528 SCIENTIFIC AND LITERARY NOTES. 



attempting to leave the ring he found his hands frozen, and he got down how he 

 could ; that hp fcvjid me motionless, with a quiet and placid expression on the 

 countenance. He spoke to me without eliciting a reply, and found I was insen- 

 sible. He then said he [felt insensibility was coming: over himself, that he be- 

 came anxious to open the valre, that his hands failed him, and that he seized 

 the line between his teeth and pulled the yalve open until the balloon took a 

 turn downwards. This act is quite characteristic of Mr. Coxwell. I have never 

 yet seen him without a ready means of meeting every difficulty as it has arisen, 

 with a cool self-posession that has always left my mind perfectly easy and given 

 to me every confidedce in his judgment in the management of so large a balloon. 



On asking Mr. Coxwell whether he had noticed the temperature, he said he 

 could not, as the faces of the instruments were all towards me ; but that he had 

 noticed that the centre of the aneroid barometer, its blue hand, and a rope 

 attached to the car, were in the same straight line. If so, the reading must 

 have been between T and 8 inches. A height of six miles and a half corresponds 

 to 8 inches. A delicate self-registering minimum thermometer read minus 12°, 

 but unfortunately I did not read it till I was out of the car, and I cannot say 

 that its index was not disturbed. 



On descending, when the temperature rose to 1T°, it was remarked as warm, 

 and at 24" it was noted as very warm. 



The temperature then gradually increased to 57J° on reaching the earth. It 

 was remarked that the sand was quite warm to the hand, and steam issued from 

 it when it was discharged. Six pigeons were taken up. One was thrown out 

 at the height of three miles ; it extended its wings and dropped as a piece of 

 paper. A second, at four miles, flew vigorously round and round, apparently 

 taking a great dip each time. A third was thrown out between four and five 

 miles, and it fell downwards. A fourth was thrown out at four mUes when we 

 were descending ; it flew in a circle and shortly after alighted on the top of the 

 balloon. The two remaining pigeons were brought down to the ground ; one 

 was found to be dead, and the other (a carrier) had attached to its neck a note. 

 It would not however leave, and when jerked off the finger returned to the hand. 

 After a quarter of an hour it began to peck a piece of ribond encircling its neck, 

 and I then jerked it off my finger, and it flew round two or three times with 

 vigour, and finally towards Wolverhampton. Not one, however, had returned 

 there when I left on the afternoon of the 6th. 



Too much praise cannot be given to Mr. Proud, the engineer of the gas-works 

 •for the producfion of gas of such a light specific gravity. 



It would seem from this ascent that five miles from the earth is very nearly 

 the limit of human existence. It is possible, as the effect of each high ascent 

 upon myself has been different, that on another occasion I might be able to go 

 higher, and it is possible that some persons may be able to exist with less air 

 and bear a greater degree of cold ; but still I think that prudence would say to 

 all, whenever the barometer reading falls as low as 11 inches, open the valve at 

 once : the increased information to be obtained is not commensurate with the 

 increased risk. 



Sept. 9. Jahbs GiiAishik. 



