Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1859-07-15
Taking Observation. from a Balloon.

Awriter, dating Castelnedolo, June 20, says:
" In order to improve all these advantages
an eIpedient was adopted which is not new in
deed, but which appears now under quite diff
ferent circumstances. The brothers Goddard,
OF aeronautic repute, who came out some time
ago provided with their b ,st appar r itus, mad :
yesterday in the afternoon their first expert
nent at Castelnedolo. One Of them made an
ascent in small balloon to ex plore the position
OF the enemy beyond the Chiese. Having first
mounted on the csmpanile to take the bearings,
and make himself somewhat acquainted with
the country, he entered his little skiff and went
up IN the air with regularity which accord
ing to those who saw the ascent. showed he
was master Of his eccentric conveyance lie
rose to height Of from 500 to 700 yards stop
ped for minute or 30, and then descende ed
again with as much regularity as he had shown
In ascending. As you remember under Napo-
leon L., attempts were made to acquire infor-
nation of the enemy's position by these means,
but in the then state of aeronautic experience
not much could be made Of these means Now
aeronauts pretend to have succeeded in regula-
ting the movements Of their balloons with toler-
able accuracy, and certainly the many success
ful sscents seem proof of a certain proficiency
There will be plenty of opportunities to put
this to the test and il the result should be satis
factory, it will become formidable weapon in
the hands of him who knows how to use il best
The greatest difficulty in warfare is that you
know the movements Of your adversary only
imperfectly, or not at all. for each army is
surrounded by outposts which hide all that is
going on behind, ana many q general who is
blamed as an imbecile would be judged quite
differently II IL was known on what information
Of the enemy's movements he had based his
plans OF course, a military genius, who knows
his adversary well, can, even on imperfect in
formation more or less divine his movements,
but in nine cases out of ten the ordinary run Of
Generals make their greatest blunders for
want Of information What, for instance
would not the Austrian General at Mortara
have given had he been able to peep over the
Po and see those endless battalions and squad
rons hurry of thence to the Sesis, or if he could
have seen them passing this latter river in
thousands, while the fight at Palestro was going
on? He might have brought up his whole army
within twelve hours and attacked the allies on
their march, while, perhaps, half of their army
was on one and the other on the opposite bank
of the Sesia. %.
"lf then, the experiments Of Messrs Goddard
are successful the intelligence department
Of the al;ei armies will have acouir ID q most
fruitful source Of information. There are, of
course, cannon balls which may stop up this
source IN second, but artillery has now and
tnen considerable difficulties in touching bodie
that move slowly, or not at all; so there is very
Iitne chance OF its being able to hurt an object
flying through the air y .-.'
MAN Lee DRIVEN THROUGH An IScH
BoARD.-Mr. Z. ID. Harmon of J.ennox r,at
with severe accident on Tuesday morning.
the 18th ult He had loaded his wagon with
cheese boxes, with the intention of tskine the
same to market. The end board not being
safhciently stayed, the boxes, together with his
own weight, caused the board TO give way, and
on the horses. As might be supposed. The
horses became frightened and ran. They vere q
refined out Of the road, and brought up along
side Of q barn, where Mr.. H. was Violently
thrown from the wagon, feet first against the
barn door; and strange as it may appear, one
inch board forming Z part OF the door. The
boxes were scattered in all directions, the
wagon broken very badly, and Mr.. ii. was
picked mp FOR dead His injuries are not % bad
as were at first supposed and he is now fast re-
covering. Advertiser.