Deadly Ballooning

The iiames of Croce-Bpurójjj andí-nvel, !v oí' llio most daring and piicccssful oí Picilou ai'l'Dimuls, are iimv i be tddod U ll)ü long list of tiloso wlio luwe lililí ,lovn thcir livés in tlic MISO óf scicncc. lu eompauy with M. Gastón Tissandier, they attempted to ascend tp a higher altitudo than liad before beeu renched. At 29,000 feet elevation, all three men becaiiH uneonsciou.s. Tho balloon Hoai-ed liitíl'e]' and higlier and tlien diKoended. Tissajidier regaiiKl liis senSes on reaching re.s])irable air, to íhid hin oompauioiiH dead from Rufloeation. TIkí voxage AvliichluiH reaaltocl ko disastrously waa tlie séóoiid of tWo recently ])rojecte.d by tho Frendi Socioty of Aerial Narigation. Duriug tho iirst, Tvliich wás safeiy aCcoraplishod, thc balloon was kept afloat í'or twenty-throe houi-M, and a number of intcu-ostiiig óbHevvation of natural phenomcna of the atmosphere wöró obtained. Tho aerouauts, during tho soeoud aHcension, wore to tost the atrnoaiihere at tho highest possible altitndo, mako experimente for cárbonic acid, condnet speetroaf opic observaüons, and in general to obtain scientifie data i$t&tivo to the upper aerial regions ith greati1]1 accriraey thau herotoi'ove. ftttained. Tirns it was bclieved posKiblo, through the respiration of oxygen, to enablo tho investí gatoi-s to exist in a highly att(nuatod atmosphore, a fact ah-(ady apparontly praotically demonsti-atod' by theprovions ascensión of Croce-Spinelíi and Sivel to i hight of 25,000 feot, deacribed in these columns a yoar ago. The, balloon Zemth stnrtea on lts voyage from Paris it 1 p. m. on April 15. It shot direetly upward, ifötóhiftg the hight of 21,000 ffeet in a very few minute At tilia oleviition Tissandier says : "Myl eompanions were jale ; I feit wenk, but inhaled a littlo of the gas, which somcwliat rcvired me. We still asoendeiT. " In rosponsn to Sivel's request, lie acquiesces in throwing out bullast, and threo of tho ninc eighty-]iound bagB of sand wcrc oinptied. " All at once, " he continúes, " I found myself so feeblí! that I covüd nit oYen turn my licad. I wanted to excltiim ' we are at 8,000 yards,' but my tongue aoemed paralyzod. " Tissandi'er then fuints, but revives and ftnds th; balloon falling rnpidly. Greatlyalarmed, he arousos Sivel, wJio has fallen into a stupor, and the latter, R(izing the respirator, inl!al(s large quantities of oxygen. " Hhall 1 goup '." excliiims Tissandier ; "yes," replies Sivel, gaily, "and happy the one of us that returns." Sivel becomes intoxicated tfith repeated doses of oxygen, and in his exhilaration thi-ows over th. reupirator, besides the ballast and a number of the instruments. Again the Zenitli sonrs aloft, and Tissandier, as I he lapses once, more into stupor, reads from the barometer au altitudo of 29,000 teet. spinem aam caven uc ■ wure still conscious, though apparently iucapable of auy exertion. How liigh the air sliip ascended will be known wlien tlie test biironicters are examined by the Freuch Society. Wheu Tissaudior awok(i, two hours later, the balie ou va f-"Jiu' at a Jenríul % Lurrj cit awny me grupsirl aml oEEel which had tflafed Sivcl, cliecking the speed ; and then, on att(nipting to rouse his compaiiionH, ho iouiid both stone deaid, their blaokeued facet; and bloodHüffuHed moutlin denoting their struggles against the sitiïoeating atmosphere.