Year: 1873




whole communities both of Boston


and New York, scientific people and


people OF enterprise included, failed &c


do, the experiment Of a voyage across


the Atlantic by balloon is now Ger.


tainly to be made. Prof. Wise, who is


to have charge of the expedition


through the upper air." gives an ex-


plapation of the great undertaking in


= recent number of the Graphic. We


see by his description that the balloon


proper will be spheroid Of 100 feet,
transverse, and ITO perpendicular and
diameter The supplemental balloon
will be spheroid OF SO feet diameter


These, with allowance for expansion
Of gas, will give lifting power of
$4,000 pounds, and net carrying
power of $500 pounds, and of dispose
BILE ballast, $500 pounds. He thinks
the floats will not lose by exosmose Of
gas over Is pounds per hour, and that
will enable them to keep afioat twenty
days. But, he says, allowing liberal
margin for the free escape of gas in
the higher and rarefied regions Of the
atmosphere, he may still calculate
safely for ten days bouyant power,
aud, If deemed Necessary. he can dis
pose Of the boat and gallery, aud thus
restore bouyant power of l 200
pounds, which would serve for several
days more, SO that, under the most
adverse circumstances. the party can
hardly fail TO reach the European
shore.


He says they shall carry a boat more
for the purpose Of providing for a con
tingency that may possibly arise from
any damage to the main balloon, but
one that they "have little cause to
apprehend." The boat will be stored
with water and provisions, TO serve
for thirty days. So, he says: .Our
kind friends are thus assured that we
are not foolhardy, seeing that we shall
provide against all and any contingen
cies that are likely to possibly arise =


The Professor then adds, by way Of
gene ralization:


"Our main reliance is on the great
eastwar drift OF the trade wind, and,
after your publication Of DIR. Ramsey's
admirable paper on the motion Of the
atmosphere, always and forever east
ward, without an attempt at the exact
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 is an established fact
Of science of every days experience,
we have, 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 make
given point on land, but we have an
eye to the Gulf Stream, the great
warm river in the ocean Of air, cor
responding aerial river that will float
= physical correlative that the air, on
being warmed by the Gulf Stream
heat, will rise and move forward ia
the isobaric line of least resistance,
which must inevitably be in the direc-
ton of the Gulf Stream. Meteorolo-
gists will take great interest in this
part of the problem to be solved or
attempted to be solved These great
but silent imponderable elements, the
most potent of all in the grand COS.
are yet SO little understood
by science that lifetime's devotion
to the eIucidation of a single feature
in them will be well spent, and that
is the animating principle that moves
US to the experiment. We are not
scientific ally presumptuous. but we
know what we do know, and that il,
that the atmosphere above us moves
eastward /; the heavens above attest
the fact in its fleecy messengers con-
stantly to be seen in this aerial high
way. What we don't know is the
actual condition Of this force of nature |
over aud above the sea, and, as a
method Of exploration, we intend to
make this aerial voyage, and in our
humble way endeavor to mark out an
path for men aud mails.
We have living faith in its success,
and belief that we shall aid the too |
little cultivated science Of meteorolo-
yy, and in that we look for oar reward I
the satisfaction Of that little honora-
BILE ambition, without the which man
is but a poor thing.


We crave the public patience until +
our embarkation. In due course of /
time we will announce the day Of de- I
parture, since 1t Is impossible for Us to /
depart in an unobserved and unn-,en- +
tatious manner, because We are com
PEELED to leave from the midst OF ii
dense population, on account of gas
supply, although we would prefer TO
start in the presence of the few good /
friends only, who have faith in the
of our design, and in the
ways and means we have designated
for its successful accomplishment.


! would not have penned this, but I
feel bound to make respectful reply |
to the party who has aided us SO much,
and without whose aid our project |
would probably have gone to sleep
again, and slumbered another decade
Or two in the strong arms OF unbelief.
that righteous tyrnnt that makes
skeptics of US ALL"


ChariVari