NAVIGATING THE AIR 



advocates pointed out that a tiny spark of electricity, 

 which would not affect the hot-air balloon, might 

 explode the hydrogen balloon, thus introducing an 

 element of danger quite as great as that of the fire in 

 the hot-air balloons. 



As an outcome of these disputes, Pilatre de Rozier, 

 the first man ever to make an ascent, proposed to 

 attempt to cross the Channel in a new- type balloon, a 

 combination of hot-air and hydrogen machine, which 

 was supposed to represent the good qualities of both 

 types. Several months were consumed in constructing 

 it, and when finally completed he and a companion 

 attempted to cross the Channel, as had been done by 

 Blanchard and Jeffries a short time previously. All 

 went well at first and the balloon was several miles on 

 its journey when suddenly the wind changed, the balloon 

 was blown back over the heads of the anxious watchers 

 below, and when a short distance inland, suddenly burst 

 into flamer. At first it descended with an oscillating 

 movement, and then, freed from the restraining silk and 

 canvas, it shot downward, striking the earth with terrible 

 force, the two occupants being killed. Thus the man 

 to make the first ascent in a balloon was also the first to 

 lose his life. Rozier himself seems to have expected 

 some such ending to his voyages, and just before making 

 his last ascent he remarked to a friend that, whatever the 

 outcome, "one had lived long enough when one had 

 added something to humanity." 



The fate of Rozier and his compamon being known, 

 and the awful dangers of balloon ascensions thus forcibly 

 brought home, there was a popular outcry against such 



VOL. VII. — 16 [ 241 ] 



