138 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 



sound ; to note atmospherical phenomena in general, and to make 

 general observations. 



Mr. G. then gave a detailed account of the instruments used, and 

 the circumstances connected with the A^arious ascents, all of 'which 

 were made in the vicinity of London. In an ascent on the 17th 

 of July, a height of 26,177 feet was reached; and in the descent a 

 mass of vapor of 8,000 feet in thickness was passed through, so dense 

 that the balloon was not visible from the car. At starting, the tem- 

 perature of the air was fifty-nine degrees ; at four thousand feet, forty- 

 five degrees ; and descended to twenty-six degrees at ten thousand feet ; 

 and then there was 110 variation of temperature between this height 

 and thirteen thousand feet. " During the time of passing through this 

 space, Mr. Coxwell, my companion, and myself both put on additional 

 clothing, feeling certain that we should experience a temperature 

 below zero before we reached an altitude of five miles ; but, to my 

 surprise, at the height of 14,500 feet, the temperature as shown by 

 all the sensitive instruments was thirty-one degrees, and at each suc- 

 cessive reading, up to 19,500 feet, the temperature increased, and was 

 here forty-three degrees. When we had fallen somewhat, the tem- 

 perature again began to decrease and with extraordinary rapidity, 

 and was sixteen degrees, or twenty-seven degrees less than it was 

 twenty-six minutes before. At this time, about eleven A. M., we 

 were at a height of five miles." 



In an ascent on the 20th of August, the balloon hovered for a long 

 time over London, the hum of which was very audible. When the 

 city was lighted at night it presented the appearance of an enor- 

 mous conflagration. The most important ascent, however, was made 

 on the 5th of September, in which a greater elevation was attained 

 than had ever before been reached by human beings. The ascension 

 commenced at one P. M., the balloon containing sixty thousand cubic 

 feet of coal-gas, of specific gravity 0.340 ; ordinary coal-gas being 0.470. 

 At the surface of the earth, the temperature of the air was fifty-nine 

 degrees Fahrenheit ; at the height of one mile, thirty-nine degrees 

 Fahrenheit. Shortly after attaining this altitude, the balloon entered 

 a cloud eleven hundred feet in thickness, in which the temperature 

 fell to thirty-six Fahrenheit, and the air was saturated with moisture. 

 When a favorable opportunity presented itself, a photograph cam- 

 era, which had been provided with a set of extremely sensitive dry 

 plates, was brought into requisition for the purpose of taking photo- 

 graphs of the clouds, but the balloon was ascending with such velo- 

 city owing to the expansion of the gas and the lighter character of 

 the atmosphere that Mr. Glaisher failed to obtain a single picture. 

 At three miles high, the machine was rising rapidly, the sixty thou- 

 sand feet of gas had expanded to ninety thousand, and was ooz- 

 ing out of the safety-valve at the bottom of the balloon. The rate of 

 ascent was stated by Mr. Glaisher to have been as follows : " We 

 reached two miles in height at 1.21; three miles at 1.28 ; and four 

 miles at 1.39. In ten minutes more we had reached the fifth mile, 

 and the temperature had passed below zero, and then read minus 

 two degrees. Up to this time, I had taken observations with comfort. 

 I had experienced no difficulty in breathing, whilst Coxwell, in con- 

 sequence of exertions in throwing out ballast, had breathed with dif- 



