National opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1865-1874, 1869-01-01
Scientific Daring.

On a dull day In August, Just af.
ter noon, . balloon rose in the air
at the foot Of Cleed Hills, on the
western edge of the ceutral plain Of
England, Il was inflated with the
lightest Of gases which chemical
skill could produce, and it rose with
surprising velocity. A mile up and
1t entered a strata Of clouds more
than q thousand feet thick. Emerg.
ing from this, the sun shope bright.
ly on the air ship; the sky over.
head was Of the deepest blue, and
below lay an unreasonable expanse
Of clouds, whose surface looked as
solid IS that Of the earth, now
wholly lost to view. Lofty mouu-
tAjne end deop, dark ravinoA then
appeared below tie peakS md
sides Of those cloud mountains next
the eun glittered like sncw, but
casting shadows as black rs If they
We're solid rock.
Up rose the balloon with terrible
velocity. Four miles above the
earth a pigeon was let loose-it
dropped through the air as If it had
been q stone. The air was too thin
to enable it to fly; it was as it a
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 thin.
ner water. Up, up, still higher -
What a silence profound! The
heights of the sky were rs still az
the deepest depths of the ocean,
where, as was found during the
search for the lost Atlantic cable,
the fine mud lies as unstirred from
year to year as the dust impercepti.
bly, gathers on the furniture Of a
deserted house. No sound nor life
only the bright sunshine falling
through a sky which it could mol
warm.
Up---five miles above earth =
higher than the inaccessible summit
of Chimborazo or Dawngiri. De
spite the sunshine everything freez
es. The air is too thin to support
life even for a few minutes. Two
men only are in that adventurous
balloon-the one steering the all
ship, the other watching the scien
tifc inStruments,and recording then
with rapidity born Of long prac
tlce. Suddenly as the latter looks
at his instruments his sight grows
dim--he takes a lens to help hi.
sight, and only marks from the fall
ing barometer that they are risin.
rapidly. A flask Of brandy lie
within foot OF him--he tries II
reach it, but his arms refuse to obe,
his will. He tres to call his com
rade who has gone mp to the rim;
above--a whisper in that deep 81
lence would sufiice-but no soun'
comes from his lips-be is vOiceless
The steersman comes down in, th,
car; he finds his comrade III ;
swoon, and feels his own sense
failing him.
He saw at once that life an
death hung upon a few moments
he seized or tried to seize the valve
i'll order to open it and let ont som
Of the gas. His hands are purpl
with intense cold-they are para
} lyzed--they viii! not respond to hi
will. He seized the valve with hi
teeth it opened little-onc,
twice, thrice. The balloon beg;l
> to descend. Then the swoone
marksman returned to conscious
ness. and saw the steersman stant
, ing before him. he looked Mt b
l instrument-they must have bee
/, nearly eight niles up, but now tt
barometer was rising rapid!y-tl
: balloon was descending. Brand
was used. They had b.an hight
!, above the earth than mortal man {
1 any living thing had been before
One minute more Of inaction Oh Il
part OF the steersman, whose sens,
! wero taiiing him, and the air sh
; with its intensely rarifed gas, won
have been floating untended. wi,
J. two cCrDses. in the wide realms