New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1898-10-30

BALLOONING AT NIGHT.
A MOONLIT LANDSCAPE SEEN FROM
ALOTT.
EXPERIENCES OF SOME ENGLISH AERoNAUTs-
ECHOES FROM THE EARTH.


Palace last Wednesday night. His experiences
are interesting. AT 600 feet high" he writes,
I'VE were over some suburban railway station,
and the sight of a train rushing along a curved
cutting not to be forgotten. IL was
like comet with fiery sold head and SILVER
tail. The moonlight on the tr1i! OF smoke maze
il look like the rapids Of river in moonlight.
rushing mass of silver water; the engine WAS
glow of fiery red. You saw 10 train. At JOB
the smell of gas told us we were rising and we
commenced the work of testing echoes. ! may
here remark that there arc two grave ONCE
tons 10 balloon travelling the one is that you
cannot smoke. and the other tfat you peFpetu-
ally smell gas.
I'm testing acoustcally | am afraid W. lid
! not succeed in gaining any air ccno though one
at 1000 feet-wc went up IN all to nearly opOJ
feet--was suspected. Echoes distinct we Had
in plenty. but they undoubtedly came from the
balloon above us. and none-eHcept. peintps,
the dubious one | have referred to-froin
the empyrean. Echoes from the earth showed
the air to be very variable in its carrying power.
For il long distance. travelling at height 81
1000 feet. the air remained singulariy opaque
acousticaIly. and not a trace of echoes couid De
caught: but later. at ,. 100 feet. they became
and remained very loud. Again. twenty-five
minutes later and 500 feet lower. they had be-
come distinctly feeble. The rcsOnatCr. which
Mr.. Bacon. a member Of tn" party. has con
stantly used. showed the same striking acoustic
variation and the murmur Of earth carried up
to us on the night breeze proved 10 De prlnCl-
pay Of grave tones.
Mr. Bacon had with him an exquisitely sensi-
tive air thermometer, which showed remarkably
ascent OF the balloon. The temucratGr" rose
rapidly UP to about 500 feet. at which elevation
we encountered a colder stratum soaring
through this. rose another 100 feet. again
into warmer air. Then through a second ana
third shallow cold stratum: but at l,OOo feet
had entered an equablc region. for an ascent
of 600 feet or 100 feet higher gave us no
practical change in the conditions. ana, rs
acoustic experiments were to be a principal part
Of the nights W 1rk. we kept below an attitude
Of 5000 feet. AT the higher attitudes there was
no water vapor noticeable in the spectrum. ana
the conspicuous tciluric lines Mr. Bacon had de-
tecled in his previous nights experiments had
disappeared.
The hrilliancy Of the moon was very marked
~ increased AS We flew higher. and lunar de-
tails easily seen with field glasses from earlh
became difficult to gaze at Seen through sood
glasses indeed. the moon was simply daZZlingly
and tryingly brilliant AS ! bent to the DaVy
lamp We carried to read the aneroid to Mr.
Bacon-Mr. Spencer could read it by the moon
light-it recorded 800 feet, and a clock below
could be heard distinctly striking 10 At ZotO
feet it marvellous to note the clean-cut
shadow of the balloon which the moon gave
As we threw cut sand its shadow could be seen
dropping from the balloon. FIRST IN broad
stream then as it disrtegrated and the paru-
cles separated widening into ncbuouS shade
to disappear altogether as 1T dropped Garth
ward. have never known what moonlight can
be till lasi night. Every roadway, hedge. ana
riylIIct stood out as clear as if we were looking
down a large scale map.
II have already alluded to the acoustic expert
inPNtS that
ing as well rs instructive. At 200 feet We were
getting splendid ground echoes from both voice
and trumpet. ard at this height. passing over
one village We created quite an excitement our
hail of What is the name Of this place? was
heard and answered. hut we could not catch the
name. except that it ended in row Or road
Not at every village did we get word from the
human dcniZcns but we never failed to rouse
the dogs If 4 'hullO' didn't do it, the trumpet
never failed. over EynrsfOrd. at 600 feet. the
time being lob, we got news of our where
ab0uts. Where you off to- shouted the
men who gave the name. TO which our an
swcr was: TO find the HOugemOnt gold fields.
At - 100 feet 50 clear was the night that you
could see the postcards we threw out futter
down. down. almost to the ground. At that
height also the ground echoes came up quite
clear if somewhat faint and dogs barking might
almost have been in ones neXJ-doOr neighbours
garden.
''Onc superb effect was that of the moons
rays on any large cole elton Of glass houses-ws
passed over several nursery gardens. over
spread of these the sight magnificent,
though the effect was hut mOmcntary and had
to be caught q: the proper angle. but for the
moment il turned the whole into lake ~ molten
silver II was eerie to look down and see the
trail rope stretching $50 feet down into space
but it was a grand way of realizing the idea or
speed If you sat in the bottom of the car you
felt absolutely as if you were motionless. though
we were really travelling at the rate Of some
twenty or twenty-five miles hour. Looking
over the edge Of the car down on the trail r0pa
YOU could easily note how fast the rate Of speed
was. for watching the end. it hung in
pumbinc from the car you could mark how
swiftly a huge wood or field was left behind. The
only sensation in the slightest degree unpleas-
ant felt at the highest altitude we reached. was
a slight singing in the ears. The party al!ghted
at Ayesford without mishap.'