286 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 51 



In the expectation that this work will not be used by technical 

 meteorologists alone I have labored to write as far as possible in 

 popular style in order to give a large circle of readers a glimpse of 

 the kind of problems that have to be solved by scientific balloon- 

 ing and thus to vividly present to them the full meaning of the 

 results that are laid before the world in these volumes. 



Under these conditions, I must of course in the first two sections 

 repeat many well-known matters along with others that have not 

 yet been clearly understood. But as I have tried to do this in a 

 uniform and, as I hope, in a novel way, therefore these considera- 

 tions may not be without interest even for the specialist. To the 

 latter the summaries presented in the third section will be welcome. 



Unfortunately, in the short time allowed me I must omit from 

 this review the many works published elsewhere, some of them very 

 recently, especially the beautiful investigations of Messrs. Teis- 

 serenc de Bort, A. L. Rotch, H. Hergesell, H. C. Frankenfield, H. 

 C. Clayton, F. Erk, et al., but must restrict myself exclusively to the 

 discussion of the materials submitted in these present volumes. 



I must expressly state that the omission of these highly important 

 works arises in no wise from any low estimate of them, but is simply 

 demanded by the necessity of speedily finishing my work. 



(i.) THE IMPORTANCE OF SCIENTIFIC BALLOONING 



The importance that attaches to the investigations of the atmos- 

 phere by means of balloons, an undertaking that has been made 

 possible through the grace of His Majesty the Emperor, as well as 

 the results attained thereby, can only be reached when we take the 

 broadest view of the present condition and the ultimate object of 

 meteorological investigations. 



The oldest scientific balloon voyages were made at a time when 

 men had scarcely begun to systematically study the meteorological 

 processes going on in the lowest stratum of air. Therefore the 

 aeronaut found himself in a position similar to that of an explorer 

 who is the first to enter a country hitherto wholly unknown and 

 the results that he brings back from his journey must be recognized 

 as an addition to our scientific data, but can only in a very limited 

 degree contribute to our deeper knowledge. 



Moreover, during the whole long interval of time in which meteorol- 

 ogy was regarded principally as a statistico-geographical study we 

 could not possibly recognize the true importance of the exploration 

 of the higher strata of the atmosphere. 



The observations in balloons first attained their true importance 



