208 Proceedings of Learned Societies. 



fourth, was thrown out at five miles, and it fell downwards. A fifth 

 was thrown out at four miles when descending ; it flew in a circle, 

 and shortly alighted on the balloon. The two remaining pigeons 

 were brought down to the ground. One was found dead, and the 

 other, a carrier, had attached to its neck a note. It would not, 

 however, leave, and when cast off the finger returned to the hand. 

 After a quarter of an hour it began to peck a piece of ribbon by 

 which its neck was encircled, and it was then jerked off the finger, 

 and it flew with some vigour finally towards Wolverhampton. One 

 of the carriers returned to Wolverhampton on Sunday, and this is 

 the only one we heard of* 



These ascents have led me to conclude, firstly, that it was neces- 

 sary to employ a balloon containing nearly 90,000 cubic feet of gas, 

 and that it was impossible to get so high as six miles, even with a 

 balloon of this magnitude, unless carburetted hydrogen varying in 

 specific gravity from "370 to "310 had been supplied for the purpose. f 

 The amount of ballast taken up affords another clue to the power of 

 reaching great heights. Gay-Lussac's ballast was reduced to 331bs. 

 Rush and Green, when their barometers, as stated by them, stood at 

 11, had only 701bs. left, and this was considered a sufficient playing 

 power. We found that it was desirable to reserve 5001bs. or OOOlbs.; 

 as it was evident that a large amount of ballast was indispensable to 

 regulate the descent. Secondly, it was manifest throughout our 

 various journeys that excessive altitude and extended range as to 

 distance are quite incompatible. The too readily-accepted theory 

 as to the prevalence of a settled west or north-west wind, was not 

 confirmed in our trips. Nor was the appeax-ance of the upper surface 

 of the clouds such as to establish the theory that the clouds assume 

 a counterpart of the earth's surface below, and rise or fall like hills 

 or dales. The formation of vapour along the course and sinuosities 

 of the river, during an ascent from the Crystal Palace, was a very 

 remarkable demonstration. The principal conclusions deduced from 

 these observations may be briefly stated : that the temperature of 

 the air does not decrease uniformly with the height above the earth's 

 sui'face, and that, consequently, more elucidation upon this point is 

 required, particularly in its influence on the law of refraction. That 

 an aneroid barometer can be made to read correctly certainly to the 

 first place, and probably to the second place of decimals, to a pres- 

 sure so low as five inches. That the humidity of the atmosphere 

 does decrease with the height with a wonderful increasing ratio, till 

 at heights exceeding five miles the amount of aqueous vapour in the 

 atmosphere is very small indeed. That observations up to three 



* It is evident, from this description, that Mr. Glashier was supplied with the 

 heavy, tame variety of pigeon, known as the English carrier, which is dull of 

 flight and does not possess the faculty of 'returning from long distances. More- 

 over, Mr. Glashier must have been very badly advised, to place ribbons round the 

 birds, which would severely impede the flight even of those quick flying Belgian 

 "Smerles," whose rate of speed enables them to pass an express train as if it were 

 a stationary object. — -W. B. T. 



t The average specific gravity of ordinary coal gas is "500. The gas em- 

 ployed by Mr. Glaisher was specially made for these ascents, being highly heated, 

 so as to obtain a low specific gravity.. — W. B. T. 



