Answer.—In 1791 a tax was imposed upon domestic liquors. This created especial dissatisfaction in Western Pennsylvania, where, in 1794, the distillers rose en masse and refused to pay the duty. But upon the approach of militia sent by Washington, they yielded.
GAY-LUSSAC—BALLOONS.
Pawnee Rock, Kan.
1. Who was Gay-Lussac? 2. Who invented balloons? 3. Why was Sir Walter Raleigh executed?
Stephen J. Willard.
Answer.—Louis Joseph Gay-Lussac was one of the most eminent chemists of this century. He was born at St. Leonard, France, Dec. 6, 1778. He distinguished himself as a student in the Polytechnic College, Paris, and was selected to become the assistant of the great French physicist and chemist, Berthollet, who was so impressed with his originality and skill in research that on a certain occasion he exclaimed: “Young man, it is your destiny to make discoveries. You shall be henceforth my companion. I wish—it is a title of which I am sure I shall have cause to be proud—I wish to be your father in science.” While investigating terrestrial magnetism he was led to make a balloon ascent, on Aug. 24, 1804, when he reached an altitude of about 13,000 feet. Not satisfied, he procured a greater balloon, and on Sept. 16 of the same year rose to an altitude of 23,000 feet, a height never before reached in a balloon, and seldom exceeded since then. He made many valuable observations before descending. Together with the famous Alexander von Humboldt, he made the discovery that hydrogen and oxygen unite in the proportions of two of the latter to one of the former, by bulk, to form water; also that when gases combine with one another, either by weight or by volume, they do so in very simple proportions, as 1 to 1, 1 to 2, 2 to 3, and so on. He analyzed many chemical compounds, proved the elementary nature of several substances, such as iodine, to which he gave the name it now bears, and he formed by chemical combinations many valuable compounds. The French Academy elected him a member of that distinguished body of savants; the French Government honored him with important and highly honorable appointments; he became a member of the Chamber of Deputies in 1831, and in 1839 was made a peer of the realm. He devoted himself to scientific research to the last, and was associated with the distinguished scientist Arago, in the editorship of the Annals of Chemistry and Physics. He died in 1850. 2. Stephen and Joseph Montgolfier, of Annonay, France, a town about forty miles from Lyons, were the inventors of hot air balloons, just one hundred years ago, and the same year two brothers of the name of Robert made and charged the first hydrogen gas balloon, under the superintendence of Mr. Charles, a professor of natural philosophy, in Paris. 3. Sir Walter Raleigh was executed under a trumped up charge of conspiracy against the life of James I., of England; but really at the instigation of certain rivals and to gratify the king of Spain, toward whom he had always manifested the greatest hostility.
QUARTER SECTIONS, SHORT OR LONG.
Orleans, Neb.