418 
POPULAE SCIENCE EEVIEW. 
more easily — and^ probably_, with the further advantage^ that 
general laws may be made more easily apparent. 
The importance of such a series can scarcely be overrated ; 
for, whether we regard the atmosphere as the great laboratory 
of changes which contain the germ of future discoveries, to be 
applied as they unfold themselves by the chemist, the meteoro- 
logist, the physician, the astronomer, — facts physical relative to 
animal life at different heights ; the form of death, which, at 
certain elevations, is sure to take place ; the effect of diminished 
pressure upon different individuals similarly circumstanced, the 
comparison of results by mountain travellers with the experience 
of physical researchers in balloons; the comparison of dif- 
ferently constructed instruments for the same purpose, — these 
are some of the researches, and some only, to which the 
balloon traveller may apply himself ; all of which are of 
such great importance, that we do hope that other nations will 
do their part in these important researches. The amount of 
information collected in England, in the twenty-five ascents 
I have made, needs combination; and further balloon ex- 
periments in relation to the subjects upon which I have been 
engaged, had better be deferred till this work is done ; so that 
future experiments should be made in those directions most 
needing additional facts. Entertaining these views, I consider 
this series of experiments for the present as completed. 
