Evening journal., 1893-04-26
A DARING AERONAUT.
BALLOONS RIGHTLY USED AID SCI.
ENcE AND KNOWLEDGE.

not made As 10 man who has not been
qulckened by the divine afilatus can ever
become 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 may be.
come an everyday balloonist. Any fool-
hardy fellow can 90 up in a balloon, but
only trained aeronaut knows how to dc.
rive profit from such ascents into tho
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, arc
spending their lives in an attempt to unveil
the secrets Of science.
II ever there was a born aeronaut, Cap
tain Emile Carton is one. All his life he
has studied balloons, and if he were 10y
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 30, 1885, being then only 20 years
old, and since then he has not only made
numerous other ascents, but has also in
duced l2O 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
entists and other persons who may desire
TO accompany him on his ascents.
The French Academy of Aerostation rec
ognized Captain Cartons merits in 1883
and unanimously elected him member OF
that body. In the same year he took part
in a balloon race at Paris and came in win
ner, there being four other balloons in the
field OF 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 Law 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 were not only left
far behind, but were 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
at 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 some important 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 out 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-
plshed this feat had not his patient 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 a scientific point Of view. It was
made during fog which was so dense that
daylight was almost entirely obscured, and
Captain Cartons object was TO ascertain
the exact density. Heascended to a height
of $500 meters, and little calculation
showed him that the density of the fog was
more than 4,00O meters.
Hisnext experiment was undertaken with
the object of finding out what effect baro-
metric depression at great height would
have on animals. In this ascent, during
which he was accompanied by DR.. Citard,
well known physician, and several ami
mails, he made many useful observations,
which were subsequently embodied in a re-
port and published by the French Academy
Of Aerostation. He was also eminently
successful in his next ascent, which was
made in company with an electrician who
desired to determine epresence 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 gold medal from the committee
of the exposition de Photographic
The aeronauts first ascent from Amer
lean soil was made at Venezuela, being the
first feat Of the kind ever performed in that
country. From Venezuela Captain Carton
came to this city, his object being to inter
est scientific men in his method of aerial
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 abstruse scientific
problems can be solved His car will hold
two passengers besides himself and each
trip lasts, as rule, about five OF six hours.
What an easel IS to n painter OF n Strad-
uarius to yiolinist, this balloon is to him.
And no wonder he guards IL jealouslv.
since all bis life has been spent in studying
and perfccting il. 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 a faithful servant, ever obedient
TO its masters will and comparatively in
destructble. 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 a
dynamometer and has been found capable
Of maintaining resistance at the rate Of
1000 Kilograms 20 every square meter.
Unlike all other balloons. it is rot con
structed Of silk Joined vertically, but Of
small square pieces Of silk, the largest of
which is not even a yard in length. In
this way the balloon is rendered practically
indestructble. II an ordinary balloon is
torn by accident, the entire apparatus is
likely to collapse simply because the join
ings are far apart, whereas in this balloon
they are close together, and n damaged
H..