Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1879-10-15
LiiR NAVIEITIGE.

The friends of Prof. Wise and his COM
panion George Burr, who left st. Louis in
balloon two weeks since, have abandoned
all hope of their safety. If they landed
from their air ship it must have been in
some out of -the-way wilderness where succor
could not reach them, and where they must
have persisted of hardship and privation
long since. If the balloon is still afoat it
must be at such an elevation as to preclude
the possibility of existence, so rare must be
| the atmosphere, while death from exposure
| and starvation must have supervened ten
days since in case the seronauts still remained
in the car.
| The fatal result of this experiment in air
navigation will reopen the inquiry as to
whether any practical benefit can be derived
from ballooning. The experiments thus
far made have resulted almost
uniformly in disaster. Some eronauts,
such as Wise and Donaldson, may for q time
engage in the hazardous business with
safety, but disaster sooner or later is almost
certain to overtake them. Donaldson made
over three hundred ascensions, all of which
resulted without I'M ury to either himself or
his companions, but at last, four years ago,
he assayed short trip of only few miles,
but was driven by the air currents over Lake
Michigan, in which he and bis companion
found watery grave. For thirty years
Prof. Wise has made business of ero-
nautics, and in that time has made more
than four hundred ascensions, but although
he has had many narrow escapes, he has
never met with absolute disaster until his
luckless experiment of two weeks
since. It is possible that no
vestige of either him or his
companion will ever be found. Only a
day OF two after his departure an ascension
attended with fatal results took place at San
Francisco, both the professional @ronaut end
his companion being dashed to pieces on the
rocks of the harbor.
These are only samples of disasters that
are constantly occurring to balloonists in
various parts of the world. If the air ship
does not burst, the landing is almost certain
to be attended with accident or some one
rendered giddy by the elevation, falls from
the car and is picked up shapeless mass of
mutiated flesh. The only practical use to
| which the so-called science of air navigation
| has ever been put has been in making
| Reconnaissance of an enemy's position in
stime of war. Balloons were employed in
this way during our late civil
war, and notably in the Franco-Prus-
sian war of 1869-7O. But the air ships in
France were not allowed to float at will save
in a few instances, being confined to the
earth by strong cords and prevented from
going higher than was perfectly safe. The
world is full, however, of adventurous men
who court death in one of its most fearful
forms by making ascensions for the amuse-
ment of the rabble. They contribute moth
we're ever so devoted to scientific research,
we question if the observations they are en-
abled to make on their aerial voyages would
add anything to the present store of useful
knowledge, or repay them for the hazard
they run. The mania is akin in many re-
spects to the mania for arctic explorations.
Even If the most sanguine expectations
OF the explorers are realized. their dis
| coveries would be of no practical
benefit to humanity. It is our opinion that
| such hazardous enterprises ought to be dis
| couraged by every means in our power. To
be sure there is no law that will prevent