182 Historical 



report and began to descend rapidly (I believe it), and then M. 

 Brioschi awoke (not without terror). The fall took place at the castle 

 of Enganca, not far from the tomb of Petrarch and the city of Acqua, 

 12 miles from Padua; and the most marvellous thing about this story, 

 which was so marvellous from end to end, is that the travellers, no 

 doubt protected by a geni out of the Thousand and One Nights, did 

 not experience the slightest harm, not even the least scratch. Surely 

 that is a miracle which should disconcert all the calculations of ordi- 

 nary physicists. However it may be, the travellers took post horses, 

 and reached Padua at 8:30 to receive congratulations which such a 

 prodigious success deserved on every score. 



I should note here that the celebrated English aeronaut, M. 

 Glaisher, 19 seems disposed to give credence to these extraordinary 

 data; he calls attention to the fact that Andreoli, accustomed to 

 ascents, suffered much less than his companion. And as to the 

 possibility of surviving such a terrible fall, he discusses it with 

 authority and admits it without great hesitation. (P. 161.) 



August 29, 1811, two Englishmen, Beaufoy and Sadler,-" made 

 an ascent in which they did not rise above 6000 feet, and which 

 holds no interest for us except the sensation felt by Beaufoy "of 

 a slight pressure in the ears and a little deafness", and especially 

 the strange explanation of it which the traveller gives: he attrib- 

 utes this effect to "the dampness resulting from not wearing a 

 hat during the trip." (P. 296.) 



April 26, 1812, the widow of Blanchard, who was to die so 

 miserably July 6, 1819, on a roof in the Rue de Provence, made 

 an ascent at Turin in which she claimed to have risen to a very 

 great height. The Journal de Paris 21 gave an account of it in the 

 following words: 



She had taken a barometer with her .... At 15 inches 6 lines, 

 the cold was icy; at 14 inches 1 line, Mme. Blanchard said she had 

 experienced a lessening of the cold; at 12 inches 11 lines, she felt a 

 palpitation of the artery near the outer angle of the left eye and a 

 sort of trembling of the lower lid of the same eye. At 12 inches 3 

 lines, she had a severe nosebleed. 



A few minutes later, the barometer marked 10 inches 3 lines, 

 which was its lowest point .... This indicates that the highest 

 elevation of Mme. Blanchard was 3900 fathoms (7600 meters); at this 

 height the cold was unbearable, the Reaumur thermometer was 17° 

 below freezing .... 



The color of the sky was almost black .... The sun did not have 

 its usual rays and its diameter seemed much smaller than when 

 observed from the earth. A moment after these observations, the 

 thermometer dropped another degree, and Mme. Blanchard, almost 

 stiff with cold, decided to descend. 



