Balloons Why They Rise. 171 



Excursion in a Balloon. 



CHAPTER XVII. 



BALLOONS. 



1. Here is a balloon. The first balloons were 

 made in 1783, of paper, and were made to rise 

 by heated air coming from chopped straw 

 that was burned in a wire grating below them. 

 This heated air, being lighter than the common 

 air about it, makes the balloon rise up, just as a 

 cork does in water. (Afterwards pure hydrogen 

 gas was used, and then carburetted hydrogen, 

 which is what we use to burn in our houses.) 



2. The first man who ever dared to go up in a balloon 

 was a young Frenchman (named De Rozier), who was 

 killed two years after (1785) by the burning of his balloon. 

 Two persons crossed the Straits of Dover in a balloon 

 in that same year. The first woman balloonist (Madame 

 Blanchard),after several ascensions.attempted to set off some 



