The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1895-07-19
REASONS ma FEAr.

INV huiAhh bouy -heootu OF hls Aflp
in tho Phoenix, When he Assembled 10 "a
Height of More Than Five ana One
Half Miles-He was Sustained by Artifl-
clal Oxygen,
At Stassfurt, on the evening Of De-
cember 8, there was a stormy east wind,
which made the possibility of the jour
ney doubtful. but it fell during the
night, and at five o'clock the next morn
ing Lieutenants Gross and Marker pro-
| ceeded by the light of an electric lamp
to fill the Phoenix with two thousand
| cubic meters of hydrogen gas, DR.. Ber-
son somewhat altered his preparation
to suit the special circumstances and
| aims OF his aerial trip. AT 1928 The
command TO 'let loose" was given. In
quarter of an hour the balloon had al
ready arrived at o height of two thou
sand meters.
The air in general was foggy and
thick flocks of small clouds hid the
earth now and then. At FIRST the tenn
perature rose. AT a height Of fifteen
hundred metres 1t was more than five
degrees centigrade above zero. DR.,
Berson made double notes of the read
ings of the 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 Ave
| thousand meters, and the temperature
sank to nineteen degrees below zero
and the air became dry. The SUMS rays
We're weak. When forty-two hundred
metres height was reached, the aero
naut felt the first slight increase of his
| hearts action after lifting the heavy
sandbags. At IL 40 a. M. he reached the
height of six thousand metres, and the
temperature sank to 25.5 degrees below
zero. He felt slight palpitation of the
heart and slight general discomfort,
but was otherwise well. At twelve
O'Clock. one and one-half hours after
the start, he began, at a height of $3.50
meters, and a temperature of twenty
| nine degrees below zero, to breath arti-
fetal oxygen from the bags he had with
him. and with excellent effect. AT 1925
the bold aeronaut had outpassed eight
| thousand meters, at temperature OF
thirty-nine degrees below zero. He was
now higher than he had been in the
preceding May, when his highest point
| felt much better than then.
| He now never dared to cease breath
| Ing the bags of oxygen except for a few
| brief pauses he felt dizzy and danger
ously weak, but while continuing the
\ artificial breathing he constantly and
| with relative ease fulfilled all necessary
work. Only once did his eyes close in
4 ,nf Il "a M
he reused himself, scolding at his own
negligence; his voice In the rarified air
sounded strangely muffied.
When at the height Of seventy-eight
! hundred metres he had already risen
higher than Glaisher when the latter
| aeronaut took his last note of the tenn
perature. At the height Of eighty-two
| hundred meters pr, Berson thought of
| the two French scientists who had died
at that height. AT about eighty-five
hundred metres Berson reached the
| greatest height arrived at by Glashier
on September 6Is18S2, when the latter
tainted away, only to awake after his
companions had stopped the balloon
/ from rising any higher. But DR.. Ber-
| son, after momentary examination Of
| his own strength and his provision Of
ballast, ventured to rise higher. The
| temperature had already sunk to forty
| two degrees below zero G. At the
| height of nine thousand meters his bal
! loon passed through and above the thin
stratum of high cirrus clouds which he
| had noticed high in the sky at his start
| The veil-lilSe stratum consisted not or
| Ice crystals, but Of well formed small
| snow-f1akes At 12:45 p. m. two and
| one-half hours after the start, the ba-
rometer indicated only two hundred and
| thirty-one miliimeters, which cores
! ponds with a sea height Of nine thou
| sand meters and a, true height OF $3.50
| meters. The thermometer stood at 47.9
| degrees below zero. Even the quicksil-
| yer liz the barometer had cooled to
| twenty-nine degrees, and the ray Their
| mometer, in full sunshine, indicated
only 23S degrees. The balloon now
| stopped. There were only six large and
| one small sack Of ballast left, which
were necessary for descending and
| landing The balloon stood above the
thin snow clouds in d clear sky which
stretched family blue above. DR.. Ber-
| son felt so well that he could certainly
have risen another one thousand me-
ters But he could not have done so
without risking the whole Of his sue
cessful Journey. At this immense
height-9,150 meters-he felt much bet
ter than a short time before. DR.. Ber-
son opened the gas valve now and then,
and the Phoenix gradually descended
till at the height of seventy-five hun
bred 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. DR. Berson, clothed as ne
was in thick furs, began to shake in ey-
cry 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 thirty
five hundred meters, to moderate the
| rapidity. Meanwhile a close stratum of
heavy clouds had hidden the earth and
prevented any ascertaining of the bal
looms position. The slow descent, how
| ever, allowed of another set of observa-
tons being taken, and now the highest
temperature, about six degrees above
zero, was found at the height of four
teen hundred meters. Thence down to
1.-THE earth it sank again five 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.