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Wonderful Balloon Ascents; Or, The Conquest of the Skies
·
Fulgence Marion
57
found
by
two
men
near
Cheadle,
in
Staffordshire.
These
ingenious
persons
carried
it
within
doors,
and
having
wished
to
fully
inflate
it--half
the
gas
having
by
this
time
escaped--they
applied
a
pair
of
bellows
to
its
mouth.
By
this
means
they
only
forced
out
the
volume
of
the
hydrogen
gas
that
was
left;
and
this
gas,
coming
in
contact
with
a
candle
that
had
been
placed
too
near,
exploded.
The
report
was
louder
than
that
of
a
cannon,
and
so
powerful
was
the
shock
that
the
men
were
thrown
down,
the
glass
blown
out
of
the
windows,
and
the
house
otherwise
damaged.
The
men
suffered
severely,
their
hair,
beards,
and
eyebrows
being
completely
burnt
away,
and
their
faces
severely
scorched.
At
Grenoble,
in
Dauphine,
De
Baron
let
off
a
balloon
on
the
13th
of
January,
1784.
It
rose,
and
at
first
took
a
northern
direction;
but,
having
encountered
a
current
of
air,
it
was
carried
away
in
a
south-easterly
direction,
and
after
flying
a
distance
of
three-quarters
of
a
mile,
it
fell,
having
traversed
this
distance
in
fifteen
minutes.
A
society,
under
the
presidency
of
the
Abbe
de
Mably,
having
constructed
a
balloon
thirty-seven
feet
high
and
twenty
feet
in
diameter,
sent
it
off
from
the
court
of
the
Castle
of
Pisancon,
near
Romano,
on
the
same
day,
the
13th
of
February.
At
first
it
was
carried
to
the
south
by
a
strong
north
wind,
but
after
it
had
risen
to
1,000
feet
above
the
surface,
its
course
was
changed
towards
the
north.
It
was
calculated
that,
in
less
than
five
minutes,
this
balloon
rose
to
the
height
of
6,000
feet.
On
the
16th
of
the
same
month
the
Count
d’Albon
threw
off
from
his
gardens
at
Franconville
a
balloon
inflated
with
gas,
and
made
of
silk,
rendered
air-tight
by
a
solution
of
gum-arabic.
It
was
oblong,
and
measured
twenty-five
feet
in
height,
and
seventeen
feet
in
diameter.
To
this
balloon
a
cage,
containing
two
guinea-pigs
and
a
rabbit,
was
suspended.
The
cords
were
cut,
and
the
inflated
globe
rose
to
an
enormous
height
with
the
greatest
rapidity.
Five
days
afterwards
it
was
found
at
the
distance
of
eighteen
miles,
and
it
is
remarkable
that,
in
spite
of
the
cold
of
the
season,
and
particularly
of
the
elevated
region
through
which
the
balloon
had
been
passing,
the
animals
were
not
only
living,
but
in
good
condition.
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