ii6 MEMORIES OF MY LIFE 



still. I was surprised at feeling no giddiness, but the 

 car is so deep and the swelling of the balloon so 

 voluminous that there is always much to steady the 

 eye. The chief cause of giddiness when standing on 

 a small isolated platform seems to lie in the absence 

 of anything for the eye to " hold on by," meaning 

 by this, anything that shows a sensible change of 

 perspective, however slightly the body may move. 

 Consciousness of altering one's position is due to two 

 things, the change in perspective, and the sensations 

 arising in the well-known " semicircular canals " of the 

 ear. When the latter sensation is present unaccom- 

 panied by the former, mental distress results. 



The balloon was open below, and owing perhaps 

 to some optical illusion, it seemed to be filled with a 

 singularly pure and beautiful medium. The quietness 

 and sense of repose were the chief feelings that I 

 experienced ; next the clearness with which some 

 noises, such as the barkings of dogs, reached us when 

 we were still at a considerable height. Besides 

 myself, there were only the aeronaut and his boy ; 

 the former alternately boisterous and maudlin. He 

 told me that his wife frequently dreamed that he 

 would come to an ill end, and so he did, breaking his 

 thigh not long after in a balloon descent and dying 

 from it. The " bump-bag" and the grapnel were 

 new to me. The bump-bag is useful in permitting a 

 quick descent to be made in order to catch a particu- 

 lar field in the line of drift. More gas is let out than 

 is necessary for a normal descent, then when the car 

 is still some feet above the ground the bump-bag rests 

 on it, its weight is removed, and the lightened balloon 

 descends slowly through those remaining few feet. 



