462 Artificial Flight: An Aérial Ship. [October, 
the balloon. The total weight, with o°59 ton of available 
ballast, amounted to 3°74 tons, and the balloon, when thus 
ballasted, had an ascensional force sufficient to keep it in 
equilibrium close to the ground. In the first ascent 3 cwts. 
of ballast were thrown out, the balloon rising from the 
earth on February 2, 1872, at 1 o'clock. From 1 o'clock 
to about a quarter past but little more was done than to 
admire the graceful evolutions of the machine, and the 
readiness with which it answered to both helm and screw. 
At rh. 15 m. observations were commenced, and showed the 
car to be 560 metres (1837 feet) above the departure station, 
and moving in a north-easterly direction with a speed of 
I2 metres (39 feet) per second. The course was then al- 
tered to the south-east, at an angle of 83°, with the former 
direction. The number of men working the screw, at 25 
revolutions per minute, was eight, the aérostat moving with 
regard to the earth at a speed of 16 metres (or 52°5 feet) per 
second. Afterwards this speed increased, with 27°5 revolu- 
tions of the screw per minute, to 17 metres (55°8 feet) per 
second. ‘The speeds given by the form of anemometer em- 
ployed, as due to the balloon, or rather to the screw, were 
2°35 metres (7°7 feet) to 2°82 metres (9°3 feet). The descent 
was commenced at 2h. 35 m., and was effected at the desti- 
nation, Mondecourt, near Noyon, without any shock or the 
slightest accident. 
We should now consider the results that have been at- 
tained in the experiments with the aérostat. They are— 
the maintenance of a constant exterior surface by means of 
the ballonnet; freedom from rocking motion, even while 
two or three persons are walking in the car; and a perfect 
control, the head of the aérostat being shifted to or kept in 
any direction, with a maximum force of 60 kilos. from the 
manual labour of the eight men. 
These are the mechanical improvements that have been 
achieved, but the most important result is that an impetus 
will be given to the study of aérial navigation now that the 
science has found a theory seldom paralleled in its applica- 
tion. The remark of one of our greatest men, ‘‘ Impossible ; 
I don’t know the word,” has indeed been practically shown 
to be an admitted principle by M. de Lome. 
M.de Lome further proposes to remove seven of the eight 
men employed to work the screw, and substitute an engine 
of eight-horse power, with one man as engineer. The bal- 
last would then consist of the fuel and water, while the 
aérostat could be impelled at the rate of 14 miles per hour, 
at a much larger angle, with the plane of direction of the 
