1836.] Miscellaneous. 255 



meriting thus most fully the name Basilosaurus ; which our honorary 

 member, Dr. Harlan, Professor of Comparative anatomy to the Philadel- 

 phia Museum, has bestowed upon it. In the Transactions of the Geologi- 

 cal Society of Pennsylvania, which I have placed upon the table for the 

 inspection of members, previous to sending it up to Dr. Falconer, is a 

 detailed paper by Dr. Harlan, and two beautiful plates, illustrating this 

 splendid discovery. 



H. P. 



3. — The Balloon. 



We should not be exercising due vigilance as editor of a scientific 

 journal, were we to omit recording the first ascent of a balloon from the 

 plains of Bengal on the 21st of the past month (March.) M. Robertson, 

 the aeronaut, a Frenchman, who had made sixteen previous ascents in 

 various parts of Europe, came expressly to India for the purpose of asto- 

 nishing the natives with the novel tomasha of a human being wafted out of 

 sight into ethereal space in his fairy car : and such competition is said to 

 have prevailed at Paris*, for the glory of being the first, that M. Robert- 

 son was fain to hurry hither before the balloon itself was ready. The 

 bad success of his attempt may be partly attributed to the imperfect 

 manner in which this indispensable article was supplied here. 



The local and pecuniary arrangements seem to have been very ill judged; 

 the selection of a spot of difficult access, at the further end of Garden 

 Reach, tended only to prevent those who had subscribed from attending ; 

 choking the only land road, and the river, with non-paying visitors, who 

 expended, what would have amply remunerated the aeronaut, in convey- 

 ances thither ! The distillation of the gas was effective, and the balloon 

 rose well, but ere it had attained a mile of height, it was seen to return so 

 rapidly earthward, that great apprehensions were entertained for the 

 traveller's neck. It appeared to us that when M. Robertson entered 

 the car, and attached the valve-strings to the netting, the valve was pulled 

 open, thus enabling the gas to escape freely from the first ; for the silk was 

 found quite sound at its return. The aeronant himself talked of a sudden 

 collapse of the balloon from condensation of the gas ; but this was a 

 deception : when it began to fall rapidly, the resistance of the air below 

 pressed up the slack of the balloon like an umbrella, and aided in driv- 

 ing out the gas from the open valve above ; in fact, the car was supported 

 in its descent as by a parachute, and could not consequently quicken its 

 pace to any dangerous extent. 



The experience of such an accident should very much aid to increase the 

 confidence of the aeronaut ; for it is plain that with a little contrivance the 

 balloon may in all cases be made to act as a parachute on the loss of its 

 gaseous contents. We trust the next ascent will be made under more auspi- 

 cious circumstances, and we hope that it may be possible to turn it to some 

 small use in a scientific point of view, by ascertaining at least the decre- 

 ment of heat and moisture at increasing altitudes, as well as the height of 

 the reverse current of the upper atmosphere. 



[This notice could not find a place last month. — Mr. Robertson has since 

 departed for the more cheering prospects of an ascent at Lucknow.] 



* This competition reminds us of the rivalry in America to supply us with 

 ice, which has at last led to a confirmed and durable scheme for regaling us with 

 that luxury at a very cheap rate. Having noticed at length the first ice cargo, 

 we have thought it unnecessary to recur to the subject ; but the completion of a 

 permanent ice-house will enable us hereafter to judge, of the best mode of preserving 

 the frozen element. The tan bed intended for this object, from becoming wet, had an 

 opposite effect, and was indeed nearly the cause of a conflagration! while the car- 

 bonic acid gas extiicated from its fermentation, killed a man who incautiously 

 descended to examine the chamber. 



