The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1891-08-23
BALL00NACY.

line present season mas Deen more imam
ordinarily fatal toaaeronants both in this
country and abroad. Some horrible cases
have been reported of falls from great
heights, followed, or as we may say, az
companied, BY instant death with blood
curdling, incidents. And yet we see in the
eastern papers notices of coming ascen-
sions as though nothing had been learned
from the records of the past.
There must be some reason for the un :
usual fatality attending balloon ascensions
in the past two or three years. Let us see
what it is. In the first place, the search
for novelties by which to attract larg
crowds to county fairs has created de-
mand for balloonists, for where there is a
chance for a man to lose his life in some
ture, there is sure to be popular curiosity
to witness the feat. So the cages at tn q
menagerie, where the lion-tamer enters
with the wild beasts, or that part of the
circus performance where the "leap for
life" is taken, or where the woman on tip
toe swings at giddy height on the flying
trapeze, is the most attractive point for
spectators.
In the next place, the demand we speak
of has brought out a lot Of cranks who are
mere amateur aeronauts, who think all
that is necessary for successful ascension
ia to provide bag that will hold gas, or
hot air, and choose time for starting when
the wind is not blowing too hard But there
Is some art in constructing balloon, and
the stuff in it must be as nearly impervious
as it can be made. 1t should be of the best
quality of silk, vanished with mixture of
gum and shellac, instead of which most of
the flimsy things now in use are made OF
common material, selected because it is
cheap.
Thirdly, the balloonists of the present
day fancy an exhibition is not complete
without parachute descent. and it ia In
this last feature where there has been SC
much fatality. The first recorded descent
OF this kind in America was made at St.
Louis, Mo-, by a son of Mons. GODDARD
who, having gone up with his father sus-
pended from a balloon, spread his para
chute at an altitude of 5000 feet, and made
safe landing Thirty odd years ago Prof
WISE advertised that when mile high he
would explode his balloon. This he did by
inserting cord in the side Of his air ship
by means Of which, with pull, he rent q
slit from which the gas escaped, where
upon the balloon formed itself into para
chute and the professor reached mother
earth without SO much as a bump. But
GODDARD and WISE and LAMoUNTAIN and
KING aud THURsToN and BROOKS and
others we might name, were studious and
careful men, to whom the term scientific
might be applied if applicable at all in such
connection. They paid attention to all
the details-the strength and probable
duration of the ascenslve power
the adjustment of the netting tc
the concentric hoop underneath the bal
| loon, whether or not there were any leak
ages, etc. Some. at least, of the aeronauts
we have mentioned took barometrical and
thermometrical readings and measured the
direction and velocity OF the wind at vari-
Gus attitudes. and Prof HENEY, of the
Smithsonian institute, was very much in
terested in the researches into the mys-
teries OF the upper air. But those county
fair fakes, where the balloonist gets "a
| little ways out Of town. and comes down
in corn field, or where more adventur-
Gus one jumps from the seemingly unsup.
ported aerial vessel with a parachute that
does not open, whereby he is dashed to
eternity, deserve only condemnation. They
teach no lesson of value, they open up NO
new scientific discovery, they expand nc
previous idea as to the navigation of the
air. The would-be sky-scrapers are to be
classed with BLoNDIN who crossed Mag
ara falls ON rope, or the man who went
over them in barrel