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these aggregate into hexagonal flakes under the law of crystalization, and reach the earth in that form. In the hail and snow forming processes of nature we get the hint of how to manufacture ice, just as we need it, cheaper than it can be procured and secured from the frozen river. Nature is a good and a great teacher, if we will but take the pains to investigate her workshop and study her philosophy.
 
The inter-tropical vortex of our atmosphere is a necessary mechanical resultant of our planet's axial rotation and its centripetal and centrifugal forces acting upon the elastic mobile medium that surrounds it. It is not only the source of all meteorological phenomena in our atmosphere relating to storms, but it moves the oceans and heavens and the crust of the earth. Scientific mechanical experts attribute to this central action of drawing in below and whirling out above, the deflection of all moving bodies toward the right, i. e., in the direction of the hands of a clock-face upwards. Railroad engineers find their moving trains influenced by this force, tending as they do, toward the right-hand rail. In the southern hemisphere the action is reversed--the motion tending to the left and in the opposite direction of the hands of a clock. 

OUR WEATHER SIGNAL SERVICE

Lays down the rule that the circumscribed area of a storm is always conditioned to low barometer. A local storm generated within an area of low barometer, always begins within a sudden rise of the mercury, brought up half an inch in the space of half an hour; and as sudden a depression of the mercury when the vortex has passed over the point of observation. The temperature also is as rapidly raised and lowered in these suddenly-formed storms of the summer season. The explosion of atmospheric electricity in rapidly succeeding discharges is also a concomitant to them.
 
The steamship Pennsylvania was in all probability the recipient of a local tornado, induced by the proximity of ice fields. A tornado whirlpool, churning up the sea into spray, is capable of dashing a huge mountain of water over a ship that encounters it, and at night the most vigilant ship-master may be caught in one, which in day-time he might avert. The Gulf Stream, with its warm vapor, and ice fields near by, giving out cold air, makes a prolific source of ocean tornados.
 
It is sometimes asked why hail is formed in summer and snow in winter? Well, it comes in this way: In the hail-storm the surface air is pumped up very suddenly and very rapidly. Its expansion into cloud and condension into drops is equally sudden. The drops while forming are driven upwards, and in their upward course aggregate and freeze into "hail-stones," and are thrown outward from the top of the cloud. A shower of hail falling to the earth is generally divided into two trains, or a very slight deposition in its central track, and heavy on each side of it.
 
In a snow-storm, being of great area, the air is mixed by more horizontal contact, rising up slower by cyclonic action. The condensation being correspondingly slow, the cold intense, the fine watery vescicles are frozen into spiculae, just as the mixture is frozen on our windows. The law of its formation into symmetrical hexagons is a part of nature's fine art we are unable to explain.

When meteorology shall become part of our common education, the out-door working people will know in the evening how to arrange their affairs for the next day, in regard to wet or dry weather. 

BALLOONING.

THE INVENTION--LONGEST VOYAGES--SEVEN MILES UP--WISE'S THEORY--DOCTOR DARWIN--SCIENCE AND WAR. 

BY [[R?]] SHELTON MACKENZIE.

Ninety years ago, two brothers, named Montgolfier, ascended and descended safely in a fire-balloon, at Annonay, near Lyons. They had invented a balloon which became inflated with heated air, and made several short journeys. Annonay was their native place, where they were proprietors of paper mills, still owned and worked by their descendants. Soon after, the principle discovered by Henry Cavendish, an English chemist, that hydrogen gas is 10.8 times lighter than air, was applied to balloons, and aerostation became a reality. In June, 1784, Madame Thible obtained the honor of being the first female who ascended; and three months later, the Duke of Orleans, whose eldest son was Louis Philippe, King of the French, went up. Since then 10,000 ascents have been made, and only twenty lives lost. Mr. Green and Mr. Graham, English aeronauts, made over 2000 ascents. It was Mr. Green who, in November, 1836, accompanied by two others, went up in the great Nassau balloon from London, and after a voyage in the clouds for nearly eighteen hours, safely descended at Wellburg, in the Duchy of Nassau, now part of the German Empire. Mr. Monck Mason's history of that air-journey is full of interest. The distance traversed was five hundred miles.

In the United States, however, the longest balloon voyage is recorded. In June, 1869, Mr. John Wise ascended, with three companions, at St. Louis, bound for the city of New York, which they calculated on reaching on the day following. They proceeded on the track they had laid down until they had crossed Lake Erie, when they were caught in an adverse current of air, and had to abandon their regular design, after having traveled 1150 miles in less than twenty hours—an average speed of fifty-three miles per hour. They descended, nearly dead, in Jefferson county, N.Y. In October, 1863, M. Nador, a Frenchman, who had constructed a balloon, which, when fully inflated, contained 215,363 cubic feet of gas—and had an idea of steering it, in the sky, by a screw—made a safe ascent, carrying up fourteen other persons. The following week he repeated his experiment, which nearly failed, most of the voyagers being severely injured, the balloon alighting in Hanover. In the following year he again went up at Brussels, and came down safely.

In 1860, Mr. Lowe, an American, constructed what he called an aerial ship, 387 feet in circumference at the broadest, calculated to hold 700,000 cubic feet of gas, and with a lifting power of 2 1/2 tons. He expected to cross the Atlantic in this huge vehicle in two, or at the most, in three days; but I can find no record of his having done so.
Mr. Wise hoped to "run" in an easterly current (which, he declares, steadily blows across the Atlantic) to England, in some fifty hours, in the "Graphic Balloon." As it was not constructed in accordance with his directions, and, he said, with inferior, and therefore unsafe materials, he prudently declined running the risk. A few days later, three men ascended in the condemned balloon, but instead of going across the Atlantic, they only reached Litchfield, in Connecticut, and narrowly escaped with their lives.
Mr. Barnum has faith in Mr. Wise, who is an educated, scientific and experienced balloonist, and has offered to supply him with a new balloon, to be constructed upon all improved principles, in which he may cross the Atlantic (if he can) next summer.
Mr. Wise's theory of a constant wind-current from west to east does not receive countenance in England. 
Mr. Henry Tracey Coxwell, now the leading aeronaut in Europe, has made over seven hundred ascents since 1845, the most remarkable of which had Wolverhampton, in England, for its starting-place, and was made, at the instance of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, on July 17, 1862, his companion being Mr. James Glaisher (since appointed successor to Admiral Fitzroy in the Weather-prophesy, or Meteorological Department of the Board of Trade). They ascended to the height of seven miles, where, owing to the intense cold, Mr. Glaisher became insensible, and Mr. Coxwell had to open the valve by catching the line in his teeth, thus saving the lives of both.
Since the failure of the Graphic attempt, Mr. Coxwell, with a party of three, ascended in the vicinity of London (Hornsey, and northeast suburb), in the Nassau Balloon, and traveling at the specified altitude of 10,000 feet, dropped down at Surrey—having found the current of wind, not from west to east, but directly from north to south. So far, then, Mr. Wise's theory is not confirmed.
Of course, a single test does not count for much. It is to be noticed, however, that Mr. Barnum, in his offer to Mr. Wise, suggests that he should go, not from New York across the Atlantic, but from San Francisco across the Unites States.
When ballooning was begun, imaginative and even scientific minds anticipated results from it which have not been produced.
Doctor Erasmus Darwin (grandfather of Mr. Charles Darwin, who has written several works to prove that man was "developed," in the course of ages, from an oyster or a frog) was a famous poet in those days. As he had already prophesied that the slow barge and heavy car would soon be driven along by steam, he extended his prediction and his praise to the balloon. His lines (the best he ever wrote) on Montgolfier's first ascent run thus:
"Lo! on the shoreless air the intrepid Gaul
Launched the vast concave of his buoyant ball.
Journeying on high the silken castle glides,
Bright as a meteor through the azure tides,
O'er towns, and towers, and temples wins its ways,
Or mounts sublime, and gilds the vault of day.
Silent, with upturned eyes, unbreathing crowds,
Pursue the fleeting wonder to the clouds,
And flushed with transport or benumbed with fear, 
Watch, as it rises, the diminished sphere.
Now less and less, and now a speck is seen,
And now the floating rack obtrudes between."
From this description of the gazing crowds below, the poet proceeds to state the comfortable position of the floating navigator above:
"The calm philosopher in ether sails,
Views broader stars, and breathes serener gales;
Sees, like a map, in many a waving line,
Round Earth's blue plains her lucid waters shine;
Sees at his feet the forky lightning's glow,
And hears innocuous thunders roll below."
The philosphers of that day—eighty or ninety years ago—almost fancied that the time had nearly come when they could ride round the universe. The moon, the sun, the stars, were to be visited with the regularity of a railroad-line, and he who might condescend to live on earth without visiting some neighboring planet was to be regarded as a dull fellow!
There have been several scientific ascents. In 1804, Gay-Lussac and Biot rose 22,977 feet above Paris. In 1850, two other Parisians ventured to the height of 19,000 feet, passing through a cloud 9000 feet thick.
Mr. James Glaisher, already mentioned, made his first ascent, in Mr. Coxwell's great balloon, in 1862, going up five miles; and some weeks later, he went up seven miles. He has made between thirty and forty ascents in all, and the result has been a practical, scientific book on aerostation.
For war purposes, ballooning was not much employed until the Franco-Prussian war of 1870. At the battle of Jemappes, in November, 1792, observations of the Austrian army were made, from a balloon twice sent up, and the results communicated to Dumourier, the French general, who won the victory. Balloons were also used during the battle of Solferino, in June, 1859, and also by the Federal army, near Washington, in July, 1861. In the Franco-German war of 1870-'71, there was a regular balloon post in Paris, and also in some other cities. On October 7, 1870, Monsieur Gambetta, then Minister of the Interior, having to go to Tours, then the seat of the delegate government, left Paris, with his secretary, in a balloon named the "Armand-Barbs," passed safely over the Prussian lines, which besieged Paris, and duly reached Tours. He did not attempt a return by the same [[smudged]]. In all, between the 20th of September [[smudged]] and the end of January, 1871, as many as [[sixty?]] [[smudged]] aerial engines were despatched from Paris [[smudged]] the [[?]], carrying altogether about 2,500,000 [[smudged]]—a weight of about ten tons. These were not regular balloons, but air vessels, which floated away, and fell in various places—some reaching Belgium, one going across the sea to England, and about two-thirds of the whole of the whole falling into the hands of the [[Prussians?]]. One of the balloons, conveying n aeronaut and at least one companion, landed in Norway, having sailed 1000 miles in forty-five hours, and two were lost at sea.


A SCIENTIFIC BALLOON ASCENT.

Mr. Henry Coxwell, the celebrated aeronaut, writes to the London papers:—"The feature of the Transatlantic Expedition which offered the greatest attraction to my own mind was the service it might render to meteorological science, provided the American aeronauts had established the hypothesis of a constant and reliable current at a given altitude from the earth's surface. Aiming unquestionably high, they certainly undertook to solve this problem, and it would be ungenerous to deny to them the honour of having ventilated the subject. It is, perhaps, fortunate they only succeeded in ventilating their balloon. The next thing which appeared to me most desirable was really to do something, however little, to promote this interesting inquiry. Accordingly, on Monday, the 22nd instant, I give orders to bring out the celebrated Nassau balloon, as I intended, although unfitted as to health, to know more about the westerly zone of atmosphere which the sanguine professors placed so much confidence in. Presuming that three hours' diligent search would be preferable to a whole month's talking, the very first opportunity was seized to commence the inflation. A telegram was forthwith despatched to Philip Ashton, Esq., who had made more than 30 ascents, chiefly with me, and who now wished to engage the car and defray the expenses of the trip. Dr. George R. Irvine was also invited to take a seat, and by the side of myself and my experienced assistant, a place was reserved for Mr. C. H. Bowdler, who had constructed an ingenious fan which I had promised to test for some time, but had been prevented from doing so owing to bodily suffering In reviewing some of my ascents for scientific objects, I cannot find that a westerly wind blowing with great speed was ever detected, but it occurred to me that it was just possible a quick rise and descent might have prevented those minute observations which are so essential in matters of this sort; fresh observations, therefore, were desirable, under conditions which could not fail to set any doubts at rest. These were—first, a wind that was not west at starting; secondly, a clear sky, so that the course of the balloon could be definitely ascertained; and thirdly, that some kind of mechanical contrivance might be used to aid in keeping at the height of about 10,000 feet. Although it was my desire to conduct the proceedings privately, still it soon got buzzed about that this was the identical balloon in which Charles Green crossed the channel, and from which Mr. Cocking descended in a parachute, his life having paid the penalty. It became known, too, that since Mr. Green handed over to me this historical heirloom I had thoroughly renovated the expensive silk of which it is composed, and that now it was as buoyant and elastic as ever. At 4 20 we were 2600 feet over the Alexandra Palace ruins. We had left the ground under the influence of an easterly current at a temperature of 61 degrees; but at 4 40, barometer 26.9, the thermometer was 46 of Fahrenheit; here we veered round to a south-westerly direction, or, in other words, the wind was N.E. At 5 20 the barometer stood at 25.4, and thermometer at 39½. About this time we had crossed the Thames at Chelsea. By 6 18, barometer 21.1-10. The temperature increased in proportion to height, but we now had more especially to devote our time to the rapid discharge of sand and to the working of the screw. When an altitude exceeding 10,000 feet had been obtained, we succeeded in keeping on a level course. Mr. Bowdler and my assistant worked the fan, and Mr. Ashton and Dr. Irvine helped me to notice our exact path across the country, which was from north to south, and not from west to east. The light cloudy streamers very far above us were drifting in a similar direction, thus proving that, at least on that day, the movement of the upper atmosphere was from pole to pole. Darkness had long set when we descended at Buckland, near Box-hill, Surrey. This locality when examined on the map will be found nearly due south of Hornsey."

Transcription Notes:
Text which are not legible due to smudging have been tagged as [[smudged]]. words that can't be read are designated by [[?]].