Daily national Democrat., 1859-08-02


ave expect to meet some capitalists of Wall
street on Monday next, and raise a company to
build fifty balloons, and start line semdally be-
tween St Louis and New York. And soon there
after start one daily around the world, stopping
at New York, London, Hongkong and San Fran
CISCO"
Such is the announcement made by Mr.
Lamountoin, in concluding his report, to the
st. Louis Evening News, of his aerial voyage
with his partner Prof Wise, from st. Louis
to New York-a trip which was made in
sepeuteea honrS
Utopian as this announcement may seem, it
it is 10y no means improbable that such line
will be established if not now, at any rate
ere long. The practicabiity of such an en-
terprise is already demonstrated by Wise's
trip He made the voyage in almost perfect
safety, experiencing no damage whatever un-
til he was caught in storm, somewhere in
the atmosphere of the State of New York,
and dragged along through the tops of trees
in dense forest until he reached the ground
by first lodging in tree twenty feet above
the earths surface Peils of this kind are
however, no more to be dreaded than storms
upon the sea, in which ships sometimes go
down. end frequently do not. Krial naviga-
tou is as likely to be as safe as marine, and
perhaps safer; because a balloon in a storm
is subjected to no such strain as n ship at
sea, tossed in the tumult of winds and waves
and liable to be crushed bet'n the two. There
is no serious damage done to the balloon, un
less it is near the earth, because it travels
with the storm, and there are no Instructions
in its path Self poised, and there being no
resistance but that of the atmosphere itself,
or in other words no resistance at all, it
moves with the motion of that in which it is
placed. The idea may seem strange, but the
philosophical fact is none the less true, that
balloon is as still if properly balanced in the
current or whirl of air in which it happens to
be as is a man standing perfectly still and mo
tionless on the earth The earth moves but
he does not So with the balloon. The air
is in molten, but 1t is still There was no
damage in Wise's case, until he made his de.
scent to the earth, and there would have
been none then, if he had not descended into
n hurricane which was at that time sweeping
the earths surface. The storm being so near
the earth,-trees, rocks and water presented
distractions to the sweep of the balloon
which were dangerous. Had the airy voy-
ayers been higher up, there would have been
no danger at all.
We confidently expect the time when air
ships will be navigating the great ETHEREAL
sea above and transporting passengers from
quarter to quarter of the globe Mr. La.
mountain is trying to raise a company to
build fifty balloons, with the view of sailing
them between st. Louis and New York. We
hear of another project nearer home, to-wit:
ct San Francisco, which has for its object the
establishing line of balloons or air-ships
between San Francisco and New York
These enterprises ought to be encouraged,
and it is likely will be-
In this connection we may remark. that n
well known artisan of Marysville struck out
"HN" p"PNi' ~ Nul CERTAIN hnOWleuSe, HNe
years ago, plan of a balloon with its power
OF compression, expansion and propulsion
very similar indeed to that of Wise's, and
gave his idea to Prof Wilson, an mronant
who made some ascensions, a year or so ago
in California, and afterwards went East
Whether he gave this idea again to Prof
Wise, we cannot say, but do not consider it
by any means an impossible thing This
same Marysville mechanic at the same time
originated plan, by which an air ship, or a
balloon-like vessel, might be propelled by
steam By mathematical calculation he
demonstrated the possibility of a vessels be
/ ing constructed, which would be buoyant
enough to ascend, and yet capable of bearing
the weight Of an engine, together with
freight and passengers. Could he be induced.
or could he have time and money enough at
command, to produce working model of his
plan, it would be very great curiosity, and
we should like much to see it on exhibition
at our coming District Fair. The plan is un
doubtedly one which is based on scientific
principles and is worth attention.