The Idaho Springs siftings-news., 1920-05-14


James Coxwell, both Britons who in September
1852, rose to an altitude calculated by them as
about seven miles, which was higher than that
attained by Major Schroeder, the American flyer,
in his recent sensational Jump" at Dayton. o.
Gaisher's experience especially valuable
from the standpoint of the person who wants to
know what it is like up there" because the aspi-
rator quit working at 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 rose still
higher. The aspirator became troublesome to work
and began to find difficulty in seeing. I
could not see the column of mercury in the wet
bulb hermemeter, nor the hands Of the watch,
h6f the dne division Of any Instrument. me- -. =
Shortly after laid my arm on the table, pos
ssssed Of Its full vigor but on being desirous Of
using 1t little later found 1t powerless tried
to move the other ARM found it powerless Also
tried to shake myself and succeeded, but seemed
to have no limbs
"a II dimly saw Mr. Coxwell and endeayored 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. 1 thought had been
seized with asphyxia and believed 1 should ex-
perience nothing more death would come un-
less we speedily descended; other thoughts were
entering my mind when 1 suddenly became uncon-
scious.
II cannot tell anything of the sense of hearing
as 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
we'll who retained consciousness even longer than
his chief, had managed to pull the valve rope with
his teeth
Both men reganed consciousness after the bal
loon had descended several thousand feet, and
they managed to make safe landing
- Two facts having direct bearing on the oues
ton as to atmospheric conditions above the earth
were established by them. One is that sounds
like that made by passing railroad trains can still
be heard at height of about four miles, but that
at SIX miles there is perfect silence.
The other is that up to certain point scientific
cay referred to as the level where ''inversion of
atmosphere occurs, the fall of the mercury av-
ss issEs' about one degree Fahrenheit to every 800
In April, 1875 NJ. CASTOR Tissandier and two
companions confirmed these findings when they
rose from Paris in balloon to height Of nearly
six miles, but In this case the expedition was
marred by the fact that both companions Of M Tis-
sander. having less stamina than he or the Brit
ish aeronauts, died before the gas bag returned
to the ground 4ss n 40. & vsyss
II further corroboration is desired as to con-
ditions as they exist the "rst lap of the aerial
journey into the void they can be had from the
experiences of the aviators who, since the advent
Of saiEplanes have tried to reach the lid of the
worlds atmosphere"
Two Of the most prominent of these, at least
among the American aviators, have been Major
ssehfoeder aand Roland Rohlfs. who have engaged
sr ass1nQus contest for highest records above the
Clouds ssTssi; ~.
Major Schroeder in his flight a few weeks ago at
tained an altitude Of S6020 feet, at which height
hts thermometer registered 90 degrees below zero
centigrades or 81 degrees below zero Fahrenheit
So, In his case as well as in that of Rohfs when
he >reached $4,000 feet in July last, and that Of
Adjutant Casale, Of the French army, who rose 49,