SKETCH OF EDWARD ORTON. 607 



The two brothers evidently found the germ of their inven- 

 tion in it. 



It is fair to say that the Montgolfiers, who were already known 

 in the learned world by their discoveries in the mechanical sciences, 

 had thought, before they knew of Priestley's book, of a way of imi- 

 tating Nature by inclosing vapor of water, a gas lighter than air, in 

 a paper bag, which would be lifted up, the vapor contained in the 

 bag being sustained in the air like a cloud. But the vapor con- 

 densed, and the weighted balloon shortly fell to the ground. The 

 smoke produced by burning wood inclosed in a bag gave no better 

 results. After seeing Priestley's book, they substituted hydrogen 

 for vapor and for smoke, but the gas passed through the paper bag, 

 and they gave up this attempt. 



They then fancied that electricity was one of the causes of the 

 rise of clouds, and sought for a gas that had electrical properties. 

 They thought they could obtain it by burning wet straw and wool 

 together. A box made of silk was filled with this gas, and they 

 had the great satisfaction of seeing it rise to the ceiling of their 

 room, and, in a second experiment, into the air. This was in 

 November, 1782. 



Five months previously, Tiberius Cavallo, in England, had 

 repeated Black's experiment of filling a paper sack with hydrogen; 

 but, as the Montgolfiers had found, the hydrogen leaked through 

 the paper. Cavallo had better success with soap bubbles, which 

 held the gas. His experiments stopped here, while the Montgol- 

 fiers carried theirs on to practical success. — Translated for the 

 Popular Science Monthly from the Revue Scientifique. 



SKETCH OF EDWARD ORTON, 



LATE STATE GEOLOGIST OF OHIO ; LATE PRESIDENT OF THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOE THE 

 ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE. 



A LL persons interested in American science were surprised and 

 -^^^ shocked at learning of the death, from heart trouble, on 

 October 16, 1899, of Prof. Edward Orton, of the Ohio State Uni- 

 versity. The event occurred only little less than two months after 

 Professor Orton had presided, with a simplicity of manner that did 

 not hide but rather heightened the traits of vigor in his character, 

 over the meeting of the American Association for the Advance- 

 ment of Science at his home in Columbus, Ohio. The services he 

 rendered to geology, his long and honorable career as an educator, 

 and his continual and consistent insistence upon the faithful use of 



