Some Balloon Experiences

From St. N cholas, for November. Nearly all of us have read and heard 10 much about balloons that itisnot necessary now to consider their construetion or tlieir history. All that is ntended in thlsarticle is to give an idea of some of the unusual ezpenencea of balloonists. It is "neaily a liundred years sinoe the lis! balloo'n was sent up in Frunce by the lu-others Montgoltier, and yet very little advauccmcnt has been made in the seionee 't liiillooning. It is true that we can make jalloons that will rise as high as human Deings can bear to go, but this is proveí] to ie of little practical use. In 1802, two Knglish gentlemen, Messrs. Glashier and Coxwell, ascended to a height of seven miles above the surface of the earth. At lus immense height the air was so thin and iglit that they could scarcely breathe ; it waa intensely cold, the mercury in the thernoracter going clown below zero. One of he gentlemen very soon became insensible, while the other was so nearly exhausted hat he was barely able to selze with his eeth the rope which opened a valve in the top of the balloon. In this way a portion of the gas was allowed to escape, and they ame down very rapidly. Ifthey had gone ipmüch higher. it is probable thatboth would have perished in that cold and dangerous upper air. This ascent proves that seven miles is too high above the surface of he earth lor human beiugs to live in coinbrt and safety. Although, as we have just secn, it is perectly possible to uiake balloons go up into he air to a great height, no mean.s have yet icen discovered by wïiich they can be mude 0 move iu any required direction. Until his is done, balloous can never be of much iracticil use. Mnny attjmpts have been made to devise methodsby which balloonscan be propclled and sttered, but ud to this time, none of them luve been found to answer the pur)ose. lu Scribner's Monthly for February, 1879,Mr E. C. Stedman described an aerial sliip whbh he invented. His theories and plans seem to be quite practicable, and when ashipof this kind is made,it is to be ïoped that we shall be able to navigate the iir in any direction we please. But this is all in the future. Not many years ago there was made in Sfew York a balloou in which three gentlenen intended to try to cross the Atlantic Ocean. This great balloon was not projelled byany machinery, but to be carried on its course by a currentof air which it is Jelieved continually moves at a certain alitude from west to east, across the Atlanic. But this balloon was made of poor naterials, and it burst before it was entirely fllled with gas. It is fortúnate that this accident happened when it did, for if the alloon had burst when it was over the ocean, it would have been a sad thing for he three gentlemen. If this attempt had succeeded, it is probable that by this time here would be balloons makiiig regular ;rips to Europe; still I do not know of any reeze or current that would blow them j.uck atrajo. Buf ..lrl.ouh K-a oro tit yat „},!„ tr, ,! . eet tlie course of balloons, they have, in ate years, been put to some practical use. Juriug our late war, balloons wem used y the Union army for the purpose of naking military observations. Two of hem were attached to Gen. McClellan's irmy, and, with the gas generators and other apparatus, were dravvn about in wagons from place to place. When it was desired to make an observation of the works or positionof theenemy, a balloon with several men was sent up to a sufflcient height, ind connected with the ground by a rope. 5rom lliis balloon the men could seewliat the eneiny was doing, and how his forces were disposed, and were high enough to be out of jfunshot. But the most important use to which haloons were ever applied was during the siege of Paris, in the late war between Franceand Prussia. It was impossiblefor any one to get out of the city, excepting in 1 balloon, and a number of persons availed hrmselves of this way of leaving Paris. Mons. Gsmbetta, thedistinguished French staOesman, wasamong those who escaped in a balloon. These ascents were very important, because the balloons not only took ïersons, butcarrier-pigeons, and these pigeonj afterward flew puck t '. ' o news ín"" ho outsitie world : and in no -j iviiy could the besieged citizens get such newg. Some of tlio balloons c.amc down in the French provinces. some were blown over to England, and one was carried across the Horth Sea into Sweden. Some of them canie down among the Prussians, and tLeir un fortúnate oceupants were captured by the enemy. Out of the sixtyfour ballons which left Paris during the siege, only two were lost and never heard of after. One of the advantages enjoyed by balloonists is, that they can in a measure choose their own weather, especially in the sumnier time. 15y this I mean that they can rise above the clouds in clear Butüight, no matter how dreary or stormy it may be near the earth, and they eau go high enough to be just as cool as they could possibly wiah. In one of their ascensions, Messrs. Glaisher and Coxwell. of whom I have before spoken, left the earth in a ballonn on a cloudy, sultry duy iu June. They passed through cloud ufter cloiul, fog after fog, expectiug every moment to come out into Mlnllght, und to see tlie blue sky above them; bui they went upwan) throvgh this vast niass oL tog and cloud until th 'y had attained a height of tour miles; and still they were not out ot' the clouds. It was nut considered prudent to go any higher, and so they very reluctantly began to descend without bavlng peuetrated through these immense layers of cloud and fog. On coming down, they passed through a lall ot' rain, and then, some distance bclow that, through a siimv storm, the air all about them heil g tliick with snow-flakes. This, it must be reniembeied, was in thesummertiine, when the people on the earth had no idea that a snow-storm was going on above thein, or that the clouds they saw over them werf I'our tnllestbick. Ou another occasion, three balloonists went npward through a snow-storm vcry niuch like the one which Messrs. (Jlaisiier and Coxwell passed through during their descent. People who make balloon voyages very oftcn take birds with [hem, especially pigeons, whii'h they let loose at u great height. When not too high above the earth, pigeons frequently flydirectly to their homes, butat a height ol' three or four miles they somelimes seem bewildered, and act as if they did not know how to tind their way back to the ground. They fly around and around, and oc.casionully aliglit upouthe top of the balloon, and stay there. Sonietiines, when the height is very great. the air is too tliin to support a living bird, and the pigeou drops like lead until it reaehes denser air, when it is able to fly. Dogs and cats are often taken up. They are sent down attached to a parachute, which is a . on t n vanee like an immense umbrrlla, and is intended to prevent the rapld fall of anything suspiMidt-d bcneuth it; the resistaooe of the air nndar the wide-preading paiachuti', causing it to descend very slowlv und gradually. In this way, dogs aiul call have cometo the ground from balloons without receivinir any injury, although it is not to be supposod that they ftuicu'il ilie nip. Baltoonlst tiicnisclvcs hars frequently conic iIciwm to tlic enrth in parachutes, descending trom tlie heütht of oneortwo miles. Generally t hese dusuents have been made in safety, yot there have been cases when the parachutes were not properly coiistructeü, aiil when the unfortunate balloonistis cnnitj down too fust, and were killed. Not only when they descend by ineans of a parachute, do air-voyagers, or aeroiiaiitu, aa they are rulled, run great rigki o injiiry or death, but also wlien they come don n In tlieir balloons. In fact, it is mucli easier and safer to go up in a balloon tlmn to come down in one. It is seldom possible for the aeronaut to knovv exactly. or to regúlate just as lie would wish, tbe ra)idity of itsdescent. Kxperienced balloonïsts freque ntly manage to come down very gradually and gently, but sometimos the car of the balloon strikes the caith willi a great shock; and iftlie wind is strong. the balloon is often blown alonjr just abovt) the surfnce of the ground, Btnkfng against trees, fences, and rockt, nntil its ocenpants, or aome persons on the ground, 111:111 stop it. But a descent uto a river, a lake, or an ocean is one ot the greatest dangen tliat a balloonist can expect. As I have before said, there has been no way devised by whlch a balloon may be made to move in any deslred direction. Consequently wben one comes down over the water the aeronaut generally endeavors to throw out all tiis sand bags and other heavy things, in order that the balloon may rlae afeáis, and not come down until it has been blown over the land. With regard to rivers and small lakes, ;his plan may often be sucoeasful, but when the balloon is being carried out to sea, it jenerally comes down into the water soon;r or later, and if the balloonists are not rescued by some passing boat or vessel, ;hey are almost certain to be drowned. In :ases such as these, the ballooos are often Dlown for a long distance over the ocean, sometimes dippmg the oar into the waves, then perhaps, rising a little and sailing for 1 short distante above them, and then dragging the car and its occupanls with great rapidity throngh the water. An Immense lalloon, built by M. Nadar, and appropriitflly named "Le Geant" (The (iatit), KMH 'rom Paris and made 1 pieasarït voyage in .he air. But when it neared tlic earta agaln ;he vast ball was seized by the wind, and for two hours the two-story car of wicker vork was dashed against rocks, trees and louses, until the nine travelers.with broken imbs and many bruises, were raacaed near [tethem, in Ilanover. Many ]eople would be frightened to deuth, even if they were not actually killed, duringsuch ad ventures is these; but aeronauts mast of necesslty, je brave men, for if a man is easily frlghtened, it is a wise thing for hiin to keep out of a balloon. As I have sald, balloons were found useful during tue late civil war in the United States, but the first time a balloon was emiloyed in warfare was at the battle of Fleurus, in Belgium, in 1794, between the French and the Austrians. Upon this ccasion the balloon was managed as a cite. Sometiines balloonists have had very curious ideas. Mr. Green, one of the most tlistinguished aeronauts of England, once nade an ascent on the back of a pony, l'he animal was so fastened on a platform beneath the car, that he could not lie down nor move about. His owner then ;ot upon his back, and the balloon rose ïigh into the air. They camedown in per:ect safety, and the pony did not appear to ïave the slightest objection to liis aerial light. Other aeronauts have made success'ul ascentson horsebackaml In v;irJMiw).ii_ ierous ways, Dm soirtf W them lost thcir ives while performiug these foolhardy :eats. Oecasionally balloonists make long voyages. Mr. Wise, our greatest American aeronaut, once made a trip oi' one thousand one hundred and twenty miles in a balloon. He was a veiy successful ballonlst He made several hundred ascents, and was one of the few aeronauts who possessed a scientific knowledge of his profession. He made a study of air-currents, and all tuatters relating to balloonlng.and wroie a book 011 the subject. It is not long, however, since he lost his life during a balloon journey, so we see that even the most experlenced navigators of the air are.not free from danger. But the practical ballonist does not seem to fear danger, any more than doei the sailor who steers his ship across the stormy ocean. There seems to be a fascination about ballooning, and some persons have made a great many ascents. Mr. Green made more than live hundred ascents in ballooons. He, however, escaped all serious dangers, and died at a good oíd age. The incidents which I have described show that, although balloons have iO far, lii'i-n ff liltl vi.t.É looi awlo tr, miiKlinl, the people who are tond of rising two or three miles into the air very often meet witli curious experiences, and that these unusual things generally occur when they are descending to the earth. If any of us could feel certain that it was not MCeUory linus to come down again, it might be a very pieasant and prudent thing to go up 11 a balloon.