SKETCH OF JAMES GLAISHER, F. R. S. 549 



on either side. It being abont the time of high water, the forma- 

 tion was supposed to be the effect of the warm current coming np 

 from the sea. 



On the 5th of September, 1862, the aeronauts reached the 

 height, which has never been surpassed by man, of 37,000 feet, or 

 seven miles. Mr. Glaisher thus described his experiences after 

 making his observations at 29,000 feet : " Shortly afterward, I laid 

 my arm upon the table, possessed of its full vigor, and, on being 

 desirous of using it, I found it powerless it must have lost its 

 power momentarily. I tried to move the other arm, and found it 

 powerless also. I then tried to shake myself, and succeeded in 

 shaking my body. I seemed to have no limbs. I then looked at 

 the barometer, and while doing so my head fell over my left 

 shoulder. I struggled and shook my body again, but could not 

 move my arms. I got my head upright, but for an instant only, 

 when it fell on my right shoulder, and then I fell backward, my 

 back resting against the side of the car and my head on its edge ; 

 in this position my eyes were directed toward Mr. Coxwell in the 

 ring. When I shook my body I seemed to have full power over 

 the muscles of the back, and considerable power over those of the 

 neck, but none over either my arms or my legs ; now, in fact, I 

 seemed to have none. As in the case of the arms, all muscular 

 power was lost in an instant from my back and neck. I dimly 

 saw Mr. Coxwell in the ring, and endeavored to speak, but could 

 not ; when, in an instant, intense black darkness came ; the optic 

 nerve finally lost power suddenly. I was still conscious, with as 

 active a brain as at the present moment while writing this. I 

 thought I had been seized with asphyxia, and that I should expe- 

 rience no more, as death would come unless we speedily de- 

 scended ; other thoughts were entering my mind, when I suddenly 

 become unconscious as in going to sleep. I can not tell anything 

 of the sense of hearing ; the perfect stillness and silence of the 

 regions six miles from the earth (and at this time we were 

 between six and seven miles high) is such that no sound reaches 

 the ear." During this time Mr. Coxwell was in the ring above 

 the car, trying to open the valve. He also lost the use of his 

 hands, and was obliged to seize the cord with his teeth and pull 

 it by dipping his head. Consciousness returned gradually to Mr. 

 Glaisher, and no inconvenience followed the insensibility ; and 

 when the party had landed, no conveyance being available, they 

 were obliged to walk several miles. 



In the ascent of June 26, 1863, the party passed through layer 

 above layer of clouds to the height of four miles ; in the descent, 

 they passed through a fall of rain, and below it a snow-storm, the 

 flakes of which were composed of spiculse of ice and innumer- 

 able snow-crystals. On reaching the ground the atmosphere was 



