November 23, 1900.] 



SCIENCE. 



799 



public for the first time, permitting the 

 construction and manipulation of the war- 

 balloons to be seen, and what was more 

 interesting to the student, the apparatus 

 employed bj' Colonel Eenard in determin- 

 ing the resistance of the air to various 

 bodies moving through it. At the Park of 

 Vincennes, in connection with the aero- 

 nautical section of the Exposition and 

 through the cooperation of the Aero- Club, 

 balloon races were organized, and each Sun- 

 day the novel spectacle was presented of a 

 great number of balloons starting on their 

 journey without delay or difficulty. On 

 one afternoon seventeen balloons rose suc- 

 cessivelj', each aeronaut endeavoring to 

 land as near as possible to some point 

 that he had fixed beforehand. The skill 

 shown in utilizing the prevailing currents 

 and in manipulating the guide-ropes may 

 be inferred from the fact that one aeronaut, 

 after a voyage of thirty miles, landed within 

 half a mile of his goal. The same evening 

 eight more balloons ascended and on the 

 following Sundays there were competitions 

 for height and distance. In the former 

 contest a balloon, filled with 106,000 cubic 

 feet of illuminating-gas and carrying a 

 single aeronaut rose more than 27,000 feet, 

 a height never before attained in France, 

 unless perhaps by the ill-fated Zenith, when 

 two of its passengers were asphyxiated. In 

 the final long-distance race, about 1,400 

 miles were traversed in thirty-seven hours 

 and three of the six balloons landed in 

 Russia. All these voyages, accomplished 

 without accident, tend to popularize bal- 

 looning as a sport and to facilitate its 

 practical employment whenever the diri- 

 gible balloon shall be realized. As be- 

 fore mentioned, a very interesting attempt 

 to solve this problem is being made at 

 Saint Cloud, near Paris, by M. Santos- 

 Dumont, who sits beneath a cigar-shaped 

 balloon and controls a gasoline engine driv- 

 ing the propeller placed in front. In the 



trial witnessed of his balloon No. 4 an 

 accident to the rudder made it necessary to 

 hold the balloon captive but, nevertheless, 

 it advanced into a light wind and was 

 easily managed. This balloon will com- 

 pete for the Deutsch prize of twenty thou- 

 sand dollars for a voyage to the Eiffel 

 Tower and back, a distance of seven miles, 

 in half an hour. The aeronautical exhibit 

 in the Champ de Mars was chiefly reti-o- 

 spective, but a noveltj' was the Avion, or 

 flying machine of M. Ader, which resembles 

 a gigantic bat and although it has never 

 been tried in the open air yet the ingenious 

 construction of the supporting surfaces and 

 the extreme lightness of the steam-engiue 

 rendered it an object of attention. The 

 kite competition at Vincennes, which the 

 writer was called upon to judge, was sev- 

 eral times postponed for lack of wind and 

 had little interest, since the cellular kite of 

 M. Lecornu was the only one possessing 

 merit. 



The Congresses of Meteorology and Aero- 

 nautics in 1900 are especially interesting as 

 affording a general retrospect of the prog- 

 ress made by the twin sciences in the cen- 

 tury just closing, and as giving a forecast 

 of their possibilities in the next century, for 

 meteorology and aeronautics are mutually 

 dependent upon each other. The explora- 

 tion of the air will give a better knowledge 

 of the meteorology of the upper regions 

 and perhaps will result in a more complete 

 utilization of natural forces, such as solar 

 energy and wind. The sea, at present the 

 great medium of international communi- 

 cation, is only navigable on its surface 

 while the aeronaut can use a vast depth of 

 atmosphere and, while oceans separate con- 

 tinents, the atmosphere unites and domi- 

 nates them. It is certain, therefore, as M. 

 Janssen said, that man will not stop until 

 he has conquered the last domain open to 

 his activity. 



A. Lawrence Eotch. 



