Chapter II 

 BALLOON ASCENSIONS 



At the end of the 18th century, the remarkable discovery of 

 the Montgolfier brothers introduced a new element into the ques- 

 tion of decompression. In this case, the traveller no longer climbs 

 laboriously and slowly to the regions where rarefied aid can act 

 upon his organism; he is carried there without fatigue and with 

 great speed. 



We are not interested in the montgolfiers, or hot-air balloons, 

 since ordinarily they can mount only to very moderate heights. 

 We shall simply note that the first aeronauts, Pilatre du Rozier 

 and the Marquis d'Arlandes, made an ascent November 21, 1783, 

 and crossed Paris in a montgolfler. 



But the history of gas balloons is rich in data applicable to 

 our subject. 



The first of December in this same year of 1783, the physicist 

 Charles, who had just invented the hydrogen balloon, tested his 

 invention under conditions much more stirring and dangerous than 

 the two brave aeronauts just mentioned. This ascension, as we 

 know, was divided into two periods: Charles, who left the Tuileries 

 at 1:45, landed at 3:30 in the plain of Nesles; he let his companion 

 Robert get out of the basket; then, lightened, his balloon rose 

 again with extraordinary speed. In less than ten minutes he rose 

 over 1500 fathoms; the barometer stopped at 18 inches, 10 lines. 



The story 1 of the clever physicist, filled with justifiable en- 

 thusiasm, shows ,him as "questioning his sensation, listening to 

 himself live, and having no disagreeable feeling in the first mo- 

 ment." But soon: 



In the midst of the inexpressible rapture of this contemplative 

 ecstasy, I was recalled to myself by a very extraordinary pain in the 

 interior of my right ear and in the maxillary glands; I attributed 



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