AEROSTATIC VOYAGE. 285 



PruQian blue; but in the laft voyage which I made I faw no 



clouds below me; the Iky was very vaporous, and its colour 



generally dull. It is perhaps not ufelefs lo obferve, that on Direflion oi the 



the day of our firft afcent the wind was north-norlh-weft, and w,n * 



on the lad, fouth-ealf. 



As foon as I perceived that I began to defcend, I thought Defcent. 

 only of moderating the defcent of the balloon, and of render- 

 ing it extremely ilow. At 3 h 45' my anchor touched the 

 ground and held, which gives 34' for the time of my defcent. 

 The inhabitants of a fmall hamlet in the vicinity foon ran to 

 the fpot, and while fome brought the balloon (owards them 

 by drawing the rone of the anchor, others, placed under the 

 boat, waited impatiently till they could reach it with their 

 hands, to catch and depoiit it upon the earth. My defcent 

 was therefore effected without the ilighteft (hock or the leaft 

 accident, and I do not believe that a more fortunate one is 

 poflible. The fmall hamlet betide which I defcended, is 

 called Saint-Gourgon ; it is filuated fix leagues north-weft 

 from Rouen. 



On my arrival at Paris, my firft care was to analyze the air Analyfis ot the 

 I had brought. All the experiments were made at the P^i* ei^oni? rM * 

 technic School, under the eyes of MM. Thenard and Gretfet, 

 and I trufted as much to their judgment as to my own. We 

 noticed the divifions of the eudiometer alternately, and with- 

 out communication, and it was only when we were perfectly 

 agreed that we wrote them down. The balloon which was 

 tilled with air at GC36.5 metres (21735.537 feet), was open- 

 ed under water, and we all judged that it had at lead filled 

 the half of its capacity; which proves that the balloon had 

 retained the vacuum very well, and that no foreign air had 

 entered it. We purpofed to have weighed the quantity of 

 water entered into the balloon, to compare it with its capa- 

 city ; but not having the neceifary inftruments at hand, and 

 our impatience to know the nature of the air it contained 

 being very great, we did not make that experiment. At firft 

 we ufed Volta's eudiometer, and we analyzed it compara- 

 tively with atmofpheric air taken in the middle of the court- 

 yard of the Polytechnic School. The following is the com- 

 parative analyfis of thefe two airs. 



Jnalyfis 



