192 Historical 



We must turn to the ascents organized by the Society of Aerial 

 Navigation to find facts that interest us. The first among them, 

 although it did not pass above 4600 meters, gave Dr. Petard, one 

 of the travellers, very interesting physiological observations. He 

 begins by listing briefly the temperaments of his travelling com- 

 panions: 



M. Croce-Spinelli is blond, of a lymphatic temperament, nervous, 

 he is ordinarily inclined to attacks of bronchitis. 



M. Penaud is chestnut-haired, of a lymphatic temperament, and 

 he is disposed towards rheumatism. 



M. Jobert is very dark, of an athletic constitution with bilioso- 

 sanguine disposition. 



M. Sivel is dark, of a sanguine disposition; he is very strong, and, 

 furthermore, not sensitive to aeronautic influences because of the great 

 number of ascents he has made. 



Finally, I am dark and of a sanguine disposition. (P. 118.) 



The balloon rose to a height of 4600 meters (429 mm.) , where 

 the aeronauts found a temperature of — 7 degrees after having 

 passed through a layer at — 20 degrees: 



I could (says M. Petard) observe that the earth below appeared 

 like a basin, and this illusion makes the hills seem very low and the 

 ravines very shallow. 



The second phenomenon to be observed is the oppression displayed 

 by M. Croce-Spinelli, at about 3500 meters. I remind you that M. 

 Croce-Spinelli is predisposed to bronchitis. M. Penaud also expe- 

 rienced oppression, but to a much less degree than M. Croce-Spinelli. 

 The other passengers felt none. 



We next observed the buzzing in the ears which M. Penaud men- 

 tioned first at a height of about 2700 meters. 



We were all affected at about the same time and in the same 

 way, but with very marked differences in the intensity of the impres- 

 sion. For M. Croce-Spinelli it passed to a state of keen pain, and so 

 persistent that in the train, during our return, he still complained of 

 pains in his ears. 



M. Croce-Spinelli said that in him the buzzing and later the acute- 

 ness of the pain appeared only during the rapid descents, that is, 

 when the outer pressure exceeded that of the ear. In me, this buzzing 

 was perceptible whenever we had a rapid descent or ascent of some 

 extent, that is, whenever the equilibrium between the inner and the 

 outer pressure in the ear was broken .... Not only did the sounds 

 seem weakened, but they also appeared to come from far away. 

 (P. 119.) 



The following observations were made above 4000 meters: 



By aid of the buccal thermometer of M. Sainte-Claire Deville and 

 that of Celsius, I observed a slight drop in the animal temperature, 

 which varied in the experiments made from 35.02° to 35.07°. The 



