The Daily times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1886-1889, 1888-02-13
PROGRESS IN BALLOONS.
WHAT THE NATIONS HAVE DONE
FOR WAR PURPOSES.
Siderable Balloons - Necessity In the
Wars of the Futurc-Franco Ahead OF
England and Germany-Her Recent APP
planes Kept Secret.

The scientists have discovered nitro-gly-
cerine. dynamite, melinite, raburite, and
hetlinite. with which armies can be destroyed
and fortiiications blown 10 atoms; they have
invented methods for the wholesale annihlla-
ton Of everything and everybody, but they
have not yet devised ways and means for the
employment OF the same, except IN certain
cases, which do not always present tnsln-
selves Mines sometimes are exploded at the
least opportune moment, and are only prac-
ticable when they can be laid without let or
hindrance during q siege, or on the suppo@i-
ton that the enemy will present himself ex-
actly at the proper instant, while as charges
to projecties they occasionally diSappoint
those who use them. And supposing even
that they did invariably come up to great e1-
pectatlons, the field Of their usefulness IS
necessarily limited, and must necessarily re-
main 50 until somebody does contrive ways
and means by which they can be worked
with as easily as ordinary common powder
Rockets and balloons. YOU must know, are
the particular desiderata at present-of
course, mean balloons and rockets that Wlii
20 in the right direction and not behave &C.
centrically-and 81 far nobody has hit upon
any method for their direction which has
stood the test Of practical experience, a.
though the man who is we'll informed has
learned that at last u solution has been
found 70 the very interesting problem Of
aerial navigation.
With directable balloons We shall be ia
yincible, sing in chorus tho big newspaper,
for 10. a Frenchman-he has an Italian
name, but was born Transalpinely-a patriot
who mas refused the most tempting foreign
offers. Is about 70 endow ms country with "a
"blessingn Where will an enemy Def what
can he DO ii we, sailing above his head, can
learn and 50 forestall his every movement
not to speak Of the dsmay and terror sOwn
in his ranks. decimated by the explosives
which We viii shower down upon his head
should say, effectively, that the enemy
would be nowhere, only am very incredu-
lous still, having studied pretty atteut!gely
all that has been az YET accomplished IN aer-
ostation. which, il So were u have believed
encouragement similar 70 those made now n
twcyemonth ago, had even then been re-
duced to a positive certainty ~ Capt. krob5
ct The asIo3tatic laboratory e Meudou.
That steerabis free balloons viii Be very
useful in rar canno. be questioned, judging
from what was accomplished with the Cap
tive article at Maubeuge, Flaurus, Charleroi
and Antwerp in 1914, at Venice in 1919, at
Richmond in June 1852, at Pasa- Pucu, in
Paraguay twenty years ago. On the 9Th OF
September b. Jaurcl an apotLecary Of
Metz, attempted 10 communicate with the
National Defense government by means OF
small eerOstats, and in the course OF the fol
lowing ten days dii get safely % their destl-
nation about two-tbirds o. the 500 messages
sent out from the beeaguered city. and dur
ing the siege OF Paris, thanks 10 M. Ioni
D'Artols and the brothers Goddard, $50 per
sons. 36S carrier pigeons and 100000 OF let
tcrs reached the provinces by means Il bal
looms between the Sd Of September. $50,
and the 2Sth Of January. ISL But these
results, although encouraging. only proved
that communications might possibly be kept
up aerially: they were not absolutely salts
factory. as the aeronsuts were Away ex-
posed TO aleatory risks dependent upon at
mospheric circumstances, 50 that there never
could be any certainty OF where they would
land
suppose, however, that the Meudon peo-
pie have accomplished something serious in
the course Of the past three years, "a the
French army has now a regular balloon
train, with two officers, nInsty-fOur men and
seven vehicles, including a hydrogen
wagon, for field service and fortress ser
vice Of Eve officers and l43 nOn-comm.s-
stoned officers and priyates, which organiza
ton has been taken as model by Italy, Rus
sia and Belgium, the countries IN which,
next 70 France, most interest has been man
Tested in this ques ton.
II, r,,tlf ar.I~
gan % be developed in 1878, when q series Of
experiments were made a. NoolEich under
the directions Of Capt. Noble, assisted by
Capts. Lee, Elsdale and Temper, the latter
en- aeronaut of Acknowledged competency
But their experiments were only with cap
tive balloons-the Saraccn, tho Ialisman, tic
Crusader, the Pioneer, etc. and did nothing
to advance the solution Of the most import
ant problem, how 10 steer balloons, which
problem still remains as it was when balloons
we're used in Afghanistan, Zululand and
Egypt
In Germany the balloon question IS stlll
less advanced, although Frances powerful
enemy has spared no effort 70 get at her
neighbours secrets Thsro was an attempt
made not long ago. at the sham siege Of May
ence, when one balloon was lost altogether
and the other Just escaped destruction, while,
still more recently, the staff officers who,
near Berlin, undertook to calculate from 4
balloon car the distance between the two
armies, not only failed to do so, but were
obliged to give up the job altogether as their
machine could never be raised TO the re-
quired altitude. In spite OF ali the money
spent the German aerostatic corps is as badly
provided with the apparatus and is as H.
experienced as it was in 1870, when a detach-
ment trained at Coblentz, could only attain
an altitude OF 1873 feet at Bischeim, when 1t
was desired to obtain Il birds eye view Of
Strasbourg,
And the conclusion is that the French are
still long way ahead Of all other nations,
although there is reason to suppose the prob
ability Of a disasreeable surprise on the part
Of Belgium, by which, as Belgium is accused
Of philo-Teutonic proclivties, the Germans
will profit. IL ID somewhat singular that,
given the inventive genius OF our country
men, America should have given birth to
nothing more important than those balloon
torpedoes which were so much talked about
early in the year 1850, and which are By no