THE CONQUEST OF TIME AND SPACE 



while the most unfortunate, M. St. Felix, had a broken 

 arm, a dislocated ankle, and numerous cuts and 

 bruises. 



Later the Giant was captured many miles farther on 

 and returned to its owners in Paris. Subsequently it 

 made numerous voyages, none of which was particularly 

 profitable, however, so that the purpose for which it 

 was designed was not fulfilled, and Nadar's proposed 

 air-ship was never constructed. 



While the Giant was the largest balloon hitherto 

 constructed, it broke no records either for speed attained 

 or distance travelled, and much more notable perform- 

 ances in this respect had been made before its time and 

 have been made since. Thus, one of Coxwell's balloons 

 traveled from Berlin in the direction of Dantzig, cover- 

 ing the distance of one hundred and seventy miles in 

 three hours. This was in 1849; ^^^ i^ the same year 

 M. Arban crossed the Alps from Marseilles to Turin, 

 covering the distance of four hundred miles in eight 

 hours. In July, 1859, the American aeronaut, John 

 Wise, sailed from St. Louis, Missouri, to Henderson, in 

 New York State, in nineteen hours, travelling eight 

 hundred and fifty miles at the rate of forty-six miles an 

 hour. This was the longest voyage ever made until 

 the time of the balloon-races started from the Paris 

 Exposition, in 1900. On this occasion Conte de la 

 Vaux, starting from Paris, remained in the air thirty- 

 five hours and forty-five minutes, landing at KorostichefiF, 

 in Russia, 1193 miles from the starting-point, thus break- 

 ing all previous records. 



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