Bennington semi-weekly banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 1894-1902, 1895-07-26
BERSON'S BIG FEAT.
TESTING THE EFFECT OF A HIGH AL
TITUDE ON THE HUMAN BODY.

hNCOEu VI AAAo mp III biC hNShlAB " lASh
He Assembled to Height of More Than
Five and One-haIf Miles-He Was Sus-
tanned by Artificial Oxygen.
At Stassfurt, on the evening of Dec. 0,
there was q stormy east wind, which made
the possibility of the journey doubtful, but
it fell during the night, and at o'clock
next morning Lieutenants Gross and
Marker proceeded by the light of an cleo
trio lamp to fill the Phoenix with 1000 Gu
bic meters of hydrogen gas. DR.. Berson
somewhat altered his preparation to suit
the special circumstances and aims of his
aerial trip. At 10:2S the command to "let
loose" was given. In n quarter of an hour
the balloon had already arrived ut a height
of 2, 600 meters.
The air in general was foggy and thick
focks of small clouds hid the earth now
and then At first the temperature rose.
At height of / 500 meters it was more
than degrees centigrade above zero. DR..
Bcrson made double notes of the readings
of tho instruments, cast glance at the
balloon and its ropes, looked down at the
earth, and threw out two sacks of ballast
An hour after the start he had risen higher
than 5000 meters, and the temperature
sank to 10 degrees below zero and the air
became dry. The suns rays were weak
When 1900 meters height was reached,
the aeronaut felt the first slight increase of
his hearts action after lifting the heavy
sandbags. At II 40 a. III. he reached the
height of g. 600 meters, and the tempera-
ture sank to 25.5 degrees below zero. He
felt n slight palpitation Of the heart and
slight general discomfort, but was other
wise we'll At 10 o'clock, u hours after
the start he began, at height of 6, $50
meters and q temperature of 30 degrees be-
low zero, to breathe artificial oxygen from
the bags he had with him, and with excel
lent effect. At 1926 the bold aeronaut
had outpassed 5000 meters, at tompera-
turo of 80 degrees below zero. He was now
higher than he had been in the preceding
May, when his highest point had been
1880 meters, and this time he felt much
better than then.
He now never dared to cease breathing
the bags Of oxygen except for a few sec
onds at ii lo, and during those brief
pauses he folt dizzy and dangerously weak.
But while continuing the artificial breath
ing he constantly and with relative ease
'A'N'
did his eyes close in spite Of himself, but
the next moment he reused himself, scold-
ing at his own negligcnce; his voice in
the rarifcd air sounded strangely mutlled.
When at the height of Z, 800 meters, he
had already risen higher than Glaisher
when tho latter acronaut took his last motto
of the temperature At the height of s, 200
meters DR.. Berson thought of the two
French scientists who had died at that
height. At about 8, 500 meters BGrson
reached the greatest height arrived at by
Glashier on Sept. 5, 1862, when the latter
tainted away, only to awake after his
companions had stopped the balloon from
rising any higher. But DR.. Berson, after
momentary examination of his own
strength and his provision of ballast, ven
turcd to rise higher. The temperature had
already sunk to ~ degrees below zero c.
At the height of 1000 meters his balloon
passed through and above the thin stratum
of high cirrus clouds which he had noticed
high in the sky at his start. The veillike
stratum consisted not Of ice crystals, but
of well formed small snowilakes. AT 1915
p. M, 23 hours after the start, the bar
Ometcr indicated only 231 millimCtcrs,
which corresponds with a sea height Of
5000 meters and a true height of 9, $50
meters. The thermometer stood at 47.9
degrees below zero. Even the quicksilver
in the barometer had cooled to 30 degrees
and the ray thermometer in full sunshine,
indicated only 1913 degrees. The balloon
now stopped. There were only six large
and one small sack of ballast left, which
were necessary for descending and land
I,Il nh +In thit,
snow clouds i'll clear sky which stretched
family blue above. DR.. BGrson felt so well
that he could certainly have risen another
1000 meters. But he could not have done
so without risking the whole of his sue
cessful journey. At this immense height
g, $50 mctcrs-ho felt much better than
a short time before. DR.. Berson opened
the gas valve now and then, and the
Phoenix gradually descended till at the
height of z, 500 meters it stopped and again
began to rise Another pull at the valve
caused it to redescend.
But now the terrible cold began to have
effect. DIR. Berson, clothed as he was in
thick furs, began to shake in every limb so
violently that sometimes he was Obliged to
hold on to the rim of the basket. In slow,
waving motion the balloon sank and sank,
and during the whole descent only one sack
of ballast was thrown out, at the height Of
$500 meters, to moderate the rapidity.
Meanwhile n close stratum Of heavy clouds
had hidden the earth and prevented any
ascertaining of the balloon position. The
slow descent, however, allowed of another
set of observations being taken, and now
the highest temperature, about degrees
above zero, was found at the height Of
1,4OO meters. Thence down to the earth it
sank again degrees. A whole hour after
Herr Berson had been at the greatest
height of his trip two of his fingers were
frozen, but he brought them to life again
by energetic friction. In the enormous
cold the Paragraph had stopped for awhile.
In the afternoon at 3 O'Clock the northern
skies showed unmistakable signs of IVA
ter, " and DIR. Berson decided that he must
descend more rapidly. After few more
gentle ups and downs he could distinguish
the noise and steam whistles Of some large
town. When $50 meters high, there az
peared at last below him the gray earth
covered by cloudy sky. Now, with t .
drag strap the balloon passed over a lake,
and presently landed, with the help #