The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1875-08-05

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thirty.three feet in diameter, and, whcr
exhibited at the Lyceum, in the Strand, at
tracted vast numbers to see it. Fl.
made his ascension Sept. Is, 1884. from
the artillery grounds in the presence
of the Prince of Wales and :
vast zconcourse of people. He took !
pigeon, cat and dog with him, and
hoped to steer the balloon upward OF
downward by means Of oars, a large mum
Der Of which he took with him. The
pigeon flew away, and he descended afte,
lie had been up an hour and half, to de-
post the cat, which, was suffering from
the cold, on terra .ff'ma. One of his oars
broke and fell. A lady, surprising it to
be the aeronaut himself, was so much af.
fected that she died. A jury sitting ut a
criminal trial acquitted young man &C.
cused of felony, rather than run the risk
of not Witnessing the ascension. The
King, in consultation with his Ministers,
dissolved the meeting in order to enjoy
the new sensation. Lunardi descended
the second time at Standon, near Ware.
He became the lion of the day and the cen.
ter of attraction for time, and was pre-
sented at court, all of which encouraged
others to ascend from English soil, and
the Italian soon found great many En-
glishmen to emulate his daring Among
these were Blanchard, who, accompanied
by An American physician, crossed the
Channel in 1885. This is the first time it
was crossed. Philatre de Rozier attempt.
ed to repeat Blanchard's feat on the 18th of
June, 1885, leaving Boulogne for England.
He used two balloons, or rather double
balloon, one fire balloon, ten feet in diam
eter, and the other a gas balloon thirty sew
ell feet in diameter. The fire-balloon
was placed under the gas-balloon, and
when the aeronaut wished to ascend or de-
scend he increased the fire in the tire-bal-
loon, and thus avoided waste of gas.
The ascent was successfully made; but
after the balloons had been in the air
about half an hour they were discovered
to be in flames. Rozier and his compan-
ion, Roman, fell from height of 5000
feet, and both were killed-the former in
stantly, the latter surviving few moments
only. Others have frequently tried to
cross the Channel. Croshie, who was the
first to ascend from Ireland, tried it in
1885 and fell into the sea, but was rescued
by a passing vessel. Lunardi, already
mentioned, also fell into the sea in a simi-
lar endeavOr and was saved in like man.
ner.
Madras balloon, constructed in Paris in
1868, had capacity of 100000 cubic feet
of gas. There were two stories to the car:
He made two ascents in the Giant" the
first time carrying thirteen persons and
the second nine. The first trip was very
short one. The second lasted seventeen
hours, and was brought to close 400 miles
from Paris, the place of departure TWAS
a very difficult thing to land the monster.
1t dragged along the ground, in conse-
quence of the high wind blowing, a dis
lance of seven miles, and no one in the car
escaped entirely uninjured.
The largest balloon ever constructed
was probably Godard's fire-balloon. 1t
had capacity of nearly 100000 cubic
feet Of gas, and was heated by an eighteen
foot stove which, with. the chimney,
weighed $50 pounds! A couple of sue
cessful ascensiOns were made with this
balloon in 1864 from Cremorne Gardens.
The ascents of NJ. Glaisher in the in
terest of science, in 1862, are among the
most remarkable ever made. He made in
all about twcnty-eight ascents, reaching
various heights. The greatest height
reached was on Sept. 5, 1862, when he
rose nearly seven miles from the earth.
His description of this ascent is exceed
ingly interesting. He left the ground at
three minutes after one p. M. The tenn
perature at starting was SO, and the dew
point so. One mile above the tempera-
ture was Al and the dew point 80. "Short-
ly after, we entered cloud of about
LOO feet in thickness, in which the tenn
perature of the air fell to 3615 degrees, the
dew-point being the same, indicating that
the air here was saturated with moisture.
On emerging from the cloud at II we
came upon flood of strong sunlight,
with a beautiful blue sky, without a
cloud above us, and a magnificent sea of
clouds below-thc surface being varied
with endless hills, hillocks, mountain
chains and many snOw-white masses
rising from it," When five miles high the
voyagers experienced some difficulty IN
breathing; and when they had attained
the elevation of $4,000 feet NJ Glaisher
laid his arm on the table, possessed, he
says, of its full vigor, but, on being de-
sirous of using it, he found it powerless.
He continues: ~
II tried to move the other arm and
found it powerless also. l then tried to
shake myself and succeeded in shaking my
body. / seemed to have no limbs. then
looked at the barometer and whilst doing
it my head fell on my left shoulder. [
struggled and shook my body again, but
could not move my arms. I got my head
upright, but for an instant only, when it
fell on my right shoulder, and then fell
backward, my back resting on the side
of the car and my head on its edge. When
l shook my body seemed to have power
over the muscles of my back and consid-
cradle power over those of my neck, but
nm ovnr oif1sor INV orn,a or INV 1auS II,
fact, / seemed to have none. AS in the
case of the arms, all muscular power was
lost in an instant from my back and neck.
dimly saw Mr.. Cogswel1 This companion)
in the ring, and endeavored to speak, but
could not; when, in an instant, intense
dark blackness came, the optic nerve final
ly lost power suddenly. was still con-
scious, with as active a brain as at the
present moment while writing this. l
thought had been seized with asphyxia
and that should experience no more, as
death would come unless we speedily de-
scended.@ Other Thoughts were actively
entering my mind when 1 suddenly be-
came unconscious, as on going to sleep.
My last observation was made at 1 "a,
at $1,000 feet. Whilst powerless, heard
the words temperature and observation,
and l knew Mr.. Cogswell was in the
car speaking to me and endeavoring
to arouse me. Therefore, con-
seriousness and hearing had returned. I
then heard him speak more emphatically,
but could not see, speak or move. /
heard him again say: Do try-now dor
Then L saw the instruments dimly, then
Mr.. Cogswell, and very shortly saw clear
~. / rose in my seat and walked round,
as though waking from s1een though not
refreshed by sleep, and said to Mr.. Cogs-
well: Il have been insensible.' He said ::
You have, and I, too, very nearly i.
Mr.. Cogswell told me he had lost the use
of his hands, which were black, and l
poured brandy over them" g.,
At, that height it was intensely cold.
Hoar frost formed around the neck of the
balloon. y. Mr.. Cogswell's hands. were
frozen. The water in the vessel supply
ing the wet-bulb thermometer was solid
ice. Pigeons let out of the balloon at six
or seven miles dropped down like SO
much lead. While NJ. Glaisher was in
eoneil,lA II ia pptimafod that tho hal1oOn