Year: 1873

AOON-FhOk' hISE'S EXPLAEi-


GlON OF THE GREAT UNDFRTAK-


ING.


40 me Editor Of the Daily Graphic.


Thanks to the liberality OF the Dali


" Graphle, the problem of the air


currents, by which a system Of aerial


transition may be established. is now


to be tested. The lines are laid. and


the work is already begun. We NAV


not De able to equip the very best out


mt, but we shall have one ali sniff


eient to give il a fair trial. Mr. Dom


aldson has taken in hand the con-
struction of the net work, car. gallery.


and boat, and have taken in hand


the floats.


The tallon proper will be q sphe-


roid OF 100 feet transverse, and 10


perpendicular and diameter. Tho
supplemental ballOn viii be a sphe-


rold OF 36 feet diameter. These. with


allowance for expansion Of gas. will


give US a lifting power of 1880


POUNDS, and net carrying power of


y,oOO pounds. and Of disposabIe ball


last 800 pounds. Our floats will NOT


lose by exosmose of gas over fifiesn


pounds per hour, and that will ena-


bic us to keep afOat twenty days.-
But allowing q liberal margin for the


free escape of gas in the higher and
raretied regions of the atmosphere.
we may still calculate safely for ten
days buoyant power, and, if deemed
necessary, we can dispose of the boat
and gallery, and thus restore a buoy
ant force Of 1,200 pounds, which
would-serve US tor several days more.
so that, under the most adverse cir
cumstances, we can hardly fail TO
reach the European shore.


We shall carry a boat more for the
purpose of providing for a contingent
ey that may possibly arse from any
damage to the main balloon, but one
that We have little cause to appre-
hend. The boat will be stored with
water and provisions to serve for
thirty days. Our kind friends are
thus assured that we are not fool
hardy, seeing that we shall provide
against all and any contingencies
that are likely to possibly arise.


Our main reliance is on the great
eastward drift Of the trade wind, and,
after your publication of DR.. Ramseyis
admirable paper on the motion of the
atmosphere, always and forever east
ward, without an attempt at the ex-
act solution Of its cause, since the fact
is patent, and with the Smithsonian
Institutes reply to my letter on the
same subject, that this eastward mo-
ton of the air ''as an established fact
Of science Of every days experience :"
we have, l think, little to fear for the
result of the voyage. We do not pre-
tend that in this first experimental
voyage we shall be able TO makea Civ
en- point on land, bus we have an eve
to the gulf stream, the great warm
riverin the ocean, which forms above
it, in the ocean Of air, a corresponding
aerial river that will float US to the
coast of ireland. 1t becomes a phys
ieal cOrrelative that the air, on being
warmed by the gulf stream heat, will
rise and move forward In the isoba-
ric line of the least resistance, which
must inevitably be IN the direction
Of the gulf stream. MeteorOlOgists
will take great interest in this part of
the problem to be solved or attempted
TO be solved. These great but silent
elements, the most po-
tent of all in the great cosmOgony,
are yet so little understood by science
that lifetime's devotion to the eluci-
dation of a single feature in them will
be well spent, aud that is the anima-
ting principle that moves US to the
experiment.. We are not seientifieal-
" presumptOus, but we know what
we do know, and that isy that the at
above US moves eastward
the heavens above attest the fact il
It's heecy messengers constantly to be
'een in this aerial highway. What
We don't know is the actual condition
If this force Of nature over and above
he sea, and, as a method of explora-
ion, we intend to make this aerial
voyage, and in our humble way en-
ieavOr to mark out an untrodden
path for men and mails. We have a
living faith in its success, and a be-
ief that we shall aid the too little cuI-
ivated science of meteorology, and in
hat we look for our reEard-the sat
of that little honorable ambi-
ion, without which man is but a
DOOR thing.


We crave the public patience until
'ur embarkatiOn. In due course of
ime we will announce the day of de-
)arture, since it is impossible for US
o depart in an unObserved and unOs-
manner, because we are
to leave from the midst Of
J dense population, on account of gas
upply, although we would prefer to
tart IN the presence of the few good
riends only who have faith in the
incerity OF our design and in the
Ways and means we have designated
or its successful accomplishment.


This is all have to say at present
n reply to your very kind and polite
tote as to the true intent of our pro
eet. L would not have penned this,
,ut feel bound to make a respectful
eply to the party who has aided US
o much, ana without whose aid our
'rOjeet would probably have gone to
leep again, and slumbered for anOtE-
r decade or two in the strong arms
4 unbelief, that righteous tyrant that
makes skepties OF US all.


New YORK, July 2. JOHN WISE.