Account of an Acrosiaiic f-'oyaye. 223 



pours, and its colour dull. It is, perhaps, needless to ob- 

 serve, that the wind on the day of our first ascent was north- 

 north-east, and that on the last it was south-west. 



As soon as I perceived that I began to descend, I thought 

 only of moderating the descent of the balloon, and render- 

 ing it exceedingly slow. At 45 minutes past three my 

 anchor touched the earth, and became fixed ; which gives 

 34' for the time of my descent. The inhabitants of a small 

 neighbouring village soon ran up to me; and while some of 

 them took pleasure in drawing towards them the balloon, 

 by pulling the rope to which the anchor was fixed, others, 

 placed below the car, waited v/ith impatience till they could 

 reach it with their hands, in order to deposit it on the earth. 

 My descent then took place without the least shock or acci- 

 dent ; and I do not think that there could be one more for- 

 tunate. The small village at which I descended is called 

 Saint-Gourgon : it is six leagues north-west from Rouen. 



When I arrived at Paris, my first care was to analyse the 

 air I had brought back. All the experiments were made at 

 the Polytechnic School, under the inspection of Messrs. 

 Tlienard and Cresset ; and I depended as nuich on their 

 judgment as on my own. We observed, in turn, the divi- 

 sions ot the eudiometer without communicating with each 

 other; and we did not write them down till we perfectly 

 agreed. The balloon, the air of which was introduced at 

 the height of 6636-5 metres, or 3405 toises, was opened 

 under water, and we all judged that it had filled at least the 

 half of its capacity; which proves that the balloon had well 

 preserved its vacuum, and that no foreign air had entered 

 It. We intended to weigh the quantity of air which re- 

 mained in the balloon to compare its capacity ; but, as we 

 could not at that time find what was necessary, and being 

 very impatient to ascertain the nature of the air contained 

 in it, wo could not make the experiment. We first em- 

 ployed V^olta's eudiometer, and analysed it comparatively 

 with atmospheric air collected in the court before the Poly- 

 technic School. The comparative analysis of these two airs 

 is as follows : 



Analysis of the Atmospheric Air. 



Jiijj. 1. 

 Atmo'.phcric air 

 Hydrogen g'jis - 

 Rct>i(tuuin after combustion 



r.ip. II. 

 Atmosphcrir .lir 

 Hydrogen gas - 

 Reaidiiutn 



Measures. 

 :i 

 2 

 304 



Mcasurcii. 

 :3 

 2 



Anal) -lis of Air collected at tlie 

 Height of 0630 Metres. 



Air 



Hydrogen gas 

 Residuum 



Aj/.. 1. 



Air 

 Hydrogen gas 



Eip. II. 



SO.^ Residuum 



Measiures. 



2 



30,5 



Measures 

 3 

 2 

 304 



Vol. 21. No. 63. April 1805. 



At 



