116 
NATURE 
[Dec. 8, 1870 


first operations. Reverses were necessary to call postal authority 
to a better sense of the real state of things, M. Garnier Pagés, 
a member of the new Government, invented the carrying 
by balloons of aérial pigeons, and the second balloon ascent was 
the occasion of the first pigeon expedition. 
One of the aéronauts known to our readers is Mangin, the 
proprietor of the unfortunate ‘‘Union,” of which the wreck was 
fully described, who tried an ascent a few days after Durioff. He 
made a foolish agreement with the Post Office, to carry with his 
poor worn-out balloon a weight of 1,000lbs., but the balloon 
was unable to retain a single puff of gas, and the attempt was 
doomed to failure. 
Two or three days afterwards, Mangin tried another ascent 
with the ‘‘City of Florence,” a large balloon of 1, 200lbs. capacity 
and belonging to Eugéne Godard. 
The ‘‘ City of Florence” was inflated and fitted up by its pro- 
eae and left the ground on the morning of a clear day, witha 
ight north-easterly wind. It carried with Mangin a medical man 
practising at Lyons, with a special mission from the Government 
for the eastern departments. The scent succeeded very well, 
and Dr. Lutz was landed safely. But the landing of Lutz gave 
rise toasingular circumstance. A Prussian spy, having read in the 
papers that Lutz had come down from the heavens, presented 
himself at Dijon as the real Lutz, and acted in accordance with 
that suggestion. The fraud was not discovered without some 
delay and some trouble, but owing to some peculiar circum- 
stances it was at last exposed, the false Lutz was seized, tried 
by 4 court-martial, condemned to death, and shot on the spct. 
Amongst singular ascents one was executed two or three days 
afterwards by Louis Godard, carrying with him two merchants. 
Godard’s balloon being too small for the purpose, he fixed one 
additional balloon to the end of a long narrow piece of wood, 
and in the middle of that long singular bridge there was a second 
balloon of no more than 100 cubic metres. The floating of this 
extraordinary trio created a great deal of amusement among our 
Belgian people, and is in itself an aérial aéronautical success ; 
Godard landed near Nantes, where the Prussians had not yet set 
their feet. 
Next to Godard’s singular ascent, we must mention the one 
executed by Trignot for carrying Gambetta to his post at the 
head of the Government. An accident took place in the air 
while it was open, and the balloon emptied itself at an extraordi- 
nary rate, landing, against the will of the aéronauts, in Prussian 
territory. If sharpshooters had not come to the rescue, Gam- 
betta would have been made a prisoner. Keératry was in the 
same manner sent in a balloon, and succeeded in escaping after 
some adventurous feits. 
We must mention the ascent conducted by the elder Tissandier, 
as well as the one conducted by his younger brother. ‘The first 
of these two ascents was remarkable for the firing at it by the 
Prussians when the balloon was passing over Versailles. Tis- 
sandier, as well as his brother, fell beyond Prussian territory, but 
not far from the enemy’s force. 
From the time of the landing up to the present moment, the 
brothers Tissandier have tried twice to return to Paris; but they 
scended from Tours, which is a bad station for such a purpose. 
The first time their balloon was sent towards the south; the 
second time it ascended too high, and the brothers were con- 
ducted into a frozen cloud, which compelled them to come down. 
This second ascent was tried during the night, which is a deci- 
dedly awkward time, as an aérial traveller is unable to find his 
way to the land. lie 
Returning to Paris will be tried, however, and is a great object 
to be attained, but for success to be secured requires more 
powerful means. I must not omit my own arrival in Belgium 
ina balloon. The ‘Egalité,” which I employed on that 
occasion, had a younger brother called ‘* Liberté.” The 
** Liberté” was inflated with pure hydrogen, prepared specially 
for the purpose. It was the old captive of the Universal Exhi- 
bition, fitted up and carefully repaired for the purpose. ‘‘ Liberté” 
was intended to carry ten persons, besides 3,ooolb. weight 
of letters. It had two cars attached, the one fastened to the 
other by eight ropes. The upper car was intended for passengers, 
the lower one for letter-bags, Everything had been carefully 
prepared; bags of sand had been attached round the upper car, 
and a hole had been cut into the bottom to permit communica- 
tion between the two cars. Unhappily, when the process of 
inflation was half finished, the wind began to blow with such 
vivlence that people holding the net let the ropes loose with somuch 
force that the balloon escaped, turned round like a whirlwind, 

being lost in a minute in the clouds, and leaving thousands of 
spectators in consternation, ‘‘ Liberté” was seen turning round two 
or three times again between different strata of clouds, and was 
finally observed turning no more, ascending no more, but falling 
straight like a meteoric stone. The fall took place within 
the Prussian lines, and it remained in the hands of the Prussians, 
who were enabled to repair and to use it for their purposes. 
Seeing that I was unable to recover my balloon, I managed to 
get another constructed. The new balloon, though smaller than 
“TL berté,”’ was larger than any other balloon in existence in 
Paris. It had a measurement of 3,000 tons instead of 2,090, the 
average. The ascent was delayed by an accident which hap- 
pened during the process of inflating ; a hole was discovered 
round the appendix, and the valve was open. For the three 
following days the weather wes unfavourable, and the passengers 
were obliged to come back every morning, but the following 
morning several thousand people witnessed the ascent, which 
was very successful. After having landed in Belgium, I came 
to London on my way to Tours, and purpose shortly attempting 
to re-enter Paris by the same means. ; 
W. bE FONVIELLE 


SCIENTIFIC SERIALS 
Annaten der Chemie und Pharmacie, viii. Suppt. Bd. 1 Heft. 
This number opens with a paper ‘On the occurrence of Ammo- 
nio-Magnesic Sulphate in the lagoons of Tuscany,” by Dr. O. 
Popp, who has observed that a double salt of ammonic and 
| magnesic sulphates is of constant occurrence, together with 
ammonic sulphate and boric acid, in the lagoons. He also re- 
marked that the relative amounts of boric acid and ammonic 
sulphates are inversely proportional, so that those containing 
large quantities of boric acid contain but little ammonic sulphate, 
and vive versa. ‘The salt, which separates out either during the 
concentration of the water or in the crystallising vessels, 1s ob- 
tained pure by recrystallisation in forms belonging to the mono- 
clinic system, and of the composition 
Mg SO,+(NH,),SO,+6 O Hy. 
In the natural double sulphate Mg is often replaced by the 
isomorphous Mn and Fe. —‘‘On the origin of the Boric 
Acid in the Fiumaroles of Tuscany” is by the same author. 
After a criticism of the theories of Dumas and Bolley on this 
subject, he quotes the observations of Woehler and St. Claire- 
Deville, that boric nitride heated in the presence of aqueous’ 
vapoar is decomposed into boric acid and ammonia, and 
that at a high temperature boron and _ nitrogen combine 
directly ; they remarked that the presence of ammonia salts 
together with boric acid in volcanic craters aud the lagoons of 
Tuscany might be due to such a decomposition. This the author 
also considers to be the probable explanation, and assumes that ~ 
boric nitride is present in these volcanic localities, which comes — 
in contact with water at a high temperature, forming boric acid — 
and ammonia ; this latter combines with sulphuric acid, formed 
by a process of roasting from the layers of pyrites, or of coal 
containing pyrites, which would also account for the presence 
of marsh gas and free hydrogen in the lagoon gases.-—** On 
Chloranil and Bromanil,” by J. Stenhouse. A modification 
| of Groebe’s method of preparing chloranilic acid is described. 
Chloranilic ether was obtained by the action of ethylic iodide on 
the silver salt." Nitric acid of sp. gr. 1°45 oxidises chloranilic 
acid to chlorpicrin and oxalic acid. By the action of bromine 
on chloianilic acid a compound of the formula C, Brg Cl, OFT 
was obtain:d. Bromanil is readily obtained by the action of a 
mixture of one part iodine and two parts bromine on phenol. 
Bromanilic acid was prepared in a similar manner to chlorauilic, 
and in all its reactions found to be analogous. A compound, 
C, Br,, O H, was obtained by the action of bromine on it.— 
“©On Coumarin, Hydrocoumarin, and Hydrocoumarinie Acid,” 
by C. Zwenger. The author observes that the preparation of 
coumaric acid from coumarin is attended with considerable diffi- 
culty, inasmuch as the acid is first formed at a temperature at 
whicn the potash readily causes a further decomposition. A 
most characteristic and delicate reaction for coumaric acid is the 
fine pea-green colour of its solutions when viewed by reflected 
light, and which is perceptible when only traces even of the acid 
are present. As is well known, melilotic acid is obtained by 
the action of nascent hydrogen #7 excess on coumarin ; the author — 
finds, however, that if the coumarin be kept in excess a new acid, 
whieh he calls hydrocumarinic, is formed. This acid is derived 
; 
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