Signal-Copiahan. (Hazlehurst, Copiah County, Miss.) 1885-1888, 1886-02-18
HAZLEHURST COPIAH COUNTY, MISS, FEBRUARY 1s, 1885,

whero they started. In the darkness
Of the night they lost all knowledge Of
the locality beneath, and there was no
sound to break the stiffness but tha.
occasioncd by tho shaking Of the Car
and the rustling Of the silk overhead.
which at intervals seemed to indicate
that the great monster had suddenly
exploded. As the balloon rose and fell
in the air towards daybreak, they do.
scribe the sun as appearing to rise and
set two or three times In the horizon.
The highest altitude ever attained
was accomplished by Gay Lussac, who
ascended moro than four and quarter
miles above the level Of the sea. where
he found the air to be twice as thin as
1t is at the surface Of the earth. As
one rises in the air 1t Is found that the
temperature falls with q constantly In.
creasing graduation, while the humidity
OF the upper strate is les than that Of the
lower. The suffering from cold and tho
difficulty Of breathing in these lofty alti-
tudes are said to BE- very intense, the pulse
and respiration being much quickcned.
and the throat becoming very parched.
There have been instances when the
frail material Of which balloons are
made has been torn to pieces by the
force Of the wind. and the wonder Is
that this does not occur more frequent.
ly. 1t makes no difference to the
acronaut, so far as his own sensations
are concerned, whether he floats in a
dead calm or is whirled along by tor.
nado; and unless he Is able to measure
his progress by observation OF the
objects below. he can not tell whether
he is moving or not.
Tho project Of crossing the Atlantic
in n balloon is revived ut intervals, but
It never can be done by means Of any
agency now in existence, unless u
should bc found possible to avail our.
selves of the currents of air that may
happen to set in the right direction. II
would be delightful thing to take pas.
sage on pleasant June morning In an
aerial car. Furnished with all the
modern convenicnces, and be waited
along at the rate of sixty or seventy
miles an hour, looking down from our
serene height upon the slow.plodding
steamers, and landing in the course Of
q few days on the shores of old En-
gland, without having experienced any
oflhc pains or pcrils Of the tumultuous
scd. But all Of this is dream which
none Of us will probably live to sec re.
allied. And yet 1t is not impossible
that the fair vision may yet become a
reality. Things are now familiar to us
all which, few years ago, would have
been regarded rs thousand times
more impractcablc than the crossing
OF the ocean in some sort Of aerial con.
yeyance.
y Suppose that the men who founded
this Republic had been told that in the
course Of hundred years the words
which their children spoke in the priva-
cy Of an office here in New York would
be instantly reproduced in Chicago,
and responded to at once, and that,
without any speaking at all, the mes
sage which one Of our merchants wished
to convey to his correspondent in Lon
don would be carried along the deep
bed of the ocean and delivered In an
hour or two to the person for whom 1t
was designed. would not all this have
been treated as the idlest dream that
ever entered the brain Of MANI Among
the things which never can be done we
should not be disposed to include the
circling of the globe through the me-
dunn of the air. 1t is evident that the
force which propels flying.machins
must be competent to sustain 1t IN the
air, and all that is requisite Is to find
some way OF creating and storing power
enough TO carry the machine to its dcs.
tination. adjusting the weight and the
propclling power in due proportion, as
is done in the case of the bird, and the
problem Is solved.
We are able to-day to STORE up an I'M
mcnsc amount OF electric force in
very small compass, and use II for the
purpose of locomotion on land, and who
can say that this same electric power
may not be applied to the navigation
of the airP I can perceive OF a great
machine of lustrous aluminium. the
lightest and one Of the toughest OF
metals, lance-shaped and powerful
enough to pierce the air, let the cur
rent set as 1t may, with its compact
reservoir of electricity, in the year OF
grace 1886, shooting through the clouds
like meteor, coming and going with
mails and passengers between the old
world and the new, and exciting no
more wonder and surprise than our an.
rcestors would have felt II they had sud.
Hdcnly seen o locomotive with its mighty
train enter the railway station, or one
of our gigantic ocean steamers deposit
its living freight at the dock.-M y
Ledger.