Decreased Pressure 969 



reached for a second time the high levels which it had just left, but 

 which it was not to pass beyond, its weight and volume certainly not 

 permitting it to mount higher. 



I do not think it doubtful that the death of these unfortunate 

 men is the consequence of the atmospheric decompression; it is pos- 

 sible to endure for a very short time the action of this decompression; 

 it is difficult to undergo its effect time after time during nearly two 

 almost consecutive hours. Our sojourn in the upper strata was, in 

 fact, much longer than that of any preceding ascension to the higher 

 elevations. I will add that the air, which was particularly dry, pos- 

 sibly had a dangerous effect. 



It will be asked now what was the cause of my own safety. I 

 probably owe my life to my peculiar temperament, essentially lym- 

 phatic, perhaps to my complete unconsciousness, a sort of pause of 

 the respiratory functions. I was fasting at the moment of our start, 

 and I thought at first that this circumstance was peculiar to me, but 

 I have since had proof that if Sivel had eaten, Croce, like me, had 

 almost no food in his stomach. 



The decompression is considerable at the height of 8600 meters, 

 since the mercury column of the barometer is at only about 26 cm. 



I am convinced that Croce-Spinelli and Sivel would still be living, 

 in spite of their prolonged sojourn in the higher strata, if they had 

 been able to breathe oxygen. Like me, they must have suddenly lost 

 power of movement. The tubes conducting the vital air must have 

 slipped from their paralyzed hands! But these noble victims have 

 opened new horizons to scientific investigation; these soldiers of 

 science in death have pointed out the dangers of the way, so that 

 their successors may know how to foresee and avoid them. 



M. G. Tissandier has tried to represent by the accompanying 

 diagram (Fig. # 87) the course of the balloon, which, as we see, de- 

 scribed in space a sort of gigantic M, 8600 meters high. The dotted 

 part of the curve represents the second phase of the ascension; 

 probably it is very like the real graph. It is during this part of the 

 voyage that Croce-Spinelli and Sivel lost their lives, in the midst of 

 these icy deserts of the high atmospheric levels! 



I think it worth while to reproduce here some extracts from an 

 account drawn up by M. Limousin, a distinguished pharmacist, 15 

 who had been commissioned to furnish the oxygen necessary for 

 filling the gas bags: 



In order to prevent the probable rupture of the goldbeater's 

 skin as a result of the expansion of the gas at a high altitude, only 

 100 liters of the mixture (oxygen 65; air, 35) were put in each gas 

 bag, whose capacity was about 200 liters. 



To neutralize as much as possible the detestable smell which the 

 greased goldbeater's skin gave the gaseous mixture, I put in for each 

 balloonist very small wash bottles provided with a curved tube fur- 

 nished with rubber so that they could be held in the mouth like a 



