The Sun.
London, England, 1863-07-15 00:00:00

Mr. Glaisher's Twelfth Balloon Ascent.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.
Sir,—This ascent, which took place on Saturday
last from the Crystal Palace, 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 would 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 sky
was nearly covered with cirrus and cirrostratus
cloud, and the air was in very gentle motion. The
earth was left at 4h 55m, the balloon moving to-
wards the west till 413 59m, when in a moment we
came under the influence of a north wind, and moved
almost due south ; at this time the balloon was
2,400 feet high; at 5h 19m we were nearly over
Caterham, where a large number of persons were
collected celebrating some festival; at 5h 36m we
were near Epsom Downs; at 5h 49m, near Reigate;
at 6h 39m, over Horsham ; at 7h 14m, within five
or six miles of Brighton. Up to this time we had
frequently consulte. together with the view of as-
cending higher, but it did not seem prudent to at-
tempt extreme elevations, moving so directly to-
wards the sea, and therefore we kept low, with the
prospEct of crossing the Channel to France, and then
ascending four or five miles ; but, on approach-
ing the Channel, the circumstances did not pro-
mise success ; we therefore abandoned the at•
tempt. On descending when at the height of 2,400
feet, again fell in with an east wind, being exactly
at the same elevation as when we lost it at five
o'clock. After this time we were compelled to
keep at a low elevation, passed very nearly parallel

to the coast, and continued moving at the rate o
about 15 miles per hour, at elevations varying
from 1,000 to 2,000 feet, till, at Btt 25m, we were
over Goodwood Park, the seat of the Duke of
Richmond, where Mr. Coxwell determined to de-
scend, 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 751 deg. ; at
the Crystal Palace it was 74 deg., and in the bal-
loon it declined to 59 deg. by 511 4m, at the height
of 3,600 feet. We then entered a warm current,
the temperature increasing to 61.5 deg., then de-
creased to 60 deg., at the height of 4,300 feet. We
determined to descend to repeat these observations,
and found all temperatures down to 3,000 feet
nearly 5 higher than at the same heights on ascend-
ing. We then turned to ascend at 5h 35m, and the
temperature decreased gradually, agreeing with
those at the same elevations as last taken, and con-
tinued to a height of 6,200 feet at 6h 28m, where
the temperature was 521 deg.—we continued at
this elevation, with very slight variation, 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 2,000 feet by 7h
20m, the temperature gradually and con-
stantly increasing to 651 deg. ; from this
time we were moving westward almost
parallel to the coast, and were aan.aclita
to keep below 2,000 feet, to avoid approach-
ing the sea, and the temperature at these elevations
varied from 63 deg. to 65 deg., and was 681 deg. at
Goodwood at 8h 50m, about ten minutes after we
had touched the ground. At this time at Greet -
wich the temperature was 64 deg., at Brighton (as
communicated to me by J. 0. N. Rutter, Esq.) it
was 68 deg. On comparing the successive tempera-
tures at the same elevations taken after 5h 8m with
those at Greenwich, a corresponding decrease was
shown, but somewhat less in amount.
At 511 27m, when at the height of 3,400 feet, the
Times newspaper, folded four times, accidentally
fell over the car ; its descent was watched, and after
a time it looked like a bird ; it reached the ground
at 5h 35m, passing over seven or eight fields in its
descent.
Whilst passing from Brighton to Chichester,
without any sense of motion ourselves, at an eleva-
tion of less than 2,000 feet, over so beautiful a
country, in all respects like Devonshire, with its fine
parks of forest trees, noblemen's mansions, and all
the features of rural landscape, a moving panorama
in fact, of great extent, appearing in quick sum s-
sion, like a fairy scene, was most enjoy able; 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 remark-
able. 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
east. After nearing Horsham the north wind must
have been compounded with some west—that
is, at heights exceeding 5,000 feet, 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 bal-
loon ; at Arundel it was moving in the opposite
direction. It was this state of uncertainty 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, whilst during 31 hours the balloon
had passed over between sixty and seventy 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
seventy miles in sixty-five minutes, whilst the
anemometer at Greenwich registered fourteen miles
only, and every occasion on which the actual
motion of the air has been measured by the bal-
loon, it has been a multiple of that determined by
instruments. The difference between the two is so
large that it seems scarcely to be accountedforby
the undulatory nature of the surface of land, anti
implies that our hitherto estimated velocities of the
air are erroneous.
Shortly after we left, the skyswucahs
( ensity that at
overcast, mostly
with cirro-stratus clouds of
times there were faint gleams of light f
but for the most part the saw
s place was
the sun ;
b was only just
discernible, and for some
time
was no trace whatever of the before sunset there
These clouds, when viewed fromu a height exceed-
ing 6,000 feet, seemed then to be as far above as
when viewed from the earth; they must have been
four miles high at least. The atmosphere waa thick
and misty ; very distant objects were invisible ; and
lighted the earth not being up at all by the sun was
dull. The fact of clouds reaching to four milts
high where the temperature of the dew point must
be some degrees below zero, as in the preceding
accent, v ould seem to imply the presence of very
little water, yet there was enough in both cases not
Only to be visible, but to exclude everything beyond
them. This fact is important, and indicates that
our theory of vapour must be reconsidered.
In this ascent we were favoured with the company
of Fredk. Norris, Esq., of the Conservative Club,
and Lieut. H. Turner, of the Rifle Brigade.
The place of descent was Goodwood Park, the
seat of the Duke of Richmond, and our best thanks
are due to Captain Valentine for the assistance be
kindly gave us in everything, not only in having
my instruments properly taken care of, paekirntg up
the balloon, &c., but also for his kind hospitai
I am, Sir, yours, &c-,JAMES GLAWIEE.