AEROSTATION. 
scribed the appearances of the clouds as he 
passed through them, and annexed a variety 
of observations relating to aerostation. 
It would be tedious to recount the aerial 
expeditions that were performed in various 
parts of our own country, as well as on the 
continent, in the whole course of the year 
1785 : more especially as they have afforded 
us no experiment or discovery of any pecu- 
liar importance. The most persevering 
aerial navigator has been Mr. Blanchard. 
In August, 1788, he ascended at Brunswick 
for the thirty-second time. Within two 
years from the first discovery of this art of 
navigating the. atmosphere, more than forty 
different persons performed the experiment 
without any material injury; and it may be 
justly questioned, says Mr. Cavallo, whether 
the first forty persons who trusted them- 
selves to the sea in boats escaped so safely. 
The catastrophe that befel Rozier, and the 
unpleasant circumstances that have hap- 
pened to some of the aeronauts in our own 
country, have been owing not so much to 
the principle of the art, as to want of judg- 
ment, or imprudent management in the con- 
duct of it. 
Omitting the various uninteresting, though 
not very numerous aerial voyages undertaken 
in various parts of the world, during the 17 
years subsequent to the above-mentioned 
dreadful accident of Pilatre de Rozier and 
Mr. Romain, we shall only add the account 
of two aerostatic experiments lately per- 
formed in England by Mr. Garnerin, a 
French aeronaut. The first of these is re- 
markable for the very great velocity of its 
motion; the second for the exhibition of a 
mode of leaving the balloon, and of descend- 
ing with safety to the ground. On the 30th 
of June, 1802, the wind being strong, though 
not impetuous, Mr. Garnerin and another 
gentleman ascended with an inflammable 
air, or hydrogen gas balloon , from Ranelagh 
gardens, on the south-west of London, be- 
tween four and five o’clock in the afternoon; 
and in exactly three quarters of an hour 
they descended near the sea, at the dis- 
tance of four miles from Colchester. The 
distance of that place, from Ranelagh is 60 
miles; therefore they travelled at the asto- 
nishing rate of 80 miles per hour. It seems 
that the balloon had power enough to keep 
them up four or five hours longer, in which 
time they might have gone safely to the con- 
tinent ; but prudence induced them to de- 
scend when they discovered the sea not far 
off. The singular experiment of ascending 
into the atmosphere with a balloon, and of 
descending with a machine called a para- 
chute, was performed by Mr. Garnerin on 
the 21st of September, 1802. He ascended 
from St. George’s parade, North Audley 
Street, and descended safe into a field near 
the small-pox hospital, at Pancras. The 
balloon was of the usual sort, viz. of oiled 
silk, with a net, from which ropes proceeded, 
which terminated in, or were joined to a 
single rope at a few feet below the balloon. 
To this rope the parachute was fastened in 
the following manner. The reader may 
easily form to himself an idea of this para- 
chute, by imagining a large umbrella of can- 
vas, of about 30 feet in diameter, but desti- 
tute of the ribs and handle. Several ropes, 
of about 30 feet in length, which proceeded 
from the edge of the parachute, terminated 
in a common joining, from which shorter 
ropes proceeded, to the extremities of which 
a circular basket was fastened, and in this 
basket Mr. Garnerin placed himself. The 
single rope passed through a hole in the cen- 
tre of the parachute, also through certain 
tin tubes, which were placed one after the 
other in the place of the handle or stick of 
an umbrella, and was lastly fastened to the 
basket ; so that when the balloon was in the 
air, by cutting the end of the rope next to 
the basket, the parachute, with the basket, 
would be separated from the balloon, and, 
in falling downwards, would be naturally 
opened by the resistance, of the air. The 
use of the tin tubles was to let the rope slip 
off with greater certainty, and to prevent 
its being entangled with any of the other 
ropes, as also to keep the parachute at a dis- 
tance from the basket. The balloon began 
to be filled about two o’clock. There were 
36 casks, filled with iron filing*, and diluted 
sulphuric acid, for the production of the 
hydrogen gas. These communicated with 
three other casks, or general receivers, to 
each of which was fixed a tube that emptied 
itself into the main tube attached to the 
balloon. At six, the balloon being quite 
full of gas, and the parachute, &c. being at- 
tached to it, Mr. Garnerin placed himself in 
the basket, and ascended majestically amidst 
the acclamations of innumerable spectators. 
The weather was the clearest and pleasant- 
est imaginable ; the wand w r as gentle, and 
about west by south ; in consequence of 
which Mr. Garnerin went in the direction 
of nearly east by north. In about eight mi- 
nutes the balloon and parachute had ascend- 
ed to an immense height, and Mr. Garnerin, 
in the basket, could scarcely be perceived. 
While every spectator was contemplating the 
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