152 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVEEY. 



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or at least to the density of the atmosphere through which it has re- 

 cently passed." 



In this same ascent, observations were made on the solar spectrum, 

 especially upon the fixed lines of the spectrum. The number of lines 

 visible seemed to be innumerable, and the conclusion arrived at is thus 

 given : " The number of lines in the solar spectrum appear to be in- 

 creased when viewed from a position above the clouds, and therefore 

 none of the lines as viewed from the earth would seem to be atmos- 

 pheric." 



The most extraordinary ascent was made in the month of June 

 1863, of which Mr. Glaisher's record is as follows: 



" We left the earth at Ih. 5m. p. M. ; at Ih. 9m. we were at the height 

 of two thousand feet; at Ih. 15m. we passed above eight thousand 

 feet; a height of eleven thousand feet was reached at Ih. 17m.; in 

 nine minutes afterwards, we were fifteen thousand feet from the earth, 

 and rose gradually to about four and a quarter miles at Ih. 55m. ; on 

 descending, at 2h., we were twenty thousand feet from the earth ; at 2h. 

 13m. about fifteen thousand; at 2h. 17m. ten thousand; at 2h. 22m. 

 five thousand ; and on the ground 2h. 2Srn. Before starting, the tem- 

 perature of the air was sixty-six degrees. It decreased rapidly on 

 leaving the earth ; it was fifty-four degrees at three thousand feet high, 

 forty-nine degrees at four thousand feet, forty-one degrees at one mile, 

 thirty degrees at two miles ; and, up to this time, every succeeding 

 reading was less than the preceding. But here the decrease was 

 checked ; and, while passing from two to three miles, the temperature 

 at first increased to thirty-two degrees, then decreased to twenty-nine 

 degrees. A second increase followed, and at the height of three and 

 a quarter miles the temperature was thirty-five degrees. A rapid de- 

 crease then set in, and at three and a half miles the temperature was 

 twenty-two degrees. From this time till the height of four miles was 

 reached, the temperature varied frequently between twenty-two de- 

 grees and eighteen degrees, and at the height of four and a quarter 

 miles, the lowest temperature took place namely, seventeen degrees. 

 On descending, the temperature increased to twenty-six degrees, at the 

 height of twenty-three thousand feet, and then to thirty-two degrees, 

 at the height of four miles ; it then decreased nine degrees in one min- 

 ute to twenty-three degrees. It continued at this value for some time, 

 then increased slowly to twenty-nine degrees at nineteen thousand 

 feet. It continued almost constant for a space of two thousand feet, 

 then increased to thirty-two degrees at fifteen thousand feet ; and was 

 thirty-two degrees or thirty-three degrees, almost without variation, 

 during a snow-storm which we experienced from thirteen thousand 

 five hundred feet to ten thousand feet, where an increase set in ; at 

 five thousand feet, the temperature was forty-one degrees, and sixty- 

 six degrees on the ground." 



At a height of two miles the sighing or rather moaning of the 

 wind was heard, as preceding a storm, and was the first instance in 

 which Mr. Glaisher had heard such a sound at such a height. It was 

 not owing to any movement of the cordage of the balloon above, but 

 seemed to be below, as from conflicting currents beneath. " At the 

 highest point reached, about four and a quarter miles, the sky was very 

 much covered with cirrus clouds, and its color, as seen through the 



