AERONAUTIC VOYAGES. 351 



tered, and the temperature increased till 7,500 feet was attained, when 40° 

 were attained, being the same as had been experienced at 1,500 feet. It 

 then decreased to 34° at 8,800 feet, and then increased slowly to 37° at 

 11,000 feet, a temperature which had been experienced at the heights of 8,500, 

 6,500, and 3,000 feet in ascending. After the great injury to the balloon on the 

 29th of September, in addition to the repairs it had previously undergone, Mr. 

 Coxwell did not consider it, after the additional rough usage in the last two 

 voyages, safe for extreme high ascents, and determined to build a new one, 

 which he did, capable of containing 10,000 cubic feet more gas than the old one, 

 so that, if need be, two observers could ascend together to the height of five 

 miles. A new balloon, however, needs trying in low ascents until it proves 

 gas-tight before it can be used for great elevations ; and, on June 13, it was 

 therefore started on a small ascent from the Crystal Palace, at 7 o'clock — the 

 sky cloudless, and the air perfectly clear, except in the direction of London. An 

 elevation of 1,000 feet was reached in 1-^ minute, 3,000 feet at 7h. 8m., when 

 the balloon descended to 2,300 feet, and then reasce'nded to 3,400, when, after 

 a slight dip, it again ascended to 3,550 feet, the highest point by 7h. 28m., and 

 then, after some oscillations, began its downward coin-se at 7h. 50m. from 2,800 

 feet, reaching the ground at East Horndou, five miles from Brentwood, at 8h. 

 14m. — the remarkable feature in this voyage being that, below 1,800 feet ele- 

 vation, there was scarcely any change of temperature until the earth was reached. 

 This fact of no change in the temperature of the air at the time of sunset was 

 very remarkable, for it indicated that, if such be a law, the law of decrease of 

 temperature with increase of elevation may be reversed at night for some dis- 

 tance from the earth. June 20, the balloon left Derby at 17 minutes past 6 

 p. m., and descended near Newark. June 27, the balloon ascended from the 

 Crystal Palace at 6h. 33 Jm. — the sky cloudy, wind west. The descent was 

 made on Romney Marsh, 5 miles from the shore. These several trial trips of 

 the new balloon were made, and it was gradually becoming gas-tight, when its 

 lamentable destruction at Leicester took place. The mayor of that town has 

 recently presided over a meeting for the purpose of collecting subscriptions to 

 assist Mr. Coxwell to rebuild a new balloon ; and we concur in Mr. Glai.shcr's 

 wish that the town of Leicester and the Foresters' Society will soon remove the 

 stigma resting upon them. Mr. Coxwell, since then, has had recourse to the 

 old balloon, Avhich he had repaired as best he could, and the next and last as- 

 cent of which Mr. Glaisher had to speak was made with it, on August 29, from 

 the Crystal "Palace, at 4h. 6m. The difference between the temperatures of 

 the air and those of the dew-point in this ascent was rather remarkable. The 

 most important point in the past year's experiments are that, though the 

 law of decrease of temperature under ordinary circumstances in the summer 

 months is pretty well determined, we cannot say such a law holds good through- 

 out the year; nor can we say that the laws which are in force during the day 

 will be in force 'at night. In carrying out these experiments Mr. Glaisher said 

 he had freely given up all his leisure, and that Mr. Coxwell had done the same 

 in a most unselfish manner. Indeed, had it not been for the generous spirit in 

 which Mr. Coxwell had entered into these experiments, they never could have 

 been made, except at a multiple of the cost that had been incurred. 



