The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-06-26

balloon, independent of passengers ana
cargo, was 200 pounds. The balloon itsov
weighed $50 pounds, and was tested It.
imitation and held captive until the rs,
was completed at an altitude of 655 feet
For a time France was really govern,
by balloons, and M. Gambetta was CONVEX
ed over the Prussian lines in a balloon Il.
had a most exciting trip. The FIRST At.
tempt of ascent was relinquished at an Al.
titude of 600 yards, for some Prussian sol.
diers were perceived Immediately under.
meath. Their arms were piled and while thu
rushed to these, ballast was thrown on
but the balloon did not mount sufficienuv
fast to prevent several balls penetrating if
one of them grazing Gambetta's head. Tbs
ascent was safely made near Montdidiar
Subsequent to Gambetta's departure from
Paris, says Mr.. Vizetelly, "the government
decided on dispatching other ardent repub.
leans through the clouds to arouse the
provinces from their lethargy Louis Blanc
was asked to proceed to England to awak
en- the sympathieS of the British nation in
favor of France. Victor Hugo was also
offered a commission to the departments
but both of these illustrious democrats de-
clined, the former on the plea to a partic
ular aversion to balloon travelling and the
latter on the score that his mission was to
consecrate himself exclusively TO the de-
tense of the capital"
OF all the balloons which left Paris al
this time, by far the most successful voy-
age was that of the Washington" which
took out no fewer than 100, 900 letters. Nil.
itary balloons were also used in Paris for
obtaining a view of the enemy. The Ger
mans had Herr Krupp cast special cannon
of extremely small caliber to destroy the
balloons.
Carrier pigeons were also used to con.
siderable extent, and LOO trained birds
were brought in before the siege and
lodged at the Jardin des Plantes. Pigeons
were dispatched with balloons to bring
back word of the safe descent of the bal
looms, these pigeons being furnished by
several carrier pigeon societies. Not in
frequently the pigeons, when they return
ed. were found to be wounded either by
some bird of prey or by shots from the
German rifles. The Germans brought birds
of prey to the environs of Paris in order
that they might pursue the carrier pigeons
The dispatch was generally contained in
small quill fastened to tail feather that
remained immovable when the pigeon
spread its tail to fly. Very many of the
messages were lost, however.
With an aerial fleet at their disposal,
there had never been any difficulty In get
ting letters out of Paris in a reasonable
time, but the means of obtaining news
from the provinces were limited in the ex-
IRENE, and at last the people had to fall
back to the employment of pigeon mes
sengers. Originally the latter were only
employed to convey government dispatches
TO announce the safe arrival of some bal
loon in the provinces, but In the month Of
October it was also suggested that they
might be used to convey the correspond
ence of the general public. AT first the
messages had to follow a fixed form, the
words being limited to mo" and yes 10
questions such as Are you well?" do
you want money!" ETC., which had been
previously asked in letters sent out Of
Paris by balloon. The charge for convey
ing these messages was / franc. The mes
sages were sent to the postal delegate at
Clermont-Ferrand, where they were copied
on single sheet of paper and then reduced
by photography to the most minute pro-
portions and sent by pigeons into the
capital.
On the arrival of these dispatches, the
characters were enlarged with a micro
scope and each message was copied onto
a card and forwarded to the person to
whom it was addressed. The plan was
found to be rather inconvenient, and at
last ordinary messages were allowed to be
sent charge of half franc was made
for each word contained in the dispatch
and the limit of the message was twenty
words. The messages were set up in
type and printed; they were then photo
graphed, thus rendering them a great deal
more legible. When reduced, they occu-
pied a piece of paper ~ by IA inches,
having the appearance of a diminutiye
journal of four columns. One message
followed the other without interval of any
kind. The reverse side was also filled
with messages. Three of the first birds
sent off carried nearly a thousand dis
patches by means of this arrangement.
Postoffice orders to the value of 300 francs
each could be forwarded in a similar man
ner, and photographed reproductions OF
the Tours Moniteur and the London Times
were sent into the capital. The films used
were of collodion. A suitable number OF
copies were made of each sheet. They
were then rolled and enclosed in small
quill, which was sewed on the tail feath-
ers of as many pigeons as could be pro-
cured. The employment of thin films Oh
collodion instead of paper was great
improvement, for these films were ten
times thinner and lighter than paper, 50
that pigeon was able to carry an IN
creased budget of news with a dimnution
of both weight and volume.
On the arrival of the pigeons in Paris
the quilts containing the microphoto-
graphic dispatches were split open with
penknife and the films were rapidly W.
rolled in water containing a few drops 81
ammonia. The films were then dried anu
inclosed within two plates of glass. Tney
were then ready to be deciphered by tDe
microscope. This mode of reading proving
slow, recourse was had to the projecuns
lantern, using the electric light. The thh
film of colodion containing the message
was placed in the proper part of the appd-
ratus and the message was thrown on d
large screen, so that four transcrioefs
could work at once on different parts u
the dispatch sheet each square OF WINCH
contained some 1000 messages. At a laler
time the dispatches were photographed %,
collodion films on the scale of the originu
printed matter, so that each section was ds
enlarged from the most minute dimensions
to the size Of an 1Smo page; the character,
being in good bold type, could thus NC
read off with perfect ease. The coiioo'ol
film was, moreover, raised from the giasss
and transferred 10 a sheet of black oneu
cloth dressed with gum arabic. tlnally'
the kilograms were separated from can
other by means of scissors, and each PEI
son received his dispatch in facsmlle y.
the original printed matter. This SYSTEM
proved TO be very satisfactory, and VIZ
the pigeons escaped the hawks ana suls'
the, Parisians were tolerably sure OF az
tanning information from their frieHus'
Many of the dispatches have been tIius
ferred and are now exhibited as speclile'ss
of icrophotography, thus affordins
HHNatTt