AEROSTATION. 
sum of money having been soon raised, 
Messrs. Roberts were appointed to con- 
struct the machine; and M. Charles, pro- 
fessor of experimental philosophy, to super- 
intend the work. After surmounting many 
difficulties in obtaining a sufficient quantity 
of inflammable air, and finding a substance 
light enough for the covering, they at length 
constructed a globe of lutestring, which was 
rendered impervious to the inclosed air by a 
varnish of elastic gum, or caoutchouc, dis- 
solved in some kind of spirit or essential oil. 
The diameter of this globe, which, from its 
shape, was denominated a balloon, was about 
thirteen feet, and it had only one aperture, 
like a bladder, to which a stop-cock was 
adapted : its weight, when empty, together 
with that of the stop-cock, was 25 pounds. 
On the 23d of August, 1783, they began to 
fill the globe with inflammable air ; but this, 
being their first attempt, was attended with 
many hindrances and disappointments. At 
last, however, it was prepared for exhibition ; 
and on the 27th it was carried to the Champ 
de Mars, where, being disengaged from the 
cords that held it down, it rose before a 
prodigious concourse of people, in less than 
two minutes, to the height of 3123 feet. It 
then entered a cloud, but soon appeared 
again ; and at last it was lost among other 
clouds. This balloon, after having floated 
about three quarters of an hour, fell in a 
field about 15 miles distant from the place 
of ascent; where, as we may naturally ima- 
gine, it occasioned much astonishment to the 
peasants. Its fall was owing to a rent, oc- 
casioned by the expansion of the inflam- 
mable air in that part of the atmosphere 
to which it ascended. When the balloon 
went up, its specific gravity was 35 pounds 
less than that of common air. In conse- 
quence of this brilliant experiment, many 
balloons were made on a small scale ; gold- 
beaters skin was used for the covering; and 
their size was from 9 to 18 inches in dia- 
meter. 
Mr. Montgolfier repeated an experiment 
with a machine of his construction before 
the commissaries of the Academy of Scien- 
ces, on the 11th and 12th of September. 
This machine was 74 feet high, and about 
43 feet in diameter. When distended, it 
appeared spheroidical. It was made of 
canvas, covered with paper both within and 
without, and it weighed 1000 pounds. The 
operation of filling it with rarefied air, pro- 
duced by means of the combustion of 50 
pounds of dry straw, and 12 pounds of 
chopped wool, was performed in about nine 
minutes; and its force of ascension, when 
inflated, was so great, that it raised eight 
men who held it some feet from the ground. 
This machine was so much damaged by the 
rain, that it was found necessary to prepare 
another for exhibition before the king and 
royal family on the 19th. This new ma- 
chine consisted of cloth, made of linen and 
cotton thread, and was painted with water- 
colours both within and without. Its height 
was near 60 feet, and its diameter about 43 
feet. Having made the necessary prepara- 
tions for inflating it, the operation was begun 
about one o’clock on the 19th of Septem- 
ber, before the king and queen, the court, 
and all the Parisians who could procure a 
conveyance to Versailles. In eleven mi- 
nutes it was sufficiently distended, and the 
ropes being cut, it ascended, bearing up 
with it a wicker cage, in which were a 
sheep, a cock, and a duck. Its power of as- 
cension, or the weight by wlpch it was lighter 
than an equal bulk of common air, allowing 
for the cage and animals, was 696 pounds. 
This balloon rose to the height of about 
1440 feet ; and being driven by the wind, it 
descended gradually, and fell gently into a 
wood, at the distance of 10,200 feet from 
Versailles. After remaining in the atmos- 
phere eight minutes, the animals in the cage 
were safely landed. The sheep was found 
feeding ; the cock had received some hurt 
on one of his wings, probably from a kick of 
the sheep ; the duck was perfectly well. 
The success of this experiment induced M. 
Pilatre de Rozier, with a philosophical in- 
trepidity which will be recorded with ap- 
plause in the history of aerostation, to offer 
himself as the first adventurer in this aerial 
navigation. Mr. Montgolfier constructed a 
new machine for this purpose in a garden in 
the Fauxbourg St. Antoine. Its shape was 
oval ; its diameter being about 48 feet, and 
its height about 74 feet. To the aperture 
at the bottom was annexed a wicker gal- 
lery, about three feet broad, with a balus- 
trade about three feet high. From the 
middle of the aperture was suspended by 
chains, which came down from the sides of 
the machine, an iron grate, or brazier, in 
which a fire was lighted for inflating the 
machine; and port-holes were opened in 
the gallery, towards the aperture, through 
which any person, who should venture to 
ascend, might feed the fire on the grate with 
fuel, and regulate the dilatation of the in- 
closed air of the machine at pleasure. The 
weight of the aerostat was upwards of 1600 
pounds. On the 15th of October, the fire 
