74 HISTORY OF AEROSTATION. 



September, 1784, by Vincent Lunardi, a native of Italy. His bal- 

 loon \vas made of oiled silk, painted in alternate stripes of blue and 

 red. Its diameter was thirty-three feet. From a net which went 

 over about two-thirds of the balloon descended forty-five cords to a 

 hoop hanging below the balloon, and to which the gallery was at- 

 tached. The balloon had no valve ; and its neck, which t< 

 natrd in the form of a pear, was the aperture through which the in. 

 flammable air was introduced, and through which it might be let 

 out. The air for tilling the balloon was produced from zinc by 

 means of diluted vitriolic acid. Mr. Lunardi departed from the Ar- 

 tillery ground at two. o'clock; and with him wrre a do'.', a rat, and 

 a pigeon. After throwing out some sand to clear the houses, he 

 ascended to a great height. The direction of his motion at first was 

 NVV by W, but as the balloon rose higher it fell into another current 

 of air, which carried it nearly N. About half after three he descend- 

 ed very near the ground and landed the cat, which was almost dead 

 with cold : then rising, he prosecuted his voyage. He ascribes his 

 descent to the action of an oar ; but as he was under a necessity of 

 throwing out ballast in order to re-ascend, his descent was more 

 probably occasioned by the loss of inflammable air. At ten minutes 

 past four he descended on a meadow, near Ware, in Hertfordshire. 

 The only philosophical instrument which he carried with him was ;t 

 thermometer, which, in the course of his voyage, stood as low as 

 29; and he observed that the drops of water collected round the 

 balloon were fro/en. 



The second aerial voyage, in England, was performed by Mr. 

 Blanchard, and Mr. Sheldon, Professor of Anatomy to the Ko>al 

 Academy, being the first Englishman who ascended with an aerostatic 

 machine. They ascended at Chelsea, the 1 6th of October, 1784, at 

 nine minutes past twelve o'clock. Mr. Blanchard having landed 

 Mr. Sheldon, at about fourteen miles from Chelsea, re-ascended 

 alone, and finally landed, near Rumsey, in Hampshire, about >e\ 

 five miles distant from London, having gone nearly at the rate of 

 twenty miles an hour. The wings used on this occasion, it seems, 

 produced no deviation from the direction of the wind. Mr. Blan- 

 chard said, that he a-cendcd .so high a.s to feel a great difficulty of 

 breathing: and that a pigeon, which flew away from the boat, la. 

 boured, for some time, to sustain itself with its wings in the rarefied 

 air, but after wandering a good while returned, aud rested on the 

 c .ide of the boat. 



