Balloons, Airships, and Flying Machines

THE Practical Science Series
The following Vols. are now ready or in the Press :—
BALLOONS, AIRSHIPS, AND FLYING MACHINES. By Gertrude Bacon. MOTORS AND MOTORING. By Professor Harry Spooner. RADIUM. By Dr. Hampson. METEOROLOGY; or, Weather Explained. By J. Gordon M‘Pherson, M.A., LL.D.
Others in Preparation
The Authoress, her Father, and Mr. Spencer making an Ascent.
Frontispiece.
BY GERTRUDE BACON
NEW YORK DODD, MEAD & COMPANY LONDON: T. C. & E. C. JACK 1905


One November night in the year 1782, so the story runs, two brothers sat over their winter fire in the little French town of Annonay, watching the grey smoke-wreaths from the hearth curl up the wide chimney. Their names were Stephen and Joseph Montgolfier, they were papermakers by trade, and were noted as possessing thoughtful minds and a deep interest in all scientific knowledge and new discovery. Before that night—a memorable night, as it was to prove—hundreds of millions of people had watched the rising smoke-wreaths of their fires without drawing any special inspiration from the fact; but on this particular occasion, as Stephen, the younger of the brothers, sat and gazed at the familiar sight, the question flashed across his mind, “What is the hidden power that makes those curling smoke-wreaths rise upwards, and could I not employ it to make other things rise also?”
Medallion showing Brothers Montgolfier.