a 
ON EIGHT BALLOON ASCENTS IN 1862. 379 
Mill Hill, near Hendon, where the balloon had fallen the evening previous, 
and had been anchored during the night. 
Ascent from Wolverhampton, July 17.—The balloon was inflated at the 
Stafford Road Gas-works, Wolverhampton, with carburetted gas, most care- 
fully prepared by the Engineer, Mr. Thomas Proud, and frequently kept a 
long time for our use, the Directors of the Gas Company having most liberally, 
to their great inconvenience, placed a gasometer at our disposal for as long 
a time as we needed it. To the Directors of the Company and to Mr. Proud 
our best thanks are due ; for on’all occasions they showed the utmost anxiety 
to contribute to the success of the experiments, in which Mr, Joseph Walker, 
Mr. Joseph Cooper, and Mr. Proud took great interest. 
The weather previously had been bad for a long time, and the ascent had 
been delayed some days in consequence ; the wind was still blowing strongly 
from the West ; and considerable difficulty was experienced in the preliminary 
arrangements, and no instrument was placed in its position before starting. 
The ascent took place at 9° 43™ a.m.; at once the balloon was quiescent. A 
height of 3800 feet was reached before an observation could be taken ; at 4000 
feet clouds were entered, which were left at 8000 feet. The temperature of 
the air fell to 33°, and a height exceeding 10,000 feet had been passed before 
all the instruments were in working order. The sky was then noticed to be 
of a deep-blue colour, without a cloud of any kind upon its surface. 
- At starting, the temperature of the air was 59°, and dew-point 55°; at 
4000 feet it was 45°, dew-point 33°, and descended to 26° at 10,000 feet, dew~ 
point 19°, and then there was no variation of temperature between this height 
and 13,000 feet. During the time of passing through this space, both Mr. 
Coxwell and myself put on additional clothing, feeling certain that we should 
experience a temperature below zero before we reached 5 miles high; but to 
my surprise, at the height of 15,500 feet, the temperature, as shown by all 
the sensitive instruments, was 31°, dew-point 25°; and at each successive 
reading, up to 19,500 feet, the temperature increased, and was here 42°, 
dew-point 24°. We had both thrown off all extra clothing. Within two 
minutes after this time, when we had fallen somewhat, the temperature 
again began to decrease, with extraordinary rapidity, and was 16°, or 27° 
less than it was 26 minutes before: at this time a height of 5 miles had been 
reached, at about 11 a.m. 
When the balloon had attained a height of 4 miles, I wished to descend 
for one or two miles and then to re-ascend; but Mr. Coxwell, who had been 
watching its progress with reference to the clouds below, felt certain that 
we were too near the Wash; prudence therefore caused us to abandon the 
attempt. 
Our descent began a little after 11 a.w., Mr. Coxwell experiencing con- 
siderable uneasiness at our too close vicinity to the Wash; we came down 
quick'y, passing from a height of 16,300 feet to one of 12,400 feet between 
11" 38" and 11" 39"; dipping into a dense cloud at this elevation, which 
proved to be no less than 8000 feet in thickness, and whilst passing 
through this the balloon was invisible from the car. Mr. Coxwell had re- 
served a large amount of ballast, which he discharged as quickly as possible 
to check the ‘rapidity of the descent ; but notwithstanding all his exertions, as 
we collected weight by the condensation of that immense amount of vapour 
through which we were passing, the descent was necessarily very rapid, and we 
_ came to the earth with a very considerable shock, which broke nearly all the 
instruments. All the sand was discharged when we were at a considerable 
elevation ; the amount we had at our disposal at the height of 5 miles was 
2¢2 
