i879-J 
Ballooning in Arctic Exploration . 
inflation. Giffard’s balloon, exhibited in 1869 at Cremorne, 
was inflated with pure hydrogen, and could carry upwards of 
16 tons. 
The balloon successfully inflated, then what would be the 
work expected from it ? 
Instead of a seventy days’ journey, to accomplish about 
70 miles, at a fearful cost of life and suffering consequent 
upon having to drag over ice hummocks sledges containing 
provisions, as described in the Arctic Report, Mr. Brearey 
argues that the whole of the stores could have been con- 
veyed over the heads of the explorers, and the men holding 
the ropes of this floating observatory would have been 
assisted by the upward tendency of the balloon. The 
question is — Would the daily consumption of stores com- 
pensate the leakage of gas ? Major Beaumont, in his 
history of the Balloon as employed in the American War, 
says “ that the balloon when inflated can, unless in very 
windy weather, be very readily carried. Twenty-five or 
thirty men lay hold of cords attached to the ring and march 
along, allowing the machine to rise only sufficiently to clear 
any obstacle. He had frequently,” he says, “ seen it carried 
thus without the least difficulty.” He further says “ that 
there was always a small amount of leakage, but, from the 
superiority of the varnish, at the end of a fortnight, suffi- 
cient gas remained in the balloon to enable an ascent to be 
made without its being replenished.” The ascensive power 
of a balloon thus conveyed for purposes of war must be 
available at any moment for the two observers, and the 
additional weight of the two guy ropes which it also has to 
sustain, so that the necessity for the twenty-five or thirty 
men is explained ; but for the purposes of exploration and 
the carrying of stores a very few pounds of ascensional 
force need be requisite. These stores, however, upon being 
removed from the balloon ; or the sledges, which might be 
partly buoyed by the balloon, being detached ; could not 
the balloon then be utilised to survey the country from some 
thousand feet or more by means of a let-out cord ? 
An interesting discussion followed the reading of Mr. 
Brearey’s paper, in the course of which Mr. Reece remarked 
that there would be no fear of the efficacy of hydrogen. 
After it was generated it would pass through ice, or would 
be so cold that it would maintain the same temperature 
throughout the journey. Hydrogen gas would be generated 
at a heat of 180 0 . It would then pass through a tube and 
be chilled, and would remain at a temperature of about 32°, 
so that there would be no fear of its depositing a mass of 
