The Sun.
London, England, 1862-07-21 00:00:00

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THE SCIENTIFIC BAL athst ' EXPERT.: Llz
ILIENTS.—.3I-R. GLAISHER'S 0k1r107.47-7q.A.: <7,
Many very interesting observationKwernmaae
but
by Mr. Glaisher during the hour and a half or two
book,•
Lours that be was in the air on Thursday. We
have been faveured by that gentleman 'with an in-
spectionwhich it contains, all made during the short time
that the balloon was in the air, evince an amount
of industry on his part which can only be explained
by his absolute devotion to the work which he .bad
consented to undertake.
observations, of
his
and
and the number of those
the
large number of remarks
The balloon left the earth at 9.43 9.1 m., with the
barometer at 29.50, end the temperature 55 deg.
At 9.47 they got a temperature of 45 deg. At this
time the air was dry, and the temperature began to
decrease, till at 2 minutes after 10 it was 26 deg.
The spa was then shining on the balloon with great
brilliancy. At 3 minutes after 10, when Mr..
Glaisher and his aeronaut (Mr. Cexwell) were
about two miles high, they heard the strains. of a
band of music. At about thc same time they got a
peep at the earth, and the siglat wal m 0 3t pleasing,.
Even with the naked eye the fields looked like a
tessellated pavement, possessing a combination of
beautiful colours, and the roadways were as simply
and clearly defined as though the
been but a little height over them. Gazing through
the thin attenuated air at this altitude did
not
pre-
sent the difficulties which were offer d e by the
thicker stratum below. In fve minutes the tem
perature began to increase to 31 deg., and at a.
quarter past 10 it was 37 deg. On starting Mr.
Coxwell's pulse was beating at 75 and Mr. Glaisher's •
at 76, but at this time (10.15) Mr. Coxwell's had
risen to 86, and Mr. Glaisher's to nearly 100. At
this ,time the gas in the balloon, which previously
had been opaque, became perfectly transparent,
and, the neck being open, Mr. Glaisher could see:
right through the gas to the top of the balloon.
The proportions of the machine were observed to be
accurate, and -the-mettinitiung -tightly-around it.
Here also a striking change was observed in the
surrounding scenery. From the pale light blue
colour of the sky below that which now surrounded.
1 them was an intensely deep Prussian blue. The
cumuli clouds far below were very rocky in appear-
ance, and the sun was shining upon their surface.
The strati cloud was then at the same elevation as
the balloon. The barometer at this time read 18
inches ; . and the temperature, continuing slowly to
increase, was 38 deg. at 10.30. Now the barome-
ter was reading less than 15 inches, showing that
the aeronauts were nearly four miles high. Here
palpitation of the heart was very susceptible, so
much so that each man could hear the beating-
in the breast of the other. The ticking, too, of
Mr. Glaisher's watch was remarkably loud, rever-
brating like a chronometer beating upon a sounding
board, and the rustling occasioned by the turning
over the leaves of his notebook represented the rush-
ing of a high wind. At 10.35 the temperature had
increased to 42 deg., and they were at a height of
four miles. Here the air was very dry. At this
time it was remarked that the hands were dark blue,
and the lips also blue, but not the face. Now the
temperature began to decrease with wonderful
rapidity. In four minutes it was reduced to 36 deg.
and by 10.47 it was down to 31 deg. At 11.1 the
highest elevation was reached. The barometer
reading a little above 11 inches, it was evident that
the voyagers had ascended to very nearly five miles.
Here the temperature was 16 deg., and the breath-
ing, which was observed to be interfered with when
heart palpitation commenced, again became affected.
A deep blue sky was to be seen at this point, with
clouds below, and the cold was felt. At 10.57 the
feeling of sea-sickness, with its uncomfortable mani-
festations, came over Mr. Olaisher, and at 11.7 the
same feeling returned, but it was not so prolonged
in duration. Mr. Glaisher had been warned that at
this height blood would issue from the nose, that
the eyes would be affected, and there would be a
tingling in the ears ; but in neither the case of Mr.
Coxwell or himself were either of these manifesta-
tions perceived. Mr. Coxwell only found it neces-
sary to throw on one additional coat while they were
up, and Mr. Gkisher, after wrapping a cloak around
him for a short while, soon threw it oIY. The fin-
gers were not benumbed, nor were either of the
voyagers uncomfortably cold. When they were be-
tween three and four miles high Mr. Glaisher sug-
gested that the balloon should make its first " dip,"
Mr. Glaisher, it will be remembered, desiring, in
order to the perfecting of his experiments, to descend
to the earth two or three times before making his
final ascent to the highest altitude; but Mr. Cox-
well, having felt certain that they were proceeding
too near to the Wash, to enable them, if they made
a dip, to get up, again, the attempt was abandoned,
and the ascent to the highest elevation was made at
once. Having attained it, the voyagers, in a style
most characteristic of Englishmen, sipped at the
small quantity of sherry which they had taken with
them in order to drink to the health of the Queen ;
to the British Association, associating with
it the name of Dr. Fairbairn (its president) ; suc-
cess to the town of -Wolverhampton, associating
with the toast the name of Lord Wrottesley ; and
the directors and engineer of the gasworks, with
thanks to them for kindness and attention in con-
nection with the ascent. During the " speaking,',
as indeed often before, Mr. Coxwell spoke in terms
of astonishment at the collectedness of Mr. Glaisher,
that gentleman's deportment being all that of an
experienced aeronaut, instead of a traveller in mid
air for the first time. As we have befere remarked,
unless Mr. Glaisher bad bad displayed this col-
lectedness, it would have been impossible that so
numerous and much diversified observations could.
have been made as his book now bears upon its
pages. During the last mile there was the extra-
ordinary change of 26 deg. in the temperature. On
the earth, it will be remembered, it was 55 deg., at
half a mile it was 45 deg., at less than a mile it was
43 deg; it then decreased to 26 deg. ; at about two
, miles it increased constantly till the
height of four
miles was reached, when it was 42 deg.; and be-
tween four and five miles it •
rapidly decreased from
42 deg. to 16 deg. The air w
the highest elevation it was dry throughout. At
was 80 deg. below '
No dew was deposited. zero.
The dry bulb
and the wet bulb 9 deg. read 16 deg .
Reynault's h
at zero had to dew ; nor had Daniel's hygrometer
deposited at this g- below zero. No dew could be
a elevation at either of the bygro-
meters.

At half-past 11 Mr. Coxwell became uneasy as to
their position
they
position in relation to the coast, and at 11 42,
when
were above the clouds, the earth was
visible, and the Wash in the distance. The voyagers
then brought their balloon and themselves down as
quickly as possible. In descending the shadow of
the balloon was seen on the clouds, and it continued
to increase as the clouds were neared. In passing
through the cloud the balloon could not be seen
from the car, so dark Was it. It was stated that
they landed at Langham, near Oakham. The pre-
cise spot at which terra firma was again touched
was a meadow near the boundary of the parishes of
and Ashwell, in Rutlandshire.
L'iTnhgehain
y were seen descending by the residents in the
neighbourhood, and by Mr. E. G. Baker in parti-
cular. So rapidly were they coming down that
Mr. Baker prepared restoratives, and gave such
orders as he feared would be called for on account
of what he expected would be the personal injuric,i
which the voyagers would suffer Happily, how-
ever, Mr. Baker's kindness in this regard was
scarcely necessary, as Mr. Glaisher sustained only a
slight injury to the face and hand, the inconveni-
ence from which yesterday was merely a headache,
and Mr. Coxwell escaped altogether, The instru-
ments, of course, were considerably injured, but not
so much so as on the last occasion. The rapidity
made
througha ch chiefly
to the effect upon the gas of the cold in the'hi;4l;
with which the
downdpesacsesnintgwas
was shown clouds.°.2.
hospitalitybaTyihticAtluwrd.aerßmaaenksdetr,onwlo did not leaven tthoetmh et
ijl voyagersafter
having provided them dinner at his
had taken them in :is table, he
carriage to theowranilw
lly sta-
tion, whence they arrived at about midnight in
Wolverhampton. The next ascent will be made
when the wind has attained a westerly direction
The balloon proved all that could be expected, and
Mr. Coxvvell feels satisfied that with it he can reach
an altitude of nearly eix miles.