May 4,1871| 
NATURE 
2 
o 

GLAISHER’S TRAVELS IN THE AIR 
Travels in the Air, By James Glaisher, Camille Flam- 
marion, W. de Fonvielle, and Gaston Tissandier. 
Second and revised edition, With 125 illustrations. 
(London: R. Bentley, 1871.) 
OTH the scientific and the lover ot adventure will find 
abundance to interest them in this handsome volume. 
The terrestrial fields of enterprise are getting exhausted. 
Mont Blanc has long since been used up. We are getting | 
tired of Central Africa and the Steppes of Tartary, Even | 


the invitation “Try Lapland” fails to stimulate the 
jaded nerves of the zealous explorer of “fresh fields and 
| pastures new.” Inthe realms of air, however, there is 
still plenty of new ground, if we may be allowed the 
Hibernicism. Mr. Glaisher and the illustrious French trio 
can claim this field as almost exclusively their own, though, 
doubtless, they will not long be left in undisturbed posses- 
sionof it. After a brief history of the rise and progress of 
| aérostatics in England, Mr. Glaisher here recounts to us 
the particulars of ten of his most remarkable ascents ; 
and the Frenchmen then follow suit. The volume is got 































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































hi TU TITIAN 











































































































































































































FIG. I—MIRAGE IN THE SKY, AS SEEN FROM THE BALLOON 
up in drawing-room style, as a veritable “ure de luxe; 
we wish we could transfer to our pages some of the beau- 
tiful chromo-lithographs by which it is illustrated, in 
particular, the wonderful mirage and luminous aureole 
which serves as frontispiece, and the falling stars as ob- 
served from the balloon, at p. 262. We must, however, 
content ourselves with two or three of the scarcely less 
effective woodcuts. 
The scientific information contained in the volume is 

important, though rather as showing how little we know 
at present of even the fundamental principles of 
Meteorology, than as establishing any new laws. With 
regard to temperature, Mr. Glaisher remarks that the 
decrease as we ascend is far from constant, and we must 
entirely abandon the theory of a decline of 1° of tem- 
perature for every increase of 300 ft. of elevation. With 
reference to the colour of the sky, he states that, as viewed 
from above the clouds, it presents a deep blue colour, 
which deepens in intensity with increase of elevation 
regularly from the earth if the sky be free from clouds, or 
