Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1893-06-15
A DARING AERONAUT.
BALLOONS RIGHTLY USED AID SCI
ENCE AND KNOWLEDGE.

Much With His Airship to Make the
Air Navigable-Passengers Guaranteed
Against Personal Injuries.
Probably aeronauts, like poets, are born,
not made AS no man who has not been
qulckened by the divine afflatus can ever
become a poet, though he may become a
poetaster, so no man who has not been born
with genius for aerial navigation can ever
become an aeronaut, though he NAV be-
come an everyday balloonist. ANY fool
hardy fellow can go up in balloon, but
only trained aeronaut knows how to de-
rive profit from such ascents into the
clouds. The balloonist gains the applause
of gaping multitude, the trained aeronaut
gains only the sympathy and the good
wishes of those who, like himself, are
spending their lives in an attempt to unveil
the secrets of science
Ii ever there was a born aeronaut Can
tain Emile Carton is one. All his life be
has studied balloons, and if he were by
chance to be bereft of the curious balloon
which is his constant companion, life for
him indeed would not be worth living A
child of Paris, he played with balloons in
his boyhood, and all his years since then
have been devoted to the study of aerial
navigation. His labors, he claims, have not
been in vain.
That he is no dilettante can easily be
shown He made his first ascent in Paris
on Aug 80, 1885, being then only 20 years
old, and since then he has not only made
numerous other ascents, but has also in
duced 10 persons to accompany him. He
has never met with an accident, and such
Is the construction of his balloon that he
claims an accident is well nigh impossible
Nay, so confident is he that he is prepared
to guarantee the personal safety of all sci
entlsts and other persons who may desire
to accompany him on his ascents.
The French Academy of Aerostation rec
ognized Captain Cartons merits in 1888
and unanimously elected him member of
that body. In the Sane year he took part
In balloon race at Paris and came in win
ner, there being four other balloons in the
field or rather in the air. In the follow
ing year he took part in four races and won
three of them. For this exploit three gold
medals were awarded to him by the jury,
which was composed of eminent men of
science. The secret of his success lay in the
simple fact that he knew how to guide his
balloon through the opposing currents of
the upper air, and thus reached the goal
whereas his competitors We're not only left
far behind, but We're also forced to descend
at points far distant from the goal In
other words, his thorough knowledge of
meteorological laws enabled him to use the
aerial currents to his own advantage.
In October, 1889, he made another ascent
Ut Paris, during which he had an oppor-
tunity to study the formation of rain and
barometric depression, and furthermore
was enabled to make certain observations
resulting in someimportant meteorological
forecasts of threatened storms. The sum
mer of 1890 he spent in a study of the winds
at Calais the result of which was that.
starting ont to sea in his balloon in July,
he was enabled, when out of sight of land
to return TO the very spot from which he
had started. He could not have accom-
nliShed this feat had NOT his patjent study
of the winds rendered it easy for him to
guide his balloon through the upper air
currents. His next ascent was equally use
full from scientific point Of view. 1t was
made during Il fog which was SO dense that
daylight was almost entirely obscured and
Captain Cartons object was to ascertain
the exact density. He assembled 20 a height
of $500 meters, and a little calculation
showed him that the density of tho fog was
more than 900 meters.
His experiment was undertaken with
the object of finding out what effect baro-
metric depression at a great height would
have on animals. In this ascent, during
which he was accompanied by Dr. Citarl
a well known physician, and several ami
mails, he made many useful observations
which were subsequently embodied in re-
port and published by the French Academy
of Aerostation- He was also eminently
successful in his next ascent, which was
III toulpdIy With an cletIrlClan VINO
desired to determine the presence of electric
fluid or ozone in the atmosphere.
The aeronaut now came forward as
photographer. The idea struck him that
very novel views of terrestrial objects could
be obtained from his balloon, and he soon
took photographs of Paris and its suburbs.
This work was done at a height VARYING
from 500 to 400 meters, and the peculiar
feature of these photographs is that they
contain details which are not visible TO the
naked eye. For this work Captain Carton
received a gold medal from the COMMITTEES
of the exposition de Photographic.
The acronaUt'S first ascent from Amer
lean soil was made at Venezuela, being the
first feat of the kind ever performed in thai
country From Venezuela Captain Carton
came TO this city, his object being TO inter
est scientific men in his method OF aeria!
navigation and to satisfy them that bal
looms, if properly constructed and man
aged, are perfectly safe vehicles and are the
means by which some abatTuse scientific
problems can be solved His car Will hold
two passengers besides himself, and each
trip lasts, rule, about five or six hours
What an easel is to a painter or 4 Strad-
uarius to vioiinist, this balloon is to him
And no wonder he guards it jealouslv
since all his life has been spent in STUDYING
and perfecting it. Other balloons are ca
PRECIOUS wing bags, ever at the mercy of
winds and waves and liable to collapse
after the least injury. His balloon, he
claims, is n faithful servant, ever obedient
to its masters will and comparatively in
destructible. Its construction is certainly
unique. The covering is of very strong
china silk which has been oiled four times
and is entirely impervious to gas. Each
separate piece of silk has been tested by
dynamometer and has been found capable
of maintaining resistance at the rate of
900 Kilograms to every square meter
Unlike all other balloons it is not con-
CTR of sill ioipad y.,.t l,,,+ &c