186 



BALLOONING. 



hygrometers at different heights, especially as 

 high up as man may reside on mountains, or 

 troops (as in India) may have to be stationed, 

 so as to ascertain the degree of reliance to be 

 placed on these instruments severally ; to note 

 the elevations and characters of the different 

 kinds of clouds ; to make observations on mag- 

 netism, on aerial currents, on sounds, &c. 



On account of its central position, allowing 

 the longest run over land, Wolverhampton was 

 at first selected as the place of ascent. Three 

 ascents were made thence, July 17, Aug. 18, 

 and Sept. 5 ; four others took place from the 

 Crystal Palace, July 30, Aug. 20, Sept. 1 and 

 8 ; and one from Mill Hill, near Hendon, Aug. 

 21, where the balloon had descended the pre- 

 vious evening. July 17, as shown by the barom- 

 eter, a height of 26,177 ft. was reached ; and 

 in descending a mass of vapor 8,000 ft. thick, 

 and so dense that in it the balloon was not 

 visible from the car, was passed through. Aug. 

 21, the balloon was released from its anchorage 

 before sunrise, the morning being warm, dull, 

 and cloudy ; at 5,000 ft. clouds were reached ; 

 the balloon soon emerged above the dense mass 

 of cloud it had entered, into a sort of basin or 

 valley, surrounded by immense black moun- 

 tains of cloud, which extended far above its 

 place. Shortly afterward the appearance be- 

 low became that of deep ravines of great ex- 

 tent, with beautifully curved outlines; while 

 the blue sky overhead was nearly covered with 

 cirri (the "mare's tail," or hair-like cloud). 

 Presently, as the sun rose, the tops of the 

 mountain-like clouds became silvery and gold- 

 en ; at 8,000 ft. the level of their summits was 

 reached, and the light of the sun on them, and, 

 flooding the atmosphere on either side of the 

 balloon with orange and silver, produced a gor- 

 geous effect. As the sun's rays warmed the 

 contents of the balloon, it shot more rapidly 

 upward, and other vast masses of cloud of vary- 

 ing shapes came into view, but still bounded in 

 the horizon by immense piles resembling Al- 

 pine ranges. The height reached was nearly 3 

 miles. Sept. 1, at f mile above London, the 

 whole length of the Thames could be traced 

 from its mouth; and along its entire course, 

 following all its windings, extended a cloud or 

 fog bank bounded by the shores on either side. 

 For half an hour, previous to descent near 

 "Woking, in Surrey, the balloon was under one 

 stratum of cloud and above another. Of the 

 latter, the upper surface appeared bluish white, 

 the middle portion a pure white, the lower 

 surface a blackish gray, and from this rain was 

 falling to the earth. At 1,300 ft. the balloon 

 was yet above these clouds. As afterward 

 learned, rain had fallen from them all the after- 

 noon. Sept. 5, the greatest altitude ever yet 

 made by the balloonist was reached. The 

 temperature at 3 miles high was 18 ; at 4 

 miles (1 : 39 p. M.) it was 8 ; in 10 minutes 

 more the 5th mile was reached, temperature 

 now 2, while no dew condensed on Reg- 

 nault's hygrometer, though cooled down to 



30. Up to this time Mr. Glaisher had taken, 

 the observations with comfort ; and he expe- 

 rienced no difficulty in breathing, although Mr. 

 Coxwell, who exerted himself more, did so. At 

 1: 51 P.M. the barometer corrected read 10.8 

 inches, showing a height of about 5 J miles. Here 

 Mr. Glaisher's sight began to fail ; he strove 

 to reach to the distance of a foot for some 

 brandy, but could not move his hand so far ; he 

 finally saw and noted the barometer at 10 

 inches, true reading 9.75, showing 5J miles 

 height, when he lost all power, his head fall- 

 ing to one side, then, on raising it, to the other, 

 and finally backward; and in a few minutes 

 more he was totally unconscious. Mr. Cox- 

 well, who had been up in the ring, returned to 

 the car ; feeling now that he was himself be- 

 coming insensible, and being unable to use his 

 hands, he seized the valve rope between his 

 teeth, and thus discharged so much gas that the 

 balloon took a downward turn. In the de- 

 scent Mr. Glaisher recovered at about the same 

 elevation at which he had become senseless ; 

 and on reaching only 24 the temperature 

 seemed to the aeronauts very warm. Of six 

 carrier pigeons taken up, two, thrown out at 

 3 and at about 4-J miles in rising, dropped 

 straight down ; two others released, the one in 

 rising, the other in coming down, at 4 miles, 

 flew about the balloon in circles, the latter re- 

 turning and perching upon it ; of the remain- 

 ing two, brought to the ground, one was dead, 

 and the other for some time indisposed to exert 

 itself. Since the instruments were placed 

 facing Mr. Glaisher, the exact height reached 

 in this ascent was not ascertained ; but a casual 

 observation of Mr. Coxwell on the aneroid ba- 

 rometer appears to show, that it could not have 

 been less than 35-36,000 ft., or at least 6 

 miles ; and it may have been greater. 



The reader is referred to the title METEOR- 

 OLOGY, for some valuable results arrived at dur- 

 ing these ascensions, in reference to atmos- 

 pherical conditions ; certain others belong more 

 properly in this place. The time of vibration 

 of a magnetic needle was only slightly greater 

 at considerable elevations than on the earth, 

 thus showing that up to such heights the 

 earth's magnetic force had not materially di- 

 minished. It was observed that some sounds 

 are transmitted much farther through the air 

 than others that appear to be equally loud ; 

 thus, the barking of a dog was heard plainly at 

 2 miles ; the shouting of a multitude had ceased 

 to be audible before reaching one mile. In the 

 voyages of Messrs. Wise and La Mountain in 

 1859, above referred to, the frequency and dis- 

 tinctness with which the aeronauts heard the 

 barking of dogs are also noticeable. 



Mr. Glaisher is led to conclude that, in order 

 to reach great altitudes, the balloon must have 

 a capacity of at least 90,000 cubic feet; and 

 that even with such a balloon, except through 

 the employment of a gas of density as low as 

 that secured for these experiments (namely, 

 carburetted hydrogen, of specific gravity of 



