The Sun.
London, England, 1859-09-23 00:00:00

BALLOON ASCENT.

The editor of the Newcastle Daily Chronicle ac-
companied Mr. Coxwell in one of his ascents on
Monday evening. He thus describes his aerial
voyage:—" The sensations of the aeronaut are of
the most delightful and inspiring character, and
must impress with an almost devotional feeling any
mind capable of being moved by the beauty of
naturo. The calm stillness, the absence of the
slightest sense of movement, the bright light, the
pure air, and the magnificent area of vision, make
up a sum of pleasure which no pen can possibly
describe. 'We are now about 6,000 feet above the
earth,' says Mr. Coxwell in the coolest possible
manner' and at the moment pop' goes a bottle of
ginger beer—for a few bottles of pop' and half a
dozen biscuits were the whole commissariat of the
commander of our aerial vessel. The circumstance
was immediately explained, for Mr. Coxwell is a
scientific gentleman, not a mere balloonist; and we
had a brief lecture on the fact that the pressure of
the atmosphere having been removed, the carbonic
acid gas in the bottle had had less resistance to
contend against, and had consequently gone off.'
The lessened weight of the air was at that moment
manffested in many interesting modes, some of which
we noted. Our finger ends, nose tip, and external
ears tingled, as Albert Smith relates is always the
case in the journey to the summit of Mont Blanc.
The internal parts of the• ear were affected in
the reverse manner to that experienced in the
descent of the diving bell. As the depth of
the water became greater, wo remember
suffering considerable inconvenience from the
pressure of the air in the bell upon the tympanum
or drum of the ear, which was only relieved when
the air contained within the drum escaped by the
eustachian tube; but here up in the atmosphere
6,000 feet, the air within the chamber of the ear
had expanded, owing to the pressure on the outside
of the tympanum having been removed, and we
were partially deaf till by a movement resembling
yawning (which is practised by persons used to
diving bells) the eustachian tube. which connects
the back of the throat with the internal ear, was
opened, and allowed a portion of the expanded air
to escape. The pulse was beating 85, and no cold
was experienced, though the evening was chilly in
the lower regions. One of the most striking
phenomena we noticed was the echo from the earth.
After calling out over the side of the :car, Where
are we'?' near:), three seconds elapsed before the
land .beneath mocked us by a distinct repetition.
The experiment was several times repeated at vari-
ous altitudes, and the time elapsing between the
shout and the echo afforded a rough idea of the
distance of the balloon from the earth below.
Shortly after rising into the air, 'Mr. Coxwell com-
pleted every provision for descent, by hanging out
his strong grappling iron, and arranging the bags of
ballast, so as to be ready for immediate use. He then
folded his arms, sat back in his seat, and became as
enthusiastic on the delights of aerostation as the
newest convert might have been expected to be;
from time to time noting the rate at which we
were travelling, and the distance still left between
us and the sea. To test whether we were ascend-
ing or descending, a sheet of the Daily Chronicle
was torn into small pieces and thrown out. Mar-
vellous to relate, they Pppeared to drop down from
us like pieces of metal ; we say appeared, for the
motion was ours; we were ascending rapidly and
leaving the scraps of paper behind us. We met
with them again afterwards, and overtook them
before they reached the earth. The valve was
pulled and fresh scraps of paper thrown out. We
were descending, for the signals were left behind
in the upper air ; by no other means could we know
that the aerial vessel was going up or down. Down,
still down. The hay and corn stacks, whose tops
had hitherto onK looked as large as the end of our
pencil, were growing larger; we could see the
wheat sheaves in some of the fields. ' Where are
we 1" came back as a quick echo ; but we got an
answer also from a distant voice which, louder than
the echo, replied, Not far from Hilton Bridge.'
The informant was invisible, and at the moment we
overtook the paper we had first thrown out, and
passed the signals in our downward incline. Shouts
of people, yet invisible, reached us, but we rapidly
neared the ground, and a slight vibration a few
minutes afterwards told us that the grappling iron
had touched the earth."