Obituary — Wilson Loivrt/, Esq. 469 



pistol : and this he found to be the case, as often as he re- 

 peated the experiment during that evening. 



It would be the greatest injustice to Mr. Graham, not to 

 mention the scientific manner in which he managed his bal- 

 loon, by always retaining such a weight of ballast, as would 

 prevent the shock of first strikingthe earth from being seriously 

 felt by the individuals in the car, and also by expending so 

 little of his gas, as to make the descent perfectly gradual, giving 

 him the opportunity of choosing his place of landing, by 

 being able to ascend again at any moment. 



The gas used to inflate the balloon, was 2^ times lighter 

 than common air. 



Diameter of valve, 19 inches. 



Balloon 63 feet high, by 37^ in diameter. 



Weight of balloon, car, and netting was - - - 231 lbs. 



Do. of ballast, grapple, cord, instruments, &c. - 107 



Do. of Mr. Graham and his companion - - - 294 



632 



Obituary. — Wilson Lowry, Esq. 



Our numerous readers, and the friends of science and art 

 generally, will be grieved to learn that this celebrated artist 

 breathed his last on the 24th inst. (June) at half past two 

 o'clock in the morning. 



The mechanical branch of the art of engraving has been 

 more indebted to Mr. Lowry than to any or all of the artists 

 united, of which England can boast at this moment ; and in- 

 deed it is but doing justice to his brother-artists to state, that 

 they are not backward in confessing him, not merely as the 

 improver, but rather as the father and founder of this branch 

 as now practised. Of the exquisite and impressive manner in 

 which he represented machinery and apparatus of every de- 

 scription, our friends possess many specimens in the volumes 

 of the Philosophical Magazine. It was in this work that 

 Mr. Lowry first exhibited his powers in this line ; and the 

 example set by the Philosophical Magazine led to all that im- 

 provement in embellishment and illustration by which our 

 modern works of science are now characterized. Though 

 Mr. Lowry's time was chiefly occupied with plates in the me- 

 chanical department — owing to the fame he had acquired, 

 and the consequent pressure of business in that particular 

 branch — his powers of execution extended to every other de- 

 partment, particularly to landscape engraving; though but 

 few of those plates bear his own name, having been executed 



for 



