Lab
Library
Journal
Shop
Sign in
to keep
1
172
Wonderful Balloon Ascents; Or, The Conquest of the Skies
·
Fulgence Marion
42
“Fifty
pounds
of
dry
straw
were
fired
in
parcels
under
the
balloon,
and
upon
the
fire
were
thrown
at
intervals
several
pounds
of
wool.
This
fuel
produced
in
ten
minutes
such
a
volume
of
smoke
that
the
huge
balloon
was
speedily
filled.
It
rose,
with
a
weight
of
500
lbs.
holding
it
down,
to
some
height
above
the
ground,
and
had
the
ropes
by
which
it
was
attached
to
the
ground
been
cut,
it
would
have
mounted
to
a
great
height.
Meantime
the
storm
broke,
rain
descended,
and
the
wind
blew
with
great
force.
The
most
likely
means
of
saving
the
balloon
was
to
let
it
fly
but
as
it
was
to
ascend
again
on
another
occasion,
at
Versailles,
the
greatest
efforts
were
made
to
bring
it
down,
and
these,
together
with
the
damage
caused
by
the
storm,
eventually
rent
it
into
numberless
fragments
and
tatters.
It
withstood
the
storm
for
twenty-four
hours;
then,
however,
the
paper
came
peeling
off,
and
this
beautiful
structure
was
a
wreck.”
Chapter
VII.
Fourth
Experiment.
(Versailles,
19th
September,
1783,
in
presence
of
Louis
of
XVI.)
Of
course
another
balloon
was
wanted
for
the
fete
at
Versailles.
The
king
had
demanded
an
ascent
for
the
19th,
a
week
after
the
disaster
at
the
Faubourg
St.
Antoine.
Already
the
possibility
of
a
man
going
up
with
the
balloon
was
discussed,
and
people
indulged
in
visions
of
splendid
aerial
trips;
but
the
king
would
not
hear
of
the
proposal.
Balloons
were
novelties,
not
offering
sufficient
security,
and
he
was
unwilling
that
any
of
his
subjects
should
risk
their
lives
in
attempting
the
unknown.
He
consented,
however,
to
a
proposal
that
animals
might
be
sent
up
in
the
first
instance,
by
way
of
experiment,
suspended
in
an
osier
cage
attached
to
the
neck
of
the
balloon.
Marker
Marker
Fine marker
White-out
Fine white-out
Circle
Paint
Unmarker
Hand
Scalpel
Dice
Sieve
Purify
Undo
Redo
Start over
