78 HISTORY OF AEROSTATtON. 



bably not very intimately acquainted with the sciences connected 

 with aerostation. We <lo not remember hearing of this gentleman 

 until August, 1798, on tlie 28lli of which inonlh lie m;d' hi 

 eleventh ascension from Paris, accompanied by a female friend. 

 His course for a considerable time was near the ground, during 

 which he conversed with the people below. These conv> 

 tions shewed how much the earth reflected sound ; for all hi^ 

 words were repeated five or six times. He thought at first that it 

 might he governed by some local circumstance, which indeH is very 

 probable with regard to the repetition. He descended .several time* 

 to the same level, at a distance often leagues asunder, where he con- 

 stantly observed the same c ffect. This great vibration of the air was 

 not sensible to distances exceeding 150 or 200 tones It decreased 

 xvith the distance. Having made a number of aerial vo\ a jjes, M.Gar- 

 nerin's mechanical acquaintance with the requisites for insuring sue. 

 cess was confirmed by frequent experience. This gentleman, availing 

 himself of the short interval of peace, visited England in the summer 

 of 1802; and thus excited the attention of the British public to the 

 almost forgotten subject of aerostation. His voyages made in (hi? 

 country are fresh in the memory of every one; and as they were 

 minutely detailed in several of the daily papers and monthly publi- 

 cations, we shall be the more readily excused giving a full account 

 of them here. On June 29th, this aeronaut, accompanied by a mi. 

 litary gentleman (Captain Snowden) rose from Ranelagh, and 

 alighted near Colchester, in less than three quarters of an hour; 

 having, in that short period, travelled full sixty miles ! During this 

 voyage the aeronauts did not appear to move with any unpleasant 

 rapidity, until they began to descend, when tlu-y were much affected 

 by the boisterousness of the wind : their descent was attended with 

 danger, and occupied some minutes. From this voyage, then, it ma\ 

 fairly be concluded, that the wind oftm moves with much greater 

 velocity than is commonly assigned to it : on the day this vo\ 

 was made, the wind was not thought to be more high and boister- 

 ous than it often is, yet it can hardly be doubled that its velocity was 

 more than eighty miles per hour, and this is nearly double the velo. 

 city which is commonly assigned to such winds. 



The singular experiment of ascending into the atmosphere with an 

 inflammable air-balloon, and of descending with a machine called a 

 parachute, was performed by M. Garnerin on the 21st of Sep- 

 tember, 1 802. He ascended from St. George's Parade, North 

 Audley.street, and descended safe into a field near the Small-pox 



