The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1898-11-14
BALLooNINe AT NIGHT.
a Mooult Laodsoap, Seen From AIof
(From the london Chroniele.l

(From the London Chronicle.)
correspondent formed one Of Mr..
spencer's party in a balloon ascent
from the Crystal Palace recently. His
experiences are interesting. AT 1000
feet high" he writes, I'VE We're over
some suburban railway station, and
the sight of a train rushing along a
curved cutting was one not to be for
gotten. ii was like a comet with a
fiery gold head and silver tail. The
moonlight on the trail of smoke made it
look like the rapids Of a river in moon
light, Il rushing mass of silver water:
the engine was q glow of fiery red You
saw no train. AT 1853 the smell of gas
tod us we We're rising, and we com
menced the work of testing echoes. I
may here remark that there are two
grave objections to balloon travelling
the one is that you cannot smoke and
TIE other that you perpetually smell
gas.
In testing acoustically, l am afraid
we did not succeed in gaining any air
echo, though one at 1000 feet-we went
up III all to nearly 5000 feet-was sus-
pected, Echoes distinct we had In
plenty, but they undoubtedly came
from the balloon above us, and none
except, perhaps, the one dubious one /
nave referred to-from the empyrean
Echoes from the earth showed the air
TO be very variable in its carrying
power. For a long distance, travelling
at height of 1000 feet, the air re-
manned singularly opaque acoustically,
and not a trace of echoes could be
caught; but later, at 2400 feet, they be-
came and remained very loud Again,
20 minutes later and 300 feet lower,
they had become distinctly feeble. The
resonator, which Mr.. Bacon, a member
OF the party, has constantly used
showed the same striking acoustic va
1ietton, and the murmur of earth car
ried up to us on the night breeze proved
to De principally of grave tones
Mr.. Bacon had with him an exqui-
sitely sensitive air thermometer, which
showed remarkably the variations in
temperature during the steady ascent
of the balloon. The temperature rose
rapidly up to about 500 feet, at which
elevation we encountered a colder
stratum. Soaring through this, we
rose another 100 feet, again into warm
er air Then through a second and a
third shallow stratum: but at 1000
feet We had entered an equable re-
gion for an ascent of 1900 feet or 100
tseL higher gave US no practical change
in the conditions, and, as acoustic eXper-
iments were to be principal part of
the nights work, we kept below an
altitude of 5000 feet At the higher
attitudes there was no water vapor no
t-ceable in the spectrum, and the con-
spicuous telluric lines Mr.. Bacon had
detected in his previous nights expert
ments had disappeared.
The brilliancy of the moon was very
markedly increased as we flew higher
ana lunar details easily seen with field
glasses from earth became difficult to
gaze at. Seen through good 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 moonlight re-
corded 1900 feet, and a clock below could
be heard distinctly striking 10. AT
1000 feet it was marvellous 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 it disintegrated and the parti-
cles separated widening into a nebulous
shade to disappear altogether as it
dropped earthward. have never
known what moonlight can be till last
night. Every roadway, hedge and riv-
ulet stood out as clear. as if we were
looking down on a large scale map.
Il have already alluded to the acous-
tic experiments that were made, and
these proved amusing as well as in
structive. At 1900 feet we We're get
ting splendid ground echoes from both
voice and trumpet, 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 it ended
\ tNeRNu
lage we did get word from the human
7e7f~ens. but we never failed
f 10 rouse the doss. If 'hullo'
didn't do it, the trumpet never
failed. over Eynesford at 900
| feet, the time being 1915, we got news
of our whereabouts. Where are you
OF to?' shouted the men who gave us
the name, to which our answer was:
To find the Rougemont gold fields At
2400 feet so clear was the night that
you could see the postcards we threw
/ out tlutter down, down, almost to the
ground. At that height also the
ground echoes came up quite clear, if
I somewhat faint, and dogs barking
might almost have been in ones next
door neighbours garden.
"One superb effect was that of the
moons rays on any large collection of
glass houses-we passed over several
nursery gardens. Over a spread of
these the sight was magnificent.
though the effect was but momentary
and had to be caught at the proper
angle, but for the moment it turned
the whole into a lake of molten silver.
1t was eerie to look down and see the
trail rope stretching $50 feet down into
space but it was grand way of real
zing the idea of speed. If you sat in
the bottom of the car. you felt abso-
lutely as if you We're motionless,
| though we We're really travelling at the
rate of some twenty or twenty five
miles an hour. Looking over the edge
of the car down on the trail rope, you
could easily note how fast the rate of
speed was, for, watching the end as it.
hung in a plumbline from the car, you
could mark how swiftly a huge wood
or field was left behind. The only
sensation in the slightest degree UNI
pleasant, felt at the highest altitude we
reached was a slight singing in the
ears. The party alighted at Aylesford
without mishap'