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[[image: photo of man, child, and woman in hot air balloon basket, with several others around it]]
DR. THOMAS GETTING READY FOR THE ASCENT
[[page cut off]] rome construction have failed up to date
because of this defect. The balloon propeller
as a means of sustaining a man dates
ack to 1783. The first successful dirigible
was American, in 1822. This,
however, was but a model. A dirigible was
begun in Paris during the siege of that city and later completed. It proved fairly successful. Prior to that, a dirigible was constructed but it could not be sailed directly against the wind. The more recent accomplishment of Santos Dumont and that of Kanbenshue, who sailed around the dome of the capitol at Washington show that the dirigible has reached a stage of considerable advancement.
That the dirigible is likely to play an important part in modern warfare seems to be attested by the trip made a few years ago by a German dirigible over the frontier into Russia when it hovered over a large town long enough to photograph its fortifications, and though fired on, returned unhurt the way it came.
Man's attempt to ape the bird is almost as early as history, and indeed legendary. Ovid tells of Daedalus and Icarus who imprisoned in Crete, unable to escape by sea, made for themselves wings of feathers attached to frames by wax and tied to their arms. All went well till Icarus soared towards the sun which melted the wax. Icarus fell into the sea.
A Persian legend tells of a king who requested his wise men to prepare a device whereby he might ascend into the sky, the wit of the wise men evolved a platform to which were attached four eagles, suspended above which were pieces of goat's flesh. As the eagles flew up to reach the meat the king had his desires satisfied, but he was compelled to stay in the etherial regions until it pleased the birds to descend.
Plying toys are mentioned in Greek literature. One Archytas, 400 B. C., made a mechanical pigeon. It is described as "suspended by balancing and animated by an enclosed spirit of "aura." Through the Middle Ages, attempts at flight were frequent and generally disastrous. An Augustinian monk believed that fire, lighter than air, would raise a hollow globe, while a Jesuit believed that is a supply of the upper atmosphere, being
hore rarefied than near the church, would be obtained, the problem of flight would be solved. But a supply of the
pper ether could not be obtained. At a
me when it was believed that dew
as of celestial origin, being shed by the stars and drawn up in day time by the sun, the conclusion was reached that
egg shells were filled with dew, the
n would draw them up.
Torricello, in 1643, discovered that air made several successful trips, going some fifteen miles an hour and returning to its starting point. Prof. Carl Meyer made a dirigible in 1890 which he propelled, bicycle fashion, making about ten miles an hour.
One of the earliest victims of ballooning was Count Zambeccari. He had sent up unaccompanied balloon in London Nov. 25, 1783, March 23, 1785, with Sir Edward Vernon, he made a trip of twenty-five miles from London in less than an hour. Sept. 21, 1812, he fell from a burning Montgolfier fire balloon, at Bologna, and was killed.
The largest hot-air balloon was made in Lyons, France. It was 105 feet in diameter and 130 feet high. The present day Nirvana is but 47 1/2 feet high and wide. The Lyon balloon took up seven persons in January, 1784, to a height of 3,500 feet in 17 minutes. Its lifting power was 18 tons. The Nirvana's lifting capacity with Norfolk gas is 41 pounds to the 1,000 cubic feet of gas, or about one and a quarter tons including its own weight of a little more than half a ton. The old timber came to grief, however, on its memorable ascent. It was too frail for its size and a rent of some fifty feet dropped it to the earth with more than comfortable celerity, but not with fatal results to the occupants. 
in 1875, Blanchard, a Frenchman, and Dr. Jeffries, an American, crossed the English channel and Arban, French, was the first to cross the Alps in 1815. He covered a distance of 400 miles from Paris in eight hours.
Charles Green, English, who adopted the expedient of a guide rope, made 1,400 ascensions between  1812 and 1857. He was also the first to use coal gas. He died in 1870, eighty-five years old.
The longest aerial voyage, up to 1870, was made by Americans, John Wise, John La Mountane, O.A. Gager, and a reporter, Mr. Hyde. They made the trip from St. Louis, starting July 2, 1859, and landing in Jefferson County, New York, after twenty hours of flight. The distance was 1,150 miles.
The longest trip on record to date was that of Count de la Vaulx, in October, 1900 from the Paris Exposition to Korosticheff, Russia, 1,193 miles in thirty-five hours, forty-five minutes, the maximum altitude being 18,810 feet more than three and a half miles.
The record for altitude was made Sept. 5, 1862, when the superintendent of the Greenwhich observatory rose from Wolverhampton, England, 37,000 feet, more than five miles, in less than an hour.
The first woman balloonist was Mme. Blanchard of France, who was finally dashed to death in July, 1819, when her engineer were killed by an explosion of their hydrogen dirigible, set on fire by the gasoline motor.
Perhaps the first balloon ascension in America was that of the Frenchman Blanchard, Jan. 30, 1793, in Philadelphia, when Gen. Washington was a spectator.
A philosophical voyage was made from Hamburg, Germany, in July, 1803, when Messrs. Robertson and Lhoest reached an altitude of 23,526 feet and made various experiments--electric and magnetic--by explosions, in temperature reading, determining boiling points of fluids, and in the liberation of birds.
At the Jamestown Exposition the whole world will be in competition, making herculean efforts to travel through space in machines that will be under as perfect control as any that now travel on land or water. Capt. Homer W. Hedge, founder of the Aero club, says: "No man can prophesy what the next few years will see accomplished. Men are spending their lives trying to solve the problem. Some day they will stumble upon the right principle. Then the world will say: "How simple.'"
It seem probable, therefore, as Arthur Shadwell Martin, a writer on the subject from whose researches the foregoing material is largely obtained, says, that before the seven months of the
duration
the Jamestown Exposition shall have expired, many new and remarkable records will have been made in aerial navigation, both for pleasure and for profit, as aeronautics will be discussed in all its phases, and experiments made, and practical demonstrations given of the present state of the science.
It is wonderful how the American people take up everything new and follow it to perfection.
Take automobiles, for instance; they are now well made and extensively used in this country as they are in Europe. In a short time balloons and airships made in the United States will be fully equal to those manufactured abroad, and the accomplishments of American aeronauts will add fame to the world's history, as they have with steamships, railroads, the telegraph and telephone. The first successful flying machine which traveled twenty-eight miles in thirty-six minutes, and has made many successful flights, will certainly soon be developed into one of the most useful of human agencies, both for commercial and military advancement.
Realizing that the importance of this subject was not appreciated, nor was any organized effort made to assist individual success, the Aero club was formed in New York city to gather together widely scattered facts, to disseminate knowledge, 
the sand bags were hired and placed
it in a circle to be attached to
tting, to hold the balloon while
with coal gas.
Centaur is the famous balloon in
the world’s long distance record of
les in thirty-five hours from Paris
Russia was made during the 
race held by the Paris exposition
in the following trips:


……………………………………………………….…|Miles|Hrs.
[[?]] Warsaw (Russian Po-
[[?]] ……………………………………………….|900|22
[[?]] Lubeck (Baltic Sea)|550|17
[[?]] Breslau (Silesia)….|850|10
[[?]] Westervek (Sweden).|950|23
[[?]] Emden (Hanover)……….|400|16
alve and neck are separate from
in part of the envelope, and are
before inflating. The valve rope
fast, and the ripping cord which
fastened to a portion of the ma
arranged to tear out, leaving a
opening through which the gas
escapes when the descent is made after the gas bag is on the ground;
prevents dragging the basket with
occupants along the ground, if the wind is blowing very hard. It is a very inspiring sight to see the balloon swell up and grow larger and larger, finally
the shape of a large sphere, while many men keep continually lowering the sand bags around it. After it is entirely
[[CUT-OFF]] with gas the collecting ring is [[attached?]] to the ropes leading from the net
and the car is then fastened to this
ng by four or six stout ropes; the aeronauts then take their places, bags of ballast are taken on board, when all is ready the men around the basket allow the balloon to rise from the ground a little way. This is to balance it properly.
it does not rise some ballast is put
if it has too much ascensional force
ballast is taken on. Finally when
right and the wind is still, the word “Let go all” is given, and, strange to
the earth, the crowds, the trees, all seem to shrink away; there is a slight murmur of voices that seem to grow weaker, a waving of handkerchiefs, until finally all is still. While floating in a current of air, and moving as fast as it does, no breeze is felt at all and if it were not for the rising and falling of the recording barometer which shows just how many metres your altitude is, it would be impossible to tell that there was any motion at all; there is is nothing to judge by, 
you relative change of posi
over the hills and lakes, the 
of which are as clearly visible as the banks around them, a fact that makes airships the natural enemies of submarine vessels, we sail, the [[houses looking?]] like toy farms that you buy in stores, the cows looking like so many [[stones?]] in the fields, and people hardly recognizable; now and then they wave something white and the welcome is truly [[STRIKETHROUGH]] from reach of anything on earth, with no communication except as we threw small parachutes with postal cards attached and addressed, which we received later, everything is at perfect peace and the feeling one gets is like the feeling of being out on the great ocean or in the big forest. Although the wind may be takeout thirty or forty miles an hour, the only sign by which you can tell that you are moving is when you see the round shadow of the balloon below, or when you approach near the ground, for the noise of the wind in the trees sounds like the rushing of water. After sailing almost two hours and having had a light luncheon, we chose a good landing place and prepared to make a descent. The temperature was taken by a thermometer, the time and altitude, the rope from the neck was made fast so that when the valve at the top was opened and the gas should escape, the bottom of the balloon would not for a parachute and catch the wind. Lower and lower we came, four thousand feet [[in?]] five minutes, until the guide rope 
[[CUT-OFF]] hung three hundred feet below
[[CUT-OFF]] ed the tops of the trees and dragged
[[CUT-OFF]] them. Ballast was thrown out [[until we?]] gained our equilibrium. We could 
[[CUT-OFF]] the wind blowing in the branches 
[[CUT-OFF]]we could see how swiftly we were
[[CUT-OFF at bottom?]]

[[image - balloon on ground with several people around it]]
KNABENSHUE MAKING A SAFE LANDING

the ground. We each held on to the ropes supporting the car, raising our feet from the bottom of the basket, and did note feel the shock when it struck the earth. The great ball rebounded in the air from 50 to 75 feet, dragged the anchor, and cleared a stone wall and a clump of trees, then settled again on the ground. The anchor held firm, the rip-chord was pulled, and a rent made in the top of the envelope through which the gas at once escaped, leaving the deflated harmless thing spread out on the ground looking more like an innocent piece of material laid out on the grass to bleach than a marvelous air ship, that had brought a party of four large men more than forty miles with their baggage and luncheon and all the conveniences of air travelling.
The farmers of the surrounding neighborhood came crowding around us asking where we came from and if we were not afraid, and desiring to help us pack up our things.
The barometer registered 1,700 meters for the maximum height and we had traveled over forty miles in two hours [[from ? airfield?]], into the state of Connecticut, and [[PAGE TORN]]sted.
We loaded up our balloon on a [[?]]arm and drove to the nearest railway station where we saw the first account of the San Francisco disaster. Many ascents have been made and many contemplated. The Aero club has balloons that are ready for use. Another year will see even greater progress; we will have speed races and contests to see who may remain the longest period of time in the air. Walter Wellman has started for the North Pole and Aeronautics Beachey sailed up from Lunar Park near Washington to the White House the other day, to pay his respects to Mr. Roosevelt.
Great interest will Center in this subject and science will have gained one more star on the Twentieth Century Coronet.
A special building in charge of the Jamestown aeronautical congress will house the exhibits of aerial navigation and manufactures pertaining thereto. The building which is 120 feet long by 65 wide, contains some 8,000 square feet of exhibit space, and will be one of the most novel and interesting features of the transportation display. Besides the government’s exhibit of the Langley models, there will be a great display of balloons, dirigible airships, kites, etc., belonging to individuals and are clubs. The German government has expressed its intention of sending one or more war balloons to the exposition, and a movement is now on foot to have Santos Du- [[CUT-OFF AT BOTTOM]]

Post, 753 Fifth avenue, New York; Maj. Samuel Peter, signal corps war department, Washington, D.C.; Richard Rathbun, Smithsonian institute, Washington, D.C.; Hon. C.S. Rolls, Hotel Belmont, New York (the Hendre, South Lidge, Rutland Gate, S.W.); A. Lawrence Rotch, Blue Hill observatory, Hyde Park, Mass.; C.S. Sherwood, vice chairman board of governors Jamestown exposition, Norfolk, Va.; R.H. Sexton, Chief department congresses and special events Jamestown exposition, Norfolk, Va.; Albery Santos Dumont, Champs Elysees, Paris, France; T.S. Southgate, governor of exhibits Jamestown Exposition company, Norfolk, Va.; Leo Stevens, P.O. Box 181, Madison Square, P.O. New York; Prof. David T. Todd, Amherst college, Amherst, Mass.; Harry St. George Tucker, president Jamestown Exposition company, Norfolk, Va.; Count Henri de la Vauxhall, 120 Champs Elysees, Paris, France; Charles D. Walcott, geological survey, Washington, D.C.; Orville Wright, Dayton, Ohio; Albert Francis Zain’s, Catholic University of America, Washington, D.C.

Executive [[PAGE TORN]]
secretary; Augustus Post, William J. Hammer, Orville Wright, Carl Dienstbach, Robert H. Sexton, T.S. Southgate, Lee Stevens, C. Brooks Johnson, Oliver L. Farsighted, A.M. Chandler, Capt. Chas. Def. Chandler, Wilber R. Kimball, J.C. McCoy, Chas. M. Manley, E.S. Branson, Albert F. Zahn, Maj. Samuel Rober, Admiral C.M. Chester, Cortlandt Field Bushop, Wilber Wright, Allen R. Hawley, Homer W. Hedge, A.M. Herring,A. Lawrence Rotch, Charles J. Edwards, Hon. C.S. Rolls.
Technical Committee - Charles M. Manly, chairman; A.M. Herring, mechanical engineer; W.T. Brooks, civil engineer; William J.Hammer, electrical engineer.
Committee on Congresses and Program-A. Lawrence Rotch, chairman; J. Taylor Ellison, Octave Chanute, Albert F. Zain’s, Gilbert H. Grosvenor, Robert H. Sexton.
Exhibition Committee- Richard Rathbun, chairman; T.S. Southgate, Israel 
Ludlow, 
Augustus Post, Wilbur R. Kimball.
Contest Committee-Cortlandt Field Bishop, chairman; Admiral C.M. Chester, CS. Sherwood, Allen R. Hawley, Lieut. F.P. Lahn, J.C. McCoy, Leo Stevens.
Buildings, Grounds and Gas Committee-David T. day, chairman, C.S. Sherwood, W.E. Cottrell, Dr. James A. Holmes, Leo Stevens, W.T. Bro.
Meteorological Committee-Willis L. Moore, chairman; A. Lawrence Botch, Professor William H. Pickering, Profes-
[[CUT-OFF AT BOTTOM]]

the elephant
at him in fu
By this tin
voice at the
distance sound
to the mo
thought for
The great
in the g
spring sunshine
when far
the scre
majesty
snort or
every
focuses
form.
trail
seem
tures
with
slo
their
forward
the
do
cle
the
hum
bene
broken
monk
air.
ence
memory
member
year;
strength
thus fee
the ravi
on before him
Whatever
in his dig
ing out t
trunk, and
the occupant
ence seems
more, and
is interesting
the hubbub
the elephant
performance
cats seeming
confines the
they do litt
phant in ey
ones lying
heads.--New
The
Rear Adm
at Delmonice
"The gentler
hypocritical. It
ner who, after
and missed his b
"'Ah, well, live
to.'"- Ex.

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