousand feet. Henco, comparing it with the dimension* of the earth, it in an insignificant aerial 
 shell, in thickness not the eightieth part of the distance to tho earth's win re, and its immensity altogether an 
 illusion. It Ix-ars about the same projwrtion to the earth that the down upon a poach bears to tho peach itself. 
 
 nndatioii for the mechanical theory of the atmosphere was laid as soon as just idoas respecting liquid 
 pressures, as formerly taught by Archimedes, were restored, tho conditions of vortical and oblique pressures 
 invotipited. the demonstration of equality of pressures in all directions given, and the proof furnished that the 
 
 of a liquid on the bottom of a vessel may bo very much greater than its weight. 
 
 Such of these conclusions as were applicable were soon transferred to tho case of aerial bodio*. The weight 
 lu imch*- ^ *k atmosphere was demonstrated, its pressure illustrated and measured ; then came the dispute about 
 nioU rd- the action of pumps, and the overthrow of tho Aristotelian doctrine of tho horror of a vacuum. 
 ( 'nineideiitly occurred the invention of the barometer, and tho proof of its true theory, both on a steeple 
 in Paris and on a mountain in Auvergno. The invention of tho air-pump, and its beautiful illustrations of the pn> 
 pcrtiex of the atmosphere, extended in a singular manner tho taste for natural philosophy. 
 
 Thi- nieehanics of the air was soon followed by its chcniiMry. From remote ages it had been numbered 
 lu chcmiod among tho elements, though considered liable to vitiation or foulness. Tho groat discover}' of -\\x--n gas 
 relations. placed its chemical relations in their proper position. One after another other gases, both simple and 
 compound, were discovered. Then it was recognised that tho atmosphere is the common receptacle f..r all gases 
 and vapours; and the problem whether, in the course of ages, it has ever undergone change in its constitution arose 
 for solution. 
 
 The negative determination of that problem, so far as a few thousand years were concerned, was necessarily 
 The auta- followed by a recognition of the antagonism of animals and plants, and their mutually balancing each 
 mSuuKl other : the latter accomplishing their duty under the influence of the sun, though he is a hundred millions 
 pUnts. of miles distant. From this it appeared that it is not by incessant interventions that tho sum total of 
 animal life is adjusted to that of vegetable, but that in this respect the system of government of tho world is, by 
 the operation of natural causes and law, a conclusion the more imposing since it contemplates all living tliinpt, and 
 inrlude< i ven man himself. The detail of these investigations proved that the organic substance of plants is 
 condensed from the inorganic air to which that of all animals returns, the particles running in ever-repeating cycles, 
 now in the air, now in plants, now in animals, now in the air again ; the impulse of movement being in the MIH. 
 from whom has come the force incorporated in plant tissues, and eventually disengaged in our fires, shining in our 
 flames, oppressing us in fevers, and surprising us in Hushes. 
 
 Organic diMurUtnces by respiration and the growth of plants being in tho lowest stratum of the air, its 
 The winds, nnifonnity of composition would lie imjx*isiblo were it not for tho agency of tho winds and the diffusion 
 thr origin of gases, which it was found would take place under any pressure. The winds were at length properly 
 
 ""' referred to the influence of the sun, whose heat warms the air, causing it to ascend, while other portion^ 
 flow in below. The explanation of land and sea breezes was given, and in the trade-wind was found a proof of the 
 rotation of the earth. At a later ]-riod followed the explanation of monsoons in the alternate heating and c.M.Iin^ 
 of Asia and Africa on opposite sides of tin- line, and of tornadoes, which are disks of air rotating round a translated 
 axis with a diameter of one hundred or one hundred and fifty miles, the axis moving in a curvilinear track with 
 a progressive advance of twenty or twenty-five miles an hour, and the motions being in opposite direction* on 
 opposite hemispheres of the globe. 
 
480 ASTRA CASTRA. APPENDIX. 
 
 The equatorial calms and trade-winds accounted for on physical principles, it was admitted that the winds of 
 high latitudes, proverbially uncertain as they are, depend in like manner on definite causes. 
 
 With these palpable movements there are others of a less obvious kind. Through the air, and by reason of 
 motions in it, sounds are transmitted to us. 
 
 The Alexandrian mathematicians made sound a favourite study. Modern acoustics arose from the recognition 
 Of sounds *kat th ere * s nothing issuing from the sounding body, but that its parts are vibrating and affecting the 
 their medium between it and the ear. Not only by the air-pump, but also by observations in the ran- 
 
 velocity. atmosphere of the upper regions, it was shown that the intensity of sound depends upon the density. 
 On the top of a mountain the report of a pistol is no louder than that of a cracker in the valley. As to the gradual 
 propagation of sounds, it was impossible to observe fire-arms discharged at a distance without noticing that the 
 flash appears longer before the report in proportion as the distance is greater. The Florentine academicians 
 attempted a determination of the velocity, and found it to be 1148 feet in a second. More accurate and recent 
 experiments made it 1089-42 feet at the freezing-point of water ; but the velocity, though independent of the 
 density, increases with the temperature at the rate of 1-14 foot for each degree. For other media the rate is 
 different ; for water, about 4687 feet in a second, and in cast-iron about ten-and-a-half times greater than in air. 
 All sounds, irrespective of their note or intensity, move at the same velocity, the medium itself being motionless in 
 the mass. No sound can pass through a vacuum. The sudden aerial condensation attending the propagation of 
 a sound gives rise to a momentary evolution of heat, which increases the elasticity of the air, and hence the velocity 
 is higher than 9 1 6 feet in a second, otherwise the theoretical rate. 
 
 M. Arthur Maugin, in his beautiful work entitled 'L'Air et le Monde Ae'rien' (Tours, 1865), so well 
 tells the story of the discovery of atmospheric pressure, that I could not desire it in better words : 
 
 The year 1630 will always be memorable for one of those discoveries that begin a new epoch in science. Till 
 that year no one believed that the air had weight, that it exercised, like water, a pressure upon all bodies immersed 
 in proportion to their height and surface. Archimedes, the father of hydrostatics, was ignorant that the laws 
 of water could also be applied to the air. 
 
 In the seventeenth century, however, many effects of the atmospheric pressure were known, and were applied 
 in the construction of pumps, ornamental fountains, &c. But instead of attributing this to its true cause, it was 
 explained by the ancient aphorism " Natura dbhorret a vacua ; " an aphorism that Nature, strange enough, had never 
 denied, because no attempt appears to have been made to force water by this means to a height exceeding thirty- 
 two or thirty-three feet. 
 
 The Grand Duke of Florence, in 1630, had this ambitious and princely fancy. Engineers received orders to 
 make pumps in the palace for raising the waters to the upper chambers, that is, to a height which surpassed all 
 preceding hydraulic experiments. The engineers, however, set to work, not doubting that because His Highness 
 the Grand Duko wished the water to ascend, it would be sure to do so. With all care the attempt was made ; if 
 answered well so far, and the water ascended thirty-two feet ; the pumping way continued, but the obstinate water 
 would not rise higher. Exertions were increased, but in vain. The pipes were examined ; not a fault, nor the 
 least fissure whereby the air could penetrate, was discovered ; yet the pistons would no longer suck up the liquid. 
 The astonishment of the engineers and surprise of the savans of Florence exceeded belief. For the first time Nature 
 deviated from the horror it hitherto expressed of a vacuum. 
 
 It was referred to the Grand Duke. He could see but one man in all Italy, and in all Europe, who was 
 capable of explaining so strange an overthrow of fundamental principles : this was Galileo. Galileo, taken 
 unawares, could only solve the problem erroneously. It was the weight, he said, of the water that prevented the 
 liquid from rising higher. He should have said that this was but a lame explanation ; but it was necessaiy for 
 him to say something ; it was not possible for him to keep silence in a question of Natural Science. The Grand 
 Duko and the Florentine engineers were content with this reply. 
 
 There was at Rome at that time a young professor of the Natural Sciences (twenty-three years of age), named 
 Evangelista Torricelli. He was under the tuition of Castelli, a pupil of Galileo. Notwithstanding the veneration 
 he felt for the great man who was the master of his master, Torricelli thought the explanation given by Galileo 
 of the Florentine phenomenon to bo unsatisfactory ; he, therefore, endeavoured to discover a more plausible solution. 
 On reflection he was convinced that the pretended horror of Nature at a vacuum was purely imaginary, without 
 foundation as without object ; one of those empty phrases which answered many things, and were long the bane 
 ,it' philosophy. If, as Galileo stated, the weight of the water prevented it from rising above thirty-two feet, why 
 did it rise so high ? For then the water ascended in spite of and in opposition to its weight ! Is there not in this, 
 
///</./ juvporfJ 
 
 cm 
 
 Stu jAvu/aa 
 
 
j r c 
 
\.i-. 168 Tt>i;]ri;u.i m>Mivi:i!s LTM08PHERIC PBE88UBE 
 
 asked Torriivlli, s..m. thing unalogoua to wluit is observed in tin 1 Imlamv by ..ne K-lv |>oi-ing another'' Then In- 
 thought of tlif air. f.in:..tt. n liecauso unseen. which. Vicing a material Huh-un.-.-. nm-t. like all others. have weight. 
 and I-M rei-c pressure ,,n all bodies on the surface of tin- gloW. Frmn tliis cause one might siipi***- that tin- 
 M.II.-I in tlic imiiiii would cease to rise, when it was in equilibrium with the external pressure of tin- atmoHpli. i- 
 in.l that this ]w.int was about thirty tw. feet. at tin- sea 1. vd." This was but a step that genius alone can i, 
 .ii-l -ivrs t<> the discoverer a name that will last with all time. 
 
 rthcless, to make so novel a presumption certain, no opposed to the ideas of the day, Torriei-lli 
 i>i|iiiriil to vi-rify it liy a decisive ex]>crimeut. If corn-el. the height of a column of liquid to balance the 
 atmospheric pressure should be in inverse jro].irti.>n to the density of tin- li<|uid. Tim- .piicksilvcr. being (. 
 heavier tlian water, should only rise to about twenty . i-ht inches. 
 
 Passing from reasoning to cxpcrjmeir ill took a tube of thirty inches, closed at one extremity, filled 
 
 it with ineiviiry. put his linger on tho orifice, tunii-d the- ml*- ov.-r in a Kiwi n containing nieivury, and. th< n 
 withdraw ing his linger, kejit the- tnlie in a vertical poition. 
 
 II. .i!.-hnl the ni.i.uiy descend till it reached a |K>int where it ivmaiind slatimian-, leaving a vaeiium 
 aliovi- it. Tlie heiglit of the metallic column was found to K- alnmt twenty-eight inehew. With such a result tin 
 y.iiing natural philosopher must have been a great master of himself not to have run out from his laboratory int.. 
 the street- i if I;,. me. and cry. like Archimedes, fyprjra. The experiment of Torricelli, and the correct coneliisi,,n> 
 he dr.w fmm it. produced in the learned world tho greatest e\rit. -meiit. The partisan of "the universality of 
 matter" attacked them with fury, whilst the n.-w jrty, whom we may call " the Defenders of the Yaeuum," \\. i> 
 a small minority. Pascal was the chief of this party in France, and with such a champion tin- triumph of this 
 truth i-oiild not long bo delayed. The celebrated experiment made on the I'uy-do-Dome, after the instruction* of 
 1'asoil by his brother-in-law. Florin IVrier, and repeated in Paris by Pascal himnelf on the tower of St. .Ijicipie- I., 
 1'ioiieherie. ..p.ned the eyes of the blindest and closed the months of the must obxtinate. "If it happens," cried 
 Pa.-e.il. --that the height of the quicksilver is less on tho top than at the bottom of tho mountain, it necessarily 
 follows that the weight and pressure of the air are the sole cause of the column of quicksilver being suspended, and 
 Nature's horror of a vacuum, because it is certain that there is a pressure of more air at the buttmn of the 
 mountain than at the top ; and it is no use tosay that nature abhors a vacuum at the base of a mountain more- tluin 
 at the summit." 
 
 The difference at the Ihiy-de-Dome was three inches, and at St Jacques* tower two-and-a-half lines, being 
 in exact proportion to their heights, as the l'uy-de-D6me u one thousand metres and St Jacques' tower i- 
 fifty metres. 
 
 This proof was therefore decisive. 
 
 THE \\1M- 
 
 i. in. 
 
 \K wiii.i-, y. unseen currents of the air, Tbe wcmty fowls of hcavou makr win;: in vnin, 
 
 Softly \v ] .laved a few brief hours ago ; To escape your wrath ; ye seize ami dasli them dead, 
 
 Ye bore the murmuring bee; ye tossed the hair nt the earth yc drive the roaring rain ; 
 
 t maiden checks, that took a fresher glow : The harvmt-fii-ld becomes a river's bed; 
 
 Y rolled the round white cloud through depths of blue ; And torrents tumble from the hills (round, 
 
 Ye shook from shaded flowers the lingering dew ; Plains turn to lakes, and villages are drowned, 
 
 the catal|'g blossoms flew, And wailing voice*, rnidst the tempest's sound, 
 
 Light blossoms, dropping on the grass like snow. Kise, as the ruitliiii^ waters swell and spread. 
 
 n. iv. 
 
 How are ye changed ! Ye take the cataract's sound ; Ye dart upon the deep, and straight is heard 
 
 Ye take the whirlpool's fury and iu mi^ht ; A wilder roar, and men grow pale, and pray; 
 
 The mountain shudders as ye sweep the ground ; Ye fling its floods around you, as a bird 
 
 The valley w.ls lie pnme Ix-nwith your flight Flings oV-r hi.i shivering pluim* the fuuntain's spray 
 
 The clouds before you shoot like eagles past ; :"-: mast the sailor clings ; 
 
 The IKIIUPS of men are rocking in your blast ; Ye scoop the ocean to its briny springs, 
 
 Ye i;; :l ..-.is like autumn leaves, and r.. And take the mountain billow on your wings, 
 
 Skyward, the whirling fragments out of sight And pile the wreck .if navi. s round the buy. 
 
 BBVA.XT. 
 
 n. iu his ' Pliysical Geography of t!- Sea. and its Meteorolmry.' nukes, among other observation-. 
 the-, r. marks concerning the atmosphere: 
 
 1. Our planet is invested with two great oceans; on. visible, the other invi-ibh- : one is underfoot, the othei 
 The two (.veihoad : one entirely envelops it. the other covers about two-thirds of its surface. All th : tin 
 
 one weighs about 400 times as much a- all the air of the other. 
 
4S2 ASTRA CASTEA. APPENDIX. 
 
 4. The air is elastic, and very unlike water. That at the bottom is pressed down by the superincumbent air 
 Weieht of w ith the force of about 15 pounds to the square inch, while that at the top is inconceivably light. If, 
 the atmo- for the sake of explanation, we imagine the lightest down, in layers of equal weight and 10 feet thick, to 
 
 be carded into a pit several miles deep, we can readily perceive how that the bottom layer, though it 
 might have been 10 feet thick when it first fell, yet with the weight of the accumulated and superincumbent mass, 
 it might now, the pit being full, be compressed into a layer of only a few inches in thickness, while the top layer 
 of all, being uncompressed, would be exceedingly light, and still 10 feet thick : so that a person ascending from the 
 bottom of the pit would find the layers of equal weight thicker and thicker until he reached the top. So it is with 
 the barometer and the atmosphere : when it is carried up in the air through several strata of 87 feet, the observer 
 does not find that it falls a tenth of an inch for every successive 87 feet upward through which he may carry it. 
 To get it to fall a tenth of an inch, he must carry it higher and higher for every successive layer. 
 
 5. More than three-fourths of the entire atmosphere is below the level of the highest mountains ; the other 
 Three- fourth is rarefied and expanded in consequence of the diminished pressure, until the height of many 
 fourths miles be attained. From the reflection of the sun's rays after he has set, or before he rises above 
 mountain- the horizon, it is calculated that this upper fourth part must extend at least forty or forty-five miles 
 '"!. higher. 
 
 6. At the height of 26,000 miles from the earth, the centrifugal force would counteract gravity ; consequently, 
 . all ponderable matter that the earth carries with it in its diurnal revolution must be within that 
 
 distance, and consequently the atmosphere cannot extend beyond that. This limit, however, has been 
 greatly reduced, for Sir John Herschel has shown, by balloon observations,* that at the height of 80 or 90 miles 
 there is a vacuum far more complete than any which we can produce by any air-pump. In 1783 a large meteor, 
 computed to be half a mile in diameter and fifty miles from the earth, was heard to explode. As sound cannot 
 travel through vacuum, it was inferred that the explosion took place within the limits of the atmosphere. Herschel 
 concludes that the aerial ocean is at least 50 miles deep. 
 
 8. Chemists who have made the analysis, tell us that, out of 100 parts of atmospheric air, 90-5 consist of 
 Analysis of oxygen and nitrogen, mixed in the proportion of 21 of oxygen to 79 of nitrogen by volume, and of 23 to 
 air. 77 by weight. The remaining half of a part consists of -05 of carbonic acid and -45 of aqueous vapour. 
 
 f . 17. At the temperature of 60, the specific gravity of average sea-water is l-027:',t and the weight 
 
 sea-water, of a cubic foot is 64-003 Ibs. 
 
 18. With the barometer at 30 in., and the thermometer at 32, the weight of a cubic foot of dry atmospheric 
 Ofair. air is 1-291 oz., and its specific gravity -00129. Such is the difference in weight between the two 
 elements, the phenomena of which give the physical geography of the sea its charms. 
 
 27. " The weight of the atmosphere is equal to that of a solid globe of lead sixty miles in diameter. Its 
 The sea principal elements are oxygen and nitrogen gases, with a vast quantity of water suspended in them in 
 atmosphere the shape of vapour, and commingled with these a quantity of carbon in the shape of fixed air, equal to 
 contrasted, restore from its mass many fold the coal that now exists in the world. In common with all substances, 
 the ocean and the air are increased in bulk, and, consequently, diminished in weight, by heat ; like all fluids, they 
 are mobile, tending to extend themselves equally in all directions, and to fill up depressions wherever vacant space 
 will admit them ; hence in these respects the resemblance betwixt their movements. Water is not compressible 
 or elastic, and it may be solidified into ice, or vaporised into steam ; the air is elastic ; it may be condensed to any 
 extent by pressure, or expanded to an indefinite degree of tenuity by pressure being removed from it ; it is not 
 liable to undergo any change in its constitution beyond these, by any of the ordinary influences by which it is 
 affected. 
 
 28. " These facts are few and simple enough ; let us see what results arise from them : As the constant 
 Influence exposure of the equatorial regions of the earth to the sun must necessarily there engender a vast amount 
 of the sun. o f heat, and as his absence from the polar regions must in like manner promote an infinite accumulation 
 of cold, to fit the entire earth for a habitation to similar races of beings, a constant interchange and communion 
 betwixt the heat of the one, and the cold of the other, must be carried on. The ease and simplicity with which 
 this is effected surpass all description. The air, heated near the equator by the overpowering influences of the sun, 
 is expanded and lightened ; it ascends into upper space, leaving a partial vacuum at the surface to be supplied 
 from the regions adjoining. Two currents from the poles toward the equator are thus established at the surface, 
 while the sublimated air, diffusing itself by its mobility, flows in the upper regions of space from the equator 
 toward the poles. Two vast whirlpools are thus established, constantly carrying away the heat from the torrid 
 
 * Those of Mr. Welsh, in his ascent from Kew. 
 
 t Maury's ' Sailing Directions,' vol. i. Sir John Herschel quotas it at 1-0275 for 62. 
 
Tin: T\M> OCEAN> 
 
 toward the ie\ r.-gion>. and. there becoming cold by contact with tho ioo, they carry bark tin n gt lid freight 1" 
 refresh the torrid /on,-. 
 
 \\e hnvo already mid that tho atmosphere forma a spherical shell, surrounding tin- earth in a depth 
 Hnvmof which is unknown i,, us, by reuson of it* growing tenuity, ON it in released from the pressure of n- own 
 the ir. suporiiiciimliciit iiuuw. Its upper Mirfiuv cannot be nearer to us tlmn fifty, and can scarcely be IUH 
 remote than I'm- hundred miles. It surrounds its on all sides, yet we ne it not . it prove* on us with a l<d of 
 lift' en |.iinds on every square inch of surface of our bodies, or from seventy to one hundred tons on us in all, yet 
 we do not so much a* I'.-. I its weight. S.t't.-r tlian the fin. -t down, moro ini]>alpablc than the finest gossamer, it 
 leave* the cobweb iiiuli>tiirl-d, and scarcely stirs the lightest flower that feeds on the dew it supplies; yet it boars 
 tin- MM I.- f nations on its wings around the world, and crushes the most refractory substances with its weight. 
 \\ h. ii in motion, its force is nifti'-i. nt to level with the earth the most stately forests and stable buildings, to mis.- 
 tlif waters of the ocean into ridges like mountains, and dash the strongest ships to pieces like toys. It wuriiiM ami 
 cools by turns the .nth and the living creatures that inhabit it It draws up vapours from tho sea and himl, 
 BJ tin-in dissolved in itself or suspended in cisterns of clouds, and throws them down again, as rain or <Ii-\v. 
 wlu-n they are required. It bends the rays of the sun from their path to give us tho aurora of tin- morning ami 
 twilight of .-v.-ning ; it disperses and refracts their various tints to beautify the approach and the retreat of tin- oi I. 
 of day. lint for tin- atmosphere, sunshine would burst on us in a moment ami fail n.s in tin- twinkling of an 
 n moving us in an instant from midnight darkness to the blaze of noon. We should have no twilight to soften ami 
 K-autify the liimlsea]>c. no clouds to shade us from tho scorching heat; but the bald earth, as it revolved on its 
 axis, would turn it.s tanned and weakened front to tho full and unmitigated rays of the lord of day. 
 
 89. " The atmosphere affords the gas which vivifies and warms our frames ; it received into itself that which 
 Itf funo has been polluted by use, and is thrown off as noxious. It feeds the flame of life exactly its it doe* that 
 of the fire. It is in both cases consumed, in both cases it affords the food of consumption, and in l.tli 
 QS.SW it becomes combined with charcoal, which requires it for combustion, and which removes it when combustion 
 is over. It is the girdling encircling air that makes the whole world kin. The carbonic acid with which to day 
 our breathing fills the air, to-morrow seeks its way round the world. The date-trees that grow round tho falls of 
 the Nil- will drink it in by their leaves; the cedars of Lebanon will take of it to add to their stature ; tho cocoa- 
 nuts of Tahiti will grow rapidly upon it; and the palms and bananas of Japan will change it into flowers. The 
 
 ii we ,m- l)ri -a thing was distilled for us some short time ago by the magnolias of the Susquehanna and the 
 great trees that skirt the Orinoco and the Amazon; tin- giant rhododendrons of the Himalayas contrilmted to it. 
 and the roses and myrtles of Cashmere, the cinnamon-troe of Ceylon, and the forest, older than the flood, that lion 
 Imried deep in the heart of Africa, fer behind the Mountains of the Moon, gave it out The rain we see descending 
 was thaw, d for us out of the icebergs which have watched the Polar Star for ages, or it came from snows th.it 
 rested on the summits of the Alps, but which tho lotus lilies have soaked up from the Nile, and exhaled as va]>our 
 again into the ever-present air." 
 
 200. There is no employment more ennobling to man and his intellect than to trace the evidences of design 
 Likened to and purpose, which are visible in many parts of the creation. Hence, to the right-minded mariner, ami 
 a machine. { jji m w ho studies the physical relations of earth, sea, and air, the atmosphere is something more tlian H 
 shoreless ocean, at the bottom of which he creeps along. It is an envelope or covering for the distribution of light 
 and heat ov.-r the surface of the earth; it is a sewer into which, with every breath we draw, we cast vast 
 quantities of dead animal matter; it is a laboratory for purification, in which that matter is reoom pounded, and 
 wrought again into wholesome and healthful shapes: it in a machim- for pumping up all the rivers from tho sea, 
 and for conveying the water ( 191) from the ocean to their sources in the mountains; it is an inexhaustible 
 magazine, marvellously stored. Upon the proper working of this machine depends the well-being of . \. TV plant 
 and animal that inhabits tho earth. How interesting, then, ought not the study of it to be! An examination I 
 the uses which plants and animals make of the air is sufficient to satisfy any reasoning mind in the conviction that 
 when they were created, the necessity of this adaptation was taken into account The connexion !(.. n an\ 
 two parts of an artificial machine that work into each other, does not render design in its construction more patent 
 than is tin- fart that the great atmospherical machine of .nir planet was constructed by an Architect who designed 
 it for certain purposes ; therefore the management of it its mov.-m.-nt-. and tho performance of its offices, cann 
 
 1. ft to chance. They are, we may rely upon it. guided by lawn that make all parts, functions, and movements, of 
 this machinery as obedient to order and as harmonious as are the planets in their orbits. 
 
 201. Any examination into the economy of the universe will be sufficient to satisfy the well-balanced minds 
 The air and of observant men that the laws which govern the atmosphere and the laws which govern the ocean 
 Hove'med'bT ( 164) are laws which were put in force by the Creator when the foundations of the earth were laid, 
 table laws, and that then-fore tln-y are laws of order; else, why should the (iulf Stream. f..r iust.ine. . IN- .,! 
 when- it is, and running from the (nilf of Mexico, and not sonu-where else, and sometimes running into it ' \\ h\ 
 
 :; i: 
 
484 
 
 ASTRA CASTRA. 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 should there be a perpetual drought in one part of the world, and continual showers in another? Or why should 
 the conscious winds ever heed the voice of rebuke, or the glad waves ever " clap their hands with joy" ? 
 
 202. To one who looks abroad to contemplate the agents of Nature, as he sees them at work upon our planet, 
 Importance no expression uttered or act performed Toy them is without meaning. By such a one, the wind and rain, 
 the works" 8 tne vapour and the cloud, the tide, the current, the saltness, and depth, and warmth, and colour of the 
 of Nature, gea, the shade of the sky, the temperature of the air, the tint and shape of the clouds, the height of the 
 tree on the shore, the size of its leaves, the brilliancy of its flowers each and all may be regarded as the exponent 
 of certain physical combinations, and therefore as the expression in which Nature chooses to announce her own 
 doings, or, if we please, as the language in which she writes down or elects to make known her own laws. To 
 understand that language and to interpret aright those laws is the object of the undertaking which we now have 
 in hand. No fact gathered from such a volume as the one before us can therefore come amiss to those who tread 
 the walks of inductive philosophy ; for, in the handbook of Nature, every such fact is a syllable ; and it is by 
 patiently collecting fact after fact, and by joining together syllable after syllable, that we may finally seek to read 
 aright from the great volume which the mariner at sea as well as the philosopher on the mountain each sees spread 
 out before him. 
 
 203. There have been examined at the Washington Observatory more than a million of observations on the 
 Materials f roe an( ^ direction of the winds at sea.* The discussion of such a mass of material has thrown much 
 for this light upon the circulation of the atmosphere ; for, as in the ocean ( 201), so in the air, there is a regular 
 " a P el system of circulation. 
 
 ' BLOW, WIND, AND CRACK YOUR CHEEKS ! RAGE ! BLOW ! " 
 
 A'm/y Letir. Art III. scene 2. 
 
 * Nautical Monograph, No. 1, 1859. 
 
 Perhaps Lux Oritur might he more correct in this wooileut. 
 
DIAGRAM ILLUSTRATING 
 
 THE CIRCULATION OF THE WINDS ROUND THE GLOBE. 
 
 DESIOSBD BY Liter. MAURY, LL.D, LATE OF TIIK WAIUIKOTON OBMWTATOKT. 
 
 Ai there ar* cinnaUat eorrenti in the ooean, to ar* than 
 regu'ar current, in the atmotphan. From th. parallel of about 
 3UA north uid loath, n*.rlj to the equator, w. have, 1 
 . round th* earth, two tone, of perpetual wiM 
 :, at tk* oorth-eeet trad** on thi. eld*, aad 
 
 eoulh-eaatonthat. With 
 
 wiade.ru:; 
 . Bad of the 
 ">7 Mow ptr- 
 
 petuall.T, alwart moving in to* ttmt auwetioB, exi 
 
 in.-, arr MMd aald* by daaart ken and there to' blow a* 
 
 ontoout. or M F ' 
 
 current, of air an con.tantly Bowinf from tb* pole, toward* 
 
 tk* equator, w* ar* aaf> in aMumtng that Ik* air which they 
 
 keeji in motion moat ratorn by *OOM akaaaal to Ik* place 
 ' oame,laoed*rto.upprrth* tradea. 
 
 adtwoaldaooa naaaattka polar th. diurnal motion of th earth/would, la eootaouenee 
 I'll* it up about tk* *qoator. and ~ larrtta. tad, a* It travel. touthTtk* earth tupping 
 rent of air to mak* more wind of. under it, aa it wen. and tkna it would appear u> bV 
 
 toward, the p.4*. whence it cam., ia order to tupplyth. trad*.. 
 
 .or* not ao, tbw* wind, mold toon ihauet 
 region! of atmo>pb*r*, and pU it 
 then c*aaa to blow for tk* want of 
 Tim return current, Iherwfcr*. 
 
 tnrnc*. Th* return current mutt alao move la tb* direct mn 
 oppoaiu to that wind the place of which It It intended to 
 tupply. Thee* direct aad counter current, are aku made to 
 more ia a eort of epiral or kuodromie earn, taming to th* 
 wwtl at tkey go from UM pole, to tk* equator, aad In the 
 oppoaiu direction aa they mov* from the equator toward the 
 pole.. Thi. tareiag la eaaatd by the rotation of tke earth oa 
 ita axia. 
 
 The earth, wa know, more, from watt to aaat. How, if w* 
 Imagine a particJt ofatmoapben at the north pole, where it ii 
 at rat, to b* put in motion in a .freight fine toward the 
 equator, wa aaa laeily an bow thit particle of air, coming from 
 IhenrYjii^of oiurad roUlioa, where it did not partake of 
 
 of id 
 
 of the atmotphtra, at leatt until It putt ft over thoe* parallel, 
 between which the trade-wind* are alw.yt b 1 
 
 '.- r. HH . r r. .- , 
 
 r thoe* paralltb 
 htowiag oa In. 
 
 _ 
 
 from tb. aorth-eaet and going toward th*~*oalh-wett j iooihra 
 ..r I., it would b* a nortn.rul wind. 
 On tk* other hand, wa can p*ro*i now a lik. partiol* of 
 
 notr th. parmllrl of SO". 
 11. r. it m**ta, alao in th. 
 
 itiFhTpolk*tiealpar- 
 
 
 in.l (oinf north to 
 
 take iti pUc*. About tin i 
 
 parilli-l of M'' north, then, 
 
 rtu-lii proai 
 
 uainit each othrr with tha 
 whakaaaaatoftkairmotr?* 
 
 producing a calm aad 
 aa n. vutuuUlion of atmoa* 
 
 thii accumnlmtion la 
 .IT!! kaal i baJaj all 
 ure or th. two winds from 
 th* north and icuth. 
 
 Frm uii.l.T tbii bank of 
 ealmi, which irainon call 
 tk* bora, latitude..' or tha 
 cabin of Cancer.' two iur- 
 face-curr*nt of wind are 
 ejected; one toward, the 
 equator, ai the HOBTH-iiftT 
 T ini ; the other toward* 
 tk* pol*., aa the SOCTH-WMT 
 
 rAMIOI W1XDI. 
 
 The*, windi oome out at 
 r,urt.oftheoalm 
 r*.M..:.. !..i a aai laamtta 
 the place of th* air born* 
 away in thii manner mart 
 b lapplied, w* BUT infer, 
 br downward-oiuTMlU from 
 the itij>*rincambent air of 
 the calm refion. The baro- 
 meter in thii calm region it 
 ui.l !> Hand higher than it 
 doe. either to tne north or 
 aouth of it ; furnishing ano- 
 ther proof of the hankinf up 
 kere of th* atmtxphrrr. and 
 praarar* from iti downward 
 
 <lnt our imaginarj 
 partial* of air, from the 
 north aroa> th,. calm belt 
 of Cancer, w* now feel it 
 
 i" ''.: I Ik r:% | : . 
 
 earth ii) aa the nortk-aaat 
 nd: and a. anek it 
 continue., till it arrive, near 
 the equator, where it meet, 
 a like hypothetical particle, 
 which, ttarluw from tha 
 atmth pol* at the urn* lime 
 the ntner start*,! from th* 
 north, baa blown aa th* 
 
 K.M TII-Il.T T>tDI W1D. 
 
 Here, at thi. equatorial 
 place of meeting, there ia 
 another conflict of wind.. 
 aad another calm region, for 
 
 trav''ll>ng, (F) to the equatorial calm, a* the aouth-eaat trade 
 aid ; ken it aaoaadt, travelling thence to the calm belt of 
 Oaaaer, a* an npper counter current to the north-east trade*. 
 Here it aaaoaaaa and travel, aa the touth-weat paaaage wind 
 (HI toward, tke pole. 
 
 Of coune, at the rarface windi ( and l>) 
 there moat be 
 . 1-. .-. | ... . 
 theTnearUi.pol*a, 
 
 and the ratface eon , 
 
 and blow with greater rapidity at it approaehea th* polaa, or 
 eUe a pirt of it mutt be aloughed off above, and to turn back 
 before reaching Ik* calm, about the pole*. The lattrr 
 badly the caae. 
 
 There are at leaat two f.ircea ooaotrned in driving the wind 
 through it. circuit.. The trade windi an eaoaed, it ii laid, hy 
 the iatertropical heat of the ton, which, expanding th. air, 
 eeuaei H to net up near the equator; it then flow, off in th.- 
 npper current, north and tenth, and there iianuh of air at tb.- 
 lurface both from north and aoulh, to re-tor* the equilibrium . 
 hence th. trade windi. The atmotphere baa, however, been 
 iaveated with an..th.-r property which increaec. it* mobUitv, 
 and give. th. heat of the tun Mill more power to put it in 
 motion; and it it Ihia at boat change, the atmospherical 
 
 EQUATORIAL CALMS & RAINS 
 
 CALMS OF CAPRICORN. 
 
 almmpher* that .tart, from tk* equator, to tak* Ik* pier* at 
 tk* other at the pole, would, M it IraveU north, in cunteqaeart 
 ofiu ru fmrrH,, be going toward the eaat fatter than th* earth. 
 It would therefore appear to beblowtagfrom the .uih -.*.!. 
 aad going toward, th* aortk-aaat, and .lactly In Ih* oppoaiu 
 direction to the other. Writing tooth for aorta, the tarn* 
 take. i.lac* between tke tooth pole aad th* equator. 
 
 Such it the proceat wklek i. actually going oa la nature, aad 
 if w* tak* th* motion, of the** two particle! at the type of Ih* 
 motion of all, we .hall have an illu.li atlon of the great eurrrnll 
 In the air, tb* equator being nrar one of the node., and lh*r 
 
 BW&W, eacftT " ""'" - " " d " "* 
 Let u. now return to oar northern particl*, and follow It in 
 a roaad from tb* north pole aoraat the equator to the muih 
 pole, aad bank again. (8*. Diagram). Belting off from iht 
 north polar region., at r. Una particle of air, Indeed of Im el- 
 ling on the lurface all the way from the pole to the equator, 
 travel, in the upper region! of Ike atmotphere (i) till it geU 
 
 a north-rait and lonth-emt 
 wind cann.4 blow at the 
 am* lint* in Ih* aam* j.l.i *. 
 The two particle, hate beea, 
 put in motion by tk* aam* 
 Pow*r i they meet with equal 
 lore* t and, therefore, at 
 their place of meeting, ar* 
 topped in their coune. 
 U*re, therefore, thrr* it a 
 aim bell. 
 
 Warmed now by the heat 
 of UM iun, and pretaed on 
 each lide br th* whole f.-r.-e 
 of the north-eait and ai>nth- 
 eaat lrad*, lh*a two hypo- 
 th.tic.1 jiarti. -I. i, taken a. a 
 type of the whole, eaaa* to 
 move onward, and aaond. 
 Thii o|i*ratioa la th* rer*rM 
 of that which took pier* at 
 tk* meeting near the parallel 
 
 Thi. imaginary partteU, 
 tkan. baring eaoeodW to toe 
 r region, of tk* aimot- 
 in, travela tn*re 
 rtotk*aoathea*t 
 i i ,1 Ma*] .,,r 
 
 i bait of Oaprlaora. 
 particle from tha 
 aootk pol. ; here there la a 
 deacent aa before : it then 
 owt oa toward the anuth 
 pole at a lurface wind (D) 
 from tk* north-writ. 
 
 Entering UM polar region* 
 
 br ilmilar particle, (lowing 
 
 awd*i for, aa oar imaginary 
 partial* approach*, tk* pa, 
 ralleli near Ike polar aauaa 
 or* and monoDBqaar/, it, 
 with all the reel, la whirled 
 about ih.poU in a continued 
 circular gal.; tnally, reach. 
 mgtkeTortoi. or the oaha 
 plaee. it la carrUd upward 
 feth* ragioa* of atmoapkera 
 bora, (r) whenc* at com. 
 menoaiaraia tta dramtt to 
 tk* aorth a* an upper ear* 
 not, (>) a. far at tb* calm 
 ball of Capricorn; her. it 
 encounter, tt. fallow from 
 tk* north ; they atop, d*. 
 aaend, aad aWoataa ear. 
 fae* comatt i the one with 
 wkiok UM Imagtatlioli ia 
 
 level, it change, alto the tpeeiac gravity of the air acted upon. 
 If, therefore, tke level of tke gnat aerial ocean wen nndia- 
 torbed by the tun't ray., and if the air ware adapted to a change 
 ofapeciacgraritralme. without any ehang* la volume/thSe 
 quality would afto be tk* toon* of at leaat two lyitmil of 
 current, in tk* air, ria., an upper and a lower. The two agent, 
 combined, that which change* lerel or volume, and that whk-h 
 change, apectaa gravity- give at tb* general currenti under 
 eoaatdcrattoa. Hence, we tay that the primam mota* of tke 
 air la demed from change of epeeinc gra.ity induced by tke 
 
 ......... . . . , . . ...,. r 
 
 change of apecinc gravity, doe to the expaadiag ton* of tk* 
 un'. ravi within the tropiaa. 
 
 The peculiar clooda of ike trad* wind, an (brmed betwaea 
 UM upper and lower current, of air. Thcr are probably formed 
 of vapour ooadaaaed from tha upper current, and evaporated 
 aa itdaaoaadt by tb* lower and dry carnal from th* pole*. 
 It ia the tame paaaomenoa up then whack it to oftea obaamd 
 hen below; when a co.,1 anddry current ofairl 
 and wet on*, an evolution of vapour or fog enen 
 
 W* now at* th* general coone of the wind in I 
 at we tee the general conna of the water in a river. Then 
 are many abrading inrfaee* and irrrgulariliet, which product 
 a thouiand eddie. in the main atream ; yet, 
 
 loftWwholettaotdiaturbadi 
 
 I to wit* the atmoephere aad variable 
 
 I . I 
 
 _ _a aBaaloB to Ih* lawt of aatun, 
 >d IBB III. Bet toea elloaloe. are to often 
 da oftk. paeobar aad graeefml drapery wttk 
 > at mtaaloatiy abtkaa, that U 
 
 ad baaoty. A* oar kaowledg* of aatara 
 aaaad, ao ha. oar aaderataadiag of many 
 
 IkA^B i^*w^**v*tt TV^ VMA^B!^ T-il- J tki 
 
 oewi aopivraa. i ne namnai cauea law 
 
 |_ .L_ 
 
 m law 
 
 earth "Ike roaad world;" yet for age. it wa. th* moat 
 damtiabtabereeyferCari-Mameatoiay UM world ia round ; 
 and. anally, aailon rireomnavigated tk* gk**, prored tk* 
 B^toberight,aadaaT*dCtu2atiaaiMoreeMa.Vframtba 
 Make. 
 
 And a* for tk* general ryttem of aftaoapktrlnal atrrauition 
 which w* have endaaToared to detcrib*. tie BiW. tell. ,t all 
 uaaBkriaaaatoaott "The wiad goetk toward the tooth, and 
 taraetk about unto the aorth; H whfcrli ' 
 aad tk* wiad retumetfc 
 I. . 
 
 LoadoB: Jamea awraoldi, 174, Strand. 
 
ci 
 
 us iiu.i-in, tli, .ilr t,, 1- \ i-'.M. . tli.it we ,-.,u!,l HOC these differ. -nt strata of wind*, ami tin- air as it i- 
 
 slough. d i iff t"r,,in nin- stratum In ji.in the other. We can only liken the spectacle that would be ) 
 
 L|l !.,.!.'. iiu4 eented between the upj>er and the lower stratum of th,--c win,U to the combing of a succession of l,>n^ 
 
 ""' waves as they oome rolling in from the sea, and breaking another, II|M,II tin- U-ach. Tin y 
 
 ihr N|.|*r*ud curl o\vr and are caught up, leaving foam from their uliit.- ,.ip- In-hind. hut nevertheleBs stirring 
 
 lrr curirni. up tlu> sell and mixing up its watan BO M to keep tin-la all aliki-. 
 
 It' ill.- ..'din ii;. . - . i Yituiv i,.|iiin> a constant rin-iilatinn and continual mixing up of the water in tin 
 - -a. tii ii it I .-.-. .m.- i,,-t stagnant, and that it may be kept in a wholesome state for it- iah.ilMtants, and 
 subserve l>io]-il\ tin- various offices required of it in tin- ! mtrial economy, how imirh an, ii- iai|H-rati\i- 
 must they not In- with tin- iiir? It in more liable to corruption than water; stagnation in ruinous to it. 
 
 It i- U'tli tin- -. xv.-r ami the laboratory I',>r tin- whole animal and vegetable kingdom*. Ceaseless motion has been 
 
 i to it ; p, i] tiul i ii.-tilatioii ami intermingling of its ingmlientH are required of it. Personal experience 
 
 teaches utt thin, as is manifest in tin- rmigni-i ,1 n. ,-.- iu ,.!' \,-ntilation in our building" tin- wholesome influence* 
 
 I fresh air, ami tin' noxious < | mil i tics of un atmosphere that has no i-in-ulation." II, m,. ,- .iiiiini.il mixing up of 
 
 (articles in tin- atin<.]ihi-ri- U-inj; nx|uirt^l of tin- winds in their cm-nits, is it poauble for the human miml t,. 
 
 i-oin-.-ivi-of tin- a] i] H, in t incut !' " cin-iiitM '' for them (S '2\>'< i which are so admirably designed ami i-v|iiisit,-ly tulupted 
 
 in- purpose as are those which this view miggeeta ? 
 
 I'.y ill-- in. -I;.. n of tin- clouds iipjh-r curn-nU of wind are discerned in the sky. They are arranged in 
 'I'll.- up|*r layers or strata one above the other. The clouds of each stratum are carried by its winds in a direction 
 and with a velocity peculiar to their stratum. How many of these superimposed currents of wiml tin-re 
 btniind ay be between the top and bottom of the atmosphere we know not. As high up as the cloud-region 
 several are often seen at the same time. They are pinions and rachets in the atmospherical machinery. 
 \ v - have seen ( 230) some of their uses: let us examine tln-m more in detail. Now, as the tendency of air in 
 nioti..n i- (? 120) to move in arcs of great circles, and as all great circles that can bo drawn about the earth must 
 cross each other in t\\o points, it is evident that the particles of the- atan-pln-ie which are borne along as wiml 
 must have their patks all in diverging or converging lines, and that conHcijuently each wind must either U-, like the 
 tra,l.--wimls ( 'J'J'J ). drawing down and sucking in air from above, or, like the counter trades (S 22(5), crowding out 
 and forcing it oft' into the ii]i]-r currents. 
 
 Thus the laws of motion, the force of gravity, and the figure of the earth, all unite in requiring 
 Th result! wind that blows either to force air up from the surface into the regions above, or to draw it down to the 
 earth from the crystal vaults of the upper sky. Add to these the storm-king: traversing the air, he 
 :..,',. thrusts in the whirlwind or scndx forth the cyclone, the tornado, aiul tin- hurricane to stir up and agitate. 
 to mix and mingle the whole in one homogeneous mass. I'.y this p. i| tual stirring up, this continual 
 agitation, motion, mixing, and circulation, the airy covering of the globe is kept in that state which tin- w, II 
 being of the organic world requires. Kvery breath we draw, every fire we kimll Mudi- of gram that 
 
 grows or decays, every blaze that shines and burns adds something that is noxious, or takes something that is 
 healthful away from the surrounding air. Diligent, therefore, in their offices must the agents be which have been 
 :i]M...int,-il to maintain the chemical status of the atmosphere, to preserve its proportions, to adjust its ingredients. 
 and to keep them in that state of admixture best calculated to fit it for its purposes. 
 
 nil years ago the French Academy sent out bottles and caused specimens of air from various parts 
 Kiferi- of the world to be collected and brought home to be analysed. The nicest tests which the most skilful 
 iT^n-m-h cheini-ste could apply were incapable of del" f, the slightest, difference as to ingredients in the' 
 
 \<\ftaj. specimens from either side of the equator; so thorough in the performance of their oflice are these a- 
 
 thclcss, there are a great many more demands on the atmosphere by the organic world for pabulum in one 
 hemisphere than in the other; and consequently a great many more inequalities for these agent* to restore in ,.m 
 than in tin , .th.-r. Of the two. tin land of our hemisphere most teems with life, and here the atmosphere is moat 
 :. Men- tin- hearth-tone of tin- human family lias been laid. Id re. with our fires in winter and our crops in 
 summer, with our workshops, stuuii-engines, and fiery furnaces going night and day with the ceaseless and 
 almost limitless demands which the animal and vegetal, It- kingdoms are making upon the air overhead, we cannot 
 the slightest difference between atmospherical ingredients in different hemispheres : and yet notwith- 
 standing tin- i -oni] nsatioiis and adjustments l-t\v,-vn the two kingdoms of the organic world, then; are almost in 
 every n. ijil-.tirh,--! causes at work which would prodmv a difference were it not for these ascending and 
 descending columns of air were it not for the ol-<lieiit winds for this U-nign syst.-m of circulation these littl,- 
 cogs and raeln ts whieh have ln-eii provided for its ]~-rf,-<-t working. The study of its mechanism is good ami 
 wholesome in its influemt*. and the contemplation of it well i-ileulii-d to , \,-itc in the bosom of right-minded 
 phii : he deepest am : motions. 
 
 3 n -1 
 
486 ASTEA CASTRA. APPENDIX. 
 
 238. Upon the proper adjustments of the dynamical forces which keep up these ceaseless movements the life 
 How sup- of organic nature depends. If the air that is breathed were not taken away and renewed, warm-blooded 
 fresh air are ^ 6 would cease ; if carbon, and oxygen, and hydrogen, and water were not in due quantities dispensed 
 brought by the restless air to the flora of the earth, all vegetation would perish for lack of food. That our planet 
 the upper mav bo liable to no such calamity, power has been given to the wayward wind, as it " bloweth where it 
 *ky. listeth," to bring down from the pure blue sky fresh supplies of life-giving air wherever it is wanted, and 
 to catch up from the earth wherever it may be found, that which has become stale to force it up, there to be deflagrated 
 among the clouds, purified and renovated by processes known only to Him whose ministers they are. The slightest 
 change in the purity of the atmosphere, though it may be too slight for recognition by chemical analysis in the 
 laboratory, is sure to be detected by its effects upon the nicer chemistry of the human system, for it is known to be 
 productive of disease and death. No chemical tests are sensitive enough to tell us what those changes are, but 
 experience has taught us the necessity of ventilation in our buildings, of circulation through our groves. The cry 
 in cities for fresh air from the mountains or the sea, reminds us continually of the life-giving virtues of circulation. 
 Experience teaches that all air when pent up and deprived of circulation becomes impure and poisonous. 
 
 239. How minute, then, pervading, and general, benignant, sure, and perfect must be that system of 
 Beautiful circulation which invests the atmosphere and makes " the whole world kin " ! In the system of vertical 
 arrange-" circulation which I have been endeavouring to describe, we see, as in a figure, the lither sky filled with 
 nients. crystal vessels full of life-giving air continually ascending and descending between the bottom and the 
 top of the atmospherical ocean ; these buckets are let down by invisible hands from above, and, as they are taken 
 up again, they carry oif from the surface, to be purified in the laboratory of the skies, phials of mephitic vapours 
 and noxious gases, with the dank and deadly air of marshes, ponds, and rivers. 
 
 240. \Vhenever, by study and research, we succeed in gaining an insight, though never so dim, into any one 
 Their influ ^ ^ ne offices for which any particular part of the physical machinery of our planet was designed by the 
 ences upon Great Architect, the mind is enriched with the conviction that it has comprehended a thought that was 
 
 ie mm . entertained at the creation. For this reason the beautiful compensations which philosophers have 
 discovered in terrestrial arrangements are sources of never-failing wonder and delight. How often have we been 
 called on to admire the benign provision by which fresh water is so constituted that it expands from a certain 
 temperature down to freezing ! We recognise in the formation of ice on the top instead of at the bottom of freezing 
 water, an arrangement which subserves, in manifold ways, wise and beneficent purposes. So, too, when we discern 
 in the upper sky ( 234) currents of wind arranged in strata one above the other, and running hither and thither 
 in different directions, may we not say that we can here recognise also at least one of the fore-ordained offices of 
 these upper winds ? That by sending down fresh air and taking up foul, they assist in maintaining the world in 
 that state in which it was made and for which it is designed " a habitation fit for man " ? 
 
 Reservoirs 248 Thus we infer the existence in the upper air of reservoirs for the heat as well as of 
 
 in the sky. chambers for the cold. 
 
 251. We now see the general course of the " wind in his circuits," as we see the general course of the water 
 The wind in in a river. There are many abraiding surfaces, irregularities, &c., wliich produce a thousand eddies in 
 his circuits. the ma i n stream ; yet, nevertheless, the general direction of the whole is not disturbed nor affected by 
 those counter-currents ; so with the atmosphere and the variable winds which we find here in this latitude. Have 
 I not, therefore, very good grounds for the opinion ( 200) that the " wind in his circuits," though apparently to us 
 never so wayward, is as obedient to law and as subservient to order as were the morning stars when first they 
 "' sang together " ? 
 
 259. Let us consider this influence. A cubic foot of water, being converted into vapour, occupies the space 
 Vapour as of 1800 cubic feet.* This vapour is also lighter than the 1800 cubic feet of air which it displaces. Thus, 
 one of the jf he displaced air weigh 1000 ounces, the vapour will weigh 623 ; consequently, when air is surcharged 
 the trade- with vapour, the atmosphere is bulged out above, and the barometric pressure is diminished in proportion 
 winds. ^ o the volume which flows off above in consequence of this bulging out. Thus, if we imagine the air over 
 the Atlantic Ocean to be all in a state of rest, and that suddenly during this calm, columns of vapour were to com- 
 mence rising from the middle of this ocean, we can understand how the wind would commence to flow into this 
 central space from all around. Xow, if we imagine no other disturbing cause to arise, but suppose the evaporation 
 from this central area to go on with ceaseless activity, we can see that there would be a system of winds in the 
 Atlantic as steady, but perhaps not so strong as the trades, yet owing their existence, nevertheless, merely to the 
 formation of aqueous vapour. But this is not all. 
 
 260. " During the conversion of solids into liquids, or of liquids into vapours, heat is absorbed, which is again 
 
 * Black and Watt's Experiments on Heat. 
 
I.INEB OF M \'.\I:TIC FOI;< i 
 
 i -nt on tln-ir i.-iMn.len>ation." In tin- proooaa of converting one meaaure of water into VJH.HI 
 RUck'ibw ''"""^'' '" "'~'rl-<l i. -.. ivnJeml latent, without mining the temperature of the vapour in the leaM t.. 
 
 raise the ! IU|H mtui.' nf 1 i siu-h measure* of water 1; when thin vapour is condensed again into 
 
 i . wherever tin- place of reooiulenHatiun may be, thia heat ia act free again. If it bo Mill I'm th.-r condensed, an 
 into li.iil ur MIOW, the latent heat rendered m-nsiM. during the prooeaa of conflation would be sufficient t<> 
 tin- teiii|n-rature (.!' H< ,-iililitioiml measures of water 1. 
 
 _'il. In this heat reml.-!.-.! latent liy the proooaaea of evaporation, and transported hither and thither l.y Un- 
 winds, reaidee the chief source of the dynamical power which gives them motion. I n Home aspect* vapour 
 ported in *" to * MI> winds what fuel ia to the ateam-engine : they carry it to the equatorial calm 1 It . there it rist-H, 
 vapour. entangling th.- air. and carrying it up along with it aa it goes. As it ascends it expands ; aa it expands 
 it Lcrows cool ; and aa it does this its vapour ia condensed, the latent heat of which is thus lilierated ; thia rais. -. i In 
 t. iii|-ra!im- nf tin- upper air, cau^ih- it to be rarefied and to aaoond still higher. This increaaed run-faction call* 
 fir incrraaed velocity on the part of the inpouring trade-winds below. 
 
 I'liJ. Thus tlie vapours uniting with the direct solar ray would, wore there no counteracting influences, cause 
 
 Theefft the north-cast and south-east trade-winda to rush in with equal force. I'.ut there is on the polar side "I 
 
 : "" the north-cast trade-winds an immense area of arid plains for the heat of the solar ray to boat down 
 
 trtA u|~'ii 
 
 th* ir.i.!.- ii]" 'ii, also an area of immense precipitation. These two sources of heat hold back the north-east trade 
 winds, aa it were, and, when the two arc united, aa they are in India, they are suftieient not only t.. 
 In 'lil Kick tin- north-east trade-wind, but to reverse it, causing the south-west monaoon to blow for half the year 
 instead of the north-east trade. 
 
 \\.- now begin to conceive what a powerful machine the atmosphere must be; and, though it is 
 Powerful apparently so capricious and wayward in its movements, here ia evidence of order and arrangement 
 nuichinrrr. w hich \ve must admit, and proof which we cannot deny, that it performs this might}' office with regularity 
 and certainty, and is therefore as obedient to a law aa ia the steam-engine to the will of ito builder. It, too, is an 
 engine. The South Seaa themselves, in all their vast intortropical extent, are the boiler for it, and the northern 
 hemisphere is its condenser ( 24). The mechanical power exerted by the air and the sun in lifting water from 
 the earth, in transporting it from one place to another, and in lotting it down again, is inconceivably great. Tin- 
 utilitarian who compares the water-power that the Falls of Niagara would afford if applied to machinery, in 
 Mtorfdwd at the number of figures which are required to express its equivalent in horse-power. Yet what is the 
 . horse-power of the Niagara, falling a few steps, in comparison with the horse-power that i- required to lift up as 
 liiiili as the clouds and let down again all the water that ia discharged into the aea, not only by thia river, l.ut l>\ 
 all the other rivers and all the rain in the world ? The calculation lias been made by engineers, and, according to 
 it. the force for making and lifting vapour from each area of one acre that is included on the surface of the earth 
 is equal to the power of thirty horses. 
 
 345. \\ here shall those who are disposed to March, look for thia other agent that is supposed to be concerned 
 with the trade-winds in their easting ? I cannot say where it is to bo found, but considering the i 
 discoveries in terrestrial magnetism considering the cloae relations between many of its phenomena and 
 in the ir. those both of heat and electricity the question may be asked whether some power capable of guiding 
 "the wind in his circuits" may not lurk there? Oxygen comprises more than one-fifth part (two-ninths) of the 
 atmosphere, and Faraday has discovered that oxygen ia para-magnetic. If a bar of iron be suspended between 
 the poles of a magnet, it will arrange itself axially, and point towards them; but if, instead of iron, a bur nf 
 l>isiiiuih lie used, it will arrange itself equatorially, and point in a direction perpendicular to that in whi.-h the 
 iron pointed. To distinguish these two kinds of forces, Dr. Faraday has said iron ia para-magnetic, bismuth 
 dia-uiagiictic. Oxygen and iron belong to the same class, and all substances in nature belong to one or the otln i 
 of the two classes of which iron and bismuth are the types. 
 
 ')-)'>. This eminent philosopher has also shown that if yon place a magnetised bar of iron on a smooth BUI 
 I in of an d 8 'ft fi no iron-filings down upon it, these filings will arrange themselves in curved lines ; or, if the bar 
 magnetic be broken, they will arrange themselves. The earth itself, or the atmospheric envelope by which it i- 
 tonf ' surrounded, ia a moat powerful magnet, ami tin- lines of force which proceed whether from its interior, 
 
 its solid shell, or vaporous covering, are held to bo just such lines as those are which surround artificial magi; 
 proceed whence they may, they are supposed to extend through the atmosphere, and to reach even to the plain 
 spaces. Many eminent men and profound thinkers. Sir David Brewster among them, suspect that the atmoKpln n 
 itself is the seat of terrestrial magnetism. All admit that many of those agents, both thermal ami el.-etrii .il. 
 
 It is an important one. ami should bt n-in- 
 
488 ASTRA CASTEA. APPENDIX. 
 
 which play highly important parts in the meteorology of our planet, exercised a marked influence upon the magnetic- 
 condition of the atmosphere also. 
 
 347. Now, when, referring to Dr. Faraday's discovery ( 345), and the magnetic lines of force as shown 
 The ma<r- by the iron-filings ( 34(i), we compare the particles of oxygen gas to these minute bits of ferruginous 
 
 ices ofthe ( ^ ust ^ a * arrall g themselves in lines and cui ves about magnets ; when we reflect that this great magnet, 
 oxygen of the earth, is surrounded by a para-magnetic gas, to the molecules of which the finest atom from the file 
 of'the'Vots ' s comparison gross and ponderous matter ; that the entire mass of this air is equivalent to a sea of 
 on the sun. mercury covering the earth around and over to the depth of thirty inches, and that this very subtile mass is 
 in a state of unstable equilibrium, and in perpetual commotion by reason of various and incessant disturbing causes ; 
 when we reflect farther upon the recent discoveries of Schwabe and of Sabine concerning the spots on the sun and 
 the magnetic elements of the earth, which show that if the sun or its spots be not the great fountain of magnetism, 
 there is at least reason to suspect a close alliance between solar and terrestrial magnetism ; that certain well-known 
 meteorological phenomena, as the aurora, come also within the category of magnetic phenomena ; that the magnetic 
 poles of the earth and the poles of maximum cold are at or near the same spot ; that the thermal equator is not 
 parallel to or coincident with either the terrestrial or with that which the direct solar ray would indicate, but that 
 it follows, and in its double curvatures conforms to the magnetic equator; moreover, when we reflect upon 
 Barlow's theory and Fox's observations, which go to show that the direction of metallic veins of the northern 
 hemisphere, which generally lie north-east and south-westwardly, must have been influenced by the direction 
 of the magnetic meridians of the earth or air ; finally, I say, when we reflect upon magnetism in all its aspects, we 
 may well inquire whether such a mass of highly magnetic gas as that which surrounds our planet does not 
 intervene, by reason of its magnetism, in influencing the circulation of the atmosphere and the course of 
 the winds. 
 
 348. This magnetic sea, as the atmosphere may le called, is continually agitated ; it is disturbed in its movements 
 The needle by various influences which prevent it from adjusting itself to any permanent magnetic or other 
 urnal varia- dynamical status ; and its para-magnetic properties are known to vary with every change of pressure or 
 tions, the of temperature. The experiments of Faraday show that the magnetic force of the air changes with 
 ?n \tTraKl- temperature ; that it is least near the equator, and greatest at the poles of maximum cold ; that it varies 
 ings, and with the seasons, and changes night and day ; nay, the atmosphere has regular variations in its electrical 
 sphe^'"" conditions expressed daily at stated hours of maximum and minimum tension. Coincident with this, and 
 its electrical in all parts of the world, but especially in sub-tropical latitudes, the barometer also has its maxima and 
 hareAe minima readings for the day. So also, and at the same hours, the needle attains the maxima and minima 
 same hours o f its diurnal variations. Without other timepiece, the hour of the day may be told by these maxima 
 maxima and an( ^ m i n i ma > eacn group of which occurs twice a day and at six-hour intervals. These invisible ebbings 
 minima. and Sowings the diurnal change in the electrical tension the diurnal variation of the needle and 
 the diurnal rising and falling of the barometer follow each other as closely and as surely, if not quite as regularly, 
 as night the day. Any cause which produces changes in atmospheric pressure invariably puts it in motion, giving 
 rise to gentle airs or furious gales, according to degree ; and here, at least, we have a relation between the move- 
 ments in the air and the movements of the needle so close that it is difficult to say which is cause, which effect, or 
 whether the two be not the effects of a common cause. 
 
 349. Indeed, such is the nature of this imponderable called magnetism, and such the suggestions made by 
 The ques- Faraday's discoveries, that the question has been raised in the minds of the most profound philosophers 
 I modern ^ ^ e a S e whether the various forces of light, heat, and gravitation, of chemical affinity, electricity, and 
 researches, magnetism, may not yet be all traced to one common source. Surety, then, it cannot be considered as 
 unphilosophical to inquire of magnetism for some of the anomalous movements that are observed in the atmosphere. 
 These anomalies are many ; they are not confined to the easting of the trade- winds ; they are to be found in the 
 counter-trades and the culm belts also. There is reason to believe, as has already been stated ( 288), that there 
 is a crossing of the winds at the calm belts ( 212), and it was promised to go more into detail concerning the 
 circumstances which seem to favour this belief. Our researches have enabled us, for instance, to trace from 
 the belt of calms, near the tropic of Cancer, which extends entirely across the seas, an efflux of air both to the north 
 and to the south. From the south side of this belt the air flows in a steady breeze, called the north-east trade- 
 winds, towards the equator (see Plate) ; on the north side of it, the prevailing winds come from it also, but they go 
 towards the north-east. They are the well-known westerly winds which prevail along the route from this country 
 to England in the ratio of two to one. But why should we suppose a crossing to take place here ? We suppose so 
 from those facts : because throughout Europe the land upon which these westerly winds blow precipitation is in 
 excess of evaporation, and because at sea they are going from a warmer to a colder climate ; and therefore it may 
 
I'HYMi'Al. M\r|||\T.n OP OUB PLANET, 
 
 In' iiil'.-i i-. .1 th.it x ,ime exacts from them what we know she < MI tin- air under Mmil.it circumstanceM, but 
 
 on .-i smaller scale, before OOP eyes, via., more precipitation than evaporation. In nth.-r w..ids. tin \- pi..Kil.l\ leave 
 in tl,.- Atl.mtie as much vapour as they tak<> \\\> lV..iu the Atbinti.-. 'I'll, n where, it nmy bo asked, does the vapour 
 which t heite winds carry along, for the replenishing of the whole xtnt-tropiml n-^ii.ii-. ..I" tin- north, come from? 
 'I'll- A- ili'l 11 got it as they came al..ng in tin- U|.|T regions, as a count. < current to tin- n.itth-east trade*, union 
 they e\.i|>.. rat.d tlio trade-win. 1 clouds, and so robbed those winds of their vapour. They certainly did not get 
 
 it t i tin- Mirtlii f the sea in the calm belt !' ' r they did not tarry long enough there to become 
 
 Mitin-.it. ! -with moisture. Thus circumstances again pointed to the south-east trade-wind regions aa the place 
 ..f Mi|.].ly. Tliis ([iiestion has been fully discussed [in Chapter V. ..f The Physical Geography ( the 8a'J, ' 
 it has been hown they iliil in it get it fn.in the Atlantic. Moreover, them researches afforded grounds for the 
 supposition that the air ..f which the north-east trade-winds are composed, and which comes out of the same 
 cone of calms as do these south-westerly winds, so far from being saturated with vapour at its exodus, is dry ; 
 t'.ir near thi'ir polar edge, the north-east trade-winds are, for the most part, dry winds. 
 
 '. Facts seem to confirm this, and the calm belt* !' ' 'an. -r .m.l < '.ijn-i.-orn l*>th throw a flood of light II|MHI 
 Wet *nd the subject These are two bands of light airs, calms, and baffling winds, whi.-h extend entirely around 
 the^lm ^ e ***& The air flows out north and south from those belts. That which n.m.-s out on the equatorial 
 Mu. side goes to feed the trades, and makes a dry wind ; that which flows out on the polar side goes to t'< . ! 
 
 the counter -trades (5 849), and is a rain wind. I low is it that we can have from the sa trough or receiver, a* 
 
 these calm belts may be called, an efflux of dry air on one side anil of moist on the other? Antrwer: upon the 
 snp|><.sition that the air without rain comes from one quarter, that with rain from another that, fuming from 
 opposite dinvtions to this place of meeting, where there is a crowing, they pass each other in thi'ir circuits. Th. y 
 both meet here an upjx-r currents, and how could there be ft crossing, without an agent or influence to guide them ? 
 and why in the search should we not look to magnetism for this agent as well aa to any other of the hidden 
 iiiHuemvs which are concerned in giving to the winds their force and direction ? 
 
 351. He that established the earth "created it not in vain; Ho formed it to be, inhaliit.-d." And it in 
 Principle presumptuous, arrogant, and impious to attempt the study of its machinery IIIMUI any other theory : it veat 
 aeooiJin< made to be inhabited. How could it bo inhabitable but for the sending of the early mid the latter rain? 
 
 !i.al How can the rain be sent except by the winds? and how can the tickle winds do their errands unless 
 machinery they have a guide ? Suppose a new piece of human mechanism were shown to one of us, and we were 
 told the object of it was to measure time; now, if wo should seek to examine it with the view to under 
 ihould be stand its construction, would we not set out upon the principle the theory that it was made to measure 
 iudii. time? By proceeding on any other supposition or theory we should ! infallibly led into error. And 
 so it is with the physical machinery of the world. The theory upon which this work is conducted is that the earth 
 wit made for man ; and I submit that no part of the machinery by which it is maintained in a condition tit for him 
 is left to chance, any more than the bit of mechanism by which man measures time is h-ft to go by chance. 
 
 356. Notwithstanding the amount of circumstantial evidence that has already been brought to show that the 
 Th ue*- a ' r w hich the north-east and the south-east trade-winds discharge into the belt* of ei (tutorial calms, 
 
 does, in ascending, cross that from the southern passing over into the northern, and that from tin- 
 
 ' rf northern passing over into the southern hemisphere (see diagram) yet some have implied doubt by 
 nil-crow? asking the question, "How are two such currents of air to pass each other?" And. for the want 
 answered. Q j. jjgjj^ U pn n fhi point, the correctness of my reasoning, facts, inferences, and deductions have l-.n 
 questioned. In the first place, it may be said in reply, the belt of equatorial calms is often several hundred j,,\\,- 
 across, seldom less than sixty: whereas the depth of the volume of air that the trade-winds pour into it is only 
 about three miles, for that is supposed to be about the height to which the trade-winds extend. Thus wo have the 
 air passing into these palms by an opening on the north side for the north-east trades, and another on the south 
 for the south-east trades, having a cross section of three miles vertically to each opening. It then escapes by an 
 '[-iiing upward, the ITOSS section of which is sixty or one hundred, or even three hundred miles. A very slow 
 motion upward there will carry off the air in that direction as fast as the two systems of trade-winds, with thm 
 motion of twenty miles an hour, can pour it in ; and that curd* or flake of air can readily cross each other and paw 
 in different directions without interfering the one with the other, or at least without interfering to that degree 
 which prevents, we all know. The brown fields in summer afford evid.ni-e in a striking manner of the fact that, 
 in nature. Hikes. luts, or curdles of air do really move among each other without nlr-t ruction. That 
 
 tremulous motion which we so often observe above stubble-fields, barren wastes, or above any heated surfa 
 caused by the ascent and descent, at one and the same time. ,,f flakes of air at dift'en nt temjH r.uures, the cool coming 
 down, the warm going up. They do not readily commingle. f,,r the astronomer long after nightfall, when he turns 
 his telescope upon the heavens, perceives and laments the unsteadiness they prodm-. in the sky. If the air brought 
 
490 ASTKA CASTE A. APPENDIX. 
 
 v 
 
 to the calm belt by the north-east trade- winds differ in temperature (and why not ?) from that brought by the 
 south-east trades we have the authority of Nature for saying that the two currents would not readily commingle 
 ( 98). Proof is daily afforded that they would not, and there is reason to believe that the air of each current, in 
 streaks, or patches, or flakes, does thread its way through the air of the other without difficulty. Therefore we 
 may assume it as a postulate which Nature concedes, that there is no physical difficulty as to the two currents 
 of air, which come into those calm belts from different directions, crossing over, each in its proper direction, without 
 mingling. 
 
 516. One need not go to sea to perceive the grand work which the clouds perform in collecting moisture from 
 Sub'ects *^e crvsta l vaults of the sky, in sprinkling it upon the fields, and making the hills glad with showers of 
 which at rain. Winter and summer, " the clouds drop fatness upon the earth." This part of their office is obvious 
 themselves * a ^' an< ^ ^ ^ no * P 1 " ? 086 * consider it now. But the sailor at sea observes phenomena and witnesses 
 for contem- operations in the terrestrial economy which tell him that, in the beautiful and exquisite adjustments of 
 plation. ^. ne gjgjyi machinery of the atmosphere, the clouds have other important offices to perform besides those 
 merely of dispensing showers, of producing the rains, and of weaving mantles of snow for the protection of our fields 
 in winter. As important as are these offices, the philosophical mariner, as he changes his sky, is reminded that the 
 clouds have commandments to fulfil, which, though less obvious, are not therefore the less benign in their influences, 
 or the less worthy of his notice. Ho beholds them at work in moderating the extremes of heat and cold, and in 
 mitigating climates. At one time they spread themselves out; they cover the earth as with a mantle; they 
 prevent radiation from its crust, and keep it warm. At another time they interpose between it and the sun ; they 
 screen it from his scorching rays, and protect the tender plants from his heat, the land from the drought ; or, like 
 a garment, they overshadow the sea, defending its waters from the intense forces of evaporation. Having performed 
 these offices for one place, they are evaporated and given up to the sunbeam and the winds again, to be borne on 
 their wings away to other places which stand in need of like offices. Familiar with clouds and sunshine, the storm 
 and the calm, and all the phenomena which find expression in the physical geography of the sea, the right-minded 
 mariner, as he contemplates "the cloud without rain," ceases to regard it as an empty thing ; he perceives that it 
 performs many important offices ; he regards it as a great moderator of heat and cold as a "compensation" in the 
 atmospherical mechanism which makes the performance perfect. Marvellous are the offices and wonderful is the 
 constitution of the atmosphere. Indeed, I know of no subject more fit for profitable thought on the part of the 
 truth-loving, knowledge -seeking student, be he seaman or landsman, than that afforded by the atmosphere and 
 its offices. Of all parts of the physical machinery, of all the contrivances in the mechanism of the universe, the atmosphere, with 
 its offices and its adaptations, appears to me to be the most wonderful, sublime, and beautiful. In its construction, the 
 grandeur of knowledge is displayed. The perfect man of Uz, in a moment of inspiration, thus bursts forth in 
 laudation of this part of God's handiwork, demanding of his comforters, " But where shall wisdom be found, and 
 where is the place of understanding ? The depth saith, It is not in me ; and the sea saith, It is not with me. It 
 cannot be gotten for gold, neither shall silver be weighed for the price thereof. No mention shall be made of coral 
 or of pearls, for the price of wisdom is above rubies. Whence, then, cometh wisdom, and where is the place of 
 understanding ? Destruction and Death say, We have heard the fame thereof with our ears. God understandeth 
 the way thereof, and He knoweth the place thereof ; for He looketh to the ends of the earth, and seeth under the 
 whole heaven; to make t/te weight for the winds; and He weigheth the waters by measure. When He made a decree 
 for the rain, and a way for the lightning of the thunder, then did He see it and declare it ; He prepared it, yea, 
 and searched it out." * When the pump-maker came to ask Galileo to explain how it was that his pump would not 
 lift water higher than thirty-two feet, the philosopher thought, but was afraid to say, it was owing to " the weight 
 of the winds ; " and though the fact that the air has weight is here so distinctly announced, philosophers never 
 recognised the fact until within comparatively a recent period, and then it was proclaimed by them as a great 
 discovery. Nevertheless, the fact was set forth as distinctly in the Book of Nature as it is in the Book of Revela- 
 tion ; for the infant, in availing itself of atmospherical pressure to draw milk from its mother's breast, unconsciously 
 proclaimed it. 
 
 * Job xxviii. 
 
T1IK SI -|:x| -AM I! (>F TIIIMiS llnl'KD FOH.-TIII-: KVll'KM'K OF THINKS NOT SEEN. 
 
 U I II UK SOT YET EXHAUSTED THE THOUGHTS AND IDEAS SUGGESTED TO US BY THE ATMOSPHERE ; BUT, AS THE ORIGIN < ! 
 I II.JSK ABOUT TO ENGAGE OUR ATTENTION PROCEEDS FROM A DIFFERENT SOURCE, WE MAKE A DIVISION, MOT UNMINDFUL OF THK 
 u:i: vv.KMENT OBSERVED IN THE MUSEUM OP THE VATICAN, WHERE RAPHAEL'S TRANSFIGURATION IS PLACED IN A SMALL ROOM, 
 vv. V.I A I THE END OF A LONG GALLERY, TO KEEP THE MINU rM'ISTRACTED FROM THIS TRIUMPH OF ART. 
 
 TlIK CHIEF EVENTS, THEN, IN THE SACRED RECORD THAT ARE MORE ESPECIALLY CONNECTED WITH OUR SUBJECT, WILL M. 
 IIKIKKI.Y HKI KltKKD TO IN THK FEW PACKS THAT FOLLOW, IN THE HUMBLE HOPE THAT NONE OF THE WORDS OF INSPIRATION, So 
 i AKKI-Tl.l.y wn.iHH'. WILL BE HERE MISINTERPRETED. 
 
 
i 
 
API-KSI.IX. i:\n<lis Tl;\\>l . vTln\ I:-:: 
 
 \ II \\ M.M l> w IP UK WAS NOT: TOR GOD TOOK HIM. Geiltois V. LM. 
 
 BY l.vllll KXOCH WAS TI:vNM .\IH- I1IAT HE SHOULD NOT 8EK MUM: \SI> WAS SOF IWND, BBCAU6E Ooi> IIU- 
 
 1 1 VNM.ATK.II HIM : FOB BKFOKK HIS TRANSLATION HE HAD THIS TESTIMONY, THAT UK I>I.I:ASU> GOD. Hebrews xi. :>. 
 
 The pjifUnl writer of the ' Protoplast' lias included in the pajwr on the "First Translation." and in an 
 ..iitlin.- i'..r meditation on "The Ascension," much of what we learn from the Holy Scriptures on tin-*.- 
 subjtvts. 
 
 it. therefore, to take into consideration these things in order. 
 
 I : NOCK'S TRANSLATION. 
 
 II. was not, for God took him. My own impression is, that he was Wmiffy walking with the Angel of tin- 
 i.mr. just as Adam walked with Him in Eden : and that the ascending Son of God took him with Him a* II. 
 left the earth. It may be so, but this we knoa, that without sickness, without decay, without a moment's juiin. 
 Kno.-h passed away to dwell " for ever with the Lord." Suddenly, and perhaps most unexpectedly, ho was culled 
 to leave the sin-stained world, where his righteous soul had been vexed from day to day by the unlawful deeds of 
 men, for another home, where sorrow cannot enter, and evil cannot stay. He did not see death. Even the shadow 
 
 I iis darkness fell not upon his pathway, his sun went not down ; but the light of life brightened into the light of 
 immortality. Yet, flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. Enoch was changetl. In a moment hi 
 corruption was taken away, and his sin was purged; his carnal body became a spiritual body; the forces of tin- 
 material ceased to hold him prisoner; he was free to travel onward through the boundless universe of <!od. Think 
 
 f him, for an instant, as taking his wondrous journey to the eternal throne, bodily carried through space (that 
 space which to the philosophic mind is more astonishing than the worlds of glory which it parts and holds asunder), 
 passing onward from one sun-star to another, drawing nearer and nearer to the tabernacle of God. No poetic 
 fancy ever reached unto the sublimity of Scripture fact. Yet men, who will read with admiration the conceptions 
 <>f Milton and Dante, see no beauty in the thought suggested by those few simple words of the Spirit, " Enoch was 
 
 As Abel was the first to enter the heavenly Jerusalem, as a spirit freed from its mortal prison, Enoch wa* 
 the first to dwell there in a glorified material form. Thus he becometh to us the pledge of Christ's power to raise 
 us unto the like privilege, and a seal of the promise, " I will receive you unto myself." How vividly is brought 
 before us the real existence of the Celestial City ! Enoch, our brother, is already there : he has been received into 
 its glory, and will leave it no more till the day of which he prophesied, when he Khali come again with the ten 
 thousand saints of God. Like Enoch, in his character and in his ministry, the latter-da)' saints will be like him 
 also in their Translation. It shall be granted unto them to escape death. That thing which the foolish natural 
 heart will ever shrink from, will not be one of their many trials. Passing through the dread tribulation of the last 
 time. tin v will live on to receive their Master, and bid Him welcome to'His earthly kingdom. 
 
 Suddenly will the glory of the advent break upon them. Long as they have expected Jesus, the hour of 1 1 i- 
 coming will find them quietly engaged in the ordinary occupations and labours of life in the field, in the 
 market, in the exchange mingling with the children of this world, and yet bearing, unseen, the angel's seal 
 upon them. 
 
 \Yith what glad surprise shall they lift their eyes to the heavens, and behold Him for whom they have 
 waited, and watched, and prayed. Glory and beauty will be spread around Him, such as human thought hait 
 in vi-r pictured; angels will be gathered near Him in bright array; saints will follow Him. in forms of spiritual 
 perfection; but ujwii Him, and Him alone, will the gaze of believers rest. All else will be forgotten in the con- 
 sciousness that Ho whom they have so long loved unseen is before them ; that tho veil In taken away from the face 
 of the Crucified, the Nazarene, the Man of sorrow and of grief ; now the Triumphant, the Conqueror, the rejoicing 
 Bridegroom, the ineffable loveliness of His glorified humanity will arrest their regard : as they look upon Him, all 
 
 3 s I' 
 
494 THE SUBSTANCE OF THINGS HOPED FOR. APPENDIX. 
 
 corruption, weakness, deformity, and mortality will pass away, and they will be transformed into the image of the 
 heavenly Adam. Thus will they be prepared to follow Him in the regeneration whithersoever lie goeth ; and 
 they shall never leave Him more ! Millennial years may roll away ; the millennial world may change ; but 
 neither the tremendous last conflagration, nor the end of time, will sever them from Jesus. Eternity will be 
 spent with Him. In His company they will be translated to the true Jerusalem, the incorruptible tabernacle of 
 the Lord. 
 
 Perhaps there were few in Enoch's days who saw anything representative in his life, ministry, and departure 
 from amongst them. 
 
 Years passed away, the world that then was, perished, and a new world arose ; and God, in the abounding of 
 His mercy towards the " slow of heart," and dull of understanding, gave a repetition of the Translation-type in 
 Elijah, His servant. 
 
 There is something very beautiful in the condescension of our heavenly Teacher, who, knowing our 
 infirmities, and our forgetfuluess of truth, thus presents it again and again to the mind. Having said so much 
 upon the features of Enoch's private life and public teaching, I will not dwell on those of Elijah, except to 
 notice the striking similarity which exists between the two men who were thus selected to shadow forth the 
 changed saints. 
 
 Elijah's character is not described by the Holy Ghost in a sentence, as was that of Enoch. We are left to 
 gather it for ourselves from the incidents in his history ; but how plainly we find the resemblance we might expect 
 to be manifested ! Elijah walked before the Lord in the abiding sense of his reconciliation to Him ; ho was the 
 friend of his Divine Master ; we read of his intimate intercourse and communion with Him. He seemed like a 
 favoured child, to whom nothing was refused ; so bold was he in the love which casteth out fear, that he asked 
 and obtained some of the most signal interpositions of God on his behalf ever granted to Old Testament believers. 
 " He prayed earnestly that it might not rain, and it rained not on the earth for the space of three years and six 
 months." He prayed again, " and the heavens gave rain, and the earth brought forth fruit." For him, and at his 
 word, God, for the first time (at least manifestly), raised the dead. For him, and in compliance with his request, 
 God twice acknowledged the reality of his mission by sending down celestial fire. 
 
 Then how complete was Elijah's separation from the world ! So great was his spirit solitude that it drew from 
 him that cry of bitterness, " I, even I only am left." He was also remarkable for his steady progress in the ways of 
 God. We read less of Elijah's backslidings than almost of any saint's departures from the right path. Except in 
 the one instance of his impatience, when he sat under the juniper-tree, and begged to die, his conduct affords 
 example rather than warning. That he sinned oft and grievously there is no doubt, for he was a man of like 
 passions with ourselves ; but we cannot read his history and not feel that day by day, and hour by hour, he gained 
 in the race of life, pressing forward to the goal with ever increasing strength. His dependance on God is as 
 strikingly manifested, he was essentially a man of prayer. Not in human pride and human strength did he 
 command the barrel of meal and cruse of oil to last ; or the dead child to arise ; or the heavenly fire to descend ; 
 but in the name of the Lord God of Israel. As a servant, he pleaded with Jehovah, while as a prophet he pre- 
 vailed in the sight of men. 
 
 In all these several points of character we see that Elijah was made like unto Enoch, prefiguring (even as he 
 did in earlier days) the elect of the last time. The same similarity exists in the public ministry of the two men. 
 In Elijah we see the same stern, unflinching denunciation of God's judgment, the same holy appeal to the answer 
 by fire ; and although we do not read of the expressions made use of by him in declaring the Coming of the Lord, 
 we know that he was the herald of that great event, for it is in allusion to this fact that the Spirit, foretelling the 
 mission of that latter-day witness, who shall make straight the way of the Lord, chooses the mystic name of Elijah 
 as his title. " Behold, I will send you Elijah tho prophet, before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the 
 Lord ; and he shall turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest 
 I come and smite the earth with a curse." 
 
 Let us, therefore, look for a few moments at Elijah's Translation, for it is with this closing triumph for the 
 persecuted believers of Earth's vintage days that we now have most to do. 
 
 We find the account in 2 Kings ii. 1. "It came to pass when the Lord would take up Elijah into heaven by 
 a whirlwind," &c. I can imagine the scoffer's heart saying, " As if a whirlwind could lift a man from earth to 
 heaven." Nay, but the power of God, who made the worlds, could carry Elijah to the "far-off" laud. Tho whirl- 
 wind was the thing which Elisha saw, it was to the ascending prophet just what the cloud, which received Jesus 
 out of the sight of the disciples at Bethany, was to the departing Saviour. Yet, mark the beauty of the type. The 
 whirlwind immediately preceded the call of Elijah to the throne of God ; it was the sign, and the accompaniment of 
 that glorious change, for which he had been taught to look. When the storm arose around him, the man of God 
 
AITKM.IV r.i. i.i Airs TRANSLATION, KM 
 
 knew th:it liis i.-d. iM|.'ion from ilu> sin and sorrow of earth was near at hand, and that before it pawed away \<\- 
 iinniiirtality would ! IM-^IIII. 
 
 la not the Kamo sign given to the mint* of the latt.-i d.iy \\lu-n \.- shall HOC these thing* oome to paw, 
 know ye tliat tin- kingdom ,,f Cod is ni-li." \\lu-n that whirlwind arisetli, which Hhall sweep ovei -tin- throne* 
 and k iii^il >nis n|' ili is woild, making tin- whole caith waste and desolate. I he suns uf (iml may lift up their head*, 
 and .-.\|i.-.-t tln-ir promised glory; for before that storm IN lulled, they shall have put on the translation-form, uiul 
 tin- eteiral Ix-auty. 
 
 I w,.iild niiiii-.- another rircnnuitanco in Klijih'h removal fnuii thin world, "The chariot of fire and homes 
 uf tin-." Tin-*,, have generally been considered a convoy of angels ; and the expression in Psalm Ixviii. 17. has 
 licen ((noted in illustration of this view. I do not. however, accept this interpretation, and rather think that this 
 
 is designed of C,..d to prefigure that fiery Imptism whii-h is to accompany the day of the I I. 
 
 through which the changed saints shall pass unhurt. 
 
 As the tire injured not the transformed spiritualized laxly nf the ascending prophet, no the brimstone- ruin of 
 the <lay of Christ will have no (xiwer over the ransomed of the Lord. In the tnidst of it shall they walk with the 
 Form of the S.n of Cod; ami their enemies will acknowledge concerning them, " Not an hair of their ln-^1 -i- 
 singed, neither were their pirmcnts changed, and the smell of fire passed not on them.' 1 
 
 Dm- word nioie. Klijah was taken up into Heaven. If, then, a momentary doubt could ever have enteivil 
 the mind as to the loe.ility of the translated Enoch, this express declaration altogether removes it. And let 
 this be the everlasting answer to the saying of some, that the redeemed are to pass eternity upon this earth in u 
 renovated condition. 
 
 In heaven Christ hath prepared our places for us, an 1 to the very innermost sanctuary of our God shall the 
 translated saints have entra- 
 
 Yet oc? again after Elijah's glorification did Jehovah present to man, in vitible manifestation, that great truth 
 which jx-culiarly conu-s before us for consideration in this Paper, the Transformation of those Saints whose privilege 
 it will bo to escape death. 
 
 I must ask my readers now to carry forward their thoughts to the days of the Son of Man, and to the vision 
 of the " holy mount." 
 
 In the hour of Christ's Transfiguration, He showed Himself as the pattern of the Translation-Saints, just us in 
 i lie hour of His return from the grave, He showed Himself as the pattern of the Resurrection-Saints. It is 
 important at all times to mark the Connexion of event* in the life of Jesus; and it is especially necessary to notice 
 under what firm instances this peculiar revelation of His glory was made. In the ninth of Luke (verses 18-28) we 
 read of a conversation held between Jesus and His followers resjHXiting His death at Jerusalem. Wo who have 
 never known Christ after the/A, cannot imagine the anguish with which the conviction smote upon the hearts of 
 those who loved Him, that they were so soon to lose Him. by a death of pain and shame. So hateful watt the idea 
 to Peter, that, as another Evangelist tells us, he tried to turn his Master from His appointed path, drawing forth 
 that severe rebuke, c,.-t thee behind me, Satan," Ac. 
 
 Kvcn although the Lord spoke in the same discourse of His resurrection from the dead, and the glory of Hi.- 
 Advent, all was lost upon the sorrowing disciples, and the one thing present to their imagination was the 
 inevitable suR'urin^ of their precious friend. Partly in compassion to the intensity of their grief, partly that they 
 mi_:lit be the better witnesses to us of millennial truths, Christ selected three of His servants, to behold by antici- 
 pation the future glory of the day of God. It is written in the JM!I verse of the same chapter "And it came to 
 pan about an eight days after those sayings, He took Peter, and John, ami -lames, and went up into a mountain to 
 
 and as He prayed, the fashion of His countenance was altered, and His raiment was white and glistening. 
 And. IH hold, there talked with Him two men, which were MOM* and Elias, who appeared in glory, and spake ,.| 
 His decease, which He should accomplish at Jerusalem." 
 
 Think, now, what great truths were brought before the disciples in this heavenly vision. 
 
 1st. It set forth the nature of that mighty change which must pass upon flesh and blood, before it can inherit 
 the kingdom of fiod. 
 
 Although it was the incorruptible body of Christ which was before them, yet it changed us they gazed upon 
 it ; the marred visage, and bowed form of sorrow, were transfigured, and wore another likeness. Matthew 
 descries the appearance of glory by the expression " His face did shine as the sun;" using almost tin- 
 words in which .John depicts His beauty as seen in the Apocalyptic vision. (Kcv. i. 16.) As it was with .! 
 it shall lie with His people ; the fashion of their countenances shall alter in the day of their redemption, assin 
 immortality and beauty never seen in this present state, and their old-world garments shall become tin- white 
 raiment which is to endure for ever. 
 
496 THE SUBSTANCE OF THINGS HOPED FOE. APPENDIX. 
 
 2ndly. The vision showed them the certainty of Christ's future glorification. He who had proclaimed to 
 them His approaching degradation, and rejection of men, was for one brief moment shown to them, in the Form 
 which He should hereafter wear, as King of kings and Lord of lords. They saw Him declared to be the Son of 
 God; they were eye-witnesses of His majesty; the voice of His Heavenly Father proclaimed Him as the Messiah, 
 and attested His mission to the world. 
 
 3rdly. This vision taught the Resurrection of the Dead, and the Transfiguration of the Living, in their 
 immediate connexion with the revelation of Christ in glory. Moses appeared as the Eepresentative of those who, 
 though they be " dead, yet shall live ;" and Elias as the Eepresentative of those who, living and believing in 
 Christ, " shall never die." The one Saint was an earnest of the resurrection ; the other an earnest of the trans- . 
 formation. Both were revealed in one common glory, standing side by side with Him, who is the Lord of the Dead, 
 and the Living, the Eternal Head of the Risen and the Changed. 
 
 Thus did Jesus bring suddenly before them the events of that latter day, when He shall stand upon the 
 earth, between two companies of the redeemed, those who have overcome death, and those who have escaped 
 death through their union with Himself, the heavenly Adam ; whose glorious image they shall both wear hence- 
 forth for ever. 
 
 Now, observe how this remarkable revelation of things to come met the doubts, and sorrows, and perplexities 
 of the disciples. Christ had spoken of His future glory, and they had not understood His words. Therefore " He 
 was transfigured before them." He had told them of the resurrection from the dead, and they had marvelled. 
 Therefore Moses, the resurrection-type, stood before them. He had referred to those who shall be found on earth 
 at His second coming, and they had doubted of His meaning. Therefore Elias, the translated Prophet, also 
 appeared as the transfiguration-type. Remember, also, how it is said These two men spake with Jesus of His 
 decease, which He should accomplish at Jerusalem, that very event to which they had looked forward with such 
 agonized feeling. Think you not that, as they listened to that celestial converse, they learnt the necessity of their 
 Master's suffering, and knew that, were He to turn from His love-work, neither dead Saints could rise, nor living 
 Saints be changed, nor He himself, the Covenant Head of both, be glorified ? The vision passed ; the disciples found 
 themselves alone with Jesus ; He was again to them the man of sorrows, the Son of Mary ; and they descended the 
 mountain with Him, to mingle again with the crowd from which they had been withdrawn. It is evident, how- 
 ever, that they pondered over what they had seen ; and it is very remarkable that Matthew relates a conversation 
 which took place between them and their Lord, just after the vision, and in reference to it : " Jesus charged them, 
 saying, Tell the vision to no man, until the Son of man be risen again from the dead. And His disciples asked 
 Him, saying, Why then say the scribes that Elias must first come ? " They seem to have connected Elijah's appear- 
 ance on the mount with the prophecy of Malachi, without possessing any clear and definite ideas on the subject. 
 Mark well Christ's answer " Elias truly shall first come, and restore all things. But I say unto you, that Elias is 
 come already, and they knew him not, but have done unto him whatsoever they listed." In these words Jesus 
 explains the nature of the Elijah-type, and teaches the disciples not to look for the actual presence of the translated 
 prophet. As John the Baptist, coming in the spirit and power of Elias, preceded His first advent, so in like manner 
 another shall arise at the time of the end, bearing the prophetic name, and he, with his brethren, men of Elijah's 
 character and Elijah's ministry, shall prove the heralds of the second advent. 
 
 As years rolled on, the truths taught to Peter, James, and John, in the hour of Apocalypse, spent with Jesus 
 on the mount, became better understood ; and when the New Testament Church arose, all the Apostles with one 
 voice proclaimed them boldly, clearly, in demonstration of the Spirit and in power. 
 
 Let us turn, in conclusion, to the writings of St. Paul, and see how beautifully he touches upon the theme of 
 our consideration. Look first to 1 Cor. xv. 51 " We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, 
 in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump." Think of that mysterious change, so instantaneous, so entire, so 
 abiding ; a change from sorrow to joy, from pain to perfection, from weakness to strength, from deformity to 
 beauty, from corruption to immortality ; a change which will fit us to dwell for ever with the Son of God. Now, 
 look at 1 Thess. iv. 15, 16 " We which are alive, and remain unto the coming of the Lord, shall not prevent them . 
 
 which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the Archangel, 
 and with the trump of God : and the dead in Christ shall rise first : then we which are alive and remain shall be 
 caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord." 
 
 How beautiful is the thought, that the last act of Christ's Militant Church on earth will be to wait for their 
 brethren. Even although they long to gather around their approaching Saviour, they will pause at the threshold 
 of their happiness, and tarry for the perfection of the beloved sleepers in the dust of earth. Then shall the risen 
 and the changed ascend together to meet Him from whom all their future blessedness shall be derived. Then 
 shall the Hosanna of the redeemed burst forth as one mighty sound from unnumbered voices " Salvation to our 
 God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb." 
 
AIM-KMHV Till: l.\>'l DAYS H'T 
 
 tin il w.nl. 1 know that of lute years a strung desire has been full by many ( 'liri.it ianH to outlive the *U>rm 
 which in so plainly ipuli. i iiv \>-r \m; and to be among the generations of those who shall see the second appearing 
 
 if tl- 1.. in iv i liu-i. I 1 , ili.ips ihi.- may be the caae with aotne readers of this Paper, their daily prayer is that ' -! 
 would , ..MM! ih. -in \\.-i :1.-. i.i ii-i-t-iM- their Master, as Hi- t'i :. mis upon tho earth; tu hail His approach as those who 
 hi\.- .; li.-.l. nrl IT. .1. tor His coming. I would aay to such Know ye what ye auk omudenxl 
 u, II th.it tn-iiiuiidons tribulation which lies between yuu and the glory upon \vlii.-h your thought* are dwelling '*. 
 \i. you ' ' i.. .h ink tin- last cup of bitterness, and to bu baptized with tho laiit baptism of suffering? If, in the 
 
 oaafidetMM of t'.ntli. \\\ answer, \Ve are able," tin n 1. 1 me entreat you to stuily \M-1I the Knoch-type. Seek to be 
 i-onl'..iine'l unto the first tianslated saint, in y<mr life and in your ministrv . Kiuluavour to milk with God, as he <li<l. 
 le.ming your whole weight upon Almighty strength. If for a moment you quit your hold of One who can al..n- 
 sustain the soul iu the " hour ,,f temptation," your feet will MiiuiHe. Strive, in the words of the dying Dr. (lordoii, 
 t.. make a companion of ( !od." Seek Him in trivial things, fur He nuuibercth the grains of Hand ujion the sea- 
 ; .st-.-k Him in great things, for by Him MUDS, and comets, and planets subsist in their glory ; sek Him in 
 s, for He sanctifioth ; nook Him in sorrow, for He comforteth ; seek Him in disease, for He healeth ; 
 eek Him in .-in. f.<r He pardoneth ; seek Him in every state, and under all circumstances, for He loveth yon at nil 
 
 Illlir.-. 
 
 Let your mission resemble that of Enoch. Think of tin- i. -]><. ii.siliility of God's hvt witnesses in a lull, n 
 WM) 1.1. You will have to bear your part in a mightier struggle than has ever yet been known between God's army 
 and Satan's. In a peculiar manner, yuu will have to wrestle against principalities, against powers, against the 
 rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high things. Take unto yon. il,. n, tli.- whole 
 armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all to stand. Fear not i. . ].> 
 phesy that Christ coiueth quickly, while the world proclaims " There is no God." Fear not to stand by the altars 
 of Baal, and appeal to the fiery answer of the day of the Lord. Fear not to tell of the judgment, and fiery indig- 
 nation. which shall devour the adversaries. When the thrones of earth are swept away, and the kingdoms > I m.-n 
 
 nimble into dust, look up to heaven, and see Jesus at the right hand of God. To Him whose right it is, shall the 
 dominion be shortly given. Possess your souls in patience. Watch, but unit. Remember always, that if you live, 
 \ .HI live nnto the Lord," and if you die, you " die unto the Lord ;" living or dying, therefore, you are the lord's. 
 Neither "death" nor "life" can separate you from Jesus. He died for you, that whether yon uxtke or tleej>, you 
 should live together with Him. 
 
O 
 
 I ASCEND UNTO MY FATHER, AND YOUR FATHER; AND TO MY GOD, AND YOUR GOD. St. John XX. 17. 
 
 . . . AND HE LIFTED UP His HANDS, AND BLESSED THEM. AND IT CAME TO PASS, WHILE HE BLESSED THEM, HE WAS 
 
 PARTED FROM THEM, AND CARRIED UP INTO HEAVEN. AND THEY WORSHIPPED HlM. St. Luke XXIV. 50-52. 
 
 YE MEN OF GALILEE, WHY STAND YE GAZING UP INTO HEAVEN? THIS SAME JESUS, WHICH is TAKEN UP FROM YOU 
 
 INTO HEAVEN, SHALL SO COME IN LIKE MANNER AS YE HAVE SEEN HIM GO INTO HEAVEN. Acts i. 11. 
 
 I. THE MANNER OF THE ASCENSION. 
 
 1. Suddenly. 
 
 When in converse with His followers ; they not thinking of His leaving them. 
 
 2. Privately. 
 
 Not before the World, but before a few believers representing the true Church. 
 
 3. Miraculously. 
 
 Contrary to the existing laws of gravity, &c. An earnest of the time when the resurrection bodies of 
 the Saints shall be able thus to move from place to place independently of physical laws. 
 
 II. THE OBJECT OF THE ASCENSION. 
 
 1 . To enter into His Glory. 
 
 The exaltation and triumph are contrasted with the previous humiliation. 
 
 2. To live in tlie Holy Place as the visible witness of the success of His Mission. 
 
 All the intelligent Angelic Universe behold Him as the justified and accepted Mediator. The spirits of 
 just men see in Him the Redeemer whose accomplished work has saved them. God the Father 
 having admitted them to Heaven on trust, knowing that Christ would be their Saviour, the ascension 
 sealed and confirmed their right to glory. 
 
 ;i. To take His place as the Forerunner of His New Testament Church. 
 We sit with Him in Heavenly places. 
 
 4. To commence His intercessory work. 
 
 His presence in heaven is the signal for the casting down of Satan as the accuser of the Brethren. 
 
 PRACTICAL INFERENCES. 
 
 1 . The promise of the return : " This same Jesus shall so come in like manner." 
 
 2. The Holiness of the Expectant Church a necessity : " Seeing ye look for such things," &c. Notice : " The 
 
 Lord's last act was Messing. While Ho blessed them," &c. 
 
 The High Priest's attitude on returning from the Holy Place arms outstretched in blessing. He comes 
 
 to Bless. 
 i{. The Disciples saw in the Ascension a sign of Divinity, " they worshipped Him." 
 
 FOR THIS WE SAY UNTO YOU BY THE WORD OF THE LORD, THAT WE WHICH ARE ALIVE, AND REMAIN UNTO THE 
 COMING OF THE LORD, SHALL NOT PREVENT THEM WHICH ARE ASLEEP. FOR THE LORD HIMSELF SHALL 
 DESCEND FROM HEAVEN WITH A SHOUT, WITH THE VOICE OF THE ARCHANGEL, AND WITH THE TRUMP OF GOD ; 
 
 AND THE DEAD IN CHRIST SHALL RISE FIRST : THEN WE WHICH ARE ALIVE AND REMAIN, SHALL BE CAUGHT 
 UP TOGETHER WITH THEM IN THE CLOUDS, TO MEET THE LORD IN THE AIR ; AND SO SHALL WE EVER BE WITH 
 THE LORD. 
 WHEREFORE COMFORT ONE ANOTHER WITH THESE WORDS. 1 Thess. iv. 15-18. 
 
AlTEM'IV 
 
 Tllnl i.lll> ANALYTICALLY AKKANGED. 
 
 "THOUGHTS ANALYTICALLY ARRANGED." 
 
 I here desire to Hrkin\ ledge the assistance I have K-ri\<-.l imm a carefully compiled ami analytically 
 arranged work. \>\ Henry Southgate, entitled Many Thoughts of Many Minds.' From this valuable store 
 I M-lert as a specinu-n, for those who are Mill tinai-'|iiuint.-,| with tlio work, the four following topics of great 
 general intervM. in which I add a few extracts from other authors, likewise connected with these subjects.* 
 
 Tli. -so topics are The Bihle, God, Christ, and Christianity. 
 
 As an introduction I give Barton's poem entitled 
 
 A POETS NOBLEST THEME. 
 
 THE works of man may yield delight, 
 
 And justly merit praise ; 
 But though awhile they charm the light, 
 
 That charm in time decay*. 
 The sculptor's, painter's, poet's skill, 
 The art of mind's creative will, 
 
 In various modes may teem ; 
 But none of these, however rare 
 Or exquisite, can truth declare 
 
 A poet's noblest theme. 
 
 The sun, uprising, may display 
 
 His glory to the eye, 
 And hold in majesty his way 
 
 Across the vaulted sky ; 
 Then sink resplendent in the west, 
 Where parting clouds his rays invest 
 
 With beauty's softest beam; 
 Yet not unto the sun belong 
 The charms which consecrate in song 
 
 A poet's noblest theme. 
 
 The moon, with yet more touching grace, 
 
 The silent night may cheer, 
 And shed o'er many a lonely place 
 
 A charm to feeling dear ; 
 The countless stars which grace her reign, 
 A voiceless, but a lovely train, 
 
 With brilliant light may gleam ; 
 But she nor they, though fair to see, 
 And formed for love, can never be 
 
 A poet's noblest theme. 
 
 The winds, whose mnsic to the ear 
 
 With that of art may vie- 
 Now loud, awakening awe and fear. 
 
 Then soft as pity's sigh ; 
 The mighty ocean's ample breast, 
 Calm or convulsed, in wrath or rest, 
 
 A glorious sight may seem : 
 But neither winds nor boundless sea, 
 Though beautiful or grand, can be 
 
 A poet's noblest theme. 
 
 The earth, our own dear native earth ! 
 
 Has charms all hearts may <> u ; 
 They cling around us from our birth, 
 
 More loved as longer known ; 
 Hers are the lovely Tales, the wild 
 And countless foresU, mountains piled 
 
 On high, and many a stream 
 Whose beauteous banks the heart may love, 
 Yet none of these can truth approve 
 
 A poet's noblest theme. 
 
 The virtues, which our fallen estate 
 
 With foolish pride would claim, 
 May, in themselves, be good and great, 
 
 To us an empty name. 
 Truth, justice, mercy, patience, love, 
 May seem with man on earth to rove, 
 
 And yet may only item ; 
 To none of these, at man'i, dare I 
 The title of my verse apply 
 
 "A poet's noblest theme." 
 
 To GOD alone, whose power divine 
 
 Created all that live ; 
 To OOD alone, can truth assign 
 
 This proud prerogative : 
 But bow shall man attempt Hu praise, 
 Or dare to ring in mortal lays 
 
 OKKIPOTESCE SUPBEJIK ! 
 When seraph-choirs, in heaven above, 
 Proclaim His glory and His love, 
 
 Their noblest, sweetest theme ? 
 
 Thanks be to Ood I His grace has shown 
 
 How sinful man on earth 
 May join the songs which round His throne 
 
 Give endless praises birth : 
 HE gave His Son for man to die ! 
 HE sent His SPIRIT from on High ! 
 
 To consummate the scheme : 
 Oh ! be that consummation Meat I 
 And let REDEMPTION be confest 
 
 A poet's noblest theme. 
 
 The 
 
 I have made are markr<l 
 
 :: i 
 
500 
 
 THE EVIDENCE OF THINGS NOT SEEN. 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 THE BIBLE. 
 
 They had the Bible. Hast them ever heard 
 
 Of such a Book ? the author, God himself ; 
 
 The subject, God and man, salvation, life 
 
 And death eternal life, eternal death 
 
 Dread words ! whose meaning has no end, no bounds ! 
 
 Most wondrous Book ! bright candle of the Lord ! 
 
 Star of eternity ! the only star 
 
 By which the bark of man could navigate 
 
 The sea of life, and gain the coast of bliss 
 
 Secure ; th' only only star which rose on Time, 
 
 And, on its dark and troubled billows, still, 
 
 As generation, drifting swiftly by, 
 
 Succeeded generation, threw a ray 
 
 Of heaven's own light, and to the hills of God, 
 
 The eternal hills, pointed the sinner's eye. 
 
 By prophets, seers, and priests, and sacred bards, 
 
 Evangelists, apostles, men inspired, 
 
 And by the Holy Ghost anointed, set 
 
 Apart, and consecrated to declare 
 
 To Earth the counsels of the Eternal One 
 
 This Book, this holiest, this sublimest Book, 
 
 Was sent. Heaven's will, Heaven's code of laws entire 
 
 To man, this Book contained ; defined the bounds 
 
 Of vice and virtue, and of life and death ; 
 
 And what was shadow, what was substance taught. 
 
 Much it revealed ; important all ; the least 
 
 Worth more than what else seemed of highest worth. 
 
 But this of plainest, most essential truth : 
 
 That God is one, eternal, holy, just, 
 
 Omnipotent, omniscient, infinite; 
 
 Most wise, most good, most merciful and true ; 
 
 In all perfection most unchangeable : 
 
 That man, that every man of every clime 
 
 And hue, of every age and every rank, 
 
 Was bad, by nature and by practice bad ; 
 
 In understanding blind, in will perverse, 
 
 In heart corrupt ; in every thought, and word, 
 
 Imagination, passion and desire, 
 
 Most utterly depraved throughout, and ill, 
 
 In sight of Heaven, though less in sight of man ; 
 
 At enmity with God his Maker born, 
 
 And by his very life an heir of death : 
 
 That man, that every man was, farther, most 
 
 Unable to redeem himself, or pay 
 
 One mite of his vast debt to God ; nay, more 
 
 Was most reluctant and averse to be 
 
 Itedeemed, and sin's most voluntary slave : 
 
 That Jesus, Son of God, of Mary born 
 
 In Bethlehem, and by Pilate crucified 
 
 On Calvary, for man thus fallen arid lost, 
 
 Died ; and, by death, life and salvation bought, 
 
 And perfect righteousness, for all who should 
 
 In His great name believe : That He, the third 
 
 In the eternal Essence, to the prayer 
 
 Sincere should come, should come as soon as asked, 
 
 Proceeding from the Father and the Son, 
 
 To give faith and repentance, such as God 
 
 Accepts ; to open the intellectual eyes, 
 
 Blinded by sin ; to bend the stubborn will, 
 
 Perversely to the side of wrong inclined, 
 
 To God and his commandments just and good ; 
 
 The wild rebellious passions to subdue, 
 
 And bring them back to harmony with heaven : 
 
 To purify the conscience, and to lead 
 
 The mind into all truth, and to adorn 
 
 With every holy ornament of grace, 
 
 And sanctify the whole renewed soul, 
 
 Which henceforth might no more fall totally, 
 
 But persevere, though erring oft, amidst 
 
 The mists of Time, in piety to God, 
 
 And sacred works of charity to men : 
 
 That he who thus believed, and practised thus, 
 
 Should have his sins forgiven, however vile ; 
 
 Should be sustained at mid-day, morn, and even : 
 
 By God's omnipotent, eternal grace : 
 
 And in the evil hour of sore disease, 
 
 Temptation, persecution, war, and death 
 
 For temporal death, although unstinged, remained 
 
 Beneath the shadow of the Almighty's wings 
 
 Should sit unhurt, and at the Judgment Day 
 
 Should share the resurrection of the just, 
 
 And reign with Christ in bliss for evermore : 
 
 That all, however named, however great, 
 
 Who would not thus believe, nor practise thus, 
 
 But in their sins impenitent remained, 
 
 Should in perpetual fear and terror live ; 
 
 Should die unpardoned, unredeemed, unsaved ; 
 
 And at the hour of doom, should be cast out 
 
 To utter darkness in the night of hell, 
 
 By mercy and by God abandoned, there 
 
 To reap the harvest of eternal woe. 
 
 This did that Book declare in obvious phrase, 
 In most sincere and honest words, by God 
 Himself selected and arranged, so clear, 
 So plain, so perfectly distinct, that none 
 Who read with humble wish to understand, 
 And asked the Spirit, given to all who asked, 
 Could miss their meaning, blazed in heavenly light. 
 
 This Book, this holy Book, on every line 
 Marked with the seal of high divinity, 
 On every leaf bedewed with drops of love 
 Divine, and with the eternal heraldry 
 And signature of God Almighty stamped 
 From first to last, this ray of sacred light, 
 This lamp, from off the everlasting throne, 
 Mercy took down, and in the night of Time 
 Stood, casting on the dark her gracious bow ; 
 And evermore beseeching men with tears 
 And earnest sighs, to read, believe, and live. 
 And many to her voice gave ear, and read, 
 Believed, obeyed ; and now, as the Amen, 
 True, Faithful Witness swore, with snowy robes 
 And branchy palms surround the fount of life, 
 And drink the streams of immortality, 
 For ever happy, and for ever young. 
 
 
AlTKM'lX. 
 
 mi: KIM i: 
 
 vol ; 1ml more th.' truth of God 
 Turned t a h. , deceiving and deceived : 
 
 with die accursed iorcery of sin, 
 'I'n l.i- own sh .mil vili- propensity 
 Transforming (till the morning of the text. 
 
 Hear, while I I'rieily U-ll what niortaU proved, 
 By . tlbrt vast of ini^'iiuity, 
 Mont wondrous, though |<r rverae and damnable, 
 1 from the Bible, which, as thou hast heard, 
 ..uly s|*ike that all could undentand. 
 .itxl not leait in number, argued some 
 Kiom mil this Book itself, it was a lie, 
 A fable, framed by crafty men to cheat 
 Tlir simple herd, and muke them bow the knee 
 To kiims and priests. These in their wisdom left 
 'l'ln> light revealed, and turned to fancies wild ; 
 Maintaining loud, tli.it ruined, helpless man 
 Needed no Saviour. Others proved that men 
 MLi.t liv<- and die in sin, and yet be saved, 
 For so it was decreed ; binding the will, 
 By Qod left free, to unconditional, 
 Unreasonable fate. Others believed 
 That he who was most criminal, debased, 
 Condemned, and dead, unaided might ascend 
 The heights of virtue ; to a perfect law 
 (iivin^ n lame, halfway obedience, which 
 My useless effort only served to show 
 Tl>c impotence of him who vainly strove 
 With finite arm to measure infinite ; 
 Most useless effort, when to justify 
 In sight of God it meant, as proof of faith 
 Host acceptable, and worthy of all praise. 
 Another held, and from the Bible held, 
 is infallible, most fallen by such 
 uce ; that none the Scriptures, open to all. 
 And most to humble-hearted, ought to read 
 Hut priests ; that all who ventured to disclaim 
 His forged authority, incurred the wrath 
 
 1 ' I leaven ; and he who, in the Mood of such, 
 
 Though lather, mother, daughter, wife, or ton, 
 
 Imbrued his hands, did most religious work, 
 
 Well Ceasing to the heart of the Most High. 
 
 Others in outward rite devotion placed ; 
 
 In meats, and drinks, in robe of certain shape, 
 
 ID bodily abatements, bended knees ; 
 
 Days, numbers, places, vestment*, words and name* ; 
 
 Absurdly in their hearts imagining 
 
 That God, like men, was pleased with outward show. 
 
 r, stranger and more wicked still, 
 With dark and dolorous labour, ill applied, 
 With many a gripe of conscience, and with most 
 Unhealthy and abortive reasoning, 
 That brought liu sanity to serious doubt, 
 'Mong wise and honest men, maintained that He, 
 First Wisdom, Great Messiah, Prince of Peace, 
 The Second of the uncreated Three, 
 Was nought but man, of earthly origin : 
 Thus making void the sacrifice divine, 
 And leaving guilty men God's holy law 
 Still unatoned, to work them endless death. 
 
 These are a part ; but to relate thee all 
 The monstrous, unbaptised fantasies. 
 Imagination fearfully absurd, 
 Hobgoblin rites, and moonstruck reverie*, 
 Distracted creeds, and visionary dreams. 
 More bodiless and hideously misshapen 
 Than ever fancy, at the noon of night, 
 Playing at will, framed in the madman's brain, 
 That from the Hook of simple truth were proved 
 Were proved, as foolish men were wont to prove, 
 Would bring my word in doubt, and thy belief 
 Stagger, though here I sit and sing, within 
 The pale of truth, where falsehood never crime. 
 
 The rest, who lost the heavenly light revealed, 
 Not wishing to retain God in their minds, 
 
 In darkness wandered on. 
 
 Pollok. 
 
 ' BIBLE -the Attributes of the. 
 
 Tin: i \u in HIE LORD is PERFECT CONVERTING THE SOUL; 
 
 TlIK II -IIMONY OF THE LORD 18 SURE MAKING WISE THK SIMPLE. 
 
 TIIK srAiriis "K IIIK LORD ARE RIGHT REJOICING THE HEART; 
 
 TlIK < "MM AXI'MKXT OF THE LORD IS PURE KM I'. Ill KXIV! I'HE EYES. 
 
 THE FEAR OF THE LORD IS CLEAN ENDl'RIXO FOR I I 
 
 TlIK II I.. MINIS i IK IIIK LORD ARE TRUE, AND RIGHTEOUS ALTOGETHER. 
 
 M UK TO BE DEnlRED ARE THEY THAN GOLD, YEA, THAN MUCH FINE GOLD; SWEETER ALSO THAN HONEY AM> IIIK 
 
 n< .M \ - i .ji n MOREOVER BY THEM is THY SERV \ M \\ \ i: x 1 1 : A x i . i v K i KM xo or THEM THERE is GREAT REWARD. 
 
 DaM. 
 
 I i AS niK P.AIN COMETH DOWX, ANI> THE SNOW FROM IIKUKN. AND RETI-RNETH SOT THITHER, BUT WATERETH IIIK 
 
 i. AMI MAKKTII IF Ti> BRIX'i FORTH ASI> III I-. I HAT I r MA Y GIVE SEED TO THE *OWEB AlfD BREAD TO THE EATER : So 
 >ll VI I. MY W.'l-.n ME THAT GOETII H'!:tll oUT OF MY MOUTH : IT SHALL NOT RETURN UNTO ME VOID, BUT IT SHALL ACCOMPLISH 
 TIU I Will' II I III \-l. AND IT SHALL PROSPER IX THE THING WHERETO I SENT If. luiak. 
 
 FROM A CHILI' ni"i iiv^i kxc\\s mi. ll..i\ s KIMCKKS. wiin u ARE ABLE TO MAKE THEE WISE ONTO SALVATION, 
 iiiK.ir.iii > AIIH WHICH is IN CHRIST JEM 
 
 Al.l. S IIIPTRRE IS iJIVI.X IiY iX-I'lKArii'X "K<;<>K VM> IS PROFITABLE TOR DOCTRISE, FOR REPROOF, POR OORRtv 
 H'K INSIKtviii.N ix i:i..!IIKolSXK.ss; Ilivr HIE MAN OF (Jot) MAY BE PKRFUT, THOROUGHLY FURNISHED UNTO ALL GOOD 
 
 
 
 THE WORD OF GOD is WUCK AXP POWUUTU SHARPER THAN ANY TWO-EDOKD SWORD, PIERCING EVEJ TO THE DIVIMV. 
 
 :; T 2 
 
502 
 
 THE EVIDENCE OF THINGS NOT SEEN. 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 ASUNDER OF SOUL AND SPIRIT AND OF THE JOINTS AND MARROW, AND IS A D1SCERNER OF THE THOUGHTS AND INTENTS OF THE 
 HEART. St. Paid. 
 
 FOR ALL FLESH IS AS GRASS, AND ALL THE GLORY OF MAN AS THE FLOWER OF GRASS. THE GRASS WITHEEETH, AND THE 
 FLOWER THEREOF FALLETH AWAY ; BUT THE WORD OF THE LORD ENDURETH FOR EVER. AND THIS IS THE WORD WHICH BY 
 THE GOSPEL IS PREACHED UNTO YOU. St. Peter. 
 
 BIBLE Beauty of the. 
 
 I use the Scriptures not as an arsenal to be resorted to only for arms and weapons, but as a matchless temple, 
 where I delight to contemplate the beauty, the symmetry, and the magnificence of the structure, and to increase 
 my awe and excite my devotion to the Deity there preached and adored. Boyle. 
 
 BIBLE Benefit derived from the. 
 
 The sacred page 
 
 With calm attention scan ! If on thy soul, 
 As thou dost read, a ray of purer light 
 Break in, 0, check it not, give it full scope ! 
 
 BIBLE sometimes a Closed Book. 
 
 Men, thus at variance with the truth, 
 
 Dream, though their eyes be open ; reckless some 
 
 Of error ; others well aware they err, 
 
 To whom more guilt and shame are justly due 
 
 Each the known track of sage philosophy 
 
 Deserts, and has a by-way of his own : 
 
 So much the restless eagerness to shine, 
 
 And love of singularity prevail. 
 
 Yet this, offensive as it is, provokes 
 
 Heaven's anger less, than when the Book of God 
 
 Is forced to yield to man's authority, 
 
 Or from its straightness warp'd ; no reck'niny made, 
 
 Admitted, it will break the clouds which long 
 Have dimmed thy sight, and lead thee, till at last, 
 Convictions, like the sun's meridian beams, 
 Illuminate thy mind. 
 
 Samuel Hayes. 
 
 What blood the sowing of it in the world 
 Has cost; what favour for himself he wins, 
 Who meekly clings to it. 
 
 Christ said not to his first conventicle, 
 
 Go forth and preach impostures to the world ; 
 
 But gave them Truth to build on ; and the sound 
 
 Was mighty on their lips ; nor needed they, 
 
 Beside the Gospel, other spear or shield, 
 
 To aid them in their warfare for the faith. 
 
 Dante. 
 
 BIBLE the Christian's Bulwark. 
 
 The Christian faith has been, and is still, very fiercely and obstinately attacked. How many efforts have 
 been and are still made ; how many books, serious and frivolous, able or silly, have been and are spread inces- 
 santly, in order to destroy it in men's minds ! Where has this redoubtable struggle been supported with the 
 greatest energy and success ? and where has Christian faith been best defended ? There where the reading of the 
 Sacred Books is a general and assiduous part of public worship there where it takes place in the interior of 
 families and in solitary meditation. It is the Bible, the Bible itself, which combats and triumphs most efiicaciously 
 in the war between incredulity and belief. Guizot. 
 
 * BIBLE and the Common People. 
 
 It was wonderful to see with what joy this book of God was received not only among the learneder sort, but 
 generally all England over, among all the vulgar and common people ; and with what greediness God's Word was 
 read, and what resort to places where the reading of it was ! Everybody that could, bought the book, or busily 
 read it, or got others to read it to them, if they could not themselves. Divers more elderly people learned 
 to read on purpose ; and even little boys flocked, among the rest, to hear portions of the Holy Scripture read. 
 
 Strype. 
 
 BIBLE Divine Character of the. 
 
 As a poem, moral and didactic, it is a repertory of divine instincts a collection of the deepest intuitions of 
 truth, beauty, justice, holiness the past, the present, the future which, by their far vision, the power by which 
 they have stamped themselves on the belief and heart, the hopes and fears, the days and nights of humanity ; 
 their superiority to aught else in the thoughts or words of man, their consistency with themselves, their progressive 
 and their close-drawn connection with those marvellous and unshaken facts, are proved divine in a sense altogether 
 peculiar and alone. Gil/Ulan. 
 
AlM'KNMV Till: llllll.i:. 
 
 BIBLE the best Expositor of the. 
 
 I' TO liivi III v\K- ><n: YOU, MAKING MENTION OF YOU IN MY PRAYERS ; THAT THE GOD OF OUR LORD JOUS 
 I'llKIM, Illl I'M ill. li OF GLORY, MAY GIVE UNTO YOU THE SPIRIT OF WISDOM AXD REVELATION IN THE KNOWLEDGE OF HIM : 
 THE EYES OF YOUR UNDERSTANDING BEING ENUOHTENED J THAT YE MAY KNOW WHAT IS THE HOPE OF HIS CALLING, AND 
 \MIAI Illl i:|. HES OK THE GLORY OF HIS INHERITANCE IN THE SA WHAT IS THE KXCEED1NO GREATNESS OF HIS 
 
 l-ut.K TO US-WARD WHO BELIEVE, ACCORDING TO THE WORKING OF HIS MIGHTY I-"U > I.. will.'ll HI WROUGHT IN CHRIST, WHEN 
 III KMMIi HIM I....M THE DEAD, AND SET [HIM] AT HIS OWN RIGHT HASH IN THE HEAVENLY [ PLACES], FAR ABOVE ALL 
 I'KlVir.ViHY, AND roWKK, AM' MIGHT, AM> DOMINION, AND EVERY NAME THAT 18 NAMED, SOT OM .\ IN Illl^ oi;i|., 
 BUT ALSO IN THAT WHICH IS TO COME; AMD II.MII TUT ALL [THINGS] UKDEB HIS FEET, AND GAVE HIM [TO BEJ I Ml 
 
 in \n OVER ALL [THINGS] TO THE run., n, niu. 11 IN ins BODY, THE FULNESS OF HIM THAT FILLETH ALL IN ALL. 
 
 St. Paul, Epkaanii. l'i--'i. 
 
 It is most plain (writes Luther to his friend Spalatein) that wo cannot attain to the understanding of Scrip- 
 inn-, i-itlu-r l.y -study, or by strength of intellect; therefore, your first duty must be to begin with prayer. Entreat 
 tliu I.unl to deign to grant you, in His rich mercy, rightly to understand 11 in Word. There is no other interpreter 
 >.f id,. \\,. r ,l of God but the Author of that Word Himself; even as He has said, ' They shall all be taught of God.' 
 nothing from your study or the strength of your intellect; but simply put your trust in God, and in the 
 influ, -IH-I- of His Spirit. ffAiMgne't History of tin Reformation, voL i. p. i'Jti. 
 
 BIBLE Fulness of the. 
 
 It has God for its author, salvation for its end, and truth, without any mixture of error, for its matter : it is 
 all pure. all sincere ; nothing too much, nothing wanting. Locke. 
 
 BIBLE-Gloryofthe. 
 
 ry gilds the sacred page, 
 Majestic like the cun ; 
 It give* a light to every age ; 
 It gives, but borrows none. 
 
 BIBLE Hope Begotten by the. 
 
 The Bible is a precious storehouse, and the Magna Charta of a Christian. There he reads of his heavenly 
 Father's love, and of his dying Saviour's legacies. There he sees a map of his travels through the wilderness, and 
 a landscape, too, of Canaan. And when he climbs on Pisgah's top, and views the promised land, his heart begins 
 to burn, delighted with the blessed prospect, and amazed at the rich and free salvation. But a mere professor, 
 though a decent one, looks on the Bible as a dull book, and pcruseth it with such indifference as you would read 
 the title-deeds belonging to another man's estate. HerriAgt. 
 
 BIBLE Imperishableness of the. 
 
 All. I I.1--11 I- GRASS, AXD ALL THE GOODLIXESS THEREOF IS AS THE FLOWER OF THE FIELD: THE GRABS WITHKRKI II, I II. 
 I! own: I MO III: BECAUSE THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD BLOWETH UPON IT : SURELY THE PEOPLE 13 GRASS. Till. GRASS 
 Wl i HKi-.M II. HIE FLOWER FADETH, BUT THE WORD OF OUR GOD SHALL STAND FOR EVER. Isaiah. 
 
 BIBLE the Inditer of the. 
 
 The Inditer of the Scriptures did know four things, which no man attains to know ; which are, the mys- 
 I f tin- kingdom of glory ; the perfection of the laws of nature ; the secrets of the heart of man ; and the future 
 
 ssioii ..fall ages. Lord Bacon ( H '..-/>, i. 228). 
 
 BIBLE and the Invention of Printing. 
 
 . . . Printing, however, was the most intellecttiai of all the arts, and yet it will now be manifest that Intinit. 
 Wisdom was by no means in any haste to employ it. The orators of Greece and Rome had been allowed to try 
 their skill once more in improving mankind. 
 
 The classics were permitted to enjoy their second, and more splendid triumph, and appeared before th. 
 world in :i richer .In-.* than they had e\x-r done; and since the colloquial dial, ct, the tongue spoken l.y tin- 
 l-i-ople, was not the language of what was called the I'hurch, in any nation of Europe, and Latin alone wa* li.-i 
 language everywhere, then let that tongue, through the press, also enjoy unprecedented scope. !- t M., I '..mill' 
 ever after have any reason to complain that ample justice was not first done to Ais system. Let Arm first have his 
 
fi04 
 
 THE EVIDENCE OF THINGS NOT SEEN. 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 fill of letters, even to overflowing. Let him richly enjoy the first fruits, or the highest place, nay, the monopoly of 
 all the arts, and even the printing-press to boot; and before the clo.se of the fifteenth century, let there be issued 
 from the press, above an hundred editions of the LATIN Bible, for such was the fact : and throughout Europe, let 
 there be hourly spoken still, more than 
 
 " ten thousand words in an unknown tongue." 
 
 We are imperatively bound to distinguish between the oratory of Greece and Rome, or the feeble 
 
 language of literature, and the voice of Jehovah in His Word, when it once reached the ear or the eye of our fore- 
 fathers, in their native tongue ; to distinguish as carefully, between the power of the press, and the power of what 
 issued from it ; between printing, however splendid to the eye, and what is printed, when addressed by the 
 Almighty to the heart ; between all the wisdom of this world, and that which cometh down from above ; between 
 printed books without exception, and " the oracles of God." Anderson (Introduction to the Annals of the English Bible). 
 
 BIBLE Noble Composition of the Book of Job. 
 
 The Booh of Job. I call that, apart from all theories about it, one of the grandest things ever written with 
 pen. One feels, indeed, as if it were not Hebrew; such a noble universality, different from noble patriotism, or 
 sectarianism, reigns in it. A noble book ! all men's book ! It is our first, oldest statement of the never-ending 
 problem, man's destiny, and God's ways with him here in this earth. And all in such free flowing outlines ; grand 
 in its sincerity, in its simplicity, in its epic melody, and repose of reconcilement. There is the seeing eye, the 
 mildly understanding heart. So true every way ; time eyesight and vision for all things ; material things no less 
 than spiritual : the horse " hast Thou clothed his neck with thunder ? " " he laughs at the shaking of the spear ! " 
 Such living likenesses were never since drawn. Sublime sorrow, sublime reconciliation; oldest choral melody 
 as of the heart of mankind ; so soft and great ; as the summer midnight, as the world with its seas and stars ! 
 There is nothing written, I think, in the Bible or out of it, of equal literary merit. Carlyk. 
 
 BIBLE the Guide of Life. 
 
 It is a belief in the Bible, the fruits of deep meditation, which has served me as the guide of my moral and 
 literary life. I have found it a capital safely invested, and richly productive of interest. Goethe. 
 
 BIBLE Misapplication of the. 
 
 Beware of misapplying Scripture. It is a thing easily done, but not so easily answered. I know not any 
 one gap that hath let in more and more dangerous errors into the Church than this, that men take the word of the 
 isacred text, fitted to particular occasions, and to the condition of the times wherein they were written, and then 
 apply them to themselves and others, as they find them, without due respect had to the differences that may be 
 between those times and cases and the present. Bishop Sanderson. 
 
 BIBLE contains the Mystery of Mysteries. 
 
 Within this awful volume lies 
 The mystery of mysteries : 
 Happiest they of human race, 
 To whom their God has riven aracc 
 
 To read, to fear, to hope, to pray, 
 To lift the latch, to force the way ; 
 But better had they ne'er been born 
 Who read to doubt, or read to scorn. 
 
 Sir Walter Nrotl. 
 
 ' BIBLE Opposition it had to encounter on being introduced into English. 
 
 After reading the histories of Halle, Foxe, Stowe, Strype, Burnet, Collier, Turner, Lingard, and Soames, as 
 well as the histories of the translations by Lewis, Herbert, and Dibdin, with the Biblical literature of Townley, 
 Cotton, and Home, still no one can possess any adequate or correct idea of that mighty phalanx of talent, policy, 
 and power, so firmly arrayed against the introduction of divine truth in our native tongue into this kingdom ; and 
 consequently no reader has ever had before him the most powerful display, in comparatively modern times, of the 
 irresistible energy of the Divine Word. Christopher Anderson (Preface to the Annals of the English Bible). 
 
 BIBLE Poetry of the. 
 
 The Scripture affords us a divine pastoral drama in the Song of Solomon, consisting of two persons and a 
 .louble chorus, as Origen rightly judges; and the Apocalypse of St. John is a majestic image of a high and stately 
 tni^edy, shutting and intermingling her solemn scenes and acts with a seven-fold chorus of hallelujahs and harping 
 symphonies. And this my opinion, the grave authority of Fareus, commenting that book, is sufficient to confirm. 
 
AlTKMUX. 
 
 TIII: r.im.r.. 
 
 
 Or. if occasion shall lead, to imitate thmic magnific odea and hymn-.. li. n in 1'iti.lnrus and Callimachtu are in 
 tilings worthy, Home other* in their frame judicious, in tli.-ir matter most an end faulty. I'.iit those frequent 
 songs, throiijjliuiit the laws and prophet*, beyond all these, not in their divine argument alone, but in the 
 \-er\ , ! it i,-.-il .,rt ,f composition, may be easily made appear over all the kind* of lyric poesy to be incomparable. 
 
 Milton. 
 BIBLE Poetry, Oratory, and Politics of the. 
 
 'I'll.-! i- :nv ii.i songs comparable to the Hongs of /ion ; no orations equal to those of the IVopheta ; and no 
 polities like those which the Sciiptnres teach. JW. 
 
 BIBLE Simplicity of the plan of Salvation. 
 
 i>w unlike the complex works of man, 
 Heaven's easy, artless, unencimibcr'd plan ; 
 NII 1:1. r. tricioug grace* to beguile, 
 
 rnainvnU to ol.>4 the |iile : 
 From ostentation as from weakness free; 
 It stands like the cerulean arch we see, 
 Majestic in its own simplicity. 
 
 Inscribed above the |x>rtal, from afar, 
 
 Conspicuous as the brightness of a star, 
 
 Legible only l>y th-- li^lit they give, 
 
 Stand tin- soul-<|uickeuiiig words lk-lieve and live. 
 
 
 BIBLE Sublimity of the. 
 
 'I 'he re is not a book on earth so/uwuraW* to all the kind, and all the sublime affections, or so unfriendly to hutrvl 
 and />ersecutionto tyranny, injustice, and entry sort of malevolence, as the GOSPEL. It breathes nothing throughout but 
 
 mercy, benevolence, and peace Such of the doctrines of the gospel as are level to human capacity, appear to 
 
 be agreeable to the purest truth and soundest morality. All the genius and learning of the heathen world, all the 
 n of Pythagoras, Socrates, and Aristotle, had never been able to produce such a system of moral 
 , and so rational an account of Providence and of man, as is to be found in the New Testament Beattir. 
 
 I have carefully and regularly perused these Holy Scriptures, and am of opinion that the volume, independ- 
 ent ly of its divine origin, contains more sublimity, purer morality, more important history, and finer 
 strains of eloquence, than can be collected from all other books, in whatever language they may have been 
 writr Sir William Janet. 
 
 BIBLE Teaching of the. 
 
 Tin- Sriur TURKS teach us the best way of living, the nMest tcay of suffering, and the most comfortable way ofdyiuy. 
 
 Hani. 
 
 Better teaching 
 
 The solid rules of civil government, 
 In th'-ir majestic, unaffected style, 
 Than all the oratory of Greece and Rome. 
 
 In them is plainest taught, and easiest learnt, 
 \Vliat makes a nation happy, and keeps it so ; 
 What ruins kingdoms, and lays cities flat : 
 These only, with our law, best form s king. 
 
 " 
 
 * BIBLE the Translator of the, to the People of God in England. 
 
 I have here translated, brethren and sitters, most dtar and tenderly beloved in Christ, At New Testament, for your sj 
 lif'/ing, consolation and solace : Exhorting instantly, and beseeching those that an better seen in the tongues than I, and that have 
 Higher gifts of grace to interpret the sense of the Scripture, a*d meaning of the Spirit, than I, to consider and ponder my labour, 
 mil thit with the spirit of meekness. And if they perceive in any places that I have not attained the very tense of the tongue, or 
 mg of the Scripture, or have not given the right English word, that they put to their hands to amend it, remembering that to 
 i.i their duty to do. For tee hate not received the gifts of God for ourselves only, or for to hide them : but for In bestow them unto 
 the honouring of God and Chrixt, and eiKfyiitg of the congregation, vhich is the body of Christ. 
 
 The causes that moved me to translate, I thought better that others should imagine, than that I should rehear.it them. 
 Moreover, I supposed it superfluous; for who is so blind to ash, why light should be showed to them that walk in ilarknett, where 
 thfy cannot but stumble, and where to stumble is the danger of eternal damnation ; either to dttpitefiil that he could envy any man 
 ^ / speak not his brother) so necessary a thing ; or to bedlam mad as to affirm that good it the natural cautt of evil, and darknea 
 to proceed out of light, and that lying should be grounded in truth and verity ; and not rather clean contrary, that light dettroyeth 
 darkness, and verity reproveth all manner (of) lying. 
 
 After it had pleated God to put in my mind, and also to give me grace to translate this fore-rehearsed (brfort-mmtiontd) 
 Testament into our EnyliJi tongue, howsoever we have done it, J supposed it very necttsary to put you in rememltrance of 
 ctrtainp-,, Tyndale (..!>. 1 
 
f>0(i 
 
 THE EVIDENCE OF THINGS NOT SEEN. 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 BIBLE Value of the. 
 
 The most learned, acute, and diligent student cannot, in the longest life, obtain an entire knowledge of this 
 one volume. The more deeply he works the mine, the richer and more abundant ho finds the ore ; new light 
 continually beams from this source of heavenly knowledge, to direct the conduct, and illustrate the work of God 
 and the ways of men ; and he will at least leave the world, confessing that the more he studied the Scriptures the 
 fuller conviction he had of his own ignorance, and oftlmr inestimable value. Sir Walter Scott. 
 
 GOD Adoration of. 
 
 While earthly objects are exhausted by familiarity, the thought of God becomes to the devout man continually 
 brighter, richer, vaster ; derives fresh lustre from all that he observes of Nature and Providence, and attracts to 
 itself all the glories of the universe. The devout man, especially in moments of strong religious sensibility, feels 
 distinctly that he has found the true happiness of man. He has found a Being for his veneration and love, whose 
 character is inexhaustible, who, after ages shall have passed, will still be uncomprehended in the extent of his 
 perfections, and will still communicate to the pure mind stronger proofs of His excellence, and more intimate signs 
 of His approval. Channitig. 
 
 GOD All in all. 
 
 It is a poor philosophy and a narrow religion, which does not recognise God as all in all. Every moment of 
 our lives we breathe, stand, or move in the temple of the Most High ; for the whole universe is that temple. 
 "Wherever we go, the testimony to His power, the impress of His hand, are there. Ask of the bright worlds around 
 us, as they roll in the everlasting harmony of their circles ; and they shall tell you of Him, whose power launched 
 them on their courses. Ask of the mountains, that lift their heads among and above the clouds ; and the bleak 
 summit of one shall seem to call aloud to the snow-clad top of another, in proclaiming their testimony to the Agency 
 which has laid their deep foundations. Ask of ocean's waters ; and the roar of their boundless waves shall chant 
 from shore to shore a hymn of ascription to that Being, who hath said, " Hitherto shall ye come and no further." 
 Ask of the rivers ; and, as they roll onward to the sea, do they not bear along their ceaseless tribute to the ever- 
 working Energy, which struck open their fountains and poured them down through the valleys ? Ask of every 
 region of the earth, from the burning equator to the icy pole, from the rock-bound coast to the plain covered with 
 its luxuriant vegetation ; and you will find on them all the record of the Creator's presence. Ask of the 
 countless tribes of plants and animals : and shall they not testify to the action of the great Source of Life ? Yes, 
 from every portion, from every department of Nature, comes the same voice : everywhere we hear Thy name, 
 O God ; everywhere we see Thy love. Creation, in all its length and breadth, in all its depth and height, is the 
 manifestation of Thy Spirit, and without Thee the world were dark and dead. The universe is to us as the burning 
 bush which the Hebrew leader saw : God is ever present in it, for it burns with His glory, and the ground on which 
 we stand is always holy. 
 
 How then can we speak of that Presence as peculiarly in the sanctuary, which is abroad through all space 
 and time ? Francis. 
 
 GOD the Fountain of Beatitude. 
 
 Thou art the source and centre of all minds, 
 Their only point of rest, Eternal Word ! 
 From Thee departing, they are lost, and rove 
 At random, without honour, hope, or peace. 
 For this is all that soothes the life of man, 
 His high endeavour, and his glad success, 
 
 His strength to suffer, and his will to serve. 
 But, ! thou bounteous Giver of all good, 
 Thou art, of all Thy gifts, Thyself the crown ! 
 Give what Thou canst ; without Thee we are poor, 
 And with Thee rich ; take what Thou wilt away. 
 
 Cowper. 
 
 GOD An Indian's Conceptions of. 
 
 "Who is it that causeth the rain to rise in the high mountains, and to empty itself into the ocean? Who is it 
 that causes to blow the loud winds of winter, and that calms them again in the summer ? Who is it that rears up 
 the shade of those lofty forests, and blasts them with the quick lightning at His pleasure ? The same Being who 
 gave to you a country on the other side of the waters, and gave ours to us ; and by this title we will defend it. 
 
 Quoted by Lord Erskine. 
 GOD Confidence in. 
 
 How calmly may we commit ourselves to the hands of Him who bears up the world of Him who has created, 
 and who provides for the joys even of insects, as carefully as if He were their father ! Richter. 
 
APPKNMX. 
 
 507 
 
 GOD- Clemency of. 
 
 God ! who IN tho Father of spirits, is tho most tolerant Man I who is the first of animals, is the most 
 oppressive yet he calls himself the shadow of the Almighty. Man become* angry, and punishes for even- little 
 
 t ; (I...1 livurs with nil the insults and vices of man, who daily and hourly is employed in endeavouring to 
 Him. Man pretends to admire the benign nature of tho I \et when he see* another imitate His 
 
 <1< money and good-nature, ho calls him a fool. So mm h f.>r man's consistency. Jerdan. 
 
 GOD the Creator. 
 
 II IU IH MADE THE EARTH BY II IS TOWER, Hi HATH ESTABLISHED THE WORLD BV HlS WISDOM, AHD HATH STRETCHED 
 OUT IIIK UK AVESS BY HlS DISCRETION. Jtremiah. 
 
 GOD Decrees of. 
 
 For men to judge of their condition by the decrees of God which are hid from us, and not by His word which 
 is near us and in our hearts, is as if a man wandering in the wide sea, in a dark night when the heaven is 
 all clotiikil about, should yet resolve to steer his course by the stars which he cannot see, but only guess 
 at, and neglect the compass, which is at hand, and would afford him a much better and more certain direction. 
 
 TiOotnon. 
 GOD -Duty to. 
 
 I cannot but take notice of the wonderful love of God to mankind, who, in order to encourage obedience to 
 His laws, has annexed a present as well as a future reward to a good life ; and has so interwoven our duty and 
 h >]>piness together, that, while we are discharging our obligations to the one, we are, at the same time, making the 
 best provision fur the other. Mclmoth. 
 
 GOD Eternity of. 
 
 n as darkness, sclf-impregned, brings forth 
 itivc light, and silence, speech ; so beams, 
 
 Known through all ages, hope and help of man, 
 
 One Qod omnific, sole, original, 
 
 GOD -in Everything. 
 
 One Spirit His 
 
 Who wore the platted thorns with bleeding brows 
 Rules universal nature. Not a flower 
 But shows some touch in freckle, streak, or stain, 
 i M' His unriraU'd pencil. He inspires 
 Tin ir balmy odours, and imparts their hues, 
 And bathes their eyes with nectar, and includes 
 In grains as countless as the sea-side sands. 
 
 Wine wonder-working wieldor of the whole, 
 Infinite, inconceivable, immense, 
 The midst without beginning, and the first 
 From the beginning, and of all Heinji last. 
 
 H<iilry. 
 
 The forms with which He sprinkles all the earth, 
 Happy who walks with Him ; whom what be finds 
 Of flavour or of scent in fruit or flower, 
 Or what he views of beautiful or grand 
 In Nature, from the broad majestic oak, 
 To the green blade that twinkles in the sun, 
 Prompts with remembrance of a present God. 
 
 L'otcper. 
 
 There is no creature in the world, wherein we may not see enough to wonder at : for there is no worm of the 
 earth, no spire of grass, no leaf, no twig, wherein we see not the footsteps of a Deity : tho best visible creature is 
 man ; now what man is he that can make but an hair, or a straw, much less any sensitive creature, so as no less 
 than an infinite power is seen in every object that presents itself to our eyes : if, therefore, we look only on the 
 outside of those bodily substances, and we do not see God in everything, we are no better than brutish ; make use 
 merely of our sense without the least improvement of our faith or <>ur reason. Contrary, then, to the opinion of 
 those men, who hold that a wise man should admire nothing, I say that a truly wise and good mail should 
 admire everything, or rather that infiniteneuR of wisdom and omnipotence which shows itself in every visible 
 object. Mishap Hall. 
 
 GOD Existence of. 
 
 A n.l can there be who doubt there is a God, 
 Aii'l li!'- eternal ! When the river flows, 
 Deny the- fuimtuin-hcad who will, the wave, 
 That, i-iirlin.', murmurs farthest from its source, 
 That source attests. Show me some well-wrought work 
 Of matter or of mind ; though you produce 
 
 No author, I conclude that such there was, 
 
 Or this had never been, and give him praise. 
 
 And why should sense demur ? \Y)i< n th- poor slave, 
 
 Doom'd by some tyrant's hard decree to starve, 
 
 Wakes in his dungeon, on his rocky bed, 
 
 From sleep, then wildly casts his eyes aruund, 
 
 3 u 
 
508 
 
 THE EVIDENCE OF THINGS NOT SEEN. 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 As if in search of death, let him espy 
 
 In osier frame sweet herbage of the field 
 
 To greet his famish'd lip, and from the spring, 
 
 In earthen jar, the lucid draught to cheer 
 
 His parching tongue; will he not straight exclaim 
 
 That some kind hand hath oped his prison door, 
 
 And brought this bounty ? Will he not invoke 
 
 A blessing on the donor as he tastes, 
 
 And feels the temperate tide of health return 
 
 To cool the heated vessels of his heart, 
 
 And pacify the fever in his brain ? 
 
 Tell him 'twas chance : but no ; you could not thus 
 
 Abuse his ear, nor wound his swelling soul 
 
 In presence of the angel Gratitude. 
 
 Cowper. 
 
 GOD Argument for the Existence of. 
 
 There is no greater, at least no more palpable and convincing, argument of the existence of a Deity, than the 
 admirable art and wisdom that discovers itself in the make and constitution, the order and disposition, the ends and 
 uses, of all the parts and members of this stately fabric of heaven and earth. For if in the works of art, as for 
 example a curious edifice or machine, counsel, design, and direction to an end, appearing in the whole frame, and 
 in all the several pieces of it, do necessarily infer the being and operation of some intelligent architect or engineer, 
 why shall not also in the works of nature, that grandeur and magnificence, that excellent contrivance for beauty, 
 order, use, &c., which is observable in them, wherein they do as much transcend the effects of human art as 
 infinite power and wisdom exceeds finite, infer the existence and efficiency of an Omnipotent and All-wise Creator ? 
 
 Ray. 
 
 GOD Nature demonstrating the Existence of. 
 
 Little facts and circumstances, in the economy of Almighty God, have irresistible charms for me, and serve, 
 like others more prominent, to show the perfect and beautiful manner in and for which everything has been 
 created. In contemplating them, what a delightful lesson may we not leam ! We may find in them the strongest 
 testimonies of the truth of revelation, and the superintendence of an all-wise and benevolent Creator. It has been 
 well said, that in the book of Nature is written in the plainest characters the existence of a God which Revelation 
 takes for granted ; of a God how full of contrivance ! how fertile in expedients ! how benevolent in his ends ! At 
 work everywhere, everywhere too with equal diligence; leaving nothing incomplete; finishing "the hinge in the 
 wing of an insect," as perfectly as if it were all He had to do ; unconfounded by the multiplicity of objects, undis- 
 tracted by their dispersion, unwearied by their incessant demands on Him, fresh as on that day when the morning- 
 stars first sang together, and all nature shouted for joy. Jesse. 
 
 GOD Necessity for the Existence of. 
 
 Notwithstanding the consequences which may justly be dreaded by sinful and incorrigible beings, it is 
 certainly of all things most desirable that there should be a God. Social order, and civil government, with all the 
 sublime contemplations of religion, its dignifying effect, and powerful consolations, clearly depend on the grand 
 principle, that there is a Being who made and who governs the universe. Such a Being must be infinitely worthy 
 of the adoration of His rational creatures; He must have a claim on their implicit obedience; and to Him they 
 must all be accountable. Here lie the foundations of human happiness, and particularly of that moral excellence, 
 which even in this life approximates the rational creature to its highest attainable perfection ; here too are the 
 securities, and the only effective securities, of every constitution calculated to promote the present or the future 
 felicities of man. Duncan. 
 
 GOD Creation Glorifies. 
 
 Every created thing glorifies God in its place, by fulfilling His will, and the great purpose of His providence : 
 but man alone can give tongue to every creature, and pronounce for all a general doxology. Kirby. 
 
 GOD Holiness of. 
 
 Had not the covenant of mercy been infinitely holy, man could never have been saved. We stand in need of 
 holiness as well as mercy. The grace of God in the child of God is infinitely more glorifying to God than the sun 
 which shines by day, or the moon and stars which govern the night. Holiness raises man more highly above his 
 fellow-men, than reason elevates him above the brute creation. The holiness of God reigns in hell, and ever will 
 reign there : nor is the holiness of God less glorified in the condemnation of the wicked than in the salvation 
 of the righteous. The law which executes the criminal is just as holy as the law which declares, " Thou shalt not 
 kill." Howels. 
 
AIVKM.IV i ;<>|'. KB 
 
 GOD Immutability of. 
 
 OK m.ii M\-I THOU UAH' mi t"iM. \IION OF THE EARTH: AM. rut HEAVENS ARK THE WORK or Tin HAM*. THICT 
 
 -MAI. I. ri.KMI, 1.1 I 'I'll.. i -II u I I \i ! 1:1 : TEA, ALL OF THEM SHALL WAX OLD LIKE A GARMENT: AS A VESTURE SHALT THOU 
 
 K HUM. IM. no \ -n \i i 1. 1 . n v\..i i. m i Tiii.r AI;I mi: SAMK, AXD THY YEARS SHALL HAVE KO ENP. Mini/. 
 
 GOD Majesty and Justice of. 
 
 \\IIM linli Id TERRIBLE MAJESTY. TOUCHING TIIK Al.Mli.lllY. \M \s\. i IIM- HlM OUT: HE 18 EXCELLENT IN 
 IM\M:I;. AMI ]s .ICU.MKNT. AM. IN PLENTY OF JUSTICE : Hi \MII M.I AH 1 1. i. Mix H. THEREFORE FKAR HlM. JA 
 
 GOD Kindness of. 
 
 1' - II HATH SET HIS LOVE UPOX ME, THEREFORE WILL I DELIVER HIM : I WILL SET HIM ON HIGH, BECAUSE HE 
 
 M Mil hN'.u N M , s SMI . H SHALL CALL UIN ME, AND I WILL ANSWER HIM. I WILL BE WITH HIM IN TROUBLE; I WILL 
 I.H.1MK HIM AM. HONOUR HIM. WlTH LONG LIFE WILL I SATISFY HIM AND SHEW HIM MY SAI \ \l IV l>,ind. 
 
 GOD Living Without 
 
 Tin- high and the low, tho young and the old, the busy and the idle, alike shun acquaintance with God, a* 
 if Hi- v.-rv name brought uneasiness, and disturbed our comfort and repose. If wo mention <iod to the young, we 
 too often seem to be troubling them with what they had rather forget in such early days: while the aged ili.-li!>. 
 to bo reminded of their mibforlune, that their time on earth is drawing near to an end. If we mention (iod to 
 the gay and happy, we appear to be interfering with their pleasure*. If we mention Him to the great and to the 
 learned, they will intimate that Mich subjects belong rather to an humbler clans and station. But the pour and 
 laborious, on their part, refer us to those who have more information and more leisure. Thus a large portion of 
 mankind, in all classes, strive to keep God out of their thought*, and to live, no far aa in them lies, without Him in 
 the world. Yes, without Him, who, as the Apostle says, it not far from any one of u ; for in Him tee live, and move, 
 and hare our Itfiny. Why should they act so strangely and unreasonably, if they believed that acquaintance with 
 (Iod would give them peace. liishofi Sumntr. 
 
 GOD the Creator of Light. 
 
 GOD SAID, LET THERE BE LIGHT, AND THERE WAS LIGHT. MUM*. 
 
 GOD - Love of. 
 
 It is the nature of every artificer to tender and esteem his own work; and if God should not love Ili- 
 croature, it would reflect some disparagement upon His workmanship, that He should make anything that He 
 could not own. God's power never produces what His goodness cannot embrace. God oftentimes, in the same 
 man, distinguishes between the sinner and the creature; aa a creature, He can love him, while M a sinner He does 
 afflict him. *""' 
 
 GOD Celestial Love of. 
 
 < Yl.-Mial love, with tho affections of good and truth, and the perceptions thence derived, and at the same 
 time with the delights of these affections and the thoughts thence derived, may be compared to a tree with beau- 
 tiful branches, leaves, and finite ; the life's love is that tree ; the branches, with the leaves, are the affection! of 
 good and truth, with their perceptions ; and the fruite are the delights of the affections, with their thoughts. 
 
 Swedttborg. 
 
 GOD -Universal Love of. 
 
 Canst thou betierc the vast eternal mind 
 
 Wat e'er to Sy rts and Libyan nndi confined ? 
 
 That He would cbooae this waste, this barren ground, 
 
 To teach the thin inhabitant* around, 
 
 And leave 11U truth in wilds and dcaerU drown'd ? 
 
 l!i>ux. 
 
 3 u 2 
 
510 
 
 THE EVIDENCE OF THINGS NOT SEEN. 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 There is an Eye that never sleeps 
 Beneath the wing of night ; 
 
 There is an Ear that never shuts 
 When sink the beams of light. 
 
 There is an Arm that never tires 
 When human strength gives way ; 
 
 There is a Love that never fails 
 
 When earthly loves decay. 
 That Eye is fix'd on seraph throngs ; 
 That Ear is fill'd with angels' songs ; 
 That Arm upholds the worlds on high ; 
 That Love is throned beyond the sky. 
 
 The perfect love of God knoweth. no difference between the poor and the rich. 
 
 Heber. 
 
 Pacuvius. 
 
 GOD Blessedness of Loving. 
 
 Unto them that love him, God causeth all things to work for the best. So that with Him, by the heavenly 
 light of steadfast faith, they see life even in death; with Him, even in heaviness and sorrow, they fail not 
 of joy and comfort; with Him even in poverty, affliction, and trouble, they neither perish, nor are forsaken. 
 
 Coverdale. 
 GOD Beauty of the Name of. 
 
 There is a beauty in the name appropriated by the Saxon nations to the Deity, unequalled, except by His 
 most venerated Hebrew appellation. They called Him " GOD," which is literally " THE GOOD." The same word 
 signifying the Deity, and His most endearing quality. Turner. 
 
 GOD Omnipotence of. 
 
 Who guides below, and rules above : 
 
 The great Disposer, and the mighty King : 
 
 Than He none greater, next Him none, 
 
 That can be, is, or was : 
 
 Supreme, He singly fills the throne. 
 
 Horace. 
 
 Power is that glorious attribute of God Almighty, which furnishes the rest of His perfections. 'Tis His 
 omnipotence that makes His wisdom and goodness effectual, and succeed to the length of His will. Thus, His 
 decrees are immutable, and His counsels stand; this secures His prerogative, and guards the sovereignty of His 
 being; 'twas His power which made His ideas fruitful, and struck the world out of His thought. 'Twas this 
 which answered the model of the creation, gave birth to time and nature, and brought them forth at His first call . 
 thus, He spake the word, and they were made ; He commanded, and they were created. 'Tis the divine power 
 which is the basis of all things ; which continues the vigour of the second causes, and keeps the sun and moon in 
 repair. This holds everything constant to appointment, and true to the first plan ; the revolutions of the seasons, 
 the support of animals, the perpetuity of species, is carried on and maintained. Without this, things would soon 
 run riot, and ramble out of distinction ; the succours of life would be cut off, and nature drop into decaj-. Om- 
 niscience and goodness without a correspondent power would be strangely short of satisfaction ; to know everything 
 without being able to supply defects, and remedy disorders, must prove an Tinpleasant speculation ; to see so many 
 noble schemes languish in the mind and prove abortive ; to see the most consummate wisdom, the most generous 
 temper, fettered and disarmed, must be a grievance ; but when omnipotence comes into the notion, the grandeur is 
 perfect and the pleasure entire. Jeremy Cottier. 
 
 GOD Omnipresence of. 
 
 LORD, THOU HAST SEARCHED ME, AND KNOWN ME. THOU KNOWEST MY DOWNSITTING AND MINE UPRISING, THOU 
 UNDERSTANDEST MY THOUGHT AFAR OFF. THOU COMPASSEST MY PATH AND MY LYING DOWN, AND ART ACQUAINTED WITH ALL 
 MY WAYS. FOR THERE IS NOT A WORD IN MY TONGUE, BUT LO, LORD, THOU KNOWEST IT ALTOGETHER. WHITHER SHALL 
 
 I GO FROM THY SPIRIT ? OR WHITHER SHALL I FLEE FROM THY PRESENCE ? IF I ASCEND UP INTO HEAVEN, THOU ART THERE : 
 IF I MAKE MY BED IN HELL, BEHOLD THOU ART THERE. IF I TAKE THE WINGS OF THE MORNING, AND DWELL IN THE 
 UTTERMOST PARTS OF THE SEA ; EVEN THERE SHALL THY HAND LEAD ME, AND THY RIGHT HAND SHALL HOLD ME. IF I SAY, 
 
 SURELY THE DARKNESS SHALL COVER ME ; EVEN THE NIGHT SHALL BE LIGHT ABOUT ME. YEA, THE DARKNESS HIDETH NOT 
 FROM THEE ; BUT THE NIGHT SHINETH AS THE DAY : THE DARKNESS AND THE LIGHT ARE BOTH ALIKE TO THEE. David. 
 
.\ITI.\M\. 
 
 GOD. 
 
 .Ml 
 
 What can 'scape the eye 
 Of God, all-teeing, or detain, Hi* heart 
 
 M ft 
 
 ; everywhere ! the Ood who framed 
 Mankind to be one mighty family, 
 llimnclf our Fatlier, and the world <mr liomr. 
 
 What would you say, if wherever yon turned, whatever yon were doing, whatever thinking, whether in 
 public or private. witli a confidential frii-inl. telling your secrete, or alone planning them, if, I say, you saw an eye 
 i inly fixed on you, from whose watching, though you Btrove ever no much, you could never escape; and even 
 it 'you ,-loeed your own oyo to avoid, you still fancied that to get rid of it was impossible, that it could perceive 
 y..iir every thought? The supposition is awful enough. There it such an Eye, though the business and struggle* 
 of tin- world too often prevent us from considering tliis awful truth. In crowds we are too much int. i 
 nipti-d. in the pursuit of self-interest we are too much perverted, in camps we are struggling for life and 
 death. in courts we see none but the eye of a human sovereign ; nevertheless, the Divine eye is always 
 np..n us, and when we K-iutt think of it, is noting all, and, whatever wo may think of it, will remember all. 
 
 There is something in the thought of being surrounded, even upon earth, by the Majesty on high, that gives 
 a peculiar elevation and serenity of soul. To be assured in tho loneliest hour of unknown or neglected HOITOW, 
 ill it i-Yi-ry sigh ascends to the eternal Throne, and every secret prayer can be heard in heaven; to feel that, in 
 every act of conscious rectitude, the heart can appeal, amidst all tho contradictions of sinners, to One who eet h 
 not as man seeth, produces a peace which the world can never give. Feeling itself, like Enoch walking with < !. 
 the heart perceives a spirituality and purity in every joy, a mercy and a balm in every sorrow, and, exalted above 
 tho intrusions of an intermeddling world, has its " conversation in heaven." Alather. 
 
 GOD -Omniscience of. 
 
 Though all the doors are sure, and all our servants 
 As sure bound with their sleeps, yet there is One 
 That wakes above, whose eye no sleep can bind. 
 He sees through doors, and darkness, and our thoughts ; 
 
 And therefore, as we should avoid with fear, 
 T" think ami** ourselves before His search. 
 So should we be as carious to shun 
 All cause that others think not ill of us. 
 
 GOD Presence of. 
 
 At whose sight all ihc stars 
 Hide their diminish'd heads. 
 
 JftZfon. 
 
 GOD Loving Presence of. 
 
 God is the light which, never seen itself, makes all things visible, and clothes itself in colours. Thii>> 
 feels not its ray, but thine heart feels its warmth. Rirhttr. 
 
 GOD Protection of. 
 
 Tin: AN'JKL OK TIIK I.nRIl KM AMI'KTIl lUU'M. ABOUT THEM THAI KKAK HlM. ASH LK1.I VKP.KI II HUM. 
 
 Da 
 
 GOD Providence of. 
 
 Must not the conduct of a parent seem very unaccountable to a child when its inclinations are thwartl . 
 when it is put to learn letters; when it is obliged to wwallow bitter physic; to part with what it likes, and to 
 u Her, and do, and see many things done, contrary to its own judgment? Will it not. therefore, follow from li< 
 by a parity of reason, that the little child man, when it takes upon itself to judge of parental ptovidence a thing 
 if yesterday to criticise the economy of the Ancient of Dayt will it not follow, I say. that such a judge of mu-li 
 matters must be apt to make very erroneous judgments, esteeming those things in themselves unaccountable wliidi 
 he cannot account for ; and concluding of some things, from an appearance of arbitrary carriage towards him, whii-h 
 is suited to his infancy and ignorance, that they are in themselves capricious or absurd, and cannot proceed from a 
 wise, just, and benevolent ( lod? Itrrkdey. 
 
 GOD Belief in the Superintendence of. 
 
 When any one acknowledges a moral governor of the world ; perceives that d'-im-Mi'- and social relations are 
 perpetually operating, and seem intended to operate, to retain and direct men in the path of duty : and feels that 
 
THE EVIDENCE OF THINGS NOT SEEN. APPENDIX. 
 
 the voice of conscience, the peace of heart which results from a course of virtue, and the consolations of devotion, 
 are ever ready to assume their office, as our guides and aids in the conduct of all our actions ; he will probably be 
 willing to acknowledge also that the means of a moral government of each individual are not wanting : and will 
 no longer be oppressed or disturbed by the apprehension that the superintendence of the world may be too difficult 
 for its Kuler, and that any of His subjects and servants may be overlooked. He will no more fear that the moral 
 than that the physical laws of God'.s creation should be forgotten in any particular case : and as he knows that 
 every sparrow which falls to the ground contains in its structure innumerable marks of the Divine care and 
 kindness, he will be persuaded that every man, however apparently humble and insignificant, will have his moral 
 being dealt with according to the laws of God's wisdom and love; will be enlightened, supported, and raised, 
 if he use the appointed means which God's administration of the world of moral light and good offers to his use. 
 
 Whewell. 
 GOD Necessity for the Superintendence of. 
 
 Our existence is dependent on a succession of changes, which are taking place at every moment in ourselves, 
 over which we have no power whatever, but of which, each one involves the necessity of the existence, and the 
 superintending power, of the Deity. The existence of the whole material universe is of the same nature. Now, 
 each of these changes is, with infinite skill, adapted to the relative conditions of all the beings whom they affect, 
 and they are subjected to laws, which are most evident expressions of Almighty power, of unsearchable wisdom, 
 and exhaustless goodness. Now, were we merely intellectual beings, it would not be possible for us to consider 
 anything more than these laws themselves ; but, inasmuch as we are intellectual and also moral beings, we are 
 capable not only of considering the laws, but also the attributes, of the Creator from whom such laws are the 
 emanations. As everything which we can know teaches a lesson concerning God ; if we connect that lesson with 
 everything we learn, everything will be resplendent with the attributes of Deity. By using, in this manner, the 
 knowledge which is everywhere spread before us, we shall habitually cultivate a devout temper of mind. Thus, 
 " the heavens will declare unto us the glory of God, and the firmament will show His handy work ;" thus, " day 
 unto day will utter speech, and night unto night show forth knowledge of Him." Wayland. 
 
 GOD Supremacy of. 
 
 THINE, LORD, is THE GREATNESS, AND THE POWER, AND THE GLORY, AND THE VICTORY, AND THE MAJESTY : FOR ALL 
 
 THAT IS IN THE HEAVEN AND IN THE EARTH, IS THINE ; THINE IS THE KINGDOM, LORD, AND TllOU ART EXALTED AS HEAD 
 ABOVE ALL. David. 
 
 THOU, EVEN THOU, ART LORD ALONE ; THOU HAST MADE HEAVEN, THE HEAVEN OF HEAVENS WITH ALL THEIR HOST, 
 THE EARTH AND ALL THINGS THAT ARE THEREIN, THE SEAS AND ALL THAT IS THEREIN, AND THOU PRESERVEST THEM ALL. 
 
 Nehemiah. 
 
 GOD Will of. 
 
 I cannot tell by what logic we call a toad, a bear, and an elephant, ugly, they being created in those 
 outward shapes and figures which best express the actions of their inward forms, and having past that general 
 visitation of God, who saw that all that He had made was good, that is, conformable to His will, which abhors 
 deformity, and is the rule of order and beauty. Sir Thomas Brown. 
 
 GOD Perfection of the Works of. 
 
 What an immense workman is God ! in miniature as well as in the great. With the one hand, perhaps, He 
 is making a ring of one hundred thousand miles in diameter, to revolve round a planet like Saturn, and with the 
 other is forming a tooth in the ray of the feather of a humming-bird, or a point in the claw of the foot of a 
 microscopic insect. When He works in miniature, every thing is gilded, polished, and perfect, but whatever is 
 made by human art, as a needle, &c., when viewed by a microscope, appears rough, and coarse, and bungling. 
 
 Bishop Law. 
 
 GOD Worship of. 
 
 God is the source and fountain of love, and which may be divided into three parts the receiving from Him, 
 the conforming to Him, and the reposing and trusting in Him. Barton. 
 
 It were better to have no opinion of God at all, than such an opinion as is unworthy of Him ; for the one is 
 unbelief, and the other is contumely; and certainly superstition is the reproach of the Deity. Bacon. 
 
AI-I-KNI.IX. CHRIST. U 
 
 CHRIST -Divine Attributes of. 
 
 < Ini-i is a rare jewel, but men know not Hit value; a aun which over shines, but men perceive nut His 
 nor walk in His light. Ho is a garden full of sweets, a hive full of honey, a sun without a spot, a star 
 ever bright, a fountain over full, a brook which ever flow*, a rose which ever blooms, a foundation which > 
 \ i.-Ms, a guide who never em, a friend who never forsake*. No mind can fully grasp Ilia glory ; His beauty. 1 1 . - 
 worth, His importance, no tongue can fully declare. He is the source of all good, the fountain of every excellency, 
 tin- mirror of jH-iie.-tion, the light of heaven, tho wonder of earth, time's masterpiece, and eternity's glory; the sun 
 of Miss, tin- wa\ of life, and life's fair way. " Ho is altogether lovely," says the saint; a morning without rloii.U. 
 a day without m-_hi. .1 i,. without a thorn ; His lips drop like the honeycomb, His eyes beam totiderncw. I! ~ 
 heart gushes love. Tho Christian is fed by His hands, carried in His heart, supported by His arm, nursed in 
 His IMISOIH. gni.led l.y His eye, instructed by His lips, warmed by His love; His wounds are his lif.'. His smile 
 the light of his path, the health of his soul, his rest and heaven below. IMffrn. 
 
 In Him, the solf-existent and infinite mind, the Christian beholds unceasing!)' an object of boundless 
 sublimity, grandeur, beauty, and loveliness, commanding by the disclosure of His character, and exhausting all 
 finite admiration, complacency, love, and praise, expanding every view, refining every affection, and ennobling 
 every attribute. 
 
 His >\MK MULL BE CALLED WONDERFUL, COUNSELLOR, THE Ml ..... V Col), THB EVERLASTING FATIIK!:. I UK Pl;lN. I <i 
 
 PEACE. Itaiah. 
 
 CHRIST -Benevolent Character of. 
 
 In the beautiful character of the blessed Jesus there was not a more striking feature than a certain M -u-i- 
 bility, which disposed Him to take part in every one's affliction to which he was a witness, and to be ready to 
 afford it a miraculous relief. He was apt to bo particularly touched by instances of domestic distress, in which the 
 suffering arises from those feelings of friendship, growing out of natural affection and habitual endearment, whirl. 
 constitute the perfection of man as a social creature, and distinguish the society of the humankind from the 
 inline; iv- herdings of the lower animals. drji. 
 
 CHRIST Divinity of. 
 
 Is HIM IiWKLLETII ALL THE FULXES OF THE GODHEAD BODILY. St. I'aiil. 
 
 CHRIST Fidelity to. 
 
 \\.- indeed may not bo called upon to make any very difficult sacrifices on account uf our religion, or to 
 undergo any extremity of labour, or to incur any signal dangers in that behalf. Yet the faithful < 'hristian will 
 always find occasions in which ho may testify his fidelity to Christ, by labouring to instruct the ignorant, and by 
 administering assistance and comfort to his afflicted brethren. And ho who engages in these works and labours of 
 love, provided he engage in them with Christian prudence as well as < 'hristian benevolence, is manifesting thereby 
 a laudable attachment to Christian faith. Rithop Mant. 
 
 CHRIST-Gentleness of. llie ^ of mtn 
 
 That e'er wore earth about him wai a sufferer, 
 
 A soft, meek, patient, humble, tranquil spirit : 
 
 The first true gentleman that ever breatlic-d. 
 
 Mhr. 
 CHRIST-and Godhead. 
 
 The moon, a softer but not less beautiful object than the sun, it-turns and communicates to mankind tin- 
 light of the sun, in a gentle and delightful manner, exactly suited to the strength of the human eye ; an DhUrfMM 
 and most beautiful emblem, in this and several other respects, of the divine I.Yd.-em.-r "f mankind ; who, softening 
 the splendour of the Godhead, brings it to the eye of the understanding, in a manner fitted to the strength of the 
 mind, so that, without being overwhelmed or distressed, it can thus behold "the light of the knowledge of th< 
 glory of i ; o,l in the face of Jesus Chi: '*/. 
 
 CHRIST Benign Influence of. 
 
 He walked in Judea eighteen hundred years ago; His sphere melody, flowing in wild native tones, took cajitiv. 
 
 the ravished souls ..f men, and, being of a truth sphere melody, still flows and sounds, though now with thonwind-fohi 
 
 mpanimentfl and rich symphonies, through all our hearts, and modulates and divinely leads them. ( 'o 
 
r>14 THE EVIDENCE OF THINGS NOT SEEN. APPENDIX. 
 
 CHRIST Life of. 
 
 I find the life of Christ made up of two parts ; a part 1 can sympathize with as a man, and a part on which i 
 am to gaze ; a beam sent down from heaven which I can see and love, and another beam shot into the infinite that 
 I cannot comprehend. Barr. 
 
 * CHRIST Every instance of Love to, is a case of reconciled affection. 
 
 " How should a Jew, the particulars of whose history are better attested than that of any of his contemporaries^ 
 how should he alone, the son of a carpenter, give out all at once that he was God, the Creator of all things ? 
 He arrogates to himself the highest adoration. He constructs his worship with his own hands, not with stones but 
 with men. You are amazed at the conquests of Alexander. But here is a conqueror who appropriates to his own 
 advantage, who incorporates with himself, not a nation, but the human race. Wonderful ! the human soul with 
 all its faculties becomes blended with the existence of Christ. And how ? By a prodigy surpassing all other 
 prodigies, he seeks the love of men, the most difficult thing in the world to obtain; he seeks what a wise man 
 would fain have from a few friends, a father from his children, a wife from a husband, a brother from a brother, 
 in a word, the heart ; this he seeks, this he absolutely requires, and he gains his object. Hence I infer his divinity. 
 Alexander, Csesar, Hannibal, Louis XIV., with all their genius, failed here. They conquered the world, and had 
 not a friend. 
 
 " Christ speaks, and at once generations become his by stricter, closer ties than those of blood, by the most 
 .sacred, most indissoluble of all unions. He lights up the flame of a love which consumes self-love, which prevails 
 over every other love. 
 
 " The founders of other religions never conceived of this mystical love, which is the essence of Christianity, 
 and is beautifully called charity. Hence it is that they have struck upon a rock. In every attempt to 
 effect this thing, namely, to make himself helmed, man deeply feels his own impotence. So that Christ's greatest 
 miracle undoubtedly is the reign of charity. All who sincerely believe in him taste this wonderful, supernatural, 
 exalted love. The more I think of this, I admire it the more ; and it convinces me absolutely of the divinity of 
 Christ. 
 
 " I have inspired multitudes with such affection for me that they would die for me. God forbid that I should 
 compare the soldier's enthusiasm with Christian charity, which are as unlike as their cause. But, after all, my 
 presence was necessary, the lightning of my eye, my voice, a word from me, then the sacred fire was kindled in 
 their hearts. I do, indeed, possess the secret of this magical power which lifts the soul, but 1 could never impart 
 it to any one ; none of my generals ever learnt it from me ; nor have I the secret of perpetuating my name and 
 love for me in the hearts of men, and to effect these things without physical means. 
 
 " Now that I am at St. Helena, now that I am alone, chained to this rock, who fights and wins empires fur 
 me? Where are any to share my misfortune, any to think of me? Who bestirs himself for me in Europe? Who 
 remains faithful to me? where are my friends? Yes, two or three of you, who are immortalized by this fidelity, 
 ye share, ye alleviate my exile. Such is the fate of great men. So it was with Csesar and Alexander, and I too 
 am forgotten ; and the name of a conqueror and an emperor is a college theme : our exploits are tasks given to 
 pupils by their tutor, who sits in judgment upon us, awarding us censure or praise. Such is soon to be the fate of 
 the great Napoleon. What a wide abyss between my deep misery and the eternal kingdom of Christ, which is 
 proclaimed, loved, adored, and which is extended over all the earth ! Is this death ? is it not life rather ? The 
 death of Christ is the death of a God." Napoleon Bonaparte* 
 
 * I insert this extract as it is beautifully expressed ; I have, how- ; effusion of a soul which bequeaths with its greatness, its failings, its 
 ever, no proofs of its authenticity beyond the statement of Mr. truth, and its repentance to the world." 
 
 Nehemiah Adams, D.D., who gave it as hero quoted in a sermon 
 preached before the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign 
 Missions, September, 1855, on the authority of Dr. G. de Felice, 
 Professor in the Theological Seminary nt ftTonfonban, France, in a 
 letter to the ' New York Observer,' April 16, 1842. 
 
 I would gladly believe its verity, but I am afraid what Lamartine 
 says, in his ' Histoire de la Restauration,' of the Captivity of St. 
 Helena is too true : 
 
 " That monologue of six years, which lie addressed to the world 
 from the summit of his rock, and the most trivial words of which 
 were registered by his courtiers to be transmitted to his myrmidons 
 os the gospel of party, was nothing more than a long diplomatic 
 nnte, void of good faith, addressed to his partisans, and speaking in 
 turns the language of all the factions that he wished to nourish with 
 his memory, instead of being the disiutcivi-ted, sincere, and religious 
 
 Forsyth, in his ' Correspondence of Sir Hudson Lowe,' concludes 
 with an able resume of the character of Napoleon, and in the fol- 
 lowing words reminds us of a trulh that certain books recently 
 published would strive to ignore : 
 
 " Can we, then, be so infatuated with hero-worship, so dazzled by 
 the splendour of intellectual gifts, as to allow ourselves to treat 
 gently and speak lightly of this contempt of veracity, this disdain of 
 the first and simplest requirement of tie moral law ? No more per- 
 nicious lesson can bo taught than the doctrine that success, which 
 elevates a man to the pinnacle of power, absolves him from tlie 
 obligation to observe the imperishable distinction between right and 
 wrong. And we do in effect teach that doctrine when we forbear 
 to censure in Napoleon Bonaparte a want of truth, which we should 
 condemn in another as a meanness and a disgruee.'' 
 
AITI:M>I\. 
 
 HHIST. 
 
 
 CHRIST the Person of. 
 
 A ! \\1 WKKK ASIoxislIKI' AT THEE; BIS TfflAOE WAS 80 MARRED MORE THAN AMY MAN, AMD HIS FORM MORE THAN 
 
 Itttiah, chap. lii. 14. 
 
 . . UK imii N,. FORM NOR COMELINESS; AMD WHEN WE SHALL su HIM, [THERE is] NO BEADTY THAT WE BIIOUU. 
 DHEBl HIM. Hi BBHBB) UO HJ1 B CM MIS. \ It* 01 IOUOWI UD U |l mm IRTHCBZB 1 . 
 
 Isaiah, chap. liii. 3, 4. 
 
 Kl: \ T.IUI.Y IIK TOOK MOT OM [HIM THE MATURE OF] AXOELS ; BUT HE TOOK OM [HIM] THE SKKD OT ABRAHAM. 
 
 I BO HIM IIK HI.M-II.K HUH SI im:il> HUM; TKMn ABLE TO 8COOOUR THKM Til \ I AIM I KMPTED. 
 
 Ilelimcs, chap. ii. 16, 18. 
 CHRIST always the Same. 
 
 ( II Ills 1 Till. SAME YESTERDAY, TO-DAY, AMD FOR EVER. /W. 
 
 CHRISTIAN Blessedness of being a. 
 
 I have known what the enjoyments and advantages of this life are, and what the more refined pleasures which 
 learning and intellectual power can bestow ; and with all the experience that more than threescore yean can 
 jriv.-. I, now on tho eve of my departure, declare to you (and earnestly pray that you may hereafter live and act on 
 the rimvirti.'ii) that health is a great blessing competence obtained by honourable industry a great blessing 
 and a great blessing it is to have kind, faithful, and loving friends and relatives; but, that the greatest of all 
 blessings, as it is the most ennobling of all privileges, is to be indeed a Christian. Coleridge. 
 
 CHRISTIAN not to be Despised. 
 
 However the world may affect to despise the genuine Christian, it is beyond their power; they feel too 
 sensibly tin.- necessity of attaining that very state of feeling and disposition which is displayed in such a character, 
 :> i iiu-rtuin in their heart any mean or degrading opinion of the character which they apparently undervalue. 
 Every thought which it wrung from their conscience by its unwelcome intrusion upon their contemplation, rises in 
 judgment against their indifference God has not permitted them to despise a true Christian : they may pass him 
 by with a haughty and supercilious coldness; they may deride him with a taunting and sarcastic irony; but the 
 spirit of the proudest man that ever lived will bend before tho grandeur of a Christian's humility. You are at 
 once awed, and you recoil upon your own conscience when yon meet with one whose feelings are purified by the 
 Gospel. The light of a ( 'hristian's soul, when it shines into the dark den of a worldly heart, startles and alarm* 
 the gloomy passions that are brooding within. Is this contempt? No: but all tho virulence which is excited by 
 tlio Chri>tian graces can be resolved into envy, the feeling of devils when they think on tho pure happiness of 
 angels and, to complete their confusion, what is at that moment tho feeling in tho Christian's heart ? Pity, most 
 unfeigned pity ! 1 1 "//. 
 
 CHRISTIAN- Gold in the Ore. 
 
 A Christian in this world is but gold in the ore ; at death, the pure gold is melted out and separated, and the 
 dross cast away and consumed. FlmeL 
 
 CHRISTIAN Proofs of a. 
 
 He that can apprehend and consider vice with all her baits and seeming pleasures, and yet abstain, and yet 
 distinguUh, and yet prefer that which is truly better, he is the true wayfaring Christian. I cannot praise a 
 fugitive and cloistered virtue unexercised, and unbreathed, that never sallies out and sees her adversary, but 
 slinks out of the race where that immortal garland is to be run for, not without dust and heat. 
 
 CHRISTIAN -Virtues of a. 
 
 If these be Christian virtues, 1 am a Christian : 
 The faith that can inspin- is change 
 
 Must be divine and d<>ws with alt it* God ! 
 Friendship and constancy, and right and ] 
 
 All these are lessons I had learnt before ; 
 Itnt this unnatural grandeur of the soul 
 la more than mortal, and outreaches virtue* ; 
 It draws, it charms, it binds me to be Christian. 
 
 3 \ 
 
 /mi. 
 
516 THE EVIDENCE OF THINGS NOT SEEN; APPENDIX. 
 
 CHRISTIAN Wit of a. 
 
 A Christian's wit is inoffensive light, 
 
 A beam that aids, but never grieves the sight ; 
 
 Vig'rous in age as in the flush of youth, 
 
 "Pis always active on the side of truth ; 
 
 Temp'rance and peace ensure its healthful st:ite, 
 
 And make it brightest at its latest date. 
 
 Cowper. 
 CHRISTIANS Nominal. 
 
 Many there are who, while they bear the name of Christians, are totally unacquainted with the power of their 
 divine religion. But for their crimes the Gospel is in no wise answerable. Christianity is with them a geogra- 
 phical, not a descriptive, appellation. Faber. 
 
 CHRISTIAN SOLDIER Faith of a. 
 
 It is more to the honour of a Christian soldier by faith to overcome the world, than by a monastical vow 
 to retreat from it ; and more for the honour of Christ, to serve Him in a city, than to serve Him in a cell. 
 
 Matthew Henry. 
 
 CHRISTIANITY without Ceremonial. 
 
 Christianity has no ceremonial. It has forms, for forms are essential to order ; but it disdains the folly of 
 attempting to reinforce the religion of the heart by the antics of the mind. Croly. 
 
 CHRISTIANITY Difficulties of. 
 
 Now you say, alas ! Christianity is hard : I grant it ; but gainful and happy. I contemn the difficulty, when 
 I respect the advantage. The greatest labours that have answerable requitals, are less than the least that have 
 no regard. Believe me, when I look to the reward, I would not have the work easier It is a good Master 
 whom we serve, who not only pays, but gives ; not after the proportion of our earnings, but of His own mercy. 
 
 Bishop Hall. 
 
 CHRISTIANITY Distinctions in. 
 
 The main distinction between real Christianity and the system of the bulk of nominal Christians, chiefly 
 consists in the different place which is assigned in the two schemes to the peculiar doctrines of the Gospel. 
 These, in the scheme of nominal Christians, if admitted at all, appear but like the stars of the firmament to the 
 ordinary eye. Those splendid luminaries draw forth, perhaps, occasionally, a transient expression of admiration 
 when we behold their beauty, or hear of their distances, magnitudes, or properties ; now and then, too, we are led, 
 perhaps, to muse upon their possible uses ; but, however curious as subjects of speculation, it must, after all, be 
 confessed they twinkle to the common observer with a vain and " idle " lustre ; and, except in the dreams of the 
 astrologer, have no influence on human happiness, or any concern with the course and order of the world. But to 
 the real Christian, on the contrary, these peculiar doctrines constitute the centre to which he gravitates ! the very sun of his 
 system ! the origin of dl that is excellent and lovely I the source of light, and life, and motion, and genial warmth, and plastic 
 energy ! Dim is the light of reason, and cold and comfortless our state while left to her unassisted guidance. Even 
 the Old Testament itself, though a revelation from Heaven, shines but with feeble and scanty rays. But the 
 blessed truths of the Gospel are now unveiled to our eyes, and we are called upon to behold and to enjoy " the light 
 of the knowledge of the glory of God, in the face of Jesus Christ," in the full radiance of its meridian splendour. 
 The words of Inspiration best express our highly-favoured state : " we all, with open face, beholding as in a glass 
 the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image, from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord." 
 
 Wilberforce. 
 
 CHRISTIANITY Evidences of. 
 
 As to the Christian religion, besides the strong evidence which we have for it, there is a balance in its favour 
 from the number of great men who have been convinced of its truth after a serious consideration of the question. 
 Grotius was an acute man, a lawyer, a man accustomed to examine evidence, and he was convinced. Grotius was 
 not a recluse, but a man of the world, who certainly had no bias on the side of religion. Sir Isaac Newton set out 
 an infidel, and came to be a very firm believer. Johnson. 
 
 CHRISTIANITY Gifts of. 
 
 Ours is a religion jealous in its demands, but how infinitely prodigal in its gifts ! It troubles you for an 
 hour, it repays you by immortality. Bulwer Lytton. 
 
CHi;i>ri\\rn 517 
 
 CHBISTIANITY-true to the Heart. 
 
 Christianity, which is always true to the heart, knows DO abstract virtues, but virtue* reuniting from our 
 wants, .in.l useful t all. , . . 
 
 CHBISTIANITY-Intent of. 
 
 Christianity did nut din.' from hcavon to bo the amusement of an idle hour, to bo the food of mere imagina- 
 tion; t.. be "as a very lovely song of one that hath a pleanant voice, and playeth well upon an instrument.' 
 N it i> intruded to l>e the guide, the guardian, the rom]uinion of all our hours: it in intended to be the food of 
 our immortal spirit* ; it is intended to bo the serious occupation of our whole existence. : >p Jetb. 
 
 CHRISTIANITY-not the subject of Mathematical demonstration. 
 
 1'inzy said " You do not know, perhaps, that I am in the service of the pasha, as professor of mathematics, 
 and theicfore I deimuid of you mathematical proofs of the truths of Christianity." I said, ' Do you ever eat?" 
 Fin/.y. Ws." l>r. W..1I1', Why do you do so?" Finzy, "Hunger compels me." Dr. Wolff. Can you prove 
 
 tli.it mathematically?" !>,: \\'<J/, Missionary Journal. 
 
 CHRISTIANITY Mission of. 
 
 Christ appeared the career of Paganism was cheeked, the fate of Judaism was sealed. A character and a 
 religion were placed before the eyes of men hitherto inconceivable, in the beauty and philosophy of their nature. 
 I nliko all other founders of a religious faith, Christ had no seljisJuiess, no desire of dominance ; and His system, 
 unlike all other systems of worship, was bloodless, boundlessly beneficent, inexpressibly pure, and most 
 mam-lions of all went to break all bonds of body and soul, and to cast down every temporal and every spiritual 
 tyranny. William Uvicitt. 
 
 CHRISTIANITY Divine Origin of. 
 
 < 'In istiaiiity bears all the marks of a divine original : it came down from heaven, and it gracious purpose if) 
 to cany us up thither. Its author is God ; it was foretold from the beginning, by prophecies, which grew clearer 
 and brighter OK they approached the period of their accomplishment. It was confirmed by miracles, which 
 continued till the religion they illustrated was established. It was ratified by the blood of its author; its doctrines 
 are pure, sublime, consistent; its precepts just and holy; its worship is spiiitnal; its service reasonable, and 
 rendered practicable by the offers of divine aid to human weakness. It is sanctioned by the promise of eternal 
 happiness to the faithful, and the threat of everlasting misery to the disobedient. It had no collusion with power, 
 I'. r jiower sought to crush it; it could not be in any league with the world, for it set out liy declaring itself the 
 enemy "f tin- world: it reprobated its maxims, it showed the vanity of its glories, the danger of its riches, the 
 emptiness f its pleasures. This religion does not consist in external conformity to practices which, though right 
 in themselves, may be adopted from human motives, and to answer secular purposes; it is not a religion of forms, 
 and modes, and decencies; it is being transformed into the image of God; it is being like-minded with < 'hri.-t ; it is 
 considering Him as our sanctification, as well as our redemption; it is endeavouring to live to Him here, that we 
 may live with Him hereafter. Ilunnah Afore. 
 
 CHRISTIANITY Perversion of. 
 
 It may !>< well said of many who would be displeased with you if you did not call them Christians, that had 
 ftome of the ancient heathen sages lived to the present day, to see their abominations and vices, they would have 
 despised that faith which produced no better works. 
 
 Alas ! how has the social spirit of Christianity been perverted by fools at one time, and by knaves and 
 bigots at another ; by the self-tormentors of the cell, and the all-tormentors of the conclave. Cotton. 
 
 CHRISTIANITY Teaching of. 
 
 Christianity forbids no necessary occupations, no reasonable indulgences, no innocent relaxations. It allows 
 us to use the world, provided w.- do not abuse it, It does not spread before us a delicious banquet, and then come 
 with a "touch not, taste not, handle not." All it requires is, that our liberty degenerate not into liccntiousnesa, 
 our amusements into dissipation, our industry into incessant toil, our carefulness into extreme anxiety and endless 
 solicitude. So far from forbidding us to engage in business, it expressly commands us not to be tdi.thful in it, and 
 to labour with our hands for the things that be needful; it enjoins every one to abide in the calling wherein I,. 
 
 :; \ 'j 
 
518 THE EVIDENCE OF THINGS NOT SEEN. APPENDIX. 
 
 was called, and perform all the duties of it. It even stigmatizes those that provide not for their own, with telling 
 them that they are worse than infidels. When it requires us " to be temperate in all things," it plainly tells us, 
 that we may use all things temperately; when it directs us " to make our moderation known unto all men," this 
 evidently implies, that within the bounds of moderation we may enjoy all the reasonable conveniences and comforts 
 of the present life. Bishop Porteus. 
 
 CHRISTIANITY Treatment of. 
 
 Servile and base and mercenary is the notion of Christian practice among the bulk of nominal Christians. 
 They give no more than they dare not withhold : they abstain from nothing but what they must not practise. 
 When you state to them the doubtful quality of any action, and the consequent obligation to desist from it, they 
 reply to you in the very spirit of Shylock, " they cannot find it in the bond." In short, they know Christianity 
 only as a system of restraint. She is despoiled of every liberal and generous principle : she is rendered almost 
 unfit for the social intercourses of life, and is only suited to the gloomy walls of a cloister, in which they would 
 confine her. Wilberforce. 
 
 CHBISTIANITY Value of. 
 
 We live in the midst of blessings, till we are utterly insensible of their greatness, and of the source from 
 which they flow. We speak of our civilization, our arts, our freedom, our laws, and forget entirely how large a share 
 of all is due to Christianity. Blot Christianity out of the page of man's history, and what would his laws have been ? 
 what his civilization ? Christianity is mixed up with our very being and our daily life, there is not a familiar 
 object round us which does not wear its mark, not a being or a thing which does not wear a different aspect, 
 because the light of Christian hope is on it, not a law which does not owe its truth and gentleness to Christianity, 
 not a custom which cannot be traced in all its holy and healthful parts to the Gospel. Rose. 
 
 * CHRISTIANITY Vitality of. 
 
 Waft, waft, ye winds, his story, 
 
 And you, ye waters, roll, 
 Till, like a sea of glory, 
 
 It spreads from pole to pole ; 
 Till o'er our ransom'd nature 
 
 The Lamb for sinners slain, 
 Redeemer, King, Creator, 
 
 In bliss returns to reign. 
 
 Heber. 
 
 INDEX. 
 
GENEKAL INDEX. 
 
 a 
 
 .ents, causes of, 289. 
 Aerial flotilla, Chinese, -TV 
 
 Aerial Navigation 
 Among the ancienU an attribute of the gods, 7 ; voyage of 
 Cyaxares, 30; voyage of Elmerus, 32; iU practical advan- 
 tages, 82 j its feasibility, utility, and charms, 83 ; its dangers 
 easy to bo avoided, 84 ; epitome of the progress of the art, 
 
 precedes Alpine mountaineering, 110; erroneous 
 of Monck Mason, 316; difficulties in the way, 317 ; move- 
 ments of the atmosphere, 318 ; average rate of travelling, 
 319; temporary halts, 320; opposing forces, 320; atmo- 
 spheric resistance, 321, 333, 347 ; friction, 321, 348 ; means 
 suggested to meet the difficulties, 322; natural power requi- 
 site, 326 ; human strength inadequate to guide the balloon, 
 danger of steam-power, 328; suggestions for future 
 balloon-builders, 329 ; M. Monge's work on, 334 ; synopsis 
 of difficulties, 335; M. Nadar's views, 339; M. Hairnet's, 
 344 ; Bright and dark side of the picture, 383 ; results to be 
 anticipated, 438. 
 Aerial Ships : 
 
 F. Lana's, 35 ; Honson's, 195 ; Prof. Low's, 296; Count Len- 
 nox's, 329 ; M. David's, 349. 
 .il Transit Bill, 195. 
 Aeromotives, 339. 
 
 Aeronauts, celebrated : Arban, 219; Blanchard, 79, et teq.; 
 Coxwell, 204, et ieq.; Delcourt, 204, et ieq.; Garnerin, 111, 
 et teq. ; Gay-Lussac, 117, et ieq. ; Glaisher, 231, et teq. ; Godard, 
 269, et teg. ; Green, 129, et te<j. ; Lunardi, 56, et teq. ; Monck 
 Mason, 137, et teq.; Nadar, 257, et ieq.; Sadler, 78, et >eq. ; 
 Wise, 130. 
 Aeronauts: 
 
 Swiss aeronauts in the time of Charlemagne, 27. 
 Rule* to be observed by (Nadar's), 260. 
 Necessary clothing according to the Chinese, 273. 
 M. Rozier, the first aeronaut, 43 ; Charles, 49. 
 Mad. Thible, the first female aeronaut, 54. 
 Aeronautic, Euroi>ean, Society wanted, 336. 
 Aerostatic and Meteorological Society of France, 270. 
 
 A r -ta'i'-s, 1C Moagtfr dabonto work on,8M| n| n nttln 
 
 tlio French Institute by M. Alcan, 336. 
 
 AEBOSTATIOS (Rise and Progress of). 
 
 1. Australia: 
 
 Suggestions to explore the interior, p. 225 ; introduction of 
 ballooning, 226; ascents from Melbourne and Sidney, --7. 
 
 2. China : 
 
 The Emperor Fo-kiew's balloon, p. 271 ; state of aerial navi- 
 gation in China, 271; oblong aerostats, 272; method of 
 direction, 2~'2 ; account of an ascent, trimming the aero- 
 stat, .71 : il,. M...rt. -7! : the commercial traveller, -7." : 
 state aerial flotilla, 275; projects! voyage to the X.-rtli 
 Polo, 275 ; incidents of the voyage, 275-278. 
 
 AEB08TATIOX (Rise and Progress of). 
 
 f 3. France : 
 
 Montgolfior's first experiment at Annonay, 39; the first 
 " Balloon," so called, 41; its ascent from the Champ d< 
 Mars, and fate, 41; warning issued by the Governnn nt, 
 42 ; Moutgolfier's experiments at Versailles, 43 ; M. Pilatre 
 de Rozier, the first aeronaut, 43; account of hi anc.ni, 
 44; M. de liozier's second ascent; his account, -i'i; the 
 Marquis d'Arlandes* account, 46. 
 
 The hydrogen balloon of les frdres Robert, 48. 
 
 The Charliere, or gas balloon, 48; the voyage of the first 
 Charlit'To, 4'J; experiments at Lyons, 50; Rlanchard's 
 suggested improvements, 62; first ascent by ladies, '! : 
 accident at Dijon, 54 ; Madame Thible (the first female 
 aeronaut), 54 ; ascent by the Due de Chartres, 54 ; inci- 
 dents of his journey, 55; ascent by MM. Robert and 
 Hullin, 76; honours paid to lllanchard, 80; monument 
 erected at Calais in memory of lilanchard's voyage. - 1 . 
 Cavallo's remarks, 81 ; sad fate of MM. Pitatrc lie Rozier 
 and Romainc, 86; a common-sense view of the accident, 
 86 ; doge on Pilatre de Rozier, 87 ; his life and career, 88. 
 
 Experiments of Testu-Brissy, 90 ; his use of oars, 91 ; narra- 
 tive of his eleven hours' journey, 91; ascends on home- 
 back, 92; Blanchard descends by means of a paracliut- . 
 110; Gamcrin, " inventeur brevtte" du parachute, 110; 
 permission accorded by Lucicn Bonaparte to Garnerin t 
 make an ascent, 111 ; Garnerin's escape from prison by 
 means of a parachute, 111 ; his ascent from Monocau, and 
 descent in a parachute, 111. 
 
 Scientific experiment* by Gay-Lussac and Biot, 117, 1 1- : 
 Giy-Lussac's second ascent, 119; Napoleon's coronation 
 balloon, 123; Garnerin's nocturnal voyages, 124 ; death l 
 Blanchard, 124; Montgolfier's widow, aged 107, 189; 
 Delcourt' copper balloon, 204; M. Arban's |*ssage of 
 the Alps from Marseilles to Turin, 219; M. Poitevin's 
 suggestions, 220; death of M. Gale at Bordeaux, 1'JI : 
 Delcourt's chemin de fer aerien, 228. 
 
 Nadar's ' Geant,' description of the car, 267 ; Nadar's assist- 
 ants in his undertaking, 258 ; first ascent of the ' G*ant,' 
 259; the sun out-paced, successful descent, 259; second 
 voyage of the 'Geant,' the start (6 P.M.). the 
 
 Belgian frontier crossed (9 P.M.), 203, 205; Malines, 
 Holland, 265-267; accident to the car, 265; la count 
 infrrnnlr, 265 ; descent near Nienburg in Hanover, 263, 
 268 ; heroism of Jules Godard, 265 ; the casualty list, 
 Oraison funebre of M. Delcourt, 270. 
 
 {4. Germany: 
 
 Attempts at Tubingen, 32; and at Vienna, 32; Mr. 
 Cox well's ascents from Berlin, A-c., 218 ; his narrow 
 escape on the Sleswig-Holstein frontier, 219. 
 
 5. Great Britain (n) England: 
 
 First aerostatic experiments by Connt Zambcccari, 47; first 
 pilot balloon sent across the channel, "<1 ; ex]crinants at 
 
520 
 
 GENERAL INDEX. 
 
 AEROSTATION (Rise and Progress of). 
 
 Oxford, 52 ; M. Argand's experiments at Windsor, 53 
 the balloon-mania in London, 53. 
 
 Vincent Lunardi's first series of letters, 56-76 ; preparations 
 for the ascent, 58 ; his first failure, 60 ; riot at Chelsei 
 Hospital, 61 ; his successful ascent from the Artillery 
 Ground, 65 ; his own account of his voyage, 67 ; account 
 from the ' Morning Post,' 69 ; Lunardi's reception at 
 Court, 71 ; letters and depositions of eye-witnesses of his 
 voyage, 73-75 ; lines addressed to him, 75. 
 Blanchard and Sheldon's experiments, 77 ; Mr. Sheldon 
 leaves the balloon, 78 ; Blanchard's descent near Romsey, 
 78 ; Mr. Sadler's ascents from Oxford, 78 ; M. Blanchard's 
 fifth ascent, 78 ; Mr. Harper's ascent from Birmingham, 
 79 ; Blanchard and Jeffries cross the channel, 79 ; account 
 of their journey, 80 ; Mr. Baldwin's account of his ascents 
 from Chester, 91 ; supposed height attained, 91 ; Garne- 
 rin's visit to England, 115 ; Chelsea to Colchester in 45 
 minutes, 115, 116. 
 Mr. Sadler's voyage from Birmingham to Boston, 124 ; his 
 attempt to cross the Irish channel, 125 ; abreast of the 
 Great Ormes' Head, forced back, wrecked, picked up at sea, 
 127 ; Mr. Windham Sadler's successful voyage from 
 Dublin to Holyhead, 127 ; Sir George Cayley's project, 
 128. 
 
 Mr. Green's ascent from Boston, 129 ; his perilous ascent 
 from Newhury, 130 ; Mr. and Mrs. Graham's ascents, 
 136 ; Mr. Monck Mason's ascent, 137 ; his journey from 
 London to Leighton Buzzard, 138. 
 
 Voyage of the Great Nassau Balloon, 139-158 ; the start 
 from London (1.30 P.M.), 140 ; Canterbury (4.5 P.M.), 
 letter to the mayor, 141 ; Dover (4.45 P.M.), 142 ; Calais 
 (5.50 P.M.), 144 ; une nuit a la belle etoile, 145 ; Liege 
 (12 midnight), 146 ; Dawn, 151 ; descent at Weilburg, 
 153 ; fetes in honour of the aeronauts, 156 ; the journey 
 to Paris, 158. 
 
 Mr. Cooking's parachute, 158 ; its faults and uselessness, 
 163 ; Mr. Cooking's ascent, descent, and frightful death, 
 165-168 ; Mr. Wise's comments, 169. 
 
 Mr. Green's first proposition to cross the Atlantic, 179 ; use 
 of the guide-rope and water-drag, ]80, 181 ; Mr. Green's 
 narrow escape, London to Eainham in 15 minutes, 186; 
 Mrs. Forrest, a lady aeronaut, 186 ; Mr. Henson's aerial 
 ship, 195 ; Mr. Monck Mason's ellipsoidal balloon, 195 ; 
 Mr. Roebuck's Aerial Transit Bill, 195 ; Mr. Coxwell's 
 first ascent, 204 ; Mr. Green's second proposal to cross 
 the Atlantic, 207 ; Albert Smith's account of his ascent 
 with Mr. Green, 211 ; and with Mr. Gypson, 213 ; Mr. 
 and Mrs. Graham's ascent from the Hippodrome, 220 ; 
 narrow escape of the Great Exhibition, a restive balloon 
 in the streets of London, 220 ; Mr. H. Mayhew's account 
 of his ascent, 220-223 ; Mr. Coxwell's journey from 
 Woolwich to Cornwall in five hours, 224 ; suggestions for 
 exploring the interior of Australia, 225. 
 The British Association decides on employing balloons, 228 ; 
 the objects in view, 229 ; and the means employed, 230 ; 
 Mr. Glaisher's ascents in 1862, 231-236 : 
 1st. 17th July (19,500 feet attained), 231. 
 2nd. 30th July ( 7,000 feet attained), 232. 
 3rd. 18th Aug. (24,000 feet attained), 232. 
 4th. 20th Aug. (5,000 feet attained), 232; sunset, 
 
 anchor for the night, morning start, sunrise, 233. 
 5th. 1st Sept. (J mile in 4 minutes), 233. 
 6th. 5th Sept. (37,000 feet attained), 234; narrow 
 escape of the travellers ; Mr. Coxwell's presence of 
 mind, 235. 
 7th. 8th Sept. (5,000 feet attained), 236 ; 385-389. 
 
 AEROSTATION (Rise and Progress of). 
 
 Meteorological observations made during the ascent of 5th 
 September, 206-239 ; Mr. Glaisher's remarks, 239 ; Mr. 
 Coxwell's ascent from Winchester Barracks, 242; Win- 
 chester to Harrow, 70 miles in 66 minutes, 243. 
 Mr. Glaisher's ascents in 1863, 247-251 ; : 
 1st. 31st March (24,000 feet attained), 251. 
 2nd. 18th April (24,000 feet attained), 252 ; drifting out 
 
 to sea ; a narrow escape, 252. 
 3rd. 26th June (23,000 feet attained), 253 ; caught in a 
 
 gale, lost in a fog, an aerial snowstorm, 254. 
 4th. llth July (a coasting voyage), 244, 254. 
 5th. 21st July (a wet journey),' 255. 
 6th. 31st. Aug. (experiments at Newcastle), 247. 
 
 O) Scotland : 
 
 Mr. Tytler the first aeronaut in Great Britain, 56; his 
 ascents from Edinburgh, 56 ; Lunardi's ascent from 
 Edinburgh. 
 
 Lunardi's second series of letters, 93-108 : 
 
 Lunardi made Knight Companion of the Beggar's Benison, 
 93 ; his ascent from Kelso, 94 ; his mode of lite at 
 Glasgow, 96 ; his ascent from Glasgow, 97; from Edin- 
 burgh, 99 ; curious acoustic phenomena, 100 ; his ascent 
 from Glasgow, 102 ; is made knight of the Cape, 103 ; 
 Rev. J. Lapsley's narrative, 103; remarks of the pea- 
 santry, 105 ; Lunardi proposes to ascend with two balloons, 
 105 ; ascent from Edinburgh, 106 ; is carried seawards, 
 106; his dangers, help from the Bass Rock, 107; balloon 
 lost, 107 ; lines to him by Mr. Tytler, 108. 
 
 History of the Edinburgh Fire-balloon, 109 (note). 
 
 6. India: 
 
 Mr. Knight's experiments at Bombay, 223. 
 7. Italy : 
 
 Father Lana's air-boat, 34 ; Chevalier Paul Andreani's ex- 
 periments at Milan, 51; Andreoli's ascent from Ancona 
 at midnight, dangers of the journey, 116; Brioschi's 
 ascent from Naples, 124; Znmbeccari's ascent from 
 Bologna, 122, 384; his sad fate, 385. 
 
 8. Persia: 
 
 Fate of Fire- balloon, 42. 
 
 9. Russia: 
 
 Robertson's ascent from St. Petersburg, 116, 117 ; a flying 
 infernal machine, 284 (note). 
 
 10. United States : 
 
 First experiments of Rittenhouse and Hopkins, 50 ; Wilcox's 
 ascent, 50; Mr. Wise's first ascent from Philadelphia, 
 130 ; second ascent, explosion of the balloon, 133 ; third 
 ascent and accident, 134; ascends in the presence of 
 North American Indians, 169; another explosion, 171; 
 his experiments in intentional bursting, 173 ; ascent from 
 Allentown, caught in a thunderstorm, 175 ; blown 
 towards the Atlantic, perils and escape, 176 ; his double 
 balloon ascent, 181 ; further ascents, 182 ; meteorological 
 observations, 184 ; continuation of ditto, 189 ; Mr. 
 Parker's failures, 190 ; Mr. Wise's observations during a 
 thunderstorm, 191 ; race with a railway train, 192 ; re- 
 peated ascents, 193, &c. ; proposition to cross the Atlantic, 
 199 ; queries by Prof. Espy, 203 ; petition to Congress, 
 203 ; Mr. Wise's new balloon, 205 ; its short career, 
 is left in a tree-top, 206 ; the voyages of the " Rough 
 and Ready," 207 ; is struck by lightning, 208 ; voyages 
 in zigzag, 209; proposal to capture the castle of Vera 
 Cruz, 209 ; extracts from Mr. Wise's aerial log-book, 
 217 ; his descent on Lake Erie, 217. 
 
'.] SERAI INM \ 
 
 521 
 
 AEROSTATION (Itiso and Progress of). 
 
 Isn't balloon staff and iu operation*, 
 -or Low's journey from New York t 
 
 : aerial ship, project to crow the Atlantic 
 
 Air, i , the, 399. 
 
 Allard, accideu 
 
 Al|, passage of in a balloon, 210. 
 
 ss, Mr. Wise's ]-tilionto, 203. 
 
 A" ^iinents, 50, 130, 169, 181, 189, 205, 291, tt tey. 
 
 Ancona, Andreoli's ascent from, 1 !.. 
 Annuuay, scene of Montgolfior's 6rt experiment, 39. 
 
 Fans, L'l'J, 309. 
 
 (itii.le-rope, use of, 143, 180, 221, 314, 315. 
 
 Oars, used by Testu-Brissy, 10 ; by Blanchard, 78, 309. 
 ' 
 
 Screw, use of, 314; Mr. Bell's, -Jin ; M. Xadar's motor-screw, 
 ili.- ChiiieM screw, 275; M. Babinet's, 342; M. Pauc- 
 ton's view, 340; M. David's view, 348; the lateral screw, 
 350. 
 
 Spimlifer, Xadar's, 341. 
 
 . 3IJ. 
 ::it..r, 277. 
 
 Water-drag, use of, 181 ; kedging by means of, 315. 
 Appareil : 
 
 M. Charles, 48 ; M. David's, 348. 
 Archimedes, crystal sphere of, 23. 
 Argo, description of the ship, 2. 
 Armida, flight 01. 
 
 Art, yoke- fellow of Science, 5 ; utility of, 278. 
 Artillery Ground, Lunardi's first ascent from, 65; Zambcccari's, 
 
 47. 
 Association (British), adopt ballooning, 228 ; Committee appointed 
 
 to organise meteorological experiments, 229 ; object* in view, 
 
 --'.I; instruments, 229. 
 
 Astolpho's flight to the sources of the Nile, 13-19. 
 Atlantic, proposals to cross, Mr. Green's, 179, 207; Mr. Wise's, 
 
 199; Professor Low's, 296; Mr. Monck Mason's views as to 
 
 the possibility, 443. 
 Atmosphere, considered as a fulcrum, 316 ; movement* of, 318 ; 
 
 Lunardi's experiences, 318 ; Captain Snowden's, 318 ; resistance 
 
 of, 321, 333, 347. 
 Atmospheric pressure, Lana's theory of, 33; consequences of, 
 
 li'.l ; effects of diminished, 380. 
 
 Australia, suggestion for exploring, 225; various ascents in Mel- 
 bourne and Sydney, 227, et teq. 
 Austrian experiments with war balloons, 287. 
 Authors, Latin, of the Middle Ages, 23. 
 Automata : 
 
 Dove of Archytas, 23, 24. 
 
 ( rystal sphere of Archimedes, 23. 
 
 Elmerus* wings, 32. 
 
 Abbot of Tungland's wings, 32. 
 
 Allard and Besuier's inventions, 32 ; M. de Bacqueville's, 331. 
 
 
 
 Babinet (M.) on the future of ballooning, 344. 
 Balloon-builders, hints to future, 329. 
 Balloon-bnrstiiu : 
 
 (1) Accidental. M. de Cozier, 86 ; Lunardi, 107 ; Audreoli, 
 
 1KJ: Zambeccari, 122, 384; Mr. Wise, 133, 171. 
 
 (2) Intentional. Mr. Wise's invention and experiments. 
 
 182. 
 
 Ballooning (satires on) : 
 
 Brisson's on Moolgolfler'a first attempt, 40. 
 
 Cyrano de Bergerac, his Voyage to the M. </. 
 
 on i:ilu.p \Vilk,i,' Discovery of a New Worl.l. 
 
 Pegasus in llaruew (Schiller), 396. 
 
 The Flying Visit (Albert Smith), 396. 
 
 Crotchet* in the Air, 399. 
 
 Journey of Hans Pfaal (K. A. Poe), 414, rl teq. 
 
 Conieliua i i'l *..,!, 434. 
 
 The Younger Munchauaen (C. Bennett), 434, tt uq. 
 Balloon-maiiitt in London, 68. 
 Balloons, first so called, 41 ; the Montgolfiere, 48; the hydrogen 
 
 balloon of les Frews Robert, 48; the Charliere or gas balloon, 
 
 BsJIoons: 'Le Oustare, 54; Ix- Pilitrc do Cozier,' 54; ''11,. 
 Great Nassau,' i:t'.i ; The ir n itl SUtes,' 191 ; The Vesperus,' 
 204; 'Tlu- Itough and Ready,' 207; "The Mammoth.' - 
 Australasian,' 237; ' Le Geant,' 266 ; L'Aigle,'269; Ki.ir.- 
 prenant,'2ftO; Alerte,' 2HO ; ' ller.-nl.-.'L'so; liitn-pidi-.' U'M>. 
 
 Balloons: ellipsoidal, 1U5; |>ilot, 61-246; copper, 204; oblong, 
 J7J ; spherical, 309. 
 
 Balloons, various forms pro|>osed for, 309, 310, rl *</., 340. 
 
 Balloons (War). Vide War-balloons. 
 
 Ballooos, suggestions on use of, 121 ; pressure to be sustained by, 
 290; resisting force necessary, 290; precautions to be adojited, 
 291 ; rotatory motion of, 316 ; suggestions for future builders 
 of, 329 ; resources of large balloons, 3~>3. 
 
 Banks, Sir Joseph, patronises Lunardi, 59. 
 
 Battle of Flcurus, 282-286; Hanover Court House, 296; of 
 Legnica, 26 ; of Solferino, 286. 
 
 Beggar's Benison, order of, I 
 
 Bennett (C.) the younger Munchauscn, 434. 
 
 Bergerac, Cyrano de, his journey to the moon, 391. 
 
 Bombay, experiments at . 
 
 BOOKS CONNECTED WITH AEROSTATION : 
 
 1648. Dcdalns, or Mechanical Motions, by Bp. Wilkins, 30. 
 
 Discourse on the possibility of a Passage to the Moon, 
 
 
 
 De Motu Animalium, Borclli, 
 
 17.*..*). I/Art de Naviguer dans les Airs, par le Fere < 
 1781. History of Aerostation, by Tiberius Cavallo, 42, 84. 
 
 1783. (Kuvres posthumes du Ctiitnl Meusnier, 309-: 
 
 1784. Dissertation sur les Aerostats de* Anciens, par Rosier, 
 
 1784. Lunardi's Letters to his Guardian, 1st series, 66. 
 L788b Ditto ditto 2nd series, 93. 
 
 1785. Airopaida, by T. Baldwin, 91. 
 
 ? Aerodiphros, by Mr. Phillips, 195. 
 ? Mcrvcilk-s du Ge*nie de 1'Homme, par M. de Bast, L'71. 
 1837. History of Aerostation, by Monck Mason, 
 1845. The Balloon or Aerostatic Magazine, edited by H. Cox- 
 well, 207, 225, 444. 
 1847. Histoire de* Aerostats, par Depuis Delcourt, 39 (note), 
 
 111. 
 1847. Manuel de 1'Alrostier, par le MCme, 270. 
 
 1847. tudes sur 1'Aeratation, par M. Marey Mange, 309, 
 
 316, 334, 444. 
 
 1848. Journal de la Navigation Aerienne, par Depuis Deloourt, 
 
 1849. Traite- Complet des Aerostats, par le Meme, 
 1860. L'Aeronaute, 266. 
 
 1860. Hi*tory of Aerostation, by U. Wise, 28, 33, 117, 1 
 
 ****. 
 
 1860. Manuel de 1'AerosUtion, par Fignier, 383. 
 1862. La Navigation Aerienne en Chine, par M. Delaville- 
 
 Dedreux, 271, et teq. 
 
522 
 
 GENEEAL INDEX. 
 
 BOOKS CONNECTED WITH BALLOONING : 
 
 1862. Reports of the British Association, &c., 229, et seq. 
 
 1863. Ditto ditto. 
 
 1864. Defence of England against Invasion, by H. Coxwell, 
 
 294. 
 
 1864. Three months with the Balloons in America, 298. 
 1864. Solution du Probleme de la Navigation dans 1'Air, par 
 
 M. David, 347. 
 
 1864. Mdmoires du GeVmt, par Nadar, 270. 
 
 1865. L'Air et le Monde Ae'rien, par A. Mangin, 354. 
 
 {See also Appendix, page 463, 
 Buonaparte, Lucien, letter to Garnerin, 111. 
 
 Cape, Knights of, 103. 
 
 Cavallo, Tiberius, his history of Ballooning, 43. 
 
 Channel, English, crossed by Blanchard, 79 ; Irish, ditto by 
 
 W. Sadler, 127. 
 
 Chariot sailing, of Stevinus, 29. 
 Charlemagne, aeronauts in the time of, 27. 
 Charles, inventor of the ' appareil ' of gas balloons, 48. 
 Charliere, first aerial voyage in, 48 ; advantages as compared 
 
 with the 'Montgolfiere,' 286; method of guiding, 309. 
 Charlo-Montgolfiere, 85. 
 Chartres (Due de), his ascent, 54. 
 Chelsea Hospital, riot at, 61. 
 Chemin de fer aeVien, 228. 
 China, progress of ballooning in, 271 ; state aerial flotilla, 275 ; 
 
 voyage to the North Pole, 275. 
 Chinese oblong balloons, 272 ; notions on the expansion of gas, 
 
 276. 
 
 Cirrus, 184. 
 
 Clothing proper to aeronauts according to the Chinese, 273. 
 Clouds, artificial, 172 ; cirrus and cumulous, 184 ; appearance of, 
 
 183, 234, 249, 253, 255, 368 ; on the Thames, 234. 
 Cloud-scape, the, 249. 
 
 Cooking (Mr.), his parachute, 161 ; fatal descent, 165. 
 Conclusions drawn from Mr. Glaisher's experiments, 240. 
 Constantinople, experiments at, 32. 
 Consumption, Chinese cure for, 275. 
 
 Contributions of various nations to the science of ballooning, 442. 
 Convention Nationale, Fourcroy's report to, 283. 
 Coronation-balloon of Napoleon, 122. 
 Cost, estimated of war-balloons, 290 (note). 
 Crotchets in the air, 399. 
 Crystal Palace (1851), narrow escape of, 220. 
 Crystal sphere of Archimedes, 23. 
 Cumulus, 184. 
 Currents, Mr. Wise's theories, 181, 314 ; constant within certain 
 
 limits, 189 ; westerly, 196 ; Sir James Ross on trade winds, 
 
 &c., 314 ; velocity of, 246, 318 ; Professor Low's views, 296 ; 
 
 superior and inferior, 319. 
 Cyrano de Bergerac, journey to the moon, 391. 
 
 Daedalus, story of, 12. 
 
 Daedalus on mechanical motions, by Bp. Wilkins, 30. 
 
 Dawn of navigation, 1. 
 
 Delcourt (D.) his works on ballooning, 111, 270, et seq. ; his 
 
 Chemin de fer ae"rien, 228 ; Oraison Funebre on, 270. 
 Depositions (various) concerning Lunardi's first ascent, 73, 
 
 et seq. 
 
 Descent, difficulties of, 378. 
 
 Difficulties, synopsis of the principal, 345, 377, et seq. 
 Dove of Archytas, 23, 24. 
 
 Earth, concave appearance of, from the balloon, 378. 
 
 Echo, effects of, 135. 
 
 Effects on the system from diminished pressure, 380 ; from 
 
 diminished supply of oxygen, 381. 
 Egypt, balloons used in, by Napoleon I., 123. 
 Electro-subtraeteiir, joint invention of Arago and Delcourt, 270. 
 Elmerus, journey of, 32. 
 
 Eloge on Pilatre de Rozier, 89 ; on Depuis Delcourt, 270. 
 England, ballooning in. See Aerostation, 5. 
 Epigrams of Grotius, 29. 
 Erie, Lake, Mr. Wise's descent on, 217. 
 Erroneous calculations of Monck Mason, 317, et seq. 
 Explosion of balloons, 133, 171, 195. 
 
 Fans, use of, 219, 309. 
 
 Fire-balloon, fate of the Persian, 42 ; of the Edinburgh, 109 
 
 (note). 
 Flight of Armida, 22 ; Astolpho, 13 ; Daxlalus, 12 ; Gabriel, 19 : 
 
 Ismene, 20 ; Phaeton, 9. 
 Flying, Bp. Wilkins, on the several ways of, 30. 
 Flying-bridge in the fourteenth century, 26. 
 Flying fire, 25. 
 Forces, opposing, 320. 
 Forecasts, Dr. Lardner's erroneous, 299. 
 France, ballooning in. See Aerostation, 3. 
 Friction, 321, 348. 
 Future, a glimpse into, 343. 
 
 Garnerin, inventeur brevetd du parachute, 110. 
 Gas: 
 
 Production and use of, by Schottus, 24. 
 
 Priestley's discoveries, 40. 
 
 Dangers of impure, 249. 
 
 Chinese notions respecting, 276. 
 
 Method of generating in American army, 292. 
 
 Gas-purifiers, transport of materials, 293. 
 Geant, M. Nadar's balloon, 255 ; its voyage, 261, et seq. 
 Germany, ballooning in.j See Aerostation, 4. 
 Giddiness, absence of, 365. 
 God, anger of, 26. 
 Gravitation, 371. 
 
 Great Nassau balloon, voyage of, 139, et seq. 
 Great Western, voyage of, 302. 
 Grotius, epigrams of, 29. 
 Guide-rope, use of, 180, 314, 315. 
 Guiding, difficulties of, 318 ; proposals for, Nadar's motor 
 
 screw, 256; Chinese methods, 273; Chinese rudder, 275; M. 
 
 Blanchard's suggestions, 309 ; Guyton de Morvt-au's, 309 ; 
 
 M. Monge's, 309 ; General Meusnier's, 309 ; Delcourt's epitome 
 
 of the methods proposed, 310 ; Mr. Green's suggestions, 315 ; 
 
 M. Barral's, 345 ; M. David's, 347 ; his rudder, 352. 
 Gusman, Laurence de, his propositions, 35. 
 
 Halts, temporary, 320. 
 
 Hanover Court House, battle of, 295. 
 
 Honours paid to Montgolfier, 45 ; to Blanchard, 80 ; to Lunardi, 
 
 71, 103 ; to the travellers in the Nassau Balloon, 157. 
 Hydrogen balloon constructed by les freres Robert, 48. 
 
I\M \ 
 
 InlVrnal machine (Ku-- ,,aU). 
 
 Instruments imxl by i i.iv-l.u^i, , 117; by Mr. (ilaisber, 280. 
 Intentional l.nrsiiiu -I Iwll.nMis, Mr. Wise's theories 173,rf MO 
 Ignitions of tlif Mi.i.ilr Ap-s. : 
 
 Irish Channel, Mr. S.i.ll.-r's iiitrmpt to cross, 126; Mr. W. Sel- 
 ler's successful passage of, 1.'7. 
 Ismene convey* the Soldan through the air, 20. 
 Italian war, use of balloon* durin-. 
 
 bdfh .-. BU 
 
 Ladie*, first ascent by, in France, 84 ; in England, 186. 
 
 Una (Francisco), theories of atmospheric procure, 33 ; hn air- 
 
 boat, 35. 
 Le/nica, battle of, 26. 
 
 . lurnaces of, 147. 
 Lightning observed by the travellers in the Great Nassau balloon 
 
 14. 
 
 Literature (aerostatic), tee Bookt. 
 Lunanli (V.), his experiments at London, 56, et teq. ; presented 
 
 to the Kij.j. 71 ; his experiment* at Edinburgh, Glasgow, Sec. 
 
 93, et teg. 
 
 Machinery, applicable to balloons, clockwork, 354; birdlike, 
 
 3.V1. 
 
 Mayeuce reconnoitred, 282. 
 Means for counteracting the difficulties of ballooning, 322; 
 
 natural power requisite, 326. 
 Mechanically-propelled aerostats, 351. 
 Meteorological observations, Gay-Lnssac's, 117, 118; Mr. G to- 
 
 sher's, 236, et ieq., 247, et itq.; Mr. Green's, 179, rt sty.; 
 
 Lunardi's, 100 ; Mr. Wise's, 175, 183. 
 Mention, aeronautic school at, 279. 
 Milan, experiments at, 51. 
 Millerism, 197. 
 Mohan, Abbe, his improved Montgolfierc, 310. 
 
 Montgolfier : 
 
 Early history of the family, 37 ; introduce the manufacture of 
 paper into France, 37 ; embrace the reformed religion, 38 ; 
 their alliances, 38 ; letter* patent to Pierre Montgolfier from 
 tlir King, 38 ; voyage of the first ' Montgolfiere ' from Anno- 
 ridiculed by Brisson, 40; effect of Priestley's dis- 
 coveries, 40; experiments at Versailles, 43; the brothers 
 Montgolfier construct a new balloon, 44; honours paid to 
 them, 45 ; obelisk erected to them, 45 ; Madame Montgolfier 
 aged 107, 189. 
 
 Montgolfiere, the, 39, 43, 286 ; method of guiding, 309. 
 Monument erected to Montgolfier, 45 ; to Blanchard, 81. 
 Moon, journeys to, Cyrano de Bergerac, 391 ; Hans Pfaal, 414. 
 Motion, rotatory of balloons, 118, 172, 315. 
 Motor-Screw, Nadar's suggestion, - 
 Munchauscn, the younger, 434. 
 
 Xadar's Gcant, 'jr. 7. 
 
 Naples, Brioschi's ascent from, 11M. 
 
 Napoleon makes use of balloons in Egypt, 123 ; discards them, 
 
 . Coronation balloon, 1 
 Nassau balloon, the famous, 139, et mq. 
 Navigation. dawn of, 1 ; Biblical references, 1 ; Greek, 2; Phot- 
 
 niciaii, .' : r.i,t,h, 8 ; Charnock's seven epochs of, 2 (<*). 
 Navigation (steamX Dr. Lardner on its impracticability, 209; 
 
 prophecies on its future, 300, rt *?. ; voyage of the Great 
 
 Western, 302; Atlantic Steam Navigation, 304; steamers 
 
 vmiu liners, 304. 
 Nautilus, functions of its sails, ::- 
 
 \-tc.l|i)ii.\ ili^lit to sources of, 13. 
 North Pole, projected journey to, 27:i. 
 
 used by Tcstu-Brissy, 90; by Blanchard, 309. 
 Obelisk errcted in honour of Montgolfier, 46. 
 Octogenarian, ascent of an, 207. 
 O'Dowd (Cornelius) on ballooning, 434. 
 Olympus, 7. 
 
 Ordnance Committee institute experiments at Alderahot, 297. 
 i 'inline, clearness of, 364. 
 Oxygen, effect of diminished supply, 381. 
 
 I'arachutr : 
 
 Mr. Cooking's, 158, 160. 
 
 M. Garoerin's, 169. 
 
 M. le Nonnand's, 159. 
 
 Jordaki Kujwrento, 160. 
 
 M. Nadar's.341. 
 
 Mr. Wise's, 196. 
 
 Natural, 343. 
 Pegasus in harness, 395. 
 Petersburg (St.), ascent from, 116. 
 Pfaal, journey of Hans, 414. 
 Phaeton, story of, 9, et ieq. 
 
 Phenomena: 
 
 (1) Acoustic. Observed by Lunardl, 100; by Mr. Wise, 134. 
 
 218 ; by Mr. Glaisber, 232, 253 ; by Mr. Monck Mason, 
 37L'. 
 
 (2) Meteorological. Lightning observed by the travellers in the 
 
 great Nassau balloon, 148; Mr. Wise's experiences, 176; 
 revolution of the balloon, 184 ; appearance of the clouds, 
 234, 249, 253, 368; observations made by Mr. Glaisher 
 (r.th September, 1862), 236, et say. ; summary, 365 ; ex- 
 traordinary quiescence, 366. 
 
 (8) Optical. Observed by Mr. Wise, 191, 193; by Mr. Glai- 
 sher, 232, 233; by Mr. Monck Mason, 373; by Gay 
 Lussmc, 373; summary of numerous observations, 362, 
 863 ; clearness of outline, 364 ; deep blue of the zenith, 
 .17.') ; diffusion of white rays, 374 ; concave appearance 
 of the earth, 378. 
 
 [*hotograi>hy, its use in connexion with ballooning, 298. 
 Pilot-balloons differ in their course from larger balloons, 249 ; first 
 sent across the Channel, 61. 
 
 Poetry: 
 
 ^schylmi, 7. 
 
 Akenside, 35. 
 
 Anonymous, 112, 137, 244, 395, 438, 446. 
 
 Ariosto, i:;. 
 
 Amol.l, 177. 
 
 Ben Jonson, 113. 
 
 Borsvy d'Anglas, 38. 
 
 3 Y 
 
524 
 
 GENERAL INDEX. 
 
 Poetry : 
 
 Bryant, 84, 177, 355, 382. 
 
 Bulwer Lytton, 5, 178, 242, 395, 439, 441. 
 
 Bums, 27. 
 
 Campbell, 242. 
 
 Carrington, 114. 
 
 Claudian, 23. 
 
 Coleridge, 129. 
 
 Cowper, 92. 
 
 Croly, 128. 
 
 Darwin, 90, 125. 
 
 David, 7. 
 
 Dawes, 125. 
 
 Dryden, 114. 
 Euripides, 8. 
 
 Grotius, 29. 
 
 Hodgson, 147. 
 
 Horace, 23. 
 
 Hugo (Victor), 446. 
 
 Kirke White, 97. 
 
 Longfellow, 298. 
 
 Mellen, 385. 
 
 Milton, 113. 
 
 Ovid, 9, 12. 
 
 Pindar, 2, 7. 
 
 Pollok, 114. 
 
 Pope, 1, 7. 
 
 Pringle, 131. 
 
 Rogers, 43. 
 
 Schiller, 5, 115, 242, 395, 439, 441. 
 
 Shakspeare, 79, 85, 113, 122. 
 
 Shelley, 66, 129. 
 
 Smith (Albert), 396, 398. 
 
 Tasso, 19, 22. 
 
 Tennyson, 188, 440. 
 
 Thomson, 143, 152. 
 
 Tytler, 75, 108. 
 
 Watts, 384. 
 
 Young, 148. 
 
 Poetry, forerunner of science, 4. 
 Practical use of balloons, M. Lomet's views, 284. 
 Precautions necessary, 379 ; with war-balloons, 291. 
 Pressure to be sustained by balloons, 290 ; effect of diminished 
 
 pressure on the system, 380. 
 
 Prison, Garnerin's escape from, by means of a parachute, 111. 
 Propxilsion, by machinery, 351 ; by sails, 349 ; by steam, 328. 
 Prospects of aerostation, for military purposes, 298 ; according to 
 
 ' Westminster Review,' 312 ; to ' La Presse Scientifique,' 345 ; 
 
 to M. Babinet, 344. 
 Purifiers, portable gas, 293. 
 
 ' Quarterly Review' on steam navigation, 300. 
 
 Railway-train, race with, 192. 
 
 Rate of travelling, average, 319 ; rapid, 219, 224, 243. 
 
 Rays, diffusion of white, 374. 
 
 Reconnaissances hy balloons, 280, 285, 291, 295, 298. 
 
 Resistance (atmospheric), consequences of, 261 ; (material), ne- 
 cessary in balloons, 290. 
 
 Robert (les freres), inventors of the hydrogen (inflammable air) 
 balloon, 48. 
 
 ' Roc,' the, 31. 
 
 Rotatory motion of balloons, 118, 172, 315. 
 
 Rozier (M. Pilatre de), the first aeronaut, 43 ; his ascents, 44, 46 : 
 
 his fate, 8fi. 
 Russia, experiments in, 116. 
 
 Sails, propulsion by, 349. 
 
 Satires on Aerostation, various, 391, et seij. 
 
 Schiller, Pegasus in Harness, 395. 
 
 School, Aeronautic at Meudon, 279. 
 
 Science, its relationship to the imagination, 4; foreshadowed by 
 
 poetry, 4; yokefellow of art, 5; its progress full of promise for 
 
 the future of ballooning, 439. 
 Screw, general use of, 314; Mr. Bell's, 219; M. Babinet's, 342; 
 
 M. David's, 348 ; lateral, 350 ; M. Nadar's motor-screw, 256 : 
 
 M. Paucton's views, 340. 
 Sea-crossing, 80, 106, 125, 127, 143, 176. 
 Sensations experienced, 202, 355. 
 Shells, use of, 218. 
 Skill requisite in an aeronaut, 379. 
 Sleswig-Holstein, incident of the war in, 219. 
 Smith (Albert), his two ascents, 211, 213 ; ' The Flying Visit,' 
 
 39fi. 
 
 Snow-storm, an aerial, 254. 
 Society, European Aeronautic, wanted, 336. 
 Soldan (the), carried through the air, 20. 
 Spiralifer (Nadar's), 341. 
 Steam, dangers of applying it to balloons, 328. 
 Stevinus, sailing chariot of, 29. 
 Storm-scene above the clouds, 175. 
 Storm-raising, 25. 
 Stropheore, 342. 
 Swiss aeronauts, fate of, 27. 
 Synopsis of difficulties, 335. 
 
 c 
 
 Tacking, impossibility of, 319. 
 
 Temperature, 118, 235, 376. 
 
 Thames, appearance of, 234. 
 
 Thunderstorms, 130, 175, 191, 208, 385. 
 
 Tongland, Abbot of, his unsuccessful experiments, 32. 
 
 Tranquillity of mind, 356, 367. 
 
 Trimming the balloon, 274. 
 
 Venice, experiments at, 32. 
 
 Ventilator (the), a Chinese invention, 277. 
 
 Vera Cruz, proposal to capture, 209. 
 
 War Balloons : 
 
 (FRANCE) Employed in the armies of French Republic, Cojoncl 
 Coutelle's experiments at Charlcroi, 279, 280; Kcok- 
 aeVonautique de Meudon, 281; Mayence reconnoitred, 282; 
 report of Fourcroy to the National Convention, 283 ; used 
 by Napoleon in Egypt, 110 ; his subsequent neglect of them, 
 285 ; M. Lomet's me'moire on their utility, 284. 
 
 (ITALY) Used for reconnaissances by both French and Austrians 
 during the last Italian war, 286, 287. 
 
liKNEKAL lMi:\. 
 
 
 II .1 
 
 (AM) 'a prupoMli for their UK in the Maxkui 
 
 war. 2<V.); Adoption during the actual Oil War, 287 
 
 IK advanced and aniwered, 288; cauiei of 
 
 tail' tv provided robabta cort 
 
 i : |irecmutiotM neceamry, 291 ; Captain lleauroont 
 
 mi I'M l'.ili..-n reconnaiiMncM M prmctbed in the American 
 
 . .'!<!. el *</.; kind of balloon tued, car, gai generator, 
 
 J:L- )itintU-rs, iiM-thiU . (' inflation. tran|.>rt of 
 
 ganeratiDi; materUU. I 
 
 hinV r,..ll.H,n Stall', hnlUK.il airj and 
 
 Until- ul I urt House, uiuatiafactory mulU, tcle- 
 
 -,ii- i uiniiuiuication, Heneral Barnard'* opinion*, 295, 
 
 : \MI) 
 
 ." ; i Hi nn- proi|icct, application of pliotattrapliy, 296. 
 (llnwu) A flying infcnial nim-liino, 'JS4 ( 
 
 Water-drag. ue ..I. I- 1 
 
 Wedmi niter Review * on A 
 
 ..in (,( ,.imt). Mink.* tin- Hrat a.Tot.i 
 
 land, 47; liis ( -xj<-riiiieiit in lUly, 1 10; lit* fate. .1H. 
 Xniitli. dwp Miie ,.f. ;i7.'l. 
 
 Mr. Wise'* royagM in, 209. 
 
 .-{ Y 2 
 
CHKONOLOGICAL INDEX. 
 
 365 (?) 
 
 A.D. 
 
 810 .. . 
 
 1042 .. . 
 1230 (?) 
 
 1306 .. , 
 
 1383 .. . 
 
 1500 .. . 
 
 1600 .. , 
 
 1607 .. . 
 
 1645 .. . 
 
 1660 .. . 
 1662(?) 
 
 1678 .. , 
 
 1709 .. . 
 
 1742 .. , 
 
 1755 .. . 
 
 1783 . 
 
 1784 
 
 The flying throne of Kai Kaoos, King of Persia 
 
 (Cyaxares) 31 
 
 Archytas of Tarentum invents his automaton 
 
 dove 23 
 
 The crystal sphere of Archimedes 23 
 
 Swiss aeronauts burnt at Lyons 27 
 
 Elmerus constructs wings 32 
 
 Flying fire of Albertus Magnus 25 
 
 Balloon ascent in China 271 
 
 Comte de Bourgogne and the flying cloud ... 26 
 
 Abbot of Tungland's experiments 32 
 
 Mendoza's experiments 25 
 
 Peirescius' sailing chariot 29 
 
 Francesco Lana's theories 30,33 
 
 Bp. Willdns's Daedalus 30 
 
 Allard's attempt to fly across the Seine . . . . 32 
 
 M. Besnier's invention 32 
 
 Bartholomeo de Guzman, flying machine .. 35 
 Flight of the Marquis de Bacqueville .. .. 331 
 
 Le Pere Galien's propositions 35 
 
 5th June. The Montgolfiers launch their first 
 
 balloon at Annonay 39 
 
 23rd August. Their first experiment at Paris 41 
 
 27th do. Second experiment 42 
 
 19th Sept. Experiments at Versailles, in pre- 
 sence of the King and Court 43 
 
 loth Oct. First ascent by M. de Rozier and 
 
 Montgolfier from Paris 43 
 
 21st Nov. Second ascent by the same .. .. 46 
 25th do. First ascent of a fire-balloon in Eng- 
 land 47 
 
 1st Dec. 'First aerial voyage of the freres Robert 
 
 and M. Charles in a Charliere 48 
 
 28th Dec. Mr. Jas. Wilcox ascends from Phila- 
 delphia, U.S 50 
 
 M. Le Normand's first parachute used at Lyons 159 
 M. Monge's method of directing aerostats .. 309 
 7th and 19th Jan. Experiments by Mont- 
 golfier and others at Lyons 51 
 
 19th Feb. Fire-balloon launched at Oxford .. 52 
 22nd do. Pilot balloon launched at Sandwich ; 
 crosses the Channel, and is picked up at 
 
 Lisle 51 
 
 25th do. First experiments in Italy by the 
 
 Chevalier Paul Andreani 51 
 
 2nd March. M. Blanchard's improved aerial 
 
 machine tried at Paris 53 
 
 13th do. Further experiments in Italy by the 
 
 Chevalier P. Andreani 53 
 
 13th do. M. Argand's experiments before the 
 
 King at Windsor 53 
 
 2nd May. Ladies ascend for the first time at 
 
 Paris 54 
 
 A - D - PAGE 
 
 1784 .... 4th June. Mad . Thible's first aerial voyage .. 54 
 .... 15th July. Voyage of the Due de Chartres .. 54 
 .... 18th do. AbW Mohan's Montgolfiere .. .. 310 
 .... llth Aug. Vincent Lunardi's first failure, at 
 
 Chelsea 60 
 
 ,, .... 27th do. Mr. Tytler's first experiments at 
 
 Edinburgh 56 
 
 .... 15th Sept. V. Lunardi, successful ascent from 
 
 the Artillery Ground, London 65 
 
 ,, .. .. 19th do. MM. Hobertand Hullin, ascent from 
 
 Paris 76 
 
 .... 16th Oct. M. Blanchard and Prof. Sheldon 
 
 ascend from Chelsea 77 
 
 .... 12th Nov. Mr. Sadler ascends from Oxford.. 78 
 
 1785 .... 4th Jan. Mr. Harper ascends from Birmingham 79 
 .... 7th do. M. Blanchard and Dr. Jeffries cross 
 
 the Channel from Dover to Calais .. .. 80 
 ,, .... 15th June. Fatal accident to M. Pilatre de 
 
 Eozier and M. Romaine 85 
 
 .... ] 5th do. Garnerin invents the parachute .. 110 
 ,, .... Sept. Mr. Baldwin's 'Airopaida,' containing 
 
 the account of his experiments, published at 
 
 Chester 91 
 
 .... Oct., Nov., and Dec. Lunardi's various ascents 
 
 in Scotland 93-111 
 
 1786 .. .. 18th June. Testu-Brissy's experiments; his 
 
 use of oars 90 
 
 1793 .... Formation of a Frencli military aerostatic 
 
 corps 110 
 
 .. .. Blanchard's parachute experiments at Basle .. 159 
 
 1794-5 .. Colonel Coutelle's war-balloons 280 
 
 1797 .... Garnerin descends in a parachute at Monceau 111, 159 
 
 1801 .... Obelisk inaugurated at Annonay, in honour of 
 
 Montgolfier 45 
 
 1802 .... 28th June. Garnerin and Capt. Snowden per- 
 
 form the journey from London to Colchester 
 
 (60 miles) in 45 minutes 115 
 
 .... 5th July. Garnerin attains a height of 7800 
 
 feet 115 
 
 .... 21st Sept. He rises to 10,000 feet, and de- 
 scends in a parachute 116,159 
 
 1803 .... 7th Oct. Count Zambeccari and Andreoli 
 
 ascend from Bologna, and are nearly drowned 
 
 in the Adriatic 136 
 
 .. .. M. Lomet's Mdmoire on the use of balloons for 
 
 topography and reconnaissances published 284 
 
 1804 .... 23rd Aug. Iliot and Gay-Lussac commence 
 
 their experiments in Paris 117 
 
 ,, .... loth Sept. Gay-Lussac rises to a height of 
 
 more than 20,000 feet 119 
 
 ,, .... 24th July. Jordaki Kuparento's ascent in a 
 
 fire-balloon from Warsaw, and descent in a 
 
 parachute 160 
 
 .... Zambeccari's experiments at Bologna .. .. 122 
 
rill{MMi|.m;|r.\I. IM'I A 
 
 
 A.,,. ,., , 
 
 1804 .. .. Aerostatic ichool at McuJon abolished by Na-] 
 
 poleon 285 
 
 1806 .... 16th Dec. Na|leon's coronation balloon, 
 
 Uiiiu-h.-l at Paris, falU at Rome .. .. I'-"-' 
 
 .. .. July 3 Int. Vincent Lunardi diet at Lisbon .. U':t 
 
 ., .... Andreani and Carlo Bruchi ascend from Naples 124 
 
 1SO7 .... Ganifriii's iincturnal voyages 1-1 
 
 1809 .. .. Blaoohard dies, after having made sixty-six 
 
 ascents 1^4 
 
 1S11 .. .. 7th < Vi. Mr. Sadler's voyage from Birming- 
 ham to Boston IJ.'i 
 
 < untZarabeccarik>sehislifeinaMoiitgolfire 385 
 1st Oct. Mr. Sadler'i unsuccessful attempt to 
 
 cross the Irish Channel I'-'". 
 
 \ '1,'iut. Mr. Cocking lecture* on the parachute 
 1-17 -J.,,.1 June. Mr. Windhwn Sadler come* from 
 
 Diil.lin to Holyhead 127 
 
 isi-.i .... Ttli July. Mad. Blanchard'i tragic end .. 411 
 
 l-J! .... Mr. Graham's first imcenU 136 
 
 1824 .... Mrs. Graham's first ascent 
 
 1 Inne. Mr. (ireen ascends from Boston .. .. 129 
 
 .... July. And from Vauxhall Gardens .. .. 129 
 
 1834 .... Count Lennox's aerial ship 329 
 
 ... -IM! May. Mr. Wisp commences his series of 
 
 experiments at Philadelphia, OJS 
 
 .... Mr. and Mrs. Graham's Toyages %86 
 
 18th Oct. Mr. Monck Mason's account of his 
 
 voyage from London to I<ci',;hton Buzzard 137 
 .... 7th Nov. The voyage of the great Nassau 
 
 balloon from London to Weilburg .. .. 139 
 
 1837 .. ..July. Mr. Cooking's parachute; his fatal de- 
 
 scent ., 166 
 
 1887 .. .. Mr. Wise ascends from Philadelphia, U.S., in 
 
 tin> presence of the North American Indians 169 
 
 1838 .... Mr. Wine's continued experiments 171 
 
 ,, .... Intentional bursting of the balloon 173 
 
 1839 .. .. Mr. Wise's experiments in America .. .. 175 
 
 1840 .. .. Mr. Charles Green makes his first proposition 
 
 to cross the Atlantic in a balloon .. 179,309 
 
 ,, .. .. Mr. Wise's experiments continued 181 
 
 1841 .... Mr. C. Green's ascent from Cremome, and nar- 
 
 row escape 185 
 
 1842 .... Mr. Wise's experiment* in America .. .. 189 
 
 1843 .... Mr. Henson's aerial ship 311 
 
 .... March. Mr. Roebuck's Aerial Transit Bill .. 195 
 
 Mr. Mason's ellipsoidal balloon 195 
 
 Mr. Wise's experiments in America \'.<~> 
 
 .. His proposal to cross the Atlantic 199 
 
 ., .. .. Petition to Congress 203 
 
 1844 .... Dcpuis Dclcourt's copper balloon 204 
 
 Mr. Cnxwell's first ascent 204 
 
 Mr. Wise's further experiments 205 
 
 .. .. Mr. Coxwell publishes the first number of ' The 
 
 Balloon or Aerostatic Magazine ' .. .. 207 
 
 Various improvements suggested 313 
 
 l-l''. .... Mr. Green makes a second proposal to cross the 
 
 Atlantic 207 
 
 Mr. Wise's aerial log his method of capturing 
 
 the Castle of Vera Cruz 209 
 
 .. .. :.th July. Allx-rt Smith's first ascent in Mr. 
 
 Green's balloon .11 
 
 A.D. 
 
 1847 .... His second in Mr. Gypson's -1 
 
 Mr. Wise's aerial log (continued) -IT 
 
 .... M. Hong* publishes hi* guides sur 1'ArfrostaUon' 384 
 
 1848 .... Mr. Coxwell's various ascenu on the Continent '.'in 
 
 1849 .. .. M. Arban crosses the Alps from Marseille* to 
 
 Turin in a balloon -T' 
 
 .... Balloons em [Joyed by Uie A ustrians before Venice 285 
 .... -i>ili June. Kapjnrt sur les Ktudes de M. 
 
 Marey-Monge 33<; 
 
 1850 .... Mr. Bell's suggestions for an improved aerostat 219 
 
 . .. M. IVtin's ' Systeme ' 310 
 
 1851 .... Mr. and Mis. Graham's narrow escape; a restive 
 
 balloon in the streets of London --' > 
 
 .... Nov. Mr. Helle'u suggested improvement* .. ::1" 
 
 1852 .... Mr. Henry Mayhvw's ascent 
 
 1863 .... Mr. Knight ascends from Bombay 223 
 
 1864 .... Mr. Coxwoll suggests the use of balloons in the 
 
 Crimea 
 
 Dr. Ceilings' spy balloons 
 
 1857 .... 15th June. Mr. Coxwell's journey from Wool- 
 
 wich to Cornwall, in five hours 4 
 
 1858 .. .. J3rd.lau.-Mr. Coxwell's suggestions for ex- 
 
 ploring the interior of Australia .. .. '-'-" 
 ,, .. .. March. Ascents from Melliourne and Sydney 1TJ7 
 1869 .... Balloons employed by the French at Solferino 
 .... Mr. Coxwell ascends from the Crystal Palace .. 
 
 1860 .... M. Dedreux' voyage from Font-chcon to Nant- 
 
 chang (China) L'Tl 
 
 1861 .. .. Depuis Delcourt's project of a chemin-de-fer 
 
 aeVien -*_' 
 
 1862 .. .. The British Association decide nn employing 
 
 balloons to make meteorological observations 
 .... Balloons employed by the Americans during the 
 
 present war 287-L".'l 
 
 .... Mr. (jlaishor's ascents and cxiierinients : 
 
 Tuly 17th. From Wolvcrharopton .. .. -::i 
 
 , Inly 30th. From t lie Crystal Palace .. .. -'.'SI 
 
 .... Aug. 18th. From Wolverhampton .. .. l'3'J 
 
 Aug. 20th, 21sL From Crystal Palace .. .. 
 
 .... Sept. 1st. From Crystal Palace L'.:.: 
 
 .... Sept 6th. From W.'lverlmmpton '.'34 
 
 .... 14lh Oct. Mr. Coxwell's ascent from Win- 
 chester Barracks, 70 miles in 66 minutes.. 'JCJ 
 
 1863 .... Mr. Glaishcr's ascents and experiments : 
 
 .... 31st March. From Crystal Palace L'">l 
 
 .. .. 18th April. From Crystal Palace 
 
 2f.th June. From Wolverton 2f>2 
 
 .... llth July From Crystal Palace, a coast in-.' 
 
 Toyage -t 
 
 .... 21st July. From Crystal Palace -'V. 
 
 .... 31st August. From Newcastle 1M7 
 
 .. .. 4th Oct. Nadir's first ascent in ' le Gcant,' 
 
 from Paris 
 
 .. .. 18th Oct. Nadar's grand voyage from Paris to 
 
 Hanover 
 
 ,, .... Nadar's ideas on parachute*, &c. 341 
 
 1864 .... 'Solution du Probleme de la Navigation dans 
 
 1'Air,' par M. David, published in Paris .. 347 
 18<;. r > .. .. -I/Air et le Monde Alrien, par M. Arthur 
 
 Mangin' 
 
 (See alto APPCKDIX.) 
 
INDEX NO MI NUM. 
 
 Abel, Mr., 289 (note). 
 
 Addington, 63. 
 
 jEschylus, 7. 
 
 Aidie, 229. 
 
 Airy, Prof., 228. 
 
 Akenside, 35. 
 
 Albertus Magnus, 25. 
 
 Alcan, 336. 
 
 Allard, 32. 
 
 Amecourt, M. Ponton d', 340, 342, 343, 
 
 344, 345. 
 
 Andreani, Chev. Paul, 51, 53, 124. 
 Audreoli, 116-384. 
 Anglefort, Corate de Laport d', 51. 
 Arago, 270-338. 
 Arban, 219. 
 Archytas, 23. 
 Argand, 53. 
 Ariosto, 13, 66. 
 Arlandes, Marquis d', 46. 
 Arnold, 177. 
 Arnot, Rev. J., 92. 
 Arnould, M. E., 265, et seq. 
 Atkinson, 383. 
 Aulus Gellius, 23. 
 Auvergne, Princessede laTourd', 259, et seq. 
 
 Babinet, 342, 346. 
 
 Bacon, Koger, 28, 32. 
 
 Bacqueville, M. de, 331. 
 
 Baird, 93. 
 
 Baker, W., 72, 73. 
 
 Baldwin, 33. 
 
 Baldwin, J., 91. 
 
 Banks, Sir J., 59, 79. 
 
 Barnard, General, 294. 
 
 Barral. 345. 
 
 Bayle, 391. 
 
 Bazol, A., 116. 
 
 Beaufoy, 347 (note). 
 
 Beaumont, Capt., 391. 
 
 Bell, 219. 
 
 Bellevue, M. de, 54. 
 
 Bennett, C., 434. 
 
 Bent, 201. 
 
 Bergerac, Cyrano de, 390, ft seq. 
 
 Berthollet, 117-280. 
 
 Besnier, 32. 
 
 Biggin, 60, 65. 
 
 Biot, 117, &c. 
 
 Birt, 354. 
 
 Blainville, 310. 
 
 Blanchard, 33, 52, 53, 55, 77, 78, 79, 
 
 111, 124, 156, 309. 
 Blanchard, Mad., 123, 270, 411. 
 Boby, 55. 
 
 Bonaparte, Lucien, 111. 
 Borelli, 32. 
 Bossoli, Carlo, 286. 
 Bost, A. de, 271. 
 Bouguer, 375 (note'). 
 Bret, M. de, 391. 
 Brewster, Sir D., 228. 
 Brioschi, 124. 
 Brisson, 40. 
 Brooks, Shirley, 211. 
 Brown, C. H., 225, 226. 
 Bryant, 84, 177, 382, 255. 
 Buckle, 4, 40. 
 Buford, Col., 287. 
 Bulkeley, 61, 
 Burcharn, 124. 
 
 Burguyne, Sir J., 289 (note). 
 Burns, 27. 
 Burton, 32. 
 
 C 
 
 Caffarelli, 45. 
 
 Calvin, 38. 
 
 Camden, 29. 
 
 Caramanico, Prince, 65. 
 
 Cardan, Jerome, 23, 24, 31 (note), 32. 
 
 Carlyle, 278, 285, 439. 
 
 Carnot, 286. 
 
 Cassini, 37. 
 
 Cavallo, Tiberius, 42, 55, 76, 81, 85. 
 
 Cayley, Sir George, 127, 160, 310. 
 
 Chambon, D. de, 53. 
 
 Champagny, M. de, 122. 
 
 Chaptal, 117. 
 
 Charles VI., 38. 
 
 Charles, 48, 49, 312. 
 
 Charnock, 2 (note). 
 
 Chartres, Due de, 54, 55. 
 
 Chassenton, M. de, 124. 
 
 Cheese, Mrs., 136. 
 
 Chisholm, G., 100. 
 
 Claudian, 23. 
 
 Cocking, 158, et aey. 
 
 Collings, 285. 
 
 Combe, Geo., 440. 
 
 Conflans, M. de, 53. 
 j Connor, Capt., 68. 
 110, j Conte, 123, 283, 284. 
 
 Copernicus, 445. 
 
 Coppin, Hon. G., 224, 226. 
 
 Cotton, Sir Kobt., 29. 
 
 Coxwell, Mr. H., 204, 207, 213, 218, 220, 
 223, &c., 229, 256, 291, 295, 347 
 (note), 373 (note), 36, &c., 444. 
 
 Coulomb, 119. 
 
 Coutelle, Col., 117, 123, 280, et setj. 
 
 Crane, Wm., 68. 
 
 Cromcrus, 26. 
 
 Curry, Capt., 187, 188. 
 
 Cyaxares, 30. 
 
 Cyrano de Bergerac, 390, et seq. 
 
 Dally, 188. 
 
 Dampierre, Comle de, 51. 
 
 Darubin, 125. 
 
 David, 7. 
 
 David, M., 347, 354. 
 
 Davidson, 211. 
 
 Dean, 225, et seq. 
 
 Decker-Maygeth, 25. 
 
 De Colonia, 27. 
 
 Dedreux, Delaville, 271. 
 
 Deghen, 270. 
 
 Delcourt, Depuis, 204, 228, 270, 309, 311, 
 
 443. 
 
 Delessert, Eugfee, 259, 270. 
 Delisle, 46. 
 Delrio, 25. 
 Draper, 27, 442. 
 Drew, 211. 
 Dunlop, 390. 
 Dupont de Chambon, 53. 
 
 e 
 
 Ebuer, Baron, 287. 
 Edmonstone, Sir A., 103. 
 Egg, Mr., 316. 
 Elmerus, 32. 
 Emerson, 327. 
 Espy, 203. 
 
 Euler, 39 (note), 338. 
 Euripides, 8. 
 
Fairlttirn, 228. 
 
 Fitzroy. A.in,!.. . 
 Fleiiran.l. 
 
 nbrielile, .".'.' 1. 
 F..-kieii. Kin|vr..i. -71. 
 K.>ntuii,, . M. 
 For,h 
 
 Forney. I'.' 1 -'. 
 Fom-st. Mrs.. L'TI. 
 Four. 
 Franklin, Ilcnj., 4H, IhT, 
 
 339. 
 
 Galien, le 
 
 Garncrin, Madlle., 2fil, 343. 
 
 Garnerin, MOM*.. 1 1". 1 1 1, li:., 1L'.', u:, 
 
 1-J4. 1 :'.'. --'7". :;i'J. :118, 373 (note). 
 (ausendi, 391. 
 
 . lo fraU'lli, 51. 
 i. ::'.<}. 
 
 . rt*o.,2r.' 
 
 0-ote), 385, rt eo. 
 
 Glftiaher.jun., -J49, ette,]. 
 
 Godar.i. M M.. 266, e< sey. 
 
 Godard, MODS., 268. 
 
 Godard, Jules, 259, <rf M?., 286. 
 
 Godard, Louis, 259, e< sey. 
 
 GonaUcs, Don, 391. 
 .on, 314. 
 
 Graham, Mr., 13C. liJO, 347 (nolt). 
 
 Graham, Mrs., 136, 220. 
 
 Grueui, 116, 384, 385. 
 
 Green, Mr., 129, 130, 139, et */., 158, 164, 
 et eq., 178, 185, et 7^ 207,211, 289, 
 309, 312, 313, 314, 315, 319, 347, 
 ;t4J (note), 369 (/.' ), :!7'.i, 383. 
 
 Gressu't, 1-J1. 
 
 Grotin 
 
 Cn.ver. I.irut., 2s.-|, L".U. 
 
 'i nines. Due de, 46. 
 
 Gusroan, Bartb. <: 
 
 I'., Hi', 108, 361 (note). 
 
 Gypwn, iii::. L'lt, 215. 
 
 Hamilton, Duke ( .f, 93. 
 
 Hamin<>ml, 283. 
 
 HariT. 7'.'. 
 
 IMI.-, 310. 
 
 Hetiin. 
 
 Henson, 195, 311. 
 
 Herschel, Sir J., ."_>. 
 
 II, v.liu-. 391. 
 
 Hiatonus, 25. 
 
 Hire, M.di- la, :!74 (note). 
 
 Hollinc:sworth, 68. 
 
 Hollon.1. i:i. .t teg. 
 
 Homer, 7. 
 
 Hopkins, 50. 
 
 tlowiud, Sir Geo., 57, 58. 
 
 Iliillin, 76. 
 Hlltlil.,Mt, 11"!. 
 
 Huttoii, Dr.. li;l. 
 
 IbbeUon, -II. 
 Ingrun,96. 
 
 Jeffrie*, Dr., 78, 79. 
 
 JefleMiniMn. L'7. 
 Joseph. 
 
 Jullieii, :;in. 
 
 Kai Kaoos, :: 
 Kaulhach, 5, 
 Kepler, 445. 
 Kerr, 160. 
 Kie Fo, 271, ft t*j. 
 Kinloch, Sir U, 168. 
 Kircher, 26. 
 Kinvan, r>3. 
 Knight, 223. 
 Ku|nrento, 160. 
 
 Lagarde, Madllc. de, 54. 
 
 UUnde, 340. 
 
 Una, 33, 34. 
 
 Lanc7, Mad. de, 383. 
 
 Landelle, M. de la, 340, 342, 343, 344, 346. 
 
 Upboe, 117. 
 
 Lapsky, 103. 
 
 Lardner, 299. 
 
 LM Cues, 53, 122. 
 
 LAurencin, Comte ,! , ."il. 
 
 Ijtoretus Laurus, 24. 
 
 Lazbcnau, 340. 
 
 Le Bcrrii-r. ! 
 
 Lee, 228. 
 
 Lee,Mr. J. I'll. 
 
 Lennox, Count, 270. 310. 329. 390 (note). 
 
 nand, 159. 
 Leroy, 46. 
 Lewis, Sir W., 63. 
 Ligne, Prince Charles H.-. :.l. 
 Lloyd, 228. 
 Looock, 188. 
 Lanet.284. 
 Loni XVI..::-. 39. 
 Low, IV. f.. 
 
 LUC.M. a.-, in;. 
 
 Lunwili, .*..'>, .'.'i. '.i I, 11". i _::. :;c.'. 
 Liuwac, Gay, 117, rt v v .. 318. 347 (note), 
 373,376. 
 
 I .-:.-. H 
 
 m 
 
 M - ,340. 
 
 Macdonnell, 186. 
 
 Mackin.i.,1,1.. 106. 
 
 Maisonfort, Manjuis .! 
 
 Manpn.354. 
 
 Marorl. 
 
 Mare.. !'.,!. 
 
 Margat, 373 (note). 
 
 Mason, Monck, 77, 137, 139, 158, 195. 
 
 }, 299, 318, 333, 348, 443, 444. 
 May, 140. 
 
 May hew, 220, rt fry. 
 Maynardier,Ca|*.,287. 
 :.n. General, 194. 
 M-IVmaM, ( 
 M'Mahon, General 
 Melli-n, 385. 
 
 tad .M.W. 
 
 Metistiirr, SiKt-.'Ua 
 
 Miller. 
 
 Milton, GC, 113. 
 
 Mitclwll. : 
 
 Mohan, AbW, 310. 
 
 Money, Maj.. ,<r> 
 
 Mongc, M., 306. 
 
 Monge, M. Marcy, - I. _>7'>. .'80, 316, 319, 
 
 332, 334, 337, 338, 444. 
 Montaigne, 38. 
 
 Montaiembert, ComUwe tie, :>4. 
 Montalembert, Marquis de, 54. 
 Montaletnbert, Marquise de, 54. 
 Montgolfier, 33, 37. 
 Montgolfier, J., 38. 
 Montgolfier. M 
 Montgolfier, 1'., 3H. 
 Monlgolfier, It., 38. 
 Mongol tier, M., 
 Monlgolfier, lt freres, 39, 40, 43, 44, 45. 
 
 46, 47, 4H. .M..;,), iMt, ; 
 
 tforam, ;; ; 
 
 Moreaud, 228. 
 
 Moret.60. 
 
 Morris, 259. 
 
 Morveau, M. de, 54, 279, 2' 
 
 Moment, 365. 
 
 M'Kae, 201. 
 
 Nadar, 256, I 
 
 Napoleon, 68, 110. I. 1 - 
 
 Nash, 286. 
 
 Negretti, 229, 230. 
 
 Newton, Sir Isaac, 375 (n-J- > 
 
 Ney, 343. 
 
 Niofad, 440, 445. 
 
 Xisbet, 107. 
 
 Noah, 1. 
 
 Norrb, 
 
 O'Dowd, forneliud, 434. 
 Ottley, 11 (note). 
 .8. 
 
530 
 
 INDEX NOMINUM. 
 
 Parker, 190'. 
 Pauoton, 340. 
 Paullin, 181, 182. 
 Pauly, 316. 
 Peirescius, 29. 
 Petin, 310. 
 Phillips, 195. 
 Piallat, 259. 
 Pindar, 2, 7. 
 Pitt, Wm., 68. 
 Pius VII., 123. 
 Playfair, 327. 
 Podenas, Comtesse de, 54. 
 Poe, 414. 
 Poitevin, 220. 
 Polignac, Due de, 46. 
 Porter, Genl. F., 298. 
 Power, Mad., 382. 
 Power, Morris, 211. . 
 Prevet, 286. 
 Pridmore, 213. 
 Priestley, 40. 
 Proud, 231. 
 Prouts, 54. 
 
 Rayal, 25. 
 
 Reid, Sir \V., 285. 
 
 Remigius, 25. 
 
 Reveroni, de St. Cyr, 298. 
 
 Richard, 340. 
 
 Rittenhouse, 50. 
 
 Robert, les freres, 48, 49, 54, 76. 
 
 Robertson, 116, 270, 373 (note). 
 
 Roebuck, 195. 
 
 llomaine, 85. 
 
 Roret, 270. 
 
 Rouse, 321. 
 
 Rozier, 23. 
 
 Rozier, Pilatre de, 43, et seq., 51, 54, 85. 
 
 Rush, 231, 347 (note). 
 
 Sacharof, 116. 
 
 Sadler, 77, 78, 124, et seq. 
 
 Sadler, W., 127. 
 
 Saint-Hilaire, 270. 
 
 St. Felix, 266, et seq. 
 
 St. Fond, M. de, 41, 46. 
 
 St. Martin, Comte de, 259. 
 
 Salome, 25. 
 
 Samson, 310. 
 
 Saussure, 116,376. 
 
 Saville, Sir Henry, 29. 
 
 Sayn- Wittgenstein, Prince de, 259, et seq. 
 
 Scaliger, 32. 
 
 Schiller, 5-395. 
 
 Scholtus, 24, ,'52. 
 
 Scott, 316. 
 
 Sequin, 189. 
 
 Sheldon, 77, 78. 
 
 Shepherd, 285. 
 
 Simmons, 130. 
 
 Smeath, 56. 
 
 Smeaton, 321. 
 
 Smith, Adam, 40. 
 
 Smith, Albert, 211, 212. 
 
 Snowden, Capt., 115, 318. 
 
 Solomon, 1. 
 
 Spencer, 167, 211. 
 
 Steiner, 287. 
 
 Steinmetz, Lieut., 298. 
 
 Stevinus, 29. 
 
 Sykes, Col., 228. 
 
 c 
 
 Talbot, 314. 
 Tasso, 19, 22. 
 Testu-Brissy, 90, 91, 92. 
 Thenard, 121. 
 Thible, Mad., 54. 
 Thirion, 259, 268. 
 Thorn, 195. 
 Tournachon, 259. 
 
 Transon, 338. 
 Turgan, 383. 
 Turnor, 243, 245. 
 Tycho, 445. 
 Tyndall, 228. 
 Tytler, 56, 108. 
 
 Underwood, 165. 
 
 Vallett, 76. 
 Vasson, le frere, 271. 
 Vandreuit, Comte de, 46. 
 Villemessant, M. de, 259, et seq. 
 Vinci, Leonardo da, 374. 
 
 Walccius, 29. 
 
 Wales, Prince of, 62, 65. 
 
 Welsh, 220, 347 (note). 
 
 Wilcox, 50. 
 
 Wilkins, Bishop, 30, 395. 
 
 Wise, 28, 33, 117, 130, et seq., 169, et 
 seq., 181, 189, et seq., 195, et seq., 
 204, et seq., 207, et seq., 216, et seq., 
 279, 311-443. 
 
 Wright, Sir Sampson, 63. 
 
 Wrottesley, Lord, 228. 
 
 Yon, 268, et seq. 
 Youens, 224. 
 
 Zabella, Dom., 25. 
 
 Zambeccari, 47, 57, 116, 122, 384, 385. 
 
 Zambra, 229, 230. 
 
 Zeize, 347 (note). 
 
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