PLATE I.
GLAISHER AND COXWELL.
PARSEVAL KITE BALLOON.
“My last observation was made at 1 h. and 54 m., at 29,000 feet. I suppose two or three minutes fully were occupied between my eyes becoming insensible to seeing fine divisions, and 1 h. 54 m., and then that two or three minutes more passed till I was insensible; therefore I think this took place at about 1 h. 56 m. or 1 h. and 57 m. Whilst powerless I heard the words, ‘temperature’ and ‘observation,’ and I knew Mr. Coxwell was in the car speaking to me, and endeavoring to arouse me, therefore consciousness and hearing had returned. I then heard him speak more emphatically, but I could not see, speak or move. I heard him again say, ‘Do try—now do.’ Then I saw the instruments dimly, then Mr. Coxwell, and very shortly saw clearly. I rose in my seat and looked round, as though waking from sleep, though not refreshed by sleep, and said to Mr. Coxwell, ‘I have been insensible;’ he said, ‘You have; and I, too, very nearly.’ I then drew up my legs, which had been extended before me, and took a pencil in my hand to begin observations. Mr. Coxwell told me he had lost the use of his hands, which were black, and I poured brandy on them.
“I resumed my observations at 2 h. 7 m., recording the barometer reading at 11.53 inches, and temperature −2°. I suppose three or four minutes were occupied from the time of my hearing the words ‘temperature’ and ‘observation’ till I began to observe; if so, then returning consciousness came at 2 h. and 4 m., and this gives seven minutes for total insensibility. I found the water in the vessel supplying the wet-bulb thermometer, which I had by frequent disturbances kept from freezing, was one solid mass of ice; and it did not all melt until after we had been on the ground some time.
“Mr. Coxwell told me that whilst in the ring he felt it piercingly cold; that hoar-frost was all round the neck of the balloon. On attempting to leave the ring he found his hands frozen, and he had to place his arms on the ring and drop down; that he thought for a moment I had laid back to rest myself; that he spoke to me without eliciting a reply; that he then noticed my legs projected and my arms hung down by my side; that my countenance was serene and placid, without the earnestness and anxiety he had noticed before going into the ring, and then it struck him I was insensible. He wished to approach me, but could not, and he felt insensibility coming over himself; that he became anxious to open the valve, but in consequence of having lost the use of his hands he could not, and ultimately did so by seizing the cord with his teeth and dipping his head two or three times until the balloon took a decided turn downwards. This act is quite characteristic of Mr. Coxwell. I have never yet seen him without a ready means of meeting every difficulty, as it has arisen, with a cool self-possession that has always left my mind perfectly easy, and given me every confidence in his judgment in the management of so large a balloon.
“No inconvenience followed the insensibility; and when we dropped it was in a country where no conveyance of any kind could be obtained, so that I had to walk between seven or eight miles.
“The descent was at first very rapid; we passed downwards three miles in nine minutes; the balloon’s career was then checked, and we finally descended in the center of a large grass-field belonging to Mr. Kersall, at Cold Weston, seven-and-a-half miles from Ludlow.
“I have already said that my last observation was made at a height of 29,000 feet; at this time (1 h. 45 m.) we were ascending at the rate of 1,000 feet per minute; and when I resumed observations we were descending at the rate of 2,000 feet per minute. These two positions must be connected, taking into account the interval of time between, viz. 13 minutes, and on those considerations the balloon must have attained the altitude of 36,000 or 37,000 feet. Again, a very delicate minimum thermometer read—12, and this would give a height of 37,000 feet. Mr. Coxwell, on coming from the ring, noticed that the center of the aneroid barometer, its blue hand, and a rope attached to the car, were all in the same straight line, and this gave a reading of 7 inches, and leads to the same result. Therefore these independent means all lead to about the same elevation, viz. fully SEVEN MILES.
“In this ascent six pigeons were taken up. One was thrown out at the height of three miles, when it extended its wings and dropped as a piece of paper; a second, at four and five miles, and it fell downward as a stone. A fourth was thrown out at four miles on descending. It flew in a circle, and shortly alighted on the top of the balloon. The two remaining pigeons were brought down to the ground. One was found to be dead, and the other, a ‘carrier,’ was still living, but would not leave the hand when I attempted to throw it off, till after a quarter of an hour it began to peck a piece of ribbon which encircled its neck, and was then jerked off the finger, and flew with some vigor toward Wolverhampton. One of the pigeons returned to Wolverhampton on Sunday the 7th, and it is the only one that has been heard of.”
This was the loftiest ascent ever made up to that time; and thus Glaisher, or rather Coxwell, who was in the ring above him, could be called the “highest man” of the first century of aëronautics. Their greatest elevation, however, is now generally estimated at much less than seven miles, and probably below six miles, due allowance being made for inaccuracies of estimate made by Mr. Glaisher. His results, nevertheless, were considered valuable, revealing as they did, that the balloon may be used safely up to the neighborhood of five miles; that the temperature of the atmosphere does not, as previously supposed, decline one degree for each 300 feet of ascent, but often declines more rapidly, and sometimes even increases with the elevation for considerable stretches; that the moisture percentage is extremely slight at an altitude beyond five miles; that at all elevations attainable by man the dry- and wet-bulb thermometers can be used effectively, etc.
A still loftier ascent was made by Professor Berson of Germany, aided by the respiration of oxygen. On July 31, 1901, accompanied by Dr. Süring, he ascended from Berlin in the balloon Preussen to an elevation of 10,800 meters, which at present constitutes the world’s record for altitude. The balloon had a capacity of 300,000 cubic feet, and left the ground two thirds filled with hydrogen, and carrying 8,000 pounds of ballast in the form of sand bags attached to the sides of the basket, so that they could be cut loose with the slightest physical effort.
The Preussen was one of the largest passive balloons ever constructed. In cubic capacity it was comparable with the colossal Montgolfière, La Flesselle, already described, and the huge free balloon Le Geant, constructed by Nadar in 1863. But all were eclipsed by the great balloon of Henri Giffard. This latter measured 450,000 cubic feet, and even to-day ranks as the largest captive balloon ever constructed. It was a familiar object at the Paris Exposition of 1878, where it was installed by the famous inventor Henri Giffard, to give sightseers a bird’s-eye view of Paris. It could take up forty persons at one time, or eight more than once ascended in Nadar’s Geant.