New Mexico state record. (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1914-19??, 1920-05-14

loonists like Henry Glaisher ana his assistant,
james CoXwrll, both Britons, who in September,
ls62, rose to an altitude calculated by them rs
about seven miles, which was higher than that
attained by Major Schroeder, the American flyer,
in his recent sensational jump" at Dayton, o,
tlaisher's experience was especially valuable
from the standpoint of The person who wants to
know what it is like up there because the aspi-
rator quit working nj an altitude of five miles.
Writing for the British Association for Balloon
Experiments as to what happened after reaching
the fve-mile level, he said:
up to this time | had taken observations with
comfort, and experienced no difficulty whatever
In breathing.
Then, having discharged sand, we rose still
higher. The aspirator became troublesome to work
ami began to find difficulty in seeing. I
could not see the column of mercury i'm the Wet
bulb Thermometer, nor the hands of the watch.
nor the fine division of any instrument.
shortly after | laid my arm on the table, DOS
sesSed of its full vigor, but on being DESTROYS of
using it II little later | found it powerlcss. tried
to move the other arm; | found it powerless also.
tried to shake myself and succeeded, but | seemed
To have no limbs.
Il dimly saw Mr.. Coxwell and cndeavorcd TO
speak to him but could not. Then, in an instant.
intense darkness overcame me, so that the optic
nerve lost power suddenly, but | was still con.
Scious with as active a brain as at the present
moment, while writing This. | thought | had been
seized with asphyXin and believed | should OK
perience nothing more, as death would come nm
less We speedily descended other thoughts were
entering my mind when | suddenly became uncon-
sciouS.
Il cannot tell anything of the sense of hearing
ms no sound reaches the air To break the perfect
silence Of the regions between six and seven miles
above. the earth"
The balloon finally began to descend after Cox
well, who retained consciousness even longer than
his chief, had managed to pull the valve rope with
his teeth.
Both men rcgained conscionsness after tbe hal.
loon had descended several thousand feet. and
they managed to make Il safe landing.
Two facts having n direct bearing ON the mos.
tion rs 10 atmospheric conditions above the earth
were established 10y them. one is thai sonnds
like that made by passing railroad trains can still!
he heard AT a height of about four miles. but thnt
AT six miles there is perfect silence.
The other is that up To a certain point. scientis.
cally referred To as the level where "inversion of
atmosphere occurs. the fall of the mercury nv.
erages about one degree Fahrenheit 10 every 9o
feet. =
In April, 1919. VI. Castor Tissandier and ,vo
companions confirmed these findings when they
rose from Paris in n balloon Ia a height of nearly
SIX miles, nut IN this case the expedition was
married by the fact that both companions of N Tis
sander, having less stamina than he or the Rrit.
nh aeronauts, died before the gas bag returned
10 the ground.
If further corrobOration is desired as to ON.
iitions as they exist on the first lap" of the aerial
Journey into the void they can be had from tba
experiences of the aviators who. since the advent
II airplanes. have tried TO reach the lid Of the
worlds atmosphere"
Two of the most prominent of these M loast
lfnong the American aviators. have been Major
and Roland iohlfs. who have engaged
n a unique contest for highest records above tho
LIQUIDS.
Major Schroeder in his flight a few weeks ago at-
aimed an altitude of 5000 feet, AT which height
is thermometer registered 81 degrees below Gro
or GO degrees below zero Fahrenheit
%, in his case, as well as in that Of Iloblfs when
9 reached 1920 feet in July last. and thar Of
diutant Casale, of the French army. who rose "a.