THE CONQUEST OF TIME AND SPACE 



engaged to construct a large balloon, and on the 15th 

 of October, 1783, the trial was made in a garden in the 

 Faubourg St. Antoine. Let no one suppose, however, 

 that this first man-carrying balloon was cut loose from 

 the earth and sent skyward to shift for itself, as might 

 be gathered from the reluctance of persons to make the 

 ascent. On the contrary, the balloon was held by strong 

 cables, and allowed to rise only to a height of eighty feet 

 — to the level of some of the lower windows of a modem 

 sky-scraper — the aeronaut keeping it afloat for about 

 five minutes by burning wool and straw in a grate 

 made for the purpose. 



Those who have witnessed the reckless manner in 

 which the modem balloonist mounts thousands of feet 

 into the air, seated on a trapeze or clinging to flying 

 rings attached to an old balloon, patched and frequently 

 rotten, may be inclined to sneer at the brave Rozier. 

 But it should be remembered that in 1783 people had 

 not leamed nineteenth-century contempt for altitude. 

 Furthermore, no one could tell what might be the effect 

 upon the human system of ascending to a great height 

 when away from a building or other terrestrial object. 

 Fainting, hemorrhages, heart-failure, and death had 

 been predicted, and could not be practically refuted. 

 In short, it was an absolutely new and untried field; 

 and it required far greater courage on the part of Rozier 

 to mount eighty feet in a captive balloon than for a 

 modern aeronaut to sail thousands of feet skyward. In 

 proof of this is Rozier's subsequent record of ascents in 

 free balloons, and dangerous voyages, in the last of 

 which he lost his life. 



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