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Wonderful Balloon Ascents; Or, The Conquest of the Skies
·
Fulgence Marion
104
him;
his
only
reply
was
that
he
had
discovered
a
new
balloon
which
united
in
itself
all
the
necessary
conditions
of
security,
and
would
permit
the
voyager
to
remain
an
unusually
long
time
in
the
air.
He
asked
and
obtained
from
government
the
sum
of
40,000
livres,
in
order
to
construct
his
machine.
It
then
became
clear
what
sort
of
balloon
he
had
contrived.
He
united
in
one
machine
the
two
modes
previously
made
use
of
in
aerostation.
Underneath
a
balloon
filled
with
hydrogen
gas,
he
suspended
a
Montgolfiere,
or
a
balloon
filled
with
hot
air
from
a
fire.
It
is
difficult
to
understand
what
was
his
precise
object
in
making
this
combination,
for
his
ideas
seem
to
have
been
confused
upon
the
subject.
It
is
probable
that,
by
the
addition
of
a
Montgolfiere,
he
wished
to
free
himself
from
the
necessity
of
having
to
throw
over
ballast
when
he
wished
to
ascend
and
to
let
off
this
gas
when
he
wished
to
descend.
The
fire
of
the
Montgolfiere
might,
he
probably
supposed,
be
so
regulated
as
to
enable
him
to
rise
or
fall
at
will.
This
mixed
system
has
been
justly
blamed.
It
was
simply
“putting
fire
beside
powder,”
said
Professor
Charles
to
Roziers;
but
the
latter
would
not
listen,
and
depended
for
everything
on
his
own
intrepidity
and
scientific
skill
of
which
he
had
already
given
so
many
proofs.
There
were,
perhaps,
other
reasons
for
his
unyielding
obstinacy.
The
court
that
had
furnished
him
with
the
funds
for
the
construction
of
the
balloon
pressed
him,
and
he
himself
was
most
ambitious
to
equal
the
achievement
of
Blanchard,
who
was
the
first
to
cross
the
Channel,
on
the
7th
of
January,
1785.
The
fact
was
that
at
this
time
the
prevailing
fear
in
France
was,
that
Great
Britain
should
bear
off
all
the
honours
and
profits
of
aerostation
before
any
of
these
had
been
won
by
France.
It
was
thus
that
with
an
untried
machine,
and
under
conditions
the
most
unfavourable
for
his
enterprise,
Roziers
prepared
to
risk
his
life
in
this
undertaking,
which
was
equally
dangerous
and
useless.
The
double
balloon
was
alternately
inflated
and
emptied.
While
under
cover
it
was
assailed
by
the
rats
that
gnawed
holes
in
it,
and
when
brought
out
of
its
place
it
was
exposed
to
the
tempests,
so
that
the
longer
the
experiment
was
delayed,
the
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