The Sun.
London, England, 1862-08-20 00:00:00

THE SCIENTIFIC BALOON ASCENT.

MR. GLAISHER'S OBSERVATIONS.
A most easy descent was experienced. Notwith-
standing the immense size of the balloon, which it
had been said would be too huge to be manageable,
and notwithstanding further that four bags of bal-
last were brought down in the car, the machine
came so slowly to the earth that it had almost to be
pulled down. The instruments had all been care-
futly packed up just before the ground was reached,
and not one of them therefore was damaged by the
descent, or during the time that they were kept itt
the air. The precise spot of the descent was a mea-
dow on a farm at Solihull, about seven miles from
Birmingham, not far from the Masons' Arms Hos-
telry, the landlord of which (Mr. Whitehead) at
once set out his cart, and had the balloon conveyed.
to Birmingham to be placed on the railway for
conveyance to London preparatory to its ascent
from the Crystal Palace to-day (Wednesday). In
other respects also Mr. Glaisher and Mr. Coxwell
received attention at the hands of Mr. Whithead,
which they are desirous of acknowledging. Ex-
cepting by the previous ascent from Wolverhamp-
ton, the one of Monday is unsurpassed in thr.; his-
tory of ballooning, for the height attained. There
is no record of 41 miles having been a4,,tained by
other persons than Mr. Glaisher and Nfr. Coxwell,
his aeronaut, and, as a consequence, they only have
succeeded in attaining a height of five miles, which
they did when they ascended from Wolverhampton
a few weeks ago. The miles here spoken of are
statute miles, the 4-1,- miles representing a height of
23,760 feet. At that altitude we may repeat that
the temperature was 24 degrees, the barometer read
13 inches, and the dew point was minus 10. Here
at six minutes past 3 o'clock the hands became of a
blue hue, and a qualmish sensation came over the
brain and stomach resembling the approach of sea
sickness. Upon Mr. Glaisher these sensations
proved severe, and were accompanied by an intense
headache. The pain in the head and the sickness
increased later in the day, and they seemed to roach
their most distressing point about 10 at night.; and,
although a night's rest did wonders for him, he
had by no means recovered from his indisposition
yesterday, when at about 11 o'clock he left Wol-
verhampton to return to London. Mr. Coxwell
being somewhat more acclimatized to the tempe-
rature and atmosphere of high elevations, and,
moreover, not accustomed to suffer by sea sickness,
the inconvenience and annoyance in his case were
confined to similar sensations,bnt very much minor
in degree. Mr. Glaisher suffered similarly, but
not so intensely on the first as on this, the second
high ascent. How, under such cirtumstances, he
could have taken the immense number of observa-
tions in the upper strata of the atmosphere as his
note book contains is most remarkable, and can
only be explained by his great admiration of the
science in which he is so proficient, and his en-
thusiasm in the discharge of the duties 'which, on
behalf of his fellow members of the Balloon
Committee of the Royal Society, he has so gener-
ously undertaken. Nearly every minute of the three
and a half hours during which he was in the air
on Monday,—namely, from 1 2 to 4 25 p.m., are
acccunted for by entries in his book, those entries
embracing readings from most of his instruments
and copious observations upon the surrounding
scenery.

As on the first occasion, so also now, the popular
belief that so great a height cannot be attained
without a singing noise in the ears, a distending
of the muscles of the face, and a bleeding at the
nose being all painfully perceptible was exploded
by experience. No such inconveniences were per-
ceptible on either occasion. The faculty of hearing
was acute as at the first ascent, but by sipping a.
little pure brandy before reaching the highest alti-
tude the throbbing of the heart, which was so ob-
servable at that time, was now warded off. Never-
theless the pulse of both Mr. Glaisher and of Mr.
Coxwell rose to a great height, that of the former
rising to 108, and of the latter from about 78, on
leaving the earth, to nearly 100. Before making
the " dip" on Monday, only one such descent hav-
ing been made on Monday, and when ascending
through a temperature of 50 deg., the voyagers re-
marked that it was " cold ;" at 37 deg. it was
" very cold," and warm wrappers were put on ;
but when, during the making of the " dip," they
were again in 50 deg. temperature, they experi-
enced a return of so much warmth that the
wrappers were thrown off. At less than a mile
higher the temperature, which on the earth being
left was 68, now registered 69 deg. At this height
a bell was heard as distinctly as if the voyagers
had been on the earth, and the bell tolling in the
next street. Here they were doubtless over Bir-
mingham. At three miles high a clap of thunder
was heard very audibly.

The former observations relating to the dryness
of the atmosphere in the higher regions were
confirmed on Monday, but at the lower elevations
the evidences registered tend to favour previously
conceived opinions. On the first ascent no ice
was noticed upon the wet and dry bulbes of the
thermometer, but on this occasion both bulbes
were covered with a compact cake of ice. No
ozone was detected on the former occasion, but
on Monday there was on Mr. Moffatt's paper as
much, we think, as nine points; the dew point on
starting was 51, or 17 decrease upon the air at
starting. At about half-past 2 o'clock, when the
height was three miles and the temperature was 28
deg., the dew point was 6. In five minutes after-
wards it was 3, and it subsequently varied from
minus 5 to minus 10 at the highest altitude at 3 20.
On descending to the earth it gradually increased
to 50.

The views obtained were indescribably grand,
surrounded as the voyagers were by a boundless
sea of blue sky interspersed with floating white
massy clouds of varied shapes, sometimes with many
domed summit() resting upon a ponderous base, and.
resembling a whole Alpine region moving in space
At other times their serried sides resembled those
of floating icebergs, and as the sun's rays darted
upon them they looked only a little less brilliant.
class
Whether on leaving the earth or at an altitude of
four miles, still the cirri (or " mare's-tail") clouds
were always above them, and seemed as far out of
r s Monday, reach at the highest as
tat the lowest altitude.
Throughout
the
white
entire 3F
of hours n
fi l‘lt nay, a
magnificent described
followed the balloon in all its wanderings. cloud
the
So
right regal were its proportions that Mr. Glaisher
designated it " The Monarch f
0 the Clouds." And
immediately that the voyagers had left the lower
region, and hr,d ascended'
was peculiarly that over into the domain which.
whicised sovereignty, he ch his Majesty exer-
as their body guard. seethed to comp forth and act
Another ascent will be made from
ton in short time. Wolverhan3p-

BRINGING 'EM jJp
fro 11 WITH A ROUND TURN.—A,
deputation
Plymouth recently waited upon Lord Pal-
merston to represent to him that navigators to and from
that port required an increase of basin accommodation..
Pall replied that he held many offices, but that he was not
yet a steward of a ateampacket. The deputation retired,
and are at present engaged, with their coats off that they
may think the harder, trying to find out what His Jauntt-
tlesg naeant,—Tunch.

LINCOLN'S Two DIFFICULTIES.—No Money! no
Alen I—Punch.