Up in the Clouds | Page 8

considering that they were so
unaccustomed to such navigation, throwing on just as much fuel as was
sufficient for the purpose, and keeping clear of steeples and chimneys
until they alighted in safety beyond the Boulevards. Their voyage
lasted about half-an-hour, and they described a track of six miles
around Paris, having ascended to a height of 3000 feet.
Thus was the first balloon voyage successfully accomplished by the
French; and the Montgolfiers, besides enjoying the triumph which their
persevering efforts deserved, were awarded the annual prize--six
hundred livres--of the Academy of Sciences. The elder brother was
invited to Court, decorated with the badge of Saint Michael, and
received a patent of nobility; while the younger received a pension and
a sum of forty thousand livres wherewith to prosecute his experiments
with balloons.
The great success of the Montgolfier balloons naturally threw the
efforts of Monsieur Charles and the brothers Robert into the shade.
Nevertheless those gentlemen had got hold of a better principle than
their rivals; and, knowing this, they resolved to convince the sceptical
by constructing another balloon. They wisely began by obtaining
subscriptions to enable them to carry out their designs, and finally
succeeded in making a globe formed of tiffany, covered with elastic
varnish, which was twenty-eight feet in diameter. This they filled with
hydrogen gas. Some idea of their difficulties and expenses may be
gathered from the fact that the mere filling of the balloon required an

apparatus which cost about 400 pounds sterling, one-half of which was
expended on the production of the gas alone.
The ascent of this balloon deserves to be regarded with special interest,
because, besides being the first hydrogen balloon which carried up
human beings, it was the first in which scientific observations were
made and recorded. Monsieur Charles was a lecturer on natural
philosophy, and, like our own great aeronaut, Mr Glaisher, does not
seem to have been content to produce merely a spectacle, but went up
to the realms of ether with an intelligent and scientific eye; for we read
of him recording the indications of the thermometer and barometer at
different heights and under various conditions.
There were many accidents and delays in the construction of this
balloon; but at last, on the 1st December 1783, it was taken to the
Tuileries and there filled with gas. The process was slow, as the gas had
to be generated in large quantities by means of diluted sulphuric acid
and iron filings put into wooden casks disposed round a large cistern,
from which it was conveyed through water in long leaden pipes. To
keep the impatient populace quiet, therefore, during the tedious
operation, Montgolfier sent up one of his fire-balloons.
At last, when it was sufficiently filled, Messieurs Charles and Robert
stepped into the car, which was ballasted with sandbags, and the ropes
were let go. It went up with slow and solemn motion, at the rate of
about five miles an hour. "The car," writes a reporter of the day in
language more inflated than the balloon itself, "ascending amidst
profound silence and admiration, allowed, in its soft and measured
ascent, the bystanders to follow with their eyes and hearts two
interesting men, who, like demigods, soared to the abode of the
immortals, to receive the reward of intellectual progress, and carry the
imperishable name of Montgolfier. After the globe had reached the
height of 2000 feet, it was no longer possible to distinguish the aerial
navigators; but the coloured pennants which they waved in the air
testified their safety and their tranquil feelings. All fears were now
dissipated; enthusiasm succeeded to astonishment; and every
demonstration was given of joy and applause."

The period of flight was an hour and three-quarters, which, for those
early days of the art, was a pretty long voyage. By throwing over
ballast the voyagers ascended, and by letting off gas they descended at
pleasure; and they observed that during an hour, while they were
exposed to the sun's rays, the gas was heated up to the temperature of
fifty-five degrees of Fahrenheit's scale, which had the effect of sensibly
increasing the buoyancy of the balloon. They descended safely on the
meadow of Nesle, about twenty-five miles from Paris.
But, not content with what he had accomplished, Monsieur Charles
made a sudden resolve to have another flight alone. The shades of night
were falling, and the sun had already set, when the enthusiastic
aeronaut re-entered the car, and, casting off the grapnels, began his
solitary night voyage. He was well rewarded. The balloon shot up with
such celerity as to reach the height of about two miles in ten minutes,
and the sun rose again to him in full orb! From his lofty station he
watched it until it set again below the distant horizon.