New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1851-01-23
From the Boston Daily Advertiser.
BALLOONS AND BALLOONING.

taips a very interesting account Of air navigaton
from the first discovery and early attempts OF
Montsolfer. Some of the facts contained In TINS
psper. and some extracts from it viii, we think
be acceptable TO our readers
The invention of Balloons which IS entirely OF
French origin, belongs to the brothers Stephen and
Joseph Montpelier, the sons OF paper manuiac'
turer of Annonay, city situated opposite the p
per Alps. The brothers Montpelier had view
from their paper factory Of the whole chain OF
these mountains The sight Of the production
and ascension of the clouds which they every day
saw forming on the side of the Alps, led them soon
70 mediate on the cause Of the suspension and
the equilibrium Of these enormous masses which
were moving about in the heavens. But the In
yentive minds of the two brothers could not stop
az purely theological speculations and they formed
a plan Of initiating nature in one OF her most bril-
liant OperatiOns Ii did not seem TO them lmpOs
sibe 70 compose artificial clouds, which, IN
imitation Of natural ones, should ascend 70
the upper regions Of the air. To reproduce
as much as possible the appearance OF nature
they shut up the vapor of water in An envelop
which was ct the same time strong and light
This artificial cloud rose in the ar, bat the eXte-
nor temperature soon brought the steam back to
the LIQUID state. The enveop became wet, and
the apparatus fell to the ground They attempted
without greater success to cOnfine the smoke pro-
duced by the burning Of wood, in cloth enyel
op The gas received in this covering soon cooled
and did not suffice to carry up the little apparatus
From a trans alton OF Dr. Priestley's work,
ION different kinds Of Air, which appeared IN
France about this time, the Montgolhers gained
much information and food for thought on the SUD-
iect Of gases and they proceeded to experiment on
the subject in various ways. To form the mixture
- - rrbf ne
their purpose, they burned together straw slight
" wet with wool cut up fine, an animal substance,
which emitted as it burned, gases giving an alca-
line reaction. They imagined that the com6lna'
ton Of these two bodies In an envelop OF cloth
or strong paper would carry up rapidly the little
apparatus. In Nov. 1852, Stephen Montgolher
made at Avignon, where he had gone upon busl-
ness the first attempt OF little apparatus found
ed on the principles agreed upon by his brother
and himself He made a little hollow parallel
piped of silk, of very small capacity, containing
only two cubic meters OF air, and he saw with the
Joy which may easily be conceived the little bal
loon rise to the ceiling OF his room. On returning
to Annonay he fastened to repeat the experiment
with his brother. They used the same apparatus
in the open air; the ball rose before them to
great hight.
Encouraged by the result of this first expert
ment, the brothers Montgolfer constructed lar
ger apparatus, which could contain twenty cubic
meters of air. This new attempt succeeded per.
fectly for the machine rose with so much power,
that it broke the cords by which 1t was secured,
and fell after having reached height oil three
hundred meters. Being then certain OF success,
they went to work to Construct apparatus of
great size, and resolved to attempt, IN one OF the
SQUARES in the city Of Annonay, a solemn expert
ment in order to make known and establish pub
lcly their discovery The experiment took place
on the 9Th Of June, 1888, in presence OF an I'M
mense crowd. The Assembly of individual States
C4l,.. .icbv in I'M
city of Annonay, were all present at the memora-
bic trial The Aerostatic machine was twelve
meters in diameter it was constructed OF wrap
ping cloth lined with paper. At the bottom was
placed chafng dish of wire on which was burn
ed ten pounds of wet straw and chopped WOOL
The machine made an effort to ascend-it was
abandoned to itself, and rose Immediately, amid
the shouts of the spectators. In ten minutes 1t
had risen to the hight of five hundred meters
but as most OF the gas escaped In consequence OF
the permeability Of the cloth and the paper, 1t
soon was seen descending slowly TO the earth.
procesverbal of this great experiment was
drawn up Immediately by the members OF the
States of the Vivarsis, and sent TO the Academy
of Sciences at Paris. On the demand of NJ. Bre
teuil, then Minister, the Academy Of Sciences
chose n Committee to acquaint themselves
with the facts. LavOisier Cadet COndorcet Des-
martz, Bosset, Brisson, Leroy and Iluet formed
this Committee. Stephen Montpelier was sum-
moned to Paris and informed that the experiment
should be repeated at the expense OF the Academy.
Meantime the news OF the experiment at An
nOnay had created the most lively sensation IN
Paris. The curiosity of the public and the learned
men was too much excited 10 accommodate Itself
10 the usual hardness of academicsl committees.
The experiment must be Immediately repeated
at any price, under the eyes OF the Pansians.
Fauas de Saint Fond, Professor at the Museum,
1.-THE Barnum Of the day. probably opened public
subscription TO meet the expense OF the under
taking, and 10000 francs were collected in few
DAYS The brothers Robert skillul constructors
of philosophical instruments, were employed to
form the machine. Professor Charles then in all
the vigOr of youth and talent, took upon himself
to direct the work. IL will easily be imagined
that the undertaking offered many difficulties.
The process verbal OF the experiment Of MOntgo
fer, the letters from Annonay which had given
the details of it, furnished no indication OF the
nature OF the gas used by the inventor; they had
confined themselves to saying that the gas used
by MontgoGer, was at least halfa heavy as com
mon air. Charles did not lose any time In seek
ing out what was the gas of which Montgolher
had made use; he understood that since the ex
pertinent had succeeded with a gas which had
only half the specific weight of common air, it
would succeed still better with inAammable gas
hydrogen gas, which weighs fourteen times less
than air. Consequently he decided to fill the bal
loon with intiamms bic gas but this operation wi as
not without its difficulties Inflammable air was
at that time a gas but little known, and it had
never been prepared except in public lectures,
and in very small quantities scientific men them.
selves did not handle it without some fears Of the
dangers which presented themselves from its in
hammsbility. But it was necessary to obtain and
accumulate IN the same reservoir more than forty
cubic metres OF this gas. Notwithstanding this,
they went to work the workshop Of the brothers
Robert was the field Of labor this was situated
near the Place des Victories 1t was necessary
for the first time TO plan and construct the neces-
sary apparatus for the preparation and preserva-
tioR OF the gas. Many different arrangements
were attempted without much success, at last,
for the formation and Encouragement Of the gas.
The apparatus was disposed IN the following man
ner; Water and iron filings were placed in cask,
the apper end Of the cask being pierced with two
holes; one gave passage 70 a tin tube which car.
RED the gas TO the inside Of the balloon, the other