AEROSTATION, 



Paris, in the sight of all its inhabitants, at 

 the height of about 330 feet. In another 

 experiment the marquis of Arlandes as- 

 cended with M. Rozier much in the same 

 manner. In consequence of the report 

 of the preceding 1 experiment, signed by 

 the commissaries of the Academy of 

 Sciences, it was ordered that the annual 

 prize of 600 livrcs should be given to 

 Messrs. Montgolfier for the year 1783. 

 In the experiments above recited the ma- 

 chine was secured by ropes ; but they 

 were soon succeeded by unconfined aerial 

 navigation. Accordingly, the balloon of 

 74 feet in height, above mentioned, was 

 removed to a royal palace in the Bois de 

 Boulogne ; and nil things being ready, 

 on the 21st of November, M. P. de Ro- 

 zier and the Marquis d' Arlandes took 

 their respective posts in the gallery, and 

 at 54 minutes after one the machine was 

 absolutely abandoned to the element, and 

 ascended calmly and majestically in the 

 atmosphere. The aeronauts, having reach- 

 ed the height of about 280 feet, waved 

 their hats to the astonished multitude; 

 but they soon rose too high to be distin- 

 guished, and are thought to have snared 

 to an elevation of above 3000 feet. They 

 were at first driven by a north-west wind 

 horizontally over the river Seine and over 

 Paris, taking care to clear the steeples 

 and high buildings by increasing the fire ; 

 and in rising met with a current of air, 

 which carried them southward. Having 

 passed the Boulevard, and desisting from 

 supplying the fire with fuel, they descend- 

 ed very gently in a field beyond the New 

 Boulevard, about 9000 yards distant from 

 the palace, having been in the air about 

 25 minutes. The weight of the whole 

 apparatus, including that of the travel- 

 lers, was between 1600 and 1700 pounds. 

 Notwithstanding the rapid progress of 

 aerostation in France, we have no authen- 

 tic account of the aerostatic experiments 

 performed in other countries till about 

 the close of the year 1783. The first 

 experiment of this kind, publicly exhibit- 

 ed in our country, was performed in Lon- 

 don, on the 25th of November, by Count 

 Zambeccari, an ingenious Italian, with a 

 balloon of oil silk, ;10 feet in diameter, 

 and weighing 11 pounds. It was gilt, in 

 order to render it more beautiful, and 

 more impermeable to the gas. This bal- 

 loon, three -fourths of which were filled 

 with inflammable air, was launched from 

 the Artillery-ground, in presence of a 

 vasf concourse of spectators, at one 

 o'clock in the afternoon, and at half past 

 three was taken up near Pctvrorth, in 

 VOL. K 



Sussex, 48 miles distant from London r 

 so that it travelled at the rate of nearly 

 20 miles an hour. Its descent was occa- 

 sioned by a rent, which must have been 

 the effect of the rarefaction of the inflam- 

 mable air, when the balloon ascended to 

 the lighter parts of the atmosphere. 



Aerostatic experiments and aerial voy- 

 ages became so frequent in the course of 

 the year 1784, that the limits of this arti- 

 cle will not allow our particularly record- 

 ing them. We shall, therefore, mention 

 those which were attended with any pe- 

 culiar circumstances. Messrs, de Mor- 

 veau and Bertram! ascended from Dijon, 

 in April, to the height of about 13,000 

 feet, with an inflammable air balloon : the 

 thermometer was observed to stand at 25 

 degrees. They were in the air during an 

 hour and 25 minutes, and went to the 

 distance of about eighteen miles. The 

 clouds floated beneath them, and seclud- 

 ed them from the earth ; and they jointly 

 repeated the motto inscribed on their 

 aerostat: " Surgit nunc gallus ad aethe- 

 ra." In May, four ladies and two gentle- 

 men ascended with a Montgolfier at Paris 

 above the highest buildings : the machine 

 was confined by ropes. It was 74 feet high, 

 and 72 in diameter. In a second voyage, 

 performed by Mr. Blanchard from Rouen 

 in May, it was observed, that his wings 

 and oars could not carry him in any other 

 direction than that of the wind. The 

 mercury in the barometer descended as 

 low as 20.57 inches; but on the earth, be- 

 fore he ascended, it stood at 30. 16 inches. 

 On the 23d of June, a large aerostat, on the 

 principle of rarefied air, 91 feet high, and 

 79 feet in diameter, was elevated by Mont- 

 golfier at Versailles, in the presence of 

 the royal family and the King of Sweden. 

 M. Pilatre de Rozier, and M. Proust, as- 

 cended with it, and continued for 28 mi- 

 nutes at the height of 11,732 feet, and 

 observed the clouds below them, that re- 

 flected to the region which they occupied 

 the rays of the sun ;. the temperature of 

 the air being 5 below the freezing point; 

 and in three quarters of an hour they 

 travelled to the distance of 36 miles. In 

 consequence of this experiment, the king- 

 granted to M. Rozier a pension of 2000 

 livres. On the 15th of July the Duke of 

 Chatres, the two brothers Roberts, and 

 another person, ascended with an inflam- 

 mable airbal loon, of an oblong form, 55^ 

 feet long, and 34 feet in diameter, from 

 the Park of St. Cloud: the machine re- 

 mained in the atmosphere about 45 mi- 

 nutes. This machine contained an inte- 

 rior small baboon, filled with common airy 

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