The times., 1898-11-07
BALLOONING At MIGHT
Interesting Experiences Of
English AerOnauts.
THE VIEW FROM ALoFT
Echoes From the Earth A Trip
From the Crystal Palace to AyIes-
ford-Singing In the Ears the Only
Unpleasant Sensation of the Jour-
ney.

A correspondent of the London Chroni-
Gle formed one of party in a balloon
ascent from the Crystal Palace recently.
His experiences are Interesting. AT 600
feet HIGH" he writes, I'VE were over SOME
suburban railway station, and the sight
of train rushing along curved cutting
was one not TO be forgotten. 1t was like
a comet with fiery gold head and a sill
yer tail The moonlight on the trail OF
smoke made 1t look like the rapids OF
river In moonlight, a rushing mass of
silver water; the engine was glow of
fiery red. You saw no train. At 1858 the
smell of gas told us we were rising, and
we commenced the work of testing
echoes. / may here remark that there
are two grave objections to balloon trav-
eling-the one is that you cannot smoke,
and the other that you perpetually smell
gas.
I'm testing acoustically, am afraid we
did not succeed in gaining any air echo,
though one at 600 feet-we went up in all
to nearly 5000 feet-was suspected. Echoes
distinct we had In plenty, but they un-
doubtedly came from the balloon above
us, and none-except, perhaps, the one
dubious one l have referred to-from the
smpyrean. Echoes from the earth show
ed the air to be very variable in its car
rying power. For long distance, travel
ing at a height of 1.000 feet, the air re-
manned singularly opaque acoustically.
and not a tract of echoes could be caught;
but later, at 2,400 feet, they became and
remained very loud. Again, twenty-five
minutes later and 800 feet lower, they
had become distinctly feeble. The reso-
nator, which Mr.. Bacon, a member of the
party, has constantly used, showed the
same striking acoustic variation, and the
murmur of earth carried up to us on the
night breeze proved to be principally of
grave tones.
Mr. Bacon had with him an exquisite
ly sensitive air thermometer, which show
ed remarkably the variations In tempera-
ture during the steady ascent of the
balloon. The temperature rose rapidly up
to about 500 feet, at which. elevation we
encountered colder stratum. Soaring
through this, We rose another 100 feet
again into warmer air.. Then through a
second and third shallow cold stratum;
but at ], coo feet we had entered an equabl
region, for an ascent of 1,6o0 feet or /, 100
feet higher gave US no practical change
in the conditions and. as acoustic expert
ments We're to be principal part of the
nights work, we kept below an altitude
of 5000 feet. AT the higher altitude there
was no water vapor noticeable in the
spectrum, and the conspicuous teiiu1ic
lines Mr.. Bacon had detected In his prev
ious nights experiments had disappeared.
THE brilliancy of the moon was very
markedly increased as We flew higher.
and lunar details easily seen with field
glasses from earth became difficult to
gaze at. Seen through good glasses. in
deed, the moon was simply dazzling and
tryingly brilliant. As l bent to the Davy
lamp we carried TO read the aneroid TO
Mr.. Bacon-Mr. Spencer could read Il by
| the moonlight-it recorded 1,S00 feet, and
clock below could be heard distinctly
striking 10 At 1000 feet II was marvel
Gus TO note the clean-cut shadow of the
balloon which the moon gave. As we
threw out sand its shadow could be seen
| dropping from the balloon, first In a
| broad stream then as IL disintegrated and
the particles separated widening into a
| nebulous shade to disappear altogether
as 1t dropped earthward. / have never
known what moonlight can be Till last
night. Every roadway, hedge, and rivulet
| stood out as clear as If We were looking
down on large scale map.
Il have already alluded to the acoustic
| experiments that were made and these
| proved amusing as well as instructive At
100 feet we were getting splendid ground
echoes from poth voice ana Strumpet, and
at this height, passing over one village
| We created quite an excitement. Our hail
of What is the name of this placer was
heard and answered, but we could not
| catch the name, except that 1t ended in
row or road Not at every, village did
| we get word from the human denizens,
| but We never failed to rouse the dogs II
'hullo' didn't do 1t, the trumpet never
failed. Over Ernesford. at GOO feet, the
| time being l0:45. we got news of our
whereabouts. Where are you off to?'
shouted the men who gave us the name,
| to which our answer was, To find the
| Rougemont gold fields AT 2,i00 feet so
| clear was the night that you could see