On December 1, 1783, 'MM. Charles and Robert ascended from Paris in a free hydrogen balloon to the height of about zoo° feet, and, after remain ing for some time at that elevation, descended at Nesle, about twentv-six miles from Paris, where M. Robert left the gondola, and M. Charles as cended alone to the height of about two iniles, and in half an hour de scended three miles from the starting-point.
Ea/ly EA:kr/mei/is Aincrith.—That the interest in the subject was not confined to European countries is evidenced by the fact that about this time experiments in the same direction were made in Philadelphia. Two members of the American Philosophical Society, David Rittenhouse and Francis Hopkinson, made some experiments by connecting a number of small balloons inflated with hydrogen gas. After successfully sending up this combination, which was attached to a rope, a carpenter named James Wilcox was induced to make an ascension with them. He rose to the height of several hundred feet, but, becoming alarmed, he made, accord ing to instructions, an incision in several of the balloons, whereupon lie descended without serious injury.
Planchara"s Jean Pierre 13lanchard, who prior to the ex periments of the Montgolfiers had made unsuccessful attempts to construct fivi ng-inachi nes, and who subsequently became distinguished as an aeronaut, endeavored, immediately after the invention of the balloon, to make it available for long voyag-es. N'ot meeting with sufficient encouragement and assistance in France, he went to England, and, accompanied by an American, Dr. John Jeffries of Boston, on January 7, 1785, made the voy a toe o Calais from the chalk cliffs of Dover. It cannot be stated with cer tainty that the balloon used by Blanchard for this vovage had the same form of construction as that shown in Figure 3, in which lie made au as cension from Paris, 'March 2, 1784. 11 will be seen that it is provided with a parachute as well as with a rudder, which 131ancliard considered very important. The net carrying the gondola had, however, been already used by Professor Charles for his first balloon.
De Roficr's Double' June 15, 1785, Pilatre Rozier— who, as has been previously stated (p. 366), was the first to rise in a bal loon—made his last, and to him fatal, ascension. It was his intention to cross from Boulogne to England, in imitation of the voyage of Blanchard and Jeffries, thougli in an opposite direction. For this purpose lie con
structed a double balloon by suspending a mon/go/fere pp feet in diameter beneath a eharliere 37 feet in diameter, so that by controlling the fire be neath the former he could increase or diminish the ascensional power at pleasure without waste of g,as. Rozier was accompanied by a young- man named Romaine Laine, and for thirty minutes after their ascent everything betokened a successful voyage, when suddenly the entire apparatus was observed to be in flames, caused by the ig-nition of the g,as, which either descended to the fire from the upper balloon or was reached by the fire ris ing from the lower.' By this accident both adventurers lost their lives, being precipitated upon the rocks near Boulogne from a height of about 3000 feet.
Ffrst .46p/ication to Pleri6OSCS. —This disaster, being obviously the result of carelessness, did not deter others, and there followed in rapid succession numerous ascensions, genefally of the character of exhibitions by athletes and circus performers, though actual aerial voyages to predeter Mined distant points were occasionally attempted. The higher useful ap plication, however, still remained in the projective stage until 1794, when the balloon was first used for military purposes during the war of the French republic against Belgium. In the battle of Fleurus two companies —the so-called aerosticrs, especially organized for this purpose—recon noitred, although without important results, in the manner shown in Fig ure 6 (/5/. 6i). In the civil war in America (1861-1865) a regularly organ ized balloon corps was employed, which operated with some success in reconnoitring-.
First AA6/ication to SCiellqiC P117-160SeS. —The first application of the balloon to more earnest scientific purposes was made in Germany in 1803. On the IStli of July, Robertson and Lhoest ascended in Hamburg, and after remaining five and one-half hours in the higher regions descended near Hanover, enriched by many observations in regard to frictional elec tricity, galvanism, sound, boiling-point, heat of the sun, and optical and physiological phenomena. For this ascension the balloon (fig. 6) which was used in the battle of Fleurus, and which Robertson had purchased, was employed.