EARLY BALLOONING. 



297 



had intended to ascend was left behind, The Prince of Wales was present, 

 .vith thousands of spectators. Lunardi cast off and ascended rapidly, causing 

 great admiration from the whole metropolis. Judge and jury, sovereign and 

 ministers, all turned out to gaze at the balloon ; a guilty prisoner was ac- 

 quitted hurriedly, so that no time was lost in discussion, and one lady died 

 of excitement. Lunardi was regarded as a hero, and made many other 

 ascents. He died in 1806. 



In those earlier days one or two fatal accidents happened. Count 

 Zambeccari and a companion were in a balloon which caught fire, and both 

 occupants of the car leaped from it as they were descending. The Count was 

 killed on the spot, and his companion was much injured. Pilatre de Rozier 



Fig. 294. MM. Charles' and Roberts' balloon. 



Fig. 295. Blanchard's balloon. 



made an attempt to cross the channel to England in 1785 ; he had reached 

 three thousand feet when the balloon caught fire, and the unfortunate traveller 

 was precipitated to the ground. His associate only survived him a few minutes. 

 It is to the celebrated English aeronaut. Mr. Green, that the substitution 

 of carburetted hydrogen or street gas for hydrogen is due, and since his ascent 

 in 1821 no other means of inflation have been used. A great many quite 

 successful and a few unsuccessful ascents have been made for pleasure or 

 profit. Mr. Green, in the Nassau balloon, passed over to Nassau, a distance of 

 five hundred miles, in eighteen hours. This exploit was the cause of the name 

 being bestowed upon the balloon. The Giant of M. Nadar was exhibited in 

 England, and it was an enormous one, being an hundred feet high, and 

 nearly as wide in the widest part. But even this machine was outdone by 



