Explrimeiit ivkh a P<.t>\ichuie, 



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PHILOSOPmCAL NEWS and ACCOUNTS of BOOKS. 



'N the firfl: of Brumaire (21 0£l. 1797) Citizen Garnerin made the experiment of the 

 parachute at the Garden de Moufleaux *. This experiment has not been before attempted 

 at Paris. Blanchard had the notion foon after the dilcovery of balloons ; and at feveral dif- 

 ferent towns, particularly Lifle, he let fall from the vefie! of his balloon dogs and other ani- 

 mals. Some years ago he ventured to defcend in perfon in an experiment he made at Bale; 

 but either from the bad conftruftion of his parachute, or by falling among trees, he had the 

 misfortune to break one of his legs. 



Citizen Garnerin was more fortunate, and has given the mod fatisfaftory proofs of his 

 (kill, firmnefs, and intrepidity, which the impatient public had feemed to doubt at the 

 Garden Biron. Notwithftanding the hafte with which this philofopher was obliged to 

 make his preparations, and feveral accidents which happened to his apparatus, he afcended 

 from the Garden de Moufleaux at half pad five in the evening. Between the balloon aid 

 the veffel was placed the parachute, half opened, and forming a kind of tent over the aerial 

 traveller. The wind, which through the courfe of the day had been violent, was now be- 

 come calm, as if to favour his enterprife, and carried him to the northward, over the plain of 

 Moufleaux. Full of that intereft, that infurmountable emotion which feizes us on beholding 

 a man quit the earth and advance towards the clouds by an apparatus fo majeftic, the eyes 

 of the fpeftators were fixed on the balloon, which rofe with rapidity. When it was at a con- 

 fiderable height, the parachute and veflel were feen at once to feparate from the balloon ; 

 the latter of which burft (celui-ci eclate), emptied itfelf, and floated down with the wind. 

 The parachute unfolded itfelf, while the vefli;! which fcrved as ballaft drew it towards the 

 earth. Its fall was at firft flow and vertical ; but foon afterwards it exhibited a kind of 

 balancing or vibration, and a rotation gradually increafing, which might be compared with 

 that of a leaf falling from a tree. Cries exprefllve of the general terror and aflonilhment 

 were heard on all fides. The crowd ruflied towards the place of his defcent, where at length 

 the aeronaut landed, and without injury. Emotions of joy and congratulation fucceeded 

 thofe of alarm, and he was brought back in triumph to the Garden of IVIoufleaux. 



Such was the experiment. The narrator then proceeds to give the following detail : — The 

 parachute, which refembles a vaft umbrella, is of cloth, and its diameter, wiien unfolded, Is 

 25 feet. Citizen Garnerin efl;imates the height from which he fell at 300 toifes, but C. Say 

 reckons it no more than one-third of that fpace f. He Iiad 7 5 pounds of ballaft in his car 

 at the moment of his fall, which he fays he fliould have thrown out, if he had not been 

 apprehenfive of wounding the fpedators below. C. Say thinks he would have done very 

 wrong -, bccaufe the danger to which he was expofed did not arife from the velocity of his 

 fall, but the vibration of the car, which might have llruck him againft the earth, or againft 

 walls, trees, or other prominences. Now, if he had thrown out his ballaft, the remarker 

 thinks he would haveremlered the vibration much more rapid, cxtenfive, and dangerous, and 

 perhaps even have caufcd his parachute to overfet, and the whole to fall in a mafs. 



The author explains the theory of the parachute by obfcrvlng that the refiftance of the air 



' Th'n account was drawm up by J. B. Say, F,ditor of La Decade pliilofophiquc, litcraire, et poliiiinic, No. 4. 

 f III the way of rough iUuftration, this may be dated at once and a half the height of St. Paul'i Cathedral in 

 L.ood"i). N. 



3X2 and 



