THE EXPLORATION OF THE UPPER AIR BY MEANS 

 OF KITES AND BALLOONS. 



By WILLIAM R. BLAIR. 

 (Read March 5, 1909.) 



Historical. 



The kite, so far as we know, was first made and flown by the 

 Chinese general, Han Sin, in the year 206 B. C. It was for a time 

 used in war, being employed by the inhabitants of a besieged town 

 to communicate with the outside, but later seemed to degenerate 

 into a mere toy. Games in which kite strings are crossed and cut 

 by the friction of one on the other are popular in China at the 

 present time and great skill is shown in handling the small kites 

 used for this purpose. 



Professor William Wilson at Glasgow University and Benjamin 

 Franklin at Philadelphia in the years 1749 and 1752 respectively 

 were the first to use the kite in the study of upper air conditions. 

 Wilson obtained temperatures at " great elevations " by means of 

 self-registering thermometers, while Franklin used his kite as a 

 collector of electricity. 



Especial interest in upper air temperatures grew out of the con- 

 sideration of the formula for refraction of light by the atmosphere, 

 and kites carrying thermometers were again used in the years 1822 

 to 1827; this time by the Reverend George Fisher and Captain Sir 

 William Edward Parry. At the same time upper and lower surface 

 stations and captive balloons were first used for the purpose of 

 obtaining temperatures aloft, the former by Sir Thomas Brisbane 

 and the latter by the Earl of Minto. Readings were obtained at 

 elevations of 400 feet with the kites and 1,340 feet with the captive 

 balloons. 



An editorial in the Edinburgh Journal for January, 1827, con- 

 tains the following paragraph : 



8 



