The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-11-10
MEN AND MATTERS IN NEW YORK CITY Slew Progress Is Made In Bal-
 looming THE TRIP OF JOHN WISE He Went From St. Louis To Hender- son, N. ", Distance of 115o
 Miles, In 1e Hours and
 90 Minutes.
THE TRIP OF JOHN WISE
BY sEWALL HAGGARD.

\ BY SEWALL HAGGARD.
 New York, November 9-1(Special )-The recent international balloon race which started at St. Louis demonstrated that little or no progress has been made in ballooning since 1S59 when John Wise. the American aeronaut, made a remark able Journey from St. Louis to Hender- son, N Y. a distance of 1150 miles, in l9 hours, 50 minutes or at an average speed of nearly mile a minute. Since the beginning of the 2oth century this has been exceeded only by Count de la Vauxs flight of 1900 miles from Paris to Russia.
 Experiments in balloons began in 1776 and the first successful balloon was made by the Mongolfer brothers of Annonay, France It was q paralelopiped or six sided bag of silk, containing 40 cubic feet. Inflated with hot air from burning paper it rose to a height of 36 feeW The brothers, with no knowledge of hydro gen gas at that time, took their idea from the suspension of clouds in the air. after seeing a smoke-filled pettfcoat sail to the ceiling when left to dry by fire. They conceived the notion that a
  like nature, such as smoke, would float in the air. Larger machines were con structed with greater success in ascen- sion, a straw fire fed with chopped wool from time to time, being kind1ed under the aperture of the balloon to produce the smoke cloud. The true cause of ascension the rarefaction of the heated air, was not discovered till a later pe- rod.
 The success of the Mongolfiers with their hot air balloons led to Charles experiments with hydrogen gas balloons. Within a short time several captive cents first with animals, then by human beings. were successfully made in heated air balloons On November 21, 17s8. Pi- latre De Rozier and the Marquis dAr- landes made the first Independent aerial expedition, rising 2OOO feet and descend ing safely Ten days laters Messrs. Charles and Roberts ascended in hy- drogen balloon, fitted with a safety valve and travelled 3l miles. In 17S4 moro than 30 ascents were made, Blanchard, the first professional aeronaut, accompanied by Dr. John Jeffries of Boston, crossed the English channel from Dover to France in a heated air balloon on Jan uary 1, 17S5. In June of that year two men tried to cross from the English side and were killed.
 During the wars of the French Revolu- ton. an aerostatic institution was estab- lished at Meudon, near Paris, In 1794, Tor training a corps of "aerostfers' to ob- serve the enemy by means or balloons. Since then regular balloon corps have been attached to many armies. and in at been made to construct dirigible balloons. The "aeronautic fish" on which Mar shal Ney is said to have spent $2O,OOo, occupied the attention of some of the most ingenious and scientific men In France for a considerable time. It was a large balloon of long fish-like figure, intended to swim in the air, as hsn in water and to be propelled by wings or fins working by cranks. But when launched though 1t noated and moved forward a little, it turned on one side, and this tendency could not be corrected so that the experiment proved failure. In 1853 a European ,aeronautical society was formed; and in 184S an aerial transit company obtained the assent of the Brit ish House of Commons to a bill for it's constitution, to exploit a stearn-propelied experimentation invented by MT Hen son.
 During the Franco-Pr -Prussian war bal looms were used extensively, and the IJhlans had many a hard ride pursuing them. At Ladysmith the British used a captive balloon, all through the siege, with much benefit to the intelligence de- partment.
 Gaston and Albert Tissandier achieved some success in 1884 with dirigible bal loon. but the first notable dirigible flight was that of Colonel Renard on April 9, 1884 when, in a cigar-shaped balloon, with a powerful motor and front screw, he left Chalas Meudon, and returned to his starting point in 23 minutes after de- scribing an oblong course of five miles.
 Since then aerial navigation has de- veloped along the lines of dirigble bal looms and motor aeroplanes. Notable sue cesses in dirigible balloons have been achieved since 1900 chiefly by Santos-Du- mont Count de la Vaulx of Paris, Count Almergo of Italy, and the American pro fessonal aeronauts, Leo Stevens and Roy Knabenshue; but although perfect con- trol has been attained in 8 wind varying from nine to Il miles an hour, bulk, fra eility structural weakness, unreliable ness and inability to carry heavy loads have to be overcome before practical value is insured. One of Santos-Dumont most notable flights took place October l9, 1901, when starting from the Aero Clup park near Longchamps, he sailed around inc Elnel tower anu returned to his starting point. having covered over eight miles in 20 minutes and 90 seconds
 The first form in which the Idea of aerial locomotion or flight through the air naturally suggested itself, was that of providing men with wings, and the mythe of Dadalus and Icarus show that the attempts of men to soar above the earth began in prehistoric times. Dada Jus, descendent of the Erechtheida, the old Athenian race of kings, contem- porary of Theseus and Minos was famous as an artist and mechanician, and Is celebrated in poetic fiction as fly ing safely over the Aegean sea by wings which he himself made. According to the same fiction. his son, Icarus, flew too near the sun and the wax which cement ed his artificial wings melting, fell and was drowned in the lcarian sea, so named to this day, from his sorrowful misadventure. These are the earliest rec ords in literature of aviation"
 Among other early Experiments in flight, a wooden pigeon, which sustained itself in the air for few minutes, is recorded as having been invented by Archytas of Tarentum. 4oO years B. (. Suetonius says that simon Magus was