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BOSTON POST.
WEDNESDAY MORNING. NOV. 17.
ABOUT-HOME MATTERS.
1875

BALLOONING.

Discovery and Uses of the Balloon—Impressions of an Ascension Among and Above the Clouds-Exploding Balloons—Trans-Ocean Ballooning and Aerial Navigation—Lecture in Music Hall by Prof. John Wise.

[REPORTED FOR THE BOSTON POST.]

The regular weekly lecture in the Redpath Lyceum was delivered last evening, in Musical Hall, by Prof. John Wise, the veteran aeronaut, upon Ballooning. The subject was a novel one, and besides being fitted to a popular audience was also sufficiently scientific to be of great interest to students of physical philosophy. The attendance was not as large as usual, but this fact could be accounted for by remembering the storm, which kept the great majority of people within doors when they had once arrived home in the early evening.

In commencing his lecture Prof. Wise asked his audience to accept him, not as a lecturer, but as an aeronaut. He should try to impress upon their minds the idea that the subject of which he spoke was not one to be used for merely sensational purposes, but that it has in it nobler attributes. A thing that had remained in the art of science for three or four thousand years could not be perfected in a short time. It was an infant yet. He had been nursing it for forty years and was willing to admit that it had not yet grown much. When they remembered how, away back in the remotest antiquity, men yearned to get into the upper air they would not wonder that he attached so much importance to it. They could go back beyond the dark ages and find some recognition of it made by Homer in the description he gave of the javelins of Jupiter falling upon the earth. He had either made a balloon ascension himself, knew persons that had made them, or he knew what electricians of the present day do not know, that the lightning flash or thunder bold does not come down zigzag, but in a spiral manner, spinning about on its vertical axis. He had described most correctly the manner in which anything falls from the clouds. Passing over briefly what might be found in the Bible relating to the subject, he referred to the notion which Roger Bacon had of a flying machine to be propelled by a system of wings, and also to the wooden pigeon manufactured by Archytas, of Tarentum, four hundred years before Christ. But the honor of sending up the first balloon belonged to Stephen and Joseph Montgolfier, paper manufacturers at Annonay, near Lvons. They had noticed that clouds floated, and could not be satisfied that something else would not float. So they filled a paper bag with smoke, and in creating the smoke they rarified the air in the bag so that it rose to the ceiling. Then they constructed a balloon of linen cloth, lined with paper, and under it kindled a fire fed by bundles of chopped straw, still supposing that it was the smoke which made the ascending power. The success of this machine led to the construction of a larger one by Pilatre de Rozier and the Marquis d'Arlandes, who accepted the Montgolfier theory. They asked permission of the King, Louis XVI., to make an ascent, but were refused. They, however, procured their stock of straw, old shoes and other articles which would make a white smoke, and, with sponges to put out fire whenever the balloon caught, made the first ascent, one of the most successful and remarkable ever made. Their balloon caught fire several times, but they deliberately put it out and landed safely in Paris. Only after that and other similar voyages did the true secret become known. Very suddenly the value of the subject came to be overestimated and overwrought. Men thought they had reached a point where they could cut the force of gravitation, and projected voyages over the seas, across continents and even to the moon. But, aside from all this extravagance, Prof. Wise considered that it was a science through which it would be possible for those who become acquainted with it to bring out a clearer system of meteorology. He believed he had the honor to first verify Professor Estes's theory of the vertical action of hailstorms. He regretted that the theory had become so thoroughly established that at present no other theory was acceptable; yet it really applied only to local storms. Great storms have no central vortex, but are full of them, and move broadside forward. It was a notable fact that those who furnish the public with weather predictions know nothing of the region of storms, but only track them as a huntsman trails the fox. In speaking of the appearance of the clouds during a thunderstorm, he said there would be seen a dome projecting upwards, followed by the dissolution of the cloud and the falling of the rain. The sudden rising of this dome was caused by a jet of warm air from below, which was followed by condensation. The thunderbolt he considered the force, or, technically speaking, the motion required to lift up the water from the ocean and to hold it in the atmosphere. It was, however, a mystery not fully understood. It was a fact, however, that all thunderbolts moved from west to east and that they must be the force of substantive matter. The sanitary benefits of balloon ascensions could be easily explained upon physical as well as mental principles of action. The average man carries a load of about 25,000 pounds pressure from the atmosphere. In making an ascension to an average height, he gets but one-half that pressure, and the result is that the whole system expands, the circulation increases rapidly, and breathing appears to be rather freer and easier. Personally he could read the scale of his instruments without glasses, the wrinkles come out of his face and he looked young again. It was partly for that reason that he continued to make ascensions. The impressions of a first ascension were very striking. It is like the earth falling away from the balloon. There is no vertigo, but the earth sinks, becomes flattened in appearance and finally concave. The position of the balloon seemed to be between two concavities. The prismatic effects produced by refraction are very beautiful, fairy scenes present themselves, and the mind becomes aroused to the glorious privileges it enjoys. To look down through the broken clouds was to witness a sight surpassing in beauty the magic caves described in the "Arabian Nights Entertainments." The profound, solemn and awful stillness which prevailed above the clouds was also remarkable. Even while moving at the rate of a mile per minute the aeronaut seemed so utterly becalmed that a suspended cobweb moving with the balloon would not be agitated. In speaking of echo and ozone in the clouds, Prof. Wise said the reverberations of sound among clouds were tremendous, and in explaining the echo which exists among them he told a story of a conversation which he had with himself instead of a person upon the earth, as he at first supposed. Ozone he had found to exist in high altitudes, and when his balloon had been charged by the old process of extracting gas from water he had supposed the sulphurous smell which it has to come in some way from the production of the gas. But he had found that such was not the fact, but that the substance was peculiar, that very little was known about it, and that it was evolved during grand displays of aurora borealis. In speaking of exploding balloons at high altitudes, he said that he made his first experiment in that direction with some misgivings, notwithstanding all the tacts of science were in his favor. In fact, he had made up his mind to open the valve, when the balloon burst at an altitude of two and a half miles. For some distance the balloon lell with with fearful vibrations. Subsequently it descended in a spiral manner, but just before reaching the earth it again began to vibrate. He landed in a cornfield without injury, however, and was satisfied that his theory was correct. He had a record of twenty one balloons which had burst, and in no case had anyone been hurt. He had noticed that in the air balloons had an attraction for light substances; and taking advantage of this fact he had used sifted wood ashes mixed with lamp-black to form a cloud through which to fall in descending. In speaking of trans-ocean ballooning he said there was no doubt that it could be accomplished in two ways. First by taking advantage of the eastern current, so called, and second by following the current over the Gulf Stream at a low altitude. Balloons could be made of copper, with sixty tons lifting power, and the city could be lightened, as a portion of Paris now is, by a machine suspended in the air by a balloon, which converts matter into heat and light. He was happy to say that things looked favorable for aerial navigation. It would not be accomplished by the balloon. He claimed for that nothing but its great uses in a scientific point of view, in a sanitary point of view, and in the development of the mind. But he apprehended aerial navigation would be attained when humanity was fitted for it. The proper motor was wanted, and he thought might be supplied on the principle of the Chinese kite. He referred to the inventions which have been made by different persons in the direction of aerial navigation, and closed his lecture by presenting the claims of the art volante to respectful recognition. 

[[CUTOFF]]CE THREE CENTS.
Boston Daily Herald Nov 19 1895

BALLOONS AND BALLONING
John Wise at Music Hall. 

So much attention has been paid to aeronautics in Boston that a lecture upon the subject from such a distinguished exponent of the science as the veteran aeronaut, John Wise, who can bring to bear the results of forty years' experience in sailing the aerial ocean, was sure to interest a large circle of listeners. The terribly inclement weather had the effect, however, to decimate somewhat the regular attendance upon the Redpath Lyceum Course at Music Hall last evening, when that gentleman appeared as the sixth lecturer of the series. Mr. Wise devoted an hour and a half to a practical talk about the balloon—its usefulness in the prosecution of meteorological research, its possibilities and its limits as an aerial navigator—speaking wholly without notes except so far as the evening's programme furnished in its synopsis of the lecture, simply the heads of discourse. At the outset he craved the indulgence of the audience, as he came before them not as a lecturer but as an aeronaut. 

The balloon, he said, was not a mere toy and "show." It had an important part to play in connection with science. It was yet a mere infant in the nurse's arms and had made but little progress. the history of aeronautics was traced in an interesting manner far back of the actual discovery of the means of mounting into the air, to the prophetic utterances of the early writers. Even Homer had a good idea of how bodies fall from a balloon spirally when he described the descent of the javelins of Jupiter. If he referred to the lightning, he understood a fact which even the electricians of the present day do not comprehend, and that is that an electric bolt descends through the air spirally. The zig-zag appearance is simply the form gained by the retina of the eye. There were a number of instances mentioned in the Bible of persons flying, and the lecturer was not sure that it was not after all, a montgoltiere with which Elijah ascended. Roger Bacon's writings tended to show how near man had arrived to the art of mounting into the air without having actually achieved it. Lana possessed a prophetic mind in the same direction. Bishop Wilkins prophesied that the time was coming when a man undertaking a long journey would call for his wings, and the discoverer of steam had an idea that travelers were to be carried through the air by its means. The lecturer believed these dreams were in some measure to be realized, but we must not look to the balloon for the perfection of aerial navigation. It would come without the aid of the balloon. The air was intended not only for our life but for our translation from place to place.

The actual discovery of the balloon by the Montgolfiers was referred to. The philosophical paper makers had watched the floating clouds and conceived an idea of making an artificial cloud which should float. Placing a burning paper beneath a paper bag they saw the bag mount to the ceiling, and thus the balloon was born. Even this important discovery was made without a true knowledge of the state of things, for it was believed, even after large balloons were constructed, that the ascension was gained through the employment of some peculiar agent other than rarified air. The first ascension in a balloon, by Pilatrie de Rozier and the Marquis d'Arlandes, was one of the most remarkable ascents that had ever taken place. The balloon floated over Paris, and was several times on fire from the burning material in the brazier, the flames being extinguished by the voyagers with sponges saturated with water and attached to long poles. The principle of the fire balloon is that the air expands one five hundredth part for each degree of heat. A fact probably unknown to the fire balloon men is that by inserting a jet of steam the heat may be greatly increased and greater ascensive power obtained. The discovery of balloons was followed by all sorts of schemes for voyaging across the sea, around the world and even to the moon. 

Balloons have a much higher purpose than simply to amuse. With their aid properly directed we may be led to a clearer system of the science of meteorology. He believed he had the honor of first demonstrating by actual observation from a balloon the correctness of Espy's theory of the vortical character of local storms. The Signal Service Bureau, with all its splendid organization, know nothing of the starting of the storm. It can only track the storm. The lecturer paid a high compliment to the Signal Service, and said that the amount of annual appropriation by Congress for its maintenance was more than met by the saving through its means in a single hay-raising State.

An ascension by balloon into the vortex of a storm was described, and the lecturer asserted that a feeling like sea-sickness might be experienced. It was a pleasant thing to sail above the thunder-storm. At such a time the balloon generally proceeded faster than the storm below, whose progress was impeded by its contact with the earth. The nimbus clouds are generally not more than three, four or five thousand feet high. In again describing the vortical character of a thunder-storm, and the spiral descent of the lightnings, he gave his own ideas of what a thunderbolt really is. It requires force to lift the water into the air, and he believed the release of this force is the descent of the thunderbolt. It was to be noticed that all thunderbolts passed from the west toward the east. Storms traveled in the same direction.

In speaking further of the great use the balloon might be in proper hands, he said he was glad to know that in this city it had worthy advocates and guides.

Another purpose to which the balloon was adapted was that of a sanitorium. He long ago discovered that he was benefited physically by ascending in a balloon, and had put forth that theory in his book on ballooning. Recently considerable attention had been devoted to the subject in France, where a committee of the Academy had it under consideration. Flammarion had written his own experience where a balloon ascension had cured him of an attack of the influenza, and recorded his believe that the time was coming when an excursion in a balloon would be taken in quest of health in place of a trip to Trouville or Biarritz. In the lecturer's own experience he was conscious of an expansion of the whole system. His eyesight improved and he smiled upon looking in a mirror to find that the wrinkles had disappeared from his face. There was likewise an expansion of the mental faculties. 

The first impressions upon ascending into the air were described, and the various peculiarities which strike the aeronautic traveler were referred to. The earth seems to sink beneath the balloon as the latter in reality rises. Vertigo is never experienced, and by this reason, he contended, nature intended we should traverse the air. The view from a balloon is wholly different from that obtained from other standpoints. The earth is flattened out and eminences disappear in the common level. Mounting still higher, the aerial voyager discovers that the earth presents a concave appearance. The position of the balloon seems to be between two mighty concavities. The beholder becomes more deeply impressed than ever by the wonderful handicraft of the Creator. The apparent concavity of the earth was produced by the fact that we are looking from a rarer into a denser medium, on a principle illustrated by thrusting a stick into the water. Of looking at an object at the bottom of a basin of water. In an ascension at night he was surprised to find that he could see the earth distinctly, its divisions into fields and farms, and even the colors of fields of flowers over which he passed. There is a profound, solemn and awful stillness in the air. The fairy scenes encountered far transcend in beauty those described in the Arabian Nights' Entertainments. Not only is the body benefited in such a place, but the mind itself is aroused and sings songs of joy for beholding such beauties. If we are to have a life hereafter, it must be such a life as this. Vertigo is not experienced in a balloon because the air-ship is severed from the earth. He was himself as dizzy at a precipice as any one. A peculiar phase of ballooning, which is experienced in a descent upon the tree-tops, was mentioned. It is a feeling of safety which almost leads one to jump out upon the tree-tops in confidence of an ability to walk upon them. Tissandier had been compelled to restrain some of his exuberant companions from attempting the feat. 

A recent ascension made by the lecturer under rather unpleasant circumstances from the little city of Louisiana, in Pike county, Missouri, was described. It was a windy day, and it required a large number of men to hold the balloon down while the inflation was going on. The valve-rope was broken up beyond reach in the balloon, and a hole was punched in the side. The loss of all control over the valve-rope led to a chance descent, for the only means of controlling the motions of the balloon was by keeping it afloat through the discharge of ballast. 

After crossing the Mississippi River and recrossing it several times, he drifted off into a range and wooded country in Illinois. At four o'clock, after traveling fifty-two miles in as many minutes, the balloon alighted in a tree-top in Calhoun county. While its occupant was saving himself the balloon sailed away on its own account, and at dusk it came down two hundred and fifty miles southeast in Hope county. It is a striking peculiarity of balloon-traveling that however fast one may move there is an apparent stillness of the atmosphere. A cobweb would not be moved within the car. 

The views of the earth obtained through interstices of the clouds, oftentimes weird and singularly beautiful, the peculiar sound of the thunder when listened to from above—the actual report sounding like a rifle shot, while the reverberations are loud beneath the clouds which act as sounding-boards—and the echo produced, sometimes to the confusion or amusement of the aeronaut while listening to repetitions of his own words, were in turn described. The nature of ozone and the detection of this substance in the air were also discussed. The sulphurous smell sometimes encountered in the air was attributed to the presence of the agent. It had the property of making one hoarse, and he had observed that it was frequently evolved during the presence of the Aurora Borealis.

The lecturer next combated the idea that the collapsing of a balloon in the air is of itself dangerous, and related his own interesting experiences in reference thereto. He had, after experimenting with a dog, formed an intention of purposely exploding a balloon in the air and trusting to its safe descent. He accordingly went up from Easton, Pa., but his mind misgave him. Just as he had formed the plan to abandon the experiment, the balloon, which was tied up at the neck, exploded of its own accord. He descended in safety, although he was two and a half miles high when the collapse occurred.