AERONAUTICS, the science of arti ficial flying.
The first ventures into this field date back to 1783. They were based chiefly upon the discovery by Cavendish of hydrogen gas, and his demonstration that it was lighter than air. Scientists were quick to grasp the idea that if containers of sufficient size and light weight could be secured and filled with hydrogen they would ascend. The first experi ments in balloons, however, were carried on without the use of hydrogen gas. Stephen and Joseph Montgolfier, brothers, of Annonay, France, in 1783 made a paper balloon of a capacity of 700 feet, which they filled with heated air from a fire beneath the bag. On June 5, 1783, this pioneer in aerial navigation rose to a height of a thousand feet. A little later, a French scientist, Charles, with Cavendish's discovery in mind, planned a balloon which should be filled with hydrogen gas instead of heated air. The first obstacle encountered was the difficulty of creating a perfectly air tight envelope. This was overcome by the discovery by two brothers named Roberts, that a coating of dissolved rub ber over silk fabric would prevent the hydrogen gas from escaping. The test of this new balloon was made on Aug. 20, 1783, and the bag as soon as liberated rose to a great height, but because of too great inflation of the gas split asunder and fell to the ground.
Hitherto the balloons had carried no passengers, but on Nov. 21, 1783, Pilatre de Rozier and the Marquis d'Arlandes sailed over the Seine and a large part of Paris in a balloon filled with heated rir, remaining above the earth 25 min utes. A few days later, Dec. 1, an ascent was made by Messrs. Charles and Roberts in a balloon filled with hydrogen gas. In the two years ensuing, many flights were made, the most notable of which was that of Blanchard, the Englishman, who, accompanied by an American, Dr.
Jeffries, crossed the English Channel from Dover and landed at Calais.
Up to this time ballooning had been carried on as an adventure or a sport.
Scientists intervened, and sought through this novel medium to ascertain scientific data that so far had been based only on conjecture. The first ascent with this object in view was made in 1804 from Paris. It was learned that as the balloon rose the air became drier and that at 23,000 feet the chemical com position of the air did not vary from that at the surface of the earth.
The two most notable ascents recorded were those made by Glaisher and Cox well in September of 1862 and of Berson and Suring, July 31, 1901. In the former ascent it was claimed that a height of seven miles was reached, but this was not susceptible of proof, because at 29, 000 feet Glaisher lost consciousness. The ascent continued until Coxwell. who was almost paralyzed, opened the valve with his teeth, and the balloon finally landed with both passengers safe. More reliable figures as to altitude were those recorded by Berson and Suring, when they as cended from Berlin to a height of 6.7 miles. This is the greatest height that has ever been attained by men in a bal loon, although it was exceeded by Major Schroeder of America who reached an altitude of 33,113 feet in an airplane.
Within the last twenty-five years, many notable balloon flights have been re. corded, some of them negotiated with great risk to the aerial adventurers. Up to the present century, the longest flight was that made by M. Goddard, who traveled the distance of 1,032 miles from Leipsic to Wilna in a little over twenty four hours. In 1900 De la Vaulx covered the distance from Vincennes, France, to Korosticheff, Russia, 1,193 miles, in 35% hours. In 1912, Dubonnet and Dupont made a trip of 1,211 miles in the "Con dor II." But a still longer flight was that of Rumpelmayer, who on March 24, 1913, completed a journey of 1,493 miles from Paris to the vicinity of Kharkoff, Russia. In America, Hawley and Post in the balloon "America" drifted 1,172 miles from St. Louis, landing in a dense Canadian forest.