46 



AERONAUTICS. 



I'avnllo made the requisite experiments in 1 7S->, and 

 tound that a bhuliliT was too heavy, and paper nut 

 iiir tilit. Soap bubbles, on tin- cuiitniry, which he 

 filled with inflammable air, rose to tlie ceiling of ttie 

 room, where they burst In the same year, tlie 

 brothers Stephen and Joseph Montgolfier constructed 

 a machine wliich ascended by its own power. In 

 Nov. 1782, the elder Montgolfier succeeded, at Avig- 

 non, in causing a large bag of fine silk, in the shape 

 of a parallelopiped, and containing 40 cubic feet, to 

 mount rapidly upwards to the ceiling of a chamber, 

 and afterwards, in a garden, to the height of 36 feet, 

 by heating it in the inside with burning paper. The 

 two brothers soon afterwards repeated the experi- 

 ment at Annonay, where the parallelopiped ascended 

 in the open air 70 feet. A larger machine, contain- 

 ing 650 cubic feet, rose with equal success. They 

 now resolved to make the experiment on a large 

 scale, and prepared a machine of linen, lined with 

 paper, which was 117 feet in circumference, weighed 

 430 pounds, and carried more than 400 pounds of 

 ballast. This they sent up, June 5, 1783, at Anno- 

 nay. It rose in ten minutes to a height of 6000 feet, 

 and fell 7668 feet from the place of ascension. The 

 method used to cause it to ascend was, to kindle a 

 straw fire under tlie aperture of tlie machine, in which 

 they threw, from time to time, chopped wool. But, 

 though tlie desired effect was produced, they had no 

 clear nor correct idea of the cause. They did not 

 attribute the ascension of the vessel to the rarefac- 

 tion of the air inclosed in it by the operation of tlie 

 heat, but to a peculiar gas, which they supposed to 

 be developed by the burning of the straw and wool. 

 The error of this opinion was not discovered till a 

 later period. Tiiese experiments roused the atten- 

 tion of all the philosophers of Paris. It occurred to 

 some of them, that the same effect might be produced 

 by inflammable air. M. Charles, professor of natural 

 philosophy, filled a ball of lutestring, 12 feet in dia- 

 meter, and coated with a varnish of gum-elastic, 

 with such gas. It weighed 25 pounds, rose 3123 

 feet in two minutes, disappeared in the clouds, and 

 descended to the earth, after three quarters of an 

 hour, at the village of Gonesse, about 1 5 miles from 

 Paris. Thus we see two original kinds of balloons ; 

 those filled with heated air, and those filled with in- 

 flammable air. Meantime, Montgolfier had gone to 

 Paris, and found an assistant in Pilatre de Rozier, 

 the superintendent of the royal museum. They com- 

 pleted, together, in Oct. 1783, a new machine, 74 

 feet in height and 48 in breadth, in which Rozier 

 ventured for the first time to ascend, though only 50 

 feet. The balloon was from caution fastened by cords, 

 and soon drawn down. Eventually, the machine, 

 being suffered to move freely, took an oblique course, 

 and at length sunk down gradually about 100 feet 

 from its starting place. By this the world was con- 

 vinced tliat a oalloon might, with proper manage- 

 ment, carry a man through the air; and the first 

 aerial expedition was determined on. Nov. 21, 1783, 

 Pilatre de Rozier and the marquis d'Arlandes as- 

 cended from the castle la Muette, in the presence of 

 an innumerable multitude, with a machine contain- 

 ing 6000 cubic feet. The balloon, after having at- 

 tained a considerable height, came down in twenty- 

 five minutes, about 9000 yards from la Muette. But 

 the daring aeronauts had been exposed to consider- 

 able danger. The balloon was agitated very violently 

 several times ; the fire had burnt holes in it ; the 

 place on which they stood was injured, and some 

 cords broken, They perceived that it was necessary 

 to descend without delay ; but when they were on 

 the surface of the earth, new difficulties presented 

 themselves. The weak coal fire no longer supported 

 the linen balloon, the whole of which fell into the 



flame. Ko/.ier, who had not yet sincccded in de- 

 scending, ji:st csx-apctl being burnt. M. Charles, 

 who had joined with M. UolxTt, soon alter intormeU 

 the public that they would ascend in a balloon filled 

 with inflammable air. To defray the necessary ex- 

 pense of 10,000 livres, he opened a subscription. The 

 balloon was spherical, :.'<! feel in diameter, and con- 

 sisted of silk coated with a varnish of gum-elastic. 

 The car for the aeronauts was attached to several 

 cords, which were fastened to a net, drawn over the 

 upper part of the balloon. A valve was constructed 

 above, which could be opened from tlie car, by 

 means of cords and shut by a spring. This, sen nl 

 to afford an outlet to the inflammable air, if they 

 wished to descend, or found it necessary to diminish 

 it. The filling lasted several days ; and, Dec. l , the 

 voyage was commenced from the gardens of the 

 Tuilleries. The balloon quickly rose to a height of 

 1800 feet, and disappeared from the eyes of the. 

 spectators. The aeronauts diligently observed the. 

 barometer, which never stood at less than W>", 

 threw out gradually the ballast they had taken in 

 to keep the balloon steady, and descended safely at 

 Nesle. But as soon as Robert stepped out, and it 

 was thus lightened of 130 pounds, it rose again with 

 great rapidity about 9000 feet. It expanded itself 

 with such force, tliat it must have been torn to pieces, 

 had not Charles, with much presence of mind, opened 

 the valve to accommodate the quantity of gas to the 

 rarity of the surrounding atmosphere. After the 

 lapse of half an hour, the balloon sunk down on a 

 plain, about three miles from the place of its second 

 ascent. These successful aerial voyagers were soon 

 followed by others. The first aerial voyage in Bri- 

 tain was performed by Lunardi, an Italian, who as- 

 cended from London on the 21st of Sept. 1784. In 

 the succeeding year he ascended in Scotland, being 

 the first person who gratified tlie inhabitants of Glas- 

 gow and Edinburgh with the interesting spectacle of 

 an aerial excursion. Blanchard had already ascend- 

 ed several times in France, when he determined to 

 cross the channel between England and France, 

 which is about 23 miles wide, in a balloon filled with 

 inflammable air. He succeeded in this bold attempt, 

 Jan. 7, 1785, accompanied by an American gentle- 

 man, Dr Jeffries. About one o'clock, they left the 

 English coast, and at half past two, were on the 

 French. Blanchard was the first who experimented 

 with a parachute. On his ascent from Strasburg 

 in 1787, when he had attained an elevation of 6000 

 feet, he detached from the balloon the parachute,with 

 a dog in a basket suspended from it. After being a 

 good deal driven about by the wind, the dog reached 

 the ground in safety. M. Garnerin, whose aerial 

 voyages were numerous and adventurous, repeat- 

 edly descended by a parachute from his balloon after 

 it had reached a great height. Pilatre de Rozier, 

 mentioned before as the first aeronaut, attempted 

 June 14th, 1785, in company with Mr Remain, to 

 pass from the French to the English side ; 'but the 

 attempt was unsuccessful, and the adventurers lost 

 their lives. M. de Rozier had on this occasion united 

 the two kinds of balloons ; under one filled with in- 

 flammable air, which did not alone possess sufficient 

 elevating power, was a second, filled by means of a 

 coal fire under it. Rozier had chosen this combina- 

 tion, hoping to unite the advantages of both kinds. 

 By means of the lower balloon, he intended to rise 

 and sink at pleasure, which is not possible with in- 

 flammable air ; for a balloon filled with this, when 

 once sunk to the earth, cannot rise again with the 

 same weight, without being filled anew ; while, on 

 the contrary, by increasing or diminishing the fire 

 under a balloon filled with heated air, it can be made 

 to rise and fiill alternately. But this experiment 



