NATURAL PHILOSOPHY. 139 



ficulty for some time." Very soon after this, however, Mr. Glaisher 

 began to feel unpleasantly. Describing what then occurred, Mr. G. 

 continues : " Mr. Coxwell ascended into the ring, and I endeavored 

 to reach some brandy which was lying on the table at a distance of 

 about a foot from iny hand, but I was unable to do so. My sight 

 became dim. I looked at the barometer, and saw it between ten and 

 eleven inches, and tried to record it, but was unable to write. I then 

 saw it at ten inches, still decreasing fast, and just managed to note it 

 in my book, its true reading, therefore, was about nine and three- 

 fourths inches, implying a height of about twenty-nine thousand feet. 

 I was losing all power, and endeavored to rouse myself by struggling 

 and shaking. I essayed to tell Mr. Coxwell I was becoming insensi- 

 ble, but I had lost the power of speech. I saw Mr. Coxwell dimly in 

 the ring ; it became more misty, and finally dark. I was still con- 

 scious, and knew I should soon be insensible, and I suddenly sank as 

 in sleep. On recovering consciousness, I heard Mr. Coxwell say, 

 ' What is the temperature ? Take an observation, now try.' I 

 could neither see, move, nor speak ; but I knew he was in the car, 

 trying to rouse me. I then heard him speak more emphatically, 

 4 Take an observation. Now do try.' I then saw the instruments 

 dimly, and Mr. Coxwell very dimly ; then more clearly ; and shortly 

 afterwards said to Coxwell, ' I have been insensible ; ' and he re- 

 plied, ' You have, and I, nearly.' I recovered somewhat quickly, 

 and Mr. Coxwell said, ' I have lost the use of my hands ; give me 

 some brandy to bathe them.' His hands were nearly black. I saw 

 the temperature was still below zero, and the barometer reading 

 eleven inches and increasing quickly. I resumed my observations at 

 2.7, recording the barometer reading 11.53 inches, and the tempera- 

 ture minus two degrees. I then found that the water in the vessel 

 supplying the wet bulb thermometer, which I had by frequent disturb- 

 ance kept from freezing, was one mass of ice. Mr. Coxwell then told 

 me that whilst in the ring he felt it piercingly cold ; that hoar-frost was 

 all round the neck of the balloon ; and on attempting to leave the 

 ring he found his hands frozen, and he had to place his arms on the 

 ring and drop down ; that he found me motionless, with a quiet and 

 placid expression on the countenance ; that he at first thought I was 

 resting myself ; that he then spoke to me without eliciting a reply, and 

 then observed my arms hanging by my side, and my legs extended, 

 and found I was insensible. He then felt that insensibility was com- 

 ing over himself, and that he could not assist me in any way ; that 

 he became anxious to open the valve, that his hands failed him, and 

 he instantly seized the line between his teeth, and pulled the valve 

 open two or three times, until the balloon began to descend." In the 

 course of a few minutes, Mr. Glaisher revived, and by the time that 

 he reached the earth the effects of his faintness had entirely disap- 

 peared. While Mr. Glaisher was unconscious, Mr. Coxwell hap- 

 pened to cast his eyes on the needle of the aneroid barometer, and 

 when Mr. rlaisher recovered he informed him of its position. From 

 this observation, Mr. Glaisher estimates that they attained a height 

 of fully six miles. At a height of five miles, the mercury stood at 

 minus five degrees; the self-registering thermometer indicated that 

 it had been as low as minus twenty, or fifty-two degrees below 



