Litchfield enquirer., 1869-03-11
SCIENTIFIC DARING.

One dull day in August, just after noon,
 balloon rose in the air at the foot of
 Cleed Hills, on the western edge of the
 central plain of England. It was inflated
 with the ightest of Rasses which chemical
 skill could produce, and it rose with sur
 prising velocity. A mile up and it entered
 Q strata of clouds more than 8 thousand feet thick. Emerging from this, the sun
 shone brightly on the air ship; the sky oY-
 erhead was of the dearest and deepest blue
 and below lay an immeasurable expanse of
 clouds, whose surface looked as solid as that of that of the earth, now wholly lost to view. Lofty mountains and then deep dark ravines, appeared below; the peaks and sides of those cloud mountains next the sun glittered like snows but cast ing shadows as black as if they were solid rock. Up rose the balloon with tremen- dous velocity. Four miles above earth a pigeon was let loose; t dropped down through the air as if it had been stone. The air was too thin to enable it to fly. It was as if ship laden to the deck were to pass from the heavy waters of the sea into an inland unsaline lake; the bark would sink at once in the thinner water. Up. up, still higher! What silence profoundl The heights of the sky were as still as the deep est depths of the, ocean, where, as was found during the search ibr the lost Allan tic cable, the fine mud lies as unstirred from year to year as the dust which im-
 peFesptbihlsy sMb2s mghas gatasasEEbd asEEbdss sF as .,,e oiroccessible summit of Chimborazo ol neno;r; yDo Despite the sunshine, .evety
 aI;nr U:"r 3raazes The air grows too tnin D
 sn S.,,,reort fife. even for a few minutes; lwo
 surp nean only are in that adventurous Danvon
 % tha ona steering the air ship, tnes oenea w.tcb;no fhe scientific instruments, anu Ns ~~ sa"ord;nn them with rapidity Drea a oa
 iouo nractice Suddenly as the latter HOOKS o:a'
 1S ot b;s instruments, his sight grows oM
 ne s E takes a lens to help his right, ana ohty
 S marks from the falling barometer sha' .,
 thev are yet rising rapidly. A nssA .s;as ', :.
 hrandv lies with foot ot nm; ne s..o1 ,,;, <
 reach it. but his arms refuse to onoJ h,
 u;ll He tries to call on his comrao1' mn'
 has gone up to the ring aDove: . ~h t,,t n
 in that deep silence would snHce:, sonnd comes from his hps-ne is s0l0olee, o ee, Tha steersman comes down lnto u soa1 ha finds his comrade in swoon' anu Aoo s' . h;s hi; own senses failing him. ,... hrn He saw at once that lie anu osasn s .s;s ! mon few moments. he ssi1eu' an . ta seize the valve, in order to open as, @ . let out some of the gas. nis nanuS .,ara,v V purple with intense coidIsneSy u S,s arc vii R d, they will not respona .a.th so h.i # onened l. seileu ., ~. once twice, thrice, The ballo l. llssls. to descend. Then the swoon al DesIn soan returned to consciousness .: . at mafts"L ssa steeraman standing before hl lg saw wotaa sn at his iustrument-they m if he soOseo Ssen nearly ne eight miles up; but ? Id nasI .hs barometer ar was rising rapidly-the 1i- Ine ,nen was descending. Brandy was us !, 'li- TSoy lUSa I had been higher above earth !, ' nt. nnst no1tal I'm man or any living thing had ? os.eps the lp.;as psEs oi na s.es sad tha air ship, with it's intensely rari led ana tns .,d 1i have @ been floating unattent Le- gb gg;tb two cospses, in the wide realms ceS, snace. -Oace WeeE. azs5