Page:Travels in the Air, Glaisher, 2nd ed.djvu/67

Rh of money were granted for experiments by means of balloons; but no good results were obtained. This want of success ought neither to discourage nor astonish us ; captive ascents, though easy enough when directed by experienced aeronauts with proper appliances, present inextricable difficulties to novices unaccustomed to the disappointments of aerial navigation.

In the year 1850 MM. Bixio and Barral conceived the project of ascending to a height of 30,000 to 40,000 feet, in order to study the many atmospheric phenomena as yet imperfectly known. On June 29th in that year, a balloon was filled in the garden of the Observatory at Paris with pure hydrogen gas. The weather was bad — a torrent of rain fell; MM. Bixio and Barral, and the aeronaut, placed themselves in the car without testing the ascending power of the balloon, and darted into the air like an arrow, as described by the spectators, so that in two minutes they were lost in the clouds. At a height of 5,000 feet the gas in the balloon expanded with great force against the netting, which proved to be too small. The balloon became full, and descending upon the voyagers covered them completely as they were seated in the car, which unfortunately was suspended by cords much too short. In this difficult situation, one of them, in his efforts to disengage the cord from the valve, made an opening in the lower part of the balloon, from which the gas escaping at the height of their heads, occasioned them continued illness. Then they found that the balloon was torn and they were falling fast. They threw away everything they could, and came to the earth in a vineyard, having left it only forty-seven minutes previously. A mass of clouds 9,000 feet in thickness was passed through. The decrease of temperature up to 19,000 feet, the highest point reached, seemed to confirm the results obtained by Gay-Lussac in 1804.

In the following month, July 27, the filling of the balloon was commenced early in the morning. It proved to be a long operation, occupying till nearly two o'clock; then heavy rain fell, the sky became overcast, and it was after four when they left the earth. They soon entered a cloud at 7,000 or 8,000 feet, which proved to be fully 15,000 feet in thickness; they never, however, reached its highest point, for when at 4h. 50m. the height of 23,000 feet was reached, they began to descend, owing to a tear which was then found in the balloon. After vainly attempting to check this involuntary descent, they reached the earth at 5h. 30m.

On approaching the limit of this cloud of 15,000 feet in thickness, the blue sky was seen through an opening in the surrounding vapour. The polariscope, when directed towards this point, showed an intense