Encyclopaedia Britannica, or, a Dictionary of arts, sciences, and miscellaneous literature : enlarged and improved. Illustrated with nearly six hundred engravings > Volume 1, A-AME

219
AEROSTATION.
Hiftory.
every moment ready to burft. To prevent this, they
introduced a (tick through the tube, in order to pu(h
away the inner balloon from its aperture j but the ex-
panfion of the inflammable air puflied it fo clofe, that
all attempts of this kind proved ineffectual. It was
now, however, become abfolutely neceffary to give vent
to a very conliderable quantity of the inflammable air;
for which purpofe the duke de Chartres himfelf bored
two holes in the balloon, which tore open for the length
of feven or eight feet. On this they defcended with
great rapidity ; and would have fallen into a lake, had
they not haftily thrown out 60 pounds of ballaft, which
enabled them juft to reach the water’s edge.
The fuccefs of the fcheme for raifing or lowering
aeroftatic machines by means of bags filled with com¬
mon air being thus rendered dubious, another method
was thought of. This was to put a fmall aeroftatic
machine with rarefied air under an inflammable air
balloon, but at fuch a diftance that the inflammable air
of the latter might be perfectly out of the reach of the
fire ufed for inflating the former; and thus, by increaf-
ing or diminiftiing the fire in the (mall machine, the
abfolute weight of the whole would be confiderably di-
Unfortu- minifhed or augmented. The fcheme was unhappily
nate voy^Se put in execution by the celebrated M. Pilatrede Rozier,
of Mefi'rs anc^ another gentleman named Mr Romaine. i heir
Rozier and inflammable air balloon was about 37 feet in diameter,
Romaine. and the power of the rarefied-air one was equivalent to
about 60 pounds. They afcended without any appear¬
ance of danger or finifter accident: but had not been
long in the atmofphere when the inflammable air bal¬
loon was feen to fwell very confiderably, at the fame
time that the aeronauts were obferved, by means of te-
lefcopes, very anxious to get down, and bufied in pull¬
ing the valve and opening the appendages to the bal¬
loon, in order to facilitate the efcape of as much in¬
flammable air as poffible. A (hort time after this the
whole machine was on fire, when they had then attain¬
ed the height of about three quarters of a mile from
the ground. No explofion was heard *, and the filk
which compofed the air balloon continued expanded,
and feemed to refill the atmofphere for about a minute j
after which it collapfed, and the remains of the appa¬
ratus defcended along with the two unfortunate travel¬
lers f« rapidly, that both of them were killed. Mr Pi-
latre feemed to have been dead before he came to the
ground •, but Mr Romaine was alive when fome perfons
came up to the place where he lay, though he expired
immediately after.
Thefe are the moft remarkable attempts that have
been made to improve the fcience of aeroftation $ though
a great number of other expeditions through the at-
MdTrP rr,°fphere have taken place. But of all the voyages
Blanchard which had been hitherto projeCted or put in execution,
and Jeffries the moft daring was that of Mr Blanchard and Dr
acrofs the Jeffries acrofs the (traits of Dover, which feparate
fftaus °f Britain from France. This took place on the 7th of
January 1785, being a clear frofty morning with a
wind, barely perceptible, at N. N. W. The operation
of filling the balloon began at 10 o’clock, and, at three
quarters after 12, every thing was ready for their de¬
parture. At one o’clock Mr Blanchard defired the
boat to be puftied off, which now flood only two feet
did ant from that precipice fo finely defcribed by Shake-
fpeare in his tragedy of King Lear. As the balloon
was fcarcely fufficient to carry two, they were obliged
to throw out all their ballad except three bags of 10
pounds each j when they at laft rofe gently j though
making very little way on account of there being fo
little wind. At a quarter after one o’clock, the ba¬
rometer, which on the clift' flood at 29.7 inches, tvas
now fallen to 27.3, and the weather proved fine and
warm. They had now a moft beautiful profpedl of
the fouth coall of England, and were able to count
37 villages upon it. After palling over feveral vtf-
(els, they found that the balloon, at 50 minutes after
one, was defcending, on which they threw’ out a fack
and a half of ballaft j but as they faw that it ftill de¬
fcended, and with much greater velocity than be¬
fore, they now threw out all the ballaft. This dill
proving ineffectual, they next threw out a parcel of
books they carried along with them, which made the
balloon afcend, when they were about midway between
France and England. At a quarter pad two, finding
themfelves again defcending, they threw away the re¬
mainder of their books, and, ten minutes after, they
had a moft enchanting view of the French coaft. Still,
however, the machine defcended j and as they had
now no more ballaft, they were obliged to throw
away their provifions, the wings of their boat, and e-
very thing they could poflibly fpare. “ We threw away
(fays Dr Jeffries) our only bottle, which, in its de-
fcent caft out a (learn like fmoke, with a rufhing noife;
and when it llruck the water, we heard and felt the
(hock very perceptibly on our car and balloon.” All
this proving infuflicient to (lop the defcent of the bal¬
loon, they next threw out their anchors and cords,
and at laft dripped off their clothes, faftening them¬
felves to certain flings, and intending to cut away the
boat as their laft refource. They had now the fatisfac-
tion, however, to find that they were riling •, and as
they paffed over the high lands between Cape Blanc
and Calais the machine rofe very fad, and carried them
to a greater height than they had been at any former
part of their voyage. They defcended fafely among
fome trees in the foreft of Guiennes, where there was
juft opening enough to admit them.
It would be tedious as well as unneceffary to recount
all the other aerial voyages that have been performed
in our own or other countries: It appeared fufficient
for the purpofe of this article to notice thofe which
were moft remarkable and intereftingj and therefore
an account of the ingenious Mr Baldwin’s excurfion
from Chefter, alluded to above, mud not be omitted in
our enumeration.
On the 8th of September 1785, at forty minutes pad Baldwin’s
one P. M. Mr Baldwin afcended from Cheller in Mr voyage.
I.unardi’s balloon. After traverfing in a variety of
different direftions, he firft alighted, at 28 minutes
after three, about twelve miles from Chefter, in the
neighbourhood of Frodftiam ; then reafcending and
purfuing his excurfion, he finally landed at Rixton
mofs, five miles N. N. E. of Wavington, and 25 miles
from Chefter. Mr Baldwin has publiftied his Obferva-
tions and remarks made during his voyage, and taken
from minutes. Our limits will not admit of relating
many of his obfervations $ but the few following are
fome of the moft important and curious. “ The fen-
fation of afcending is compared to that of a ftrong
preffure from the bottom of the car upwards againft
E e 2 the