Maryville daily times. (Maryville, Tenn.) 1884-1884, 1884-10-11
HISTORY or xEnoNAurlcIs.
The Recent Experimeps as MeuAou
The Mostgelnsrs anA Others.
If n0G6On Timaal .M


No little excitement has been caused
in France by the news that q successful
experiment In balloon steering was per.
formed at Meudon, near Paris, on the
9th Of last month"; date which N.
Herve Mangon, in reporting the expert
ment to the Academy of Sciences on
Tuesday, declared will remain ever
memorable in the annals of discovery. I"
We are unable to judge the Importance
Of the alleged invention, for it's authors
ara the two military officers in command
of the government aerostatic works,
which were instituted under N. Gam
sbetsa's auspice& and the technical secrets
of their continuance have. Of course,
been disclosed to the war Office only.
Without expressing On opinion since
we have no data for doing so Ion the
value Of an invention which has not
been submitted to public scrutiny, VIC
may briefly recall what has been the
progress OF aeronautics since the first
balloon rose into the air q little more
than a century ago; At this time last
year the town Of Annonay was celebrat.
ing the centenary of ballooning by the
Inauguration Of q monument to tho
brothers Eticnne and Joseph Aontgolfer;
but the hrst practical idea as to aerial
navigation may be credited to an 'ecccn-
trio character who lived in the seven.
tenth century, Oyrano de Bergerac.
Cyrano wrote q number Of fantastic
books, which were consulted by Swift for
bis ''Gulliver," by Voltaire for his mi
cromegas, and by Fontenelle for hia
'Mondes." In the most popular Of these,
"Trip Through the Moon" the hero ID
made to ascend from the earth by means
Of bladders filed with hot air. 81
The Montgolfers improved upon this
notion by substituting one globe Of silk
for several bladders; in other respects
their balloon was an adaptation Of Der
gerac's idea, for II had an aperture at IT,,
base into which hot air rose from q
charcoal stove in tho car. The first hot.
air balloon was sent up on the 9Th 81
June, 1888, without q car. In August
Of the. same year an engineer named
Charles started balloon inflated with
hydrogen gas. In September the Mont
golfers launched q now hre-balloon with
q car in which was placed . sheep, 9
q cock, and q duck, who al returned
safe to. land; and in October tho first
human aeronaut, N. Francois Pilatre de-
Roziers, who was afterwards killed il
crossing from France to England, as
cended In 4 captive balloon tethered K
the earth by ropes. In November. Thu
adventurous gentleman made his frs
ascent In . free balloon, and went up t.
q height of 5000 feet-an achievement
which excited the widest enthusiasm
and the most fanciful anticipations. AL
the practical scientists Of. Europe be
came smitten with q craze for aerial nav
igation; books and pamphlets on tn
subject were published by the score, and
it was believed that . method for steer
ing balloons would DO contrived withou
much difficulty. ~
| The first ascent In England was mad
from Woolwich in November 1888; II
1883 a SIG. Lunardi started in 4 bslool
from MoorAelds, and in 1855 Mr.
Blanchard and DR.. Jeffries performer
tqeir famous journey from Dove
to Calais In two hours. After thi
no distinct advance was mad
in bsllooning until 1891, whei
Mr.. Green used ordinary coal.ga
instead Of hydrogen for initiating pur
poses. The manufacture Of hydrogel
had been troublesome and expensive
but the substitution Of coal gas enabled
balloons to be blown at 1 compare
lively small cost, and from this tim
they became popular objects Of amuse
ment IN public gardens. The famou
trips Of the great Nassau" balloon
which went up from Vauxhall garden
in 1885, are, still remembered by man
| living persons with wonder. tn
4Nassau" was 157 feet in cifcumfer
cncc, ITS full height from car TO SUNNI
Mas eighty fcet;A il was made Of 20
yards OF crimson and white silk, an
contained 10000 cubic feet Of ga
d Nine persons could be carried in IL
car. On one Of its first voyages II d.
,scended In the duchy Of Nassau, havin
i,tlaveled about 800 miles in eightee
hours. .,.c, 49,. -t.,rlD -;2r i,
From Mr.. Green's days until now a
gpnuino advance has been made In ba
looming. There have been innumerabl
ascents with, many accidents thong
not 80, many Of these ~ might hare bee
expected; and some of these ascents u,
dettaken for scientific ends have yieldc
interesting observations on atmospher
phenomena. Mr. Glaisher aud Mr.. Go,
we'll nearly lost their lives in mountin
to height Of 20, 900 feet, but, notwitl
standing the Information obtained frol
Mr.. 6laishef's ascents the British Ass,
citation for the Advancement of Sciens
has suffered soronautical investiGatio
to drop out Of their programme. Befol
Diminishing . subject which has alwal
been franeht with the greatest interc
and which, indee |; exercises somethir
like fascination upon every mind, Il
association had been fairly harried I
papers on BALBOA steering from invento
Of the kind who have not yet given =
trying to square the cirOls, and We b
licve the patents that have been take
out for various contrivances in aer
nautics can hardly be numbered. Ho,
. ever, the problem Of balloon.steeri HI
never been regarded even by scientists
,, the Arst order Is insoluble in theory; It
ouly in practice that experiments ha'
: failed. because Il has not been four
possible to construct q motor combinil
power With lightnesA sisisy
: Rllsh frssa weed Pavement.
u..a tlnt9 Ocsanl .f., osiis
; London has entirely abandoned wo.